Improvement of printability by the new designe of the multi-layered coating structure (II) : The effect of pigment blending in pre-coating layer on characteristics of top-coating layer

This study was carried out in order to investigate the effect of pigment properties in a pre-coating layer on the characteristics of a top-coating layer and the print mottle of the coated paper. Five different pigments were applied for this study as raw materials for the pre-coating layer. The properties and print mottle of the coated paper samples were evaluated according to the coating color formulation. Type of pigments appliied in a pre-coating layer was one of the most important factor to control the properties of pre and top coating layer. Surface properties of pre and top coated paper were improved by blending GCC which had smaller particle size, with clay. Properties of a top-coating layer was affected by the pigment properties used in the pre-coating layer. It was found that print mottle of coated paper can be improved by replacing part of GCC with smaller particle size GCC or clay in pre-coating layer.