Application of liquid flexible resin plate

In recent years, flexo printing has developed rapidly in packaging printing, especially in the printing of corrugated boxes, and its printing is convenient and exquisite, which has played a very good promotion role in the sales of products. In addition, flexo printing is recognized by the industry as the most promising printing method in the corrugated box printing industry due to its unique flexibility, economical efficiency, environmental protection, and no pollution. At present, the printing of corrugated boxes has gradually shifted from traditional hand-carved rubber plates to photosensitive resin flexographic plates, but the vast majority of them are solid photosensitive resin flexographic plates, which have been used in the entire plate-making process and are not biodegradable and environmentally friendly. Severely contaminated and easily carcinogenic solvent - tetrachloroethylene.

With the rising demand for environmental protection, it is urgent to improve and enhance the overall level of the packaging industry. To fully establish the green corrugated box printing industry system, we must gradually adjust the existing system. On the one hand, it is necessary to change the washing solvent to minimize the harm, and install a pollution treatment system, so that the printing plate completely decontamination and detoxification before use; on the other hand, it must be washed with water, because the use of water solvents can be Biodegradable, but also environmentally friendly. Thus, a liquid photosensitive resin flexo plate that replaces a solid photosensitive resin flexographic plate comes into use.

Foreign market dominates

Because the liquid photosensitive resin flexo has four characteristics: environmental protection, economy, good printing effect, and convenience, it is popular in corrugated box printing in Europe, America, Japan and Australia. Especially in countries such as Japan that focus on conservation and environmental protection, the liquid version of the plate material recovery and the use of water-based solvent-washing plates almost monopolizes the entire market for corrugated box printing. In addition, in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, the liquid version has a market share of over 50%.

It is reported that Indonesia's Sinar Mas (APP), Asahi Oriental, Surya Rengo, unio Box, Panca Group, Malaysia's Orna Paper, Genting Group, Muda Group, Thailand's TCL, Australia's Amcor Packaging, Visi Board, and Japan's Rengo, etc. Many well-known carton factories have abandoned the solid version and switched to the liquid version of the production equipment of Shanghai Haoheng Printing Technology Co., Ltd.

Domestic market still needs time

Although the liquid version shines in foreign markets, the use rate of domestic carton manufacturers is not high, so it will take time to fully occupy the domestic market. At present, there are only two liquid photosensitive resin platesetters in the country. One is used by Shanghai Haoheng Printing Technology Co., Ltd., which has introduced liquid photosensitive resin platemaking equipment into the Chinese market. Another buyer is the first carton manufacturer using this equipment in Singapore. the company.

Carton Factory Feedback:

Mr. Ke Chang, a design engineer of Suzhou Packaging Co., Ltd., said: “Before adopting the liquid version, our company has been using a solid version produced by DuPont and other companies. Since July 2003, we have introduced Shanghai Yinheng Printing Technology. The plate making equipment produced by Co., Ltd. began to use a liquid flexible resin plate.

The reason for adopting the liquid version is mainly to consider that it can save production costs, and it also looks at the green performance of the material. At the same time, since the carton manufacturing enterprises are service industries, they are highly demanding in terms of effectiveness, and the use of liquid versions can significantly increase production speed and save a lot of time.

In the course of more than two years of use, the obvious advantage of the liquid version is that, on the one hand, the field printing ink is delivered well, because in terms of hardness, the liquid version is softer than the solid version and works well in ink transfer. In the field printing, the effect is obviously better than the solid version; on the other hand, saving time, it takes 6-8 hours to outsource a solid version in the past, and it takes only 2-3 hours to make a liquid version. In addition, the use of liquid plates also saves energy. For example, the solid version is washed with potable water after exposure, and washed with clean water; after the liquid version is exposed, the unexposed liquid can be recovered.

At the same time, there are differences in personnel requirements for the production of liquid plates and the production of solid plates, mainly because of different details. The experience of employees in the specific operation process requires more, so the loss is slightly larger at the beginning of use. However, as the proficiency of workers continues to increase, losses can be fully grasped. ”

Supplier answers:

Responding to the user's request to reach the Packaging (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., the supplier, Shanghai Liheng Printing Technology Co., Ltd. Li explained: “In the past, carton manufacturers were outsourced to the plate-making company to do the plate-making work. Now, the plate-making work consists of When the staff finishes themselves, it is normal for the staff to become proficient at the beginning of use, and there are differences in the operation. However, if the carton factory has a professional plate-making department, it can be used proficiently in less than a month.”

Broad prospects for development

From the point of view of protecting the environment, the liquid version uses a water solvent washing plate, which is pollution-free and conducive to environmental protection. Now, like the Singapore, Vietnam, Japan and other countries, the liquid version is used. At the same time, since the head office of carton carton manufacturers has adopted the liquid version, the head office requires that the branch companies in the country also use the liquid version.

From the perspective of employees' physical health, most of the domestic carton manufacturers are concerned about reducing costs, but they do not pay enough attention to employees' physical health. Therefore, carton manufacturers mostly use solid-state versions, and the main solvent of solid-state version is tetrachloroethylene, which is a kind of toxic substance that causes great damage to workers’ bodies and causes most workers to work for a long time due to physical discomfort. Middle carton manufacturers will often make substitutions. The liquid version does not contain toxic substances and does not cause any harm to the employees.

To sum up, whether it is from the perspective of environmental protection, or from the perspective of increasing the company's own interests, as the time goes by slowly, the liquid photosensitive resin flexo-type flexo instead of solid photosensitive resin flexographic version is the general trend. In order to facilitate you to better understand the liquid version, the advantages of the liquid version are described below.

Save energy during energy festivals

At present, the corrugated carton packaging market has fierce competition, raw material prices remain high, cartons production tends to be low-profit, and customers' printing requirements have grown from traditional monochrome printing to multi-color printing. The printing requirements are getting higher and higher. Although flexible printing is flexible and efficient, Most of the matching accessories prices are relatively high. Sometimes the cost of one printing plate is equal to the profit of hundreds of qualified cardboard boxes. Therefore, the carton factory must start from saving 1 square centimeters of flexographic plates to benefit itself.

Shanghai Yinheng Printing Technology Co., Ltd. uses the characteristics of liquid plates to develop an "island plate making method" to make printing plates for corrugated boxes. The general flexo back exposure is a full back exposure that cures to form a base layer with a certain thickness. However, the island plate making method uses partial back exposure, that is, back exposure only in areas with fonts and graphics. In this part, the subbase layer and the font graphics are formed on the bottom polyester film as islands isolated on the plate. All the uncured resin is recovered. The benefit of such platemaking is not only to greatly reduce the plate-making cost, but also that the entire plate is lighter, more conformable, and easier to mount, and not easily distorted.

In addition, the liquid plate-making and drying takes only 15 minutes, and the solid plate-making and drying requires 2 hours, and the solid plate-making power consumption during the entire plate-making process is 6 times that of the liquid plate-making.

Field printing ink delivery

The thickness of corrugated board and the unevenness of the corrugated board are very difficult to cover on the ground during printing, and leaks often occur. Liquid plates have unexpected advantages in this regard, mainly related to the properties of the plates. The surface tension of the liquid plate is 4~5dyn/cm higher than that of the solid plate (liquid plate: 36~38dyn/cm, solid plate: 32~33dyn/cm), so the same ink roller is used. The liquid plate with the ink is 10%~20% higher than the solid plate. At the same time, the modulus of the liquid plate is lower, the flexibility during printing is larger, and the surface of the thicker surface paper or corrugated paper also has better surface contact, so the coverage effect in the field is better.

The same plate contains a variety of different hardness

Since the hardness of the corrugated box printing using the flexographic plate is usually between 32 and 38 degrees, the larger the coefficient is, the higher the hardness is, and the better the effect is on the dots or fine text lines. However, for the field version, it requires a large amount of ink to transfer, and the hardness of the printing plate is low. With a lower printing pressure, a more perfect printing effect can be obtained without causing the phenomenon of white leakage.

In corrugated carton flexo printing, there is often a layout in which there is a large area of ​​the field, and there are dot images of the characters when printed on the carton pattern can not be reduced to 100% of the desired effect in the design draft, through the flexible plate-making Printing presses, although the images are exquisite, but the actual part of the field is often missing, or a large area of ​​the field part of the printing is very good, but the effect of figures or images are blurred, so to achieve a partial color in the field, The parts that are not white and have dot patterns are very clear and detailed.

Since the hardness of each piece of solid-state flexographic plate is fixed, if the dot pattern and the large-area solid part on the same printing plate are encountered at the same time, it cannot be taken into account. Usually, only the sacrificial dot or field printing effect can be selected. Some people also made two printing plates with different hardness to achieve the printing requirements. However, as a result, the cost of platemaking will rise, and if an indivisible pattern is encountered, this method will not be available.

The company can provide customers with solutions to these problems in this regard. The company's liquid plate making technology can produce a wide range of hardness ranging from 30 to 52 degrees on the same plate and apply to the same printing pressure, while taking care of the dot, fine print and large-area field printing. effect.

Pollution-free, conducive to environmental protection, helping companies apply for ISO14000 environmental certification

After exposure of the solid plate, the non-exposed parts are dissolved with organic solvents, and the solidified font can be printed on the plate for printing. In general, the solvent for washing plate can only dissolve at most 4% to 6% of the photosensitive polymer, otherwise the solvent developing ability will be weakened. Therefore, one gallon of tetrachloroethylene/butanol solvent can only dissolve 200g of photopolymer. Therefore, this non-biodegradable, environmentally polluted and easily carcinogenic solvent has been used throughout the plate making process. The liquid photosensitive resin plate is flushed with water + neutral detergent, which is biodegradable and harmless to the environment. At the same time, wastewater can be discharged into the urban sewerage system. One of the most basic rules in the ISO 14000 certification standard is that no toxic solvent or product can be added to all products, raw materials, or the entire process.

Source: China Adhesive Network