Cartridges
TIJ 2.5 Solvent Cartridge — Fast-Dry Ink for Non-Porous Surfaces
HP45-format thermal inkjet cartridge with fast-dry solvent ink, for the plastic, coated metal and film surfaces that a water-based ink will not hold.
Key specifications
- Model
- XM-45S
- Print width
- 12.7 mm (half-inch, XM-45S-127) and 25.4 mm (one-inch, XM-45S-254)
- Ink base
- Solvent fast-dry
- Capacity
- 42ml
- Resolution
- Native 300 dpi, up to 600 dpi depending on print mode
- Chip
- Non-encrypted / open chip — no authentication handshake, no single-use lock-out
Overview
This is the cartridge we recommend most often, because it solves the single most common problem in industrial coding: the ink will not hold on the surface the customer actually prints on. A water-based ink wets carton perfectly and beads up on HDPE. Fast-dry solvent is formulated to wet low-energy surfaces instead of sitting on top of them.
The cartridge is an HP45-format thermal inkjet body at 42 ml industrial fill. Thermal inkjet means the reservoir, the filter and the printhead are one sealed assembly — there is no separate head to clean or align, and a nozzle that fails is fixed by changing the cartridge rather than by a cleaning routine.
Two things decide whether it works on your product, and neither is the ink colour. The first is the surface energy of the material: untreated PP and HDPE sit around 26–32 mN/m, below the surface tension of most coding inks, so they usually need corona or flame pretreatment. The second is the drying budget — the time between the printhead and the first thing that touches the code. Send us both and we will tell you honestly whether a solvent ink is enough or whether the line layout needs to change.
Nozzle plate macro + printed sample
Awaiting real macro photography of the nozzle plate and printed samples on the customer's substrate
Design points
Formulated for low-energy surfaces
Solvent carrier wets HDPE, PP, PET, rigid PVC and coated metal that water-based ink will not hold. Adhesion still depends on surface energy, so pretreatment is often required — see the substrate guide.
Open chip, no lock-out
No authentication handshake and no single-use enforcement. The cartridge can be qualified as a second source alongside your existing supply without replacing printers.
42 ml industrial fill
Full industrial fill in the HP45-format body, not a reduced service fill. Actual cartridge life depends on character size and content density, not on the volume alone.
Two print widths from one platform
12.7 mm for single-line date, batch and serial codes; 25.4 mm for multi-line content and QR or Data Matrix codes in a single pass.
Whole-cartridge replacement
Nozzle plate, ink reservoir and filter are one assembly. A dropped nozzle is resolved by changing the cartridge, with no cleaning station and no service visit.
Six colours available
Black, cyan, magenta, yellow, white and red. White is used to contrast against dark substrates such as black cable or dark mouldings, where black ink is invisible.
Full technical data
| Model | XM-45S |
|---|---|
| Print width | 12.7 mm (half-inch, XM-45S-127) and 25.4 mm (one-inch, XM-45S-254) |
| Ink base | Solvent fast-dry |
| Capacity | 42ml |
| Drying time | Typically 1–5 s on non-porous surfaces; confirm against your line speed |
| Resolution | Native 300 dpi, up to 600 dpi depending on print mode |
| Drop placement | Nozzle placement accuracy ±0.1 mm (platform characteristic) |
| Chip | Non-encrypted / open chip — no authentication handshake, no single-use lock-out |
| Primary substrates | HDPE, LDPE, PP, PET, Rigid PVC, Coated metal and metallised film, Glass, Corrugated carton (where a solvent system is already qualified) |
| Colours | Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, White, Red |
| Storage | Store sealed, out of direct light, at room temperature. Do not leave the nozzle plate exposed to air for extended periods; fit the original cap when the cartridge is out of the printer. |
| Platform | HP45-format thermal inkjet (TIJ 2.5), one-piece cartridge |
| Nozzle array | 300 nozzles per row at 1/300 in pitch, offset rows (platform characteristic) |
| Drop volume | Approximately 29–38 pl, model and print-mode dependent |
| Fire frequency | Typically 12–18 kHz, model dependent |
| Optimal throw distance | 1–2 mm optimum; usable up to 5 mm with loss of placement accuracy |
| Decap behaviour | Head idles roughly 10–15 min on fast-dry solvent before the nozzle plate begins to dry; confirm per ink |
| Capacity | 42 ml |
| Colours | Black, cyan, magenta, yellow, white, red |
Ink properties, published
| Ink base | Solvent fast-dry |
|---|---|
| Viscosity | 1.2–2.5 mPa·s |
| Surface tension | ≈23 mN/m (static) |
| Drying time | Typically 1–5 s on non-porous surfaces |
| Rub / wipe | Strong once fully cured — cure time, not dry-to-touch, is the limit |
| Primary substrates | HDPE, PP, PET, Coated metal, PVC, Glass |
Viscosity and surface tension are published industry ranges for each ink class and are not a substitute for the ink-specific datasheet. Drying bands depend on substrate, ink load and ambient conditions. Every range above should be confirmed against the technical datasheet for your chosen model, and by sampling.
Typical applications
- Date, batch and lot coding on HDPE and PP containers and closures
- Serial and traceability codes on PET bottles and PET film
- Coding on coated aluminium foil, metallised film and lacquered tinplate
- Cable, tube and profile marking where a code has to survive handling
- Secondary packaging where the surface has a lacquer or varnish
Engineering notes
- 01
Confirm the print width against your printer carriage before ordering. A one-inch (25.4 mm) body requires a carriage and cartridge seat that accept it; many compact handheld units take the half-inch body only.
- 02
Where the substrate is PP or HDPE, ask your converter for the current dyne level, or measure it. Corona treatment decays during storage, so treated stock that has sat in a warehouse can behave differently from a freshly treated sample.
- 03
Cure is not the same as dry-to-touch. If the code is wiped or abraded immediately after printing, it can be removed while it still looks set. Allow for the cure time in the line layout, not just the drying time.
- 04
Do not mix ink systems in the same cartridge or top up a partially used cartridge. Mixing formulations can damage the printhead beyond recovery.
Why a solvent system, and when it is the wrong answer
Solvent fast-dry ink exists because of a physical limit, not a commercial one. A liquid wets a solid only when the solid’s surface energy exceeds the liquid’s surface tension, with a working margin of roughly 8 to 10 mN/m. Carton and paper are absorbent and present no such barrier. Polyolefins do: untreated PP measures around 26–28 mN/m and HDPE around 28–32 mN/m, both below what a water-based coding ink can wet reliably.
Solvent ink closes part of that gap by lowering surface tension — the fast-dry solvent class sits near 23 mN/m static, against 30–45 mN/m for a water-based ink. That is why the same polypropylene cap that sheds a water-based code will hold a solvent code.
It is not a universal fix. Where the gap is still too wide, pretreatment is the answer, not a different cartridge: corona or flame treatment oxidises the surface layer and lifts HDPE to roughly 38–42 mN/m and PP to 40–44 mN/m. On glass, the problem is different again — glass has high surface energy but is chemically inert, so adhesion tends to depend on a primer rather than on the ink.
Selecting between 12.7 mm and 25.4 mm
The print width decides what content is physically possible, so it is worth settling before anything else.
| Requirement | Half-inch (XM-45S-127) | One-inch (XM-45S-254) |
|---|---|---|
| Single-line date or batch code | Sufficient | Sufficient |
| Two compact lines | Workable at reduced character height | Comfortable |
| QR or Data Matrix plus a date line | Too tight; codes get small and scan rate drops | The practical choice |
| Handheld unit weight | Lighter, better for long shifts | Heavier, and the carriage must accept the one-inch body |
| Cost per cartridge | Lower | Higher, but spread over more printed marks |
The second column is not an upsell. If a QR code has to fit alongside a date line, 12.7 mm forces the code small enough that end-of-line scanners start rejecting it — and rework costs more than the cartridge difference.
What we publish, and what we do not
The platform characteristics listed above — nozzle count, pitch, drop volume, fire frequency, throw distance — are published properties of the HP45-format TIJ 2.5 platform. They are characteristics of the platform, not measurements we have taken on your material.
Viscosity and surface tension figures for the ink class are published industry ranges. The model-specific values are in the technical datasheet, which we will send on request.
What we deliberately do not publish is a single drying time in seconds and a single rub-resistance count. Both depend on your substrate, your ink load per mark, your ambient conditions and your cure window. A supplier who publishes one number for all of those is telling you the number they want you to read, not the number you will get. We would rather print on your material and show you.
Questions engineers ask
Will it work in my existing printer?
The cartridge is built to the HP45-format TIJ 2.5 standard, which is the widest-used body in industrial thermal inkjet. That said, printers differ in how they identify a cartridge, so send us the printer make and model and we will confirm it. Where the model is unusual, we will send a single cartridge for you to test before you commit to a volume.
What does "non-encrypted" actually mean?
It means the cartridge does not carry an OEM authentication chip that the printer must handshake with before it will accept it. There is no single-use enforcement and no firmware gate that stops a genuine cartridge from running. It does not mean the cartridge is unmarked or that it bypasses a legitimate warranty condition — check that with your printer supplier if warranty status matters to you.
How many marks will one cartridge print?
This depends almost entirely on character height and content density, and the range is wide — a small single-line date code and a large multi-line block with a QR code can differ by several times over. Send us the actual content and we will calculate it against your requirement rather than quote a generic figure.
The ink smears when it goes over the first roller. What can I change?
First check the drying budget: measure the distance from the printhead to the first point of contact and divide by the line speed. If that is less than a few seconds, the fix is layout — moving the head, adding air movement — rather than a different cartridge. If the budget is adequate and it still smears, the substrate is probably PP or HDPE and needs corona or flame pretreatment. We will help you work out which of the two it is.
Can I top up or refill the cartridge?
We do not recommend it, and we do not supply refill kits. The cartridge is a sealed assembly with the filter and printhead built in, so contamination introduced during refilling destroys the head. Mixing two ink formulations in the same cartridge can also damage the heater elements beyond recovery.
Do you supply a technical datasheet?
Yes — viscosity, surface tension, drying behaviour, storage conditions and safety data documentation for the specific model, on request. We would rather send you the actual datasheet for your model than publish an averaged figure that does not describe what you will receive.
Send us your substrate — we will send back a printed code
Tell us the material, the line speed and the text you need to print. We will recommend an ink system and put printed samples in the post so you can test them yourself.