Waterless offset printing technology advantages and influencing factors

The waterless offset printing plate has unique performance, can print high quality prints, does not need to use fountain solution, and can improve printing efficiency to avoid environmental pollution.

Waterless offset printing refers to a lithographic printing method that does not require a fountain solution and uses special printing plates and special inks for printing. The foreign research on waterless offset printing began in the early 1970s. Since the 1990s, waterless offset printing technology has gradually embarked on the path of rapid development. In recent years, as a mature technology, waterless offset printing has entered the stage of commercial application in foreign countries. Some enterprises in China have adopted waterless offset printing technology, but more companies still lack understanding of waterless offset printing. Waterless offset printing also has doubts.

Waterless offset printing technology advantages
Waterless offset printing has unparalleled advantages over traditional offset printing. The waterless offset printing process eliminates the need for fountain solution during printing and therefore does not present a headache for ink balance. For the traditional offset printing process, the balance of water and ink is the key, and the control of water volume is the most difficult technology to grasp in offset printing. At present, the quality of many printed products in China cannot meet the regulatory requirements. One common reason is that due to the deformation of paper in water offset printing, overprinting is not allowed. Second, ink and ink are not balanced. Waterless offset printing eliminates the need for fountain solution, resulting in reduced paper deformation and more accurate color overprinting. Waterless offset printing does not involve the participation of water, avoiding the problem of ink emulsification in traditional offset printing, speeding up the drying speed of the ink, reducing the dot gain, and better reproduction of halftone dots.

Waterless offset printing has higher precision requirements for offset presses. Therefore, waterless offset printing can print more stable dots, higher mesh lines, and good color stability. In addition, since waterless offset printing has no fountain solution, the corrosion of the machine is small, and the pollution to the environment is also reduced, which is conducive to environmental protection.

Waterless offset printing materials have a wide range of materials and can be printed on paper, plastic, metal and other materials, but require higher surface performance of the printing materials. With the commercial application of waterless offset printing technology, there are currently thousands of printing plants in the world that use the waterless offset printing process.

Factors Affecting the Development of Waterless Offset

Although waterless offset printing technology is continuously developing, its development speed is far less than people expected. The main reason is that some key technologies have not yet been solved, such as plate material, ink, temperature control, etc. These factors have affected the development of waterless offset printing. .

1. Plate material

Plate material is the main consumable in printing production and directly affects the production cost. The printing plate is the core of waterless offset printing. The waterless offset printing plate is different from the PS plate. The surface of the finished waterless offset printing plate is similar to the gravure plate. It has the advantages of simple operation, good image reproducibility, high printing density, vivid colors, and prints. Good quality and other advantages. However, it is difficult to handle, and its resistance to printing forces is limited by the operating conditions and the environment of special prints.

2. Ink

Waterless offset printing ink is different from common offset printing ink. Specially formulated waterless offset printing ink has characteristics of low viscosity, high viscosity, large thixotropy, and stable performance.

The study of waterless offset inks is a technical difficulty. The development of waterless offset inks is more complex and difficult than the development of water offset inks. At present, domestic waterless offset printing inks mainly rely on imports, and the price is relatively high. As technology advances and competition intensifies, the cost of plates and inks will decline, and more and more printers will switch to waterless offset printing.

3. Temperature control

Users only need a one-time investment, improve the machine structure, and install cooling circulation devices to solve temperature control problems. From the actual application situation of most printing companies in China, it is feasible to convert the existing water offset press into a waterless offset press. However, it is worth noting that different colors of inks respond differently to temperature changes and need to control the temperature of different printing color groups.

4. Other factors

In addition to the above factors, there are many factors that affect the development and application of waterless offset printing.

(1) The impact of price competition and production costs on the development of waterless offset printing

For the manufacturer, the production cost is very important. Who's low cost, who's strong competitiveness. According to statistics, there are more than 80,000 existing printing plants in China. So many printers compete for the printing market. In addition to playing quality warfare, they are fighting a price war. The current printing price is close to the bottom line of the cost, while the wages of workers are constantly rising, the profit margins of manufacturers are getting smaller and smaller, and many poorly-operated printing factories are facing bankruptcy.

Water-free offset printing plates and inks are relatively expensive, plus the cost of the printer's temperature control system, and the total cost is higher. For ordinary prints, it is obviously not necessary to use waterless offset printing.

Although the preparation time required for waterless offset printing is short and the rate of rejects for printing is low, it is sometimes possible to obtain qualified prints after printing two or three sheets. However, the speed of traditional offset printing equipment is also very fast. The machine prints about 5,000 prints in about 1 hour. Waterless offset printing can be easily achieved, and conventional offset printing is not inferior. It can be said that at this point, they are already on the same starting line.

(2) The requirements on the quality of printed products affect the development of waterless offset printing

Quality helps to gain competitive advantage. It should stabilize existing customers and add new customers. As far as the quality of printed products is concerned, the quality of printed products has been greatly improved due to the progress of traditional printing technologies, especially the large number of popularization and promotion of alcohol dampening printing equipment in recent years. Therefore, the purchase of waterless offset printing equipment is not a very urgent issue for the average user. This is an important reason why waterless offset printing cannot be rapidly popularized.

However, waterless offset has the potential to improve color stability and reduce consumption. With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the requirements for the quality of printed products will also increase, which is more favorable to the promotion and application of waterless offset printing.

(3) Development of Market Impact Waterless Offset Printing

Waterless offset printing, as an emerging technology, will take a long time to open up its own market and it may be possible to have a place in the market like traditional offset printing. From a market perspective, if a technology does not have an absolute advantage, it is difficult to gain a foothold in the market. Take the Chinese character input method as an example. Although many kinds of input methods were invented by the people later, it is rare to be able to compete with the Wubi type input method. Similarly, traditional offset printing has taken up a large market share. Waterless offset printing is not easy to get a share.