The International Waterless Printing Association (IWPA) released a white paper titled “A Current Comparison of Waterless Printing to Conventional Lithographic Printing.”
In March 2011, IWPA conducted a G7 comparative print test between waterless and conventional offset printing at an award-winning U.S. commercial printing site using conventional wet and waterless CTP plates.
The results of the comparative print test are published in the white paper, which lists several key waterless benefits.
- Waterless shows an advantage over conventional offset in the color gamut, indicating that a slightly larger color space is possible with waterless.
- Color stability for waterless was better throughout the pressrun using the G7 aimpoints.
- Waterless printed with consistently lower dot gain than conventional wet offset.
- Start-up waste was significantly lower for waterless, requiring roughly 40 percent fewer sheets at start-up to achieve G7 aimpoint densities.
- Waterless reached and maintained target ink densities on all subsequent restarts.
The 32-page document, authored by Gene Langlais of Capricorn Research, is available exclusively through the IWPA. It is available free of charge to all current IWPA members. Non-members can purchase the white paper for $149.00.
