Thermal CTP Technology

The CTP, which first appeared on Drupa in 1995, has gradually shifted from popularity to maturity with the ups and downs. From the technical point of view, the most discussed is the quality problem, the development and application of photosensitive CTP and thermal CTP and its plate. The application of violet CTP in the newspaper industry has become an indisputable fact. The thermal CTP in commercial printing has firmly stabilized its heel. The reason why thermal CTP is widely accepted is inseparable from its own excellent characteristics and high quality of the product.

1. Convenience of use: People are tired of operating in the darkroom, while the thermal CTP uses infrared laser to image with heat, and the user can rest assured to operate completely under the light room.

2. The rationality of the structure: Now the CTP structure is mainly divided into three types: inner drum type, outer drum type and flat table type. The thermal CTP is mainly external drum type. This kind of structure makes the printing plate wrap around the roller as in the printing machine. The film outwards will reduce the deformation of the dot to a minimum, and the external drum structure can be more easily realized. Format printing plate.

3. Quality stability: Photosensitive media is very sensitive to light, and underexposure or overexposure occurs during exposure. Halftone dots appear hazy, and they are also affected by internal light disturbances of the machine, making publication quality difficult. Control; the thermal plate must generate the initial thermal energy field value if it is to generate images, and the thermal energy higher than the initial field value will not change the dot shape. It is the only technology that can control the predictable results, and the quality is easy to control, so as to achieve publication quality. The stability (Figure 1). After exposure, the printing plate can be extended to 6 months before development, which has no effect on quality.

4. The high quality of the printing plate: High quality equipment and high quality raw materials are indispensable factors for high quality products. In this case, we use the screen company's CTP 霹雳 Publishing God series as an example. The highest resolution is 4000 DPI, and the smallest laser spot can reach 6 μm. It can easily output to 250 LPI, 1% -99% of outlets. The quality of the dots and edges can be observed through pictures (Figure 2): From the comparison, it can be found that the dots of the thermal CTP plates are sharp and clear, which makes it easier to achieve ink balance during printing, which facilitates dot control and printing. High quality prints.

5. Consumables savings: As the competition in the printing market intensifies, conserving supplies is a disguised form of profit. The thermal CTP can be found during the printing and printing process. Due to the fact that the dots are clear, the edges are clear, and the ink is easy to be inked, compared with the traditional PS plate material, a smaller amount of ink can be used to achieve a normal effect and save ink. The print rate is up to 150,000 to 200,000 impressions in the unbaked version, and up to 1 million impressions in the baked version. It is also suitable for matte paper and UV ink printing.

6. Continuous development: The thermal CTP plate is by far the only type of plate that can realize flush-free processing. Although it has just started to be put on the market, it is due to the flush-free plate or only the water-wash plate, which is both investment and environmental protection. It is very advantageous and suitable for existing thermal CTP devices.

7. Extensive material selection: There are more manufacturers of thermal plates in the market than those in the violet plate, and there are domestic productions. Therefore, customers can have more choices and prices have advantages.

8. Easy to use: Since the thermal CTP has so many advantages, how practical is it? Is operability not very good? The answer is certainly yes. The thermal CTP is combined with an advanced digital printing process to precisely control the dot enlargement and deformation, ink distribution, etc. What is more important is that the thermal plate can be fully applied to the existing printing environment, and the printability is good, including the printing pressure, the cleaning agent of the printing plate, the alcohol concentration and the pH of the fountain solution, and the like.

With the development of thermal CTP and thermal plate technology and the maturity of the market, with its own strong advantages, it will lead the plate-making to bid farewell to the dark room and lead the printing industry to digital green printing. Users will eventually use the CTP as An integral part of your entire printing process.

Wang Shitao
Source: Print Information