JPH11179924A - Ink-jet head and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable bonding by means of an adhesive in the order of microns with a sufficient pressure by forming a liquid stop of many layers of the adhesive in a structure in which holes for securing an ink passage are formed in the adhesive layers uniting a plurality of members and the liquid stop is formed in the circumference of the holes. SOLUTION: An adhesive epoxy sheet is laminated by Ni electroforming to an orifice plate 11 having many holes (nozzles) of a diameter, e.g. 30 μm and patterned with the use of a mask to bore a liquid stop in an adhesive layer 22 by excimer laser ablation. At this time, an adhesion pattern protected by walls of double adhesive layers is formed in the circumference of the nozzle holes. The thus-formed orifice plate 21 is bonded with a predetermined pressure at a predetermined temperature via the adhesive layer 22 to an ink-jet driving part 23 where an ink tank 24 is set, thereby constituting an ink-jet head. The ink-jet head can be manufactured with a good yield.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head, a method of manufacturing the same, and an ink jet recording apparatus using the recording head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet recording system in which small droplets of ink are generated and adhered to a recording material such as paper for recording is very low in noise during recording, and high-speed recording is possible. This is a recording method capable of recording on plain paper. The ink jet head used for the ink jet recording system is formed by a plurality of members from a tank for storing ink to a face surface for discharging ink. For example, it is a tank, a relay section, a tube, a nozzle supply section, a nozzle section, an orifice plate, etc., each of which has a different manufacturing method and a different role. Among these members, all members related to the ink flow path are bonded by an adhesive having a hole for securing the ink flow path when the members are bonded by an adhesive.

[0003] As a patterning method for forming holes in the adhesive, when bonding is a bonding on the order of millimeters, dispense coating using a hand or a robot is often used. A transfer method is used in the case of having micron-pattern high-definition patterning. Drilling and patterning of the orifice by excimer laser are also performed.

In many cases, adhesion is achieved by applying pressure to eliminate air bubbles while obtaining close contact, thereby achieving micron-order wetting. At this time, it is important not to block the holes serving as the ink flow paths. However, when the adhesive is patterned and pressed by a transfer method as schematically shown in FIG. 1, a hole is often clogged.

[0005]

In the example shown in FIG. 1, an epoxy adhesive is rotated by about 3000 rpm by spin coating to form a film having a thickness of about 10 μm, which is transferred to an orifice plate. Shows the state of pasting. In the figure, 1 is an orifice plate made of nickel, 2 is an epoxy adhesive, 3 is an ink jet driving unit, and 4 is an ink tank. In the example shown in FIG. 1, a hole jam is caused by bonding.
Reference numerals 1 ', 2', 3 ', and 4' denote an orifice plate, an adhesive, a drive unit, and a tank, respectively, after bonding and assembly.

[0006] To prevent the hole clogging, it is only necessary to apply the adhesive by lightening the pressure. However, it is impossible to crush the dust and air bubbles in the adhesive layer, and the ink leaks from the adhesive portion. It is difficult to achieve a non-sticky bond.

The objects of the present invention are as follows: (1) To apply sufficient pressure so as to obtain a sufficient adhesive force.

(2) A hole serving as an ink flow path is not filled with an adhesive. The objective is to achieve adhesion that is resistant to dust and defects and free of ink leakage and cross leak.

[0009]

Means of the present invention for attaining the above object are as follows. Specifically, when a patterned adhesive of a micron order to a few tens of microns order is put into practical use, a large number of dusts and defects are generated in advance. Based on the premise that even if the first adhesive layer is torn, the second adhesive layer and the third adhesive layer will protect the liquid (ink) stop structure based on the idea that the first adhesive layer is torn. It is to form an adhesive pattern protected by the plurality of walls.

That is, the ink jet head of the present invention comprises a plurality of members joined by an adhesive,
A hole for securing an ink flow path is formed in the adhesive layer, and in the ink jet head in which the periphery of the hole forms a liquid stopper, the liquid stopper adhesive layer has a multilayer structure. It is characterized in that a layer is formed.

Further, according to the method of manufacturing an ink jet head of the present invention, a plurality of members including a portion serving as an ink flow path are formed by:
In a method of manufacturing an ink jet head, a hole is formed so that the ink flow path is secured, and the periphery of the hole is bonded by forming a layer of an adhesive so as to form a liquid stopper. The members are bonded so that the adhesive layer forms a multilayered layer around the hole.

According to the present invention, an ink jet head having excellent durability can be provided which has the above-described structure, ensures an ink flow path, and has no risk of ink leaking from a bonding portion. .

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 An orifice plate having a hole of 10 μm in thickness and 30 μm in diameter and formed as a nozil made by Ni electrocasting made by Hitachi Maxell Co., Ltd. is bonded to it with a thickness of 8 μm. After laminating the epoxy sheet, the adhesive layer was perforated by patterning using a mask by excimer laser ablation. It was confirmed by a microscope that the adhesive layer after patterning was formed as shown at 22 in FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes an orifice plate.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of 22 in FIG. That is, in this embodiment, an adhesive pattern protected by a double adhesive layer wall is realized around the nozzle hole of the orifice plate.

As shown in FIG. 2, this is applied to the ink jet driving unit 23 at a temperature of 170 ° C. and a pressure of 500 g / 100 g.
Pressing and thermocompression bonding were performed under the conditions of mm ² and time of 1 minute. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 24 denotes an ink tank, 21 ', 22', 23 ', 2
Reference numeral 4 'denotes an orifice plate, an adhesive, a drive unit, and a tank after the adhesive assembly. As a result, it is possible to crush dust and air bubble defects without clogging the nozzle holes,
An ink jet head free from defects from all the nozzles was obtained.

Comparative Example An ink jet head was manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the orifice plate 11 in which the adhesive layer after patterning was formed as shown in FIG. 4 was used. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 13 denotes an ink jet driving unit;
4 is an ink tank, 11 ', 12', 13 ', and 14' are orifice plates, an adhesive,
2 shows a driving unit and a tank. In the case of this comparative example, although no clogging of the nozzle occurred, the periphery of the nozzle hole was protected by a single layer of adhesive layer, so that the ink jet head was vulnerable to defects.

Embodiment 2 A laser patterning mask is replaced with an orifice plate 31 in which an adhesive layer after patterning is formed as shown at 32 in FIG. An inkjet head was manufactured. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 33 denotes an ink jet driving unit, reference numeral 34 denotes an ink tank, and reference numerals 31 ', 32', 33 ', and 34' denote orifice plates, an adhesive, a driving unit, and a tank, respectively, after assembling and bonding. As a result, as in the case of Example 1, an ink jet head having a sufficient adhesive strength against a defect without a nozzle clogging was obtained.

Further, in the pattern of the present embodiment, the plurality of adhesive walls also serve as a bonding margin, and simultaneously satisfy the ink stopping wall and the improvement of the bonding, and form an adhesive pattern which performs multiple defenses against defects. ing.

Embodiment 3 In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to an ink relay member. FIG. 6A shows a conventional tube joint. On the other hand, FIG. 6B shows a state in which the adhesive is applied with a dispenser according to the present invention.
By patterning the adhesive with the multilayered structure and joining as described above, it was possible to sufficiently pressurize, not to cause hole clogging, and to realize strong adhesion to dust. In FIG. 6, reference numerals 110 and 111 denote conventional tube joints, 112 and 113 denote joints having flat plates, and 114 denotes an adhesive patterned according to the present invention.

[0020]

According to the prior art, in order to eliminate the defects that cause ink leakage, the production is very expensive and the production yield is low with the elimination of dust from the members and the cleanup of the manufacturing place. On the other hand, according to the present invention, bonding with a patterned adhesive of a micron to several tens of micron order is performed with sufficient pressure without crushing a hole serving as an ink flow path, and is resistant to defects. An inkjet head could be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process schematic diagram for explaining a state of bonding in a conventional example.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a bonding procedure according to the present invention in Example 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram enlarging 22 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a process schematic diagram for explaining a state of bonding in a comparative example.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a bonding procedure according to the present invention in Example 2.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing an example of bonding an ink relay member;
Shows a conventional joint, and (b) illustrates a joint according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,11,21,31,101 Orifice plate 2,12,22,32,103,114 Patterned adhesive 3,13,23,33 Ink jet driver 4,14,24,34 Ink tank 1 ', 11 ', 21', 31 'Orifice plate 2', 12 ', 22', 32 'after adhesive assembly 3', 13 ', 23', 33 'adhesive after adhesive assembly Ink jet drive 4' after adhesive assembly , 14 ′, 24 ′, 34 ′ Ink tank 102 after adhesive assembly 102 Glue margin 110, 111 Conventional tube joint 112, 113 Joint having flat plate

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ink container comprising a plurality of members joined by an adhesive, wherein a hole for securing an ink flow path is formed in a layer of the adhesive, and the periphery of the hole serves as a liquid stopper. The ink-jet head according to claim 1, wherein the liquid-stopping adhesive layer forms a multi-layer structure. 2. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the patterning of the adhesive layer is performed by processing by laser ablation. 3. A plurality of members including a portion serving as an ink flow path, an adhesive layer which forms a hole for securing the ink flow path and a liquid stopper around the hole. The method of manufacturing an ink jet head, wherein the members are bonded so that the liquid-stopping adhesive layer forms a multi-layered structure around the hole. Manufacturing method. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the patterning of the adhesive layer is performed by laser ablation. 5. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising the ink jet head according to claim 1.