In recent years there has been significant advances in digital printing applications such as electrophotography and ink jet. These changes have resulted in new methods of printing, chemistry and process. Print media, such as paper substrates, have undergone little change to accommodate these new technologies and specialty substrates have been developed to fill the gap between general purpose papers and the special needs of digital printing applications. Due to the high costs of these special papers, the vast majority of users of digital printers still utilise more generic papers, resulting in poor performance and print quality. While for monochrome printing reasonable results can be obtained from these general purpose papers, color print results are poor and suffer from unacceptable levels of gloss, sheen and image stability as well as narrow color space and variable fix. New printing technologies require the implementation of new innovative paper technologies to fully exploit the potential of the printing application.
RLA offers a unique opportunity to address this situation through a program of research and development to identify the performance of papers for digital printing applications and methods for improving these papers to be better suited to the demands of digital printing. RLA employs a structured program designed to suit the needs of the client, resulting in a phase-by-phase research approach. This program is performed on a contract basis and aims to:
 | Identify the performance properties of existing papers |
| Understand the performance characteristics as they relate to digital printing |
| Assist in the development of improvements to the papers and print media |
| Assess and demonstrate the successful application of improvements |
| Assist in implement of development into manufacturing and paper production processes |
The result is to develop cost effective improvements to paper manufacture and papers that better meet the demands of digital printing today and in the future.
RLA has an extensive history in the development of innovative digital printing applications. This has resulted in considerable knowledge and expertise in all aspects of the digital printing process from image formation, ink ejection to fusing and fixing processes. As manufactures of consumables for the digital printing industry, RLA understands the demands of the industry and the potential gains that can be made through continuous improvement of these consumables. RLA has been designing and developing toner and ink chemistry from the day it was founded in 1959.
RLA is expert in the field of analytical science relating to printing technologies and has an outstanding laboratory equipped to carry out an extensive range of tests and analysis techniques. These capabilities enable RLA to assess paper and print media characteristics. Because there are many factors affecting the performance of papers in today's printers, these factors and their variations need to be quantified through proven measurement techniques and methods. These methods include:
| Surface energy |
| Surface topography |
| Surface and volume resistivity |
| Thermal capacity and conductivity |
| Moisture content |
| Fibre length |
| Paper thickness |
| Strength and modulus of the substrate surface and fibres |
| Porosity |
| Gloss and matt characteristics |
| Refractive index |
To fully understand the effects of digital printing and their relationship to the printing process also requires knowledge of the ink and toner chemistry, the molecular structure, visco-elastic properties, surface energy and chemical stability. The combination of the chemistry and paper properties with the fusing process results in a complex interaction creating a large variation in print results.