Stability of full-tone digital prints on papers with cereal straw fibers after natural ageing

The increasing demand for paper in printing and packaging industry is leading to excessive consumption of wood resources, which can have a negative impact on the environment. Thus, scientific research is being conducted to find new and innovative sources for the extraction of cellulose fibers. To produce pulp and paper, different species of annual plants can be utilized in order to reduce the consumption of wood raw materials. This study focuses on the production and examination of the properties of laboratory papers with the addition of pulp from alternative sources, namely straw from cereals such as wheat, barley and triticale. Pulp obtained from cereal straw was mixed with recycled pulp in different ratios to produce paper under laboratory conditions. Digital printing technique was used to make magenta and black full-tone prints. The printed papers were subjected to a natural ageing process to examine the optical stability of prints after a long period of time. The study found that both analyzed colors exhibited satisfactory stability after ten years of natural ageing. Magenta prints showed less change in color than prints on the reference paper without cereal straw fibers, while black prints showed less optical stability or greater color change than black prints on the reference paper.