Stochastic Screening for Flexography and its Application to Expanded Gamut Printing

Although it offers many benefits, stochastic screening is known to present difficulties when applied to the flexographic printing process. However, with a high industry interest in expanded gamut printing, it is necessary to explore the potential success of stochastic screening in flexography and its application to the expanded gamut printing process. The study was conducted to determine the performance of stochastic screening in flexography and its effectiveness when applied to expanded gamut printing.

�To do this, a systematic approach was used. First, a single-color target comparing three different stochastic patterns was printed and analyzed. From that, a specific screening was chosen and implemented into a 7-color characterization that generated an ICC profile with an extended gamut. The profile was then applied to an expanded gamut application where continuous tone images of classical paintings were reproduced.

�The findings show that due to advancements in flexographic technology, stochastic screening performed well with great print contrast values averaging around 51% and a small minimum dot size of 38 microns. When applied to seven color printing, it proved to prevent moire issues and produced a very large gamut with a gamut volume of 1,007,582. As expected, Tonal Value Increase was a slight issue that could be researched in further study. Overall, the results were exciting and present a hopeful view for the future of stochastic screening in flexography.