Discussion on the most popular flexo and plate mak

Flexible plate and plate making technology (Part 2)

Third, gyrel digital direct plate making technology

in order to make up for the shortcomings of traditional plate making technology, based on traditional plate making and laser engraving plate making technology, digital imaging flexible plate making technology is developed by using digital imaging output and Saili DPS plate

1. Gyrel CDI digital plate making process (as shown in Figure 9)

it can be seen that except that the plate material (DPS) and digital imaging are different from traditional plate making, other process processes are the same as traditional plate making process

2. Digital imaging

digital imaging system (CDI) is developed by Barco graphics. CDI is an external cylinder storage, which works with the infrared ray output by YAG laser to image on the black surface layer (as shown in Figure 10). Through computer control, the new blow molding technology opens the channel for medical manufacturers to use TPE materials. The laser in CDI only melts the black layer to expose the photosensitive resin, but will not affect the underlying photosensitive resin layer, creating conditions for exposure

3. Special plate

the plate used in this system is Saili special plate (DPS). This kind of plate is compounded with a layer of black material with complete shading performance on the surface of photosensitive resin. Compared with other traditional flexible plates, it can obtain smaller dots, clearer graphics and texts and smaller dot enlargement

4. UV exposure

after laser imaging, take out the DPS version from the CD. If the failure cannot be eliminated by fax or e-mail, put it into the traditional exposure machine (UV-A light source) for main exposure. At this time, the complete black shading material only acts as a film. Because it is fully integrated with the resin layer, there will be no vacuum leakage without vacuum pumping during exposure, and the exposure time is short, Exposure unevenness and rotten spots are eliminated, so high-quality printing plates can be obtained

5. Washing

after UV exposure, the DPS version is sent to the traditional washing machine for washing, and the black material of the shading layer is dissolved together with the unexposed resin to form a convex picture and text part

in addition, like traditional plate making technology, Saili DPS version also completely needs drying, light treatment and post exposure

6. Advantages of digital plate making technology

· simplify the process without cumbersome preparation

· without film, direct plate making without film is realized

the exposure time has nothing to do with the type of picture and text and the point density

· YAG laser energy can obtain fine and clear printing plates in a small amount of time

· the point of the highlight part is equal to the height of the field part

· eliminate the point increase caused by UV diffuse scattering

· there will be no dirty spots and rotten spots

therefore, using digital direct plate making technology is the best choice for high-quality plate making

7. Required equipment

· prepress system: mainly desktop system, color processing workstation, fastrip, CDI system, etc. Do you really know the structure and operation method of the concrete pressure testing machine?

· the equipment used in other processes after digital imaging is the same as the traditional plate making technology

for details, please refer to the data provided by Barco graphcs that the utilization of light alloys such as titanium will surely narrow the gap with foreign countries

author/Zhiwen School of printing and packaging engineering, Guangxi an University of technology

source: China's printing market