Digital printability of papers made from invasive plants and agro-industrial residues

Abstract

The use of an alternative fibre source for papermaking encourages more circular material streams with a focus on local harvesting and a lesser demand for large-scale pulping. The changes in the printing industry with the advent of digital printing technologies, such as electrophotography and ink-jet, demand that the paper should have appropriate printability. Digital printability depends on the printing machine, toner and paper. In this study, we tested six different papers made from invasive plants, namely, Japanese knotweed, black locust, Canadian goldenrod, and agro-industrial residues, such as miscanthus, tomato stems and waste jute bags. The papers were printed by electrophotography printing, and optical print quality parameters, such as optical density, printing unevenness and print gloss, as well as surface roughness and surface resistivity, were measured. The results indicate that average surface roughness and grammage have a high linear correlation with print gloss, and a moderate one with print density. The mottling values of prints have inconsistencies with the surface roughness values because of the specific fiber orientation based structure.