Today the demand for printing is increasing with a variety of styles. Therefore the printing industry needs to develop more technologies to bring the best quality products. In the following article we will find out what gravure printing is!
1. What is gravure printing?
Gravure printing is a concave printing method with copper plated printing axis about 100 micron thick, Deeply engraved laser printing content is below the surface of the copper tube axis, gravure printing is printed in rolls.
The gravure printing mold has a metal shaft, made of steel, the surface is plated with a thin copper layer, the printing element will be engraved onto the surface of this copper layer by acid or more modern than using an engraver. Then the copper surface is plated with a thin layer of chromium to protect.
2. Advantages and disadvantages of gravure printing technology
Advantages: Gravure printing will be cheaper if we print in large quantities, with precise, sharp colors, and save printing time.
Disadvantages: can not print in small quantity like screen printing, must print a lot.
3. The benefits of modern gravure printing technology
Handle plastic bag orders with large quantity from a few tens of thousands to several hundred or even a few million plastic bag products efficiently and quickly, print the gravure to produce quality printed plastic bag products In terms of economy, using gravure printing technology for large volume orders will greatly reduce costs for customers, in addition to meet progress. and the quality of goods as mentioned above, providing the best economic efficiency.
4. Gravure printing application in life
Gravure printing is mainly printed in rolls, can be printed on different materials such as paper, plastic film, metal film ....
Gravure printing is used in the plastic film packaging industry, such as OMO bags, Viso, Bibica confectionery, or Trung Nguyen coffee, etc., all of which are printed by gravure printing method. Currently, this printing technique is widely used and popular in the plastic film packaging industry. Using gravure printing technology, packaging products are more eye-catching and more suitable to consumer tastes.
In addition, gravure printing is printed on OPP film, this film not only works to print detailed images of the product, it also enhances and enhances the mechanical durability of the packaging. Therefore, on the current packaging market, the competition in this industry is fierce.
5. The operating principle of the gravure printer
Gravure printing technology has the following operating principles:
- The printing process begins when the printing axis is embedded in the ink tray, then the ink will seep into the surface of the printing plate and especially absorb the concave elements on the surface of the mold.
- Here, the areas with excess ink will be removed by the system using a knife to remove the ink, leaving only the ink in the concave elements on the mold.
- The ink in these indentations is transferred to the media through the high printing pressures and they attach to the material, then dried to create a complete print.
6. Gravure printing process
Gravure printing is widely used in packaging printing so in today's introduction we will share with you the gravure printing process in packaging production. The process consists of 6 consecutive steps including: Designing patterns - Making prints - Layout of printing molds - Printing images - Making die forming molds for packaging - Processing printed sheets into products.
Specifically, the process of printing gravure in packaging production is as follows:
Step 1: sample design
The packaging samples are designed on computers in 3-dimensional space and then based on packaging patterns that create eye-catching images / words, impressing with the product.
Step 2: make prints
Creates gravure prints or elements (concave) as gravure prints.
Step 3: layout the printing plate
Arrange printing materials on the most optimal printing plate to save production costs, reduce printing costs to the lowest level.
Step 4: print the image
Operate the machine, print the box's images on printed materials (paper, thin plastic, or metal ...) based on the principle of gravure printing. Note should print samples and evaluate the printed samples to see if they meet the requirements before continuing to print in series.
Step 5: Making forming die for packaging
Attaching the cutting knives and grooving (ribbed) knives on a piece of wood to create die, cut and groove the printed sheet according to the designed shape (for boxes) or cut the product is the process of cutting the printed sheet into individual labels to use (for brand names).
Step 6: Outsourcing the printed sheet to product
Stick the vertical edge of the box, remove the defective part or attach the strap ... to form the complete package.
Hope the above information will help you better understand gravure printing. With the advent of this technology, many strides have been made in the printing industry.
