Canon Inkjet Printhead "erosion"...

[turbguy]

In a "past life", I dealt with machines that used a considerable amount of wet steam at high velocity to perform their function.

Erosion (mechanical pitting, similar to cavitation in centrifugal pumps) to of the metals of construction was an industry issue. Even the hardest metals would eventually erode and change surface geometry with constant use.

I have had several Canon printheads show evidence of mis-directed ink (lines above or below the proper grid location) upon examining service nozzle check patterns. This effected photo quality prints by producing fine streaking, particularly with certain color gradients. No amount of cleaning techniques or efforts would produce the original perfect grid patterns. Only renewing the printhead solved the issue.

My "past life" experience leads me to consider that the fine geometry of the inkjet nozzles is being disturbed by similar, albeit microscopic, erosive damage. I assume the base materials on the nozzle is silicon, no? The "boiling" of the ink in the nozzle is a very violent process in a very confined area, and could easily lead to this type of wear.

Any comments?

Wayne

 

[stratman]

Only renewing the printhead solved the issue.

What do you mean by "renewing" the print head?

In your past life, were you a Mississippi river steamboat captain, a Norfolk and Western steam locomotive train engineer, boilerman on the Titanic, nuclear reactor designer...?

 

[turbguy]

Renewing the printhead means installing a new printhead.

Steam Turbine Engineer.

 

[stratman]

I have no knowledge of what you do/did, but I lived in Laramie for a short time while at the U of W. Go Cowboys!

As to your original question, your assumptions about wear caused by the process of heating the ink sounds logical to me, though I have no idea to what extent. The effects of environment over time on the components - adhesives, plastics, circuitry, etc - no doubt plays a role on the life of the print head as well. The ink used may also alter the dynamics within the print head and lead to an earlier failure. I don't recall reading any comments or literature that discuss your points in any detail, though you would expect Canon to have internal research on the matter.