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Flint Group’s New Exposure Technology - nyloflex® NExT

A new innovative approach to achieve Flat Top Dots

Flint Group Flexographic Products presented impressive print results achieved with nyloflex® NExT exposure technology at the Flint Group Symposium in Stuttgart /Germany and raised great resonance at the audience.

nyloflex® NExT high output UV technology is able to generate unique element shapes with precisely reproduced surfaces, commonly known as Flat Top Dots, providing all the benefits linked to this structure: increased tonal range along with an optimised surface texture to greatly improve ink lay down and solid ink density.

All the processes currently being used today to produce a plate with a flat top profile are designed to prevent oxygen exchange between ambient air and photopolymerisable layer during the exposure step, either by blocking it at the plate surface with barrier films or by displacing the oxygen with inert gases.

Compared to alternative systems, the main advantage of the new nyloflex® NExT exposure technology is that it does not involve the use of inert gases with all its risks and does not require additional expensive consumables. Furthermore there are no processing steps added to the standard digital plate workflow, such as film or negative film lamination. The nyloflex® NExT process can easily be integrated in the existing workflow of digital plates. The only change required with nyloflex® NExT process is the addition of an advanced high energy UV light source, which accelerates the polymerisation in the image areas so much, that the competitive termination reaction with oxygen becomes insignificant. In combination with a standard UV tube, exposure a virtual 1-1 reproduction from the LAMS image onto the plate is accomplished. Recent printing tests with nyloflex® NexT exposed plates even indicate further advantages on press like improvements in impression latitude and reduction to gear streaks.

The new Flint Group UV technology is planed to be commercially available in 2011.

17 November 2010

For more information, contact:

Flint Group
Inken Steinhauser
T +49 2561 9826 719
inken.steinhauser@flintgrp.com

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