An apparatus is disclosed for coating a surface that is movable relative to the apparatus with a layer of metallic particles or particles having a metal-like appearance and reflectivity, the particles adhering more strongly to the surface than to one another. The apparatus comprises at least one spray head for directly or indirectly applying to the surface a fluid stream within which the particles are suspended, a housing surrounding the spray head(s) and defining an interior plenum for confining the fluid stream, the housing having a rim adjacent the surface that is configured to prevent egress of particles from a sealing gap defined between the rim of the housing and the surface to be coated, and a suction source connected to the housing to extract from the plenum the sprayed fluid and particles suspended in the sprayed fluid. In operation, the suction source extracts substantially all particles that are not in direct contact with the surface, so as to leave only a substantially single particle layer adhering to the surface on exiting the apparatus.

There is disclosed a method of printing onto the surface of a substrate, which method comprises i) coating a donor surface with a monolayer of particles, ii) treating the substrate surface to render at least selected regions tacky, and iii) contacting the substrate surface with the donor surface to cause particles to transfer from the donor surface only to the tacky regions of the substrate surface. After printing on a substrate, the donor surface returns to the coating station where the continuity of the monolayer is restored by recovering with fresh particles the regions of the donor surface exposed by the transfer of particles to the substrate.

An object of the invention is to provide a water-based lithographic printing method that is excellent in printing quality and environmental aspects. The invention concerns a method of producing a printed material, including the steps of: allowing a water-based ink to adhere to a surface of a heat sensitive layer of a lithographic printing plate having a surface on which an ink repelling layer and the heat sensitive layer exist; and transferring the adhering water-based ink directly or via a blanket to a printing substrate.

Provided are: a lithographic printing plate precursor having a support and an image-recording layer on the support, in which the image-recording layer contains an onium polymerization initiator, a borate compound, an infrared absorber, a chromogenic agent, and a compound A which is an onium salt formed of a cation having a shape index lower than a shape index of a cationic moiety of the onium polymerization initiator; a method of preparing a lithographic printing plate using the lithographic printing plate precursor; and a lithographic printing method.

lithographic printing plate precursor including on a substrate which has a hydrophilic surface or which is provided with a hydrophilic layer, a coating comprising a photopolymerisable layer including a polymerisable compound, a photoinitiator and adhesion promoting compound containing at least one thiol group and at least one group capable of adhering to the substrate.

A problem to be addressed by the present invention is to provide a method of producing a printed material by printing an active energy ray-curable printing ink on a film, wherein the printed material has good adhesion between the ink and the film even after undergoing boiling treatment for boiling sterilization or retorting sterilization. Such a problem is solved by a method of producing a printed material, including the steps of printing an ink on a film; and irradiating the ink-printed face with an active energy ray; wherein the film contains: a polyamide film layer; and a layer that, as the outermost layer of at least one face of the film, contains a polyurethane obtained by use of a polycarbonate polyol as a polyol component.

The invention provides a waterless offset lithographic printing plate precursor that is mountable on a magnet type printing cylinder and has high durability and halftone dot reproducibility. The waterless offset lithographic printing plate precursor contains at least a heat-sensitive layer and a silicone rubber layer disposed on a substrate, the substrate being of a ferromagnet material.

There is disclosed a print construction comprising: (a) a printing substrate having an image-receiving surface; (b) a receptive layer, at least partially covering said image-receiving surface, and having a particle reception surface distally disposed to said image-receiving surface, said receptive layer optionally having a thickness of at least 1000 nanometer (nm); and (c) a plurality of individual particles adhered to said particle reception surface, and forming a monolayer thereon, the features of which are described herein.

There is disclosed a method of printing onto the surface of a substrate, which method comprises i) coating a donor surface (12) with a monolayer of particles, ii) treating the substrate surface (80) to render at least selected regions tacky, and iii) contacting the substrate surface with the donor surface to cause particles to transfer from the donor surface only to the tacky regions of the substrate surface. After printing on a substrate (20), the donor surface (12) returns to the coating station (14) where the continuity of the monolayer is restored by recovering with fresh particles the regions of the donor surface exposed by the transfer of particles to the substrate.

An apparatus for coating a donor surface that is movable relative to the apparatus with a layer of thermoplastic particles, the particles adhering more strongly to the surface than to one another. The apparatus comprises an application device to apply to the donor surface a fluid stream within which the particles are suspended, a housing surrounds the application device forming an interior plenum for confining the fluid stream, the housing prevents egress of particles from a sealing gap defined between the rim of the housing and the surface to be coated, and a suction source connected to the housing to extract from the plenum excess fluid and particles. In operation, the suction source extracts substantially all particles that are not in direct contact with the donor surface, leaving substantially a single particle layer adhering to the donor surface upon exiting the apparatus.