Abstract
A preliminary experiment was conducted on an electrostatic ink jet phenomenon. High voltage was applied between an insulative capillary tube filled with water and a metal plate electrode. Ink jet phenomenon was observed at the dark discharge under conditions of appropriate tube diameter and water level. Although the electrostatic attractive force is small, in the order of 10 μN at the voltage lower than the corona onset, it is large enough to separate a water droplet against surface tension in the capillary tube at certain conditions. At the beginning of corona discharging, however, water mist was dispersed at wide angle from the tip of the tube. At higher voltage, water mist became to be dispersed like spray. Joule heat is assumed to be one of reasons of the mist generation. This phenomenon is expected to be utilized for a new ink jet print head.
