Australian printers trial chemical-free plates
Following its debut at drupa, Agfa’s revolutionary chemical free plate “:Azura” is generating keen interest in Australia, with a number of local printing companies already trialling the plates to their complete satisfaction.
Getting right into Olympic mode Garry Muratore, (pictured) Agfa’s Marketing Manager, claimed gold, silver and bronze for the company in the CTP events at this year’s drupa.
“Unlike some CTP vendors Agfa had a sensational drupa, with market leading positions on the three hot drupa CTP topics; processless plates, JDF enabled workflow and high speed imaging. We had a good JDF story to tell with :ApogeeX, and the release of new generation GLV’s and Violet Laser Diodes means we now have the fastest platesetting engines in both the thermal and visible-light (violet) camps.
“But it is in regard to new plate technologies, that Agfa had a strong start out of the blocks (there’s that Olympic analogy again) with the pending commercial release of the :Azura chemical free digital plate.
“We knew there would be a lot of vendor hype around processless plate technology leading up to and in to DRUPA” said Muratore. “Our strategy was not to show a technology demonstration, but to show a product in the final phase of its beta testing and commercially available within 120 days of DRUPA finishing. We had :Azura running in commercial plants in Europe leading up to DRUPA and showed live print runs in PrintCity during DRUPA using the new plate.
“Many Australian printers were keenly interested in the environmentally friendly impact the plate offers, so we decided to allow some local printers to take part in the final phases of the beta testing.” The test plates were imaged at Agfa’s Global Technology Centre in Antwerp Belgium during early July for Australian press trials that were conducted over the past couple of weeks.
“So far the trials have gone very smoothly,” said Muratore. “The plates achieved quick and easy roll-up in about five to ten revolutions and once colour and register was achieved they continued to run well on a variety of paper types and weights. The comments we are getting back from the field indicate that the plates had no problems and met all expectations on ease of use, durability, resolution and print quality”
:Azura, a technical primer
The :Azura plate system provides high quality thermal imaging, without the hassle of chemical processing for more stable and predictable results. :Azura completely eliminates plate processing, simplifying workflow and reducing the waste that would need to be collected for a cleaner, more streamlined workflow.
Getting right into Olympic mode Garry Muratore, (pictured) Agfa’s Marketing Manager, claimed gold, silver and bronze for the company in the CTP events at this year’s drupa. 
:Azura, a technical primer:Azura is a negative working, aluminium plate for thermal platesetters (830 nm), such as Agfa's :Acento.(More on the :Acento below) :Azura offers high contrast imaging at run lengths of up to 100K, with 1-98% dpi resolution. :Azura provides the convenience of daylight handling and requires no special pressroom procedures, gloves or particular care. It is also compatible with a wide range of inks and fountain solutions, as well as alcohol substrates.
The thermal laser bonds images to :Azura by fusing together thermoplastic particles – actually micro-spheres – in its specially coated surface.
A dedicated cleaning unit gums the plate then removes the extra gum from the un-imaged parts of the plate, and it is ready to go on press
Although :Azura can be exposed in most 830nm thermal laser CTP devices it is the new :Acento (pictured) that Agfa feels will be the engine of choice for printers requiring chemical free plates.
“We believe the initial interest in chemical free plates will come form the medium size 4-up printers who don’t necessarily have the high throughput requirements of larger printers” said Muratore. In this market the plate processor is often the weak link in the CTP process, with lower throughput often leading to processing variables, however if you take the processor out of the equation as we do with :Azura you get all the quality benefits of CTP but the added advantage of consistency and environmentally sound production.
"For this reason our initial install will be based around the 4up :Acento engine The :Acento thermal CtP system provides extremely high quality imaging, and comes with a range of speeds and automation options to increase productivity for mid-sized printers. It can image plates from 12.75 x 14.56" (324 x 370mm) to 25.98 x 32.67" (660 x 830mm).”
There are also three plate loaders available. The :Acento L-300 plateloader keeps 300 plates online in three cassettes (including slipsheet removal); the :Acento L-100 plateloader keeps 100 plates online in a single cassette (including slipsheet removal); and the :Acento L-50 plateloader with manual slipsheet removal keeps 50 plates online.
Agfa expects the first :Azura and :Acento installs to commence during the last quarter of 2004