Flexography

flexography [flek′säg·rə·fē]

(graphic arts)

Relief printing with plates fastened to a cylinder and with a single inking roller supplied with aniline ink from two rollers in the ink fountain. Also known as aniline printing; aniline process; flexographic printing.

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Flexography 

printing with a resilient, elastic relief surface and fluid, fast-drying inks; a type of letterpress printing. Flexography uses special rotary presses with up to eight printing units. The relief surfaces, or plates, are molded from rubber or rubberlike plastic; cast and photopolymer plates are also used. The impression cylinders make up to 23,000 rotations per hour. The printing is done on paper, cellophane, foil, and polymer films. Flexography is also called aniline printing, because aniline dyes may be used as inks. The process is widely used for printing packaging materials, paper office forms, advertising, and occasionally books.

REFERENCES

Anilinovaia pechat’. Moscow, 1965.
Fleksografiia: Printsipy i praktika. Kiev, 1973. (Translated from English.)