Experimental and Theoretical Study of Wave Propagation Phenomena in Drop-on-Demand Ink Jet Devices

This paper presents experimental observations and a theoretical analysis of the operation of drop-on-demand piezoelectric ink jet devices. By studying experimentally the dependence of several operating characteristics on the length of the cavity in the nozzle of an ink jet device, we have gained insight into the physical phenomena underlying the operation of such a device. It is concluded that drop-on-demand ink jet phenomena are related to the propagation and reflection of acoustic waves within the ink jet cavity. A simple analysis is carried out on the basis of linear acoustics which is in good agreement with the experimental observations.