Unit - I Basic Principles

GRAVURE, FLEXO AND SCREEN PRINTING BASIC PRINCIPLES
UNIT - I – BASIC PRINCIPLES
PRINTING PROCESSES - PRINCIPLES

Lithography, letterpress, flexography, gravure and screen are the major conventional
machine printing processes. Each of these processes is separate and distinct, because of the
different operation of the planographic, relief, intaglio and stencil types of printing.
Image carriers in the form of plates, cylinders or stencils can be created either by
exposing the assembled films onto a light sensitive image area which is then processed, or by
laser engraving, digital or chemical transfer.
All printing image carriers have two separate surfaces - an image or printing area and a
non-image or non-printing area. The image or printing area accepts the ink by mechanical or
chemical means but the non-image area does not accept or retain ink.
1.1.A. PRINCIPLES OF FLEXOGRAPHY PRINTING PROCESS
In flexographic (Relief) printing the printing elements i.e., image area are in raised
form. When the printing plate is inked, the ink adheres to the raised image area (printing parts)
and is then transferred under pressure onto the printing substrate. In flexography a flexible, soft
rubber or plastic plate is employed. - see Figure.
Printing plate
(soft)
Flexo printing Plate
(Relief principle)
cylinder
Impression Hard
cylinder
Flexographic printing
Figure 2: Flexography (Relief) printing

The principle on which a flexographic printing unit works is illustrated in figure. The low-
viscosity ink is transferred to the printing plate via an anilox roller that is evenly screened with
cells, the so-called screen roller/anilox roller (screen width 200–600 lines/cm, ceramic or
hardchromed metal surface). The rubber or plastic plate is attached to the printing plate
cylinder. Ink is transferred to the printing substrate by the pressure of the impression cylinder.
The use of a blade (together with the ink supply system) on the screen roller has a stabilizing
effect on the printing process resulting from even filling of the cells on the screen roller.
2 Compiled by AP, P.Tech., AGPC, Sivakasi

Structure of Flexography image carrier
Flexographic printing - ink metering by anilox roller.
Using the flexible (soft) printing plate and the appropriate ink (low viscosity) for the
printing substrate, it is possible to print on a wide range of absorbent and non-absorbent printing
substrates. With the rubber plates in exclusive use earlier, only a low to moderate printing
quality of solid motifs and rough line drawings could be achieved. For today‟s higher-quality
requirements, especially in the printing of packaging, photopolymer wash-off plates are used,
such as “Nyloflex” from BASF and “Cyrel” from DuPont. These allow screen resolutions of up to
about 60 lines/cm (150 lines/inch).
1.1.A. Flexographic PRINTING Process:
Flexography is a process in which the printing image stands up in relief. Liquid inks are
used which may be solvent-based, and dries mainly by solvent evaporation. Water-based inks
are also widely used, and UV-cured systems for printing with UV inks are being introduced.
A low printing pressure is essential to the process because of the combination of very
fluid inks and soft, flexible printing plates that are used. The process has several distinctive
features.

Liquid inks are used that dry rapidly by solvent evaporation, thus enabling fast
printing speeds to be achieved on non-absorbent materials such as films and foils.
„Soft‟ and flexible relief printing plates are employed that can be mounted and
registered on a plate cylinder and proofs can also be obtained. Individual plates
can easily be changed or rectified, and a portion of a plate can be removed to
enable items such as price or expiry date to be changed.
The application of ink to the surface of the printing plate is by means of a screened
(Anilox) roller. The result is a simple ink feed system that consists of not more than
two rollers, or perhaps a single roller and doctor blade (s).
Although most flexographic printing is reel to reel, the machines enable changes in
the print repeat length to be made simply.
1.1.B. MAIN SECTIONS OF FLEXOGRAPHY PRINTING MACHINES (PRESSES)
Multi-cylinder flexographic printing press

All flexographic presses are made up of four basic sections typically mounted in
succession between sturdy side frames.
1. Unwind section
2. Printing section
3. Drying section
4. Rewind section
1. Unwind Section :
Most of the substrates come in the form of roll or webs. Firstly they are fed through
infeed draw rolls, which pulls the web into press section. Now the speed of the web and press

speed should be synchronized „to provide correct tension & register control. If the speed is more
in unwind section, it is controlled by unwind breaking. An unwind section may also include a
nest of internally heated steel rolls, or the rolls used for infeed tension control may be heated for
a secondary purpose. This purpose is to „open‟ the surface of heavily glazed or „tight‟ papers by
preheating, thus rendering the surface more receptive to printing ink. Preheating in this manner
is also beneficial with some plastic materials, as it „normalizes‟ the web, making it flatter and
reducing the tendency to wrinkle.
2. Printing Section:
A single color station with the four essential rolls-fountain roller, inking roller, printing
plate cylinder and impression cylinder-is sufficient to constitute a press. The majority of printing
presses are multi-colour; from two to eight colors in printing section. In some presses these
color units are arranged horizontally, in-line, similar to a rotogravure press. Much over common
is an arrangement, unique of flexography, in one or more „stacks‟ ,with a single stack of two to
four color units, each color unit arranged vertically one above another. An arrangement of color
units similar to a rotary letterpress, around a single, large, common impression cylinder is also
common. This arrangement is called a central impression (CI) press.
The printing unit consists of the following three basic parts:
a. the inking unit;
b. the plate cylinder;
c. the impression cylinder.
a. Inking Unit:
The function of the inking system is to meter out a fine and controlled film of liquid ink,
and apply this to the surface of the printing plate.
It typically consists of an ink trough, a rubber-covered fountain roller, and a screened
(Anilox) inking roller into which cells of uniform size and depth are engraved. The fountain roller
lifts ink to the nip position, where it is squeezed into the cells in the screened inking roller and by
a shearing action, ink is removed from the roller surface. The ink in the cells is then transferred
to the surface of the printing plates. To regulate ink film thickness in printing, screened ink
(anilox) rollers are available which have screens ranging from 40 to 200 cells/cm. These may be
engraved or etched on metal or ceramic. The engraved cells are generally square in shape
(although many other shapes are available now) with sloping side walls.
When printing halftones, the cells per centimetre of the anilox roller needs to be about
3.5 times the halftone screen ruling. The number of cells and their size regulate the volume of
ink transferred. Further regulation of the ink is achieved by varying the surface speed of the
fountain roller, by altering the pressure between the fountain roller and screened roller, and also

by altering the hardness of the rubber covering on the fountain roller. Despite these controllable
factors it is still the basic characteristic of the anilox roller which determines the ink supply to the
plate. The anilox roller is a crucial factor in achieving good-quality flexo printing.
b. Plate Cylinder:
The plate cylinder is usually made from steel. The printing plates, which have a
thickness of up to a few millimetres are secured to the cylinder with double-sided self -adhesive
material.
c. Impression Cylinder :
The impression cylinder is also made from steel. The substrate passes between the
plate and impression cylinders, which generate light printing pressure. The ink is transferred
from the cells in the screened ink roller to the plate surface, and then to the substrate, during
which it reaches virtually a uniform film.
For high-quality flexographic printing the components of the printing unit must be
engineered to very tight tolerances (measured in tenths of thousandths of an inch). The ability to
manufacture to these standards is one of the factors which has contributed to the growth in
flexographic printing, and its use for higher-quality products than was previously possible.
3. Drying Section:
The Drying section require an after-drier to remove the remaining solvent from all the
colours before the web can be wound in to a roll. The drying section may also require between-
color driers between printing units on multi color presses to permit the necessary printing of
color on color. The removal of solvents can be accomplished in several ways, hot air current
being the most common. However revolutionary method of drying are being investigated.
An exhaust system conjunction with the after dryer prevents a build of solvent laden air
that might become an explosive hazard: In between color hot air dryers it is essential that the
exhaust exist the warm air supply, otherwise the location of these dryers in the very minimal
space between color units would result in warm air being blown on to the inking rollers and plate
cylinders. Premature ink drying would seriously interfere with the inking of the plates and
printing of their image on to the web.
4. Rewind Section:
This section is identical to the unwind section in most respects but with some significant
differences. It need be nothing more than a shaft in plain bearings holding the winding roll by
means of core chucks. However, there is one important difference. The unwind shaft is braked
to add necessary tension as the press pulls the web off the roll. The rewind shaft must be
driven.
Drying Systems

The most common type dryer is the forced hot air system. There are various sources for
heating the air but usually it is natural gas. Steam and electric heat exchangers are also used. It
is important to define ink drying in order to better understand the function of a drying system.
The drying of ink on any substrate is basically the process of attempting to eliminate the
solvents from the ink.
Water or solvent molecules are held together by their potential energy bond. These
molecules are not static but are always moving at a high speed and colliding with each other.
The higher the temperature of these molecules, the greater their kinetic energy, and the
faster their speed of travel. If these molecules can absorb sufficient energy from hot air or other
heat sources, it is, possible for them to break their potential energy bond and at this point start
to evaporate. Once evaporation has started, a new set of conditions arise. The molecules now
in a gaseous state, must pass through a laminar layer of air that is present with a moving web.
These gas molecules must be removed quickly to prevent their return to the ink surface; and
heat and fresh air must be continually fed to the surface to continue the evaporation process.
The basic purpose of most drying systems is to induce a faster evaporation rate of the solvents
by first heating the solvents, and secondly by continuously supplying a fresh supply of non
solvent laden air to the ink surface in order to absorb the evaporating solvents.
Whether the flexographic press be a stack central impression cylinder, or in-line type, all
drying systems are designed to dry the ink between each color station as completely as
possible before the next layer of ink is applied. After the web has been print it travels to a final
drying oven to complete the solvent removal. On earlier drying systems, is was common to use
one heat source for heating the supply air, one fan source for blowing the supplying the air to
both the between-color and final oven, and one exhaust fan to exhaust the solvent laden air
from both the between-color and final oven. Today, dual drying systems are generally used.
There is a separate burner, control, and supply fan for both the between-color and the final oven
drying section. The advantage of the dual drying system becomes apparent when printing is
done on cellophane materials. After the initial trapping at the color station the final oven must
perform the added function of providing ink adhesion by fusing the ink to the cellophane coating.
This can be accomplished readily in the dual systems by increasing the oven heat.
There are many different styles of between color drying covers, but all aim at delivering
the maximum amount of air with the highest possible jet velocity over the longest web travel
possible. There is, however, an optimum goal for designing a jet in order to get the maximum
heat transfer with high velocity air. This relation is between the air velocity, the jet opening, jet
spacing, and the distance of the jets to the web. High velocity air can be defined as air
movement that is always higher than 10,000 FPM when measured at a sufficient distance from
the jet orifice to simulate the position of the web.
Many presses combine different drying methods. For instance, in the after-oven various
temperature and velocity zones may be combined. Also, different heat sources can be
combined for different drying applications. Chill rolls are used to cool the printed web back to
room temperature to prevent blocking. Single or multiple rolls in either single wall or double wall
construction are presently used. It is also common to cool the non-printed side of the web first.
1.2.A. PRINCIPLES OF GRAVURE PRINTING PROCESS
Pressure/Impression
Gravure printing roller (soft)
(Recessed / Sunken principle)
Printing
Image Carrier substrate
Ink Gravure Hard

Image Non image
cylinder
area area
Gravure printing
In this type of printing, the printing areas are in recess - that is, on a lower level than the
non-printing surface. The recesses are filled with ink and surplus ink is removed from the non-
printing surface by doctor blade. The substrate is then pressed against the printing cylinder to
transfer the ink onto it - see Figure. The main examples of gravure printing are Rotogravure
printing and, in the area of arts and crafts, copper plate engraving and die-stamping (also
security printing).
Gravure is the process which uses the intaglio principle. The shortest ink train is found in
the gravure process as the gravure cylinder actually revolves in a bath of ink. The doctor blade
removes excess ink, but leaves ink in the thousands of engraved cells in the copper cylinder.
Impression
Cylinder
Paper
Doctor Blade
Gravure
Cylinder
Ink
Ink Fountain
Figure: Gravure printing

Figure: Two-colour Rotogravure press

The distinctive feature of gravure printing technology is the fact that the image elements
are engraved into the surface of the cylinder. The non-image areas are at a constant, original
level. Prior to printing, the entire printing plate (non-printing and printing elements) is inked and
flooded with ink. Ink is removed from the non-image (by a wiper or blade) before printing, so that
ink remains only in the cells. The ink is transferred from the cells to the printing substrate by a
high printing pressure and the adhesive forces between printing substrate and ink.
Rotogravure printing is used for the economical production of long print runs. Gravure
printing forms are usually cylindrical. A special feature of industrial rotogravure printing is the
fact that a whole cylinder is used per color separation. This means that in a four-color press four
separate cylinders have to be changed for each new job. Consequently, a company that has a
lot of repeat jobs is forced to store a large number of cylinders. Depending on the printing
format, gravure printing cylinders are generally rather heavy and require special conveying and
handling gear systems.
1.2.A. INTAGLIO / GRAVURE PROCESS
In this process a metal plate usually copper is used as a image carrier. Here, copper
etching or hand engraving is carried out to form an image. Ink is applied over the image areas,

excess inks are wiped off. A sheet is laid over the plate and pressure is applied. Ink from
recessed area is transferred to paper according to the width and depth of engraved lines.
Photogravure:
Photogravure is an intaglio process. Image areas are deeply etched below the surface of
the copperised surface of printing cylinder. Liquid ink is filled in the recessed image areas and a
doctor blade wipes the surface clean free from surplus ink. The cylinder is pressed on paper or
other material for transferring the inked image.
Gravure Printing:
Gravure is the photographic version of the original “Intaglio” process and Gravure is a
process which follows the intaglio principle.
In Gravure process, the printing image is engraved into a cylinder in the form of cells.
The engraved cells are filled with ink and excess ink on the cylinder surface is wiped off by
doctor blade. Printing is achieved by passing the substrate between the gravure cylinder and an
impression roller under pressure.
Impression
Cylinder
Paper
Doctor Blade
Gravure
Cylinder
Ink
Ink Fountain
Fig.: Gravure Printing Unit

Gravure processes has a much wider application than letterpress or offset as it prints,
from a low viscosity liquid ink. Coating, varnish, adhesive, hot carbon or anything that will flow
on a cylinder can be printed by gravure. Plastic sheeting, curtains, linoleum, upholstery metallic
foils, paper and boards can be printed. The finished materials can be passed through in-line
machines for punching, cutting, folding, etc. Gravure has advantages in carton making.
Thick film of gold ink can be printed. Deep brilliant glossy solids by the slide of delicate
tones of postal shades can be laid down by gravure. Printing with 100, 120, 150, 175, 225, 300
lines screens are possible. Printing using 175 line screen is popular. The greatest etching depth
is 1 to 2 / 1,000 of an inch or 25 / 1000 to 50 / 1000 mm. The ratio of cell wall thickness to cell
width 1:2.25 or 1:2.5 for paper and board and 1:3 for solid areas on foil and plastic is
recommended. Width increases with cell depth and cell wall becomes thinner. Ink from deep cell
spreads more. The dense areas merge into one another screen pattern. Highlight cells accept
little ink.
Gravure is popular for picture reproduction. Small type printing is a problem. For type
matter rinco process of gravure is popular.
1.2.A. ADVANTAGES, LIMITATIONS (DISADVANTAGES) AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
GRAVURE PROCESS
Advantages of Gravure:
1) The final printed images are of excellent visual quality. Due to its intaglio
character, the closeness of the printing areas and different thickness of ink,
gravure print displays the pleasing effect of a continuous tone image.
2) Photogravure is an exceptionally fast printing method on almost all kinds of paper
and materials. Press speed attainable in web-fed presses-paper: 1,000 fpm (Feet
Per Minute) ; Film and foil: 300 to 600 fpm. Sheet-fed presses: 3000 sheets per
hour.
3) The printed sheet is usually dried, when it leaves the press, due to the volatility of
the fluid ink.
4) Gravure cylinders yield very large number of impressions and under proper
handling even yield several millions copies. Chrome-plated copper cylinder can
print 1.5 millions revolutions without re-chroming; and can print 12 to 20 million
revolutions before making new cylinders, depending on material printed.
5) Rotogravure ink, based on, fluid ink can be formulated for printing on a, variety of
printing stocks- paper, paperboard, plastic films, metal foils, textiles, etc.
6) The supplementary operations like cutting, punching, creasing and stripping are
done “Inline”, the end product are fabricated at the same speed at which printing
press runs.
7) Cheaper paper stock can be used on gravure presses compared with other
processes.
8) Quality reproductions at low cost is possible.
9) Large presses with a web width of 144inch are used for printing of vinyl floor
covering.
10) Virtually, there is no make-ready involved while printing on a Gravure press.
Limitations of Gravure :

1) Length of time to prepare and etch a cylinder. Generally, it required between

three and four hours from the time resist has been applied to the copper surface
until the printing form is ready to be proofed.
2) The high initial cost incurred in the cylinder preparation.
3) Type, Text matter and fine line illustrations do not reproduce as sharply in
gravure as it is reproduced in offset chiefly because the rotogravure screen gives
a “sawtooth” edge to vertical lines and horizontal lines while using gravure
screens.
4) Minimum economical run is said to be 50,000 copies.
5) Once the cylinder has been prepared, very limited alterations or revisions alone
can be made without having to prepare a new cylinder.
6) Air conditioning of the plant is necessary due to the inherent nature of the
process.
Characteristics :
1) All gravure copy- reading matter as well as pictures-must be screened.
2) Generally the gravure cylinder itself is etched and acts as the image carrier.
3) Gravure prints from a design below the surface of the plate or cylinder.
4) Gradations of tone are obtained by etched cells to different depths, so that more
or less ink is carried by the cells and transferred to the paper according to their
depth.
5) The use of the “Doctor blade” in the printing press (to remove ink from non-
printing areas).
6) An interesting possibility of gravure press is the fact that a simple basic principle
allows the use of cylinders of different diameters, without complicate changes in
the unit gearings.
7) A continuous tone positive is used for exposing on the carbon tissue.
1.2.B. MAIN SECTIONS OF GRAVURE PRINTING MACHINE:
All gravure machines consist of following main sections:
1) Unwind section
2) Printing section
3) Drying section
4) Rewind section

1. Unwind Section :
Most of the substrates come in the form of roll or webs. Firstly they are fed through
infeed draw rolls, which pulls the web into press section. Now the speed of the web and press
speed should be synchronized „to provide correct tension & register control. If the speed is more
in unwind section, it is controlled by unwind breaking. An unwind section may also include a
nest of internally heated steel rolls, or the rolls used for infeed tension control may be heated for
a secondary purpose. This purpose is to „open‟ the surface of heavily glazed or „tight‟ papers by
preheating, thus rendering the surface more receptive to printing ink. Preheating in this manner
is also beneficial with some plastic materials, as it „normalizes‟ the web, making it flatter and
reducing the tendency to wrinkle.
2. Printing Section :
The printing unit of gravure machine consist of following :
a) Ink duct
b) Printing cylinder
c) Doctor blade
d) Impression cylinder
a. Ink duct
In olden days open ink trough was used. There is no control of solvent evaporation and
ink is not well agitated, it was unsuitable for high speed machines. Where there is a pump which
continuously agitate the ink and pump it to the ink trough in which printing cylinder rotates.
Excess ink is returned back to the tank from ink trough.
Due to this enclosed system solvent evaporation is reduced. This enclosed system also
employs viscosity control of the ink. In this system whenever the ink is returned from ink trough,
it is filtered and solvent is added to maintain the viscosity of ink.
Further to this enclosed inking system a spray system is also used for very high speed
machines, where ink pump delivers the ink to nozzles pointing at the cylinder. Due to this
cylinder surface is always kept wet. It will never dry out. This system also fully enclosed.
b. Printing Cylinder:
Basically, a gravure press is still the simplest of the printing machines. Publication
presses have cylinders as big as 102" with a diameter of about of 17". Generally publication
presses are not built to permit inserting of cylinders varying in the diameter.
Presses for package printing can handle cylinder varying in their diameter within a given
range. When variable diameter cylinders are customary, the nature of the jobs controls the
dimension. Cylinders for packaging vary greatly in size from the very small, about 7" long by 2

or 3 inches diameter up to massive cylinder length of 80" or more long with a diameter of about
17".
Presses with a printing width of 200" (5 meters) and above are used for speciality
printing, like printing of vinyl floor covering.
Nickel Coating Copper Layer Chromium Layer
(1 to 3 micron) (80 to 320 micron) (5 to 8 micron)
Base Steel Cylinder
Gravure Printing Cylinder
Gravure image carrier

Copper plates
Gravure plates are made from rolled copper. The ends of the plate must be carefully
bent to fit in to the clamps on the cylinder. The plate covers only parts of the cylinder
circumference since the plate cylinder must house the clamping system. This uncovered section
must be filled in with a “gap cover” or “segment” to provide a bearing surface for the doctor
blade. These type of presses (using a gravure plate) are fast becoming absolete.
Copper cylinder
Cylinders can be made of iron, steel, copper or aluminium. Ends are usually fabricated
with steel bar and plate, or steel shaft pressed through the cylinder body. Sleeves cylinders are
metal tubes housed in the machine on mandrels. It is only necessary to produce a sleeve or
tube with this system, for subsequent mounting on a machine mandrel. The sleeve is generally
made of steel base and deposited with copper, to a diameter slightly larger than the required
size. It is then turned and polished in a lath to obtain the correct diameter and perfect stage.
This system is not recommended for multi-unit web-fed presses and for large-run package
printing.

In the Ballard process, a thin skin deposit of copper is loosely adhered to the bulk of the
cylinder surface, but is firmly attached at the bar ends. After printing, the copper skin is removed
by cutting and then pulling off. The advantages of Ballard process are elimination of grinding of
the old etching and allowing exact size cylinders for color works. The thin film of copper is
approximately 0.006 inch thick and is deposited in about one and a half hours. This type of
cylinder is used for printing of short-run magazine and packing. On an average, to deposit one
square foot of copper for 0.001 inch thick, the requirements of copper is 0.74 oz.
Solid (Integral) cylinders are invariably used on web-fed presses. The thickness of the
copper deposit varies depending upon the circumference, length and construction of the
cylinder. The copper deposit ranges from 0.015 to 0.050 inch thick, and copper is deposted
slightly more than the required thickness. Afterwards the cylinder is taken out and brought to the
required diameter by turning it on a lathe; then it is polished to a high luster. The accuracy of the
cylinder is maintained within a tolerance of + or – 0.0005 inches.
c. Doctor blade :
The printing cylinder is flooded with ink and before impression is made on the paper, the
excess ink from the cells and on the non-printing surface of the cylinder is removed by the
scraping action of a flexible sheet blade, known as “Doctor Blade”. As the cylinder turns, and
just before the paper makes contact with it, this doctor blade, made of fine Swedish steel (.008
inch thick) wipes off all the excess ink. The doctor blade, precision ground and hand coned
(after use), is held against the cylinder under pressure, and scrapes the cylinder surface
absolutely dry.
This doctor blade is assembled in such a way to ride on the surface of the cylinder and
remove the surplus ink, without damaging the surface of the printing image area cells. This
doctor blade is assembled as near as possible to the nip pressure, to avoid any ink evaporation
and drying of ink in cells. Usually the thickness of the blade is 0.15mm to 0.25mm. The main
blade is supported by backing blade of 0.76 mm thick.
The doctor blade is usually set in such a angle that must wipe excess ink from the
non-image areas. If the blade angle is more steep, it gives cleaner wipe. If the blade angle is
shallow it wipes less ink. Blades are ground with a bevel edge and the angle of bevel is one of
the factors influencing the printing result. Doctor blades are normally made to reciprocate up to
6cm. The reciprocate action of blade makes better wiping of ink and disperse the paper fibers
and any foreign particles.
High speed presses are equipped with pre-doctoring blade. This allows an ink film of
0.5mm to final doctor blade. Due to this pre-doctoring blade pressure on the second (final)
doctor blade is reduced and cylinder wear is less, printed results are less affected by speed.
d. Impression roller:

This has a steel core with hard rubber covering to bear the heavy pressure. The rubber
covering is of 12-20 mm thickness. Its hardness is from 60o to 100o shore. If the substrate is
too rough and more compressible then hard rubber is used. Plastic films are normally printed
with soft roll and with low impression pressure.
In general the pressure applied between impression roller and printing cylinder is higher
than any other processes. The impression roller is oftenly supported with third roller called
“BACK UP” to overcome the impression roller deflection and give sufficient pressure in the
center. Another technique is “flexible” roll which can be adjusted to even out the pressure
across the width of the web.
Now a days impression rollers are employed with electrostatically assisted ink transfer.
To overcome the printing problem “speckle” (individual cells not printing on rough papers and
non- compressible papers even if it is coated one). In this special roller during the turning
(rotation) high voltage is generated. This electric field encourages the ink to leave the cells and
transfer to the paper even the contact is imperfect.
3. Drying Section:
4. Rewind Section:
This section is identical to the unwind section in most respects but with some significant
differences. It need be nothing more than a shaft in plain bearings holding the winding roll by
means of core chucks. However, there is one important difference. The unwind shaft is braked
to add necessary tension as the press pulls the web off the roll. The rewind shaft must be
driven.

Paper web
(output) Web guide roller
Paper web
(infeed)
Nozzle pipe
for hot-air
drying
Dryer
Register control
Impression roller
Doctor Blade
Gravure Cylinder Ink
Ink Fountain
Fig. Schematic illustration of a gravure printing unit (KBA)
1.3.A. PRINCIPLES OF SCREEN PRINTING PROCESS
Screen printing
(Stencil principle)
Image area
Ink Mesh
Non image area

Image Carrier (Stencil)
Screen printing (schematic diagram)
Screen Printing : In this type of printing, the image and non-image areas are carried on
a mesh(woven) screen, the image areas being open or „unblocked‟ in the form of a stencil. The
non-image areas are formed by „blocking out‟ the mesh by coating. - see Figure. The paper is
placed under the screen. After the screen is lowered into contact with the paper, ink is passed
across the upper surface of the screen. Where the screen is open, ink goes through to the
paper beneath.
Screen printing is an example of the stencil printing process.
Figure 4: Stencil printing

Screen printing is a process in which ink is forced through a screen. The screen printing
stencil serves as a printing plate. More often than not, the screen is a fine fabric made of natural
silk, plastic, or metal fibers/threads. Plastic or metal fabric is generally used nowadays. Ink is
imprinted/transferred through the image-specific, open mesh that is not covered by the stencil.
The screen printing plate is therefore a combination of screen and stencil.
It is the material, the fineness of the screen (the number of screen threads per
centimeter of fabric length), the thickness of the screen, the distance between the top and
bottom sides of the screen, and the degree of opening of the screen (the degree of screen
opening areas as a percentage describes the ratio of the total of all mesh openings to the entire
surface of the fabric) that determine the printing properties and quality of the fabric (screen).
Fabrics can be obtained in levels of fineness from 10 to 200 fibers/cm. The most
frequently used fabrics are those between 90 and 120 fibers/cm.
The screen work and printing of very detailed illustrations necessitate the use of very
high levels of fabric fineness that are matched to the resolution requirements of print image
reproduction. For screen work, fabric fineness (threads/cm) should be around three to four times
greater than the screening of the print image (lines/cm) – therefore nine to sixteen different
screen dot area surfaces per screen cell.

The stencil on the fabric defines the actual print image. The stencil is on the side of the
screen opposite the side on which the squeegee (blade) works, to avoid damage and wear to
the stencil. Manual stencils, which can be produced as drawn or cut stencils and transferred to
the underside of the screen, are used for simple, solid-area print work.
1.3.A. SCREEN PRINTING PROCESS
Screen printing (formerly called silk-screen printing) is a stencil process whereby ink is
transferred to the substrate through a stencil supported by a fine fabric mesh of silk, synthetic
fibres or metal threads stretched tightly on a frame. The pores of the mesh are „blocked-up‟ in
the non-image areas and left open in the image area. This image carrier is called the screen.
During printing the frame is supplied with ink which is flooded over the screen. A
squeegee is then drawn across it, forcing the ink through the open pores of the screen. At the
same time the substrate is held in contact with the screen and the ink is transferred to it. The
principle is shown in Fig.
Because of their simplicity, screens can be produced cheaply and this makes it an
attractive process for short-run work. Furthermore, since the image is produced through a
screen rather than from a surface the impression pressure is very low. This makes it ideal for
printing on fragile boxes or awkward shapes.
Screen
Frame
Substrate
Irrespective of the type of machine the printing procedure is generally the same. A
working supply of ink is placed at one end of the screen and the screen is then raised so that
the stock may be fed to register guides or grippers on a base. The screen is then lowered and a
rubber or plastic squeegee drawn across the stencil to produce the print. Ink replenishment is
undertaken as necessary.
On most flat-bed machines the base to which the substrate is applied is of a vacuum
type. This prevents the stock sticking to the screen and being lifted by tacky inks.
To a certain extent the thickness of the ink film printed can be controlled by the pressure,
sharpness and angle of the squeegee blade.
The more upright the blade the thinner the deposit of ink. Thus, in general, fine work
requires a more upright blade. However, the type of ink, stock and machine govern the blade
setting also.
1.3.A. Advantages of Screen Printing Process
One of the major advantages of the screen process is the ability to obtain prints on non-
flat objects. For example, printing on bottles or other cylindrical objects is achieved by using a
press of the cylinder type described above but the object to be printed is placed in the machine
where the impression cylinder is shown. After each impression the bottle is removed and
another unprinted one substituted. There are few limitations on size or shape. Special screens
and jigs are produced for printing on shaped objects such as cups with handles or tapering
cylinders, and screens with high elasticity combined with shaped squeegees are used for
conforming to irregular objects. Print heads can also be bolted to automatic production lines, so
that printing becomes a part of the total production process of such objects as filled polythene
bottles.
1.3.A. APPLICATIONS OF SCREEN PRINTING
i. Screen Printing on Flat Surfaces
Posters and Graphics Printing in Short Print Runs.
Large-format posters in particular can be produced relatively conveniently in fairly small
print runs. The quite thick ink film produces coloring that is very brilliant and resistant even with
halftone color impressions.
Traffic Routing Systems and Signs. Large printing surfaces for high resistance inks
are found with traffic signs and routing systems. The requirements they impose are best met
using screen printing.
Vehicle Fittings and Instrument Dials. With vehicle fittings a narrow tolerance range of
the translucency of the impression is required in addition to its precision. For example, it must
be possible for control lights to light up in precisely defined colors.
Printed Circuit Boards for Electronics. Due to its simplicity and flexibility, screen
printing is an important process during the development of printed circuit boards for electronic
circuits. Accurate printing onto copper-laminated hard paper or glass-fiber reinforced epoxy
board with etching allowance, solder resist, or assembly designations in the necessary coating
thickness is only possible in large quantities with screen printing. Restrictions are, however,
imposed on the latter as a result of the extreme miniaturization of components and printed
circuit boards.

Photovoltaic. Special conductive pastes are used to print on photo resistors and solar
cells, which serve as the contact points for current transfer. In doing so, particular importance is
placed on high coating thickness in areas that are, at the same time, extremely small and
covered with printed conductors, in order to optimize the efficiency of the energy production with
the solar cells as fully as possible.
Compact Discs (CD). Screen printing is one of the major processes for printing on CDs.
Pad printing and more recently even offset printing are also used.
Textiles. The depth of the ink absorption in textiles calls for a large volume of ink to be
supplied and screen printing is the preferable process for applying it. Clothing, canvas shopping
bags, webs of material, and so on, can be printed in both flatbed and rotary screen printing.
Transfer Images. Screen printing is frequently used to produce transfer images for
ceramic decoration. These images are put together from ceramic pigments for firing. The
pigment‟s grain size necessitates the use of a screen mesh that is not too fine. After detachment
the images are removed from the base material and placed on the preburned bodies by hand. A
recognizable feature of these ceramic products is the thick layer of ink. The images can be
placed above or below the glazing.
Decorative Products, Labels, Wallpapers. Seamless decorations such as textile webs,
wallpaper, and other decorative products, as well as labels often require rotary printing
combined with reel material. Special machines are designed for this. Rotary screen printing with
sheet material is used primarily for higher print runs (examples are given in sec. 2.4.3).
Surface Finishing. Transparent varnish can also be applied using screen printing
technology (for spot varnishing, in particular) to finish the printed product.
ii. Screen Printing on Curved Surfaces
Almost any body that has an even, convex and concave (to a limited extent) not too
structured surface can be printed using screen printing. There are virtually no restrictions with
regard to the material of the body to be printed on.
Ceramics can be printed directly with screen printing. Ceramic pigment inks can be used
for subsequent baking or just a low durability varnish applied to the glazed product.
It is not always possible to print directly onto plastic components. Surface treatment, for
example involving flame treatment, corona charging, or the application of primer is often
necessary to ensure that the ink adheres.
Bottles. Glass bottles with a baked finish or pretreated plastic bottles for the food and
domestic products sector are printed using the screen printing process.
Toys.Toys, such as balls, and so forth, can be printed in full in several operational steps.

Glasses. The screen printing process is often used for drinking glass decoration, with
thick coatings of all inks and also gold being applied.
Advertising Media. The type of advertising medium that can be decorated or provided
with some other overprinting by the screen printing process ranges from cigarette lighters or
ballpoint pens to pocket knives and pocket calculators.
1.3.B. MAIN SECTIONS OF A FLATBED SCREEN PRINTING MACHINE
SCREEN PRINTING PRESSES (MACHINES)
Screen
Frame
Substrate
Movable
Ink blade (squeegee)
Stationary Frame
screen Printing plate
(stencil)
Base plate
Substrate (stationary)
Printing principle: flat-to-flat

(flatbed)
The screen process is one of the major printing methods used by graphic arts industry.
In screen process, printing is done by forcing ink through openings in a stencil or photogravure
stencil that has been attached to a fabric screen is called screen process printing. Screen
Printing process is carried either by hand or manual and power operated presses.
Following are the parts of a screen printing press of hand operated one:

1. Frame
2. Base
3. Screen fabric
4. squeegee
(1) Frame:
The frame serves as a support for the screen fabric. It can be made from wood, metal or
any other rigid material.
a) Wooden frame:
Wood used for screen printing should be soft, straight, grained and should resist the
moisture and temperature. Wooden frame are easy to handle and assemble. The cost of the
wooden frame is less than metal frame. Leveling is also important for wooden frames. Coating
the wooden frame by a two-component lacquer protects the wood from water and solvent.
Pine or popular wood is usually used for making frames. Before making a frame, wood is
seasoned. The corners of the frame is joined by miter, end lap, or spline joints. Angle and
corner irons are sometimes used to reinforce the corners of a large screen printing frame.
(b) Metal frames:
Steel is used for screen frames as its rigidity, life is more when comparing the wooden
frames. For corrosion protection, steel frames are galvanized or coated with lacquer, sometime
with stored varnish. These steel frames are available as rectangular or square section. For
easier handling of large frames, steel is replaced by aluminium alloy, but care must be taken in
providing rigidity. Also aluminium frames are corrosion – proof when comparing steel frames.
Leveling of metal frame is very important. This leveling is done on a special leveling
slab. Twisted or warped frames can cause great trouble in printing and in registering. Before
mounting the fabric, sharp edges and pointed corners should be well rounded to avoid the
tearing of fabric. Metal frames should be roughened on the adhesive surface or sand – blasted,
also it should be throughly de-greased with a suitable solvent after roughening.
(2) Base :
This is the surface upon which the substrate to be printed is positioned and held. It is
usually made from a thin sheet of plywood or hardboard or table. This is longer than the frame
used. Loose-pin built hinges serve to hold the frame and base together.
(3) Screen Fabric :
The screen fabric is a woven material. It is a tightly stretched across the frame. This
Screen fabric serves as a carrier for stencil. The selection of fabric for particular work plays a
major role. Following are the types of fabrics.
a) Silk:
Silk is a natural fiber produced by the silk worm. Hand cut and indirect stencils adhere
well to silk fabrics. However this silk is not dimensionally stable. Size variation can occur due to
change in temperature and humidity. Therefore silk is unsuitable for jobs requiring critical
registration.
(b) Polyesters:
Polyesters such as darcon, Terital and polylast are man-made synthetic materials
containing cellulose, resins and hydrocarbons. Polyesters fabrics are woven very uniformly and
possess good dimension stability. They are extremely strong and used for long runs. A major
disadvantage is that indirect photographic stencil will not adhere so good as like in silk.
(c) Nylon:
Nylon is also a man-made synthetic material having uniformly woven fabrics. This fabric
is strong and durable and can be used for long run jobs. Unlike polyesters, nylon fabrics lack
dimensional stability. Nylon fabrics will go on stretched and react to temperature & humidity
changes. So before mounting a nylon fabric on frames, it should be wet firstly and stretched
very taut, to maintain the good registration.
d) Metal fabrics:
These types of fabrics are used for only special application. Unlike the synthetic fabric, it
does not absorb moisture and is therefore unaffected by changes in humidity. Also it is
unaffected by temperature. As it has very good dimensional stability it is used for very precision
printing like printed circuit board or very specialized application. Usually “Stainless Steel wire” is
used as a metal fabric.
Stainless steel will retain its tension almost indefinitely, where as all synthetic meshes-
show a tendency to loose tension with use. Also stainless steel mesh allow more volume of ink
to pass through. As it is electrically conductive it can be used for printing thermoplastic inks.
Stainless steel screen printing fabrics are more expensive than synthetic material.
(4) Squeegee :
The squeegee performs a very important function in screen printing. It is used to force
the ink through the screen mesh and stencil on to the printing stock below. Squeegee blades
are made from high quality natural rubbers and synthetic material. Polyurethane squeegee
blades are now- a-days used widely due to their resistance property to abrasion so there is no
need for sharpening or reshaping.
Squeegeees are normally supplied in three grades : Hard, Medium, Soft. The hard and
medium grades are used for printing thin film inks, the soft grade is used for printing on to non-

absorbent materials such as metal & glass. During the printing action the squeegee is moved
across the screen and force the ink to pass through the mesh opening.
ADDITIONAL RELATED TOPICS
ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS (DISADVANTAGES) OF PRINTING PROCESSES
Flexography Printing
 Advantages
Changes to plates can be made relatively easily and cheaply, by just replacing
the required parts of the overall image areas
Ideally suited to printing reel/web-fed substrates with in-line press finishing
An environmentally friendly process as it tends to use few chemicals, in fact is
often operated as an entirely water-based process in terms of consumables,
such as plate processing, inks and cleaning fluids
Simple, generally easy to use process
Variable cylinder cut-offs allow greater flexibility on the length of images that can
be printed.
 Limitations (Disadvantages)
Cannot print screen halftones as fine as offset printing, requiring a smooth to
coated stock to reproduce good screen detail
Not economic for sheet-fed printing, therefore unsuitable for short-run general
commercial printed products such as booklets and leaflets
Although print quality has improved considerably in recent years, it is still not as
high as offset lithography.
Gravure Printing
 Advantages
A printing process giving full colour values in reproduction, with rich tonal effects,
particularly in monochrome
High production speeds is of great advantage in periodical, magazine, catalogue
and colour supplement work printing, where very long runs are often required
High quality printed results, especially in colour work, on relatively inexpensive
grades of substrates which cannot be matched by other printing processes
Variable cylinder cut-offs allow much more flexibility on available pagination
range for publications compared to heat-set offset litho.

Printing cylinders very expensive

Alterations to plates or cylinders impracticable
Type matter and fine-line detail is broken up by the overall cell structure
Make-ready / set-up costs expensive, which along with high costs of printing
cylinders makes gravure unsuitable for short- or medium-sized run jobs.
Screen Printing
 Advantages
Suitable for short runs multi-colour jobs.
Low preparatory costs
Light colours can be printed satisfactorily on dark materials or deep colours
Ideally suited for printing showcards, posters and unusual & irregular materials
such as heavy gauge metal, plastic, glass, etc
Lays down the heaviest ink film thickness of all the printing processes, resulting
in enhanced results such as very high gloss varnishing and raised printing results
when required.
Halftone subjects are limited to coarse screens
Although automatic presses are now available, the process is still in the main
restricted to short-run work
Conventional inks requires some considerable time, plus use of space
consuming racking, to allow the work to dry, leading to the increased use of UV
inks.
VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRINTING PROCESSES
It is undoubtedly a considerable asset to be able to determine with reasonable accuracy
the printing process or processes by which an item of printed matter has been produced.
There are a number of characteristics or clues which, if they can be discerned, make
identification of the process possible, but not necessarily simple. Indeed, there are some jobs
where it is very difficult to identify the relevant process or processes, even to those having
considerable experience, and the use of a powerful magnifying glass or „linen tester‟ is of
considerable value.
Figure 5 and the comments which follow have been prepared to assist in this process.
Offset Printing

 Overall, smooth and even printed result

 Very wide range of substrates including coarse textures, can be satisfactorily
printed, even when very fine halftone illustrations are reproduced
 Tonal effects obtained by the use of mechanical tints or halftones.
 Thickening of design under pressure, along with a general outline to the printed
areas in the form of a visible halo, especially around the outer edges
 Tonal effects obtained by the use of mechanical tints or halftones
 Fine-screen halftones must have substrate with a coated surface
 Printed samples often obtained from processed material in reel-form such as
self-adhesive labels, plastic and paper wrappings.
Letterpress Printing
 Thickening of design under pressure, along with a general outline to the printed
areas in the form of a visible halo, especially around the outer edges
 Slight embossed effect usually detectable on reverse of sheet, especially with
sheetfed printing.
 Tonal effects obtained by the use of mechanical tints or halftone dot
 Fine-screen halftones must have substrate with a coated surface.
Gravure Printing
 Wide range of tonal values is possible, giving an effect of continuous tone-like
quality (especially in four-colour process work)
 Because of the screen pattern or cell structure, which appears over the whole of
the printed image, fine-line work and text matter appear rough/broken at the
edges when examined with a magnifying glass
 Under a magnifying glass the „screen pattern‟ in conventional gravure is seen to
be of a regular square formation (showing uniform cells).
Screen Printing
 Thickness of ink film is usually more apparent than in other processes, especially
where solid colours are printed upon one another.
 Because of the use of relatively coarse screen meshes, forming the support for
the stencil, small lettering and fine-line work tends to break up round the edges
and this can be identified when examined with a magnifying glass.

 Halftone subjects are generally reproduced with a fairly coarse screen, although
with water-based UV inks 54 lpc (in excess of 133 lpi) resolution is now possible.
JOB SUITABILITY
SUITABILITY OF PRINTING PROCESSES TO DIFFERENT CLASSES OF WORK
Each of the printing processes has particular properties, characteristics and associated
costs which make it more suitable for certain classes of work than others.
It has to be acknowledged, however, that there is a considerable amount of common
ground where two or more printing processes may regularly be used to produce a certain
printed product - eg - books printed by offset litho, flexography and letterpress, newspapers by
offset litho (cold-set) and flexography, reel-fed labels by flexography and letterpress, periodicals
printed by sheet-fed, heat-and cold-set web offset, also web-fed gravure.
The comments made below are given as a general guideline rather than a definitive
statement on the suitability of different printing processes to different classes of work.
This is predominantly a reel/web-fed process, suited mainly to specialist or niche printed
markets such as reel-fed labels, newspapers, flexible packaging such as food wrappings, carrier
bags and rigid packaging such as cartons and collapsible corrugated cases.
Gravure Printing
Sheet-fed Gravure printing
Suited to specialist work such as printing on metallised and other substrates to produce
high quality decorative effects in gold, silver and fluorescent colours.
Web-fed Gravure printing
This main application covers a wide range of general commercial products. Gravure is
especially suited to work in four-colour process on relatively cheap, smooth mechanical papers
in quantities of 250 000 or more, such as magazines, mail order and catalogues. In addition
there are a wide range of specialist products such as security printing including stamps and
cheques; board packaging products such as folding box cartons for food and cigarette
industries, also printed video cases; flexible packaging such as printed cellophane and
polythene used in food wrapping, display and protection.
Screen Printing
Sheet-fed Screen printing
As the process is best known for its ability to print a thicker ink film than any other
printing process this makes it ideal for printing light coloured inks on dark coloured materials,
also onto awkward, rough surfaces, uneven and moulded shape surfaces. Examples include

posters, showcards, printed circuits, T-shirts, printing on cloth, vinyl, metal, glass and plastic,
etc.
Rotary/web-fed Screen Printing
Specialist area of the process used for self-adhesive labels, scratch-off lottery tickets,
packaging, transfer printing, fabric printing, security printing, direct mail and high quality
greetings cards with die-cutting and additional finishing requirements.

UNIT: I – BASIC PRINCIPLES
PART - A - 1 Mark Questions
1. Name the printing process which utilizes intaglio principle.

Gravure prinitng process
2. What is direct printing process?

If the image is directly transferred from the image carrier to the substrate, then it is called
direct printing process.
Eg: Letterpress, Flexo Gravure & Screen printing process are direct printing processes.
3. State the functions of doctor blade in gravure printing. / What is doctor blade?
Doctor blade is a thin, flexible steel, plastic or composite blade that passes over gravure
cylinder to wipe off excess ink before impression is made on to the substrate.
4. What is the image carrier used in Gravure printing?

Copper Cylinder
5. How do flexo and gravure inks dry?

Flexo and gravure inks dry by eveporation of solvents.
6. Name the main sections of gravure printing machine.

i. Unwind section,
ii. Printing section - Gravure cylinder, Ink Trough, Doctor Blade, Impression Roller,
iii. Dryer section,
iv. Rewind section.
7. What is the earlier name of flexography printing process?

Aniline printing process
8. State the purpose of anilox roll in flexo printing machine. / What is anilox roller?
Anilox roll is a mechanically or laser engraved metering roll used in flexo presses to
meter a controlled film of ink from the fountain roller to printing plates.
9. Name the main components of Flexography printing unit.

Ink fountain roller, Anilox roller, Plate cylinder, Impression cylinder.

10. Name the main sections of flexography printing machine.

i. Unwind section,
ii. Prinitng section - Fountain roller, Anilox roller, Plate cylinder, Impression cylinder,
iii. Dryer section
iv. Rewinding section.
11. What is the principle of Screen printing process?
In this type of printing, the image and non-image areas are carried on a mesh (woven)
screen, the image areas being open in the form of a stencil. The non-image areas are formed by
„blocking out‟ the mesh by coating. The paper is placed under the screen. After the screen is
lowered into contact with the paper, ink is passed across the upper surface of the screen.
Where the screen is open, ink goes through to the paper beneath.
12. Name the various frames used for screen printing process.
Wooden frame, Metal frame
13. State the different fabric materials used for screen printing.
Silk, Polyester, Nylon, Metal fabrics
14. What is the function of squeegee?

Squeegee is used to force the ink through the screen mesh and stencil on to the printing
stock kept below.
15. What is the earlier name of screen printing process?

Silk screen printing
16. Name the major printing processes.

Offset, Letterpress, Flexography, Gravure and Screen printing processes.
17. Write briefly the principles of Gravure Printing process.

In this type of printing, the printing areas are in recess - that is, on a lower level than the
non-printing surface. The recesses are filled with ink and surplus ink is removed from the non-
printing surface by doctor blade. The substrate is then pressed against the printing cylinder to
transfer the ink onto it. The main examples of gravure printing are Rotogravure printing and, in
the area of arts and crafts, copper plate engraving and die-stamping (also security printing).
18. What is Intaglio printing?
In this process a metal plate usually copper is used as a image carrier. Here, copper
etching or hand engraving is carried out to form an image. Ink is applied over the image areas,

excess inks are wiped off. A sheet is laid over the plate and pressure is applied. Ink from
recessed area is transferred to paper according to the width and depth of engraved lines.
19. What is ESA?

Now a days impression rollers are employed with electrostatically assisted (ESA) ink
transfer. To overcome the printing problem “speckle” (individual cells not printing on rough
papers and non- compressible papers even if it is coated one). In this special roller during the
turning (rotation) high voltage is generated. This electric field encourages the ink to leave the
cells and transfer to the paper even the contact is imperfect.
20. State briefly the construction of gravure cylinder.

Basically the gravure cylinder is made up of steel. Over the steel core cylinder, a nickel
layer coating of 1 to 3 µm is applied. Then the cylinder receives a base copper layer of 1-2 µm.
Then the application of another layer i.e., engraved copper layer of 80 to 320 µm is applied over
the base copper layer.
Engraving Copper (80 - 320 µm)
Base Copper (1 - 2 µm)
Nickel Layer (1 -3 µm)
Base Steel Cyclinder
Construction of Gravure Cyclinder
21. What are the characteristics of prints produced from gravure printing?
Because of the screen pattern or cell structure, which appears over the whole of
the printed image, fine-line work and text matter appear rough/broken at the
edges when examined with a magnifying glass.
Wide range of tonal values is possible, giving an effect of continuous tone-like
quality (especially in four-colour process work).
Under a magnifying glass the „screen pattern‟ in conventional gravure is seen to
be of a regular square formation (showing uniform cells).
The final printed images are of excellent visual quality. Due to its intaglio
character, the closeness of the printing areas and different thickness of ink,
gravure print displays the pleasing effect of a continuous tone image.

22. Describe briefly the principles of Flexography printing process.

In flexographic (Relief) printing the printing elements i.e., image area are in raised
form. When the printing plate is inked, the ink adheres to the raised image area (printing parts)
and is then transferred under pressure onto the printing substrate. In flexography a flexible, soft
rubber or plastic plate is employed.
23. How the ink metering is done by Anilox roll in flexographic printing?
A screened (Anilox) inking roller into which cells of uniform size and depth are engraved.
The fountain roller lifts ink to the nip position, where it is squeezed into the cells in the screened
inking roller and by a shearing action, ink is removed from the roller surface. The ink in the cells
is then transferred to the surface of the printing plates.
24. Explain briefly the principles of Screen printing process.

Screen Printing : In this type of printing, the image and non-image areas are carried on
a mesh(woven) screen, the image areas being open or „unblocked‟ in the form of a stencil. The
non-image areas are formed by „blocking out‟ the mesh by coating. - see Figure. The paper is
placed under the screen. After the screen is lowered into contact with the paper, ink is passed
across the upper surface of the screen. Where the screen is open, ink goes through to the
paper beneath.
GLOSSARY
Aniline
The former term for flexography; the name was derived from aniline dyes obtained from
coal tar (an obsolete technology).
Dancer Roll
A web-tensioning device in the form of a roller that uses weights or springs which
monitors web tension by controlling the unwind brake or rewind tension.
Driving Side
That side of a flexographic press on which the main gear train(s) are located; also gear
side; opposite of operating side.
Dryer
That auxiliary unit of a flexographic printing press through which the printed web travels
and is dried prior to rewinding. Drying units are placed as required between color stations.
Gravure
A printing process in which the image area is etched below the surface of the printing
plate. The ink is carried below the printing surface in small wells or lines etched or scribed into a

metal plate. The surface of the plate is wiped clean so nonimage areas carry no ink and the
image is transferred directly to the paper by means of pressure.
Infeed
A mechanism designed to control the forward travel of the web into the press.
In-Line Press
1. A press coupled to another operation such as a bag making, sheeting, diecutting,
creasing, etc;
2. A multicolor press in which the color stations are mounted horizontally in a line.
Intaglio
An engraved or etched design which is below the surface as cells in an anilox roll or
gravure cylinder.
Letterpress
A method of printing that uses hard-relief plates as an image carrier. The image area of
the plate, raised above the nonprinting area, receives the ink and is then transferred directly to
the substrate.
(Extra Questions) – 3/4/6 marks

1. Write briefly about the image carriers used for gravure printing.
Gravure image carrier
Copper plates
Gravure plates are made from rolled copper. The ends of the plate must be carefully
bent to fit in to the clamps on the cylinder. The plate covers only parts of the cylinder
circumference since the plate cylinder must house the clamping system. This uncovered section
must be filled in with a “gap cover” or “segment” to provide a bearing surface for the doctor
blade. These type of presses (using a gravure plate) are fast becoming absolete.
Copper cylinder
Cylinders can be made of iron, steel, copper or aluminium. Solid (Integral) cylinders are
invariably used on web-fed presses. The thickness of the copper deposit varies depending upon
the circumference, length and construction of the cylinder. The copper deposit ranges from
0.015 to 0.050 inch thick, and copper is deposted slightly more than the required thickness.
Afterwards the cylinder is taken out and brought to the required diameter by turning it on a lathe;
then it is polished to a high luster. The accuracy of the cylinder is maintained within a tolerance
of + or – 0.0005 inches. (In the cylinder, image areas are on a sunken (lower) level than the non
image areas).

2. Write notes on doctor blade.

The printing cylinder is flooded with ink and before impression is made on the paper, the
excess ink from the cells and on the non-printing surface of the cylinder is removed by the
scraping action of a flexible sheet blade, known as “Doctor Blade”. As the cylinder turns, and
just before the paper makes contact with it, this doctor blade, made of fine Swedish steel (.008
inch thick) wipes off all the excess ink. The doctor blade, precision ground and hand coned
(after use), is held against the cylinder under pressure, and scrapes the cylinder surface
absolutely dry.
3. Write notes on dryers in flexographic presses.

4. Write notes on screen fabrics used for screen printing.

Screen Fabric :
The screen fabric is a woven material. It is a tightly stretched across the frame. This
Screen fabric serves as a carrier for stencil. The selection of fabric for particular work plays a
major role. Following are the types of fabrics.
a) Silk:
Silk is a natural fiber produced by the silk worm. Hand cut and indirect stencils adhere
well to silk fabrics. However this silk is not dimensionally stable. Size variation can occur due to
change in temperature and humidity. Therefore silk is unsuitable for jobs requiring critical
registration.
(b) Polyesters:
Polyesters such as darcon, Terital and polylast are man-made synthetic materials
containing cellulose, resins and hydrocarbons. Polyesters fabrics are woven very uniformly and
possess good dimension stability. They are extremely strong and used for long runs. A major
disadvantage is that indirect photographic stencil will not adhere so good as like in silk.

(c) Nylon:
Nylon is also a man-made synthetic material having uniformly woven fabrics. This fabric
is strong and durable and can be used for long run jobs. Unlike polyesters, nylon fabrics lack
dimensional stability. Nylon fabrics will go on stretched and react to temperature & humidity
changes. So before mounting a nylon fabric on frames, it should be wet firstly and stretched
very taut, to maintain the good registration.
d) Metal fabrics:
These types of fabrics are used for only special application. Unlike the synthetic fabric, it
does not absorb moisture and is therefore unaffected by changes in humidity. Also it is
unaffected by temperature. As it has very good dimensional stability it is used for very precision
printing like printed circuit board or very specialized application. Usually “Stainless Steel wire” is
used as a metal fabric.
5. State the functions of squeegees in screen printing.

The squeegee performs a very important function in screen printing. It is used to force
the ink through the screen mesh and stencil on to the printing stock below. Squeegee blades
are made from high quality natural rubbers and synthetic material. Polyurethane squeegee
blades are now- a-days used widely due to their resistance property to abrasion so there is no
need for sharpening or reshaping.
Squeegeees are normally supplied in three grades : Hard, Medium, Soft. The hard and
medium grades are used for printing thin film inks, the soft grade is used for printing on to non-
absorbent materials such as metal & glass. During the printing action the squeegee is moved
across the screen and force the ink to pass through the mesh opening.
6. What are the applications of screen printing process.

Sheet-fed Screen printing
As the process is best known for its ability to print a thicker ink film than any other
printing process this makes it ideal for printing light coloured inks on dark coloured materials,
also onto awkward, rough surfaces, uneven and moulded shape surfaces. Examples include
posters, showcards, printed circuits, T-shirts, printing on cloth, vinyl, metal, glass and plastic,
etc.
Rotary/web-fed Screen Printing
Specialist area of the process used for self-adhesive labels, scratch-off lottery tickets,
packaging, transfer printing, fabric printing, security printing, direct mail and high quality
greetings cards with die-cutting and additional finishing requirements.

PART - B: 12 Marks Questions

1. Describe the principles of Gravure printing process with suitable diagrams.
2. Explain the principles of flexographic printing process with necessary skectches.
3. Explain the principles of screen printing process with suitable diagrams.
4. Describe the main sections of Gravure printing machine with skecthes.
5. Explain the main sections of Flexographic printing machine with diagrams.
6. Describe the main sections of screen printing machine with necessary sketches.

Unit - I Basic Principles

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GRAVURE, FLEXO AND SCREEN PRINTING BASIC PRINCIPLES

UNIT - I – BASIC PRINCIPLES

PRINTING PROCESSES - PRINCIPLES

Figure 2: Flexography (Relief) printing

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Structure of Flexography image carrier

Flexographic printing - ink metering by anilox roller.

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Multi-cylinder flexographic printing press

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Ink Gravure Hard

Figure: Gravure printing

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Figure: Two-colour Rotogravure press

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Fig.: Gravure Printing Unit

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1) Length of time to prepare and etch a cylinder. Generally, it required between

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Base Steel Cylinder

Gravure Printing Cylinder

Gravure image carrier

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Gravure Cylinder Ink

Fig. Schematic illustration of a gravure printing unit (KBA)

1.3.A. PRINCIPLES OF SCREEN PRINTING PROCESS

Non image area

Screen printing (schematic diagram)

Figure 4: Stencil printing

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Printing principle: flat-to-flat

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Printing cylinders very expensive

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 Overall, smooth and even printed result

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UNIT: I – BASIC PRINCIPLES

PART - A - 1 Mark Questions

1. Name the printing process which utilizes intaglio principle.

2. What is direct printing process?

4. What is the image carrier used in Gravure printing?

5. How do flexo and gravure inks dry?

6. Name the main sections of gravure printing machine.

7. What is the earlier name of flexography printing process?

9. Name the main components of Flexography printing unit.

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10. Name the main sections of flexography printing machine.