Thermal CTP and FM Screening are expected to become widely used with digitalization in printing industry. Thin ink layer on a printing plate, one of the major characteristics of FM Screening, strongly influences the behavior of printing ink in printing process, which is half as thick as that with AM Screening. The difficulties on the development of the printing ink for FM Screening printing are as follows.
1) Reproducibility of minimum dot (Dot gain control with high density)
2) Minimization of blanket piling
3) Minimization of Ghost
4) Minimization of ink feed back caused by over emulsification
5) Balance between ink stability on press and drying
To overcome these hurdles, the ink needs to be designed with good stability on press and water fighting property. For the widespread use of FM Screening in the future, total printing process must be managed well. In other words, there must be an accurate " standardization in printing process. "
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