Unit 1 : Composition of Paper and Pulping Process
1.1 – Paper: Description, Composition of paper: Raw materials for manufacturing of paper.
1.2 – Fibrous materials: Common paper making fibres – categories of fibres: characteristics of softwood pulps and hardwood pulps.
1.3 – Manufacture of paper: Pulping Process – Three basic methods of pulping process: Mechanical pulping, Mechanical / Chemical pulping and chemical pulping process.
1.4 – Bleaching process, Stock preparation – Description – Breaking: Sizing agents, Loadings, Fillers, coloring materials and Chemical additives. Refining – Description.
Unit 2 : Manufacturing of Paper and Board
2.1 – Operations in paper making machine: Wet end, Head box, Slice, Dandy roll, Press section and Drying section.
2.2 – Paper finishing: Super calendaring, Coating: Types of coating methods.
2.3 – Packing and Delivery – Precautions taken during packing and delivery.
2.4 – Board making: Raw materials for manufacturing of Board.
Unit 3 : Paper, Board – Types, Sizes and Properties
3.1 – Classifications of paper for printing – printing paper, writing paper, wrapping paper and specialty papers. Different types of Board – Pulp board, Straw board, Carton board, Art board, Chromo board and Corrugated board.
3.2 – Choice of appropriate quality of paper for different printing processes – Letter press, offset, gravure, Screen, Flexography printing and Digital printing.
3.3 – Paper and Board sizes: – ISO paper size (A, B, C Series), British paper sizes – Crown, Double Crown, Demy, Double Demy, Royal and Imperial.
3.4 – Runnability Properties – Tear Resistance, Tensile Strength, Bursting Strength, Folding Endurance, Stiffness, Basis weight and grammage, Caliper and Bulk, Wire and Felt side, Moisture Content and Relative Humidity, Dimensional Stability and Grain Direction.
3.5 – Printability properties – Brightness and Whiteness, Colour, Gloss, Opacity, Ink Absorbency and Pick Resistance.
3.6 – Paper problems – Powdering and Pilling Problem, Linting,
Dusting, and Picking problem.
Unit 4 : Printing Inks – Composition and Manufacturing
4.1 – Raw materials used for manufacturing of printing inks –
Pigments, Dyes, Vehicles, Driers Solvents, Ink and Additives.
Manufacturing of printing inks by three roll dispersion mill.
4.2 – General characteristics and requirements of printing inks.
4.3 – Inks for different printing processes – Letter press inks, Flexo inks, Gravure inks, Offset inks and Screen inks.
4.4 – Ink properties – Color properties – opaque and transparent ink, Flow properties and working properties of inks.
4.5 – Ink types – based on substrate, based on drying and based on chemistry.
Unit 5 : Ink Drying and Ink Problems
5.1 – Drying methods – Drying by Penetration/Absorption, Oxidation, Polymerization, Evaporation, Gellation, Solidification and Precipitation.
5.2 – Ink problems – Mottle, Chalking, Chemical ghosting, mechanical ghosting problems, trapping, hickeys, picking, piling, set-off, tinting, scumming, stripping and, strike through and show through.
5.3 – Causes and remedies for the above Ink problems.
Text Book / Reference Book:
1. Printing Materials – Science and Technology – Thompson, Bob – PIRA Publication.
2. Printing Paper and Ink – Charles Finley.
3. The Print Production Manual – J. Peacock, C. Berril and M. Barnard – PIRA.
4. The Printing Ink Manual – R.H. Leach and R.J. Pierce.
5. What the Printer should know about Ink – Dr. Nelson Ra Eldred – GATF Press.
6. What the Printer should know about Paper – Lawrence A Wilson – GATF Press.
7. Flexography Primer – J. Page Cronnch – GATF Press.
8. Gravure Primer – Cheryk L Kasunich – GATF Press.
9. Hand Book of Print Media – Helmut Kipphan – Springer.
10. Introduction to Printing and Finishing – Hugh M Speirs – PIRA.
11. Screen Printing Primer – GATF Press.
12. Sheetfed Offset Press Operating – Lloyd P Dejidas and Thomas M Destree – GATF
Press.
13. Web Offset Press Operating – Daniel G Wilson and PIA / GATF staff.