Comparison of liquid flexo and solid flexo process of carton

Liquid flexo is used in carton printing for more than 20 years. In countries with more developed economies, the market share of liquid flexo is as high as 50% due to environmental protection and low cost. In China, there were also research units in the previous years to conduct research and production, but so far no scale has been formed; product quality is very unstable and needs improvement. Flexo printing technology initially entered the Chinese period, and several large carton factories introduced liquid platesetters. Because equipment and materials were relatively expensive at the time, they were not popularized in the domestic market. With the improvement of product variety and adaptability; the continuous improvement of market support and the decline in equipment prices, the more important is the excellent environmental protection of liquid flexo materials in the process of plate making. The use of liquid flexo plates in the carton printing industry began. Has been taken seriously. In the following, performance comparisons are made between a liquid flexo plate and a solid flexo plate produced by Medtech, formerly Polytechnic. Let everyone have a better understanding of the liquid flexo.

Material composition

The liquid flexographic plate and the solid flexographic plate material are basically the same in terms of imaging principle, but the materials used and the product form are completely different. The main component of the liquid flexible material is a highly viscous resin that can flow without a fixed shape at room temperature. The solid version of the material is based on a rubber component and has a solid shape at room temperature. The liquid material of Medtech is sold on the market in the form of 18 kg/barrel. At the same time, the corresponding size of the separator and polyester substrate are provided according to the specifications of the user's plate making equipment. The solid flexo is divided into carton packs by thickness and size.

Liquid and solid printing performance

The liquid version is suitable for water-based inks and oil-based inks. The solid version is suitable for solvent inks where the water-based ink contains no more than 25% esters.

On the surface of the printing plate, the affinity of the liquid plate for water is significantly higher than that of the solid plate, so the liquid plate has better ink-transfer properties.

In terms of image parameters of the printing plate, both the liquid version PRISM and the solid version FLEXCOR of Medtech can achieve the same index. Halftone 2%-95%, 100 lines/inch (40 lines/cm), 0.38 mm diameter of the independent point, and 0.38 mm of the independent fine line width.

The plates made of the two materials are approximately the same in hardness. However, Medtech's liquid version of the material can provide different hardness products for the user to choose.

In the printing industry, plates made from both materials have excellent performance.

Platemaking process

â–  The liquid flexo platesetter and the solid platesetter have the same principle, but their structures and functions are slightly different.

â–  Plate making process The unexposed parts of the liquid material can be recycled.

â–  The liquid version can be cleaned with a small amount of additives, while the solid version is cleaned with a very expensive mixture of tetrachloroethylene and n-butanol.

â–  The liquid material plate making time is about 1.5 hours, while the solid plate version can be completed more than 3.5 hours.

From the above comparison, it can be seen that the liquid flexographic plate has certain advantages over the solid plate in terms of plate making time, environmental protection, and printing quality, and the liquid flexographic plate can be produced on the premise that the investment cost of materials and equipment is the same as or slightly lower than that of the solid plate. Printing will have more room for market development.