The influence of coating on general and reference printing conditions

The sheetfed printing industry is having commercial pressure applied to it from its customers to produce higher quality product at a lower cost. As a consequence, the use of inline coatings is increasing throughout the industry to improve product appearance, durability and to give "added value" to the product. This addition of a secondary layer on top of the print causes problems in both the proofing and to the appearance of the print. Often proofing has to be carried out at the press side and it has been reported that the use of the coatings can introduce tone jumps within the gradation scale.

This paper assesses the influence of coatings on the print quality. Prints have been produced to the set specifications and then coated. The coatings assessed within the experimental programme include both aqueous and UV of different appearances. The results show the effect of the coating on the print quality in terms of the color, tonal reproduction and appearance.