The unique structure of precipitated and gelled silicas provides an internal and packing porosity that enables therapid diffusion of liquid inks into the coating layer. The rapid uptake of the ink immobilizes the anionic dyes at thesurface of the coating, allowing high optical print densities to be achieved. However, precipitated and gelled silicasare primarily used in matte grades since the particle size of them is typically 3-16 μm range.This study focused on the use of non-porous fumed silicas and alumina in glossy inkjet media. The coating processwas a single coat blade application on a cylindrical lab coater (CLC) at speeds up to 920 m/min. The use of fumedalumina enabled gloss values of almost 70% to be achieved after 3 passes through a sheet fed soft nip calender at 60oC and 123 kN/m. The work is significant because it demonstrates the ability to produce glossy inkjet coated papersby applying a single pigmented coating layer on a blade coater and finishing with a soft nip calender. The researchdescribed herein examines the contribution of coating structure influences on inkjet print quality. The pigmentsused are commercially available and are currently being employed in this application.
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