Rotogravure cylinders used for printing on packaging materials based on the transfer of ink onto the packaging material from the printing cylinder surface with a printing technique. The lightweight rotogravure printing cylinders developed are not heavy which prevent the factors which pose an ergonomic risk in terms of occupational health and safety and also cause an increase in logistics costs. For this purpose, the wall thickness of the steel body of the cylinder is decreased.

Rotogravure cylinders used for printing on packaging materials based on the transfer of ink onto the packaging material from the printing cylinder surface with a printing technique. The lightweight rotogravure printing cylinders developed are not heavy which prevent the factors which pose an ergonomic risk in terms of occupational health and safety and also cause an increase in logistics costs. For this purpose, the wall thickness of the steel body of the cylinder is decreased.

The present invention describes a method for manufacturing rotogravure cylinders with a cylinder base made of aluminum and a single metallic layer on the cylinder surface. The method comprises the construction of the cylinder base, the deposition of the metallic layer on the cylinder surface, the thinning of the cylinder to achieve the required dimensions, the polishing of the cylinder surface and finally the etching of the cylinder with the desired printing pattern. The metallic layer can be any copper alloy that will produce a surface with a Vickers hardness of about 400 HV. The metallic layer is deposited onto the cylinder base using any thermal spraying method. The cylinder surface is then thinned and polished by using any conventional method. Finally, the cylinder is etched to provide a superb cylinder for the printing industry.

The present invention describes a method for manufacturing rotogravure cylinders with a cylinder base made of aluminum and a single metallic layer on the cylinder surface. The method comprises the construction of the cylinder base, the deposition of the metallic layer on the cylinder surface, the thinning of the cylinder to achieve the required dimensions, the polishing of the cylinder surface and finally the etching of the cylinder with the desired printing pattern. The metallic layer can be any copper alloy that will produce a surface with a Vickers hardness of about 400 HV. The metallic layer is deposited onto the cylinder base using any thermal spraying method. The cylinder surface is then thinned and polished by using any conventional method. Finally, the cylinder is etched to provide a superb cylinder for the printing industry.

A method for manufacturing a gravure plate includes, setting a certain measurement area on a surface of the gravure plate, finding at least one of a spatial volume that is the total of the volume of a space formed by a plurality of cells located in the measurement area and an average depth obtained by dividing the spatial volume by a surface area of the measurement area, and adjusting, based on a relationship between at least one of the spatial volume and the average depth and an application thickness of a printing material after printing, at least one of the spatial volume and the average depth so as to fall within at least one of a specified value range for the spatial volume and a specified value range for the average depth determined in accordance with a target value range for the application thickness.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of processing a printing body, the printing body comprising a substrate and a diamond-like carbon (DLC) layer on the substrate, the method comprising engraving a printing pattern into the DLC layer. This method is advantageous, as it reduces the number of process steps required in processing the printing body, and reduces the loss of fine detail in the printing pattern.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of processing a printing body, the printing body comprising a substrate and a diamond-like carbon (DLC) layer on the substrate, the method comprising engraving a printing pattern into the DLC layer. This method is advantageous, as it reduces the number of process steps required in processing the printing body, and reduces the loss of fine detail in the printing pattern.

An intermediate rotogravure product has a cylindrical case onto which a circumferential copper layer extends, the circumferential copper layer having a characteristic surface roughness Rz and porosity. A copper engraving layer is on the circumferential copper layer. A method for engraving into adds a copper engraving layer, followed by engraving a predetermined pattern. A rotogravure cylinder product and method add a copper engraving layer on the circumferential copper layer that can be engraved in accordance with a predefined pattern and protected with a protection layer.

An intermediate rotogravure product has a cylindrical case onto which a circumferential copper layer extends, the circumferential copper layer having a characteristic surface roughness Rz and porosity. A copper engraving layer is on the circumferential copper layer. A method for engraving into adds a copper engraving layer, followed by engraving a predetermined pattern. A rotogravure cylinder product and method add a copper engraving layer on the circumferential copper layer that can be engraved in accordance with a predefined pattern and protected with a protection layer.

A laser-engravable pad printing plate comprising at least (a) a metal support, (b) an adhesion layer, (c) a laser-engravable recording layer having a layer thickness of 20 m to 200 m, (d) a cover film,
characterized in that the laser-engravable recording layer (c) comprises (c1) 40 to 95 wt % of a polyvinyl alcohol, (c2) 5 to 50 wt % of an IR absorber, (c3) 0 to 30 wt % of an inorganic filler, (c4) 0 to 20 wt % of a crosslinker, and (c5) 0 to 10 wt % of further additives.