Alloy and orifice plate for an ink-jet pen using the same

摘要

An alloy that is suitable for coating a nickel orifice plate of an ink-jet printhead so as to allow the orifice plate to adhere to an intermediate layer of the ink-jet printhead and to improve the non-wetting characteristics of the nickel orifice plate is disclosed. This alloy is made up of a precious metal and a polymer material. According to a one embodiment, the precious metal is gold and the polymer is Teflon. An orifice plate for an ink-jet pen that can be coated with the alloy typically has a plate that has an inner surface and an outer surface. The orifice plate has an orifice that extends through the plate between the inner surface and outer surface. At least a portion of the outer surface surrounding the orifice is coated with the precious metal-polymer alloy.