Patent ID: 7056969

Claim:
An aqueous coating formulation for an ink jet recording material, which consists essentially of: (i) from about 45 to about 80% by dry wt., based on the total dry weight of the coating formulation, of a pigment composition comprising from about 10 to about 90% by dry wt., based on the total dry weight of the pigment composition, of a first pigment selected from porous organic pigments, porous inorganic pigments, metal oxide gels, or mixtures thereof, and from about 90 to about 10% by dry wt., based on the total dry weight of the pigment composition, of a second pigment selected from calcium carbonate, or mixtures of calcium carbonate and alumina, wherein the sum of the pigment composition components total 100% by dry wt.; (ii) from about 10 to about 45% by dry wt., based on the total dry weight of the coating formulation, of a water-soluble binder consisting essentially of super, fully and partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohols and mixtures thereof and, optionally, a cationic acrylic resin; (iii) from about 1 to about 25% by dry wt., based on the total dry weight of the coating formulation, of a cationic resin; (iv) an effective amount of an optionally fluorescent whitening agent; and (v) optionally, an effective amount of a blueing dye, wherein, the sum of the coating formulation components total 100% by dry wt., wherein, the binder/pigment dry weight ratio in the coating formulation ranges from about 1:8 to about 1:1, wherein, when an optionally fluorescent whitening agent and a blueing dye are present in the coating formulation, the optionally fluorescent whitening agent/blueing dye dry weight ratio in the formulation ranges from about 1:1 to about 1000:1, and wherein, the aqueous coating formulation has a solids content ranging from about 15 to about 35% by weight, based on the total dry weight of the coating formulation.