| µS | Micro second, one millionth of a second |
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| A/D converter | Analogue to digital converter |
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| Binary inkjet | A form of continuous inkjet where the drops are either printed or recirculated |
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| Bubble inkjet | A drop on demand technology where the ink is boiled very rapidly to grow a bubble and eject a drop. Hewlett-Packard refers to this technology as ‘thermal inkjet’ |
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| CAS number | Chemical Advisory Service, issuing chemical registration No. |
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| CI | Chemical Index |
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| CIJ | Continuous Inkjet, one of the two broad types of inkjet technology, the other being drop on demand, or impulse inkjet |
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| CMY | Cyan, Magenta, Yellow – three process colours used to form full colour images. If a separate black ink is not used, then the black formed using just the three colours is referred to as a composite black. |
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| CMYK | Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK |
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| CONEG | Council of New England Governors, regulations that control the disposal of heavy metals and printing waste |
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| Continuous inkjet | One of the two broad types of inkjet technology, the other being drop on demand, or impulse inkjet |
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| cP | Centipoise, the unit of viscosity |
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| CPI | Channels Per Inch |
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| CtP | Computer to Plate, a method of making offset printing plates directly from a data file, typically by imaging with a scanning laser, but direct image formation using an inkjet image or the formation of an inkjet mask is also being proposed. |
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| Curie temperature, point | The temperature at which the activity of poled piezo material is completely lost |
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| Decap | The time that nozzles can be uncovered before it is impossible to revive those nozzles by purging, and therefore a service engineer is required |
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| DOD | Drop On Demand, one of the two broad classes of inkjet technology, the other being continuous inkjet |
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| DPI | Dots Per Inch, a measure of the addressability of an inkjet printer |
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| Edge shooter | Drop on demand printer where the drops are fired from nozzles on the edge of the printhead, perpendicular to the action of the bubble or actuator |
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| EINECS | Chemical registration authority for Europe |
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| Face shooter | Printhead where the actuator diaphragm or heater is parallel to the nozzle plate |
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| H&S | Health & Safety |
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| Hertz | A form of continuous inkjet technology invented by Professor Hertz, Lund Institute in Sweden |
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| Hz | Hertz, or cycles per second, a measure of frequency |
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| IC | Integrated Circuit |
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| ID | Identity, as in Identity card |
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| IMI | Information Management Institute, organisers of the largest and most comprehensive conferences in the digital printing industry |
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| IS&T | Institute of Science & Technology, the academic organisation for digital printing |
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| JIT | Just In Time, a manufacturing workflow methodology, where goods are supplied just before they are needed rather than kept in stock |
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| kHz | Kilohertz, or thousands of cycles per second |
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| Latency | The time that nozzles are not fired before there is a determined reduction in performance, for instance a reduction in drop velocity that will affect the noticeable image quality |
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| LCP | Large Character Printer, a reference to low resolution technology such as valve jet which produces large characters on packaging |
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| MEK | Methyl Ethyl Keytone, a volatile organic solvent used as the carrier in many CIJ applications |
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| MEMS | Micro Electrical Mechanical Systems, referring to the etching and forming process used by the microelectronics industry, for instance etching silicon structures |
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| MeOH | Methanol |
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| MFP | Multi-Function Peripheral, a product which combines scanning, faxing, printing and maybe copying within one box |
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| Microfabricated | Manufactured using techniques used in the semiconductor industry, such as etching, electroforming, etc. |
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| Micron | Millionth of a metre |
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| Moving wall | A type of piezo printhead design, originated by Xaar, where the walls surrounding the ink channels are active and flex to create the necessary pressures for drop ejection |
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| MW | Molecular Weight |
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| NC | Nitrocellulose |
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| NIP | Non Impact Printing |
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| Nozzle density | The spacing between nozzles or channels in a single row, normally given as nozzles or channels per inch |
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| NPI | Nozzles Per Inch |
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| NWC | Non Wetting Coating, a coating sometimes applied to the face of a nozzle plate to help prevent ink drooling from the nozzles |
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| oC | Degrees Centigrade or Celsius |
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| OD | Optical density |
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| OEM | Original Equipment Manufacturer, a company that makes a product but sells it via someone else, normally without the original companies name |
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| PAA | Poly Acrylic Acid |
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| Phase change | Ink which is solid at room temperature. The printhead is heated so that the ink is liquid, and it dries on contact with the substrate by freezing to a solid |
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| Piezo | A material exhibiting the piezoelectric effect, where mechanical distortion of the material results in the formation of a charge across the material, or vice versa. The most common material in general use is PZT, Lead Zirconium Titanate |
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| Piston | An actuator configuration where the piezo material is expanded and contracted along its length, resulting in a large lengthways displacement like a piston |
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| pL | Pico litre, or 1 million millionth of a litre |
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| POP | Point Of Purchase, the place where goods are sold |
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| POS | Point Of Sale, the place where goods are sold |
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| ppm | Pages Per Minute, the print speed, normally for A4 or letter sheets |
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| ppm | Parts Per Million, concentration of a component in a solution |
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| P-POP | Plain Paper Optimised Printing, a method Canon uses to improve image quality and fastness, where an ink “improver” liquid is printed with the colour |
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| PQ | Print Quality |
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| PVOH | Poly Vinyl Alcohol |
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| PVP | Poly Vinyl Pyrrolidinone |
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| PZT | lead (Plumbium) Zirconium Titanate |
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| QA | Quality Assurance |
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| QC | Quality Control |
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| RH | Relative Humidity |
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| Roof mode | An actuator configuration where the piezo material deflects a diaphragm in the roof of a chamber which is perpendicular to the nozzle plate |
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| Satellite | An unwanted drop produced behind the main drop, which either merges with the main drop (fast satellite) or drifts away from the main drop (slow satellite) |
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| SCP | Small Character Printer, a term used for coding printers where characters and numerics of 2 – 20mm high are printed |
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| Shear rate | Measure of the resistance of a liquid to shear forces |
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| SOHO | Small Office, Home Office markets, which for the printer market implies directly connected, rather than networked printers |
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| Solid ink | Ink which is solid at room temperature. The printhead is heated so that the ink is liquid, and it dries on contact with the substrate by freezing to a solid |
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| Surface tension | Surface force restraining a liquid, normally measured in dynes/cm2 |
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| Thermal inkjet | A drop on demand technology where the ink is boiled very rapidly to grow a bubble and eject a drop. Canon refers to this technology as ‘bubble’ inkjet |
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| TIJ | Thermal Inkjet, see above |
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| TiO2 | Titanium dioxide, a commonly used white pigment |
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| TSCA | Pronounced “Toska”, the US Toxic Substance Control Act, the new chemical substances registration authority |
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| Tube | In inkjet, a tubular piezo element surrounding an ink channel where squeezing the tube creates the necessary pressures to eject a drop |
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| UV | Ultra violet, as in UV curing where the ink is cured by UV radiation |
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| Valve jet | A low resolution, low frequency inkjet technology where the ink is under pressure and drops are generated by operating a mechanical valve. Often referred to as a large character printer |
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| VOC | Volatile Organic Content, part of an ink formulation that is volatile and potentially hazardous |
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