Quality evaluation of ink-jet paper with principal components analysis

Non-impact printing techniques have in many fields of application replaced traditional printing methods. Apart from factors such as the type and conditions of ink/paper transfer and ink properties, the quality of the image produced with an office ink-jet printer depends decisively on paper characteristics. In this study, various medium- and photo-quality ink-jet paper sorts were examined for their general, optical, surface and printing properties. Based on these results, the ranking of tested paper properties according to their significance for ink-jet paper quality on one hand and the suitability of individual paper sorts for this printing technique on the other was determined using multivariate tool principal components analysis.