BASF develops seamless flexographic printing plates

Agfa’s packaging consumables product manager Noel Clacher (pictured) went to drupa in May and saw first-hand the innovations in flexographic printing plates.

"One of the highlights was BASF’s working demonstration of the nyloflex Infinity system,” he explained. This new manufacturing technology produces seamless flexographic printing plates by direct laser engraving.

“Infinity plates go directly from laser to finished flexo seamless plate. No other processing is required – no exposure, no washout, no drying, and no finishing. As the laser finishes, the plate is ready to print. There is no mounting required and, as it is already on a sleeve, there is nothing to do other than put the sleeve on the press and print. Registration is significantly improved, leading to crisper images,” said Clacher.

Using the nyloflex Infinity ITR process, seamless sleeves can be made in less than 60 minutes by employing only three processing steps. These sleeves can either be directly engraved or digitally imaged after first being coated with a laser ablative mask.

Complementing the nyloflex Infinity technology, three different types of polymer plate have been developed particularly for manufacturing flexographic printing forms by laser engraving. The nyloflex LD plate is designed for flexographic printing with UV inks on labels and narrow-web materials. The medium-hard nyloflex LD1 plate will print on folding cartons, cardboard, corrugated board, corrugated board preprint, envelopes, etc. with alcohol- and water-based inks.

Finally, a hard plate - the nyloflex LD2 – is for printing on flexible packaging of film and paper, beverage packaging, and labels with alcohol- and water-based inks. BASF’s latest development is the laser-engravable nyloflex plate.

A special formulation on these plates prevents the material from melting during laser engraving, allowing the polymer material to be used for this technology for the first time. Higher print quality is achieved with directly-engraved polymer plates compared to traditional laser engraving of rubber rollers.

The nyloflex Infinity engraver 4131 is a three-beam CO2-laser developed in co-operation with Stork Prints Austria. Depending on the resolution, an average print job with a width of 1m and a repeat length of 500mm can be engraved within 25 minutes.

BASF expect to release Infinity in 2005 and Clacher is in no doubt it will have a major impact on the flexo world when it reaches the market.