Process for the preparation of ink jet process printing plate

Abstract

The present invention provides a process for the preparation of a hot-melt ink jet process printing plate capable of printing many sheets of printed matters having a sharp image quality free of background stain. The present invention concerns a novel process for the preparation of an ink jet process lithographic printing plate which comprises preparing a direct imaging lithographic printing plate precursor comprising a water-resistant support having an image-receiving layer containing an inorganic pigment and a hydrophilic binder resin as main components provided thereon, and then jetting through a nozzle ink droplets obtained by heating and melting a solid ink composition at ordinary temperatures onto the image-receiving layer to form an image thereon by a hot-melt ink jet process, characterized in that the image-receiving layer comprises as the inorganic pigments a particulate silica having an average grain diameter of from 1 to 6 .mu.m and an ultrafinely particulate colloidal inorganic pigment having an average grain diameter of from 10 to 50 nm in a weight ratio of 40:60 to 70:30 and as the hydrophilic binder resin gelatin in a weight ratio of 85:15 to 40:60 relative to that of the inorganic pigments and thus exhibits water resistance attained by the curing action of a gelatin-curing compound.