Advisor: Dr. Margaret Joyce

Description: Research in printed electronics is flourishing like never before. Many organizations around the globe are involved in the research and development of printable displays, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and transistor circuits. For the mass production of these components, printing processes such as gravure and inkjet are being explored. However, the requirements for printing flexible electronics are more precise as compared to spot or process color printing. Hence, the use of printing processes for these applications necessitates the modification of substrates so as to achieve optimum performance of printed circuits in terms of electrical performance.

This research is related to the development of new coated surfaces to enhance the electrical properties of paper. Coating formulations using three different clays will be tested for printability and conductivity of the components.

Description: The monitor is an important part in many digital applications including graphic design, digital photography and prepress proofing. In fact, designers and prepress personnel rely on their monitor for good color decision for their printed jobs. Therefore, it is important to have an accurate monitor setting for accurate color display. Technically, the color display of the monitor depends on the correlation between monitor and the platform it's on and the type of video card available.

The aim of this research is to achieve a consistent color across platform using the same hardware (CPU, monitor video controller, etc.). Also, it is intended to describe the main issues that affect the accuracy of monitor profiles. ICC profiles were generated for a monitor in Windows and Mac OS platform, using GretagMacbeth ProfileMaker Pro version 5.0 and X-Rite MonacoPROFILER ICC profiling softwares. In the laboratory environment, we used a GretagMacbeth Eye-One to calibrate the LCD monitor. An open source library program was then customized and used to read some required and optional tags from all tested monitors profiles. After evaluating the profiles, we then used the customized programming code to rebuild a new LUT-based-profile that contains averaged data of the tested tags and applied the profiles in Windows and Mac platforms. The quality of the new customized profile was then tested and evaluated. The results show that there are many factors that affect the quality of monitor profiles, such as the correct calculation of characterized data in LUT tables, accurate loading of the video card gamma tag into the video card and the difference between the matrix-based and LUT-based profiles.

Advisor: Dr. Alexandra Pekarovicova

Description: Gravure is the major printing process used for publication such as longrun magazine, catalogs, newspaper, and miscellaneous commercial printing. In gravure printing processes, color proofing is for the purpose of checking the color to ensure that it is as desired, before proceeding to cylinder engraving. There is no doubt that paper properties have significant effects on the image reproduction for either printing or proofing processes. The uniformity of ink absorbency and color density are greatly influenced by the paper surface properties. Color density in turn determines the color gamut and color fidelity. The optical properties of a paper also influence the visual quality of the printed image. In order to achieve uniformity of printing and obtain good color reproduction performance, it is important that all paper properties are well defined and controlled. Therefore, it is necessary to understand how these paper properties affect color reproduction for printing and proofing processes.

This study investigates the correlations between paper properties and print quality/color reproduction for gravure publication printing and ink jet printing used in digital proofing stages. This study will have three stages - gravure publication printing trials, color gamut analysis of digital proofing systems, and proof - press color matching stage. In the first stage, the gravure press will be fingerprinted, meaning all the conditions such as doctor blade angle, pressure, impression roller pressure, dryers temperature, press speed, ink formula, ink viscosity, will be adjusted to optimum value and keep constant for the rest of the experiments and target values such as print density, VIELAB values, will be obtained. Meanwhile, the correlation between the surface properties (roughness, porosity, permeability, pore size, formation) and ink mileage/print quality/color reproduction will be studied. In the second stage, the relationship between paper properties and color gamut of a digital proofing device will be investigated. In the third stage, the quality of proof - press color matching will be evaluated in terms of the color difference (?E) in CIELAB color space. Understanding the relationship between paper properties and print attributes can help to predict and control print quality and fidelity of color reproduction for digital proofing and gravure publication printing.