Influence of Paper Surface Compounds on Corrosion of Printing Machines

This paper deals with investigation of corrosion processes on construction steel in contact with aqueous solutions of surface coatings of high gloss and standard uncoated papers for sheet-fed printing. During the period of four months, changes in the mass of steel specimens were measured (loss of material), as well as changes in pH values and conductivity of the examined solutions. Formation of corrosion products on the surface was identified by changes of spectrophotometric reemission in the visible portion of the steel spectrum and by FT-IR spectral recordings. In addition, the electrochemical potentiodynamic measurements were carried out with the direct current and the method of linear polarization and Tafel’s extrapolation, by which the corrosion parameters were determined: corrosion potential, corrosion current density, polarization resistance cathodic and anodic inclination of Tafel’s lines, as well as the corrosion rate.The results show that the dynamics of the corrosion in printing machines is directly influenced by the type of the paper used for printing. This investigation gave an insight into dynamics and mechanisms of corrosion under conditions close to those in printing production, thus facilitating better understanding of the entire process.