A printing plate for gravure printing consisting of five layers of aluminum alloy / anodic oxide film / nickel / polypyrrole / copper was fabricated by anodizing, electro-less plating, electroplating, and electro-polymerization. Nickel layers were first deposited on anodic oxide film-covered aluminum alloy by electro-less plating and electroplating. The polypyrrole layer was then deposited on the nickel layer by anodic polarization in a pyrrole monomer solution. Many copper fine particles were deposited on the polypyrrole-deposited specimen at the initial stage of electroplating in the CuSO4 / H2SO4 solution; then a continuous copper layer was obtained through longer cathodic polarization. The copper layer with polypyrrole was removed easily from the nickel layer by pulling with adhesive tape, which suggests that the structure is useful as a reusable aluminum printing plate by copper electroplating and electro-polymerization.
