Updated on September 11, 2024
There are many types of printing, different methods and different operations. Below I will divide them according to the type of printing plate and printing principle.
According to the type of printing plate
According to the division of printing plates, common printing methods can be divided into five categories: offset printing, letterpress printing, gravure printing, offset printing and stencil printing:
(1) Letterpress printing: printing using letterpress (a printing plate with a raised part of the graphics and text), referred to as letterpress printing. The printing principle is similar to the seal, and the early woodblock printing, movable type printing and later type printing all belong to letterpress printing;
(2) Offset printing, also known as Offset lithography, is a type of lithographic printing and is suitable for color prints such as newspapers, books, fashion magazine printing, calendars, packaging, posters, and manuals. It can clearly restore the color, contrast and level of the original with high precision and is the most commonly used paper printing method at present.
(3) Gravure printing: The ink contained in the gravure pits is directly imprinted on the substrate, which is often used for the printing of valuable securities such as banknotes and stamps;
(4) Lithography: It is an indirect printing method. The graphic part and the blank part of the printing plate are almost on the same plane, and the printing method is carried out using the principle of oil and water incompatibility;
(5) Stencil printing: also known as screen printing, that is, a printing method that uses silk screen as a plate material. This method can be used to make print works, and can also be used for packaging and printing of daily necessities and industrial supplies.
According to the printing principle
According to the principle of producing printed matter, it can be divided into two categories: physical printing and chemical printing:
(1) Physical printing: The printing ink is completely a kind of accumulation load in the printing part, and the non-printing part is concave or convex, which is different from the height of the printing part and cannot be stained with the printing ink. Leave it blank, so the printing Part of the printing ink is transferred to the material to be printed, which is a physical and mechanical action. General letterpress printing, gravure printing, stencil printing, dry lithography, etc., are all physical printing;
(2) Chemical printing: During the printing process, the non-printed part must be continuously supplemented with a water-absorbing and ink-repellent film, which is chemical printing. Offset printing belongs to this category. In offset printing, glue substances should be added to the water tank solution to supply the mucus layer of carboxyl groups, so as to keep the non-printing surface of the printing plate from being infected by grease.
The above is the content of today’s popular science. There are many types of printing, and the space is limited, so I will not introduce them one by one here.
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