Printing ink and lacquer hold out?

How good or bad a printing ink or lacquer appears on the surface of the printing substrate and what it looks like after drying depends on the surface itself – and on the paper. So, depending on the printing process used and the application: The better the printing ink and lacquer hold out, the better the finishing and printing results. The most important factors in this respect are the runnability and printability of the paper.

When it comes to printability, the following parameters are key: smoothness, opacity, light-resistance, absorbency, coating quantity, and whiteness or hue. As for runnability, in other words how well the paper copes with being run through the printing machine, the most important parameters are tensile strength, mechanical elongation, tear strength, tear resistance, resistance to folding, and dimensional stability.

Printing inks can be dried either physically or chemically. The higher the printing speed and the shorter the time period until further processing, the more important the ink drying process is. Offset printing inks (highly viscous) are dried through quick-setting. Highly liquid printing inks, like those used for gravure printing or flexographic printing, dry as the solvent they contain (water or alcohol, for example) evaporates.

The flexible packaging paper produced at the Koehler Paper site in Kehl, which is used to package products such as chocolate bars, boasts outstanding ink and lacquer hold out. This means the printing inks adhere well to the uncoated paper. As a result, it is ideally suited for rapid processing on packaging machines and offers the best possible conditions for optimal printing and packaging results. Alternatively, the Koehler packaging paper with coating on one side can offer a high-gloss printing result.