HUIDA Thermal CTP Plates

There are many different types of heat-sensitive CTP plates, but the two most common at the moment are thermal melting and thermal cross-linking. Huida's Thermal CTP Plate has several advantages. This paper also introduces the technical parameters of our products.

What are Thermal CTP Plates

There are many different types of heat-sensitive CTP plates, but the two most common at the moment are thermal melting and thermal cross-linking. The hot melt CTP plate is made up of three parts: an aluminum plate without roughening, an ink-friendly layer, and either a PVA layer (as used in traditional offset printing) or a silica gel layer (used in waterless offset printing).

The imaging principle is to expose a semiconductor laser diode. The heat-sensitive coating on the plate base (the ink-friendly layer) is ink-friendly and alkaline chemically insoluble. After being exposed, the coating absorbs energy and becomes more soluble in alkaline solutions.

The exposed part of the printing plate is dissolved in an alkaline solution during development to form a blank part of the printing plate. The non-exposed part of the printing plate does not dissolve, forming the graphic part of the printing plate. Before it can be printed on the machine, it is generally cleaned and glued after developing.

A roughened aluminum plate and a single-layer PS photosensitive layer make up the thermally cross-linked CTP plate. The imaging principle is through infrared exposure. During exposure, the photothermal conversion material converts the infrared laser's light energy into heat energy, causing a portion of the polymer in the photosensitive layer to undergo a thermal cross-linking reaction to form a latent image; reheating causes the molecular compound in the graphic part to undergo additional cross-linking reaction, preventing the graphic part from being dissolved in the alkaline developer.

It should be noted that the blank part partially reacts during preheating, so the image of the blank part should be removed during development. A hot fog will form on the printing plate if the temperature is too high; if the temperature is too low, the graphics and text will be diluted or weakened.

Features of Thermal CTP Plate

(1) The printing plate is imaged and processed in daylight without the use of a dark room, making it easier and more pleasant for workers.

(2) In order to generate an image from a thermal plate, the initial thermal energy threshold must be reached, and the thermal energy higher than the initial threshold will not change the shape of the dots. The printing plate can be extended to 6 months before developing, and the quality of the plate will not be affected in the slightest.

(3) The thermal CTP plate has good dot reproduction, high resolution, and sharp and clear dot edges, making it easy to achieve ink-water balance during printing. It also guarantees high-quality printing, with printing durability of more than 1 million prints after baking.