Food packaging has the highest requirements in the packaging industry and is closely related to people's daily lives.
Printing has come a long way since it was first recorded in China 1800 years ago. With the introduction of the latest printing method in the form of "digital printing" in 1991, more and more technologies are appearing in life. As we think about a new printing process, let's take a look at the most common printing processes that have shaped the industry as we know it.
The main industrial printing processes are: offset printing, photolithography, digital printing, gravure printing, screen printing, and flexographic printing.
Of these, offset printing, lithography and digital printing are the ones we use most, so let’s discuss them in more detail!
Offset printing
Offset printing is the transfer of an ink image from a printing plate to a blanket and from there to the printing surface. When used in conjunction with lithography, offset printing technology uses a flat image carrier to obtain ink and water from a cylinder. The water will be attracted to the non-printed areas, while the ink will cover the rest of the image.
Lithography
Photolithography works due to the immiscibility of water and oil.
The process usually involved drawing the image with oil, fat or wax on a smooth limestone tablet. When the stone gets wet, the etched areas retain moisture. When we apply an oil-based ink, it is repelled by the water, leaving only the original painting. To complete the process, the painting will be transferred to a piece of paper.
Digital Printing
We all know that two companies, inkjet and xerography, control the industry, with digital printing first introduced in 1991.
Inkjet printers are commonly used in our daily lives for home printers and office printing. If you want to print a document and assignment, you will use an inkjet printer. Thanks to advances in technology, printing is no longer a luxury.
An inkjet printer contains multiple nozzles, each of which ejects small droplets of ink that match the digital image sent to it. Inkjet printing is used for many postage and signage applications and can be printed on paper, plastic, canvas and in some cases doors or floor tiles.
An electrostatic printer uses electric charges to print images. The metal drum will create an electrical charge that attracts the toner particles. These toner particles are then transferred to the media being printed on.
These three processes are the three most common printing methods in modern times. They are required for us to print documents, reports, certificates and other necessary media.
