The curing assembly of this invention has one or more fiber optic cables, each transmitting light to a head, which distributes the light onto a substrate in a desired geometric pattern and intensity. Little or none of the heat generated by a light source is transmitted to the vicinity of the substrate. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b).

This image recording apparatus includes a viscosity increasing light irradiator that increases the viscosity of ink ejected onto a recording medium, and a fixing light irradiator that fixes the ink on the recording medium. The fixing light irradiator is disposed behind a first switching part that causes the transport orientation of the recording medium to approach the vertical. This reduces the footprint of the image recording apparatus. Also a second type of irradiation light emitted from the fixing light irradiator is intercepted by the recording medium. This suppresses the unwanted curing of the ink in an image recorder. Also the viscosity increasing light irradiator is disposed at a location upstream from the first switching part in a transport direction. This suppresses the decrease in printing quality resulting from the passage of the ink remaining uncured through the first switching part.

Inkjet printing on a plastic card using a radiation curable ink is described herein. After the ink is applied to the card surface (i.e. the printed surface), radiation, such as UV radiation, is directed onto a non-printed surface of the card (for example, a perimeter side edge surface and/or a surface of the plastic card opposite the printed surface the radiation curable ink is applied to) in order to at least partially cure any of the applied ink that may have flowed onto or that may otherwise be disposed on the non-printed surface. This prevents contamination of a drive mechanism used to transport the plastic card via the perimeter side edge surfaces or via the opposite surface prior to full curing of the ink applied to the printed surface.

There is provided a radiation curable ink jet composition including: a monomer A that has one of a (meth)acryloyloxy group and a (meth)acryloyl group and has a cyclic structure containing one or more nitrogen atoms and one or more oxygen atoms in addition to the (meth)acryloyloxy group and the (meth)acryloyl group; and a monofunctional monomer B other than the monomer A; in which the content of the monomer A is equal to or less than 25% by mass with respect to the total mass of the composition, and in which mol average Tg of the monomer A and the monofunctional monomer B is equal to or greater than 45° C.

A printing apparatus and a printing method, including a first irradiation unit provided at one side in a main scanning direction with respect to a reference region in which the nozzle row is provided, and a second irradiation unit provided at another side, wherein at least one of the first irradiation unit and the second irradiation unit irradiates and changes an irradiation position different from a directly-below irradiation position.

A process for printing multiple layers on a fabric or other material using UV-curable ink that includes a step of printing a first layer on the material and another step of partially curing the first layer. A next step includes printing a partially UV-transparent layer over the first layer and fully curing the UV-transparent layer while simultaneously fully curing the first layer.

A printing apparatus includes a head which discharges liquid onto a printing medium; and a light irradiation unit which is aligned with the head in a first direction and which irradiates the liquid on the printing medium with light. The light irradiation unit has light source arrays arranged in the first direction, each of the light source arrays includes light sources aligned in a second direction, and the light source arrays include a first light source array which is disposed most closely to the head in the first direction. The light, which is radiated by each of the light sources included in the first light source array, has an intensity that is smaller than an intensity of the light which is radiated by each of the light sources included in the light source arrays different from the first light source array.

Panels having a decorative surface may include a plate shaped substrate and a top layer, and the top layer may include a paper layer having a printed pattern. A method for manufacturing such panels may involve providing the paper layer with a treatment, including providing the paper layer with an ink receiving substance. The treated paper layer may be provided with at least a portion of the printed pattern by depositing pigment containing inks using a digital inkjet printer. The pigment containing inks may be water-based. The digital inkjet printer may include print heads with nozzles for firing droplets of pigment containing inks onto the treated paper layer. The paper layer may be fed from a roll, printed upon, and rolled back up again. The paper layer, while printing, may be flexible and may be attached to the plate shaped substrate after printing. A layer of thermosetting resin may be applied above the paper layer and the printed pattern. Providing the layer of thermosetting resin may involve a press treatment. The paper layer may be a colored base paper, a pigmented base paper, and/or a dyed base paper.

A digital printing machine comprises a cylindrical drum assembly on the rigid printing framework. A cylindrical drum moves along and rotates about its central cylindrical axis and a stationary printing head with multiple nozzles placed proximately above the circumference of the cylindrical drum. The combined linear and rotational movements of the cylindrical drum enable the printing head to create a smooth helical printing trajectory on the flexible fabrics. The cylindrical drum of the digital printing machine also works as a working drum to hold a piece of flexible textile to be printed. A double-side printing mechanism allows the digital printing machine to automatically carry out the second side printing.

An ink jet method records a radiation-curable ink composition containing a polymerizable compound. The radiation-curable ink composition includes a first ink composition and a second ink composition. The ink jet method includes a first discharging step of discharging the first ink composition with an ink jet head to adhere the composition to a recording medium, a first curing step of irradiating the first ink composition adhered to the recording medium with radioactive rays, a cooling step of cooling the recording medium, a second discharging step of discharging the second ink composition with the ink jet head to adhere the composition to the cooled recording medium at least in a part of the region where the first ink composition adhered; and a second curing step of irradiating the second ink composition adhered to the recording medium with radioactive rays.