Technical Brief

EPSON Sales Training 11/00
EPSON and EPSON Stylus are registered trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation.
Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
2. Greater durability: With EPSON MicroCrystal Encapsulation Technology, the resin pulls the pigment into the
crevices of the media. Because the pigments reside in the crevices of the media, prints are more scratch-
resistant.
Conventional Pigment Inks:
Pigments lay
on top of the
media and are
easily scratched
EPSON's MicroCrystal Encapsulation Technology:
Pigments are fixed on
specialty media by the
polymerizing resin and
are more durable and
scratch-resistant
▲ ▲
Stability of Pigment Inks and Dye Inks: Pigment inks provide higher short-term stability because they have
much faster setting time than dye-based inks, which results in a lesser color shift.
0 . 0
1 . 0
2 . 0
3 . 0
4 . 0
5 . 0
6 . 0
0 2 0 4 0 6 0 8 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 4 0
Short-Term Color Shift (or Setting Time)
Key:
Dye inks
Pigment inks
Hours After Printing
Delta E
A rating less than 3% delta is only noticeable to the trained eye. A rating less than 2% delta is unnoticeable to the
human eye.
Technical Brief—EPSON Archival Inks Page 3
3. Unprecedented gloss for RC (Resin Coated) Photographic Prints: EPSON RC media is specially designed
to provide the highest gloss with the EPSON Archival Inks.
Un-Optimized Media:
If third-party fine art papers are used, pigments
will penetrate the media, but may go too far
into the crevices, resulting in lower gloss
Optimized Media:
EPSON RC media allows the pigment particles
to penetrate the paper but keeps them close to
the surface for the highest gloss
▲ ▲
Media (Cross-Section) Media (Cross-Section)
Light
Light
Additionally, third-party fine art papers are not recommended for use because they may damage the
printers with excessive dust. EPSON offers a variety of media compatible with the Archival Inks.