Inkjet printing holds many surprising possibilities for creating exciting and innovative products - perhaps limited only by our imagination. NANO magazine explores some of these.

 

Inkjet printers were developed to simply print a digital image onto paper. However, the technology itself isn't simple at all; inkjet printers work essentially by propelling tiny droplets of a liquid material onto a substrate in a highly precise way. Software links the digital image to be transferred to the action of a 'smart' nozzle, and controls the ratio of the liquids or inks dispensed that form the droplets. The viscosity and rheological properties of the 'ink' formulations are critical to their 'jettability', and an important characteristic of inkjet printing is that it is contactless.

 

Nanotechnology is the subject of much hype, claim and counter-claim. To many people, nanotechnology is still a technology of the future, associated more with science fiction than with fact.

One industry sector in particular has its feet firmly on the ground, has seen the reality behind the hype, and is already seeking new solutions to old problems by applying nanotechnology. That industry is the packaging industry, and this short paper outlines a few areas where the application nanotechnology is set to make a real difference.

Advances in microscopy and measurement techniques drive scientific progress. From Galileo Galilei to Binnig and Rohrer, NANO takes a look at the evolution of microscopes to the recent news of a scope capable of seeing atoms on the pico scale.