Application of Thin Plate Technology in Corrugated Cardboard Printing (I)

Thin-plate Technology for the Corrugated Market The post-press and pre-press processing of corrugated board printing is in a period of rapid development, and great changes have taken place. The monochromatic printing business has become less and less, and it has gradually disappeared. Instead, the rise of color printing has taken off. Moreover, the flexo platemaking process has also made great progress, and can effectively control and eliminate the brush plate inherent in the process itself ( Rinse development) has a negative effect. Corrugated cartons are made from relatively heavy cardboard after being slotted and high-quality surface finishes. In order to increase the sales volume of products, manufacturers have been making constant efforts to increase the attractiveness of the outer packaging of the products. Therefore, cartons have become increasingly packaged and commercialized. This is inseparable from the joint efforts and contributions of printer manufacturers, corrugated board manufacturers, anilox roller manufacturers, ink manufacturers, and plate manufacturers. In the early 20th century, in order to improve the capacity and quality of corrugated board after printing. Corrugated board manufacturers started to use thin-plate technology, which has resulted in a leap forward in the quality of corrugated cartons because of reduced production costs and cost savings. Corrugated board color half-tone printing has also become more and more common. The improvement of paperboard production process, improvement of ink quality and improvement of anilox roller processing technology lay a certain foundation for the application of thin plate technology, and effectively promoted the application of thin plate technology in flexographic printing technology. Demand Creation Market In the printing of corrugated board, the media system used is very extensive, such as various types of plates, plates with different thicknesses, plates with different substrates, double-stick tapes with different adhesiveness, and different elasticity. Liner materials, etc., can be combined to form a variety of different combinations. So far no standard combination scheme has been developed. Therefore, corrugated board manufacturers cannot determine the surface structure of the plate, the pressure absorption performance, and the ink transfer performance. Most corrugated board printers have tried to test various combinations of different types of plates, tapes, gaskets, and inks, and analyzed the results obtained. It can be seen that the standardization of the plate material system has become more and more urgent and outstanding. Moreover, the processing companies are also trying to find the best combination of plans to meet the needs of printing on a variety of different cardboard materials. For a long time, corrugated board printing manufacturers have been eager to have a special version of the material, and look forward to the emergence of such a plate. The processing method they are looking for is very simple, does not require any special materials, is suitable for all platemaking equipment, and can adapt to tropical, subtropical and continental climatic conditions. It is based on this demand that the structure and properties of the photopolymer have been greatly improved, and it has also been able to have a very stable operating performance under different climatic conditions. Moreover, even after printing several million times, the ink The transfer performance can still be kept constant and consistent. What customers need is a plate that is more flexible and printable. Therefore, this market demand has promoted the development of thin corrugated plates. In addition, the latest digital media has also become an important issue in corrugated box printing. The new, thinner plate for corrugated board printing has a black protective layer on the surface, and this protective layer can be ablated by the laser light emitted by the CTP device. Digital imaging technology is a general trend. Therefore, our goal is to follow the trend, to digital development, and at the same time improve the quality of print. According to the development of market demand, the supplier of plates has increased the size of the plates. The new thin flexible plate material has a layer of photopolymer layer, and the types are increasingly complete. Due to the use of a softer plate, the transfer properties of the ink are very good, the consistency is good, and the halftone image after printing works well. Therefore, there are also many printing companies who have given up their original hard plates and have changed. Printed with a soft plate. As a result, the plate-making time is saved, which shortens the entire production cycle and at the same time reduces the production costs (including the costs of the materials themselves and the costs associated with plate processing). Control of brush plate influence and dot gain When printing corrugated cardboard with flexographic printing, in order to eliminate the influence of the brush plate (rinsing and developing), it is necessary to adjust the printing pressure slightly higher, which inevitably results in the expansion of the dot. In general, the greater the deformation of the printing plate, the more serious the dot expansion phenomenon after printing and the quality of the final printing product, so it is only possible to print low-line images and thicker negative texts, and it is impossible to carry out printing. Fine graphic printing. In response to this situation, in order to reduce the amount of deformation of the printing plate and improve the quality of the final print, people have taken corresponding measures. The first is to use thin-plate technology in the printing of corrugated cardboard. The next step is to improve the photopolymer and standardize the media system. A few years ago, this type of plate used in corrugated board printing was already on the market, and it has been continuously improved and improved in exposure latitude, thus improving the quality of cardboard prints. This makes the thin plate technology of corrugated cardboard favored by people.