Abstract
Material structure and properties of the rewritable imaging plate consisting of the super-ink-repellent surface and the principle of the proposed variable printing process with the plate are reported in this paper. Fluoro compound and two kinds of SiO2 particles in the plate material give the super-ink-repellency. Partial concealment of the super-ink-repellent surface by placing certain kinds of hydrophilic organic materials forms latent images on the plate. The organic materials on the plate can be washed out with water. And the plate recover the initial status by drying which is fully covered with the super-ink-repellent material. The formation and erasing processes of the latent image can be repeated. An ink-jet imaging procedure is employed for placing the organic materials on the plate. The plate having the latent image is dipped into water based ink. The latent image is developed by the ink where the organic materials are placed. And then, the ink on the image of the plate is transferred to paper. The plate is recovered to the original status by washing and drying. The authors have examined the processes of the latent image formation, the ink developing and the transferring, and the plate recovering processes, and have confirmed that all processes have been properly performed. Finally, fine ink image sample transferred to paper has been obtained.
