Linting (fibre)/Dusting (pigment)

Lint or dust can give different patterns in printed areas.

Cause

Low surface strength on the paper or tacky ink

  • The ink-water balance will effect linting/dusting
  • Too high tack on ink is used. (In some cases to low tack on the ink)

See the top of the big black letters where lint have started to affect print quality.

Cause

Low surface strength on the paper or tacky ink.

  • When the lint from rubber blankets is analysed we always find so called parenchyma cells (square shaped particles), fibre fragments, pigments (round particles in this case) and printing ink. 
  • A very long print run will always cause some kind of build-up.
  • More build-up is normally found on non printing areas.