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Huayu Automation - Analyze the Difference and Characteristics of Silk Screen and Pad Printing
Four printing methods: stencil printing, offset printing, letterpress printing, and intaglio printing.
Silk screen printing: through screen printing (the picture is on the screen), pad printing: through the rubber head transfer (the picture is on the rubber head), the curved surface can be printed.
Generally speaking, silk screen printing is better, and pad printing should be faster.
Pad printing belongs to one of the special printing methods and belongs to a kind of silk printing. Choose a steel (perhaps copper, thermoplastic) intaglio plate, use a curved pad printing head made of silicone rubber material, dip the ink on the intaglio plate onto the surface of the pad printing head, and then press it to the desired target surface to print text, pictures, etc. Pad printing can print curved surfaces, of course, it can also print flat surfaces, and what we generally call screen printing refers to flat screen printing. Pad printing is to corrode the picture on the steel plate, and then transfer it to the substrate through the rubber head. The advantages of pad printing, suitable for large and small products, and a variety of odd-shaped products, defects, no hand feeling, and thin ink layer.
Screen printing belongs to stencil printing. The printing plate is in the form of a mesh, with through holes and non-through holes formed on the layout. During printing, the ink is printed on the substrate from the through holes of the layout under the squeeze of the squeegee. Screen printing is to stretch silk fabric, synthetic fiber fabric or metal screen on the screen frame, and select the method of crafting paint film or photochemical plate making to make the screen printing plate. Modern screen printing technology uses photosensitive materials through photoengraving to make screen printing plates (make the screen holes of the graphic part of the screen printing plate through holes, and the screen holes of the non-graphic part are blocked). The silk screen is printed on the substrate through the screen printing. The advantages of the screen printing are hand-feel, and it can be printed on a large flat surface. The defects are not suitable for special-shaped products. The ink layer of the screen printing process is relatively thick.
The two processes have their own merits. Pad printing is the transfer and printing of pictures and texts on the steel gravure (or photosensitive rubber gravure) onto the substrate by a pad printing head made of silicone rubber, which can be used for printing on flat surfaces or various molded objects. Its main feature is that it can print irregularly shaped uneven surfaces. It is difficult or impossible to use other methods for these printing, but it can be easily completed by using pad printing, and multi-color delicate printing can be completed. For the appearance printing of instruments, equipment and some small products, right and wrong printing methods are often ideal.
Pad printing has many similarities with screen printing. For example, it has a wide range of substrates and a wide variety of inks. Pad printing inks and screen printing inks can basically be used; different products can be easily completed by replacing fixtures and printing plates. Therefore, in many printing occasions, pad printing and screen printing are as intimate as a pair of twin sisters, playing an important role in special printing technology together. Because of this, many printing experts put pad printing into the category of screen printing without subdividing specialized pad printing technology and research institutions.
However, there are still certain differences in the characteristics and habits of pad printing and screen printing. First of all, from the perspective of the ink handling process, pad printing and screen printing have obvious differences; the structure of pad printers and screen printers are also different; the product varieties of pad printing technology are very different from the screen printing industry. From an objective point of view, the difference between pad printing and screen printing is far greater than the similarities between them, and the reason why they are used to be tied together is the greater reason that pad printing and screen printing face the same in this same mall, screen printing is inseparable from pad printing. It is difficult to separate pad printing from the screen printing profession, and it is not necessary. However, to understand the pad printing process technology in depth, you cannot examine it only from the perspective of the screen printing profession.
In summary, the main features of pad printing are:
1. Suitable for curved surface printing, the flexible silicone rubber pad print head can print on the substrates with chaotic shapes such as quadratic, tertiary curved surfaces, concave-convex surfaces and so on.
2. It can print more precise pictures and texts, generally fine lines of 0.05mm can be printed
3. Printing continues steadily, and the technology is printed for a long time, and its printing accuracy will not change
4. The drying process is omitted, and multi-color printing is possible.
5. It has a wide range of printing. It can accurately print monochrome, two-color or color graphics and text on any uneven surface on plastic, metal, glass, ceramics, leather, bakelite and other materials. It can also perform soft contact printing. It can print on soft and fragile items.
In the screen printing process, the ink passes through part of the mesh of the screen and then leaks onto the substrate. The remaining part of the screen is blocked and the ink cannot penetrate. This part even forms a blank on the substrate. During printing, the ink is poured on the screen. Without external force, the ink will not leak through the mesh to the substrate. When the squeegee scrapes the ink with a certain pressure and tilt angle, it will be transported through the screen. Go to the substrate below to complete the copy of the picture.
Silk screen has the following characteristics:
1. It can be printed on a wide range of substrates, curved or flat, hard or soft, large or small. In addition, silk screen printing can also be printed on fragile and deformable substrates due to low pressure.
2. Thick ink layer and strong hiding power. The thickness of the silk screen ink is unmatched by other printing methods.
3. Intense three-dimensional feeling.
4. Good light resistance. After blending light-resistant pigments and fluorescent pigments into the ink, the print pattern can permanently preserve the gloss without being affected by the temperature and sunlight, and can even shine at night. Therefore, silk screen products are suitable for outdoor advertising, signs, etc.
5. The available inks are quite wide.
6. Large format: In terms of printing area, general offset printing, embossing and other methods are far inferior to silk printing due to the constraints of mechanical equipment. The largest screen printing format can reach 3M-4M or even larger
7. The printing plate has greater flexibility. The characteristics of the screen data determine the greater flexibility of the printing plate. When used for mass printing, the easily stretchable printing plate will affect the copy effect.
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