European Experiences with Waterbased Inline Coating (WBC)

Inline coating with waterbased dispersion coatings has become increasingly widespread in sheetfed offset. Opinions on the physical properties of the wet coating during its application differ. Various methods for drying aids to WBCs (waterbased inline coatings) have been offered by several manufacturers of drying equipment. A growing number of tailor-made coatings are being offered to obtain specific properties of the dried coating film. It is well known that the gloss obtainable with WBCs has a certain limit. Similarly to UV coatings or foil lamination, or cellophaning, waterbased primer-coatings can help to produce very high gloss, while displaying a very high process reliability at the same time.