subject: Description of the inkjet photo paper [print this page] Description of the inkjet photo paper Description of the inkjet photo paper
It is a general object of inkjet photo paper to provide a high gloss photo paper recording sheet that has superior performance during inkjet printing.
More particularly, it is an object of inkjet photo paper to provide a high gloss photo paper recording sheet capable of use in OEM printers to make high quality prints with near photographic image quality.
In the past, cast coating has been utilized to make inkjet recording paper with a high gloss. This method has been practiced either using a pigmented coating as shown for example in U.S. Pat. The methods utilizing pigmented coatings employ for the most part silica pigments, and while such coatings yield a high gloss and a photographic feel upon cast coating, the ink dots applied to such sheets tend to be ill-defined and nonuniform in color and roundness. Meanwhile, the polymer based coatings used in cast coating typically produce good ink dot characteristics, but they are slow to dry yielding prints that are tacky to the touch and produce undue coalescence. However, because cast coating is a slow process which requires large capital and operating costs, there remains a need in the art to provide a high gloss inkjet recording sheet that can be manufactured by more conventional methods with the capability of producing photographic-like images for high quality printing. To satisfy this need, the inkjet recording sheet of Inkjet photo paper was developed.
As used in fine art inkjet paper, fumed alumina is alumina that has been formed by the high temperature hydrolysis of gaseous aluminum trichloride so that it forms highly pure alumina particles. These particles have a nanometer scale primary particle size (average about 13 nm), with a very narrow particle size distribution. While these particles have no internal surface, they have a very high surface area-to-volume ratio and tend to have a specific surface area of about 75 m 2 /g. Unlike fumed silica, which has an anionic surface charge and which tends to be amorphous, fumed alumina has a cationic surface charge and is crystalline in form. The high specific surface area with a lot of accessible cationic sites helps to fix the anionic inkjet dyes and the crystalline nature of the particles contributes to the glossing potential of the coated inkjet paper surface.
