Light Fastness of Pigment-based and Dye-based Inkjet Inks

This paper focuses on the ability of pigment-based, dye-based inks and paper substrates to maintain accurate color over time due to the exposure to simulated sunlight. The testing of a number of ink/substrate combinations, utilizing the ECI 2002 Random Layout CMYK target for the printed samples was done. The samples were exposed to the simulated equivalent of 4.5 months of sunlight in Florida. The ?E values of the samples were calculated in order to observe the color changes attributed to the fading of the inks/substrates. The Epson Matte paper printed with Epson 5000 resulted in largest ?E, thus this ink has the least fade resistance. A longer term fade test has indicated that most of the color shift has occurred in the earlier time period of exposure. It was also found that difference in the color appearance upon exposure, was not solely due to the ink fading, but also due to color change of substrate itself.