Investigation into the Coating Layer Requirements for Compatibility with Multiple Inkjet Ink Sets, PaperCon '09 Conference

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For the convenience of the industrial and home/office end-users, it would be useful if multiple types of inkjet papers, suitable for various kinds of ink, were available. In order for such products to be developed, studies to determine the substrate properties important to the printability of inkjet papers with different ink types, under the same printing conditions, are needed. In this study, a single Piezo-type inkjet printer was used to investigate the printability of three different inks, such as Dye ink, Pigment ink and UV ink. Several glossy papers were used as the substrates, in order to find the correlation between ink properties, printability and substrates properties. From the results, insight into the substrate properties required for the development of a multipurpose inkjet paper, compatible with multiple types of inkjet inks, was gained. The results showed that higher void fraction and better uniformity coatings resulted in higher optical density with the Pigmented and UV ink, but adversely impacted the optical density of the Dye ink, due to the greater penetration of this ink into the coating layer (away from the surface). The presence of micro cracks in the coating layer was found to be especially detrimental to the optical density of the dye printed papers. Coating cracks, most likely caused by shrinkage, resulted in an increase in the optical density in halftone tints, and decrease of the optical density in solid patterns.