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Updated 02 Jan. 2010
D50 – The CIE standard illuminant that represents a colour temperature of 5000°K. This is the colour temperature that is most widely used in graphic arts industry viewing booths.
D65 – The CIE standard illuminant that represents a colour temperature of 6504K. This is the colour temperature most widely used in graphic arts industry viewing booths.
Dampeners – Cloth-covered or rubber rollers that distribute the dampening solution to the lithographic press plate.
Dancer – A moving roller sensor used for feedback control of web tension.
Dar-Fresh pack –
Darts – See also – Comets.
Daylight illuminants (CIE) – Series of illuminant spectral power distribution curves based on measurements of natural daylight and recommended by the CIE in 1965. Values are defined for the wavelength region 300 to 830nm. They are described in terms of the correlated colour temperature. The most important is D65 because of the closeness of its correlated colour temperature to that of illuminant C, 6774K. D75 bluer than D65 and D55 yellower than D65 are also used.
DBB – dairy-based beverages
DCS – Desktop colour separation. A format which creates five PostScript files, one file for each colour and one low resolution master file.
DDCP (Direct Digital Colour Proofing) – A prepress proofing method which creates colour proofs without the need for film or plates by using only digital data.
DDES – Digital Data Exchange Specifications.
De-bossing – Trade jargon for what can more precisely be described as negative embossing. De-bossing is accomplished by using a male die (slug) to depress an image into the surface of paperboard usually as part of the die-cutting process. In de-bossing a matching female die is not used.
Decitex (Dtex) – One-tenth of a tex, which is equal to the weight in grams of 1 kilometre of a fibre.
Deckle Edge – Edge of paper left ragged as it comes from the papermaking machine instead of being cleanly cut. Also called feather edge.
Decomposition Temperature – The polymer’s melt temperature above which the chemical foaming agent generates gas.
Decorative Paper – The sheet of paper that provides the colour or pattern of a laminate; may also include a barrier and overlay.
Decorative Sleeves –
Defibration – Separation of wood fibres by mechanical and/or chemical means.
Deflashing – Any technique or method which removes excess, unwanted material from a moulded article. Specifically, the excess material is removed from those places on the article where parting lines of the mould that formed the article may have cause the excess material to be formed.
De-flocculation – To disperse pigment clusters into smaller units in an ink. Opposite of Flocculate.
Degassing Time – Gases generated in a polymer by a foam concentrate are expired and replaced by air after processing. Bicarbonate / acid foam agents generate carbon-dioxide that defuse through most polymers more quickly than nitro generated by azodicarbonamide. Rapid degassing time allows shorter time spans between part moulding and painting.
Degradable Mulch – A mulch which is intended to disintegrate at the end of the growing season, by photo-degradation in order not to interfere with the next crop.
De-inkability – Suitability of recovered paper for de-inking; depends on paper grade, printing process used, age of paper, and other factors
De-inked pulp (DIP) – Waste paper pulp produced by de-inking
De-inking – Removal of printing ink and impurities from recovered paper; de-inking is intended to produce recycled fibre pulp with maximum whiteness and purity.
De-inking loss – Unwanted loss of solid material from pulp during de-inking (usually 10-40%).
De-Ionization – The removal of ions from a solution by ion exchange.
Delignification – In chemical pulping, the removal of lignin, the material that binds wood fibres together.
Delta E – Distance in the CIE L*a*b* colour space between two colours. The delta E variable can be used to test colour tolerances within a colour-managed environment.
Denier – The weight in grams of 9,000m of material.
Denier Per Filament (DPF) – The denier of an individual continuous filament, or an individual staple fibre if it were continuous; in filament yarns, the yarn denier divided by the number of filaments.
Densitometer – An instrument used for reading the amount of light reflected by a surface or transmitted by an object. Densitometers are often used to measure the density of process-colour inks on press. These density readings can then be used to calculate other values like dot gain and colour difference. By measuring emulsion densities, Densitometers are also commonly used to analyze colour characteristics of film.
Densitometer (Reflection) – An instrument used to measure colour density on a printed sheet or reflective art.
Densitometer (Transmission) – An instrument for measuring transmission densities of colour transparencies, film negatives and positives; for establishing density ranges; and for measuring reflective density of opaque copy.
Density – (1) The darkness of a printed image. (2) Weight per unit volume of a substance, expressed in grams per cubic centimetre, pounds per cubic foot and so on. Density is a secondary characteristic of paperboard calculated as a weight per unit volume: .008 board weighing 112 lbs./ream has a density of 14 lbs./calliper point. Density does not relate directly to quality or strength because some very dense boards simply have a thicker layer of a heavy clay coating to cover up an uneven surface while the board itself is not stronger or smoother than less dense boards. Density does affect absorbency, stiffness, opacity, and resiliency. The density of substrate is its specific gravity or weight per unit volume. Directly related to the substrate’s absorbency, stiffness, opacity, and resiliency. It is calculated from basis weight and calliper.
Density Range – Difference between the darkest and lightest areas of copy. Also called contrast ratio, copy range and tonal range.
Depolarization – A decrease in the polarization of an electrode at a specified current density.
Desktop Publishing – Technique of using a personal computer to design images and pages, and assemble type and graphics, then using a laser printer or imagesetter to output the assembled pages onto paper, film or printing plate. Abbreviated DTP.
Desorb – To release absorbed molecules. Opposite of Adsorb.
Development – Process of refining a prototype design or process to meet established product criteria (ref. ISO 11607 – 2003(E)).
Device dependent – Describes a colour space that can be defined only by using information on the colour-rendering capabilities of a specific device. For example, the RGB colour space must be generated by a monitor, a device that has specific capabilities and limitations for achieving its gamut of colours. In addition, all monitors have different capabilities and limitations, as do different scanners, printers, and printing presses.
Device independent – A program or file format that can be used with two or more different computing devices and produce identical results. For example, a page saved in PostScript format should be printable on an HP LaserPrinter IV or on a Linotronic output. device.
Device Independent Colours – Hues identified by wavelength or by their place in systems such as developed by CIE. A colour that can be described and specified without regard to whether it is reproduced using ink, projected light, photographic chemistry or any other method.
Device Profile – Device-specific colour information that is a characterization of a device’s colour rendering and reproduction capabilities. Monitor profiles, scanner profiles, and printer profiles are utilized in a colour management system such as Apple ColorSync to help the devices communicate colour information with each other. Profiles are created by calibration and/or characterization method.
Diatomaceous Earth – A substance consisting of the skeletons of billions of microscopic plankton, containing a high amount of silicon. A common paper filler, also used in ceramics, glazes and dynamite.
Diazo – A light-sensitive coating used on printing plates.
DID – An optical security element based on nano-ink structures and interferential layers, offering high-resolution graphics and optical specifications of the image. DID enables the etching of optical microstructures on areas of micrometric dimension on thin films that are machine readable, and which reproduces a design made up of two distinct coloured elements made visible by direct reflection of light.
Die – A form used for shaping, cutting. stamping, embossing and debossing out parts and blanks. Usually made from hard metal but may be made of wood or other suitable material.
Die-cut – The use of sharp steel rules to cut special shapes, boxes and containers, from printed sheets. Die-cutting can be done on either flatbed or rotary presses. Rotary die-cutting is usually inline with the printing.
Die-cut labels – Labels that are cut to shape by a cutting die.
Die cuttability – Suitability of paper and board for die cutting into blanks of a given shape
Die Cutting – The process of cutting a corrugated sheet into a shape which will convert to the required box size when assembled. A rotary die cutter uses a cylindrical die and is generally capable of higher speed than a flatbed die cutter, as the sheet flow basically continues. A flatbed die cutter uses a flat die and the corrugated sheet momentarily stops to enable the required cutting. This method provides both high accuracy and intricate shapes not available from the rotary process.
Die lines – Die lines and pouch lines measure the form and shape of the bag, and is an aid in the artwork design phase. For roll stock, they are called die lines, and for pre-made bags, the term is pouch lines.
Die Sheet – An accurate imprint or transfer made on vinyl or oiled sheet from the die form so that the print image can be brought into exact register with the cutting and creasing rules. Also called a “strike” sheet.
Die Stamping – The process of reproducing a design, figures or lettering from engraved plates of copper, steel or other metal, usually on a die-stamping press.
Diffractive Optical Variable Device (DOVD) – High-security hologram.
Digital Camera – A camera that transform visuals information (lightness and darkness) into pixels, then translate the pixel’s level of light into a number (or, in the case of colour, into three numbers: for the level of red, green and blue in the pixel). These digital images can then be manipulated pixel by pixel. They can also be compressed, stored and transmitted in more or less the same manner as other digital data.
Digital Dot – Dot created by a computer and printed out by a laser printer or imagesetter. Digital dots are uniform in size, as compared to halftone dots that vary in size.
Digital Paper – Paper specifically designed for electronic printing.
Digital Printing – (1) A system of printing that involves a direct link between printing presses and computers, bypassing the traditional route of making printing plates. (2) A printing process that allows specific, changeable information such as names, addresses, and other personalized messages to be inserted or merged into a standardized printed document, such as an advertisement, sweepstakes entry form, or lottery ticket. (3) Print on demand.
Digital Proof – A proofing system that does not include the use of film. Data is sent to a printer and imaged directly onto a paper-based material. There are several limitations of a digital proof: 1) they do not use the film that will be used to produce plates, and thus are open to interpretation of the output device, 2) few of these devices print in the same dot pattern as is utilized in the printing process, and 3) the ink utilized in these printers is not representative of the inks used in the printing process, and can show a vast colour range and density not attainable on a printing press.
Digitize – To convert an image or signal into binary code. visual images are digitized by scanning them and assigning a binary code to the resulting vector or raster graphics data. Sounds are digitized by recording frequent “samples” of the analogue wave, and translating that data into binary code.
D illuminants – CIE standard illuminants that have a relative spectral power distribution representing the phases of daylight with different correlated colour temperature.
Diluent – A liquid having no solvent power by itself. Used to thin an ink, not having a solvent action.
Direct Heat Sealer – the jaws are heated to a preset temperature, these sealers are used for thicker material and foil based material.
Direct/Indirect Light Transmission – Amount of light transmitted through a sample, directly in-line with the incident light, or at a certain angle (usually around 5-10°) from it. The ration of these two values is the Haze which is a measure of diffused light.
Direct Positive – A positive obtained without the aid of an intermediate negative, e.g., Kodachromes(tm), Ektachromes(tm), etc.
Direct Transfer – A method of transferring an image directly from film to metal, exposing a resist-coated cylinder directly through the film. This method was introduced in the 1950s as a replacement for carbon tissue.
Dispensing closure – A closure designed to be used to apply the contents of a container.
Dispersing Agents – Materials added in small amounts to facilitate dispersion of a pigment into a liquid medium; also, “Wetting Agents.”
Dispersion – (1) The separation of a substance into the smallest possible particles using another substance (the medium). Used in papermaking to homogenize pulp properties and remove impurities. (2) The breaking down of a pigment aggregate into its individual particles, by the application of mechanical work.
Display – A folding carton style designed to provide a point-of-purchase unit for holding a number of individual packages or products.
Disruptive (packaging) technology – A disruptive technology (DT) is one that upends an existing technology and eventually replaces it or at least becomes it equivalent. This happens even though the innovative product originally appears to be inferior or too expensive. Active and intelligent packaging, coatings, packaging design such as aseptic innovations along with non-thermal and aseptic processing are all leading examples of what is termed as a disruptive technology.
Dissolving pulp – A chemical pulp grade used, for example, in the production of acetate and viscose fibres and cellulose films.
Distribution – The level of uniformity of dispersed pigment particles in a plastic part or film.
Dithering – Simulating grey tones by altering the size, arrangement or shape of background dots.
DMAX – The highest level of density on a film negative.
DMIN – The lowest level of density on a film negative.
Doctor Blade – (1) The part of an inking system on a gravure or flexographic press which scrapes off or removes the surplus ink from the printing cylinder before the image is transferred to the sheet or web of board or paper. (2) Also used on other machines to remove excess amounts of coatings, adhesives or other materials being applied to boxboard sheets.
Doctor Blade Holder – Upper and lower clamp supports for doctor and back-up blades.
Doctor Blade Loading – Applying blade pressure against the engraved cylinder.
Doctor Blade Streak – Defect caused by the doctor blade not wiping clean, leaving stripes or lines of colour on the web.
Dome – A closure that has a rounded surface.
Dominant Wavelength – (1) The wavelength of light selected for measuring the brightness of papers. (2) The single wavelength that represents the perceived colour of any object, even though the effect may be a mix of red, green and blue light.
Dosepak – Pharmaceutical blister package format that blends brand promotion, child safety and ease of use for seniors. Developed by MeadWestvaco in conjunction with its Mebane Packaging, it contains three main design elements: an outer carton made from bleached paperboard, a fold-over inner blister card and a unique locking mechanism on the outer carton that stymies children but allows seniors easy access to the inner blister card. And because the card is attached to the carton, the safety features and labelling information remain intact from initial opening to discarding. A tear-resistant laminate can be added to Dosepak’s outer carton to increase its child-resistant properties for highly toxic drugs.
Dot – Under magnification, printing plates or cylinders and the resulting images consist of dots which blend together to form lines, solid colours, etc. In printing, there may be dot gain (larger dots than on the plate or cylinder) or dot loss (smaller or fewer dots than on the plate or cylinder).
Dot Gain – An increase in the size of halftone dots that may occur as a result of errors or imperfections in any of the steps between screening an image and printing it onto paper. Common causes of mechanical dot gain are incorrect plate exposure, excessive tack or incorrect viscosity of printing ink, excessive ink film thickness, internal reflection of the ink, or too much pressure between the blanket roller and the impression cylinder.
Dots-per-inch – Measure of resolution of input devices such as scanners, display devices such as monitors, and output devices such as laser printers, imagesetters and monitors. Abbreviated DPI. Also called dot pitch.
Double Bump – To print a single image twice so it has two layers of ink.
Double coating – Coating of paper or board twice on one or both sides
Double-facer – A double-facer, or double backer, is the part of a corrugator which bonds single-face board to another liner to produce a double-faced corrugated sheet.
Double tuck carton – Carton in the form of a sleeve, with extended side flaps that tuck in to form the end closures.
Double-wall carton – This is a corrugated fibreboard carton made of three sheets of linerboard interleaved with two sheets of fluted corrugated material.
Double Wall Corrugated – This consists of Liner / Medium / Liner / Medium / Liner (two layers of fluting and three facings), and is developed for extra strength.
Double Wall Wrapping System –
DoubleZip zipper – trademark of Zip-Pak – The DoubleZip zipper, a member of the Zip-Pak Press-to-Close family of resealable packaging technologies, on bags features two sets of interlocking profiles that guide fingers along a path when closing the package. The zipper’s construction is designed to assure that the bag closes completely and maintains product freshness. The DoubleZip is ergonomically designed to glide consumers’ fingers along a path for easy closure. The dual zipper enhances seal strength to prevent accidental package opening and product spillage.
This retrofit system was developed as a baseline solution that can be upgraded to run at higher speeds and with a wide variety of pouch formats and zipper profiles. (www.zippak.com)
Doughnut – The appearance of a screen dot that has printed the circumference of the cell while not printing a complete dot.
DOVD – Diffractive Optical Variable Device (high-security hologram)
Downtime – Time the machine or equipment is not running.
Doyn-Style Stand-up Pouch – A stand-up pouch that has seals on both sides and around the bottom gusset.
Doy Pack (Doyen) – A stand-up pouch that has seals on both sides and around the bottom gusset. In 1962, Louis Doyen invented and patented the first soft sack with an inflated bottom called Doypack. Although this new packaging was not the immediate success hoped for, it is booming today since the patent has entered the public domain. Also spelt – Doypak, Doypac, Doy pak, Doy pac. (read more here: The Evolution of the Stand-Up Pouch)
Doy-style pouch – see Doy-Pack
DPI (Dots Per Inch) – A method of measuring the number of dots a printer can print per inch both horizontally and vertically to determine output device resolution and quality. A 600 dpi printer can print 360,000 (600 x 600) dots on one square inch of paper.
Drag-In – The water or solution that adheres to objects as they are introduced into a plating bath.
Dragout – (1) Excessive ink around shadow areas of the image; usually associated with excessively deep etches, on a non-absorbent (coated) paper. (2) The solution that adheres to objects as they are introduced into a plating bath. (3) Build-up of pigments on edge of doctor blade that release and occasionally print on the web.
Drainage – Formation of a paper or board web on the wire by removing water at the paper machine wet end
Drain Safe – Products deemed safe by local, state and federal criteria for disposal into a sanitary sewer system that may go directly to Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) and will not cause the POTW to exceed its permitting limits. The term does not apply to a mixed effluent or to storm water drains.
DraughtMaster Plastic Keg –
Drawdown – Ink testing procedure, conducted by spreading ink on a substrate sample with a rod or K-coater, by hand or by mechanical means.
Drawing – Controlled stretching of a fibre or filament by a factor of 4 to 10, causing the molecular chains to align along the fibre axis.
Draw Re-draw (DRD) process – A coil of rolled aluminium is fed into a cupping press that first cuts a round disc, then draws or ‘punches’ the disc into a cup. This cup is drawn a second time to achieve its final shape and bottom before being trimmed to become a finished container.
DRD – The can body is made via the draw-re-draw (DRD) process
Drier – A substance added to ink to hasten drying. They consist mainly of metallic salts, which exert a catalytic effect on the oxidation and polymerization of the vehicles employed.
Drinking Straw –
Dropouts – Very light areas in a halftone in which the halftone screen is eliminated to create pure whites.
Dropper cap – A bottle closure that features a dropper and rubber bulb, designed to dispense liquids in small drops. Used on dropper bottles.
Drop Shadow – Created to give the appearance of a natural shadow and to better illustrate the effects of lighting. These shadows can be produced from the original image or they can be created by airbrush or vignette.
Drop test – A test of strength accomplished by dropping an object in a specified manner for a specified number of times or until the article fails from impact.
Droste effect – The Droste effect is a specific kind of recursive picture. An image exhibiting the Droste effect depicts a smaller version of itself in a place where a similar picture would realistically be expected to appear. This smaller version then depicts an even smaller version of itself in the same place, and so on. Only in theory could this go on forever; practically, it continues only as long as the resolution of the picture allows, which is relatively short, since each iteration geometrically reduces the picture’s size. It is a visual example of a strange loop, a self-referential system of instancing which is the cornerstone of fractal geometry.
This particular phenomenon, known as the “Droste effect,” is named after a 1904 package of Droste brand cocoa. The mathematical interest in these packaging illustrations is their implied infinity. If the resolution of the printing process (and the determination and eyesight of the illustrator) were not limiting factors, it would go on forever. A package within a package within a package… Like Russian dolls. (see for more http://www.boxvox.net/droste-effect/)
Dry Back – The change in colour or finish of an ink film as it dries.
Dry coating – Coating method in which a binder is applied to the paper surface followed by dry coating pigment.
Dry Colour – Pigment in dry or powder form.
Dry creping – Creping of a dry paper web.
Dry Cut – A paper defect consisting of a long cut in the paper. This is a calendar cut occurring without wrinkling.
Drying In – Ink drying in cells.
Drying Oils – Oils that process the property of hardening to a tough film by oxidation and polymerization.
Dry laminate – A solvent based adhesive lamination offering the best bond strength in the market. Dry laminate cuts a bit easier than wet laminate, but is less cost effective.
Dry Offset – An indirect letterpress process in which the ink is transferred from a relief plate to a blanket and then to the stock. Similar to wet offset, but requires a coarser screen, normally 100 to 120 lines per inch. Produces printing quality higher than flexography but lower than wet offset.
Dry strength – Mechanical strength of a dry paper sheet (includes tensile strength, tearing resistance and folding endurance).
DSD – Duales System Deutschland.
DS Smith Packaging –
DT – see Disruptive (packaging) technology.
Duplex paper/board – A multi-ply board mainly made from mechanical pulp with a bleached chemical pulp facing layer.
DuPont Packaging –
Dull-Coated – A moderately, glossy-coated publication stock, more reflective than matte, but less so than glossy.
Dummy – A rough layout of a printed piece showing position and finished size.
Dummy Cathode (or Dummy) – A cathode in a plating solution used for removal or decomposition of impurities.
Duotone – A two-colour halftone reproduction from a one-colour photograph.
Duplicate Positive – A high-quality positive made for the purposes of reproducing copy without using the original artwork. Duplicates all tone values of the original.
Duplicate Transparency – The reproduction of an original transparency made on transparency film.
Duplicating Film – Special films made for colour and black and white uses.
Durometer – A measure of rubber hardness usually made with Shore-A durometer gauge.
Dust Flaps – The narrow flaps extending from each side of a carton or from the sides of a top or cover that turn down into the carton before closure to keep foreign particles out.
Dwell Time – The time interval during which elements remain in contract or in a static position; pause.
Dye – A coloured substance, usually differing from a pigment in its solubility in various solvents.
Dye sublimation – A dye-transfer process, developed in the 1960s for use in textiles, since then advanced to provide wear-resistant, full-colour surface decoration of three-dimensional products. Developed by Kolorfusion International, Inc., the technology allows for transfer of a full spectrum of colours, shades, and designs to a variety of surfaces, including plastics, metals and glass.
When the dyes are heated in this transfer process, they vaporize, and if they are in close proximity to a suitable substrate, such as a plastic or coating, the vapours penetrate the adjacent substrate by around 0.002 in. (0,005 mm) up to 0.25 in. (0,635 mm). The plastic substrate must be able to withstand temperatures of 280 to 375 ºF (138 to 190 ºC) necessary to vaporize the dye.
Since the dyes are transparent, the substrate should be light in colour (white, light grey or beige). If the plastic substrate is translucent, it will remain translucent after colouring. The lighter the substrate colour, the better the result of this process.
For 3D decoration, Kolorfusion typically prints the design on an air-permeable and flexible textile-based medium called Kolortex. This is then placed around the object, which is put into a high-temperature film bag from which the air is pulled, forcing the textile to tighten around the substrate. The vacuum bag with the part is then placed in an oven for 5 to 40 min.
The process was developed as an alternative to the dipping process developed by Cubic Printing of Japan. That method involves floating a pre-printed film on a pool of liquid, allowing the film to dissolve and leaving a floating layer of inks into which the substrate is dipped. This is a very expensive process and not as durable as dye sublimation, as it does not penetrate the part. Compared with the dip process, dye sublimation is some 20% to 40% lower in cost. DuPont’s PBT, PET, acetal, and nylon resins are among those materials that are suited to the process.
Dye Transfer – An opaque colour print made from three dyed gelatine films, contact-printed over one another in register.
Dylark FG resins –
Dynamic Range – An instrument’s range of measurable values, from the lowest amount it can detect to the highest amount it can handle.
Dynamically Balanced – Balanced on special equipment to run in perfect balance at high speed.
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