Gravure printing uses printing pressure to transfer ink from the printing plate to the surface of the substrate to form a clear picture and text.
1. The structure of printing press is simple.
In modern gravure press, the embossing form is circular embossing. The printing device is mainly composed of the plate drum and the embossing drum. The two drums work together to complete the embossing process. Therefore, the gravure press printing method belongs to the direct printing method. Ink conveying device adopts the structure of ink dipping or inkjet. It does not need ink conveying roller, ink leveling system and inking device, nor does it need the embossing mechanism.
Gravure printing directly engraves or corrodes pictures and texts on the plate drum, without plate loading, which is more convenient to operate.
2. Fast printing speed
In modern gravure press, there is no vacancy on the printing cylinder and the embossing cylinder, and the machine runs smoothly. Most of the machines are controlled by computer automatically, and the printing speed can reach more than 40 000 r/h.
3. High stamp resistance of plate
Gravure printing cylinder picture and text part is copper, deep, blank part of the surface chrome plated, high hardness, wear-resistant, generally can print more than 2 million times, some can be as high as 3 million times. Therefore, the larger the printing number, the more suitable for gravure printing.
4. Thick and bright ink layer
Gravure printing has a large amount of ink stored in the intaglio plate. The ink layer obtained after embossing is thicker and thicker than screen printing. It is much higher than lithographic and relief printing. It has rich layers and bright ink color. It is suitable for continuous tone printing. It is one of the higher quality printing methods.
5. Wide range of applications
By choosing different ink, it can be printed on paper, plastic film, textiles, aluminium foil, cellophane and other materials. Gravure printing machine can be combined with offset printing, flexo printing, silk printing, hot stamping, gravure printing, slitting and other processes to form an online production line with high degree of automation.
6. Complex plate-making process
Generally, gravure plate-making process is more complex and requires higher requirements. It needs to be carried out in a professional plate-making plant. It has a long cycle and high cost. It is not suitable for short-plate printing. The volatilization of solvent in corrosive solution, chromium plating waste solution and ink will pollute the environment.
