Production experience with curtain coating for woodfree coated paper

Mill-scale trials were carried out with a commercial curtain coater to produce a single-coated, glossy, woodfree paper (70-80 g/m 2 ). Different coat weights were applied in efforts to demonstrate their influence on the final quality. The roughness of the base paper was also varied, through changes in the pre-calender line load. The coating color used for the trial was a blend of fine calcium carbonate and clay with a SB-latex, for which the optimum solids content and viscosity were determined in pre-trial tests on a pilot coater. The rolls produced were calendered on a pitot multinip calender, and sheets were offset printed along with a blade-coated papef as a reference. The results showed that the technique can be used to achieve quality in graphic paper grades similar to that of blade-coated paper. Surprisingty, pre-calendering had little influence on the final quality.