Combination printing process
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Combined printing refers to a production line consisting of various types of printing and finishing units. In combination printing, various printing processes such as flexo, silk screen, embossing and offset printing can be mixed. Common combination printing units typically include screen printing, flexo, embossing and hot stamping units. At present, the development of many related technologies has made people feel that combined printing has adapted to the needs of the development of the modern printing industry, and has brought rich economic benefits to manufacturers.
Combination printing is the product of the continuous development of printing technology.
With the growing prosperity of the printing market, modern people are increasingly demanding prints, and many new processing technologies are emerging. Printers are also struggling to find a printing method that can achieve multiple process effects on the same product. Therefore, this line-type combined processing method capable of simultaneously completing a plurality of printing processes in one printing process has become an object of competition.
On the other hand, various printing processes have their own inherent advantages and disadvantages. For example, offset and embossed graphics have good definition, high printing speed, but poor hiding power, and high equipment purchase cost; The thick ink layer is deposited, which has excellent hiding power, and the equipment purchase cost is low, but the printing speed is very slow; and the flexo printing is in a neutral position regardless of hiding power, printing speed, definition and purchase cost. It is the purpose and significance of combined printing to fully utilize the best characteristics of these various printing methods to form a comprehensive and perfect production line.
Advanced printing equipment, high-quality printing materials and other high-performance auxiliary materials, especially the development of UV-curable ink technology, have become an important factor driving the development of combined printing technology.
UV-curable inks have made significant progress since they entered the market in the 1980s and have played a leading role in the silk screen industry. Compared with other ink curing methods, the advantages of UV curing inks are not only reflected in the processing process, but also in the quality level of the printed matter.
From the processing point of view, the advantage is that the curing process of the UV ink is very stable, and the whole process is completed only by the UV lamp. This process allows printing, hot stamping, die cutting and other post-press processes to be placed on a single machine for continuous production, so that maximum productivity can be achieved with minimal effort during processing. In addition, the good adhesion properties of UV inks are suitable for a wide variety of substrates, including plastic films that have been difficult to deal with in the past such as BOPP, PET, polystyrene and coextruded composite films. Excellent pre-press working time is significantly reduced due to the excellent bonding properties of UV inks. There is very little adjustment effort on the press and no additional additives are required. When the printing is stopped in the middle, the ink on the glazing roll and the anilox roll will not dry. The surface of the UV ink layer has extremely high wear resistance and chemical stability, which is the main reason why the label product is to be combined. UV inks have high hiding power and gloss, and the clarity of printed products is also high, which fully reflects the end user's demand for product quality.
Points to be aware of in three-combination printing
Since combination printing is a combination of various printing processes, its operation will have certain difficulties. In practice, the following points must be noted:
1. It must be ensured that the order between the units of the combined printing press used is sufficiently variable to accommodate the printing process combination required for various prints. Generally, the hot stamping unit is placed at the end of the printing unit.
2. Perform ink compatibility testing before printing. Because the composition of the inks used in different printing processes is different, the different inks are not compatible with each other, so the ink used in two different systems will have the problem of overprinting and adhesion; in addition, the ink sometimes Not compatible with other finishing processes such as hot stamping, inkjet and laser printing. Inks and other consumables are best known for their performance through production and supplier.
3. The color matching personnel of the ink in combination printing must undergo regular color matching training, and equipped with advanced color matching instruments such as spectrophotometer, etc., because the same color uses different printing process ink color matching, because the manufacturer usually chooses different substrates. The pigment is produced, which means that problems often occur when inks of different processes, such as silk screen inks and flexo inks, are used for color matching.
4. Set the speed of the printing unit according to the printing requirements. On a combination press, the printing speed is always subject to one of the slowest units. For example, a flexo press can use UV inks at speeds of up to 300 feet per minute. If the printer's hot stamping machine is only 100 feet per minute, it can't reach 300 feet per minute when the prints are hot stamped.
Of course, combined printing is still in its infancy, and there are many technical and material issues that need to be explored and improved. However, there is no doubt that combined printing will be widely used as printing becomes more and more personalized and diversified.