Elasticity and hardness performance of flexographic printing

1. The hardness of the rubber plate of the flexographic printing machine is determined by the temperature, pressure, and pressing time during sulfur curing. The hardness of the plate can be determined according to requirements. The hardness of the photosensitive resin plate depends on the hardness of the photopolymer, which can be controlled by adding a hardness control agent. Elasticity is an inverse indicator of hardness, that is, the higher the hardness, the smaller the elasticity.

2. Different substrates have different requirements for the hardness of the plate. If the plate has high elasticity, the contact with the substrate is uniform, and the printed ink color is also uniform, but the layer reproducibility of the image is poor, and the dot expansion is more significant. If the surface of the substrate is smooth, the plate elasticity should be small; if the surface is rough, the plate elasticity should be large. For printing solids or text, the plate elasticity should be large; for printing dots or fine lines, the plate elasticity should be small.

3. The elasticity of the flexographic printing plate will change to a certain extent during the printing process, that is, after high-speed and long-term continuous printing, the elasticity of the printing plate will decrease and the rebound will be insufficient. In order to avoid excessive reduction in the elasticity of the printing plate, it is required to maintain a light printing pressure during printing.