Visitors at the upcoming Forum 2012 and INFO*FLEX Exhibition to be held March 18 – 21, 2012, in San Antonio, TX, will view a comprehensive showcase from Flint Group with products ranging from flexographic printing plates, sleeves/adapters through to its comprehensive portfolio of packaging and narrow web inks.  

Flint Group Flexographic Products division will debut its new and innovative nyloflex® NExT exposure technology for producing precise image reproduction as well as flat top dots, providing all the benefits linked to this structure, including 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 very 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.  nyloflex® NExT equipment is available in two format sizes – 36 x 47 inches and 52 x 80 inches.

“The nyloflex® NExT technology offers great possibilities to establish a new quality standard for platemaking” explains Rich Emmerling, Technical Manager 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.”  

Another new development to be highlighted at the booth from Flint Group Flexographic Products 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.  nyloflex® APP is capable of processing photopolymer plates up to a maximum size of 52 x 80 inches.  The new equipment is extremely efficient offering short washout as well as greatly reduced drying times, automatically controls and regulates the solvent temperature and saturation, allowing platemakers to achieve a very high level of plate standardization and quality.  

In addition to the new technology in platemaking equipment, Flint Group Flexographic Products will present a comprehensive product range of nyloflex® printing plates, nylosolv® washout solvents, rotec® sleeves and rotec® adapters.  

Flint Group Packaging and Narrow Web will be on hand to discuss the latest in inks and coatings available for Flexographic printing – water-based, solvent based and UV curable Flexo inks, coatings, and specialty products.

Printers can also learn how to enhance their packaging production with the new solvent based ink systems PamioStar™ Outdoor which is providing excellent adhesion and resistance properties for production of durable outdoor bags and FlexiTech™ Shrink-U which provides excellent adhesion to a wide range of substrates making it a truly “Universal” ink range for the production of outstanding shrink sleeves.

For the packaging and label production with UV curing inks and coatings Flexocure FORCE™, high definition UV Flexo inks; Flexocure ANCORA™, high performance low migration UV Flexo inks; BioCure™ F UV Flexo inks based on bio-renewable resin technology; and Cast & Cure Coatings, which offer a sustainable solution for product decoration will be highlighted.

Visit stand #219 to hear the latest in ink product developments, such as UV LED ink technology.  Flint Group takes a product leadership position in the development of this sustainable, cost effective and leading edge technology. The Packaging and Narrow Web ink experts will be on hand to provide insight on the latest ink innovations.

nyloflex®, nylosolv® and rotec® are registered trademarks, and PamioStar™, FlexiTech™, Flexocure FORCE™,  Flexocure ANCORA™ and BioCure™ are trademarks of Flint Group.