Study on the Coating Surface Binder Content by SEM and AFM

Binder is the essential component of coating color recipe, which has an important influence on the surface topography and properties of coating layer. In this research, the main objective was to investigate into the coating surface binder content related to the coating color recipe. The surface binder content of coating layer was explored in the method of numerical and visual analysis using scanning electrical microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The findings indicated that the binder content in coating color recipe affected the binder distribution of the coating layer surface and amount of binder on coating layer surface decreased with the binder content in coating color recipe increasing. The conclusions were drawn that more amount of binder on the coating surface could contribute to improve the coating surface, which was good to the paper surface characteristics and resulted in low ink absorption and high print density.