The advantages and disadvantages of flexographic inkjet CTP plate making technology

For the flexographic inkjet CTP plate making technology, many people may have never heard of it before, and even feel incredible. Let's take a look at the charm of this revolutionary flexo plate making technology. The flexographic inkjet CTP platemaking technology was successfully developed by DigiFlex, Israel. The commercial FlexoJet inkjet CTP platemaking system has also been successfully introduced to the market.

The difference between the traditional plate-making techniques of flexographic printing, laser direct plate making and inkjet CTP plate making, the biggest difference between the three plate-making techniques is the different imaging modes, and the conventional flexographic plate-making uses the film exposure imaging method. The direct platemaking method uses the laser ablation black film imaging method, while the FlexoJet1725 inkjet CTP platemaking system uses the inkjet imaging method.

As can also be seen from Figure 1, compared with the traditional flexo plate making method, the inkjet CTP plate making technology eliminates the steps of outputting film and exposing and imaging with the film on the plate, and also adopts a low-cost traditional analog plate. The quality of plate making has been greatly improved; Compared with the current common flexo plate making methods, the inkjet CTP plate making technology does not require the use of higher-priced digital plates, and does not require expensive laser ablation of black film imaging equipment. The cost advantage is very high. obvious.

Inkjet CTP plate making technology, as an economical and environmentally friendly direct plate making method, will build a quick channel for CTP and digital workflow for small and medium-sized flexo printing companies, helping them to realize the trend from traditional analog plate making at a lower cost. The transformation of digital platemaking methods. Moreover, the entire flexographic platemaking process is completed within the company and is more controllable in terms of time, cost, and quality. In addition, inkjet CTP platemaking technology can be used with a variety of development methods, either solvent-based, water-based development, or thermal dry-type development, very convenient for users to choose according to their own circumstances.

Of course, FlexoJet1725 inkjet CTP platemaking system also has some deficiencies, especially prominent point is: the output format of the plate is small, and the thickness of the available plate material is also limited, so the scope of the product has a certain degree of limitations . For now, the target market for this system should be more of the label printing field, but the quality of its plate-making cannot meet the requirements for label printing, especially high-grade label printing, which is also a problem that it faces in the promotion. However, there is a fact that should not be overlooked. Because the international prices of raw materials such as silver and petrochemical products continue to rise, the price of film is also constantly rising, eliminating the need for digital direct plate-making of films will be the future direction of development of flexographic plates. Therefore, if the flexible inkjet CTP plate making technology can make a big breakthrough in output format and plate making quality in the future, it will likely have a larger market space, which is also the key to its decisive future.