Estimation of Waterless Offset Printing Plate Surface Temperature

There are many arguments on advantages and disadvantages of waterless offset printing. One of the most important factors affecting successful use is the temperature rise on the plate, since no dampening water is applied to the plate. In this study, the temperature rise of waterless offset printing operations on various presses was estimated using only observed temperature data on conventional dampening offset printing plates during normal daily operations. Through this procedure, without any time consuming test printing with waterless plates, we can select presses which can be used for waterless plate printing as far as temperature rising is concerned. In this study, the temperature rise of waterless offset printing operations on various presses was estimated using only observed temperature data on conventional dampening offset printing plates during normal daily operations. Through this procedure, without any time consuming test printing with waterless plates, we can select presses which can be used for waterless plate printing as far as temperature rising is concerned. Studies have been done on four sheet-fed presses and three web-offset presses (two Satellite and one Blanket-to-Blanket). It was found that only two of the sheetfed presses could be used for waterless printing without any further cooling arrangements to the presses, and the B-B web-offset press was critical depending on the ambient temperature.