Effect of Printing Conditions on Print-Through in Web Offset Printing

윤전 오프셋인쇄에서 인쇄뒤비침에 영향하는 인쇄조건에 관한 연구

Print-through is one of the most important attributes of print quality and has long been a subject to study. However, some aspects of print through are still in need to be enlighten. In this paper, different kinds of evaluating methods for print through are compared using densitometry, brightness, and image analysis. Printing conditions including ink feed, drying condition, and emulsification rate are systematically changed to effect print-through both on uncoated and coated commercial papers. Also several inks from different makers are introduced and compared in terms of print-through propensity. From the results, densitometry is not a good indicator for print through on the papers in this study. Ink feed has a strong effect on print through, especially for uncoated paper and should be considered in a point of optimum ink feed level in real world. Contribution of faster ink(oil) absorption seems to be more competitive than that of ink(oil) evaporation resulting in severer print-through for hot drying process. It is shown that ink-water emulsification rate increases print through at mild level but easy to decrease it with lower density due to the increase of water contents in emulsion. It is believed that the effect of absorption overwhelms that of density drop at mild emulsification level. This study does not include the effect of ink attributes in detail but shows that distinctive differences in print through may be resulted from various ink-makers and is finalized with some suggestions.