The Effect of Laser Engraving Technology on the Development of Flexoprint (II)

Anilox roller maintenance includes the following sections:

1. Protect the anilox roller surface when changing the anilox roller. Use a leather case when storing.

2. Replace the anilox roller for timely cleaning.

3. Place a magnetic filter in the ink tank to prevent metal impurities from scratching the anilox roller.

4. Select high-quality scraper and knife type. It is recommended to use plastic scraper to better protect the anilox roller.

5. Use a mesh microscope to inspect the mesh. If any wear or blockage is found, take measures in time.

In the past, people often encountered ink, printing plates, or paper when they encountered light ink or uneven ink. Finally, they found that they were caused by blocked meshes and reduced ink transfer. Now the first thing that comes to mind when you encounter similar problems is the problem of anilox rollers. However, some corrugated paper printing plants do not pay enough attention to printing quality, let alone maintain and clean the anilox roll, and the anilox roll blockage seriously affects the printing quality. This long vicious cycle is not conducive to the development of the entire enterprise. of. If this continues, it will also affect the overall development of China's flexo and corrugated paper printing. On the contrary, due to the differences in management concepts and market awareness, some large and medium-sized printing companies with joint ventures and wholly-owned enterprises in China have attached importance to printing quality and each link in the printing process. This type of management experience and practice is worth learning from.

In general, the ceramic anilox roll is not easy to wear, if you find that the amount of ink transferred decreases, most of the reasons are caused by the blockage of the anilox roller mesh. With the high-power mesh microscope, it can be clearly observed that plugs are present in the mesh. Because the ink used in flexo printing is easy to dry, it is not easy to be dissolved and cleaned after drying, and the mesh is blocked for a long time; in addition to affecting the amount of ink transferred, the life of the anilox roll will be shortened. The use of anilox rollers that have been blocked by mesh for a long period of time will also increase the loss of ink. The phenomenon of whitening and ink coloration will occur during printing, especially for large-area field printing. Therefore, it is very important to stabilize the printing quality that the anilox roller is well cleaned.

Anilox roller cleaning is divided into daily cleaning and cycle cleaning.

Daily cleaning is the cleaning of the anilox roller in time after shutdown, which can effectively prevent the ink from drying in the mesh. Generally, a special chemical cleaning agent is used to achieve the purpose of cleaning by softening and dissolving the ink in the mesh. The specific cleaning method is to place the anilox roller in the cleaning solution for a period of time, use a special wire brush (a copper wire brush is used for the metal anilox roller) to spirally brush the surface of the anilox roller, and rinse with water after cleaning. The cleaning agent of FLEXOCLEAN is a kind of environmentally friendly product with strong pertinence and obvious cleaning effect. It has been widely used in domestic flexographic and corrugated paper printing industry. It can effectively wash water-based inks, solvent inks, UV inks, and varnishes. Thanks to our promotion in the domestic market over the past three years, there are many users who currently use Fu Lai Ke Li products.

For anilox rollers with severe mesh jams, the effect of periodic cleaning is more pronounced. The principle of periodic cleaning is to use the principle of low-pressure spray washing baking soda powder to hit the mesh residue to achieve the purpose of cleaning. Using our anilox roller cleaning machine to clean an anilox roller for a narrow web press, the cleaning process takes only 3-5 minutes, the cleaning effect is obvious, and the operation is simple. Nearly a hundred flexo and corrugated paper printing plants in China are using various types of washing machines we produce.

For the newly introduced manufacturers of flexo printing equipment, in addition to the more rational configuration of the anilox roller, they also purchased anilox roller cleaning equipment, which is undoubtedly a good news for Chinese flexo printing. Paying attention to printing quality shows that China's flexographic printing has entered a virtuous cycle.

The Influence of Laser Technology on the Development of Flexography

Another important application of laser technology in the flexographic field is in platemaking. Laser-engraved seamless printing plates enable continuous flexographic printing, extending flexographic printing to a wider range of packaging and printing. The application and promotion of direct plate making technology using a laser on a photosensitive resin material has created conditions for flexographic printing to finally achieve high quality.

At first, laser technology only sculpted lines and text on sleeve-type plates made of rubber materials. Due to material limitations, the engraved network lines were not very high. This plate sleeve can only print some real or simple text, such as cigarette tipping paper and exercise book lines, wrapping paper, wallpaper and so on. Later, in order to achieve continuous printing of higher network cable colors, in order to achieve higher printing cable, several major manufacturers of flexo materials in the world are developing a resin material that can be engraved by laser. After several years of hard work, companies such as DuPont and BASF have already introduced this material. With the use of these materials and laser engraving equipment, the printing plate network cable can reach 200 lines/inch and 1% dot percentage. The actual printing effect on the machine has also been recognized by the industry. The printing quality is close to offset and gravure levels. In China, due to the fact that this technology has just been promoted and is still immature in terms of technology and market, it will take some time for exploration and practice and will not be popularized in the short term. In addition, the high plate-making costs caused by the reasons of plate-making materials and plate-making equipment have also affected the development of laser direct plate-making in China to some extent.

Flexo printing is a special printing method that relies more on supporting materials and technologies. Its development will be constrained by various factors. China's flexo printing was only developed in recent years. Although it has received many attentions, the talents who are really proficient in this printing method are limited. The entire flexographic printing technology and industry standards have not yet been perfected. In addition, too much reliance on imported matching printing materials will lead to high printing costs, which is not conducive to the development of flexo printing in China in the future.

Source: 21st Century Fine Chemicals Network