Radiation responsive relief imageable plastic laminate

Abstract

A relief producing laminate having an over-lamina comprised of an unsaturated natural-like rubber composition characterized by relief differentiation in response to patterned radiation exposure and an under-lamina comprised of a resilient composition and adhered to the over-lamina. The term 'natural-like rubber' as used herein includes both natural and synthetic rubbers which exhibit creep as a result of stress relaxation after being cast or formed. The over-lamina is preferably a butadiene homopolymer or copolymer resin composition, more preferably a halogenated butadiene composition and most preferably a neoprene composition. The composition preferably includes a thiol, a monomer and a photoinitiator. The under-lamina composition may be a woven textile or a polymer and is preferably a monoalkenyl aromatic-diene block copolymer resin composition. It is preferably radiation cured and preferably includes a monomer and a photoinitiator. The under-lamina preferably comprises at least three juxtaposed layers, each layer being less highly cured than the juxtaposed under-layer and the over-lamina preferably comprises at least three juxtaposed layers with at least the layer closest to the under-lamina being more highly cured than the over-layers. The invention also includes the stabilized plastic printing plate produced from the laminate and the method of radiation curing the laminate to produce the printing plate.