A recording apparatus includes a light irradiation unit configured to emit light for curing photocurable ink to a recording medium, and a head having a nozzle formation surface in which nozzles for discharging the photocurable ink onto the recording medium are formed. A retroreflection surface is provided on at least a part of a light arrival region at which the light emitted from the light irradiation unit arrives.

In a printed article, pigment flakes are magnetically aligned so as to form curved patterns in a plurality of cross-sections normal a continuous imaginary line, wherein radii of the curved patterns increase along the imaginary line from the first point to the second point. When light is incident upon the aligned pigment flakes from a light source, light reflected from the aligned pattern forms a bright image which appears to gradually change its shape and move from one side of the continuous imaginary line to another side of the continuous imaginary line when the substrate is tilted with respect to the light source.

There is disclosed print agent drying unit 10, 20, 30 to dry print agent 40 on a substrate 14, the drying unit comprising: a substrate support 12 to support a substrate 14; an exciter 18, 28, 38 to excite a boundary layer of print agent 40 applied on the substrate 14, to thereby dissociate the boundary layer from the print agent; and a radiation source 16 to direct radiation energy to the substrate to dry the print agent. Methods of drying print agent 40 on a substrate 14 are also disclosed, including a method comprising: causing the substrate 14 to vibrate to dissociate a boundary layer of print agent 40 on the substrate 14; and heating the print agent 40 to dry the print agent 40.

The present disclosure is drawn to printing systems. In one example, a printing system can include an inkjet print head and a plasma generator. The inkjet print head can be used to form a printed image on a media substrate. The plasma generator can be positioned with respect to the inkjet print head to treat the printed image after application to the media substrate.

An article includes a substrate and a graphical component forming an image and an optical component which includes magnetic pigment flakes aligned so as to form a frame pattern which surrounds the image. When light is incident upon the pigment flakes from a light source, light reflected from the frame pattern forms a dynamic frame which surrounds the image and appears to move as the substrate is tilted with respect to the light source. The image appears to be stationary when the dynamic frame appears to move.

In a printed article, pigment flakes are magnetically aligned so as to form curved patterns in a plurality of cross-sections normal a continuous imaginary line, wherein radii of the curved patterns increase along the imaginary line from the first point to the second point. When light is incident upon the aligned pigment flakes from a light source, light reflected from the aligned pattern forms a bright image which appears to gradually change its shape and move from one side of the continuous imaginary line to another side of the continuous imaginary line when the substrate is tilted with respect to the light source.

A plastic card personalization system with a drop-on-demand plastic card print station that prints radiation curable material, a plasma treatment station, and a radiation curing station. By using a combination of controlling plasma treatment conditions on the surface of the plastic card prior to DOD printing together with controlling the dwell time of the printed material applied to the plastic card prior to full curing of the printed material, a surprising and unexpected improvement of the adhesion of the printed material to the plastic card is achieved.

The invention relates to the field of the protection of security documents such as for example banknotes and identity documents against counterfeit and illegal reproduction. In particular, the present invention provides security documents and decorative articles comprising one or more optical effect layers (OELs) and methods for producing said OELs, said OELs comprising magnetically oriented platelet-shaped magnetic or magnetizable pigment particles in an at least partially cured coating layer (x40)

In one aspect, a method is described. The method may include exposing a printing surface to a first plasma in order to increase a hydrophilicity of the printing surface. The method may further include, after increasing the hydrophilicity of the printing surface, depositing a printing material on the printing surface. Additionally, the method may include, after depositing the printing material on the printing surface, exposing the printing surface to a second plasma in order to increase a hydrophobicity of the printing surface.

A method for directly writing metal traces on a wide range of substrate materials is disclosed. The method includes writing a pattern of particle-free metal-salt-based ink on the substrate followed by a plasma-based treatment to remove the non-metallic components of the ink and decompose its metal salt into pure metal. The ink is based on a multi-part solvent whose components differ in at least one of evaporation rate, surface tension, and viscosity, which improves the manner in which the ink is converted into its metal constituent via the plasma treatment. In some embodiments, a microplasma is used for post-treatment of the deposited ink, where the plasma properties are controlled to provide different material properties, such as porosity and effective resistivity, in different regions of the metal pattern.