Inks play a pivotal role in the normal operation of a printer. Without the ink, printouts are bound to be useless with the absence of the text or graphics that are supposed to be printed on the paper. Fortunately, there are inks available for the different types of printers. Furthermore, the supplies of printer inks are quite accessible. Knowing what ink you are using can help you decided whether to buy a new printer cartridge or a refillable one. In some cases, you may even be the one to refill your spent cartridge.

Inkjet printers, which are ordinarily used by people having personal computers or by businesspersons in their operations, utilize four kinds of inks: the aqueous, the solvent, the dye sublimation, and the ultraviolet (UV)-curable.

Aqueous inks are ordinarily used for thermal inkjet printers. These are a combination of several dyes or pigments, which is then mixed with water and glycol. This mixture is hard to control when applied on the exterior of any medium. It is necessary for a special type of medium that is specifically coated for the mixture to be regulated.

Piezoelectric inkjets make us of the solvent inks, the dye sublimation inks as well as the UV-curable inks. The solvent inks have volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as their primary ingredient and are commonly used for billboards as well as graphics on fleets. Solvent inks are very affordable. Dye sublimation inks are applicable for printing on fabrics, either directly or indirectly. The preferred fabric are those that are made mostly of polyester fibers. The sublimation dye is heated, which is then absorbed by the fibers creating whatever image is desired. The color is usually strong and the image achieved is durable. UV-curable inks, as the name implies, utilizes UV-light in order for the ink to dry immediately. This is the most expensive kind of ink among the four enumerated.

Whatever ink you may need to use, there are stores that keeps these products in stock. Before buying, determine first the printer you have and the ink that is appropriate to be used. Then proceed to the store that sells the ink that you need. The suppliers of printer ink are numerous so do not limit your choices.