ROTARY PRINTING: FLEXOGRAPHY

FLEXOGRAPHY, the third and final of the rotary printing productions.

Flexography, sometimes referred to as "surface printing," is a method commonly used for printing on packaging and other uneven surfaces. In Flexography the plates used in the printing process are often made of rubber or flexible plastic, allowing the inked surface to conform to many kinds of substrate.

 Flexography like the other two is a direct rotary printing that uses resilient relief image plates of rubber or photopolymer material, it is very similar to lithography but not as accurate because of the rubber plates used.


There are three methods in order to actually create the plates used for printing, the first method of plate development uses light-sensitive polymer. A film negative is used and exposed to ultra-violet light, the polymer hardens where light passes through the film. The remaining polymer  is washed away in a tank of either water or solvent.

The second method used a computer-guided laser to etch the image onto the printing plate. Such a direct laser engraving process is called digital platemaking.

The third method is done by a moulding process, which goes through a series of steps first of all by creating a metal plate out of the initial image, which then needs to be processed into another mould and then finally a master mould will press the rubber or plastic compound through another moulding process to create the final plate.

The inks used for Flexography are very similar to Gravure but unlike those used in lithography , they generally have low viscosity and are very fast drying. This quality makes both processes quick, which in turn results in relatively high speeds of production for both techniques.