Digital BW, The Print

Ernst,

> the link in the article:
> http://www.paulroark.com/BWInfo/Pigment-Stabilization.pdf
> seems to be disconnected.

It seems to be working for me now. 

 
> Steric, isn't that related to fatty acids: butyrates 
> (butteracid in my Dutch conscience) ?

I don't know.  It seems to be used in the stabilization literature to 
refer to a method of stabilization that basically uses long polymer 
surfactants to suround the particles and keep them apart.

I do think yellowing of these stabilization components is an issue.  
I assume they are essentially clear at first, but UV typically seems 
to break bonds and often the result is some yellowness.

> ... acrylic, PVA, are all more clear and stay 
> more clear...
> 

> I see the butyrate is used in mixes of acrylic and styrene 
> for the encapsulation, BASF people,
> http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/la015734j
> 
> Nothing on Electrosteric in Wikipedia but this one gives the 
> more general overview:
> http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5639296/description.html

I'll check these out later today.

Have you seen anything with respect to the pH of the Vivera inks?  (I 
don't have a meter and litmus paper in ink is probably not going to 
work.)
...
> Some 
> ingredients will have to do with the different jet 
> technology and the head's materials they come in contact with.

Yes, very much so I suspect.  Have you compared or seen anything 
relating to the viscosity of the HP inks to Epson's?


> The use of Vivera inks (or V7 mixes made of them :-) in 
> piëzohead designs must be possible ...

I see we're thinking alike.  I've ordered some grey to check out.

> The higher water content may be an obstacle 
> given their use in a piëzohead.

I'll check viscosity first.  It it is close, we'll see how the grey 
prints in an Epson.

> You gave the MSDS sheets for 
> all monochromes but the gloss enhancer which could be a part 
> of a V7 mix. 

The Gloss Enhander is at
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/productdata/pdf
/ij_c9447a_us_eng_v1.pdf

The full list of MSDSs is at 
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/productdata/ijm
sdsuseng.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

The gloss enhancer is slightly different than the inks.  There are 
some polymer salts in it that might make it not work as a dilution 
base, but I'm sure I don't know.  It would probably be a lot faster 
for me to try "give it a spin" and see what happens.


> There's a reason for using piëzoheads as the alternative 
> quad drivers (QTR for example) for HP models do not exist. ..

Also, there are a lot of old Epsons out there that people might be 
able to turn into very good carbon printers.  I've got the K and 2% 
ends fairly nailed for my matte 100% carbon tastes, but for the older 
large format printers the middle densities are presenting some 
problems.  If the HP greys look good, they might be a solution.  
We'll see.

Did you also notice the very low amount of carbon in the HP ink?  
They claim their pigments are simply darker.  I know that is one area 
where advances were on the horizon.  In any case, the small amount of 
carbon makes me curious about the longevity.  I know the Wilhelm 
ratings are excellent, but that could be in due to HP's ability to do 
greater grey substitution in color and none at all in B&W.  I also 
expect that coating technology will ultimately advance to the point 
where the coatings are oxygen barriers.  What I'll do is run a test 
of the a diluted Eboni against an equal density of the HP grey and 
see how they compare.  

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com