The goal of this diploma thesis was to analise the impact of glazing on photodegradation or lightfastness of prints, made with an inkjet printer. The theoretical part of the thesis conveys basic information about inkjet printing technologies and their widespread use, as well as thoroughly introduces the photodegradation process and its role regarding inkjet prints. We proceed by intoducing the methods and materials used for the experimental part of the thesis, in which we printed four patches in CMYK colours on two different types of paper, basic office paper and photo paper, using Epson’s printer (Epson L3160) with Epson’s 103 EcoTank␢ inks. Some of those printed samples were then glazed using either ordinary glass or glass with 70 % UV protection. The samples were then exposed to a weathering instrument with a xenon light exposure system to simulate effects of aging due to light. The samples were then measured using a spectrophotometer, which gave us the needed data to calculate color differences using the CIEDE2000 equation. The results made it clear that glazing is effective in reducing the effect of photodegradation on inkjet prints. It was also proven that UV protection glass is more successful at reducing the effects of photodegradation when compared to ordinary glass. Furthermore, the choice of substrate turned out to be very important for achieving print longetivity as we noted smaller color differences on photo paper samples than on those printed on basic office paper.
|
