Open-system TIJ cartridges — factory direct
Engineering
The technical background behind our recommendations: surface energy, pretreatment, drying, and the tests that decide whether a code survives. If ink has already failed on your product, start with the diagnostic order.
Substrate Matching Guide
Adhesion is a surface-energy problem before it is an ink problem. This page gives the thresholds, pretreatment options and drying bands for the materials we see most, plus the tests that settle the question on your own product.
Surface energy · Pretreatment · Drying · Test methods EngineeringDate & Batch Coding
A date code is not judged on the line. It is judged at the shelf — after the pack has been stacked, chilled, wiped and handled. Three things decide whether it is still readable: the surface, where the code sits on it, and what happens to the pack afterwards. Below are the four failure routes to test for.
Bottles · Pouches · Cases · Cold chain · MRP EngineeringCoding on HDPE & PP
Polyolefins are the awkward end of inkjet coding. HDPE measures roughly 28–32 mN/m untreated and PP about 26–28 — both below the surface tension of most coding inks, so a mark can look perfect wet and flake off under a thumb. Three things decide the outcome: the surface state of the part you actually run, the ink system matched to it, and where on the part the code sits. The printer matters far less than any of the three.
HDPE · PP · PET · Closures · Film · Bags EngineeringCable & Pipe Coding
Something is always moving on a cable or pipe line. The product does not stop for the head, and on an extrusion run the ink has a fraction of a second to dry before the first capstan or the water trough. Three things decide whether the mark survives: the jacket or wall compound, where the head sits relative to the cooling trough and haul-off, and what happens to the coil — winding, dragging, burial, sunlight, a pressure test.
PVC · PE / XLPE · HDPE pipe · Meterage · ReelsLast reviewed
What you get instead: published ink properties, a stated position on where our competence ends, and a sampling process that lets you verify everything on your own material before you spend anything.
Substrate matching tool
Pick the material you print on and what the code has to survive. The recommendation updates immediately.
Send us your material. We send back a printed code.
Tell us the material, the line speed and what you need to print. We will name the ink system and post you samples you can test yourself.