Advantages and disadvantages of waterless printing

Advantages and disadvantages of waterless printing technology of green printing

waterless printing, as the name suggests, does not need to use bucket water (fountain solution) in the printing process, and has a small environmental load. The production of anhydrous computer direct plate making (CTP plate) gives full play to the good characteristics of anhydrous printing, which is a printing method in line with the sustainable development of society

waterless printing technology was first introduced by 3M company in the United States in the 1970s, and then Toray Corporation of Japan purchased patents and developed them, realizing industrialization, and constantly showing its strong vitality and demand in Japan, Europe and the United States. In 1990, Dongguan Jinbei Printing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Jinbei) successfully experimented with the use of waterless printing technology, but due to the high price of materials at that time, and the constant temperature equipment technology of ink rollers can not keep up, it failed to promote waterless printing technology to daily production. By 2006, Jinbei began to officially use waterless printing technology. At present, at least 1/3 of Jinbei's printing machines use waterless printing for production

in recent years, environmental protection has become a hot topic, and waterless printing technology has attracted more and more attention from the industry. Through years of use, the author summarizes some advantages and disadvantages of waterless printing

waterless printing has great environmental protection performance

traditional offset printing relies on the principle of mutual exclusion of water and ink, so that places without images are hydrophilic without ink, and places with images are not hydrophilic with ink, but water will also lead to a variety of printing quality problems, such as excessive emulsification of ink, water marks, etc., and alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) needs to be added to reduce the side effects caused by water. But at the same time, isopropanol will also produce volatile organic compounds (VOC), which will have an impact on the environment

the waterless printing plate belongs to the flat intaglio structure, and its graphic part is in the depression with ink; The silicone coating on the printing plate does not contain ink, so there is no need to use fountain solution. This has several advantages

first, because the anhydrous version does not contain water and isopropyl alcohol, it will not produce volatile organic compounds (VOC) and the discharge of fountain waste liquid, which is beneficial to protect the health of operators, improve the workshop production environment, and environmental protection. Undoubtedly, they will first adopt hydrostatic transmission as their main transmission device

second, the anhydrous version is developed by using water. The water can be easily treated and does not contain harmful substances. It is an environmental friendly printing material

third, water free printing uses environmental friendly vegetable oil-based water free ink, which is safe and environmentally friendly

fourth, due to the effect of water, the dot enlargement rate is relatively large in traditional offset printing; The point enlargement rate of waterless printing is small, which can make the graphics and texts of printing bright and bright, and the color level is rich, which can effectively improve the quality

fifth, waterless printing solves the problem originally caused by water, effectively reduces the time of adding DOP to the small feeding port, shortens the calibration machine, reduces the number of trial printing samples, reduces the quantity of defective products, and also saves the cost of materials such as fountain solution. From this point of view, waterless printing helps to save production costs

high cost, popularity and bottleneck

although there are many benefits of waterless printing, at present, only a few printing manufacturers in China have begun to use this technology. Large initial investment and high material prices have become the bottleneck restricting the popularization of this technology

first, waterless printing needs to be equipped with various auxiliary equipment and devices, and the initial investment is large

in prepress, because the anhydrous version uses tap water and brush to peel the unwanted silicone layer. If the oil pump is not started to make the task piston rise for an interval, it will be adjusted to zero and clean to make the plate. The development principle is different from that of ordinary PS version, so it needs to be equipped with a special plate punching machine

in the printing process, due to the large viscosity of anhydrous ink and the lack of evaporation and gasification of water in anhydrous printing, part of the heat generated by the printing machine can be taken away and absorbed. Once the temperature is too high, it will form a dry effect like traditional printing, affecting the printing quality. Therefore, it is necessary to install a constant temperature device on the ink roller to ensure that the anhydrous ink is at the best printing temperature

the implementation of anhydrous printing also requires special attention to the temperature and humidity management of the production environment. When the indoor temperature changes too much, the viscosity of the ink will also change, causing obstacles to stable printing. In addition, when there is a lack of humidity in the air, it is easy to generate static electricity and difficult to receive paper. Therefore, some equipment and devices must be installed in the printing workshop to maintain temperature and humidity

second, the price of plates and inks for waterless printing is higher than that of traditional printing. Because waterless printing requires special waterless inks and waterless plates recommended by some experts, the price of these materials is higher than that of ordinary offset printing materials, especially plates. At present, all anhydrous plates are imported from Japan, lack of competition, and the price remains high. Recently, Toray Corporation of Japan has begun to cooperate with domestic manufacturers and plans to produce anhydrous plates in China. It is believed that the price of anhydrous plates will decline

the General Administration of publishing and the Ministry of environmental protection officially signed the strategic cooperation agreement on the implementation of green printing in 2010, and jointly issued the announcement on the implementation of green printing in 2011. It can be seen that green printing will become the main direction of the future development of China's printing industry. Waterless printing has superior environmental protection performance, which can also improve the quality of printing materials, but at this stage, the use cost is high, and enterprises producing high-end printing materials can also consider investment. In the future, the development prospect of waterless printing will be very broad