JPH1095092A - Belt-shaped intermediate transfer body and offset printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten the working hours for a belt-shaped intermediate transfer body by forming a compressed layer on a base on a belt and disposing an acceptive layer for accepting ink on the compressed layer. SOLUTION: A sheet blanket substrate 101 and a sheet blanket 104 are integrated together in the belt shape on a belt-shaped intermediate transfer body 100. The sheet blanket substrate 101 is provided with a base 102 formed of a metal belt composed of an invar material of powerful tensile strength and a compressed layer 103 formed on the base and composed of a compressing material such as a sponge rubber. The sheet blanket 104 is provided with a base film 105 and a blanket layer 106 formed on the base film. In the case the intermediate transfer body 100 is of the endless belt shape, a let-off section and a take-up section are not required. As the intermediate transfer body is of the belt shape, the transfer work is made on a work on a site other than a plate cylinder, and a plurality of images can be transferred from the plate cylinder.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a belt-shaped intermediate transfer member and an offset printing machine using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a plasma display panel (P
DP), Field Emission Display (FE)
As a method of forming electrodes used for D) and the like, and a fine pattern of a color filter of a liquid crystal display, a printed wiring board, an integrated circuit, and the like, a thin film etching method in which a thin film formed by vapor deposition, sputtering, plating, or the like is etched by a photolithography method. , A thick film etching method in which a thick film formed by applying ink by a screen printing method or the like is etched by a photolithography method, or a printing method such as a screen printing method or an intaglio offset printing method.

However, in the above-described thin film etching method and thick film etching method, it is possible to form a highly accurate electrode, but there is a problem that the production cost is increased due to the etching step. Also, for example,
When an electrode is formed on a large-area substrate such as a large-sized image display device having a size of 40 to 50 inches, a large number of large-sized thin film forming apparatuses, large-sized exposure apparatuses, and large-sized etching apparatuses are required. Had the problem of coming.

[0004] Screen printing is one of the printing methods.
Since there is no etching process and the process is simpler than the above thin film etching method or thick film etching method, a reduction in manufacturing cost was expected, but circuits were concentrated on a small area like an integrated circuit. Or in the case of an electrode used in a PDP aiming for upsizing of 40 to 50 inches in size,
There is a problem that required dimensional accuracy cannot be satisfied. In particular, when an electrode of a large-sized image display device is formed, a reduction in dimensional accuracy occurs in a peripheral portion thereof, and the electrode cannot be put to practical use.

Therefore, it has been proposed to form a fine pattern directly on a substrate by an offset printing method having high printing accuracy. FIG. 2 is a view for explaining a conventional flatbed type offset printing press. The offset printing press includes a stage 1, a platen plate 2 and a work platen 3 provided on the stage 1 for placing an intaglio P and a work W, respectively, and an alignment camera 4 for aligning the intaglio P and the work W. And a dispenser 5 for supplying ink to the intaglio P, a doctor 6 for scraping off excess ink on the intaglio P, and a bracket cylinder 7 for transferring the ink of the intaglio P.

FIG. 2A shows an initial state.
The intaglio P is suction-fixed thereon, and the work W is suction-fixed on the work surface plate 3. The relative positional relationship between the work W and the intaglio P is adjusted based on the image of the alignment camera 4. At this time, the dispenser 5 and the doctor 6 and the blanket cylinder 7 are lifted.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2B, the stage motor (not shown) rotates in the reverse direction, and the stage 1 moves rightward (arrow). At this time, the dispenser 5 first supplies ink onto the intaglio P, and when this ink supply ends, the stage 1 moves to the doctoring start point, and the doctor 6 scrapes off excess ink on the intaglio P, and The image area of P is filled with ink. When the scraping of the ink on the intaglio P by the doctor 6 is completed, the doctor 6 immediately rises,
Allow the passage of the work W.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2C, the intaglio P
Approaching the blanket cylinder 7, the blanket cylinder 7 descends (arrow), and the pattern on the intaglio P is transferred to the blanket on the peripheral surface of the blanket cylinder 7.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2D, the work W comes into contact with the blanket cylinder 7, and the pattern on the blanket on the peripheral surface of the blanket cylinder 7 is transferred onto the work W. Thereafter, as shown in FIG.
Moves to the opposite side of the device, and finally returns to the reference position shown in FIG. 7 (F), and the work W is removed from the work surface plate 3 and stored.

Thus, after one cycle is over,
A new work W is supplied to the work surface plate 3, and the same operation as described above is performed.

[0011]

However, in the conventional offset printing press described above, the inking (doctoring) shown in FIG. 2B and the blanket transfer shown in FIG. There was a problem that the tact was slow.

It is also conceivable to perform inking and blanket transfer simultaneously using a plate cylinder. However, when transferring from a bracket cylinder to a work, loading and unloading of the work is performed.
The alignment and unloading time became a bottleneck, and the working time could not be further reduced.

An object of the present invention is to provide a belt-shaped intermediate transfer member and an offset printing machine which can reduce the working time.

[0014]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is directed to a belt-shaped base, a compression layer provided on the base, and an ink disposed on the compression layer, and provided with ink. And a receiving layer for receiving.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the belt-shaped intermediate transfer member according to the first aspect, an endless belt-shaped support in which the substrate and the compression layer are integrated, and the receiving layer are wound around the support. And a receiving layer sheet to be wound and wound.

[0016] The invention of claim 3 is claim 1 or claim 2.
An offset printing machine for printing on a hard printing medium using the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body according to the above, wherein the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body, an ink receiving unit for receiving ink from a plate cylinder, the belt-shaped intermediate transfer And one or more transfer portions for transferring the ink received by the body to the printing medium.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the offset printing press according to the third aspect, the transfer section has a function of aligning the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body and the printing medium.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the offset printing press according to the fourth aspect, a buffer unit for partially stopping the belt-shaped intermediate transfer member when the transfer unit is aligned is provided. .

The invention according to claim 6 is the invention according to claims 3 to 5.
In the offset printing press described in any one of the above, the plate cylinder has a temperature adjusting function.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an embodiment of a belt-shaped intermediate transfer body and an offset printing machine according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1B, the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body 100 includes a sheet blank support 101 and a sheet blanket 104, and is driven by a transfer body driving unit 10 described later.

The sheet bran support 101 is made of a metal band such as an invar material having a high tensile strength.
And a compression layer 103 formed on the base 102 and made of a compression material such as sponge rubber. The sheet blank support 101 is wound by rollers 11 to 14 in an endless belt shape.

The sheet blanket 104 includes a base film 105 and a base film 105 formed on the base film 105.
And a blanket layer 106. Base film 1
05, a polyethylene terephthalate film, a polyethylene film, a polyimide film, a polyester film, a polyvinyl chloride film, a polyvinyl chloride biphenyl film, a polyethylene naphthalate film, etc., whose thickness is 5 to 50 μm, preferably 10 to 10 μm. It is preferable to use one in the range of 20 μm. When the thickness of the base film 105 is less than 5 μm, the tensile strength decreases, and the film cannot be uniformly removed. On the other hand, if the thickness exceeds 50 μm, the ability of the film substrate 105 to follow the intaglio cells is reduced, and the quality of the received ink pattern is deteriorated.

The blanket layer 106 has a thickness of 1
It is preferably in the range from 0 to 500 μm, preferably from 10 to 100 μm. When the thickness of the blanket layer 106 is less than 10 μm, the ink receptivity from the intaglio becomes insufficient. On the other hand, if the thickness exceeds 500 μm, it is difficult to produce a blanket having a uniform thickness, and a printing pressure variation in the alignment transfer unit 40 as described later is likely to occur, which takes time for adjustment.

The rubber material used to form such a bracket layer 106 includes dimethylsiloxane, methylvinylsiloxane, methylfluorovinylsiloxane, methylphenylvinylsiloxane, and the like, and the above polymer and NBR, EPDM, styrene butadiene rubber (SB
R) blends and copolymers with fluorinated rubber and N
BR, EPDM, SBR, etc. mixed with silicone oil, etc., and NBR, EPDM, SBR baked in a siloxane atmosphere at 100-200 ° C. for about 1 hour to form a coat layer with low surface energy And the like.

The blanket layer 106 has a critical surface tension of 20 to 27 dyne / cm and a viscoelastic tan δ of 0.2.
It is preferably in the range of 0.05 to 0.25.

The critical surface tension of the blanket layer 106 is:
The blanket to be measured is cut into a suitable size, and the blanket is determined by a Zisman plot measured by a contact angle meter CA-D type (manufactured by Kyowa Interface Science Co., Ltd.). When the critical surface tension of the blanket layer 106 exceeds 27 dyne / cm, the wettability of the blanket layer 106 with ink is too high, and the ink transfer rate from the blanket layer 106 to the printing medium decreases, which causes piling. . When the critical surface tension is less than 20 dyne / cm,
The transferability of the ink from the intaglio to the blanket layer 106 is reduced, and the reproducibility of fine lines and line width is undesirably reduced.

Next, the viscoelasticity of the rubber material whose critical surface tension is set to a predetermined value is adjusted so that the viscoelastic tan δ is in the range of 0.05 to 0.25. The viscoelasticity of the blanket layer 106 is determined by the density of cross-linking groups in the raw rubber,
Depending on the localization state of the cross-linking group, type of filler, content, particle size, surface treatment, type of cross-linking agent, primary vulcanization conditions (temperature, time, etc.), presence or absence of secondary vulcanization and its conditions, etc. Can be adjusted. Here, fumed silica, crushed silica, precipitated silica, calcium bicarbonate, calcium carbonate, diatomaceous earth, talc, quartz powder and the like can be used as the filler.

If the viscoelasticity tan δ of the blanket layer 106 is less than 0.05, the transferability of the ink from the intaglio to the blanket layer 106 is reduced, resulting in a thinned image and reduced edge accuracy, which is not preferable. Also, viscoelastic tan
When δ exceeds 0.25, the viscous physical properties of the blanket layer 106 become too large, which adversely affects the chucking of the printing medium, which is not preferable. Note that the viscoelasticity (tan δ) of the blanket layer 106 is determined by the rheovibron DDV-II-E
P [manufactured by Orientec Co., Ltd.]
Measure at a frequency of 11 Hz.

The sheet blanket 104 is unwound from the sheet blanket unwinding section 15 and is superimposed on the sheet blank support 101 by the nip roller 16. After performing a printing process described later, the sheet blanket 104 is moved to the nip roller 17. Separated from the support 101,
Finally, the sheet is wound around the sheet blanket winding section 18.

The belt-shaped intermediate transfer member 100 is formed of a substrate 1
Since No. 01 is made of an invar material or the like, dimensional changes during transfer due to elongation due to tension, elongation due to temperature change, and the like are small.

The offset printing machine of this embodiment has a transfer member driving unit 10 for driving the above-mentioned belt-shaped intermediate transfer member 100, a paste receiving unit 20, and buffer units 30, 30.
A, and an alignment transfer unit 40 and the like.

The transfer member driving section 10 is a portion for circulating and driving the belt-shaped intermediate transfer member 100, and includes rollers 11 to 14,
Sheet blanket unwinding section 15, nip roller 1
6, 17 and a sheet blanket winding section 18.

The paste receiving section 20 is a section for receiving a paste (ink) on the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body 100, has an intaglio formed on the surface, applies ink from an ink supply section (not shown), and uses a doctor. A plate cylinder 21 that has been inked and doctored to scrape it off, and its plate cylinder 2
1 is provided with an impression cylinder 22 for pressing the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body 100.

The plate cylinder 21 has a temperature control function (20 to 7).
0 ° C.), so that the paste viscosity can be reduced and the receiving speed and doctor speed can be increased. Further, when an ink having a steady flow viscosity in the range of 300 to 3000 poise is used, the transfer from the intaglio to the bracket and the transfer from the blanket to the printing medium are improved, and the pattern reproducibility is improved. In this embodiment, the plate cylinder 21 uses an intaglio plate. In addition, the sheet bracket 104 is excellent in reproducibility of the ink receiving shape and has a transferability of 100.
%, High precision (± 5 μm:
(21 inch size), high definition (up to 20 μm) and thick film printing (wet to 20 μm possible), and excellent line width and film thickness stability during continuous printing.

The buffer section 30 includes the belt-like intermediate transfer member 1
A part for stopping a part of 00, the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body 100 is sequentially wound around, and is constituted by a plurality of sandwiching rollers 31 to 35 whose shafts move vertically. That is, the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body 10
0 indicates that the buffer section 30 flows between the paste receiving section 20 and the alignment transfer section 40 because the stream flows intermittently in the later-described alignment transfer section 40 while the paste receiving section 20 flows continuously. The belt-like intermediate transfer member 100 is temporarily stored. In addition,
Although a detailed configuration is not shown, a buffer unit 30A having a similar configuration is also provided at a stage subsequent to the alignment transfer unit 40 described later.
Is arranged.

The alignment transfer section 40 transfers the ink from the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body 100 to the work W1
To W4, and has an image-work alignment function. Here, the alignment is performed by capturing an image of the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body 100 and the mark of the workpiece with an alignment camera (not shown) such as a CCD and driving the stage 41 so that they match.

A plurality of alignment transfer units 40 (4 to
(Approximately 6 units) simultaneously carry in the work, align, transfer (print) and carry out the work.
Alignment, transfer and unloading time (about 30 sec in total)
In c), a plurality of work processes are completed. In this embodiment, the stages 41-1 to 41-4 and the transfer roller 42-
There are provided four alignment transfer units 40 each including a pair of rolls 1-42 and sandwiching rolls 43-47, and a throughput of this portion (for example, about 8 sheets / min).
Has the same throughput as the paste receiving unit 20.

Without being limited to the embodiment described in detail above, various modifications and changes can be made as follows, and these are also within the equivalent scope of the present invention. (1) The intermediate transfer member 100 is a sheet-blank support 10
1 and the sheet blanket 104 may be integrally formed into an endless belt shape. In this case, the unwinding unit and the winding unit are not required. (2) The alignment transfer unit 40 may be one. Also in this case, by performing the transfer at a place different from the paste reception, there is an advantage that the degree of freedom of design is increased and the alignment processing can be performed without stopping the stage.

(3) In the case of a work that can be transferred without performing an alignment process, the buffer unit 3
It is also possible to perform transfer while moving the stage 41 without providing 0. (4) The plate cylinder 21 is described as an intaglio plate, but may be a lithographic plate or a relief plate depending on the work.

[0040]

As described above in detail, since the intermediate transfer member is in the form of a belt, it can be transferred to the work at a place different from the plate cylinder, and a plurality of images can be transferred from the plate cylinder. . In addition, since a belt-shaped substrate having high tensile strength is used, dimensional change during transfer is small.

In addition, the ink is received from the plate cylinder on the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body and is transferred to the printing medium by one or more transfer units, so that it can be transferred at another place. By providing a plurality of transfer portions in accordance with the ink receiving time, the processing time can be greatly reduced.

Further, since the belt-shaped intermediate transfer member is partially stopped, alignment can be easily performed at the time of transfer. Furthermore, since the plate cylinder has a temperature adjusting function, the viscosity of the ink can be reduced, and the receiving speed and the doctor speed can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an embodiment of a belt-shaped intermediate transfer body and an offset printing machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a conventional flat-bed offset printing press.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 belt-shaped intermediate transfer member 101 sheet blank support 102 base 103 compression layer 104 sheet blanket 105 base film 106 blanket layer 10 transfer member driving unit 15 sheet blanket unwinding unit 18 sheet blanket winding unit 20 paste receiving unit 21 plate cylinder 30, 30A buffer unit 40 alignment transfer unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A belt-shaped substrate, a compression layer provided on the substrate, a receiving layer disposed on the compression layer and receiving ink.
A belt-shaped intermediate transfer member provided with: 2. The belt-like intermediate transfer body according to claim 1, wherein the endless belt-like support in which the base and the compression layer are integrated, and the receiving layer are wound around the support and wound up. And a receiving layer sheet. 3. An offset printing press for printing on a hard printing medium using the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an ink is applied to the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body from a plate cylinder. An offset printing press, comprising: an ink receiving unit that receives ink; and one or more transfer units that transfer the ink received by the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body to the printing medium. 4. The offset printing press according to claim 3, wherein the transfer unit has an alignment function between the belt-shaped intermediate transfer body and the printing medium. 5. The offset printing press according to claim 4, further comprising a buffer unit that partially stops the belt-shaped intermediate transfer member when the transfer unit is aligned. 6. The offset printing press according to claim 3, wherein the plate cylinder has a temperature adjusting function.