Newspaper presses generally are used for just a few hours per night, so newspaper publishers are constantly looking for ways to use their available production capacities more completely. If they could use better paper grades, they could not only improve the quality of the newspaper itself, but they would also have the opportunity to enter the semi-commercial market. 

Jürgen Gemeinhardt, head of printing techniques at Fogra, reports about the association's latest study, in which various paper grades were tested: newsprint, upgraded newsprint, different qualities of supercalendered (SC) paper, machine finished coated (MFC), and lightweight coated (LWC) paper. They were examined in a laboratory with regard to aspects such as rub-off, trapping, and development of tack.

Some of the intermediate conclusions of the study:

• the different papers exhibit a wide range of properties,
• superior paper grades have poor water absorbance,
• the influence of the substrate is greater than that of the ink, and
• coated papers are difficult to use as substrates.

As a general statement, it can be said that the less gloss a paper has, the more suitable it is for use in newspaper presses. The next step will be printing trials on newspaper machines at the facilities of Süddeutscher Verlag and Offsetdruckerei Ahrensburg.