EXAMINATION OF THE IMPACT OF DRYING TECHNIQUES IN SURFACE SIZING-COATING OPERATIONS ON THE QUALITY OF PAPER AND PRINTING

In order to improve the surface characteristics of paper, surface sizing and surface coating are applied to the surface of the paper. Filling the pores on the surface with polymerized substances and flatting the surface are aimed in both operations. Test papers are either left for air-drying or they could be heated in an oven to dry more quickly. Other drying techniques may also affect printing, as well as the optical and physical qualities of the paper. In this study, starch-based sizing and calcium carbonated-starch-based coating operations were applied separately on paper surfaces. Some of the papers were allowed to dry at room temperature, and the others were dried in an oven. When the drying process was completed, paper gloss, water absorption and wettability qualities, as well as the CIE L*a*b* color coordinates of all the papers were evaluated. In the following stage of the study, solid tone printing was applied on the surfaces of the papers -that had been subjected to different drying processes -using cyan colored ink in an IGT C1 printability tester. The effects of air-drying and oven-drying techniques in surface coating and sizing operations on the physical and printability characteristics of the paper were evaluated.