Changes of gamut volume during long-term tests

Abstract

The stability of inkjet prints and photographs is influenced by the factors of the surrounding environment. The most harmful factors of environment are the light and the pollutants like ozone. Durability of inkjet prints is besides the ink composition, affected by the type of receiving layer. In this paper will be discussed the lightfastness of inkjet prints and photographs during the long-term ageing tests. Inkjet prints were prepared using both dye-based and pigment-based inks. The samples were exposed to the real conditions. During the test light conditions were precisely monitored. The reflective spectra of samples were measured by spectrophotometer Gretag MacBeth spectrolino. From these data the L*a*b* values were calculated, which were used to gamut visualization as 3D in L*a*b* space. Gamut volume of samples was evaluated by program VolGa, which is a Matlab based utility useful for the monitoring and evaluation of lightfastness of print. VolGa was designed to calculate the Volume of Gamut. This utility currently provides also other features and functions, like gamut visualization, generation of colour difference heat map, calculation of fading rate coefficient, etc.