The advantages of waterless offset printing technology outweigh the disadvantages and huge development potential

As an emerging printing technology, waterless offset printing technology was introduced to China in the early 1990s, which attracted widespread attention in the printing industry. However, due to various reasons, it is only used in a very few places in China. The author is fortunate to work in Beijing Wenxiang Color Printing Co., Ltd., which is a joint venture between Beijing Foreign Language Printing Factory and Japan Wenxiang Xiangtang Co., Ltd. By using this printing method, it feels better and has achieved corresponding economic returns.

Origin of waterless offset printing

In the early 1960s, the US 3M company first patented and industrialized the waterless offset printing technology. The emergence of this technology caused great shock in the world printing industry, but some of the technical problems could not be solved well By the early 1970s, 3M had terminated the production of waterless offset printing plates, but the idea of ​​this technology inspired many researchers of this technology in the world printing industry. They actively and continuously explored and forged ahead along this line of thought. Unremitting efforts have made great progress in waterless printing technology, among which Toray Japan first industrialized waterless offset printing plates and published patents. In the mid-1970s, Toray's waterless offset printing plates began to be officially sold. In addition to their great efforts on plate materials, they also made great efforts in ink. After repeated improvements, 3M companies encountered problems such as development, film strength and storage stability in the production of waterless printing plates. The solution has kept its company in a leading position in the technical field of waterless offset printing.

From the 1980s to the 1990s, the Japanese company Xiangtang Co., Ltd. greatly changed the water printing to waterless printing within the company, and realized the computer management of production scheduling control. The company has hired an authoritative developer of waterless offset printing technology as a technical consultant for a long time. , So that the adoption rate of waterless offset printing in the company reached about 85%, the company's product quality level and economic efficiency have been greatly improved, in the mid-1990s, Wenxiangtang Co., Ltd. and Beijing Foreign Language Printing Factory jointly established Beijing Wenxiang Color Printing Co., Ltd. At the beginning of its establishment, the company mainly focused on waterless offset printing technology and became a test field for waterless offset printing technology in China.

Waterless printing can be divided into: from the first generation in 1977, the second generation in 1987 to the third generation in 1994, there has been a rapid development since it was put into industrialization: a new generation of waterless offset presses, Ink and plate materials are constantly being developed. In the past 20 years of waterless printing changes, the changes in equipment and raw materials are just the continuous improvement and improvement of this printing method. The most primitive first method of waterless printing used by Wenxiang Color Printing Company where the author is located is the use of waterless printing using non-cooling printing presses. It is for this reason that waterless printing is an emerging printing. The advantages and disadvantages of the technology have been fully reflected, allowing users to experience the essence of waterless printing in actual work.

The principle and technology of waterless offset printing

Anyone who has been in contact with printing knows that the principle of offset printing is the principle of ink and ink repellence. On the same metal lithography, there is both water and ink, so the quality of the product that is printed is the key factor for the quality of the product. Balance with ink, and the water supply system is a direct factor for many disadvantages in water printing.

Waterless printing, as the name suggests, is the factor that removes water compared to the current lithographic offset printing. Its basic features are: â‘  faithfully reproduce the image on the positive picture on the anhydrous offset printing plate. â‘¡ Faithfully reproduce the image of the printing plate on the substrate. To put it simply: the waterless offset printing plate adopts the nature of silicone oil repellent. The waterless version is coated on the photosensitive layer and then coated with a layer of silicone adhesive layer. The unused version is exposed before the photosensitive layer It adheres firmly to the silicone adhesive layer. After the printing plate is exposed to light, a photopolymerization reaction occurs in the photosensitive area (non-graphic part), so that the upper layer of silicone adhesive is adhered and fixed.

The key to developing an anhydrous offset plate is to cut away the silicone layer equivalent to the graphic part. The shearing force is stronger than the adhesion between the silicone layer and the photosensitive layer of the graphic part. Applying it to the interface of the two layers can remove the silicone layer of the graphic part. Of course, it first uses the appropriate P. P. G (polypropylene glycol) and P. E. G (polyethylene glycol) swells the photosensitive layer of the graphic part (unexposed part), and the silicone adhesive layer floats. After the adhesion between the two layers is greatly weakened, use a nylon brush to apply shear with a uniform force Remove the silicone layer on the interface and make it without watermark. [next]

Pros and cons of waterless offset printing

In order to make the printed matter closer to the original, the printing density of each color is higher than the originally set density. The key to its technology is to control the expansion of the dots. The means of controlling the dot expansion is to modify the tone curve during the plate making process, and the second is to The exposure time is controlled during the printing process, so that the dots of the printing plate are slightly reduced. This is a common method for water-based plates, while waterless offset plates are flat-gravure structures, which can replicate dots from 2 to 3% highlights to 97-98% dims, with a dot reproduction range of 95%. In the non-horizontal printing, the dot expansion amount is small due to the absence of fountain solution. At present, the mid-tone dot expansion amount is about 7-8%. This amount will not change significantly even if the ink thickness increases. Compared with the PS version, the layered copy curve waterless offset printing plate can obtain a copy effect similar to that of the original film. Therefore, it shows that the waterless offset printing is better than the water offset printing for expanding the control network.

Due to the removal of water, the dot ink of the product is full, and the graphics and text are bright and bright. It eliminates the quality problems caused by the unevenness of the ink color of the printed products, the emulsified color spots of the ink, the water spots, the stain on the reverse side, and the water roller bar printing. In addition, the adjustment and maintenance of the water system can also be omitted in the mechanical adjustment. Without the water factor, no fountain solution, water roller system and related accessories are needed. Therefore, the preparation time before starting up is shortened, the consumption of paper is saved, and the printing cost is reduced.

Under the premise of ensuring the environment required for waterless printing, due to the special structure of the waterless printing plate, the printing durability is improved. Currently, it is generally about 100,000 or more. When the printing plate needs to be retained, there is no need to wipe the glue. It is only necessary to clean the used printing plate with gasoline and store it in the dark. It is easy to retain and the retention period is much longer than the watermarked version.

In the small batch printing industry, the compatibility of waterless printing is good. Even today, with the rapid development of waterless printing equipment, as long as you have water printing equipment and machinery, you can switch to waterless printing without using water rollers. At present, our company's waterless printing equipment is the water printing machine produced by the original Komori company in Japan, and the printing effect is also ideal. Among them, the spring and autumn seasons are the most prominent.

Since waterless printing technology is obviously simpler than water printing, it is easy for the operator to master the technology, which is conducive to the stability of the quality of the printed product and reduces the labor intensity of the worker. It reduces the erosion of water on printing machinery parts, especially several rollers, and prolongs the service life of the machine.

The number of machine operators has been reduced. After the four-color four-color printing machine used by our company adopts waterless printing, the number of people including the collar machine has been reduced from the original four people with water to the current two people.

There are many imperfections in waterless printing. For example: because the paper used for waterless printing is the same as the paper we usually use for other printing methods, when using non-special waterless printing machinery, the required ink viscosity is very high, so that the paper plucking and rubber coating phenomenon It cannot be avoided that static electricity is also easy to appear at this time, so the humidity of the printing peripheral environment is more stringent, (under 100g or offset paper is more obvious), generally the humidity is between 50% and 60%. Therefore, in the waterless printing, the company can easily grasp the wet temperature in spring and autumn.

The quality of waterless offset products must be reflected and adjusted by ink. Therefore, in addition to the ink quality factors, the pressure of the ink supply system, especially between the ink rollers, is also crucial. At the same time, the pressure between several rollers also has considerable requirements. If the roller pressure is too large, it will not only cause ink sticks, but also cause the plate to become dirty. Too small roller pressure will cause poor ink transfer and reduce product quality. And the adjustment of the pressure between the printing rollers must be done strictly according to the requirements.

For the defects of the watermark-free plate surface or the residual coating part, a special decontamination solution can be applied, and the defects can be eliminated by the formation of a new silicone adhesive film. This decontamination liquid is a polycondensation cross-linked silicone adhesive liquid that is hydrolyzed by moisture in the air. In order to have the stability during storage and the special dryness after coating, a special coating tool must be used; In addition, the thickness of the coating silicon solution must also be mastered in the application of "dirt removal". If it is thin, it will not get dirty or it will be rubbed off quickly after printing and pressing, and the thickness will make the coating layer too high. The original silicone layer above the non-image part caused the ink scraping to become dirty, deviating from the original intention of the coating.

At present, non-developing countries must rely on imports for some raw and auxiliary materials such as plate materials and inks in waterless printing. The relative cost is relatively high. In terms of the use of the company, an unseasoned waterless four royalties is nearly 90 yuan A folio PS version produced by a joint venture is only about 20 yuan. [next]

Waterless offset printing market and analysis

At present, new technologies and new materials for waterless printing are developing rapidly in the world. The use of waterless offset printing is also increasing. At Toppan in Japan, waterless offset printing technology has been used on high-speed rotary presses. According to data, the market share of waterless offset printing in Europe is 6% to 7%; the United States From 5% to 6%, according to the report from German FOGRA: the market share of waterless offset printing will increase to 10% by 2006, and the waterless offset printing market in Asia has a considerable share in printing except for Taiwan Province of China. In addition to the proportion, some countries in Southeast Asia also have a small number of applications (these are not specifically reported). Except for one or two provinces and cities such as Beijing, which are experimentally used in mainland China, they are not used anywhere else, and the market share is about ten thousandths. Therefore, waterless offset printing technology can only be regarded as a strange new technology in China. Why has there been no progress in the printing industry in China since 1993? The reason for the analysis is mainly because the localization of the plate material has not been solved. The cost of importing from Japan is 3 to 4 times more expensive, and the cost of ink is also 30% more expensive. Therefore, many companies have Waterless offset printing technology can only be discouraged.

After editing

Temperature control is more critical in our company, because the company uses a non-cooling type, the splitting of the ink causes heat, it is easy to make the ink soft, and the printing plate is dirty, so in the first generation of waterless printing, The ink is divided into H, M, and S, which are hard, medium, and soft, so that it can be used for different seasons or small temperature changes. The temperature of the external environment during printing should also be controlled at 18 ℃ ~ 22 ℃ Between is appropriate.

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