Continuous Ink Jet

A continuous inkjet printer (CIJ) is a non-contact industrial inkjet printer that fires a continuous stream of ink droplets to code products at high speed, even on fast-moving lines. Nexus Australia supplies and supports Markem-Imaje CIJ printers Australia-wide for date coding, batch numbers and barcodes.

Continuous inkjet printing technology offers automatic nozzle cleaning and compatibility with different inks, suiting food, pharmaceuticals, packaging and electronics applications.

How it works

CIJ generates a continuous stream of charged ink droplets. The droplets are deflected to form characters on the surface, while unused droplets are recirculated. Because it is non-contact, it prints on moving products without touching them.

Substrate

CIJ is commonly used on packaging materials such as paper, cardboard, plastics (PET, PVC, HDPE, LDPE), glass bottles, metal cans and flexible films. It is also applied to wood, fabrics, foils, rubber, ceramics and electronic components for product identification and coding.

Capability

• Batch or lot numbers for product traceability.
• Expiry dates for perishable goods.
• Barcodes and QR codes for inventory and tracking.
• Manufacturing dates for time-sensitive products.
• Serial numbers for individual product identification.
• Logo and branding elements.
• Ingredient lists and nutritional information on food packaging.
• Warning labels and safety instructions on consumer products.
• Variable data for personalised marketing or packaging.
• Production codes for quality control and process tracking.

Speed

Markem-Imaje inkjet printers print from low up to high speed applications.

Consumables

Markem-Imaje inks cover a broad spectrum of applications to suit different substrates, with a choice of ink colours.

Related coding and marking systems

• Thermal inkjet (TIJ) printers
• Laser coding systems
• Thermal transfer overprinters
• Valve jet printers
• Large character inkjet printers
• Print and apply labelling