engleski

Formation and printing of thin lines in flexography for application in poly-bags, stamps and corrugated printing

Flexographic printing technique is commonly applied in packaging and functional printing. Elastically-deformable photopolymer printing plates used in flexography enable the transferring of the printing ink to the substrate and, thus, the optimal adjustment of the printing plate to the printing substrate during the reproduction process. The properties of the flexographic printing plate significantly influence the properties of print. Liquid photopolymers found their application specifically for the production of stamps and printing on polybags and corrugated substrates because of their flexibility and low hardness. This type of printing plate is produced using several UV exposures in order to perform the crosslinking process and obtain relief printing elements. As the objective of the paper, the influence of the duration of main exposure (UV radiation) on mechanical and surface properties of the liquid photopolymer printing plate, as well as the influence on the formation and the quality of thin printed lines was studied. The duration of the main exposure proved to affect directly the properties of the printed thin lines due to the changed definition of the formed printing elements, surface free energy and hardness of the photopolymer material. Presented results can be used as guidance for adjusting the duration of the main exposure of liquid photopolymer printing plate in order to maximize the quality of the printed thin lines and to improve the uniformity of the ink layer.

liquid photopolymer, UV exposure, surface free energy, hardness, flexography

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