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Harada-Kato Lab (Ricoh Next-Generation Digital Printing Technology Collaborative Research Chair)
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The lab uncovers how ink droplets become images on paper and film.
AboutAbout the lab
Unraveling how ink becomes an image.
The Harada-Kato Lab studies the phenomena that occur in ink droplets during inkjet printing.
It is a lab of a collaborative research chair jointly established by the Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Institute of Technology) and Ricoh Company, Ltd.
With industry and academia working as one, the lab tackles the elucidation of complex phenomena specific to inkjet, such as the evaporation, penetration, drying, and fixation of ink droplets.
Key terms
- Inkjet
- A printing method that forms images by jetting tiny ink droplets from nozzles onto paper or film
- Collaborative research chair
- A research organization that a company and a university jointly set up within the university, where company researchers and university faculty and students conduct research together
- Pigment
- Fine particles that give ink its color and do not dissolve in the liquid
NewsLab news
A lab information session was held for undergraduates in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
A paper by a doctoral student was published in J. Therm. Sci. Technol.
A doctoral student received the Nominations for MST award at ISFV21
A paper by Project Lecturer Kato and colleagues was published at I4SDG Workshop 2025
A paper by former Project Professor Kadonaga and colleagues was published in the Journal of the Imaging Society of Japan
ResearchResearch themes
In inkjet printers, a variety of phenomena are intricately involved between the moment an ink droplet lands on the medium (paper or film) and the moment it becomes an image. The lab's theme is to elucidate phenomena such as landing, evaporation, penetration, and fixation.
*Illustrative imageAnalyzing Ink Evaporation
Ink contains many components besides water, such as high-boiling-point solvents and surfactants. The lab measures how evaporation changes with temperature and humidity, and builds physical models.
*Illustrative imageAnalyzing How Ink Soaks In
The lab investigates how the properties of media such as paper and film, and the properties of the ink, are related to how the ink soaks in (penetration).
*Illustrative imageAnalyzing Flow Inside Ink Droplets
Inside the ink, flows arise from evaporation, temperature distribution, and surface tension distribution, and these flows carry pigment. The lab investigates the relationship between these flows and the resulting image.
*Illustrative imageAnalyzing How Ink Dots Spread
The lab investigates how the way a landed ink dot spreads changes depending on the combination of medium and ink.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Harada-Kato Lab consist of faculty, administrative support staff, joint researchers from Ricoh, collaborating members, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- Project Associate ProfessorYoshihiro Harada
- Project LecturerKoichi Kato
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Inkjet-printed Neschen Filmoflex PVC Mesh L” Smokeonthewater / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Analyzing Ink Evaporation: “Macro view of water droplets on transparent surface” Dreamora96x / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Analyzing How Ink Soaks In: “Cattail-handmade-paper-1280” Ckazilek / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Analyzing Flow Inside Ink Droplets: “Coffee ring. makro” De-okin (talk) 19:07, 10 September 2012 (UTC) / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Analyzing How Ink Dots Spread: “Inkjet s” Ulfbastel (talk) / Public domain (cropped)
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