This paper presents the results from a comprehensive exploration of printing sequence based on dot gain, colour gamut and grey balance characteristics for screen printing. The tests involved designing a test image and this included the successful incorporation of a novel feature to explore grey balance. This allowed the three process colours, cyan, magenta and yellow, to be varied independently. The results confirmed the excellent repeatability of the process when printing a conventional UV ink. The results also showed the small impact of increasing the ink base up to 30% on tone gain and the colour range was affected by the printing sequence. The results showed that print sequence had a major effect on the grey balance, and this was traced to the effect of a gasket on the stencil, and that half-tone dots from the first print effectively generated a rough surface that affects the gasket formed by the stencil. The results show that tonal reproduction and colour range measurements are not appropriate quality indicators. For precision screen printing, quality measurement should be made on the image, and that separation and screen preparation needs to account for process settings and the printing sequence used.
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