Relating ink solvent-coating component thermal properties to smearing and development of abrasion resistance in ink jet printing
Abstract The target of this study was to identify the interactions of the compounds of printing ink and paper coating colour and their effects on the inkjet print quality. Interactions between inkjet ink solvent components and their interaction with paper coating compounds are considered significant for the final print quality. Especially, ink solvent properties play an important role in inkjet ink drying. The methods used to study these interactions are thermogravimetry (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and results are analysed for correlations with print quality. The experimental material consists of both commercial and model inkjet inks, paper coating colour compounds and commercial papers. To visualize the thermal data and to combine the TGA and DSC measurements in a single plot, a representation has been used, in which the specific gravimetric (TGA) and specific energy (DSC) ratios, m1/m2 and E1/E2, corresponding to the mass loss and energy consumed per unit mass of sample, in the temperature regions T < 100°C and 100°C < T < 220°C, respectively, are plotted against each other. The determined ratios differed greatly between different model solvents and ink series. The thermal behaviour of the solvents is seen to be relevant for predicting inkjet print quality.