The Inkjet Research Centre (IRC) was established in March 2005 to carry out research into the generic science which underlies this important technology. Between 2005 and 2017 the Centre ran two major EPSRC-supported projects: Next-generation inkjet technology and Innovation in industrial inkjet technology: I4T.  Both projects involved research collaboration with several other academic groups in Cambridge and other UK universities, and were strongly supported by industrial consortia. Research in the IRC included studies of fundamental aspects of inkjet technology, fluid mechanics, visualisation, analysis and computation to study jet and drop creation, drop flight and drop/surface interaction.

The Centre also developed interests in the application of inkjet and related methods to additive manufacturing, as well as the printing of functional materials and medical diagnostic devices. The Centre used very high resolution (temporal and spatial) imaging techniques along with image and data analysis methods, combined with rheological measurements and computational fluid dynamics, to provide a rich insight into ink-jet performance and the behaviour of these complex systems.

Expertise developed in the IRC is now embedded within the Fluids in Advanced Manufacturing Group at the IFM.

Research outputs from the I4T project are summarised at the Gateway to Research and a list of publications is also available.