Ink-jet printing of linear and star polymers

The influence of architecture on ink-jet printability of polymer solutions is investigated by comparing linear and 6-arm star PMMA. At comparable concentration and molecular weight, filament formation is much more pronounced for linear PMMA than for star PMMA. Visual examination of filament stretching allows estimation of the involved elongation rates, which are at high voltages sufficiently large for coil-stretch transition of the chains, suggesting its role in filament formation. The results obtained in this study suggest a possible role of the coil-stretch transition of the polymer chains in filament formation.