Abstract
Ink transfer process from the printing roll to the moving web was investigated using a CFD technique for the application in R2R printed electronics. In line with the requirement that the web handling speed needs to be increased further for the cost competitiveness, the effects of web moving velocity with relatively complex roll patterns were analyzed. To make the present analysis more realistic, the numerical geometry and the ink properties were selected to match those of the real printing production system. Our numerical results showed that both web handling speed and complex printing-roll patterns influenced the shape of the transferred ink. As the web moving speed approaches towards 30mpm, a significant distortion of the shape of the transferred ink occurred. In the range of pattern width smaller than 100 microns, a phase distortion was also found to occur in all the printing-roll patterns considered in the present work but the ratio of the phase distortion to the line width gets smaller as the width becomes smaller. Thus, the web handling speed and the shape of printing-roll pattern will be important elements for the better printing quality under 100 micron line width range.
