How Important Is Water Absorbency in Newsprint?

The surface chemistry of newsprint was modified to cover the range from rapid water saturation to complete water repellency. In letterpress printing, differences in print quality with an oil-based ink were due to differences in surface structure (roughness) and not surface chemistry. In a two-color offset printing trial with newsprints of the same physical structure but widely differing water absorbency, no signs of ink refusal, mottle, or other differences in print quality were sen across the range of samples. The possible influence of newsprint water absorbency on runnability problems such as misregister in multi-color printing is discussed.