Fuji Photo Film Company, Limited

Fujifilm Corporation

Fuji Photo Co., Ltd.

Hiroshi Tashiro

Eiichi Kato

Sumiaki Yamasaki

Koichi Kawamura

Seishi Kasai

Takao Nakayama

Tadahiro Sorori

Kazuo Maemoto

Akio Oda

Shigeyuki Dan

Kiyotaka Fukino

Hideyuki Hattori

Kazuo Ishii

Satoshi Hoshi

Atsushi Sugasaki

Seiichiro Morikawa

Yusuke Namba

Ryosuke Itakura

Hisao Yamamoto

Ryousuke Itakura

An aqueous developer for a flexographic printing plate capable of maintaining good printing reproducibility and suppressing the adhesion and aggregation of the dispersion in the developer during repeated use, and a method of manufacturing a flexographic printing plate using the same, are provided. The aqueous developer for a flexographic printing plate is an aqueous developer for a flexographic printing plate containing a surfactant having a molecular weight of 1000 or more, and water.

Method of manufacturing flexographic printing plate

Provided is a flexo printing plate which makes it possible to perform printing in which the discontinuity of density is not visually recognized by inhibiting the enlargement of halftone dots in the boundary between an image portion having a low halftone dot area ratio and a non-image portion. The flexo printing plate adopts a constitution in which, within the highlight halftone dot portion having a halftone dot area ratio of higher than 0% and equal to or lower than 10%, among the small dots constituting the highlight halftone dot portion, at least one small dot adjacent to the non-image portion that continues 10 mm or further in a direction separating from the edge of the highlight halftone dot portion has a height smaller than the average height of the small dots of the highlight halftone dot portion.

Flexo printing plate

Provided is a flexo printing plate which makes it possible to perform printing in which the discontinuity of density is not visually recognized by inhibiting the enlargement of halftone dots in the boundary between an image area having a low halftone dot rate and a non-image area. The flexo printing plate has a constitution in which the image area has a highlight halftone dot area having a halftone dot rate higher than 0% and equal to or lower than 10%, and within the highlight halftone dot area, among small dots constituting the highlight halftone dot area, at least one of the small dots adjacent to the non-image area that continues 10 mm or further from the edge of the highlight halftone dot area in a direction orthogonal to the edge has a distal end diameter smaller than the average of distal end diameters of the small dots in the highlight halftone dot area.

The invention provides a method of manufacturing a relief printing plate having at least engraving an area which is in a relief forming layer of a relief printing plate precursor for laser engraving and is to be exposed by scanning exposure using a fiber-coupled semiconductor laser which emits laser beam with a wavelength of 700 nm to 1,300 nm. The relief printing plate precursor has at least a relief forming layer provided over a support, and the relief forming layer contains at least a binder polymer and a photo-thermal conversion agent. The invention further provides a relief printing plate precursor for laser engraving which can be used in the method of manufacturing a relief printing plate.

Method of manufacturing relief printing plate and printing plate precursor for laser engraving

A planographic printing plate precursor comprises a support and two or more positive recording layers which are formed on the support, contain a resin and an infrared absorbing agent and exhibit an increase in solubility in an aqueous alkali solution by exposure to infrared laser light, wherein the positive recording layer closest to the support among these two or more positive recording layers contains at least two types of resins among which at least one type forms a dispersion phase. It is preferable that the dispersion phase be formed of (1) a high-polymer compound incompatible with a high-polymer matrix or (2) a granular polymer selected from a microcapsule and a latex, and contains an infrared absorbing agent and an acid generator.

Planographic printing plate precursor

The planographic printing plate precursor of the present invention comprises a support, and a hydrophilic layer disposed on the support and having a hydrophilic graft chain and a crosslinked structure formed by hydrolyzing or polycondensing an alkoxide of an element selected from Si, Ti, Zr and Al, wherein the hydrophilic layer comprises a photothermal conversion agent (A) and a compound (B) capable of forming a hydrophobic surface area by being heated or irradiated with radiation, and the photothermal conversion compound (A) is not included in the compound (B). This planographic printing plate precursor can be set, without being developed, onto a printer after images are formed, so as to perform printing. In addition, the precursor has remarkably improved printing stain resistance and printing resistance.

A lithographic printing plate precursor of the present invention comprises a water-resistant support, a hydrophilic layer and an image-forming layer, in this order, said hydrophilic layer comprising a fine particulate hydrophobicizing precursor and a hydrophilic binder polymer, and said image forming layer comprising a light-heat converting substance and a microcapsule encapsulating a hydrophobic substance, wherein the hydrophilic binder polymer is a composite material of a hydrophilic organic polymer and a polymer having a group including: at least one atom selected from a metal atom and semimetal atom; and an oxygen atom connecting with the at least one atom selected from a metal atom and semimetal atom.

Lithographic printing plate precursor

A direct drawing type lithographic printing plate precursor comprising a water-resistant support having provided thereon, an image-receiving layer comprising inorganic particles and a binder resin. The combination of an inorganic particles is made up of at least one kind of metal sulfide particle having an average particle size of sum 0.01 to 5 &mgr;m and at least one kind of particle which may be a metal oxide particle having an average particle size of sum 0.01 to 5 &mgr;m or a metal oxide hydrate having an average particle size of 0.01 to 5 &mgr;m. The binder resin is a complex composed of a resin containing a siloxane bond.

Direct drawing type lithographic printing plate precursor

A heat-sensitive lithographic printing plate in which the occurrence of stains in printing can be prevented without increasing the exposure of a laser, comprising a support having provided thereon a hydrophilic layer having a crosslinked structure, and a layer containing a polymer having on a side chain a group in which the solubility in water can be changed by heat, the layer being provided on the hydrophilic layer.

Heat-sensitive lithographic printing plate

A direct drawing type lithographic printing plate precursor comprising a water-resistant support having provided thereon an image-receiving layer, the image-receiving layer containing: at least one metal oxide hydrate having an average particle size of from 0.01 to 5 pm and comprising a metal atom selected from Mg, Al, Zn, Ge, Ti, Co, Zr, Sn, Fe, Cu, Ni, Pb, Pd, Cd, Mo, Cr, Ga, Mn, V, Ce and La; and a binder resin containing a complex comprising: a resin containing a siloxane bond in which a silicon atom is connected with an oxygen atom; and an organic polymer containing a group capable of forming a hydrogen bond with the resin containing a siloxane bond.

A direct drawing type lithographic printing plate precursor comprising a water-resistant support having provided thereon an image-receiving layer comprising inorganic particles and a binder resin, wherein the inorganic particles comprise at least one kind of particles selected from: (i) metal oxide particles having an average particle size of from 0.01 to 5 &mgr;m and comprising a metal atom selected from Mg, Ba, Ge, Sn, Zn, Pb, La, Zr, V, Cr, Mo, W, Mn, Co, Ni and Cu; and (ii) double oxide particles having an average particle size of from 0.01 to 5 &mgr;m and comprising at least one metal atom selected from Mg, Al, Si, Ti, Zr, Cr, V, Mo, Sn, W and Nb, and wherein the binder resin comprises a complex comprising: a resin containing a bond in which a metal atom is connected with an oxygen atom; and an organic polymer containing a group capable of forming a hydrogen bond with the resin and at least one polar functional group selected from a carboxy group, a sulfo group and a phosphono group.

A direct drawing lithographic printing plate precursor, which includes a water-resisting support having provided thereon an image-receiving layer, an image being formed on the image-receiving layer with an oil-based ink by an electrostatic ink jet system, wherein the water-resisting support has at least a resin coating layer on the side opposite to the side on which the image-receiving layer is provided, wherein the resin coating layer includes a mixture containing from 10 to 90 wt % of a low density polyethylene having a density of from 0.915 to 0.930 g/ml and a melt index of from 1.0 to 30.0 g/10 min., wherein the surface of the resin coating layer has a Bekk's smoothness of from 5 to 2,000 sec/10 ml, and wherein the water-resisting support has a conductive layer having a specific electric resistance value of 10 &OHgr; cm or less on the image-receiving layer side surface thereof and on at least one end face thereof. Also disclosed is a method for preparing a direct drawing lithographic printing plate using the printing plate precursor.

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Shizuoka, Japan

Hiroshi Tashiro