Shallow relief non-bottoming photopolymer printing plate

Claim 2

A shallow relief, non-bottoming printing plate comprising a water-developable photopolymerized layer having a thickness less than 0.020 inch and supported on a substrate, and a binder layer having a thickness from about 5 to 60 microns and carrying a plurality of dispersed ink repellant, polytetrafluroethylene particles interposed between said substrate and said photopolymerized layer, said binder layer being selected from the group consisting of (a) styrene-butadiene copolymers, (b) polyesters, (c) glyoxal, or mixtures of (a), (b), or (c), with partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate, said photopolymerized layer having raised image areas and recessed background areas, and said dispersed particles being present in said binder layer in a size and concentration sufficient to create an array of protuberances in the background areas having an average height between about 5 to 70 microns and an average distance between protuberances of about 5 to 1000 microns.

Claim 3

The printing plate of claim 1 wherein said dispersed particles are of a size to form protuberances in the background areas having a height between about 20 to 40 microns.

Claim 4

The printed plate of claim 2 wherein said dispersed particles are present in sufficient concentration to provide an array of protuberances in the background areas of the plate having an average distance between protuberances of between about 30 to 400 microns.

Claim 5

A shallow relief, non-bottoming printing plate comprising a water-developable photopolymerized layer having a thickness less than 0.020 inch and supported on a substrate, and a binder layer having a thickness from about 5 to 60 microns and carrying a plurality of dispersed ink repellant particles interposed between said substrate and said photopolymerized layer, said photopolymerized layer having raised image areas and recessed background areas; said dispersed particles being present in said binder layer in a size and concentration sufficient to create an array of protuberances in the background areas of said plate having an average height between about 5 to 70 microns and an average distance between protruberances of between about 5 to 1000 microns; and said binder layer being selected from the group consisting of (a) styrene-butadiene copolymers, (b) polyesters, (c) glyoxal, or mixtures of (a), (b), or (c), with partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate, said binder layer also having one or more antihalation compositions uniformly dispersed throughout.

Claim 6

A shallow relief, non-bottoming printing plate comprising a water-developable photopolymerized layer having a thickness less than 0.020 inch and supported on a substrate, and a binder layer having a thickness from about 5 to 60 microns and carrying a plurality of dispersed ink repellant particles interposed between said substrate and said photopolymerized layer, said photopolymerized layer having raised image areas and recessed background areas; said dispersed particles being present in said binder layer in a size and concentration sufficient to create an array of protuberances in the background areas of said plate having an average height between about 5 to 70 microns and an average distance between protruberances of between about 5 to 1000 microns; and said binder layer being selected from the group consisting of (a) styrene-butadiene copolymers, (b) polyesters, (c) glyoxal, or mixtures of (a), (b), or (c), with partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate, said binder layer also having one or more antihalation compositions uniformly dispersed throughout.

Claim 7

The printing plate of claim 4 wherein said photopolymerizable layer has a thickness in the range of about 0.0009 to 0.016 inch, wherein said binder layer has an overall thickness less than the average height of said dispersed particles, and wherein said dispersed particles are polytetrafluroethylene.