JPH02266947A - Nozzle plate for inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable working of a nozzle hole to be performed after bonding a nozzle plate to a liquid chamber and to enable rigidity of the nozzle plate and a length of the nozzle to be optimized by a method wherein a nozzle opening part is formed by a resin material, and a periphery of the nozzle opening part is constructed by a composite layer of two or more layers of high rigidity materials and the resin materials. CONSTITUTION:A resin (for instance, polyimide) film is firstly prepared. When a thickness other than the thickness on the market of the film is required, a required thickness of the film can be obtained by a method of a spin coat or the like on a substrate. Further, the polyimide is excellent in chemical resistance, and anisotropic etching can be performed by dry etching such as plasma etching, reactive ion etching, etc. Then, a film of high rigidity materials such as metal or the like is formed on the resin 1 by a method of sputtering or the like, and a required pattern is obtained by etching or the like. Then, the film of polyimide or the like is formed by a required thickness by spin coat or the like. A nozzle plate 4 is preliminarily bonded to materials composing a liquid chamber 2, and a hole is worked from, for example, the arrow A direction by a method of plasma etching or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a nozzle plate for an inkjet recording device, and is applied to, for example, a printer or a plotter.

Figure 3 shows the basic configuration of a conventional pressurized on-demand inkjet. 6 is a pipe, and 7 is an ink tank. By applying a recording voltage pulse to the piezoelectric ceramic 1, the wall of the liquid chamber 2 is displaced inward due to contraction of the piezoelectric ceramic 1 (dotted line).
Due to this change in volume, ink is ejected from the nozzle 3 as ink droplets 5 and recorded on the recording paper.

No. 4m is a diagram showing a conventional nozzle plate for an inkjet recording device, and there are problems when pressurizing the nozzle plate 4 with low rigidity (resin, etc.) by the piezoelectric ceramics 1, and the direction of ink discharge is centered on the nozzle. It also has the disadvantage of being deviated from the axial direction.

The problems are described below.

BACKGROUND ART Ink ejection nozzles of recording heads of continuous flow type or pressurized on-demand type inkjet recording apparatuses have conventionally been manufactured by the following method.

Machining (drill, press)...Metal, ceramics, resin molding...Metal, resin etching...Metal, photosensitive glass, resin electrical discharge machining
・Metal electroforming processing ・Metal laser processing ・Metals, ceramics, resins To join a nozzle plate with pre-machined nozzle holes to the liquid chamber, accurately align the center of the liquid chamber and the center of the nozzle. It's difficult to do, especially.

When aligning the nozzle plates of a multi-nozzle, alignment becomes difficult due to the slippage of the nozzle plates due to adhesive during bonding.

From this point of view, it is preferable to machine the nozzle holes after bonding the nozzle plate to the liquid chamber in advance. However, it is difficult to machine the holes after bonding the nozzle plate to rigid nozzle plate materials such as metal, ceramics, and glass. be.

On the other hand, in the case of resin, it is not so difficult to process the nozzle holes by, for example, laser processing or etching after the nozzle plates are joined, compared to the case of other materials such as metals and ceramics.

However, when using resin as the nozzle plate, there are the following problems. In other words, increasing the thickness of the nozzle plate increases the rigidity of the nozzle plate, but since the nozzle length increases, the pressure loss at the nozzle section increases,
The rate of ink ejection from the nozzle is significantly degraded.

On the other hand, when the thickness of the nozzle plate is reduced, the nozzle length becomes shorter and the nozzle pressure loss decreases, but the rigidity (Young's modulus) of the nozzle plate decreases.

AQ is 7.03 x 10”N,/m”, Au is 7.8
×10”N/m”, polyimide is 0.3X10”oN/
m", nylon is Oa 3 x 10'" N/
m'') becomes small, and particularly in a pressurized on-demand type inkjet, the ink ejection efficiency is significantly degraded due to the deformation of the nozzle plate itself when the liquid chamber volume changes due to voltage application to the piezoelectric element.

-15 The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances,
The purpose of this invention is to provide a nozzle plate for an inkjet recording device that allows nozzle holes to be machined after the nozzle plate is joined to a liquid chamber, and that allows optimization of the nozzle plate rigidity and nozzle length. .

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention (1) forms a nozzle opening with a resin material, and surrounds the nozzle opening with a composite layer of two or more layers of a high-rigidity material and a resin material. Further, (2) the nozzle plate has a sandwich-inch structure by sealing a metal material between two resin materials patterned so as to exclude the nozzle entrance part; 3) The nozzle plate has a sandwich structure in which a resin material is sealed between two metal materials formed in a pattern excluding the nozzle openings. Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on examples.

FIGS. 1(a) to 1(1) are diagrams showing a method of manufacturing a nozzle plate according to the present invention.

(a) First, a resin (eg, polyimide) film is prepared. When a thickness other than that of a commercially available film is required, a film of the desired thickness can be obtained on a substrate by a method such as spin cording. Note that polyimide has excellent chemical resistance and can be anisotropically etched (no side etching and no widening of the nozzle hole) by dry etching such as plasma etching and reactive ion etching.

(b) Next, a film of a highly rigid material such as metal is formed on the resin by a method such as sputtering, and a desired pattern is obtained by etching or the like.

(0) Next, a film of polyimide or the like is further formed to a desired thickness using a spin cord or the like.

FIG. 2 shows a method of machining nozzle holes. The nozzle plate 4 is joined in advance to the material constituting the liquid chamber 2. As shown in FIG. In this layer, holes are formed in the polyimide from the direction of arrow A, for example, by a method such as plasma etching. In this way, after the nozzle plate 4 is bonded to the liquid chamber, holes can be formed with high positional accuracy by plasma etching or the like. Furthermore, since the metal is sandwiched between a thin resin film, it has high rigidity and can eject ink efficiently. In that case, AI or the like is used as the metal.

5(a) to (d) show another embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) a metal film 1 is formed on a substrate, and (b) a resin film is formed thereon. , (c), a metal film 2 is further formed thereon, and the substrate is peeled off (d). therefore,
The nozzle plate in (d) is made of metal, resin, and metal, and after it is joined to the liquid chamber as shown in Figure 6, the nozzle plate is drilled (
Since the metal part is bonded to the component of the liquid chamber compared to the case shown in FIG. 2, in which the metal part is bonded to the component of the liquid chamber (in the direction of the arrow), the bonding strength can be greater than that of the bond between the resin and the liquid chamber member.

Further, when forming the metal film 2 in the etching direction, there is an advantage that the pattern of the metal film itself can be used as a mask for plasma etching or the like. As the metal, a material having excellent chemical resistance such as Au is used.

As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, the nozzle hole can be machined after the nozzle plate is joined to the liquid chamber, and the nozzle plate is constructed using a highly rigid material and a resin material. Since it is a composite layer, it has high rigidity and enables efficient ink ejection.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 Ca> to (0) are diagrams showing a method for manufacturing a nozzle plate according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a diagram showing a method for machining nozzle holes, and Figure 3 WI is a diagram showing a method for manufacturing a nozzle plate according to the present invention. 4 is a diagram showing the basic configuration, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conventional nozzle plate, FIGS. 5(a) to 5(d) are diagrams showing other embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. It is a figure which shows the nozzle hole processing of the Example shown in FIG. 1... Piezoelectric ceramics, 2... Liquid chamber, 3... Nozzle, 4... Nozzle plate. Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 5 <CD (b) Fig. 3 <C) <d) Suborder 〒> Pi 4 distortion to 100 wings Upper nozzle plate Fig. 4! Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A nozzle plate for an inkjet recording device, characterized in that the nozzle opening is formed of a resin material, and the periphery of the nozzle opening has a composite layer structure of two or more layers of a highly rigid material and a resin material.