Metal plate flat offset printing technology and localization of printing ink

Since British R. Barclay invented the printing machine for metal printing in 1875, special printing has been widely used in the processing industry of people's daily necessities. With the continuous improvement of the application level of science and technology and new materials, the traditional printing iron technology enters the sign making industry in a unique way, which is mainly reflected in the production of signage texts and designs by lithographic offset printing.

This article focuses on the characteristics of lithographic offset technology used in the sign industry and the basic requirements for printing materials such as PS plates and printing inks, and elaborates the process of applicability of the corresponding process practices and localization of materials.

First, the development of metal sign printing and application of flat offset printing technology

Early tin printing was achieved by indirect transfer of paper on a tin can of a molded product. This is an example of a printing iron technique. Later, an offset press designed for sheet metal printing was designed and manufactured by Buckley, and it became the ancestor printing machine used by the printing and canning factory to print label boxes made of tinplate. Tin printing is a highly specialized technology, but its printing is very similar to offset printing.

The graphic production of metal signs has gone through four generations:

The first generation, corrosion paint production method;

The second generation, photochemical printing and dyeing production method;

The third generation, screen printing method;

The fourth generation, lithographic offset production method.

Since the 1950s, the electronic industry with electronic computers as its core technology has developed rapidly. With the continuous development and application of new materials, new technologies, and new technologies, the integrated application technology for surface decoration in the electronics industry has also been expanded and developed. It is at this time that the printing iron technology enters the sign industry in a unique way. It is mainly manifested in The lithographic offset method realizes the graphic production of the electronic function panel or signboard of the electronic product.

In fact, the application of lithographic offset printing in the sign industry is an extension of the printing iron technology. It is only a difference in the choice of printing press and the format of the printing plate and the printing materials, and the comparison (see Table 1):

Text and graphics are the main content of the signage. The methods for making graphic and graphic images using lithographic offset technology are most commonly used abroad. For example, in the United States and Japan where the electronics industry is highly developed, the production of aluminum sign offset printing accounts for 60%, and the resin board screen printing. 30%, other production methods account for 10%. At present, mass production of fine prints is not achieved by offset printing, and achieving corresponding decorative effects is almost impossible.

Second, the metal plate production process

The conventional processing technology of aluminum aluminum plate lithographic offset printing is: After the aluminum plate is processed by the bottom layer (including deoiling, spinning spiral, optical rotation, electrolytic coloring, etc.), it is coated with a binding coating (abbreviated as the bottom coating), generally used for bonding. Good chlorinated rubber paints with good properties and toughness are cured by heating; then they are printed in single or multiple colors; and finally they are coated with epoxy or acrylic synthetic resin solvent-based clear paints as protective coatings.

For example, the process flow of a certain electronic factory sign manufacturing:

The main equipments for making metal signage include plate making camera, phototypesetting machine, plate making machine, plate making machine, rotary squaring machine, sandblasting machine, cleaning equipment, painting machine, drying tunnel, dust removal equipment and lithographic glue.