Influence of Paper Properties and Printing Machines Properties on Optical Density in Electrophotography

Abstract

Electrophotography is affected by several parameters, including printing machines and paper type, which determine the final quality of reproduction. For the investigation of those effects, tests were done on the three types of electrophotography printing machines and eight types of uncoated paper with different properties of weight, surface roughness, whiteness, brightness and opacity. Samples were printed with cyan, magenta, yellow and black toner under the standard, identical conditions. The assessment of standard print quality parameter (optical density) was done using spectrodensitometer Techkon Spectro Dens. At the same time, the paper substrates were characterized using the atomic force microscopy (AFM) as well as by spectrophotometric measurements (X Rite Eye-One, i1). Obtained results showed that the reproducibility significantly depends on the type of printing machine rather than optical and mechanical properties of paper.

Keywords

• electrophotography
• optical density
• optical paper properties
• surface roughness