Wear analysis of the offset printing plate's non-printing areas depending on exploitation

Abstract

One of the most important features in lithography is the stability of the printing plates during the printing process. The offset printing plates are mainly built of aluminium foil which is processed to obtain surface structure needed for printing process requirements. Printing plate is during printing process under mechanical and chemical influence of the machine parts and chemicals used which change printing plate's surface leading to deterioration of printing quality. This paper investigates wear of the printing plate's nonprinting areas by the printing process. For this purpose analysis of the surface was made by evaluating SEM micrographs, roughness parameters and surface free energy. Results of this study showed that nonprinting areas are reducing their surface free energy and roughness with the increase of the imprints made. This investigation has given a new insight in the wear process of the nonprinting areas which could lead to improvement of the printing plate's wear resistance.