Flint shows off nyloflex NExT

Flint Group Flexographic Products’ new exposure technology, nyloflex NExT, was showed to the trade at last month’s Labelexpo Europe 2011 in Brussels.
 
Print samples (pictured) obtained from several European customers during exhaustive print trials using varying ink systems and substrates were displayed at Labelexpo Europe 2011, as well as ProFlex in Stuttgart. The market launch of nyloflex NExT is planned for November this year.
 
Flint’s nyloflex NExT is a high-intensity UV exposure technology that enables precise reproduction of the digital layout onto the finished printing plate by exposing the printing plates with UV-A-LEDs.

Flint said this innovative way of exposing offers enhanced possibilities to establish a new quality standard for flexo platemaking. The high level of UV emission leads to a significant improvement in the reproduction of fine relief elements and the reproduction of high-resolution surface screening provides superior print quality with 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 color gamut and improves the contrast of the printed image.
 
In addition, Flint said the nyloflex NExT technology does not require any additional consumables. It is suitable for all standard digital flexo plates in all plate formats and plate thicknesses and can be integrated into an existing digital workflow.
 
Flint Group Flexographic Products offers two types of nyloflex NExT exposure unit: the nyloflex NExT Exposure F III, a mid-size exposure unit with a 920 x 1,200mm
(36 x 47in) format size; and the nyloflex NExT Exposure F V, a larger size exposure unit with a 1,320 x 2,032mm (52 x 80in) format size.