"GRAVURE vs FLEXOGRAPHY"

INTRODUCTION OF THE FLEXOGRAPHY & GRAVURE

Flexography is a type of printing process that uses a plate with a raised surface and fast
drying fluid inks to print directly onto the print material. The plates are made of rubber or
photopolymer and are attached to a drum on rotary printing equipment. Flexography
would be printed while the envelopes are being converted. On larger runs, this is a less
expensive process than lithography because it eliminates a separate printing process, but
the print quality will not be as good.
Flexography is a form of rotary web letterpress, combining features of both letterpress
and rotogravure printing, using relief plates comprised of flexible rubber or photopolymer
plates and fast drying, low viscosity solvent, water-based or UV curable inks fed from an
"anilox" or two roller inking system. The flexible (rubber or photopolymer) plates are
mounted onto the printing cylinder with double-faced adhesive. Plates are sometimes
backed with thin metal sheets and attached to the cylinder with fastening straps for close
register or ink alignment. This adds additional cost to the plate and requires more
makeready time, but when quality printing is critical this type of plate can make the
difference.
Flexography is related to the oldest printing process, letterpress, because both
flexography and letterpress print from a raised image. In its original form, letterpress
used individual metal characters called types and a mechanical press. The type was
combined to form words and sentences and tightly arranged on the flat surface of the
press. Then the raised areas were covered with ink. The message was formed when paper
was pressed against the flat metal type.

Flexography prints from a flexible printing plate that is wrapped around a rotating
cylinder. The plate is usually made of natural or synthetic rubber or a photosensitive
plastic material called photopolymer. It is usually attached to the plate cylinder with
double-sided sticky tape.

Gravure (Roto or Gravure for short) is a type of intaglio printing process; that is, it
involves engraving the image onto an image carrier. In gravure printing, the image is
engraved onto a cylinder because, like offset printing and flexography, it uses a rotary
printing press. Once a staple of newspaper photo features, the rotogravure process is still
used for commercial printing of magazines, postcards, and corrugated (cardboard)
product packaging.
In the last quarter of the 19th century, the method of image photo transfer onto
carbon tissue covered with light-sensitive gelatin was discovered, and was the beginning
of rotogravure. In the 1930s1960s, newspapers published relatively few photographs
and instead many newspapers published separate rotogravure sections in their Sunday
editions. These sections were devoted to photographs and identifying captions, not news
stories. Irving Berlin's song "Easter Parade" specifically refers to these sections in the
lines "the photographers will snap us, and you'll find that you're in the rotogravure". And
the song "Hooray for Hollywood" contains the line "armed with photos from local
rotos" referring to young actresses hoping to make it in the movie industry.
In 1932 a George Gallup "Survey of Reader Interest in Various Sections of Sunday
Newspapers to Determine the Relative Value of Rotogravure as an Advertising Medium"
found that these special rotogravures were the most widely read sections of the paper and
that advertisements there were three times more likely to be seen by readers than in any
other section.

Flexography is one method of printing words and images onto foil, plastic film,
corrugated board, paper, paperboard, cellophane, or even fabric. In fact, since the
flexographic process can be used to print on such a wide variety of materials, it is often
the best graphic arts reproduction process for package printing.

Flexography is the major process used to print packaging materials. Flexography is used
to print corrugated containers, folding cartons, multiwall sacks, paper sacks, plastic bags,
milk and beverage cartons, disposable cups and containers, labels, adhesive tapes,
envelopes, newspapers, and wrappers (candy and food).
Flexographic presses are capable of producing good quality impressions on many
different substrates and is the least expensive and simplest of the printing processes used
for decorating and packaging printing. The use of flexographic printing presses is on the
rise.
Gravure is capable of transferring more ink to the paper than other printing
processes, it is noted for its remarkable density range (light to shadow) and hence is a
process of choice for fine art and photography reproduction, though not typically as clean
an image as that of offset lithography. Gravure's major quality shortcoming is that all
images, including type and "solids," are actually printed as dots, and the screen pattern of
these dots is readily visible to the naked eye.
Gravure is an industrial printing process capable of consistent high quality printing.
Since the Gravure printing process requires the creation of one cylinder for each colour of
the final image, it is very expensive and best suited for high volume printing. Typical
uses include long-run magazines in excess of 1 million copies, mail order catalogs,
consumer packaging, Sunday newspaper ad inserts, wallpaper and laminates for furniture
where quality and consistency are desired. Another application area of gravure printing is
in the flexible-packaging sector. A wide range of substrates such as polyethylene,

polypropylene, polyester, BOPP, etc. can be printed in the gravure press. Gravure
printing is one of the common processes used in the converting industry.
Rotogravure presses for publication run at 45 feet (14 m) per second and more, with
paper reel widths of over 10 feet (3 m), enabling an eight-unit press to print about seven
million four-color pages per hour.
The vast majority of gravure presses print on rolls (also known as webs) of paper,
rather than sheets of paper. (Sheetfed gravure is a small, specialty market.) Rotary
gravure presses are the fastest and widest presses in operation, printing everything from
narrow labels to 12-foot-wide (3.66-meter-wide) rolls of vinyl flooring. For maximum
efficiency, gravure presses operate at high speeds producing large diameter, wide rolls.
These are then cut or slit down to the finished roll size on a slitting machine or slitter
rewinder. Additional operations may be in line with a gravure press, such as saddle
stitching facilities for magazine or brochure work .

Process Overview..2
In the typical flexo printing sequence, the substrate is fed into the press
from a roll. The image is printed as substrate is pulled through a series of stations, or
print units. Each print unit is printing a single color. As with Gravure and Lithographic
printing, the various tones and shading are achieved by overlaying the 4 basic shades of
ink. These are magenta, cyan, yellow and black. Magenta being the red tones and cyan
being the blue.
The process of printing each color on a flexo press consists of a series of four rollers:
Ink Roller
Meter Roller
Plate Cylinder
Impression Cylinder
The first roller transfers the ink from an ink pan to the meter roller or Anilox Roll, which
is the second roller. The Anilox roller meters the ink to a uniform thickness onto the plate

cylinder. The substrate then moves between the plate cylinder and the impression
cylinder, which is the fourth roller.
The impression cylinder applies pressure to the plate cylinder, thereby transferring the
image onto the substrate. The web, which by now has been printed, is fed into the
overhead dryer so the ink is dry before it goes to the next print unit.
After the substrate has been printed with all colors the web MAY be fed through an
additional overhead tunnel dryer to remove most of the residual solvents or water. The
finished product is then rewound onto a roll or is fed through the cutter.
The major unit operations in a flexographic printing operation are:

Image preparation
Platemaking
Printing
Finishing

Image preparation begins with camera-ready (mechanical) art/copy or electronically

produced art supplied by the customer. Images are captured for printing by camera,
scanner or computer. Components of the image are manually assembled and positioned in
a printing flat when a camera is used. This process is called stripping. When art/copy is
scanned or digitally captured the image is assembled by the computer with special
software. A simple proof (brown print) is prepared to check for position and accuracy.
When color is involved, a color proof is submitted to the customer for approval.
Flexographic Printing Presses
The five types of printing presses used for flexographic printing are the stack type,
central impression cylinder (CIC), in-line, newspaper unit, and dedicated 4-, 5-, or 6color unit commercial publication flexographic presses. All five types employ a plate
cylinder, a metering cylinder known as the anilox roll that applies ink to the plate, and an
ink pan. Some presses use a third roller as a fountain roller and, in some cases, a doctor
blade for improved ink distribution.
Flexographic Printing Press Types
Stack Type
The stack press is characterized by one or more stacks of printing stations arranged
vertically on either side of the press frame. Each stack has its own plate cylinder which
prints one color of a multicolor impression. All stations are driven from a common gear
train. Stack presses are easy to set up and can print both sides of the web in one pass.
They can be integrated with winders, unwinders, cutters, creasers, and coating equipment.
They are very popular for milk carton printing. A drawback of stack presses is their poor
registration; the image position on every printed sheet is not as consistent as in many
other printing processes.

Central impression cylinder (CIC)

Central impression cylinder (CIC), like the common impression rotary letterpress, use a
single impression cylinder mounted in the press frame. Two to eight color printing
stations surround the central impression cylinder. Each station consists of an ink pan,
fountain roller, anilox roll, doctor blade, and plate cylinder. As the web enters the press it
comes into contact with the impression cylinder and remains in contact until it leaves the
press. The result is precise registration which allows CIC presses to produce very good
color impressions. CIC presses are used extensively for printing flexible films.
In Line
In Line flexo printing is similar to a unit type rotary press or the stacked press except the
printing stations are arranged in a horizontal line. They are all driven by a common line
shaft and may be coupled to folders, cutters, and other postpress equipment. These
presses are used for printing bags, corrugated board, folding boxes, and similar products.
Newspaper Flexographic Presses
A newspaper flexographic press consists of multiple printing units, each unit consisting
of two printing stations arranged back-to-back in a common frame. The use of paired
stations allows both sides of the web to be printed in one pass. Multiple printing stations
are required to print the many pages that make up a typical newspaper. Single and double
color decks, stacked units, or 4-, 5-, or 6-color units are sometimes positioned above
those units where the publisher wants to provide single or multiple spot color, spot color
for both sides of the web, or process color, respectively (Buonicore).
Commercial Publication Flexographic Presses
Commercial publication flexographic presses are compact high-speed presses with wide
web capability that utilize dedicated 4-, 5-, or 6-color units. Typically, two four-color
units are paired in one press to allow printing on both sides of the web. Publication
flexographic presses generally incorporate infrared dryers to ensure drying of the
waterborne ink after each side of the web is printed (Buonicore).
Process Modification of Gravure
The degree to which vegetable oils can replace petroleum oils in inks to reduce VOCs
depends on several things, including the type of press, the type of substrate, and the type
and color of the inks. Gravure presses generally use heatset inks, which are inks that are
set by going through an oven or dryer. These inks generate the most VOCs because they
tolerate only the smallest amount of vegetable oil content. The drying temperature needed
to set vegetable oil inks will normally scorch the substrate and ruin the product.
Vegetable inks dry slower than conventional inks - especially on coated papers.
The absorbency of the substrate will determine the amount of vegetable oil content that
can be used in the ink. Absorbent papers hold the ink in the substrate so less VOCs are
released as compared to coated papers which normally need heat to dry the inks - thereby

releasing VOCs. Soy and vegetable based inks provide beneficial printing properties - but
dry slower than petroleum based inks.
Water-based inks, while environmentally friendly, pose their own special kinds of
concerns in gravure printing. As a rule, water-based inks dry slower than solvent-based
inks resulting in initial obstacles when making a switch to water-based. They are more
abrasive and cause increased cylinder wear and they require somewhat different
engraving and etching processes. Water-based inks tend to have surface adhesion and
lay-down problems that solvent-based inks do not have. Printing process adjustments are
needed to maintain the quality of finished product.
Some of the more common solvents used in solvent-based gravure printing are toluene,
xylene, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), methyl isobutyl ketone, acetone, methylene chloride,
isopropyl and normal-propyl alcohol. All pose risks that are inherent in a solvent-based
system. Alternative materials with less risk associated to their use should be considered.
-How does gravure work?
Of the four traditional printing techniques of offset lithography, flexography, screenprinting and gravure, which are practised worldwide, gravure bears the greatest
resemblance to photography. Gravure applies the ink in controlled doses from different
sizes of cell, which have been either chemically etched or electronic engraved into the
surface of the printing image carrier, a commonly copper coated cylinder. These cells can
vary in their size, shape and depth depending on the way in which individual printing
houses work. They can have the same area and vary in depth, or both the area and the
depth can vary. The smaller the volume of the printing cells, the lighter the tone, which is
reproduced by them. Concentrating on gravure means obtaining the highest picture
quality and maintaining it over a long print run. Through fast, rationalised production
methods costs can be kept, comparatively speaking, low. It is for this reason that gravure
is ideal for the production of high circulation magazines, mail order catalogues,
newspaper weekend colour supplements, and packaging and speciality products.
Gravure production steps:
-Reproduction
All colours in a printed image arise through a mixture of the basic colours yellow,
magenta, and cyan, which are present in different intensities. In order to print coloured
pictures, yellow, magenta, cyan and black printing inks have to be printed exactly in
register over each other. In order to do this, the amounts of the basic colours in the
original have to be separated. These colour separations are made today from originals
digitised in scanners or supplied from digital cameras. Each of the basic colour portions
is presented in the form of higher or lower values, representing the amounts of ink needed
in the subsequent printing operation. Any required colour corrections to these colour
separations, re-touching and the composition of complete pages including the text are
also carried out in prepress computer systems. The digital data is then supplied for the

engraving of printing formes. Alternatively, photographically produced positives,

negatives, - so-called opalines or bromides, can be still used as the input for the
engraving of the printing cylinder.
-Cylinder preparation
Gravure cylinder preparation is based on either chemical etching or electronic engraving.
For typical publication gravure, the engraving process is used. Traditionally, engraving
takes place in a copper surface for mechanical engraving. Most operations work
completely digitally while some of the older type engraving equipment
(HelioKlischographs) still uses synchronised scanning and engraving units. Mechanical
engraving uses tiny diamond stylines oscillating up to 9 000 times in one second. One
mechanical engraving machine can have a number of engraving heads, which work
simultaneously. Laser engraving reaches an engraving frequency of 70 000 cells per
second but is still limited to one engraving head. Both systems work with the utmost
precision and depending on the strength of the electronic signal, engrav cells in the
cylinder surface, which are correspondingly of larger or smaller volume. During the
printing process these cells take up and then transfer onto the paper larger or smaller
amounts of ink. In order to achieve the hardness necessary for the production printing
operation and the resilience to wear, the cylinders are finally plated with a thin chromium
layer.
-Printing and finishing
Depending on the product, different production methods are applied in gravure
pressrooms. Publication gravure uses typical press designs of eight printing units (one per
colour for each paper side) and one folder for the on-line production of a complete set of
folded pages, so-called signatures. The latest presses run at speeds higher than 55 000
cylinder revolutions per hour, printing up to 256 pages per revolution in full colour. Paper
webs up to 3,6 metres in width race at a speed of 15 metres per second through the
presses. The result is each hour 55 000 individual products are produced, which will be
either stitched and finished I a single operation or become parts of subsequent bindery
products. Bindery finishing means collecting several signatures, a combination of inserts
and covers, addressing, binding and trimming.
Presses for packaging gravure printing have to fulfil different requirements, as the variety
of products require different substrates colours and finishing processes. Presses run at
lower speeds to enable the processing of difficult materials and drying of special inks.
Packaging presses can combine in-line finishing processes including laminating, cutting,
creasing, embossing, etc.
-Gravure Process
Gravure transfers ink from small wells or cells that are engraved into the surface of the
cylinder. This is illustrated in the figure below. The cylinder rotates through a fountain of
ink. The ink is wiped from the surface by a doctor blade. The cup-like shape of each cell
holds the ink in place as the cylinder turns past the doctor blade.

The gravure engraver accomplishes the formation of nearly perfect cells or wells. The
gravure cell is characterized by 4 variables; depth, bottom, opening and bridge. The depth
of the cell is measured from the bottom of the cell to the cylinder surface.
The opening is described by shape and cross sectional area. The bridge is the surface of
the cylinder between cells. The doctor blade rides along the cell bridges or ridges (also
called walls).

Preparation of Image Carrier .3

Flexography is related to the oldest printing process, letterpress, because both
flexography and letterpress print from a raised image. In its original form, letterpress
used individual metal characters called types and a mechanical press. The type was
combined to form words and sentences and tightly arranged on the flat surface of the
press. Then the raised areas were covered with ink. The message was formed when paper
was pressed against the flat metal type.
Flexography prints from a flexible printing plate that is wrapped around a rotating
cylinder. The plate is usually made of natural or synthetic rubber or a photosensitive
plastic material called photopolymer. It is usually attached to the plate cylinder with
double-sided sticky tape.

Generally Flexography Plate are two type -

1. Rubber Plate
2. Photopolymer Plate
1. Rubber Flexography Plate Making Process - There are three basic steps in rubber
platemaking First an engraving from the negative is made by placing the negative over a lightsensitized metal sheet and exposing it to intense light in a vacuum frame.
Then the metal sheet is etched with acid in an etching machine and becomes an engraved
pattern of the negative with the images areas high and the nonimage areas low.
The second step is making a mold from the engraving by pressing the metal engraving
against a heated matrix material that hardens in the molding press. Molding pressure is
generated by hydraulic power to the bottom table, or platen, as seen here, The top platen
stays stationary.

The third and final step, making the rubber plate from the matrix, is also accomplished
with the molding press. The relief image is formed on the rubber plate by pressing the
matrix against it under sufficient heat, time, and pressure, The plate is stripped from the
mold while still warm.
2. Photo-Polymer Flexography Plate Making Process -:
Unlike the rubber plate, which must have an engraving made from a
negative, the sheet photopolymer plate, shown here on the right, is made directly from the
negative by placing the negative over a sheet of light-sensitive photopolymer and
exposing it to ultraviolet light.
There are two type to make Photopolymer Flexography Plate are given bellow
I.

With Precast Photopolymer.

II.

With Liquid Photolymer.

With Precast Photopolymer :Solar plates or Photopolymer Plate are made up of 3 layers:
A. A steel or plastic backing plate.
B. The light sensitive polymer layer that will form the impression. This is the layer that
hardens

where

it

is

exposed

to

UV

light.

C. A cover film. This protects the plate and is removed before exposure..

In these steps are used to make this plate

1. Prepare your artwork on Overhead projection film.
2. Cut the Photopolymer plate.
3. Remove the cover film from the plate surface. These cover films could contain small
amounts of polymer residue and should be discarded.
4. Place the OH transparency artwork on the plate and into the exposure frame, clamped
securely with bulldog clips. You are now ready to expose the plate, using the time
determined from the test strip exposure.
5. Wash out the plate in hand-warm water, gently scrubbing with a natural bristle brush, in a
circular motion. If you want a shallow depth wash out, like for Keum- boo, use a natural
sponge and keep checking your plate for depth. For a deep washout, keep brushing until
you can feel clean base material, any photopolymer left on the base will feel a bit
slippery. If you are using very thin lines it might be better to wash out leaving a little bit
of material on the base to reinforce the line. Thin lines have a tendency to lift off.
6. Wipe excess water off the plate with the natural sponge and dry the plate surface in front
of a fan heater set on medium, with the plate on its edge about 30cm (1') away from the
heater for about 5 minutes. The plate should feel totally dry with no stickiness.

7. Post expose the plate for the same amount of time you used for the initial exposure. This
will harden the plate all the way through. Brush a little vegetable oil over the whole plate,
this stops it from drying out and cracking. Store finished plates in a plastic bag, to
exclude moisture.

To use with metal clay: brush on vegetable oil, with very fine, or deep detail, a
smear of Badger Balm on the rolled out clay helps releasing the clay from the
plate.

For use with polymer clay: use corn flour (cornstarch) or just plain water.

With Liquid Photopolymer :Instead of using a precast sheet of photopolymer, liquid photopolymer
can be used to make a plate. The liquid photopolymer platemaking system uses a trough
of clean, slightly yellow photopolymer that flows like honey. Like the precast sheet plate,
the liquid plate is made in direct contact with the negative. A motorized carriage moves
over the negative depositing a layer of liquid along with a plastic backing sheet, Plate
thickness can be easily altered for specific jobs when using liquid photopolymer, while
precast sheets come in predetermined thicknesses.
On the left a negative is being placed over a precast sheet of photopolymer in an exposing
unit. But in both sheet and liquid photopolymer platemaking the photopolymer is exposed
through the negative by ultraviolet light, as shown on the right. The exposure causes the
polymer to harden in the image areas of the negative.
Next the exposed plate is put into a processor, which removes the unhardened polymer
from the nonimage areas, leaving the relief image areas. The plate then goes into a drying
unit for further hardening and drying.
In order to determine if the finished plate will print accurately once on press, the plate is
mounted on the printing cylinder with double-sided sticky back in a mounting and
proofing machine. Once attached to the plate cylinder, the plate is inked with a roller, and
then rolled against a piece of proofing paper that is attached to an impression cylinder.

The plate and proof are then inspected for precision. If approved, the plate is now ready
to be printed.

Gravure Cylinder Preparation

There are four basic means of engraving the image into a gravure cylinder:
Diffusion-Etch Process. Also called conventional gravure engraving, diffusion-etch is
the oldest method of gravure cylinder engraving. It uses two film positives, one of which
is a film positive of the image (solid areas, text, or continuous-tone, variable-density
image) the other being a special gravure screen, containing between 100:200 lines per
inch. The screen is used to "convert" the solid image into many tiny cells (similar to
making a halftone from a continuous-tone photograph, for example), which are small
squares oriented at a 45 angle to the direction of web travel through the press (diamonds,
basically). The positive image and the screen are placed on top of a carbon tissue, a
water-soluble paper covered with a light-sensitive gelatin resist, and consecutively
exposed to ultraviolet light. After exposure, the least exposed image areas are soft and
soluble, while the most highly exposed non-image areas are hard and insoluble, and those
mid-tone regions are slightly exposed and produce a slightly hard and insoluble emulsion.
The carbon tissue is then adhered to the surface of the gravure cylinder, and developed.
The cylinder with the developed resist is placed in an acid bath (commonly a ferric
chloride etchant), where the etchant eats through the resist and into the copper at varying
rates, depending on the hardness of the emulsion. In the highlight areasthose that have
received the most exposurethe etchant eats through very slowly, so that in a given
period of etching time the cells engraved into the copper are very shallow (and thus print
the lightest), while in the shadows and solidsareas that have received the least
exposurethe etchant eats through the resist and into the copper very quickly, so that the
engraved cells are deeper (and thus print the darkest). The mid-tone regionswhich have
had varying degrees of exposure, spending on the density of the imageallow a
moderate amount of etchant through, producing cells that are not as ldeep as shadows and
not as shallow as highlights. Non-image areas possess the thickest portions of the

emulsion and thus allow the copper surface to remain unetched. The time required for the
completion of the etching process is about half an hour.
In the diffusion-etch process, all cells are the same size, and the thickness of the
membrane between cellscalled the cell wallremains constant. The amount of light
the resist received determines the depth of the cells; highlights and light areas produce
shallow cells (which don't hold much ink) while the shadows and darker areas produce
deeper cells (which hold more ink). A variation of this etching system is called a twopositive system, which operates the same basic way, but the gravure screen is replaced by
a halftone screen made from continuous-tone illustration matter, while a standard gravure
screen is used for solids and text matter. The advantage of this system is that the halftone
screen allows the cells to vary in area, not just depth. This allows greater degrees of
sharpness and detail. Another variation is known as Hard Dot Engraving in which the
depth of each cell is the same, but the area of each cell varies, depending upon whether it
is a highlight or a solid.
Direct-Transfer Process
Also called the Single-Positive System, the direct transfer process is, like the
diffusion-etch process, a chemical etching process. The primary difference is in the
composition of the resist, which replaces the carbon tissue with high-contrast, highresolution photopolymer emulsions. The emulsion is applied (by a spray, ring coater, or
other means) directly to the copper-plated surface of the gravure cylinder itself. A single
screened positive is brought into contact with the emulsion on the cylinder and exposed
to ultraviolet light. As in the diffusion-etch process, the exposed (non-image) areas
become hard, while the unexposed (image) areas remain soft. A solvent is used to wash
away the unexposed resist, and the photopolymeric resist produces cells that print with
smoother edges than cells etched by electromechanical engraving. Etchant is applied, as
before, and engraves cells at a rate that varies according to the thickness of the resist. The
film positive is carried by clear mylar belts between the emulsion of the gravure cylinder
and a mercury-vapor lamp, which enables the engraver to expose the resist in a

circumferential fashion. The direct-transfer process is also quicker than the diffusion-etch
process, taking only about 4:10 minutes to etch a cylinder.
Despite the quickness and ease of the previous forms of chemical engraving, they have
been replaced for the most part by newer techniques, primarily by the electromechanical
process, while newer digital computer-to-laser systems are making inroads into the
gravure engraving process.

Electromechanical Engraving
Electromechanical engraving uses an electronically-controlled diamond-stylus to cut
the the cells into the surface of the gravure cylinder. The original copy is scanned into a
computer and digitized. Each scanned and digitized image is converted to halftone-like
dots, each having an electronic signal, ranging in intensity from 0:100%, depending upon
the darkness or lightness of the image. (For this reason, early-generation
electromechanical engraving devices couldn't scan in pre-screened imagessuch as
halftonesor it would create its own dots on top of the already-existing dots, producing
moir patterns.) The image is then converted back into an analog signal which then drives
the engraving head , telling it how deep to carve the cell on the cylinder. (Cell depth and
cell area are varied simultanously by using a tapered engraving head.) The computer then
controls the engraving head, which moves across and around the cylinder, engraving cells
of varying depths. The thickness of the cell walls can also be varied; at 100% depth, the
diamond-shaped cells interlock with those of the rows on either side of it, with just a tiny
cell wall. At 10%, however, the cells are much reduced in size and there is a good deal of
space between them. With computerized engraving, the angle of the cells themselves can
be altered as well, by producing elongated or compressed diamond-shaped cells as
necessary. Electromechanical engraving devices take much longer than chemical
processes; on a 40-inch wide cylinder with a 30-inch circumference, there are over 25
million cells. At an average speed of 3,200 cells per second, it takes nearly 2H hours to
engrave a single cylinder.

Electromechanical engraving is also referred to as EME.

Laser-Cutting Process
The most recent development in gravure engraving is the use of computer-directed
lasers, which, like the electromechanical method, cut cells of varying depths and sizes.
The original is scanned into a computer, the various image densities are determined, and
lasers etch the cylinder. Due to the high light reflectance of copper, however, it is not
particularly useful for laser etching. Consequently, other materials such as special alloys
or plastics can be used to coat the cylinder. The real advantage of the laser processes is
the speed; at 30,000 cells per second, the 40-inch wide, 30-inch circumference cylinder
mentioned above would only take about 13 minutes.

Regardless of the system used (chemical engraving still has its adherents, but the
increasing tendency toward computer-generated originals is making direct computer-tocylinder processes more and more popular), after engraving the cylinder is electroplated
with a layer of chrome, to offer protection against the abrasive action of the doctor blade.

Direct Drive Technology ...........4 (Improving

Throughput)

Flexo Printing Quality and

Geared Presses
Motor

Gearless

Direct-Drive

Presses

Presses

Servo Motor

Direct-Drive
Rotary Motor

Precision Gears

Gearboxes

Lubrication

Mounting

System

brackets for gear

motors

Oil Bath

Shaft couplings

Filter
Pump
Sealed housing
Shaft
Bearing
Frame members
and supports
Mounting
hardware
Flexographic printing technology has become increasingly able to maintain print quality
and reduce startup time and waste. Most operators concern themselves with registration
and color accuracy and consistencyas they should. But many dont realize the
importance that accurate synchronization of the anilox roller and plate cylinder used in
each print deck module plays on print quality. Traditionally, this has been accomplished
either by gearing the anilox roller and plate cylinder together and driving both with a
single AC induction motor or by using separate servo motors to drive each axis through
gearboxes. As press speed and printing quality requirements have increased, the

inevitable inaccuracies in the gearing system have become a limiting factor on press print
quality and speed.
Advancements make it possible to synchronize the anilox roller and plate cylinder to a
much higher level of precision without mechanical transmissions by using closed loop
control technology and driving both directly with independent, direct-drive rotary (DDR)
servo motors. The elimination of the mechanical transmission enables servo loop gain to
be increased, and therefore, bandwidth of the servo loop. Speed control and phasing
between the anilox and plate cylinder can now be closely controlled in the absence of the
gear backlash, thus providing for higher speeds and accuracies for improved print quality.
Throughput is also increased because the higher control loop gain enables faster machine
operation. This article will examine the trend toward DDR systems in flexo presses and
consider alternative implementation methods.
IMPORTANCE OF SYNCHRONIZING
In the flexo printing process, the anilox roller contacts the plate cylinder that carries the
plate with a dot pattern that forms the printed image. The dots on the plate act as suction
cups and lift the ink out off the anilox roller. Providing constant ink coverage is
obviously critical to printing quality and this depends on maintaining consistent motion
between the surfaces of the anilox roller and plate cylinder. Whenever the print cylinder
moves faster than the anilox roller, less ink is transferred to the print cylinder, resulting in
a light section in the printed piece. Whenever the anilox roller moves faster than the print
cylinder, more than the normal amount of ink is transferred, resulting in a dark section.
The traditional approach to synchronizing the anilox roller and plate cylinders is to use
a bull gear attached to the central impression drum to drive them both as shown in Figure
1. The problem with this approach is that backlash is inevitable in any mechanical
transmission system. Even when a geared system is tuned very tightly, within a short
period of time the gears will wear and backlash will begin to occur. Backlash causes the
roller and cylinder to rapidly accelerate and decelerate as the gear teeth bounce back and

forth against each other. The result sometimes is the appearance of alternating light and
dark horizontal lines on the printed product.
Gearless printing presses (Figure 2) refer to those machines that eliminated gearing
together off all of the axes running from a single motor. Instead, each anilox, plate, and
impression cylinder has an independent servo applied. However, a gearbox is installed
between the load and the feedback device, which adds inaccuracies. The result is that
positioning accuracy in a gearless system typically is between +/- 1 arc minute and +/10 arc minutes. The acceleration and decelerations in a geared system are also limited by
the gear-train backlash. Increasing acceleration past the safe level will lead to instability
or gear damage. Some printing companies address these problems by frequently adjusting
the antibacklash control system on the press, sometimes as often as weekly. This can
result in a substantial amount of downtime without solving the underlying problem.
ELIMINATING THE MECHANICAL TRANSMISSION

Advancements in control and motor technology over the past decade now make it
possible for the motion of the anilox and plate cylinders to be electronically synchronized
by a closed loop control system to a much higher level of accuracy by eliminating the
mechanical transmission system and creating a totally directdrive configuration (Figure
3). The basic idea is that the anilox roller and plate cylinder are each driven
independently by separate, direct-drive servo motors.
A feedback device such as a high resolution sine encoder provides the servo motors with
far more accurate position and velocity information that the controller compares to its
programmed motion profile and based on this signal sends velocity command signals to
the amplifier that drives the servo motor. A motion profile defines the operation of each
servo motor in terms of time position and velocity. In practice, the anilox roller and plate
cylinder are synchronized in both speed and phase, ensuring that every point around the
surface of the anilox roller is synchronized with the plate cylinder. The latest generation
of servo motor controllers provides resolution feedback up to 27 bits, with 64-bit
positioning resolution, and 125msec position loops, 62.5msec velocity loops and

0.670msec current control loops. So DDR systems can deliver much greater accuracy
than the best mechanical transmission systems even immediately after adjustment of the
antibacklash control system. As a general rule, DDR systems offer accuracy of about +/25 arc seconds systemaccuracy, which can be up to 20 times higher accuracy than
conventional geared servo systems. The result is substantial improvements in print
quality.
IMPROVING THROUGHPUT

When the load is directly coupled, the settling time is no longer limited by the
transmission, so the servo loop gain can be increased. This provides the necessary servo
stiffness to achieve excellent speed regulation and phase control between the anilox,
plate, and central impression cylinders. Press speeds using direct-drive technology can be
increased in many applications because the accuracy of the mechanical transmission
system is often the limiting factor. Switching to direct-drive further improves press
throughput by reducing setup and maintenance time.

A typical flexo press servo system equipped with gearboxes requires periodic tuning
adjustments of the antibacklash control system to compensate for gear wear. DDR
systems, on the other hand, since they are directly coupled to the load, require no periodic
tuning. There is complete elimination of backlash and the need for antibacklash controls.
Years later, the tuning settings are typically the same as the day the machine was
installed. With a direct-drive press, the parts count on a typical Bill of Material (BOM) is
reduced by up to 10 parts per color print deck. This mechanical simplification translates
into faster assembly, less maintenance, and less overhead to purchase parts. Table 1
shows a comparison of a typical geared solution with a direct-drive system. When
considering a 10-color press, more than 100 parts can typically be removed from the
BOM. When the anilox roller and plate cylinder are driven by a single motor via a gear
system, it is difficult to separate the two axes for maintenance and exchange of printing

sleeves or plates. In a direct-drive configuration, the anilox, plate, and CI drum can be
moved independently of each other for easy maintenance, cleaning, and change of plate
blankets. This can also be viewed as a safety improvement since the rolls can be
controlled independently.
Finally, the direct-drive method also eliminates the need for alignment, lubrication and
eventual replacement of the mechanical transmission system.
SMALLER MOTORS

Since the direct-drive motor is directly connected to the machine, inertia-matching is not
required as it is on a conventional servo motor with gears. Stepper motors are typically
sized to match the load in order to have enough torque to overcome disturbances when
torque is low, which occurs as a result of nonlinearity caused by the torque roll-off or
resonance at certain frequencies. However, closed-loop servo motors with controlled
commutation are not prone to the same de-synchronization issues and torque losses. The
servo system also maintains a linear and predictable speed torque curve without the need
for special commutation sequences or anti-resonance control.
For these reasons, DDR motor size can be based on the peak torque required for
achieving the desired acceleration time specifications. With direct drives, inertia
mismatch of 250 to 1 is common and mismatch of 800 to 1 has been implemented. In
many flexo presses, the size of the motor is dictated by the inertial matching
requirements. The result is that a much smaller and more energy-efficient DDR motor
can be used in most applications.
Today, many machine specifications, even in the industrial environment, list the
maximum allowable audible noise levels.The audible noise level of a direct-drive system
can be as much as 20dB lower than a geared system, as transmission components
generate considerable noise levels. So, installing a direct-drive system can help achieve
the required audiblenoise specifications.
DDR ALTERNATIVES

Direct-drive rotary technology has developed in an evolutionary manner. The original

frameless direct-drive motors were designed into the machine architecture along with a
feedback device and became a fully integrated part of the machine. This approach has the
advantage of consuming the least amount of space. On the other hand, frameless motors
are relatively expensive to fully integrate as they typically require substantial changes to
the design of the underlying machine. Frameless motors are also more difficult to service
because they are embedded into the machine. While the initial development cost burden
is high, the benefits of higher performance, higher quality, and small space requirements
justify this technology in some applications.
The next generation of DDR technology, sometimes referred to as full-frame systems,
integrates all of the components of a complete motor including the rotor, stator, bearings
and feedback device within a housing. The machine shaft slips through the bore in the
motor and attaches to the rotor. This approach substantially reduces development costs
since the motor no longer needs to be integrated with the printing press. The disadvantage
of this approach is that the motors and the machines bearings must be precisely aligned,
which is a complex and time-consuming task. The bearings in the motor and the load are
directly coupled in a linear fashion making it nearly impossible to align the system
components properly without causing premature bearing failure due to loading. The most
recent approach to DDR systems, the cartridge DDR servo motor, is fully housed and
ready for mounting to the machine. However it has no bearings and uses the host machine
to support the motors rotor. This approach makes it easy to use direct-drive technology
on machinery that already has bearings, particularly in applications such as printing
where rollers already use heavy-duty, precision bearings. The motor has a hole in the
middle which slips over the shaft of the anilox roller, plate cylinder, or central impression
roll and the motor housing bolts to the machine frame.
Installation typically takes less than five minutes. The motor slides over the shaft until a
motor pilot engages a machine pilot. The housing is secured with bolts. The motor rotor
is then secured to the machine roller shaft by means of a compression coupling tightened

to a specified torque. The rotor is now rigidly connected to the machine shaft. The
encoder alignment is pre-set so that no adjustments need to be made. Cables are
connected and the motor is ready to run.
A servo system equipped with a cartridge motor is expected to work for 10 years without
any maintenance. Although the initial system cost might be higher compared to a
conventional geared system, over a period of several years, eliminating the cost of repairs
and periodic maintenance makes the overall cost of purchasing and operating a cartridge
system lower. Even with the slightly higher initial cost, over a five-year period, cartridge
motors can reduce operating costs up to $10,000 per motion axis compared to
conventional geared servo systems.
Its no secret why direct-drive technology is being increasingly used in new printing
press designs. For printers, the higher quality and throughput associated with DDR
systems translate into higher profitability. For manufacturers of printing presses, directdrive technology offers a substantial competitive advantage as well as easy integration
with current and new machine designs .

Flexo vs
Gravure..5
Rapid growth of flexo printing in packaging and suggested that gravure printing had
been out-marketed in North America by a very determined flexo community, which continues to
gain share. Gravure printing today has many technical advantages for the packaging market that
sometimes are overlooked. In addition there have been enough gravure improvements to warrant
a reassessment of some of the old paradigms of cost, setup time, and run length.
TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF GRAVURE

This is a very simple process with only a single impression to be set, so there are few inherent
variables making for high quality print within the run and from run to run. Line and process can
be combined on a single deck with the possibility of running fewer total color stations on the job.

It is possible to carry very heavy ink films in gravure and maintain print resolution. With a
commonly used solid cylinder, about 9 wet lb/ream can be delivered. This is about three times
the flexo rate. If you compare the two ink delivery systems, there are two ink film splits in flexo
and only one in gravure. The advantage of this is that gravure is capable of producing unmatched
white ink opacity, vivid metallics and fluorescents, and many other specialty effects and
functional coatings not achievable in flexo. The gravure inking station allows use of very strong
solvent mixtures that often are high in acetate content, which, in turn, allows for more
possibilities in ink formulations. The high line resolution of gravure is a plus for small packages
when ingredient labeling type is challenging for flexo.
MANUFACTURING ASPECTS OF GRAVURE

Many times comparisons are made between state-of-the-art flexo presses and old clunker gravure
equipment. The current situation is that new flexo and gravure presses are about equivalent for
features, amenities, and also for cost. All of the advanced robotic controls and features for flexo
are available for gravure, so the playing field is now level. This requires that the traditional chart
for gravure break-even analysis (see figure) be revisited. Opinions are numerous, but data is rare.
One analysis1 available online makes a good case for gravure economics and is backed with data.
The essence of the argument goes like this: The prepress cost of gravure should be spread over
repeat runs when the durability of the cylinder comes into effect and run length is less relevant.
The cost of producing gravure cylinders is not proportional to the design complexity but is fixed
and based on unit area of engraving. With flexo, the cost of plates increases with complexity of
design.
Manufacturing improvements continue for gravure and include laser engraving of cylinders.
Lightweight sleeves are available now and allow for easy handling, storage, and shipping.
MARKETING OF GRAVURE

The Gravure Assn. of America and Packaging & Label Gravure Assn. Global are good forums
for initiatives to promote gravure printing in packaging. If the history of flexo packaging growth
is an example, it will take initiative and dedication from the supplier community to clearly define
and optimize the steps in the total gravure workflow and communicate this process with print
buyers.
There are indications that gravure as a process is beginning to take this initiative. We should see
some interesting developments and an increased level of competition as these two processes
battle over their share of the market.
Benefits of gravure, unavailable with other methods

Due to the precise ability of the gravure cell to lay down a specific amount of ink, gravure is
able to print the widest variety of inks, UV, water based, solvent, metallics, flourescents - from
the lightest continuous vignette to heavy laydowns resembling screen printing
Flexographic and Gravure Printing
Flexography

Flexography, also known as aniline printing, is a form of relief printing; the image is slightly
raised, inked and then transferred directly to the subtrate. This printing method utilizes a flexible
plate, usually made from soft rubber or plastic and a quick-drying ink. This system can be well
suited for a wide variety of materials including acetate film, polyethylene, brown paper and
newsprint. It is a high-speed process used for extra large print runs.
Gravure/Rotogravure
Gravure is the opposite of flexography; the printing area is actually etched into the surface of a
plate or metal cylinder. The etched out sections are "filled" with ink, the excess ink in the nonimage area is removed with a thin stainless steel blade (doctor blade). The size and depth of the
etched out areas determine how much ink is deposited on the substrate. Web fed and high-speed
decorating systems are better known as rotogravure. This is a high-speed process used for large
print runs.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Flexography was the standard years ago but its place in the decorating market is not as profound
as it was. It is more suited to printing paper bags and plastic labels and films. It is a high speed
process using quick drying inks. Gravure, also a high speed process, produces high quality
images and is just the thing for large jobs. These two processes have their place in the industry
but have their limitations. Of course, the major drawback would be the set-up costs. Flexo is not
nearly as expensive as gravure but the cost for shorter runs would be far too expensive. Gravure
printing utilizes an etched cylinder. This printing cylinder can cost thousands of dollars. For a
gravure run to be cost effective, a run in the millions would be required. Si-Cal offers an
alternatve to these processes that may be just the process for your decorating project.

Computer to Gravure and Computer to Flexo

OFFSET PRINTING is the dominant form of printing for most types of products and for the
most common run lengthsin spite of offsets well-known liabilities. For example, it requires
more craft knowledge and training on the pressmans part than gravure or flexography; the press
itself is more complicated than presses for alternative printing technologies; and water-based
inks cannot be used.
But offset, with its flat-surface, light-sensitive plates, is the ideal companion to photographic
prepress processes. Producing flexo plates and gravure cylinders from film is fraught with time
and quality limitations. As long as film dominates prepress, offset will dominate printing.
Completely digital prepress changes the equation, however. With the advent of highly
automated, computer-controlled cylinder engraving and flexo plate making, most of the prepress
advantages of offset disappear (or are at least greatly reduced). Flexo printing can now begin to
compete in quality for many offset jobs, and gravure (which has always offered high-quality
colour reproduction) can begin to compete for shorter run lengths. Both technologies are likely to
take work away gradually from offset. At Drupa, there were a number of new developments that
emphasized this trend.
A Few Facts:

Most of the large pressure sensitive label producers employ gravure as their premium process.

Gravure was the first process to become all digital.

Almost every gravure printer in Northeastern United States uses waterborne inks.

While flexo and rotary letterpress pre-press costs have risen dramatically over the last decade,
gravure pre-press has seen only a modest increase.
In many situations, gravure printing does compete favourably with flexo production costs.

Flexographys Strengths
Less expensive process
Versatility in substrates
Flexibility due to exchangeability of parts of the print design
Easy and simple plate making
Good sharpness of bar codes, type and linework

 Best revolution-to-revolution registration even with thinnest

substrates due to CI presses.
Flexographys Weaknesses
Increasing cost due to growing quality demands in Anilox rollers,
printing inks, printing forms, tapes, etc.
Limitations in Packaging Design
Sporadic limitations in print quality due to:
Squeezed ink
Lack of coverage in solids
High dot gain
Insufficient uniformity of print production
Gravures Strengths
Simple schematic of printing presses
Any (odd) repeat length
Typically very good print quality in images

Gravures Weaknesses
plate making is demanding due to:
treatment of metals
handling of massive metal cylinders
limitations in imaging systems, etc.
Lack of flexibility due to long delivery times and missing
exchangeability of design elements
Uniformity and repeatability quite demanding (larger impact of

substrate surface characteristics than in Flexo)

Limited sharpness of type and linework
Registration concerns with flexible substrates (revolution-torevolution)

Characteristic of Flexo & Gravure

Flexo
1-

Gravure

Solids and process may need to be Ability to print solids, type and
separated

process on the same print station

2- Limitations in reverse and fine type work Ability to print fine type and line work
(improvements due to C to P and DD (further improved via laser technology)
technology)

down to 1 point text.

3- Can print up to 150 lpi

Can print process work up to 250 lpi

4- Closed solids need correct

Can produce rich colors in solids and

combination of plate, tape and ink

5-

achieves excellent brilliancy

Due to plate elasticity and to lerances, Excellent

reproducibility,

largely

reproducibility is largely dependent on independent of operator skill

prepress conditions and operator skill.

Market Share Interpretations.6

 Flexo drastically outnumbers Gravure in North America and South America. Gravure
is the underdog, hence the aforementioned aggressive statements.
In Asia, Gravure is almost unrivalled in its market share and standing. However, that
has been sponsored in the past by environmental legislation being less harsh than in EU
and the
Americas which enabled less expensive, but more hazardous plate making techniques
(etching) to be used.
In Europe, Flexo enjoys the largest market share, but is being challenged by Gravure
constantly.

Relevance of printing and packaging

sector...........................
..7
The printing and packaging industries in India have assumed growing significance
during the last decade. The printing industry is one of the biggest and fastest growing
industries in India. More than 1,20,000 printing presses are in operation all over the

country, with a capital investment of over Rs. 80,000 million. This industry provides
direct employment to over 6,00,000 people and indirect employment to another 2,00,000.
It is natural that along-side the growth of literacy, there is a commensurate rise in demand
for various inputs for the printing industry.
Packaging has become a dynamic and key area for manufacturers and trading
companies all over the country. The elements of aesthetics, hygiene and costeffectiveness on packaging receiving greater importance in commercial operations. The
exterior look and presentability of marketable goods leave a lasting impression on the
minds of

consumers and in the context, packaging occupies centre-stage. New

packaging machines and technologies have been introduced in the country to meet the
challenges. Today, the Indian packaging industry is growing at a rate of 15 per cent per
annum.

Environmental Protection......8
Gravure is an environmentally friendly printing process. Special care is
taken to ensure the application of the most ecological production methods for the
printing process, as well as for the production of materials. Currently, publication
gravure printers and suppliers are active in the following areas:
-Increasing use of papers with higher recycled fibre content
-Use of chlorine free bleached paper
-Use of highly effective solvent recovery installations
-Application of latest methods to save paper, ink and energy

-Further reduction of residual ink solvent content in publication gravure products

-Processing of gravure inks with even more environmental friendly formulations