PRINTING PLATES

A printing system has four independent components: a press, an image carrier, ink and paper or other substrates to carry a message. The image carrier is the printing plate in traditional printing processes. The processes in which photopolymer plates are used to carry ink and transfer it to the substrate are lithography, flexography , letterpress and gravure.

Although most printing plates are sold as solid plates, liquid photopolymers are also available to make flexographic and letterpress printing plates.

Lithographic plates are planographic plates which are also known as offset plates. Photopolymer-based litho plates mainly compete with diazo plates.

In letterpress plates, the face of image elements is raised above open areas. Here photopolymer plates have replaced stereotypes and metal plates. In dry offset plates, also called letterset plates, an intermediate blanket cylinder is used to transfer the image to the substrate.

Flexographic plates are similar to letterpress plates except the image career is elastomeric. Photopolymers have replaced bulk of rubber-based flexo plates.

MANUFACTURERS:

LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES

Agfa

Kodak Graphic Communications

Fuji Photo Film

Southern Lithoplate

Western Lithotech

FLEXOGRAPHIC AND LETTERPRESS PLATES

Asahi Chemical, Japan

DuPont Co.

Kodak Graphic Communications

M & R Marking Systems

MacDermid Graphic Arts

Flint Group, Germany

Toray, Japan

Toyobo Co., Japan.

Chemence Ltd.

Tokyo Ohka Kogyo

Thermoflan SA, France

LIQUID PHOTOPOLYMERS

Asahi Chemical, Japan

Chemence Ltd, U.K.

Excel, Italy

MacDermid Graphic Arts

M & R Marking Systems

Polydiam Industries Limited, U.K.

SK Corp., South Korea

Thermoflan SA, France