Control points for the selection of the printing p

Corrugated box printing process selection control points

corrugated box is an ordinary paper packaging product closely related to our life and production. The printing quality of corrugated box is not only related to the appearance quality of corrugated box, but also affects the sales prospect of packaged products and the image of commodity production enterprises. Therefore, it is particularly important to analyze how to improve the surface printing effect of corrugated boxes, how to choose the appropriate printing process, and further reduce the processing cost of corrugated boxes. Here we will discuss these aspects

I. processing technology of corrugated paperboard

the processing technology of warming board in the international market of corrugated paper is mainly divided into two categories

1. Production process of full-automatic corrugated board production line

this corrugated board production process is widely used, and has the advantages of large production batch, large carton forming volume, good corrugated quality and so on. The corrugated board produced by this process is usually made into cartons through water-based printing, slotting, pasting, molding and other processes. Cartons produced by this process are mainly used for transportation packaging

2. Production process of semi-automatic corrugated board production line

the production process of corrugated board is to first print face paper, and then mount it with corrugated core paper and paperboard. The corrugated board produced by this process is usually packed into boxes through die cutting, indentation, nail sticking and other processes. The cartons produced by this process have good molding quality and surface treatment effect. The cartons produced by the compromise process can be used as sales packaging

II. Conventional carton printing methods

conventional carton printing methods mainly include flexo printing, offset printing and printing

1. Flexographic printing corrugated box

the conventional flexographic printing corrugated box process is to print directly on the corrugated board, using water-based ink. Therefore, some people also use this process as a watermark

flexographic direct printing has the following characteristics:

(1) large format, and the maximum width of a wide flexographic printing machine can reach 2.5~2.8m

(2) low price, high printing resistance of flexo and reusable; Humor is also cheap

(3) linkage production can be achieved, such as printing, slotting, indentation, binding (gluing) boxes, baling and so on

(4) the strength of cartons decreases less. Because flexo printing is light press printing, it has little effect on the strength of corrugated board

(5) the printing accuracy is not high. The number of lines added for conventional offset printing is 175 lines/inch, while the number of lines added for flexo cartons is 35~65 lines/inch. This is a low-precision printing method, which is most suitable for printing text line drafts. Although the quality of four-color image printing has improved in recent years, it is still limited

(6) plate making is easy and difficult, text line draft plate making is easy, and four-color image plate making is difficult

(7) the stability of printing quality is poor, which is mainly reflected in the difficulty in controlling the depth of printing ink

flexographic direct printing process is applicable to the production process of the first kind of cartons. At present, it is widely used in carton factories in China

2. Offset printing corrugated boxes

conventional offset printing corrugated boxes use indirect printing, that is, first print the face paper of the box, and then mount the printed face paper on the corrugated font size class. Due to the high resolution of PS version, very fine printing patterns can be printed. Most of the high-end corrugated boxes used for sales and packaging in China are offset printing products

offset printing corrugated boxes have the following characteristics:

(1) it is not suitable to use the cardboard linkage production line, but only suitable to use the single-sided corrugated machine, with low production efficiency

(2) the format is limited, which is generally smaller than that of flexo cartons

(3) printing products are very fine, and the number of lines added can reach 150~200 lines/inch

(4) it is easy to make plate, which is the routine plate making of PS plate

(5) surface finishing can be carried out, such as film covering, polishing, etc

(6) high printing cost

(7) the printing quality is relatively stable

3. Corrugated box printed with silk

corrugated box printed with silk adopts direct printing

because the inking rate of the silk plate is directly proportional to the hole spacing of the silk, the resolution of the silk printing is not high, the image accuracy is low, and the number of conventional lines is 60~80 lines/inch

wire printing corrugated box has the following characteristics:

(1) it is not suitable for linkage production line, and the production efficiency is low

(2) the printing format can be large or small

(3) printing can be completed before mounting and cartoning, or after mounting and cartoning

(4) suitable for printing non fine products. The ink color of silk printing is thick, so its color saturation is high and the visual effect is strong, especially for spot color printing

(5) plate making is easy and low cost

(6) low printing cost

(7) the printed matter is relatively stable

III. new printing and box making method

1. Plastic gravure composite carton process

when using a single-sided corrugated production line, if the surface paper needs to be covered with bright film after printing, and the production batch is large, you can not print on the surface paper, but use gravure printing method to complete gravure printing on the plastic film, cut and apply white primer, and then compound the plastic film with the surface paper, Then according to the conventional carton forming process, we regret horizontal cartons

the characteristics of this process are:

(1) the production cost of cartons is low. When the production batch is large, this process can greatly reduce the printing cost and material cost of face paper. Because face paper does not need printing, uncoated white board paper can be used, which greatly reduces the cost of face paper

(2) exquisite printing. Because plastic gravure printing is used, the printing effect can be comparable to that of offset printing

when adopting this process, special attention should be paid to the size change and deformation of the plastic film during plate making and printing. Otherwise, the paper on the top of the carton will be aligned with the lower paperboard. Adopting aluminum lithium alloy can reduce the mass of aircraft aluminum alloy parts by 14% ⑶ 0% uneven

2. Gravure printing process of coated paper composite carton

this process can be used when the production batch is relatively large, there is no need to cover the film, and it is required to have good printing effect and low cost

this process is to use a paper gravure machine to print a thin coated paper, and then combine this beautifully printed coated paper with ordinary slag paper or carton paper, as a whole as the top paper of the carton, and then mount it and form the normal carton

the characteristics of this process are:

(1) the production cost of cartons is low. The main reason for the cost reduction is to change the white board paper into low gram weight coated paper and composite it with cheap box board paper, which reduces the material cost. At present, the total annual demand for adhesives and sealants in China's automotive industry is 100000 tons

the Audi spaceframe (ASF) and panels of Audi A8 (Audi A8) produced by Audi AG in 1994 are all made of extruded aluminum and sheet from Alcoa (2) beautifully printed. The printing effect of paper gravure printing is very exquisite

(3) gravure plate making is complex and expensive, which is not suitable for printing carton products that are often revised

(4) the operation and control methods of paper lamination, cartoning and other process in the printing plant should be carefully explored, accumulated and implemented reasonably, otherwise it is easy to lead to the increase of scrap rate

3. Direct offset printing corrugated box process

the direct offset printing process of corrugated box has been relatively mature in foreign countries. It is to directly put the corrugated board on a special offset printing machine for printing. Suitable for processing thin corrugated boxes

this process can not only ensure the good formability of cartons, but also complete exquisite face paper printing, but the price of the printing machine used is relatively expensive. At present, it does not adapt to China's demand standards and is not suitable for the carton industry to adopt in the near future. However, in the next few years, this process may become a new development direction of China's high-end carton printing

4. Flexo preprint and gravure preprint corrugated box processes have developed rapidly this year. These two processes first print face paper in the form of web paper, and then complete the production of corrugated board on the full-automatic corrugated board production line. The printing quality and molding quality of cartons are relatively high, but the investment is relatively large, and it is not suitable for small batch production

in the domestic suffocation industry, the three conventional printing methods of corrugated suffocation should be relatively common, and become the mainstream method of corrugated box factor at present. The new printing box making method, because the hot spots of equipment, materials, processes, operations and other technologies have not been fully mastered, the investment is also relatively large, and the promotion is still relatively difficult at present. However, in order to improve the quality, reduce the total cost of cartons, obtain the maximum profit and increase the competitive advantage in the market, it is imperative for carton enterprises to adopt a new printing and cartoning process

from the overall development of carton printing process, the plate making and printing technology of flexo direct printing corrugated carton process need to be improved as a whole, plastic gravure printing, carton gravure printing, web offset printing process need to be promoted and improved, and the production process of direct offset printing and pre printing corrugated carton should also attract our attention

reprinted from: packaging design