The concept of critical ink setting time and its relation to print gloss - Influence of latex binder

Four different styrene-butadiene latexes have been used to investigate to what extent they effect ink setting and print gloss on laboratory coated paper. In this context the concept of critical ink setting is introduced. The latexes possessed identical glass transition temperature, gel content and particle size, and were only distinguished by having different levels of interaction with mineral oil-based printing ink. This difference was shown to have a great impact on print gloss development. High interaction between latex and ink resulted in faster ink setting and lower print gloss, with up to 15 % gloss units difference depending on latex type. This effect was most significant at the lowest binder level, with the importance of latex type decreasing with increased latex content.