Time-dependent mechanical response of paper during web-fed high-speed inkjet printing

The influence of wetting and drying during high-speed inkjet (HSI) printing on the time-dependent mechanical behavior of commercial HSI papers was investigated using a custom-built C-Impact tensile tester. In HSI printing the water based ink solvent penetrates into the paper while the colorants adhere onto the surface. We found that water strongly affected paper stiffness and strength already 0.1 s after wetting. Creep compliance and paper strain at a typical HSI printing input tension of 180 N/m are varying strongly during the different process steps of HSI printing. In order to achieve a good color registration and print quality, we thus recommend that the web tension should be dynamically controlled in each process step to prevent straining after wetting or shrinkage during drying.