Light Scattering Intensity and Viscosity Correlation for the Letters Printed on the Tobacco Cigarettes

Abstract

The quality of the letters printed on the tobacco cigarettes, brand name “John Player™” is found to be viscosity dependent on the ink used for printing. The viscosity changes of the ink used, cause the printed letters to be smudged and of poor quality. At present selection of bad quality prints are done by visual identification, as no scientific technique is available. We have developed a light scattering technique using a 632.8 nm 20 mW He-Ne laser system to correlate the scattering intensity with the viscosity of the ink used, LogoRed TC2582. As a result, a standard has been assigned and quality of the cigarette prints can be maintained during the manufacturing process.