Effect of the paper surface properties on the ink transfer parameters in offset printing

Abstract

Paper has a crucial impact on the qualitative properties of printed product as properties of the paper’s surface directly impact the ink transfer, consequently, basic optical properties of the print. Although same ISO paper type, papers possess variable surface properties leading to different influence on the ink transfer. The aim of this research was to analyse influence of the surface properties of the paper, including surface free energy, smoothness and gloss of some standard papers used in lithography on the ink transfer while matching the colorimetric values defined by ISO 12647-2:2013. Determination of amount of the ink transfer, optical density, mottling and colour difference of prints were performed to evaluate paper-ink interactions. Results have shown that produced prints differ in the investigated properties. Furthermore, there are significant correlations between the surface free energy of the paper and paper smoothness and the ink transfer. In addition, amount of ink used to produce a standardized print varies for different paper types (even in the same ISO paper classification), meaning difference in ink costs. This research proved the high influence of paper’s certain parameters on the ink transfer by strong correlation coefficients. This enables better process control and optimization of the printing.

An ecological approach to printing industry: Development of ecofriendly offset printing inks using vegetable oils and pine resin as renewable raw materials and evaluation of printability

“…Paper properties are one of the most important factors affecting the completeness of the image transfer and image appearance 18 . Ink and paper interaction is unmapped research area with development and introduction of new inks and paper types to the market 19 . Therefore, dispersion of pigments, binding of pigments to paper surface, porosity of the paper surface, ink absorption surface tension, contact angle and viscosity are important parameters that should be studied.…”

Polycaprolactone primers with zinc oxide and silicon dioxide nanoparticles for paper substrates: Influence on the properties of cyan and magenta offset prints

“…When analysing Figures 9 and 10, one should be guided by the following: the higher the GLCM energy and the lower the entropy, the less expressed the mottling is 29 . Therefore, when observing the results of GLCM analysis of cyan‐printed samples (Figure 9A‐D), it can be concluded that the addition of nanoparticles to the polycaprolactone primer did increase the mottling, especially on the gloss paper.…”

“…All optical measurements were carried out by means of an X‐rite eXact spectrophotometer. The Δ E ab was used to detect the differences between printed samples with and without the primers for each sample 29 . Measurements were carried out 10 times at different parts of each sample, with the measurement conditions set to illuminant D50, standard observer of 2° and filter M1.…”

Influence of the surface characteristics of corrugated cardboard on the quality of inkjet printing

“…Paper [5] reports the results of studying the quality of the offset printing process on standard types of paper, which differ in the characteristics of the printed surface. The authors found a significant correlation between the surface characteristics of the printed material and the imprint quality, which could optimize the printing process.…”

“…The authors of [8] determined that for digital inkjet printing, it is critical to control the level of color distortion, which is crucial to ensure high-quality color reproduction on imprints. Thus, the cited studies [3][4][5][6][7][8] mainly reflect the features in the influence of the surface characteristics of corrugated cardboard under standard printing conditions, which are regulated by standards [2].…”