DTP 시스템에서의 전단형 피에조 잉크젯 프린트헤드의 액적거동 해석

In DTP(digital textile printing) system, the selection of inkjet printhead is one of the core technologies. The printing quality such as the volume and velocity of droplets as well as the formation of satellite droplets is known to be closely related to the injection behaviors of the ink droplet. In the present work, we investigate the droplet behavior of micro-inkjet for a shear-mode piezoelectric(PZT) actuators numerically. The transient three-dimensional conservation equations of mass and momentum are solved by the computational fluid dynamics(CFD). The continuous surface force(CFS) model is used in order to predict the effect of surface tension force in the free surface flow. The volume-of-fluid(VOF) method with the piecewise linear interface construction(PLIC) scheme is employed for tracking the interfacial movement and reconstructing the interface between liquids and gas (ink and air). This study predict the droplet formation characteristics for the given properties of ink and geometry of printhead and the effects of thermal properties of ink and nozzle shape on the droplet quality are also investigated.