Does humidity affect paper? Things to note
Paper is a product for storing information and creating art, but few people notice that humidity can have a strong impact on the quality of printed paper. When humidity changes, paper easily warps, loses flatness and affects the color and clarity of printed details. Understanding how humidity affects paper will help you better understand the signs that paper is being affected by the environment, while also helping you preserve and use paper more effectively in your daily work.
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How does humidity affect paper?
Paper is a hygroscopic material, often absorbing moisture from the surrounding environment. The degree of hygroscopicity of paper not only depends on ambient humidity and temperature, but also varies with the type of paper and paper grade. Weight, material composition, and surface treatment also affect the absorbency of paper.
How does environmental humidity affect paper?
Paper has the ability to absorb and release moisture depending on the humidity of the surrounding environment, including the air in warehouses, factories or offices. When humidity is high, paper easily absorbs moisture from the air, causing expansion and dimensional instability. This causes the paper to become softer and weaker, prone to problems such as bending, blistering, and deformation, affecting print quality and production stability.
On the contrary, in a dry environment, paper will release moisture, leading to shrinkage, becoming stiff and brittle. This makes the paper difficult to handle during printing or trimming, affecting productivity and product accuracy. Changing environmental humidity also makes paper size unstable, causing image distortion when printing. For example, when humidity increases by 10%, paper can expand by 0.1% to 0.2%, causing misalignment.
Impact of internal humidity on paper quality
- Mechanical durability: Paper with optimal moisture content will be flexible and durable. However, when the humidity is too low, the paper becomes brittle and tears easily; On the contrary, when it is too high, the paper becomes soft and easily deformed.
Printability: Humidity affects how paper absorbs ink. Highly moist paper has difficulty holding ink, causing the ink to spread, lose definition and reduce print quality. Meanwhile, paper that is too dry absorbs ink quickly but is easily cracked or torn, making printing difficult.
- Thermal conductivity and electrical insulation: The moisture inside the paper also affects the electrical insulation and thermal conductivity. For special applications, moisture control is necessary to maintain the thermal or electrical insulation of the paper.
Humidity control in the papermaking process
Humidity control is a key factor in maintaining stable paper quality, because humidity directly affects the physical properties of paper. Not only the production process, but also the storage, transportation, and printing stages need to be controlled to avoid unwanted variations. Moisture content in paper can change when stored or moved, affecting final product quality and printing efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to measure humidity at each stage to promptly adjust when necessary.
Paper moisture meter is a specialized device that helps determine the moisture content in paper and related products, thereby ensuring that products meet standards and meet technical requirements. This equipment is very important in the paper, printing and packaging industries, contributing to ensuring stable product quality.
Highlights of the paper moisture measuring device DM200P
Paper moisture meter DM200P is the ideal tool to quickly and accurately check the moisture level of paper, helping to effectively assess the impact of humidity on paper quality. Designed to be handheld, the DM200P is very convenient for paper factories, printing companies and packaging processing units, making it easy to carry and use in many different locations in the production environment.
Using advanced sensor technology, the device provides highly accurate moisture measurement, helping users better control product quality. DM200P has the ability to measure a wide moisture range, from 0 to 98%, suitable for many types of paper such as printing paper, kraft paper, and packaging paper. The machine's interface is simply designed with a few buttons, allowing users to quickly read and record results. In a few seconds, the device provides moisture measurement results of paper samples, helping to save time checking and evaluating product quality.
