PRINT MATERIAL AND

PROCESS INTERACTION
A Brief Story

The Process: Offset Lithography

Applications
!  newspapers, magazines, books,
continuous business forms, unit sets,
advertising pieces, brochures,
posters, greeting cards, business
cards, folders, mailers, laser sheets,
integrated products, coupons, and art
reproductions.

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 WHAT IS PAPER?

Paper derives from the word papyrus, a

“Pre-paper media”

Paper includes a wide range of products  
with very different  applications:
communication,  cultural, educational, artistic,  
hygienic, and sanitary as well as  storage and
transport of all kinds of  goods. It's almost
impossible to  imagine a life without paper.

Pengkelasan Kertas
!  Gred(grade),
!  Berat(weight),
!  Kaedah penyudahan (finish).

Paper Grades
!  Defines material quality

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Optical Properties of Paper

How to choose paper for your

production?
!  Jenis “stock” – kerana keperluan atau
kehendak? Is it rough or smooth finish?
!  What is to be printed on the stock? Is it
necessary to print high quality images
that require a smoother stock for good
reproduction?
!  What print process is involved - flat
offset, offset thermography, digital,
screen, letterpress, or gravure?

How to choose paper for your

production?
!  Is the print process one which requires large
amounts of ink to be applied, such as gravure,
which will require a more absorbent stock?
!  Will any coatings, such as varnish, be applied to
the finished piece and if so, what stock is best
suited for the coating?
!  What are the printed size considerations for
fitting into standard sized paper stocks?
!  Is there a desire to use recycled stock, and if
so, what is available in the size and type
necessary for the job?

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How to choose paper for your
production?
!  Will the stock be folded with or against the paper
grain? Are any other in-line or off-line bindery
procedures required for the project, such as
perforating, scoring, numbering, or trimming?
!  Are there any post-processing activities
required for the printed materials, such as
mailing, handling, imprinting, or continual use and
reuse and how long must the piece last?
!  Are there companion pieces to accompany the
printed product, such as envelopes, tags, labels,
or inserts that could affect mailing weight,
insertion processes, or other considerations?

Offset Printing Inks

!  Highly viscous, pasty inks (dynamic viscosity =
40-100 Pa s)

!  Must be structured in such a way that the drying
components do not harden the ink while being spread
over the rollers in the inking unit or at the subsequent
transfer stations such as the printing plate and blanket

!  Thin ink films of approximately 0.5–1.5 µm

Basic Characteristic
!  High transparency (due to the subtractive mixing of
inks with overprinting)

!  Characteristics for printability and pressroom
runability such as flow properties, drying, brilliance/
gloss, emulsification (combined effect of ink and
dampening solution), pile behavior, abrasion
resistance

!  Ink acceptance of the substrate, and, in overprinting,
the suitability to wet-on-wet printing

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Offset Printing Inks
!  Offset inks are made up of the following components
(weight proportions):

"  The varnish (binding agent) consists essentially of


hard resins (20–50%) with a high proportion of


colophon, alkyd resins (0–20%), and proportions


of vegetable oils (0–30%) such as linseed oil, soya


bean oil, and wood oil, as well as mineral oils (20–40%)
and various drying agents (< 2%).

Offset Printing Ink

!  Additives have a proportion of up to about 10%. The
following are classed as additives:

"  Drying catalysts (combinations of cobalt, manganese and
other metals)

"  Waxes for improving the abrasion resistance and slip
properties

"  Agents for preventing premature drying and skin formation
on the surface in the can or in the ink fountain

"  Silicone oils for printing inks used in waterless offset
printing

Print Demerits

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Causes and cure of print
demerits or defects are as
important as identifying these
defects correctly.

What is a Print Demerit?

!  Visible defect in printed product
" Customer complaint
" Product down-grading
!  Major sources of
" Wastes
" Failure costs

Defect Severity
!  Minor defect
" Sometimes may go unnoticed
!  Major defect
" Noticeable
" Causes customer complaint
!  Critical defect
" Render the product not usable

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MATERIAL-RELATED DEMERIT:
Ink and Paper
!  Poor color match
" Color reproduced does not match the
reference
" Causes
!  Incorrect ink formulation or color separation or
inking
" Cure
!  Checkwith ink supplier for correctness of ink
formulation; use color proofs to verify the
correctness of separation

MATERIAL-RELATED DEMERIT:
Ink and Paper
!  Scuffing
" Surface of the printed product is marred
" Causes
!  Abrasion
of the printed area before ink is dried
completely
" Cure
!  Eliminate sources of abrasive like spray powder
!  Check for proper drying conditions
!  Apply the varnish for greater scuff resistance

MATERIAL-RELATED DEMERIT:
Ink and Paper
!  Picking
" Ink pull rupturing the paper surface areas
" Causes
!  Paper'sinternal bond strength too low to withstand
the ink's pull
" Cure
!  Reduceink tack with a suitable reducer or solvent;
change to a quick-release blanket

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MATERIAL-RELATED DEMERIT:
Ink and Paper
!  Show through
" Thereverse side of the printing is visible
" Causes
!  Paper caliper is too thin; ink absorbency is high
" Cure
!  Usea higher caliper paper; or paper with higher
opacity

MATERIAL-RELATED DEMERIT:
Ink and Paper
!  Mottle
" Uneven appearance of a uniformly printed
area
" Causes
!  Uneven ink absorbency of the paper; tends to
occur on heavier paper and paper board
" Cure
!  Increase the body of the ink

PRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:

Plate and Press
!  Mis-registration
" The appearance of inaccurate
alignment of two or more
printed images
" Causes
!  Multi-color press units are out of
registration
!  Plates mis-aligned

!  Imprecise image assembly

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Mis-registration
"  Cure
!  Re-strip the film assembly; adjust the printing units laterally
and circumferentially into alignment

(In registration) (Out of registration)

PRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:

Plate and Press
!  Hickie
" A void of ink or a small sharply defined solid
surrounded by a white halo
" Causes
!  Particles that stick to the plate or blanket
" Cure
!  Remove the contaminants from the ink roller, plate,
or blanket; keep the work environment clean

PRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:

Offset-specific
!  Smashed blanket
" Undesirable, localized compression of the
blanket surface
" Causes
!  Foreignobjects or folded sheets, especially heavy
papers, pass through the printing nip
" Cure
!  Replacethe blanket; put paper patches under the
depressed areas to bring them up to normal height

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PRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:
Offset-specific
!  Excessive dot gain variation is a great
concern.
" Undesirabledarkening of middletone due to
enlargement and elongation of halftone dots

PRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:

Offset-specific
!  In-line color conflict
" Ink settings which is correct for one image,
but incorrect for other images within the same
printed signature
" Causes
!  Variations in color separation
!  Conflicts between black text and black printer
" Cure
!  Consistent in color separation
!  Use separate printing units

PRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:

Offset-specific
!  Washed-out print
" Lackof depth and contrast in printed image
" Causes
!  Inking light
!  Excessive ink emulsification
!  Poor ink transfer

" Cure
!  Reformulate ink
!  Increase back-cylinder squeeze

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PRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:
Offset-specific
!  Ghosting
" The appearance of faint replica of an image in
an undesirable place of the printed sheet
" Causes
!  Inkstarvation due to heavy ink coverage in the
signature; inadequacy in the inking system
" Cure
!  Increase the traveling distance of the oscillating
roller; apply thicker ink film; increase the number of
form rollers; cock the image on the plate

PREPRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:

Poor Trapping (color)
!  Lack of over printing of a narrow strip of
one color over the other at their junction
!  Causes
" The trapping was not done or incorrectly done
at the prepress
!  Cure
" Trapping amount is a function of the press
registration ability

PREPRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:

Moiré
!  An objectionable interference pattern as a
result of overlapping two periodic (AM)
halftone patterns together
!  Causes
" The screen angle is not separated by 300
!  Cure
" Follow the 300 rule; or substitute with FM
screening

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PREPRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:
Morié vs. Moiré-free Angles

PREPRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:

False Contour
!  Visibledivisions in an image that is
reproduced which is not part of the original
image; also called banding
!  Causes
" Insufficientpixel depth, e.g., 2 bits per spot,
used in digital printing
!  Cure
" Increase pixel depth to 4 or more bits per spot

PREPRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:

Color Cast
!  Appearance of unwanted color over an
image; neutral colors appear to be tinted
!  Causes
" Improper film types used in photography;
Improper gray balance in color separation
!  Cure
" Use image adjustment tools in image editing
tools to correct

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 PREPRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:
Color Cast Removal
!  Use image adjustment
tools
" Color variations
!  Hue

!  Saturation

!  Lightness

PREPRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:

Poor Highlight Rendering
!  A void of or too large halftone dots in the
light portion of an image
!  Causes
" Improper highlight in the color separation
process; under exposed negative-working
plates

PREPRESS RELATED DEMIRIT:

Poor Highlight Rendering
!  Cure
" Find out the minimum dots that the process
can hold
" Find proper plate exposure

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 FINISHING RELATED DEMIRIT:
Poor Trimming
Unwanted image retained in the
finished product

Wanted image is
chopped

FINISHING RELATED DEMIRIT:

Poor Trimming
!  Causes
" Chopper and/or trimmer mis-aligned in the
folder section of a web press
!  Cure
" Adjust web tension and print-to-cut
registration

FINISHING RELATED DEMIRIT:

Crack at Fold
!  A fold does not appear to be smooth but
instead gets distorted on either side of the
fold
!  Causes
" When the fold is against the paper grain
direction
!  Cure
" Plan to fold the paper parallel to the grain
direction

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FINISHING RELATED DEMIRIT:
Creepage
!  Mis-alignment of inner and outer pages in
a publication
!  Cause
" Due to folded and stacked signatures in
saddle stitching
!  Cure
" Allow for more margins in inner pages than
outer pages

FINISHING RELATED DEMIRIT:

Dog Ears
!  Corners of a folded, trimmed, and cut
page sticks out than the rest of the page
!  Causes
" Folder is not properly set up which causes
corners of the paper to fold into the signature
prior to cutting
!  Cure
" Adjust the folder; replace any worn sheet
control devices

FINISHING RELATED DEMIRIT:

Wrinkles
!  The page was not laid flat at the folding section
!  Causes
"  Folder is not properly set up
!  Cure
"  Adjust the folder

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THE END
Thank You For Your
Attention
Mahadzir Mohamad
Jabatan Teknologi Percetakan
UiTM Shah Alam
mahad476@salam.uitm.edu.my

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