Paper and Print Studied with a Nuclear Microscope, 1999 International Paper Physics Conference Proceedings

Per Kristiansson

The combination of ion beam analysis and paper and print physics on a micrometer scale is discussed. The nuclear microscope and the analytical techniques used in such instruments are described and especially the techniques Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Scanning Transmission Ion Microscopy (STIM) are discussed. General description of the pigment distributions in prints is given and the importance of width and slope of these distributions are discussed. Three special applications of the nuclear microscope on paper and print related questions are discussed, optical dot gain, smearing and paper-ink interaction. For the optical dot gain a gain of approximately 20% is reported for the difference between observed optical image and true pigment distribution. For the smearing application correlation between width of pigment distribution and set off was found. It was also concluded that the part responsible for smearing is not the high inking level part of the distribution. Finally for the ink-paper interaction, a technique to measure ink penetration, and especially the individual components, are described.