The present invention provides a silicone composition for use in a printing plate, the composition including at least: a SiH group-containing compound; a compound represented by the following general formula (I); a compound represented by the following general formula (II); and/or a compound represented by the following general formula (III); wherein Ds in the compound represented by the general formula (I), Gs in the compound represented by the general formula (II) and Js in the compound represented by the general formula (III) each represents an acetoxy group or a dialkyloximino group: A-Si-(D).sub.3 (I) (wherein in the general formula (I), A represents a non-hydrolyzable functional group capable of undergoing a hydrosilylation reaction with a SiH group); E-Si-(G).sub.3 (II) (wherein in the general formula (II), E represents a non-hydrolyzable functional group incapable of undergoing a hydrosilylation reaction with a SiH group); and Si-(J).sub.4 (III). An object of the present invention is to provide a silicone composition for use in a printing plate, for obtaining a planographic printing plate precursor or a planographic printing plate which includes a silicone rubber layer having an excellent adhesion to an underlying layer despite being a fast-curing silicone rubber layer, and which has an excellent ink repellency and scratch resistance.

A print head for use in a flexographic process, the print head comprising a flat surface having a first portion with a first surface energy and a second portion with a second surface energy that is different from the first surface energy.

An apparatus and method of manufacturing a fluorosilicone composite for a variable data lithography imaging member surface layer. Examples of the fluorosilicone composite include a first part and a second part, the first part having fluorosilicone, carbon black, silica and butyl acetate, the second part having a platinum catalyst, a crosslinker, butyl acetate and an inhibitor. The first part may also include a dispersant (e.g., a polyoxyalkylene amine derivative) that removes a need for shaking the dispersion by paint shaker and instead allows a more manufacture friendly roll ball milling process. The dispersant will also help in stabilizing the fluorosilicone composite for scaled up production.

The present teachings include a transfer member, a multilayer imaging blanket and a variable data lithography system. The transfer member includes a fluorosilicone surface layer. The surface layer includes mixing a first part and a second part. The first part includes a vinyl terminated trifluoropropyl methylsiloxane, an IR absorbing filler, silica and a first solvent. The second part includes an organo platinum complex having vinyl groups, a methyl hydrosiloxanetrifluoropropyl methyl siloxane having hydrosilane groups an inhibitor and a second solvent. The molar ratio of vinyl groups to hydrosilane groups is 0.7:1.0 to about 1.3:1.0 in the mixture. The mixture of the first part and second is coated on a substrate to form the fluorosilicone surface layer.

An apparatus and method of manufacturing a fluorosilicone composite for a variable data lithography imaging member surface layer. Examples of the fluorosilicone composite include a first part and a second part, the first part having fluorosilicone, carbon black, silica and butyl acetate, the second part having a platinum catalyst, a crosslinker, butyl acetate and an inhibitor. The first part may also include a dispersant (e.g., a polyoxyalkylene amine derivative) that removes a need for shaking the dispersion by paint shaker and instead allows a more manufacture friendly roll ball milling process. The dispersant will also help in stabilizing the fluorosilicone composite for scaled up production.

Provided is a precursor for lithographic printing having excellent printing durability and ink repellency as well as high reproducibility of the high definition images. The precursor for lithographic printing includes, at least a heat sensitive layer and an ink repellent layer wherein the ink repellent layer has an elastic modulus of the plate surface under the surface load of 14000 N/m2 of at least 25 MPa and up to 35 MPa.

The present invention provides a silicone composition for use in a printing plate, the composition including at least: a SiH group-containing compound; a compound represented by the following general formula (I); a compound represented by the following general formula (II); and/or a compound represented by the following general formula (III); wherein Ds in the compound represented by the general formula (I), Gs in the compound represented by the general formula (II) and Js in the compound represented by the general formula (III) each represents an acetoxy group or a dialkyloximino group: A-Si-(D).sub.3 (I) (wherein in the general formula (I), A represents a non-hydrolyzable functional group capable of undergoing a hydrosilylation reaction with a SiH group); E-Si-(G).sub.3 (II) (wherein in the general formula (II), E represents a non-hydrolyzable functional group incapable of undergoing a hydrosilylation reaction with a SiH group); and Si-(J).sub.4 (III). An object of the present invention is to provide a silicone composition for use in a printing plate, for obtaining a planographic printing plate precursor or a planographic printing plate which includes a silicone rubber layer having an excellent adhesion to an underlying layer despite being a fast-curing silicone rubber layer, and which has an excellent ink repellency and scratch resistance.

Provided are a printing plate, a method for manufacturing a printing plate, and a printing method that allow for high-resolution printing and efficient use of printing ink. The printing plate has an image area and a non-image area. The image area is formed by a layer containing silicone rubber. The non-image area is formed by a layer containing a fluorine compound on a surface of the layer containing silicone rubber. The height difference between a surface of the image area and a surface of the non-image area is 100 nm or less. The method for manufacturing a printing plate has the steps of subjecting a region of a surface of a layer containing silicone rubber to chemical treatment or physical treatment to form hydroxyl groups, the region being a region that becomes a non-image area; and binding a fluorine compound to the region, having the hydroxyl groups formed thereon, of the surface of the layer containing silicone rubber to form a non-image area. The printing method has an ink-applying step of applying a printing ink to an image area and a transfer step of transferring the printing ink from the image area to a substrate.

Dry, ablation-type, nitrocellulose-containing lithographic printing members include dual adjacent imaging layers, both including an absorber and at least one containing a binder (which may include or consist essentially of a melamine resin). The absorber of the nitrocellulose-containing layer is a pigment and this layer contains no absorbing dye, while the absorber of the other imaging layer includes or consists essentially of a dye.

Provided are an offset printing plate, an offset printing apparatus, and an offset printing method, which are capable of printing a high-definition image by waterless offset printing.

The offset printing plate comprises: a cylindrical plate base material; a silicon resin layer formed on the cylindrical plate base material; and a resist pattern part formed on the silicon resin layer, in which the silicon resin layer serves as a non-printing area, and the resist pattern part serves as a printing area. The silicon resin layer is preferably formed on the cylindrical plate base material seamlessly.