The effect of pigments and latices on the properties of coated paper

Sixteen mineral pigments were evaluated for paper basecoat, due to the pigments’ properties and cost. High aspect ratio clay provided better performance with regard to moisture barrier and water absorption when compared to a standard coating clay. The effect of pigmentation level, type of latex, and drying conditions were studied. The results showed: (1) increasing the amount of clay had a negative effect on the MVTR and Cobb, but the repulpability was improved; (2) using a higher glass transition temperature (Tg) latex, improved the MVTR, but Cobb and repulpability were worse; meanwhile carboxylated styrene–butadiene latex performed better than styrene–butadiene latex.