Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Optimizing flexographic printability can involve the ink and the substrate, as well as the printing process. It has been widely reported in the literature that controlling topography of the substrate and its porosity are vital for good flexographic printability, especially when using water-based inks. This study focuses on how pre-damping a surface impacts liquid absorption and improves wet trapping (ink on ink with no intermediate drying) in flexographic printing. A Prüfbau universal print tester was adapted to analyze flexographic wet-on-wet ink printing and trapping using yellow and magenta inks for contrast. Slow drying of the first ink layer (yellow) leads to mottle when the second layer (magenta) is applied. The study explores the “wet sponge” hypothesis: a pre-damped surface should absorb liquid faster. The Lucas- Washburn equation describes long-term absorption, but it does not capture short-term uptake, which instead follows a linear dependence on time.
Source: TAPPI Journal
DOI: 10.32964/tj24.11.563
Authors: Janet Preston, Eli Gaskin, Martti Toivakka
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanics of Materials
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7111010878
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