The earliest form of written communication on paper-like substance, papyrus, with ink was in ancient Egypt. During that time, that is, around 2500 B.C., black ink was made from soot and vegetable gums, which are mixed in water. The pen was a reed with a small brush that mounted on the end of it. Now, the technique of making printer ink is much more different.
Types
There are basically two types of printing ink: liquid inks and paste inks. These consist of a vehicle, a pigment and an additive (driers). The ‘vehicle’ is the flow and watery part of the ink. The different types of vehicles that are used in the ink depend on the drying system. The pigment, on the other hand, is the part, which gives the gloss, color, texture and other characteristics to the printed image. Printing ink additives like driers helps the ink to dry quicker. Bodying agents increases the viscosity of the ink; waxes to prevent certain printing defects and to increase the inks scuff resistance.
Printers, for instance, inkjet printers’ uses aqueous inks which are based on a mixture of water, glycol and dyes or pigment; and laser printers uses toner powders as ink.
Most inkjet printers use a technology wherein the cartridge is divided into many compartments or divisions for each color. Most printers require two cartridges one for black and another for primary colors. However, there is a metal plate and heating element, which help in heating the ink for printing. When the ink heats up it vaporizes to form a steam bubble that will help push the ink through the nozzle.
For laser printers, the toner cartridge contains a fine powder, which is a dry mixture of plastic particles, carbon, black or any other coloring agents to print on paper. The toner powder is transferred to the paper by an electrostatic ally charged drum unit and it fused to the paper by heated rollers while printing.
Prices of printer ink
For most printers, the ink or ink cartridges are very expensive that it just maybe cheaper to buy a new printer than to buy the entire set of ink. It is for this reason that many other alternatives have been developed to make it cheaper. For instance, we can get refills, which can be done ourselves by using a kit. Also we can modify the original cartridge of the printer to allow continuous ink systems with external ink tanks. You can check in the internet for the suppliers of discount printer ink and maybe certain sales and discounts for them too. There are also many websites in the internet, which offer many discounts in printer inks and ink cartridges.
