Graphic technology - Visual opacity of printed white ink

This document specifies a method of measuring the visual opacity of printed specimens of white ink. It is applicable to printing opaque white ink on transparent and white or coloured opaque substrates.

Technologie graphique — Opacité visuelle de l'encre blanche imprimée

Grafična tehnologija - Vizualna opaciteta odtisnjene bele tiskarske barve

Ta dokument določa metodo za merjenje vidne neprozornosti natisnjenih vzorcev belega črnila. Uporablja se za tiskanje neprozornega belega črnila na prozorne in bele ali barvane neprozorne podlage.

General Information

Status
Published
Publication Date
28-Feb-2023
Technical Committee
Current Stage
6060 - National Implementation/Publication (Adopted Project)
Start Date
01-Feb-2023
Due Date
08-Apr-2023
Completion Date
01-Mar-2023

Relations

Overview

ISO 23498:2022 - "Graphic technology - Visual opacity of printed white ink" specifies a standardized method to measure the visual opacity of printed opaque white ink. It applies to white ink printed on transparent films and on white or coloured opaque substrates. The standard defines specimen preparation, measurement conditions and a visual-opacity metric designed to align with human perception (0 = fully transparent to 100 = fully opaque), and is intended for repeatable, comparable opacity results across printing workflows.

Key topics

  • Scope and limitations
    • Covers opaque white inks (neutral colourant, reflectance factor > 80 %) printed as produced (opacity of the printed result, not ink alone).
    • Intended for transparent substrates or opaque substrates with CIELAB L* ≥ ~92 (Y = 80 ± 2) and C* ≤ 20.
  • Specimen preparation
    • Test chart comprises four regions: unprinted substrate (S), ink on substrate (IS), black printed region (B) and ink on black region (IB).
    • Minimum print areas: typically 4 cm × 2 cm (transparent substrates) or 2 cm × 2 cm for some test patterns; half of the white region should overlap the black region for opacity comparison.
    • Options for using a standard test substrate or production substrate (useful for inkjet and special materials).
  • Measurement requirements
    • Spectral/CIE XYZ measurements per ISO 13655 using 45°:0° (or 0°:45°) geometry and CIE Illuminant D50; measurement condition M1 is preferred (M0/M2 allowed if reported).
    • Black region requirement: CIE Y ≤ 5 (CIELAB L* ≈ 27.7).
  • Opacity metric
    • Uses a visual-opacity metric (0–100) developed for perceptual agreement and consistent with the PDF “solidity” model; explicitly excludes using contrast-ratio alone.
    • Metric is extendable toward coloured inks/substrates (Annex A) and draws on functions used in Spot Colour Tone Value (SCTV, ISO 20654).
  • Standard maintenance
    • Second edition (2022) supersedes the 2020 edition; editorial/technical corrections made.

Applications

  • Quality control and specification of white-print opacity in packaging, labels, signage and point-of-sale graphics.
  • Comparing printing systems or ink formulations (including digital inkjet) where printed opacity affects appearance.
  • Ensuring repeatable production results for reverse printing on transparent films and multi-layer print workflows.
  • Reporting and communication of opacity values between ink manufacturers, print service providers and brand owners.

Who uses it

  • Print technologists, ink formulators and manufacturers
  • Color QC and prepress professionals
  • Packaging designers and specification engineers
  • Digital/industrial inkjet developers

Related standards

  • ISO 13655 - Spectral measurement and colorimetric computation (normative reference)
  • ISO 2846-1 - Reference substrates (test substrate guidance)
  • ISO 20654 - Spot Colour Tone Value (SCTV)
  • ISO 3664 - Viewing conditions
  • ISO 6504-3 - Opacity test charts

Keywords: ISO 23498:2022, visual opacity, white ink opacity, opacity measurement, graphic technology, transparent substrates, ISO 13655, printing quality control.

Standard
SIST ISO 23498:2023
English language
13 pages
sale 10% off
Preview
sale 10% off
Preview
e-Library read for
1 day
Standard
ISO 23498:2022 - Graphic technology — Visual opacity of printed white ink Released:21. 12. 2022
English language
8 pages
sale 15% off
Preview
sale 15% off
Preview

Frequently Asked Questions

SIST ISO 23498:2023 is a standard published by the Slovenian Institute for Standardization (SIST). Its full title is "Graphic technology - Visual opacity of printed white ink". This standard covers: This document specifies a method of measuring the visual opacity of printed specimens of white ink. It is applicable to printing opaque white ink on transparent and white or coloured opaque substrates.

This document specifies a method of measuring the visual opacity of printed specimens of white ink. It is applicable to printing opaque white ink on transparent and white or coloured opaque substrates.

SIST ISO 23498:2023 is classified under the following ICS (International Classification for Standards) categories: 37.100.01 - Graphic technology in general; 87.080 - Inks. Printing inks. The ICS classification helps identify the subject area and facilitates finding related standards.

SIST ISO 23498:2023 has the following relationships with other standards: It is inter standard links to SIST ISO 23498:2021. Understanding these relationships helps ensure you are using the most current and applicable version of the standard.

You can purchase SIST ISO 23498:2023 directly from iTeh Standards. The document is available in PDF format and is delivered instantly after payment. Add the standard to your cart and complete the secure checkout process. iTeh Standards is an authorized distributor of SIST standards.

Standards Content (Sample)


SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-april-2023
Nadomešča:
SIST ISO 23498:2021
Grafična tehnologija - Vizualna opaciteta odtisnjene bele tiskarske barve
Graphic technology - Visual opacity of printed white ink
Technologie graphique — Opacité visuelle de l'encre blanche imprimée
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: ISO 23498:2022
ICS:
37.100.01 Grafična tehnologija na Graphic technology in
splošno general
87.080 Barvila. Tiskarske barve Inks. Printing inks
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 23498
Second edition
2022-12
Graphic technology — Visual opacity
of printed white ink
Technologie graphique — Opacité visuelle de l'encre blanche
imprimée
Reference number
© ISO 2022
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definition . 1
4 Requirements . 1
4.1 General . 1
4.2 Specimen preparation . 2
4.2.1 General . 2
4.2.2 Printing on transparent substrates . 2
4.2.3 Printing on the test substrate . 3
4.2.4 Printing on production substrate . 3
4.3 Measurements . 3
4.4 Calculation of opacity . 4
4.4.1 General . 4
4.4.2 Visual opacity . 5
4.4.3 Extension of visual opacity calculation for coloured inks and substrates . 5
5 Reporting . 5
Annex A (informative) Recommendations for testing metrics for opacity of coloured inks
and substrates .7
Bibliography . 8
iii
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to
the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see
www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 130, Graphic technology.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO 23498:2020), which has been technically
revised.
The main change is as follows:
— Formula A.1 has been corrected.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
iv
Introduction
Methods for measuring the transparency or opacity of printing inks and paints have been described
[1]–[4] [1]
in a number of publications . Standard methods for paints are based on the reflectance of the
colorant when printed over a black background relative to the reflectance of the black background
without coloration. The contrast ratio method described in Reference [1] is widely used in the industry
for evaluating opacity, but results can vary significantly depending on how it is used especially where
white ink printed upon on transparent substrates are measured, or where a standard test substrate is
not used.
Methods of measuring opacity and transparency are based on the reflectance of printed and unprinted
areas of a substrate. Reflectance is defined as the luminous reflectance factor and expressed as the
CIE Y tristimulus value, which is not as perceptually uniform as other derived CIE colour spaces such
as 1976 CIELAB. Transparency is related to opacity but is not equal or equivalent to opacity. ISO 2846-1
includes a measure of transparency.
In the transparent imaging model introduced from PDF 1.4, objects can be less than fully opaque, and
all of the objects in a stack can potentially contribute to the final appearance of the page. PDF uses the
term "solidity" rather than opacity, but these terms are essentially the same. An opacity or "solidity"
value of 1,0 describes an ink that completely hides the inks beneath, while a value of 0,0 describes a
[5]
transparent ink that completely reveals the inks beneath , for example a clear varnish. Document
creators specify the opacity of one or more inks, and anticipate that this specified opacity is consistent
with the visual appearance of both preview and final print. This document is intended to be used
to measure the opacity of inks printed using a known configuration of a printing system and so the
measured value is not the opacity of the ink per se but of the ink as printed. This aspect is especially
important when assessing inks printed using inkjet printers. For the opacity value so measured to be
useful, it is important to communicate details of the configuration of the printing system used so that
the printing can be repeated.
There is thus a need for a metric for opacity which has better agreement with visual perception. For
consistency with the PDF model, it is expected that the metric produces values in the range 0 to 100
for fully transparent and fully opaque prints respectively. These requirements exclude the use of the
contrast ratio metric.
The method described in this document was tested using the data reported in Reference [6] and it was
shown to correlate well with the visual perception of opacity.
This document is limited to the opacity of "opaque" white inks, as the published work cited in this
document was limited to the evaluation of such inks. A method is described in Annex A showing how
this document could be extended to test coloured inks. We anticipate that in the future this standard
could be extended if there is a need and adequate experimental data. For this reason, the visual opacity
metric defined in this document is not the simplest formula that fits the experimental data, but is one
that gives good results and can readily be extended to colour inks and substrates if required. The metric
is based on functions used in the Spot Colour Tone Value (SCTV) defined in ISO 20654.
Opaque white inks are formulated to be relatively opaque to light in order to hide any underlying
matter, in contrast to "transparent" white inks which are formulated to permit transmission of light
and are commonly used to extend coloured inks. For the purpose of this document, white ink is an ink
formulated with an opaque white colorant that has a neutral colour and a reflectance factor greater
than 80 %, and which is intended to have high opacity.
This document is also limited in the range of substrates to which it is intended to apply. Substrates
should be either transparent, or have a CIELAB L* lightness of 80 or above and a CIELAB C* chroma of
ab
20 or less.
Various factors can affect the appearance of opacity on a given substrate, including the presence of
optical brightening agents in the ink or substrate, and to minimize such effects, it is assumed that the
material is viewed and measured under standard conditions, where the viewing condition is defined by
[8]
ISO 3664 P1 or P2 condition and the measurement by ISO 13655 M1 condition.
v
...


INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 23498
Second edition
2022-12
Graphic technology — Visual opacity
of printed white ink
Technologie graphique — Opacité visuelle de l'encre blanche
imprimée
Reference number
© ISO 2022
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definition . 1
4 Requirements . 1
4.1 General . 1
4.2 Specimen preparation . 2
4.2.1 General . 2
4.2.2 Printing on transparent substrates . 2
4.2.3 Printing on the test substrate . 3
4.2.4 Printing on production substrate . 3
4.3 Measurements . 3
4.4 Calculation of opacity . 4
4.4.1 General . 4
4.4.2 Visual opacity . 5
4.4.3 Extension of visual opacity calculation for coloured inks and substrates . 5
5 Reporting . 5
Annex A (informative) Recommendations for testing metrics for opacity of coloured inks
and substrates .7
Bibliography . 8
iii
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to
the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see
www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 130, Graphic technology.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO 23498:2020), which has been technically
revised.
The main change is as follows:
— Formula A.1 has been corrected.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
iv
Introduction
Methods for measuring the transparency or opacity of printing inks and paints have been described
[1]–[4] [1]
in a number of publications . Standard methods for paints are based on the reflectance of the
colorant when printed over a black background relative to the reflectance of the black background
without coloration. The contrast ratio method described in Reference [1] is widely used in the industry
for evaluating opacity, but results can vary significantly depending on how it is used especially where
white ink printed upon on transparent substrates are measured, or where a standard test substrate is
not used.
Methods of measuring opacity and transparency are based on the reflectance of printed and unprinted
areas of a substrate. Reflectance is defined as the luminous reflectance factor and expressed as the
CIE Y tristimulus value, which is not as perceptually uniform as other derived CIE colour spaces such
as 1976 CIELAB. Transparency is related to opacity but is not equal or equivalent to opacity. ISO 2846-1
includes a measure of transparency.
In the transparent imaging model introduced from PDF 1.4, objects can be less than fully opaque, and
all of the objects in a stack can potentially contribute to the final appearance of the page. PDF uses the
term "solidity" rather than opacity, but these terms are essentially the same. An opacity or "solidity"
value of 1,0 describes an ink that completely hides the inks beneath, while a value of 0,0 describes a
[5]
transparent ink that completely reveals the inks beneath , for example a clear varnish. Document
creators specify the opacity of one or more inks, and anticipate that this specified opacity is consistent
with the visual appearance of both preview and final print. This document is intended to be used
to measure the opacity of inks printed using a known configuration of a printing system and so the
measured value is not the opacity of the ink per se but of the ink as printed. This aspect is especially
important when assessing inks printed using inkjet printers. For the opacity value so measured to be
useful, it is important to communicate details of the configuration of the printing system used so that
the printing can be repeated.
There is thus a need for a metric for opacity which has better agreement with visual perception. For
consistency with the PDF model, it is expected that the metric produces values in the range 0 to 100
for fully transparent and fully opaque prints respectively. These requirements exclude the use of the
contrast ratio metric.
The method described in this document was tested using the data reported in Reference [6] and it was
shown to correlate well with the visual perception of opacity.
This document is limited to the opacity of "opaque" white inks, as the published work cited in this
document was limited to the evaluation of such inks. A method is described in Annex A showing how
this document could be extended to test coloured inks. We anticipate that in the future this standard
could be extended if there is a need and adequate experimental data. For this reason, the visual opacity
metric defined in this document is not the simplest formula that fits the experimental data, but is one
that gives good results and can readily be extended to colour inks and substrates if required. The metric
is based on functions used in the Spot Colour Tone Value (SCTV) defined in ISO 20654.
Opaque white inks are formulated to be relatively opaque to light in order to hide any underlying
matter, in contrast to "transparent" white inks which are formulated to permit transmission of light
and are commonly used to extend coloured inks. For the purpose of this document, white ink is an ink
formulated with an opaque white colorant that has a neutral colour and a reflectance factor greater
than 80 %, and which is intended to have high opacity.
This document is also limited in the range of substrates to which it is intended to apply. Substrates
should be either transparent, or have a CIELAB L* lightness of 80 or above and a CIELAB C* chroma of
ab
20 or less.
Various factors can affect the appearance of opacity on a given substrate, including the presence of
optical brightening agents in the ink or substrate, and to minimize such effects, it is assumed that the
material is viewed and measured under standard conditions, where the viewing condition is defined by
[8]
ISO 3664 P1 or P2 condition and the measurement by ISO 13655 M1 condition.
v
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 23498:2022(E)
Graphic technology — Visual opacity of printed white ink
1 Scope
This document specifies a method of measuring the visual opacity of printed specimens of white ink.
It is applicable to printing opaque white ink on transparent and white or coloured opaque substrates.
2 Normative references
The following docu
...

Questions, Comments and Discussion

Ask us and Technical Secretary will try to provide an answer. You can facilitate discussion about the standard in here.

Loading comments...