References O PAPEL vol. 77, num. 2, pp. 66 – 71 FEB 2016
Authors*: Janet Preston1 Gavin Butler-Lee1 Edenil Costa2 Andrew Findlay1
ABSTRACT Within a global market for printing and writing that is at best flat, consumption of paper for coated reel-fed (high-speed) inkjet is growing. Growth is driven by the potential to print on demand, reducing the need for high inventory of printed material and making it possible to personalize the content. The rate of growth and ultimate target market size is widely debated by analysts and commentators, with the key difference being whether coated inkjet can also take market share in coated magazines from traditional offset printed grades. One of the most significant hurdles to delivering mass commercialization of coated inkjet paper for magazines is the availability of a cost-effective paper substrate in a range of grades which has the look and feel of traditional magazine paper. This is because making good quality inkjet-compatible coated paper is challenging. Most inkjet inks contain 60%-95% solvent, often water; therefore, the difficulty is to evaporate the solvent whilst simultaneously fixing the ink at the paper surface. Amongst the requirements for such papers is that they have a high color density with both dye and pigment based inks, whilst minimizing ink spread and bleeding. Fast drying time is required to prevent set off of the ink; a problem especially prevalent with pigment based inks, and an even, mottle free print is also essential. IMERYS has been working to overcome these issues, and our philosophy has been to concentrate on more traditional mineral pigment types from our extensive portfolio of materials and grades to enable relatively high application solids. In this paper, we will expand on our view of the coated inkjet market, its size and technical needs. We will introduce the techniques that we have developed for characterizing these papers and share application data of our proposed formulation concept, benchmarked against appropriate commercial grades. Keywords: coated paper, inkjet.
*Authors references: 1. Imerys Minerals Ltd – Cornwall – UK 2. Imerys Minerals – Brazil Corresponding author: Edenil Costa Imerys Minerals Brazil. Av. Valentina Mello Freire Borenstein, 545. CEP 08735-270. Mogi das Cruzes (SP) – Brasil – Phone: +55 (11) 2133-3886. E-mail: [email protected]
