Flint Group Flexographic Products division will debut its new nyloflex NExT exposure technology, designed to produce precise image reproduction and flat top dots, at this year’s INFO*FLEX forum in San Antonio, TX, USA. The forum takes place March 18-21 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

“The nyloflex NExT technology offers great possibilities to establish a new quality standard for platemaking,” says Rich Emmerling, technical manager of flexographic products. “One of the main advantages of utilizing this new technology is that it does not add any steps to the existing digital workflow, and it doesn’t require the use of additional consumable items.  We are very excited to introduce this technology here in North America.” 

According to the company, this new technology provides increased tonal range, expanded utilization of surface textures to greatly improve ink lay down, and solid ink density. The new exposure technology utilizes high intensity UV-A LEDs to conduct a rapid crosslinking of the polymer surface before the oxygen can inhibit the reaction. The high energy UV-A LEDs can then be combined with standard UV-A tubes to complete the through cure of the image to the floor of the polymer plate. The resulting image is virtually a 1:1 reproduction from the image on the LAMS layer. The nyloflex NExT equipment is available in two format sizes: 36 x 47 inches and 52 x 80 inches.

Another new development to be highlighted at the Flint Group Flexographic Products booth is the nyloflex Automated Plate Processor (APP), a fully automated processing line for flexographic printing plates, which includes a processor with digital layer separation, dryer and light finisher. The nyloflex APP is capable of processing photopolymer plates up to a maximum size of 52 x 80 inches. According to the company, the new equipment offers short washout and reduced drying times, automatically controls and regulates the solvent temperature and saturation, thereby allowing platemakers to achieve a very high level of plate standardization and quality. 

Flint Group Packaging and Narrow Web will be in Booth 219 at this year’s INFO*FLEX forum. For more information, visit www.flintgrp.com.