What are inkjet printers made of?
Inkjet printers take 11 things directly, among them silicon wafer, ABS plastic, polystyrene, steel, electric motor and vulcanized rubber. Trace them back and you pass 70 made things on the way to 31 raw materials.
How inkjet printers are made See it on the map
What goes straight in
- Silicon waferat Make the printhead
- ABS plasticat Mold the plastic frame
- Polystyreneat Mold the plastic frame
- Steelat Fit the carriage and motors
- Electric motorat Fit the carriage and motors
- Vulcanized rubberat Fit the carriage and motors
- Inkat Fill the ink
- Printed circuit boardat Populate the control board
- Microchipat Populate the control board
- Solderat Populate the control board
- Paperat Test print
From the ground: 31 raw materials
- Quartz through silicon wafer
- Air through ABS plastic
- Natural rubber latex through vulcanized rubber
- Sulfur through vulcanized rubber
- Water through paper
- Kaolin through paper
- Limestone through paper
- Crude oil through ABS plastic, propylene
- Natural gas through polystyrene, ethylene
- Iron ore through ink, pigment
- Dolomite through steel, magnesium
- Manganese ore through steel, manganese
- Soybeans through ink, vegetable oil
- Rapeseed through ink, vegetable oil
- Clay through ink, vegetable oil
- Titanium ore through ink, titanium dioxide
- Corn through ink, ethanol
- Sugarcane through ink, ethanol
- Copper ore through solder, copper
- Silica sand through printed circuit board, fiberglass
- Tin ore through solder, tin
- Coal through microchip, aluminum
- Gold ore through microchip, gold
- Lead ore through solder, silver
- Silver ore through solder, silver
- Zinc ore through solder, silver
- Timber through paper, wood pulp
- Rock salt through printed circuit board, epoxy, caustic soda
- Trona through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash
- Bauxite through microchip, aluminum, alumina
- Sugar beet through ink, ethanol, baker's yeast, molasses
Made along the way: 59 things
Metals 16
Pig ironMagnesiumSteel scrapManganeseSheet steelCopper wireCopperTinAluminumGoldLeadSilverCokeZincSteel wireAlumina
Metal goods 1
Chemicals and fuels 30
ArgonNaphthaPropyleneAmmoniaBenzeneEthyleneStyrenePigmentOxygen gasQuicklimeCarbon blackTitanium dioxideEthanolHydrochloric acidHydrogenToluenePropaneSulfuric acidPhenolAcetoneChlorineCaustic sodaHexaneFormaldehydeSoda ashPetroleum cokeHydrogen peroxideCharcoalMethanolCarbon dioxide