Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects on coating color and coated paper
when nano-scale sericite was substituted for a portion of the latex binder. The coating formulation
was based on a lightweight coated (LWC) paper coating. Dosages of nanosericite were 0, 0.1,
0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0 parts per hundred of the total color pigments. Respective latex dosages
were 11.2, 11.1, 11.0, 10.9, 10.7, 10.5, and 10.2 parts per hundred of the total color pigments. The
coating weight was controlled to 8.5 g m-2 on one side. There were 10 experimental sets (including
2 sets of replications) in total. The results indicated that in terms of the coating color properties,
adding nanosericite tended to reduce the water retention property and increased both the lowand
high-shear viscosities; however, the color remained applicable. Substituting a portion of the
latex with nanosericite as a co-binder did not affect the RI dry- and wet-peeling strengths of the
coated paper, while paper opacity and brightness showed some improvements. Examination of CIE
L*a*b* values of the coated paper suggested that the tint of the paper shifted from a greenish-yellow
to a reddish-blue tone. The coated paper with modified color tended to have increased smoothness
and decreased roughness; however, at both lower and the highest nanosericite dosages, the
effects were reversed. The modification did not affect the unprinted gloss, but caused an increase
in post-printing gloss levels.