How Does Fountain Solution affect Runnability and Print Quality?

摘要

There are many different materials and consumables used within a web offset environment, including the fountain solutions. As with all consumables there are trends seen in their evolution over time. Currently, there is a move towards higher pH levels in the North American market and also to the inclusion of additives that will aid with the corrosion resistance of the fountain solution. There is a possibility these changes in the formulation may impact on the press start-up, stable running of the press, and interactions with other consumables which will influence print quality. These concerns and changes are industry-wide and are not focused purely to any of the manufacturers, be they consumable or press. To address these concerns, a multi-vendor consortium collaborated to address these issues in a practical way. To achieve this objective, the impact of the consumables and press conditions were assessed experimentally on the heatset web press at PIA/GATF. There were over forty-five print runs completed during the experimental section of the investigation followed by months oi analysis of the data collected.