Printing technology: types of modern printing

In order to attract the attention of potential customers, companies use all available funds. Polygraphic products help in many ways to realize these plans. These are business cards, through which contact information is distributed, and posters indicating the direction of movement, and leaflets, which are the direct guide to action.

Polygraphic products are also important during the presentation of the company. In this case, savings on handouts will have a negative impact on all the information received, spoiling the general impression of the organization.

Functions of polygraphic products

The catalogs, calendars and booklets offered by the company are an excellent material for the presentation of the company. This printed product demonstrates the potential of the company to a potential buyer or customer. With its help, the client receives more information about the potential supplier of works, goods or services, the main areas of its activities, as well as the prospects for development. In this case, printing products must be made in a corporate style, have corporate colors, etc. At the same time, the better the quality of printing, the higher the level of the company, it will demonstrate to the client. It is necessary to pay attention not only to the stylish design of the product, but also to the qualitative performance of each of its elements.

Polygraphic products affect the image of the company. This is one of the main indicators that allows you to assess the status of the organization. If the proposed materials are made using solid polygraphy, then they cause respect. Low-quality products only worsen the opinion about the organization.

Polygraphic products are necessary for the company to make contact with its potential customers and customers. After all, they almost every day see posters, receive postcards, take up brochures, etc. This material allows you to report on promotions and the receipt of new goods, as well as to make business proposals.

Polygraphic products also serve to strengthen the advertising campaign. Representatives of the target group will certainly study that contact information, which will be placed on stickers or leaflets.

Certain types of printing products (for example, calendars and bookmarks) allow you to form a positive impression of the company. This, in turn, will allow the firm to gain loyalty to its brand.

But the most important function of printing products is its ability to increase sales. Properly conducted advertising campaign will certainly pay off and bring a good profit.

Modern printing methods

To date, printing technology has many different options. And all of them are good enough, differing only in some parameters. In addition, the technology of printing using one or another method involves the use of special equipment, which also differs in its characteristics.

Today, the widest application in the printing business is offset, screen, flat, digital printing and many others. All these technologies are distinguished by high-quality receipt of finished products.

Stencil method

This printing technology is a method of reproducing texts and graphic images, in which a stencil is used . This is a special printing form that allows the ink to penetrate through the whitespace.

The scope of the stencil technology extends to a wide range of activities, ranging from manual work to high-tech industrial solutions. At the same time, it is used for the production of the smallest formats, as well as for the production of large posters, for example, 3 x 6 m. Circulations of such products can also be very different. They can be produced in single copies and produced in large editions.

The material for using the method of screen printing is paper and textiles, synthetic materials and ceramics, products of various shapes (glasses and jars).
This technology has its own variety. One of them is silk-screen printing, the form material of which is special metal and nylon nets, the frequency of which is from 4 to 200 threads per centimeter.

Of the screen printing method, rhizography is also distinguished. This is printing, in which forms made by burning micro-holes are used to form the gap elements. This process occurs using the thermal head.

Flat print

With this technology, forms made of flat and printing elements arranged in one plane are used. The technology of flat printing uses metal plates. These are single-layer or multi-layer sheets that are covered with a photosensitive layer, and after that they are illuminated through the photographic form, which serves as a template. The plate thus prepared is subjected to electrolytic or chemical etching. As a result of this process, the printing elements become hydrophobic, and the whitespace elements become hydrophilic.

Offset printing

This printing technology involves transferring ink to the printed matter from the printing plate. This procedure is carried out not directly, but using an intermediate blanket cylinder. This method, as a rule, is used in flat printing.

With the traditional method, the paint passes through two shafts before it reaches the paper. One of them is a cylinder with a shape. The second one is directly offset shaft. Next, an image is applied to the shape. There is a process of developing and exhibiting. The lighted parts of the mold begin to attract water. In doing so, they repel all oily substances, one of which is paint. These parts are called hydrophilic.

Hydrophobic zones of the form, on the contrary, attract paint and repel water. At the same time, letters and images are formed.

Offset printing is considered beneficial in case of receipt of orders for large print runs. With a small number of printing products, other options are used. These are new printing technologies, which are united under one name - digital. They use equipment that reproduces texts and images directly from files received from the workstations in the printing house, and in office practice - from a personal computer.

Inkjet printing

Very often companies require the production of printing products in small print runs (1-1,000 copies). To achieve these tasks, printers are widely used in offices.

The technology of inkjet printing allows to provide high quality and resolution of color displays. This is the guarantee of excellent detailing of the materials obtained.

The technology of printing inkjet printers can boast of its smooth color transitions, which are obtained by displaying a wide variety of graphic elements. And it does not matter whether it's about photography, vector graphics or a raster clip art.

Inkjet technology of printing printers is very popular in photo studios creating large-format printing products. It finds its application in design workshops. Inkjet printing technology is used in enterprises developing GIS and CAD projects. No less popular are inkjet printers and for home. With their help you can not only print the texts, but also get colorful photos, as well as any computer graphics that will certainly please with their high quality.

Types of inkjet printers differ in the multicolor printing system. Inexpensive models are equipped with only two cartridges. One of them is black and white, and the second one is multicolored. The latter has compartments in which there are three different colors. When coming from special openings, which are called nozzles, the ink is mixed already on paper, which allows you to give the necessary shade.

However, such color printing technologies are not flexible. The fact is that someone who has at least one ink color in the printer has to completely change the color cartridge. In this regard, inkjet printing has been improved. And for today in more expensive models of printers there is a system providing separate ink tanks. This approach allows you to replace only expired colors.

However, modern technologies of jet type seals have a comparatively low speed and high cost of produced printing material. That's why these printers are used only for small loads.

Laser printing

This technology of digital printing has significant advantages. It allows you to get clear prints, which are also resistant to light and water.

The technology of printing laser printers implies compact and precise beam focusing. This helps to obtain the highest resolution of the mappings.

The technology of laser printing can significantly speed up the printer's working time. This is due to the rapid movement of the beam. In addition, laser printers print very quietly. This allows you not to irritate and not distract others.
Also, the technology of laser printing involves the use of non-liquid ink, and powdered toner. The cartridges they fill do not dry out. The period of their storage, as a rule, is quite a long period - up to three years. This allows such a printer to easily transfer some interruptions to work. For example, if the landlord leaves for a long business trip, then after returning, he easily proceeds to work further. Such interruptions are not possible in cases with jet devices.

As a rule, laser is a technology of black and white printing. However, for enterprises, there are high-speed printers that output a color image.

The technology of laser printing is a complex and finely organized mechanism. It uses an optical system and static electricity to create an invisible electrostatic prototype of the future print. After it is "filled" with toner particles, and the result is fixed on paper.

Getting started, the printer activates the charging shaft. This element contributes to a uniform coverage of the surface of the photoconductor by negatively charged particles. Next comes the printer controller. With its help on the surface of the photoconductor identified areas that form the image itself. These zones illuminate the laser beam, after which the negative charge disappears from them. Then the feed roller comes into play. It facilitates the transfer of a negative charge to the toner particles, moving them onto the development roller. After that, the particles pass under the dosing blade and are evenly distributed on the surface. When in contact with the drum, the negatively charged toner fills the areas where such a charge is absent. As a result of this process, the printer generates a visible image. It remains only to transfer everything to paper. Also, the image needs to be fixed.

First, the printer feeds the paper to the transfer roller. Here it takes a positive charge. After touching the photoconductor, the paper easily attracts the toner particles. They fall on the sheet due to static electricity, but they are not fixed yet. The last stage of the laser printing process is the passage of paper through a system consisting of two shafts. One of them heats the sheet with the resulting images, and the second presses it firmly from below, which helps the toner particles to adhere well to the surface.

In some models of laser printers, two-sided printing technology is provided. This is an optional feature that allows you to print on both sides of a paper sheet in automatic mode. As a result, the printing process becomes more economical, and the production - more diverse. For example, it can be greeting cards and information brochures, student coursework, etc.

The laser printer is perfect for a small office, where there is a need to prepare invoices, copies of contracts, as well as office documentation.

LED Printing

Devices in which this technology is used are great not only for offices, but also for personal use. But, in comparison with laser, these printers are much more economical and more affordable. They are more reliable and effective. In addition, LED printing technology does not provide for the splitting of oxygen molecules, and consequently, does not release ozone. Like laser, such printers are designed for a significant monthly load. This allows them to be used for production of large print runs.

At the heart of the LED technology is the same principle as in the laser. The only difference is that there is no directional beam in such printers. Instead of it, the photoconductor is affected by the LED ruler, which is located on the entire width of the device. This design is more compact, not so susceptible to breakage and works much quieter.

When using LED technology, the process of "highlighting" the necessary areas of the electrostatic field is faster. In this case, more reliable means are used. In this regard, LED printing is considered highly efficient and economical not only in terms of maintenance of the device, but also in terms of the amount of funds used to purchase it.

Images on textiles

An excellent gift for the holiday will be a T-shirt with a funny picture or with an inscription. How are they applied?

The technology of printing on T-shirts can be very different. It all depends on the type of image being applied and on the purpose of the finished product. For example, T-shirts for promotions should have a low cost, and purchased as a gift, as well as for personal use - to maintain quality with frequent laundering.

The technology of drawing an image on a T-shirt involves the use of a special textile printer, which works according to the scheme of the jet device. It has a special retractable table. T-shirt is worn on it and moved under the printer. After the drawing is applied, the ink is fixed either in a drying device or under a thermo-press. However, this technology of applying images to textiles is very laborious, and therefore it is used only for a small batch of products.

When performing indirect printing on a printer, you can use:

• Sublimation printing, previously carried out on paper with special ink, and then transferred to the fabric under the influence of high temperature;
• Technology Magic Touch, during which the pattern is applied to a special film, and then glued to the thing with the help of a thermo-press;
• Thermoapplication, which is the assembly of one multicolor picture from a multitude of details that are pasted on the T-shirt with a thermo-press;
• Silkscreen printing, which is an industrial technology.

Each of the above printing methods has its own characteristics, which should be taken into account based on the complexity of the image and circulation, the quality required, the paints and fabrics used, and so on.

Production of seals

This indispensable attribute of any organization can be implemented using one of four technologies. Let's consider them in more detail:

1. Photopolymer technology. The least expensive way is to make similar stamps. The technology of this type is considered traditional and involves the implementation of such steps as the withdrawal of the negative on the laser printer and the preparation of the material (liquid photopolymer, protective film, substrate and curb tape).

Further, it is impossible without mounting all the elements in a special device and lighting up, both through the negative and from the side of the substrate. At the next stage, dismantling is carried out from the cliche device and rinsing, repeating the process of exposure and drying. In the end, it is necessary to remove the stickiness and cut the cliché. All these stages take about thirty-five minutes.

2. Flash technology. This process involves the manufacture of seals with the installation of paint directly in the cliche. In the future, this does not require the use of ink pads. What is the difference between making stamps? The technology includes the output of the layout on a laser-type printer and the installation of the desired workpiece on a flash unit. Next, the cliche is illuminated and directly mounted. At the end of the process, the print is filled with ink.

3. Method of vulcanization. Unlike the previous method, it allows you to produce several seals in one production cycle. With its help, special stamps are produced, up to A5 size. The cliche obtained by this technology is considered to be the most durable and has an increased resistance of the material to ink.

4. Laser technology. To date, it is considered the most effective. The essence of the proposed process is that the original material, which is rubber, is processed with a laser beam, which engraves and cuts the workpiece. The main advantage of this technology is the excellent quality of finished products and their durability. Also, such a method allows for a high production rate.