MacDermid Graphics Solutions’ two FTA Technical Innovation Awards are great examples of how one innovation leads to another.
In 2011, the company won for its LUX plate making. Five years later, it again captured the prestigious honor for the LUX ITP 60, demonstrating its persistent resolve and focused effort to advance flexographic plate making and printing.
LUX technology grew out of a long-term MacDermid research effort into plate making technologies and now allows the controlled engineering of dot shapes and print results. These engineered dots, known as flat top dots, serve as the basis for LUX plate making. Both plate makers and printers can achieve higher quality, consistency and versatility in their operations, while enhancing the value of their existing investment in digital flexographic hardware and software.
Evolutionary Steps
To tell the story of the LUX development, it’s important to position the technology within the evolution of flexographic plates. Photopolymer plates were first introduced nearly 60 years ago, when they were designed to replace their rubber forefathers. The benefits were substantial improvements in:
- Productivity
- Imaging resolution
- Print capabilities
Rolling the calendar forward another 25 or so years, digital photopolymer plates were introduced as an evolutionary step beyond analog photopolymer plates. With this advancement, there were improvements in the imaging fidelity and print capability. Additionally, the digital workflow was more efficient and consistent than the analog process.
MacDermid selected a simple lamination process, at onset, whereby a thin membrane is laminated to the digital plate after laser ablation, and prior to main exposure. In addition to the benefits of the LUX dot profile, it was found that there is a profound enhancement of surface screening options with the LUX lamination process. Membranes are used to tailor the surface texture directly, by embossing a pattern into the plate surface. This element is the “surface alteration” phase of the flat top dot evolution program.
All photos courtesy of MacDermid Graphics Solutions
Advantages of the LUX flat top dot include reduced mechanical dot gain, extended wear on press and the ability to produce more vibrant, saturated colors with enhanced ink transfer due to synergies with prepress screening techniques.
Photopolymer plates are crucial in the flexographic printing value chain. Continued advancements with flat top dots and processing technologies will ensure printers meet the changing demand voiced by CPC customers for years to come.
Boxed Set
LUX ITP 60, launched in 2014, claimed an FTA Technical Innovation Award in 2016, as it is credited with offering seamless integration into existing workflows. In The Plate (ITP) 60 is a 60-durometer plate well suited for the flexible packaging, folding carton, tag and label, and sacks, paper and multiwall segments.
LUX ITP 60 provides all the benefits of LUX technology but the convenience of flat top dots right out of the box. No additional plate making steps or equipment is needed to take advantage of the print quality and consistency that LUX flat top dots provide. LUX ITP paves the way for high-quality flat top dot results combined with a high-efficiency plate making workflow. This combination has set the standard for future developments.
This technology is a unique and innovative achievement in photopolymer development. In addition to the imaging capabilities of this material, the product line was also developed with processing flexibility in mind; LUX ITP can be processed in standard solvent systems, as well as through MacDermid’s line of LAVA thermal processors.
When using LUX ITP plates, you get the same 1:1 imaging benefits that you would with LUX lamination. This includes:
- Increased tonal range and color gamut: With 1:1 imaging, the elimination or reduction of the bump curve returns portions of the gamut previously “lost” in the conventional digital plate making process
- Improved imaging consistency: When applied, the bump curve is dependent upon the linescreen and the imaging device. The bump for a 120 linescreen job is not the same as a 150 linescreen job. Again, more variability reduced by the LUX Lamination and LUX ITP platforms
- Better quality control: Measuring the size of dots in a conventional digital plate is difficult. The bullet shape of the dot is the culprit. A digital plate made using LUX or LUX ITP technology has a flat top dot profile. As a result, reading tonal range using a Betaflex or microscope is much more consistent, similar to analog plates
Today, most plate manufacturers offer at least one flat top dot plate. MacDermid offers five in its LUX ITP portfolio, including three thin plates for flexible packaging or paper substrates and two thick plates for direct print on corrugated.
In the future, flat top dots will continue to push flexography to new heights, helping move more jobs from gravure to flexography, improving quality and driving innovations. CPCs are fighting for shelf space while also adapting to how e-commerce is changing the way they reach consumers, so, in turn, they demand new, higher quality standards from their suppliers.
Since the launch of LUX ITP 60, inherently flat top dots have become the standard for high-quality flexographic printing, especially for use with advanced screening technologies. For MacDermid, LUX ITP plate technology has become the defacto plate making technology due to its combination of quality and efficiency and its flexibility with plate processing technologies and new exposure technologies. The next-generation plate will need to be built upon all these.
Customers who have printed LUX dots, made using either pathway within the LUX platform, be it lamination or ITP, unanimously agree that the print pops. It simply looks better. They also cite faster press setup time, smoother vignettes and improved solid ink density.