Alpha Cellulose Paper versus Cotton Paper

Alpha Cellulose Paper

Cotton Paper

[cagen]

I'd like to know why you prefer the paper.

[Ernst Dinkla]

My preference is a durable paper that keeps its paper white in time and allows a good load of ink for a good gamut and still resolves detail. A better mechanical scratch resistance of the print surface is nice too. On longevity cotton and alpha cellulose do not make a big difference while cotton usually is more expensive. The label cotton on a paper is probably more reliable than the label alpha cellulose, I get the impression some papers have an alpha cellulose label for a paper base that is at best Acid & Lignin Free, ECF Bleached Chemically. It would be better if it was at least buffered to counter any acidity later on. Some cotton qualities have an inferior inkjet coating.

The paper quality you did not include, resin coated papers, have some qualities you can not find in the other papers and longevity could be equal or better on some paper properties and sometimes on all. Mechanical testing of papers, their tensile strength, the folding proofs, the bond of the paper components to one another has not been done by independent institutes as far as I know.

You will find more warm papers in the cotton category and fewer cool papers, that difference is more pronounced in the baryta/fibre class than in the matte art papers category. Cooler papers that stay cool in time are more likely found in RC papers than in the other categories.

I am an omnivore in paper use but I like to check their properties like fade resistance before I purchase them. At least for the prints that should last. Aardenburg Imaging is a good source for information then.

--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
December 2012, 500+ inkjet media white spectral plots.

[Alan Goldhammer]

From a chemical perspective it's rather important to note that cotton fibers are made up of alpha-cellulose.  Cotton fibers are very low in lignin to begin with which is the big difference between alpha-cellulose from other sources.  Alpha-cellulose paper can be made from a variety of plant sources and prints have been made on bamboo, rice, and sugar cane papers to cite three.  As Ernst notes, there are a variety of factors that go into the production of ink jet papers, whether the source is cotton or some other alpha-cellulose source is likely to be one of the least significant.

[deanwork]

Cotton. All the alpha papers I use curl so much as to totally ruin my day and waste my money in scratched surfaces and head strikes ( but the baryta ones I use anyway because  I don't like any of those significantly textured gloss fiber papers, like Silver Rag, and I have no other choice but to use alpa surfaces).

[Alan Goldhammer]

Cotton. All the alpha papers I use curl so much as to totally ruin my day and waste my money in scratched surfaces and head strikes ( but the baryta ones I use anyway because  I don't like any of those significantly textured gloss fiber papers, like Silver Rag, and I have no other choice but to use alpa surfaces).

Utter nonsense.  This has nothing to do with cotton vs alpha cellulose but rather the paper manufacturing process itself.  I find that Hahnemuhle cotton papers have significant curl to them and Museo papers both Silver and Portfolio Rag have little to none.  Ilford Gold Fiber Silk (alpha cellulose) has little or no curl and comes out of the printer quite flat.  These results are all from an Epson 3880.