Influence of plasma coating on fluid absorption into pigment-coated paper, 2010 TAPPI Advanced Coating Fundamentals Symposium

Please Note: This document will be available in PDF format in the "My Electronic Documents" link on the home page once your order has been completed. Please make sure you have the latest version of Acrobat Reader. Click on the Acrobat Reader icon to check for the latest version, it’s FREE. To print a hardcopy of a PDF file correctly you must have a postscript printer. If you are not sure if your printer is a postscript printer please refer to your owner’s manual.

Fluorocarbon, organosilicon and hydrocarbon plasma coatings were used to modify the surface chemical composition of pigment-coated paper in order to understand the role of surface chemistry in fluid absorption and wettability. Two case studies are presented to show the influence of plasma coatings on wettability with and without external pressure using different fluids and types of coatings. According to mercury porosimetry results, plasma coatings had no influence on the porous structure of the paper. The plasma coatings were shown to reduce, and in some cases prevent the dampening water absorption into typical commercial pigment-coated paper used for offset printing. Reduced dampening water absorption on paper resulted in higher ink transfer. The fluorocarbon plasma coating was found to increase significantly the UV-varnish contact angles into a highly permeable and porous pigment-coated paper. However, the surface chemical modification did not reduce UV-varnish penetration, probably due to the effect of forced wetting by external pressure.