Effect of Starch Type on the Silicone Hold-out of Release Papers, 2000 Coating Conference Proceedings

C. Duraiswamy, M. K. Joyce, P. D. Fleming, T. W. Joyce--Silicone treated release papers are widely used, from food and packaging to the pressure sensitive label industry. Due to the high cost of silicone, surface sizing is done prior to the silicone coating. For this application, corn starch has been unrivaled because of its advantageous cost/performance characteristics. However, recently, paper companies are beginning to evaluate other starches because performance, not cost, has become paramount in the development of new products in the current, extremely competitive business environment. There is already some anecdotal evidence that starches other than corn may have advantages in certain applications. However, there is, at present, no fundamental understanding of the reasons underlying the improved performance characteristics of some starches over corn starch. The objective of this research is to begin to understand the performance differences between various starches in release papers. The sizing and silicone hold-out properties of papers surface sized with various starches were studied to determine if in fact some starches have more attractive performance characteristics. The information derived from this research provides insight into the fundamental properties and measurements performed to test and to control the quality of release papers. A new stain test was developed which shows promise as a quantitative test for measuring the silicone hold-out properties of these base papers.