High Speed Inkjet Paper In Nowadays Sublimation Consumable Market

It's a complicated market. There's a need for both dye and pigment inks and increasingly a need for one paper to work with all the different inkjet printing machines. The challenge of creating a portfolio that works on all machines and in all market segments is getting bigger and bigger.

Sublimation paper is totally different to book paper and to DM paper - the weights, quality requirements and shades are so different. We try to offer a lean development process involving the OEM that builds the machine, the ink manufacturers, and those in the different market segments, such as publishers and printers.

Finishing is another element, because parallel with inkjet you have the integration of print and finishing. If you are going straight into a finishing line at high speed it is very complicated and it makes paper even more important. You cannot just say, let's make a 180 gsm paper; the calliper and shade of the paper is crucial, the run-ability is crucial. We have all been focusing on the look of the paper, does it look like offset; now it is, is this suitable for book printing?

Quality-wise, we have a range of seven papers and next to the silk range we have created a bright silk with the same feel. Gloss papers are very expensive - almost impossible to produce at the price that the market will pay. It's not possible for us to copy that for the inkjet market just yet.

The challenges we are addressing at the moment are:

1: Making papers that perform at the price the market expects

2: Proving ROI

3. Drying paper at high speed and going direct to finishing

4: Globalization - we sell all over the world and distribution is difficult; sublimation you can predict; less so with publishing and DM is not predictable at all.

In the future, we will be going to lighter and heavier papers. We need a certain volume to be cost efficient as a mill but the market is shouting for these solutions.

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Which Cover Coating is the Most Environmentally Friendly?

When specifying cover coatings for such applications as perfect-bound book covers, which option do you choose for the least harmful effect on the environment? With UV coating, lamination, aqueous coating, and varnish as the choices, which is best?

First of all, varnish, like ink, usually has a petroleum base (varnish is basically the vehicle of an ink mixture without the pigment), and during the drying process, the petroleum enters the atmosphere as toxic VOCs (volatile organic compounds). If your printer can use soy-based products for your project, of course, such a varnish would be far less harmful to the environment. (That is, it would be less toxic to humans and wildlife, it would cause less air pollution, and it would be less prone to contaminate the soil and groundwater.)

Laminates, such as the liquid, lay-flat, or film laminates used to coat the covers of perfect-bound books, are essentially plastics applied to the paper stock. In general, this would be problematic, due to the petroleum base of most plastics.  However, less harmful options are becoming available, such as laminates made from soy polymers, which are manufactured from soybean proteins. (Keep in mind, however, that although soy polymers are biodegradable, they do require land and water for growing the crops from which they are made. In addition, carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming, is released during their manufacture. Soy polymers are also expensive. So while they are better for the environment than petroleum based materials, they are not without their problems.)

UV coatings, prized for their high-luster sheen, unfortunately, are very unfriendly to the environment for two reasons. First, they contain carcinogens. Second, they don’t decompose in landfills.

Water-based coatings, on the other hand, called aqueous coatings, are a good option. They come in gloss, satin, and matte finishes, providing variety in paper surface coating. Unfortunately, they are not as shiny as their UV counterparts, so there is a bit of a sacrifice in choosing this option.

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Dye Sublimation Postcard Printing: Deconstructing a Postcard

A Description of the Postcard

The postcard is a 4” x 6” promotional piece from a financial services firm. One side is deep navy blue, and the other is white. The card is thicker than most. I just checked it with my micrometer, and it's 16 pt. For a postcard this size, the US Postal Service only requires a 7 pt. thickness, so this card provides a sense of solidity and opulence, two good attributes of a financial services firm.

The blue side of the card has a prominent texture: a series of vertical columns. The paper seems to be uncoated, and the surface of the sheet is a little mottled, presumably from its trip through the mail.

Printed on the blue paper is a single promotional offer in a typeface approximating hand lettering with a felt tip pen. All lettering is printed in bright, shiny silver. The card looks casual and inviting. The front of the card also includes a QR code, which provides a jumping off point to the recipient, so he or she can visit the company's website for further information.

On the mailing side of the postcard, all type is printed in silver. Interestingly enough, even the small type (approximately an 8 pt. sans serif font) is readable. The designer reversed the logo of the financial services company out of a silver solid, as well, and included a small tag line in a handwriting script typeface, which is also readable. Even the control letters and numbers on the front (the blue side) and the mailer side (small numbers reversed out of silver) are readable. Only the inkjetted address and USPS Intelligent Mail barcode are printed in black ink.

Deconstructing the Postcard

Since I liked the card, I put some attention toward discovering exactly what appealed to me.

Here are some thoughts. I have also included the process I used to confirm any technical information of which I was unsure.

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