In piezo drop on demand inkjet technology, a piezoelectric crystal undergoes distortion when an electric field is applied. This distortion is used to create a pressure pulse in the ink chamber, which causes a drop to be ejected from the nozzle. There are many variations of piezo inkjet architectures including tube, edge, face, moving wall and piston, which use different configurations of the piezo crystal and the nozzle.
The main advantage of piezo technology is the ability to use the different ink types – like alcohol or UV – enabling printing on a wide variety of substrates.