An aqueous polymeric particle dispersion, the particle comprises a polymer and a Si—O-containing moiety, the Si—O-containing moiety is linked to the polymer. The polymeric particle dispersion can be incorporated in aqueous printing liquids such as aqueous inkjet inks.

An inkjet printer includes an ink head, a carriage, and a first discharge controller. The ink head discharges photo-curable ink onto a recording medium. The ink head includes a colored ink nozzle group to discharge colored photo-curable ink, and a transparent ink nozzle group to discharge transparent photo-curable ink. The carriage is equipped with the ink head. The first discharge controller is configured or programmed to, when either one of the carriage and the recording medium makes a single movement, cause the colored ink nozzle group and the transparent ink nozzle group to discharge the colored photo-curable ink and the transparent photo-curable ink, respectively, onto a predetermined region so as to form a colored image and a texture image. The texture image includes the colored photo-curable ink and the transparent photo-curable ink that overlap with each other.

The radiation curable ink compositions exhibit fasting curing, high flexibility and good adhesion to a broad range of substrates. The ink compositions include a dendritic or hyperbranched polyester acrylate component, which is present in an amount of 10-45% by weight and has a functionality of greater than 5. The compositions further include an oligomer component, a monomer component, a photoinitiator component, a colorant component, and an additive component. The compositions have a viscosity of not greater than 40 cP at 25° C. The radiation curable compositions are suitable for inkjet printing on a variety of substrates.

A printer includes a controller to exercise control so as to print a print layer on or over a medium. The print layer includes a first print region including first protrusions, and a second print region including second protrusions. Any one or more of a size, a height, a planar shape, an arrangement interval, and an arrangement direction of the first protrusions is/are different from a corresponding one or more of a size, a height, a planar shape, an arrangement interval, and an arrangement direction of the second protrusions. An extracted area of about 3 cm by about 3 cm is extracted from any location in the print layer. The first and second print regions are in the extracted area. At least either a number of first print regions or a number of second print regions in the extracted area is more than one.

Printing machine, for printing a laminar web, comprising a feeding unit (10) defining a printing area (A); an inkjet printing station (20) comprising a plurality of inkjet printing modules (21) slidably arranged along a transverse guide (22); a positioning device (30) adapted to precisely slide the inkjet printing modules (21) along the transverse guide (22); wherein each inkjet printing module (21) includes a first coupling (31) and is independent from other inkjet printing modules (21) allowing an independent movement of each inkjet printing module (21) along the transverse guide (22); and the positioning device (30) includes a second coupling (32) complementary to each first coupling (31), the second coupling (32) being releasably engageable to each first coupling (31) in an automatic manner, the positioning device (30) being configured to precisely slide each inkjet printing module (21) engaged thereto, along the transverse guide (22).

An inkjet printer includes a first light applicator disposed in a second scanning direction relative to a recording head. The first light applicator includes a first upstream light source group at a location corresponding to a location of the recording head in a movement direction of a recording medium, and a first downstream light source group on a downstream side in the movement direction of the recording medium relative to the recording head. The inkjet printer turns off the first upstream light source group and turns on the first downstream light source group during movement of a carriage in a first scanning direction and discharge of first ink from the recording head, and turns on the first upstream light source group and the first downstream light source group during movement of the carriage in the second scanning direction after discharge of the first ink.

A printing apparatus includes a cooling system for cooling a print medium. The cooling system includes a cooling member with a support surface configured for supporting the print medium. The cooling member has a first end and a second end and the support surface extends in a lateral direction between the first end and the second end. The cooling member is provided with supply channels and return channels extending between the first and the second end. A fluid circulation means supplies fluid through the supply channels from the first end to the second end, and back through the return channels from the second end to the first end.

A heating device includes a conveyor configured to convey a sheet, the sheet having a first surface on which a liquid is applied and a second surface contacting the conveyor, a first heater facing the first surface opposite to the second surface of the sheet, the first heater configured to heat the sheet, and a second heater configured to heat the conveyor.

A printing apparatus, including a discharging head for discharging ultraviolet-curable ink droplets, an energizer to supply energy to the ink droplets, a carriage with the discharging head and the energizer mounted thereon movable in a main scanning direction, and a controller, is provided. The controller forms a dots-linked portion having a plurality of the ink droplets landed on the printable medium being linked with one another and cured in a shape elongated in the main scanning direction. The controller forms both a dividing dot and a divided-dots linking portion or the divided-dots linking portion alone. The dividing dot is formed of a single one of the ink droplets cured independently at a position to one of adjoin and overlap the dots-linked portion in the main scanning direction. The divided-dots linking portion has a plurality of the ink droplets being linked and cured in a shape elongated in a sub-scanning direction.

An image forming apparatus includes a liquid discharge head, an irradiation unit, a carriage, and a moving unit. The liquid discharge head discharges a liquid onto a recording medium. The liquid includes a metallic ink and a color ink. The irradiation unit irradiates the liquid on the recording medium with light. The liquid discharge head and the irradiation unit are mounted on the carriage. The moving unit alternately perform a main scanning movement and a sub-scanning movement. The liquid discharge head discharges the metallic ink in a region of the recording medium in a former main scanning movement and discharges the color ink in the region in which the metallic ink has been discharged, in a latter main scanning movement after the former main scanning movement. The irradiation unit irradiates the region in which the color ink has been discharged with the light.