Visitors to the Flint Group stand at ProFlex, Stuttgart, and Labelexpo Europe in Brussels, were able to witness at first hand some of the many excellent results that have been achieved using Flint Group Flexographic Products new and innovative exposure technology, nyloflex^® NExT. Print samples obtained from several European customers during exhaustive print trials using varying ink systems and substrates were displayed at both shows receiving universal approval from both print experts and customers alike.

nyloflex^® NExT

nyloflex^® NExT is a new, high intensity UV exposure technology from Flint Group, which enables precise reproduction of the digital layout onto the finished printing plate by exposing the printing plates with UV-A-LEDs. This innovative way of exposing offers great possibilities to establish a new quality standard for flexo platemaking. The high level of UV emission leads to a significant improvement of the reproduction of finest relief elements. The reproduction of high resolution surface screening provides superior print quality with much better ink laydown. The improved mechanical properties and the precisely defined surface of the flat top dots ensure a consistent high print quality and long print runs. In comparison to typical digital dots, the physical characteristics of flat top dots enable reduced dot gain tolerances, which are usually caused by varying impression settings. Due to the precise reproduction of image data a 1:1 image transfer onto the printing plate can be obtained, which clearly extends the colour gamut and improves the contrast of the printed image.

The nyloflex^® NExT technology does not require any additional consumables, which is a huge advantage compared to competitive technologies. It is suitable for all standard digital flexo plates in all plate formats and plate thicknesses and can be easily integrated into an existing digital workflow.

To benefit from this new technology, Flint Group Flexographic Products offers two types of nyloflex^® NExT Exposure units:

• nyloflex^® NExT Exposure F III, the mid size exposure unit with format 920 x 1200 mm
  (36 x 47 in).
• nyloflex^® NExT Exposure F V, the large size exposure unit with format 1320 x 2032 mm
  (52 x 80 in).

The market launch of the new technology is planned for November 2011.