News

Time is of the essence for printers who need to get work done faster in an ultra-competitive climate and, as a result, they are demanding speedier drying times on coated stock – traditionally a substrate on which ink takes longer to dry.

“Some mills are working on changes to their coating mixes that will speed up the drying process when the paper has been printed,” says Tony Porter, group marketing director at James McNaughton.

One such example comes from Sappi. Two months ago, the company launched Tempo Silk, a coated silk paper capable of cutting waiting times by enabling printing on the reverse side of sheets within 15 minutes.

Essentially, the matt or silk surface is achieved by different levels of soft calendering of the coated surface of the material, which means the products have an abrasive surface that can easily be damaged through marking or rubbing. To combat this, Porter says “there has been growth in the sealing of printed material, with water- or oil-based sealants, to stop it from marking and to assist the drying process”.

While speeding up the drying process is important, so too is the environment. The popularity of FSC, PEFC, EMAS and other eco-friendly credentials remains, but issues relating to carbon neutrality and offsetting are increasingly being pushed up the green agenda.

“Now customers have the ability to work out the exact carbon emissions for the production and delivery of a product such as Era Silk [part of a range of low or carbon neutral paper] and to offset them if required,” says Porter.

Buyers can pay an optional surcharge if they want to offset these emissions when placing an order, which is then put towards projects such as wind farms and methane capture, thus ensuring that the order is, in theory at least, truly carbon neutral.

Technology-wise, digital continues to influence the industry, and this follows in the coated paper sector; some art ranges are now being produced in SRA3 format for digital users. “A wider range of matt and silk products are now suitable for digital use, and are therefore being produced in specific digital sizes,” explains Porter.

Silk art paper continues to be more popular among buyers in comparison to matt art, however. “Many customers do like the look and feel of matt-coated papers more, particularly papers with greater bulk,” says Porter.

---

WHAT'S NEW IN… MATT AND SILK ART PAPER
• Sappi Fine Paper Europe launched Tempo Silk in February, a coated silk paper capable of cutting waiting times by enabling printing on the reverse side of sheets within 15 minutes. Sappi says the grade is a high-quality coated silk paper that can be handled like a gloss, able to jump from printing to finishing in around half an hour
• Howard Smith Paper launched Greencoat 55 Gloss and Silk paper with FSC certification and 55% recycled fibre. Sheets, CutStar and HSWO reels are available together with bespoke special sizes through the manufacturer’s MySize service
• PaperCo’s specialist division Reel Paper introduced G-Print Matt, an FSC-approved matt coated paper from Grycksbo Paper into its 2008 catalogue. It is available in weights from 70-250gsm, and complements its 9lives 55 silk coated range
• James McNaughton launched Claro Silk SRA3 in January for digital presses, and a range of carbon neutral papers in October 2007
• It plans to launch Era Silk SRA3 for digital presses in December