5 Highly Used Coated Paper Types In Packing and Printing

Have you ever been in a situation, after you finished an awesome design, then it looks far away from what you think after printed? These cases are often happening in we paper product manufacturers. Different paper types and printing technologies will lead to a different appearance effect. Coated paper is regarded as the best for printing. But there are too many coated paper types. Learn more about them will help you improve the communication efficiency with your supplier.

What Is Coated Paper

Coated paper, aka art paper or gloss paper, refers to the paper which been through the coating and calendering process, basic weight range from 100g – over 400g—the coating material including kaolin and talcum, at a common proportion of 20%-35%. Due to the excellent printing effect, coated paper is usually used to make magazines, product catalogs, advertising posters, paper merchandise bags, product packings, etc.

One thing worth to know that kraft paper for food packaging is also a kind of coated paper. Their coatings are primary plastic, so they are also called PP-coated paper or PE-coated paper. Kraft paper with a plastic-coated gets water and grease proofing functions, even can be heat-sealing, and a certain improvement on the tear resistance performance.

Coated Paper VS Uncoated Paper

Why the coated paper’s printing effect is so outstanding, and what’s the difference between it from the uncoated paper?

Smoothness

First, we know paper is made from natural plant fibers. Take the grocery paper bags as a sample, the surface of it without coating. Even though the feeling is slight, you can still feel it is uneven. The basic theory of printing is to press the dye particles on the paper, and the dye will return to tiny powder after drying. Some cheap paper printing products usually lose color because the dye can not attach to the paper surface well. Especially in the screen printing case, the ink can not be pressed on paper’s gap and leads to the color vacant of the patterns.

For coated paper, due to the coating and calendering process, the compactness of the surface improved a lot and became more smooth. The dye powders can attach to the surface better and no fall; it can even satisfy a 60 lines/cm screen printing.

Brightness & Glossiness

The uncoated origin paper is brown, the natural wood fiber color. The manufacturers will add optical brightener into the paper stock to improve the brightness. However, it is still not ideal enough for printing. Coated paper has a great advantage in the brightness, which can clearly realize the original color of your design. Besides, we know the color by the light reflection. That is why the gloss-coated paper can show a much gayer color.

Better Ink Absorbing

The paper of most notebooks is uncoated. We are usually in a situation that the ink penetrates to the back or handwriting fuzzing during writing. That’s because there are many gaps in the paper fiber structure. For coated paper, the ink will permeate to the coating first, then reach the top of the paper to form a clear and sharp pattern. A compact coated surface has an outstanding performance on absorbing ink, will never let it fuzz or penetrate to the back.

Coated Paper Types

For satisfying different use, the manufacturers will produce various types of coated paper. They have their own features. Following there are 5 common types:

Classified By Coated

Single-side Coated Paper

Single-side coated paper means the paper with only one side coated. It is usually used in paper products that only need one side printing; the most typical is paper shopping bags. Some with a light basic weight will be made into the self-adhesive labels. If to make packaging box with the single-side coated paper, for a better toughness and thickness, sometimes will lay a recycled paper stock on the other side, then mount on a corrugated paper to make a corrugated board.

Double-side Coated Paper

Double-side coated paper has been coated on both sides. It is usually used in magazines, albums, and product catalogs.

Classified By Surfaces

Glossy-coated Paper

The coated paper, which has been calendered, has a glossing surface, a great performance on the color display. The paper shopping bag made from it shows a high-end appearance. But the light reflection from the environment is serious, especially indoors. So it is not an ideal material for making magazine and product catalogs.

Matte-coated Paper

Matte-coated paper hasn’t been through the calendered process or just a little; its glossiness is far from the glossy-coated paper. But just for this reason, matte-coated paper is the best choice for magazines and albums. The delicate and exquisite surface can clearly show the pictures’ details without any reflection that disturbs the eyes.

Wove Paper

Here is not referred to the wove paper for drawing, but a special matte-coated paper. It is thicker, has a wove finish texture on a single or both sides. It is usually used for cover printing, business cards, and gift cards—various colors for different applications.