Abstract
Gravure printing is an intaglio printing process, the image to be printed is engraved on the surface of the gravure cylinder, so that the image to be printed is embedded into the surface. The places engraved in the cylinder during printing are filled with ink, surplus of ink is stripped by a blade and separated for reuse. Print quality consistency and efficiency is high in gravure printing. It is also possible to print on different substrates. Ink systems, viscosity, surface properties of substrate material and dot structures on the gravure cylinder are the main factors that determine the print quality. Appropriate inks can be chosen depending on the material to be printed and finished product used area. Mostly solvent based inks are used. The aim of this study is to determine the solvent that can enable higher quality printing on different substrates, which are frequently used in the gravure printing system, and to investigate the conditions under which the ink-substrates interface relationship can be the best in terms of printability.In this study, IGT F1 laboratory type gravure testing machine was used. Polyethylene and polypropylene printable films are used as the substrate materials. Three different solvent-based inks are used, prepared with ethyl alcohol, ethyl acetate and isopropyl alcohol. Density, contact angle, surface energy and gloss properties of the printed materials were examined. The printability properties of selected substrates and inks have been determined.
Highlights
Gravure printing is an intaglio printing process, the image to be printed is engraved on the surface of the gravure cylinder, so that the image to be printed is embedded into the surface
Prints were made with inks prepared with three different solvents on two different printing materials and the effects of variables on printability were examined
It has been concluded that the printing material with the lowest surface energy is the polypropylene and the printability is better than polyethylene
Summary
Gravure printing is an intaglio printing process, the image to be printed is engraved on the surface of the gravure cylinder, so that the image to be printed is embedded into the surface. The places engraved in the cylinder during printing are filled with ink, surplus of ink is stripped by a blade and separated for reuse (Figure 1). The image areas to be printed consist of honeycomb shaped cells or wells that are engraved into a copper cylinder. When the substrate material touches the gravure cylinder, the ink on the roller is transferred to the material and printing takes place (Gillett, 2003). The step is the drying of the ink.
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