JP2018176518A - Printing equipment and printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an adequate and stable printing pattern in printing by preventing deterioration of a blanket surface resulting from solvent absorption of an ink in printing equipment having a blanket taking out the ink from a gravure plate to receive and transcribing the ink received in the blanket to a printing base material.SOLUTION: There is provided printing equipment comprising: at least a gravure intaglio filling with an ink and a cylindrical blanket taking out the ink from the gravure plate; a heating body having a heating mechanism for heating a solvent absorbed in the blanket to an evaporable temperature; a cooling body having a cooling mechanism for cooling the heated blanket to the temperature before heating; a heating body contact rotation means contacting the blanket to the heating body to rotate; and a cooling body contact rotation means contacting the blanket to the cooling body to rotate. Thus, printing equipment has the function heating the blanket by the heating body contact rotation means to remove the solvent absorbed in the blanket and cooling the blanket by the cooling body contact rotation means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing technique suitable for high precision and high definition, and relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method provided with a solvent removal mechanism which enables high precision and high definition printing to be repeatedly and stably performed.

  At present, electrode patterns of electronic circuit wiring patterns and various devices related to semiconductors are required to be formed with extremely fine and high precision. There is a method of forming such fine and highly accurate pattern formation by a photolithography method. However, in the photolithography method, first, a conductive layer is formed, a resist layer is formed thereon, then the resist layer is exposed and developed, a portion without the resist layer is etched, and then the resist layer is peeled off and formed. Process is required. For this reason, there is a problem that many facilities are required and the process required to form a pattern becomes long.

  As another method, there is a pattern formation by a printing method, and the printing method can simplify the process as compared with the photolithography method, which is advantageous in cost. The screen printing method is known as one of the printing methods, but the formation of fine lines is limited to a line width of about 70 μm, and it is necessary to secure an equivalent space. Furthermore, it is difficult to stably and repeatedly form fine fine lines.

  Therefore, offset printing has come to be used to form finer patterns than screen printing. The printing apparatus by the offset printing method is provided with a plate on which a printing pattern is formed, a doctor for filling the ink in the printing line portion of the plate, and a blanket roll for receiving the ink while rotating in contact with the plate. The ink received by the blanket roll can be press-bonded and transferred onto the surface of the substrate to form a predetermined fine pattern.

  Since the offset printing method forms a pattern by printing, the process is shorter and the number of devices required is smaller than that of the photolithography method. Furthermore, there is an advantage that it is possible to stably form a fine pattern which is difficult in screen printing.

  The outline of a general offset printing apparatus is shown below.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an offset printing apparatus in the case of using a lithographic plate as a gravure plate.
The printing apparatus 100 is made of a metal or glass gravure plate 101 having a plurality of pattern grooves 104 and an ink 105 such as a conductive paste or resin filled in the gravure plate 101 and made of steel or scraped with excess ink. A resin cylinder 106, a blanket cylinder 102 around which a blanket 103 for receiving and transferring the filling ink 107 filled in the pattern grooves 104 of the gravure plate 101 while rotating at a constant pressure, and a receiving agent received by the blanket 103 And a printing substrate 110 for printing the ink 108.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a printing process using the offset printing apparatus shown in FIG.

  First, as shown in FIG. 7A, an appropriate amount of the ink 105 is supplied onto the gravure plate 101. Next, as shown in FIG. 7B, the gravure plate 101 is moved in the arrow direction while pressing the doctor 106 against the gravure plate 101 with a constant pressure, and the supplied ink 105 is filled in the pattern groove 104 of the gravure plate 101. To form the filling ink 107, and at the same time scrape off the excess ink on the surface of the gravure plate 101.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7C, the blanket cylinder 102 having the blanket 103 wound thereon is pressed against the gravure plate 101 at a constant pressure, and is filled synchronously with the gravure plate 101 while filling the pattern groove 104 of the gravure plate 101 Ink 107 is received by blanket 103 to form receiving ink 108.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7 (d), while holding the receiving ink 108 received by the blanket 103, the printing substrate 110 placed on the printing surface plate 111 is pressed with a constant pressure. The printing substrate 110 is moved synchronously with the blanket cylinder 102 to transfer the receiving ink 108 received by the blanket 103 onto the printing substrate 110.

  Thus, the printing process is completed. The ink 105 used for printing can be suitably selected according to the function of the pattern to produce.

  Materials with relatively high viscosity, such as resin and conductive paste, are used for printing of fine patterns. For example, the viscosity of the conductive paste is 5 to 1000 Pa · s at an angular velocity of 10 to 100 rad / sec when measured at a cone plate diameter of 20 mm and an angle of 2 ° by a rheology measuring device. As described above, the ink 105 is filled in the pattern groove 104 by pressing the doctor 106 against the gravure plate 101 and rotating the gravure plate 101, and the excess ink on the surface of the gravure plate 101 is scraped off by the doctor 106. It is removed. Thereafter, the ink 107 filled in the pattern groove 104 is received by the blanket 103, and further transferred to the printing substrate 110 for printing to obtain a desired printing pattern 109.

  In the printing using the offset printing apparatus described above, high definition printing is possible because the ink comes into contact with the ink filled in the gravure plate until the ink is received by the blanket and transferred to the printing substrate The internal solvent is absorbed by the blanket to cause aggregation of the ink, thereby eliminating dripping of the ink, thereby enabling high-definition printing.

However, in this printing method, when printing is continued, absorbed solvent is accumulated in the blanket, resulting in swelling of the blanket. The accumulation of the solvent in the blanket makes the blanket state different from that at the start of printing.
When high-precision, high-definition printing of printed wiring boards, touch panel substrates, parts of image display devices, etc. is performed using such a printing method, the printability is not stable and variations occur in the pattern shape and film thickness. It is easy to do and printing defects occur. If printing defects occur, the resistance of the wiring will be affected, and the characteristics of the electrodes will be different, which may cause quality deterioration of the final product.

  In the above offset printing apparatus, a method of heating and drying the blanket using hot air or a heater is used as a method of removing the solvent accumulated in the blanket to suppress the swelling of the blanket and improving the printability. (For example, Patent Document 1)

As shown in FIG. 8, in heating and drying with hot air, a method of blowing hot air from a hot air nozzle 116 onto a blanket is generally used, but since it is sprayed in an open space, the drying time is long and the drying efficiency is poor. Also, in order to raise the blanket temperature to a temperature at which the solvent absorbed in the blanket can be removed, a very high temperature heat source is required.
In the heating and drying by the heater, heating is easy to a temperature sufficient to remove the solvent absorbed in the blanket, but not only the blanket but also peripheral equipment such as the under blanket and the blanket cylinder are heated. For this reason, it takes a long time to cool the temperature of the blanket to a temperature at which the ink can be removed from the intaglio, and the printing efficiency is degraded.

Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2006-231683

  Therefore, in view of the problems of the prior art described above, the present invention meets the demand for high definition and high precision printing by preventing deterioration of the blanket state due to solvent absorption into the blanket and being able to withstand continuous printing. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a printing method which realize this with an easy configuration and realize an improvement in printing efficiency.

In order to achieve this object, the invention according to claim 1 is
In a printing apparatus comprising at least a gravure intaglio plate filled with ink and a cylindrical blanket for removing ink from the gravure plate,
A heating body for heating the blanket;
A cooling body for cooling the blanket;
A heater contact rotating means for contacting and rotating the blanket to the heater;
And a cooling body contact rotating means for contacting and rotating the blanket with the cooling body.

The invention according to claim 2 is
The heating body and the cooling body have a flat plate shape, and
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a mechanism for bringing the blanket into contact with the heating body and the cooling body and moving the heating body and the cooling body relative to each other simultaneously with the rotation of the blanket.

The invention according to claim 3 is
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size of the heating body and the cooling body is at least larger than the width of the blanket and longer than the circumferential length of the blanket.

The invention according to claim 4 is
The heating body and the cooling body are cylindrical, and
The heating body and the cooling body are rotating bodies in which the heating body is supported by a rotating shaft parallel to the rotating shaft of the blanket, and when removing the solvent, the blanket and the heating body come into contact with each other. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 3, further comprising a mechanism for relatively rotating the heating body simultaneously with the rotation of.

The invention according to claim 5 is
The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein at least one or more of the heating body and the cooling body are provided.

The invention according to claim 6 is
The step of removing the solvent absorbed by the blanket each time printing is performed and the step of cooling the blanket are continuously performed using the printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5. It is a printing method characterized by the above.

  According to the present invention, the surface state of the blanket is stabilized by removing the solvent absorbed in the blanket each time printing is performed, so that the printability is stable and the variation in the pattern shape and the film thickness is eliminated, and high definition is achieved. It is possible to provide a printing apparatus and printing method capable of printing with high precision printing continuously and stably.

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a mechanism according to a first embodiment of a printing apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of a printing apparatus of the present invention provided with the mechanism shown in FIG. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the mechanism which concerns on 2nd embodiment of the printing apparatus of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the mechanism which concerns on 2nd embodiment of the printing apparatus of this invention. It is a schematic plan view which shows 2nd embodiment of the printing apparatus of this invention using the mechanism shown in FIG.3 and FIG.4. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the mechanism of a general offset printing apparatus. It is the schematic of the printing process in the offset printing apparatus shown in FIG. It is the schematic which shows an example of the common blanket drying method.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a mechanism according to a first embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention provided with the mechanism shown in FIG. It is a schematic plan view.

In FIG. 2, the printing apparatus 200 of the present invention includes a heating plate 112 for heating the blanket 103 and a cooling plate for cooling the heated blanket 103 in order to remove the solvent absorbed by the blanket 103. 113 is installed.
Each of the heating plate 112 and the cooling plate 113 has a flat plate shape, and has a mechanism for performing heating or cooling inside.

  Then, the printing apparatus 200 of the present invention is filled with the doctor 106 for filling the ink 105 supplied to the pattern groove 104 of the gravure plate 101 and the gravure plate as in the mechanism shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. A blanket 103 for transferring the received ink 108 onto the printing substrate 110 placed on the printing surface plate 111 and a blanket cylinder 102 for winding the blanket 103; Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a heating plate 112 for heating the blanket to remove the solvent absorbed by the blanket, and a cooling plate 113 for cooling the heated blanket are provided. A drive unit 201 having a drive mechanism for rotating and moving the blanket is attached to both ends of the blanket cylinder 102, and the rotation or movement of the blanket cylinder 102 is controlled by the drive unit 201.

  In the case of printing using the printing apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 2, first, after the above-described steps from FIG. 7 (a) to (d) are completed, the blanket cylinder 102 on which the blanket 103 is wound is a heating plate 112. The blanket cylinder 102 is lowered to bring the heating plate 112 into contact with the blanket 103. When the blanket 103 contacts, the blanket cylinder 102 moves to the right while making contact rotation, and when the right end of the heating plate 112 is reached, the blanket cylinder 102 is lifted. While in contact with the heating plate 112, the blanket 103 is heated, and the solvent absorbed by the blanket 103 is thermally evaporated and removed.

  Next, the blanket cylinder 102 moves to the left end of the cooling plate 113, the blanket cylinder 102 descends, and the blanket 103 contacts the cooling plate 113. When the blanket 103 contacts, the blanket cylinder 102 moves to the right while making contact rotation, and when the right end of the cooling plate 113 is reached, the blanket cylinder 102 is lifted. While in contact with the cooling plate 113, the blanket 103 is rapidly cooled.

It is desirable that the heating plate 112 and the cooling plate 113 be at least larger than the width of the blanket 103 and larger than the circumferential length of the blanket 103 in order to rapidly heat or cool the entire surface of the blanket 103.

  The heating plate 112 is heated from the inside, and the heating method is, for example, a heater using a heating wire or the like, oil, a heated water, a method of circulating steam, or the like.

  The heating temperature of the heating plate 112 is set to a temperature at which the solvent of the ink used for printing can evaporate. In addition, the heating temperature can be adjusted by the solvent type of the ink to be used.

  The cooling plate 113 is a system of cooling from the inside, and the cooling method is, for example, a refrigerant, or one obtained by cooling water, a method of circulating cold air, or the like.

  The cooling temperature of the cooling plate 113 is set to an optimum temperature when the blanket 103 takes out the ink 105 filled in the intaglio 101. Further, the temperature at the time of taking out the filling ink 105 can be optimally adjusted depending on the ink type.

  FIGS. 3 and 4 are schematic cross-sectional views of a mechanism showing an example of a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a printing apparatus of the present invention provided with the mechanisms shown in FIGS. It is a schematic plan view which shows.

  In order to remove the solvent absorbed by the blanket 103 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the heating roll 114 heating the blanket 103 and the cooling roll 115 cooling the heated blanket 103 are shown in FIG. It is installed in a printing apparatus 300 according to the second embodiment.

The printing apparatus 300 according to the second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 5 takes out the doctor 106 for filling the ink supplied to the pattern groove of the gravure plate 101 and the ink filling the gravure plate 101. A blanket 103 for transferring the receiving ink onto the printing substrate 110 placed on the printing plate 111, a blanket cylinder 102 for winding the blanket 103, and a solvent for removing the solvent absorbed by the blanket 103. , And a cooling roll 115 for cooling the heated blanket. A drive unit 201 having a drive mechanism for rotating and moving the blanket is attached to both ends of the blanket cylinder 102, and the rotation or movement of the blanket cylinder 102 is controlled by the drive unit 201.
The heating roll 114 and the cooling roll 115 are each cylindrical and rotatable with a rotation axis at the center of the cylinder, and the rotation axis is parallel to the rotation axis of the blanket cylinder 102.

After the processes shown in FIGS. 7A to 7D described above are completed, the heating roll 114 contacts the blanket 103. At the same time, the cooling roll 115 contacts the blanket 103. When the heating roll 114 and the cooling roll 115 contact, the blanket cylinder 102 contacts and rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. Such a manner of rotation is also referred to as relative rotation since both of the contacted members rotate in opposite directions.
And if it rotates 1 round or more from a contact start position, heating roll 114 and cooling roll 115 will separate from blanket drum 102. Thus, the blanket 103 is heated by the heating roller 114, and after the solvent absorbed by the blanket 103 is evaporated by heat and removed, the solvent is rapidly cooled by the cooling roller 115.

The heating roll 114 and the cooling roll 115 are desirably at least larger than the width of the blanket 103 in order to rapidly heat or cool the entire surface of the blanket 103.

  The heating roller 114 is internally heated, and the heating method is heating using a heater using a heating wire or the like, oil, a heated water, a method of circulating steam, or the like.

  The heating temperature of the heating roller 114 is set to a temperature at which the solvent of the ink used for printing can evaporate. In addition, the heating temperature can be adjusted by the solvent type of the ink to be used.

  The cooling roll 115 is a system in which cooling is performed from the inside, and the cooling method is cooling using a refrigerant, a cooled water, a method of circulating cold air, or the like.

  The cooling temperature of the cooling roll 115 is set to an optimum temperature when the blanket 103 takes out the ink 105 filled in the intaglio 101. Further, it is possible to optimally adjust the removal temperature of the filling ink 105 depending on the ink type.

  The number of installed heating rollers 114 and the number of cooling rollers 115 can be adjusted, for example, as shown in FIG. 4 according to the heating temperature, cooling temperature, heating time, and cooling time of the blanket. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, four heating rolls 114 a to 114 d are in contact with the periphery of the blanket 103, and four cooling rolls 115 a to 115 d are in contact with each other. The number of heating rolls and cooling rolls may be determined as appropriate. As a result, since the blanket contacts for a long time in a cumulative manner rather than one by one, heating or cooling of the blanket is further strengthened.

  Hereinafter, examples in which the present invention is specifically implemented will be described.

  First, using the gravure plate 101 having a pattern groove width of 25 μm at a pitch of 40 μm as a printing pattern and using the PET substrate as the printing substrate 110 and the conductive silver paste as the ink 105 according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. It printed using the printer.

  The gravure plate 101 used was a metal lithographic plate on which the above-mentioned print pattern grooves 104 were engraved by etching. The printing range used the gravure plate 101 of width 300 mm x length 500 mm.

  The PET substrate used was in the form of a roll having dimensions of width 600 × 600 mm × thickness 125 μm. The viscosity of the conductive silver paste was 5 to 10 Pa · s at an angular velocity of 10 rad / sec with a rheology measuring device. As the printing blanket 103, one having a thickness of 0.9 mm and a hardness of 10 ° and a length of 650 mm mainly composed of silicone rubber was used. The blanket cylinder 102 used a cylinder made of SUS304 and having a width of 350 mm and a diameter of 100 mm.

  As the heating roll 114 and the cooling roll 115 shown in FIG. 3, rolls made of SUS304 and having a width of 400 mm and a diameter of 150 mm were used.

  In the heating roll 114, a cartridge heater was embedded inside the roll for heating. The temperature of the roll was measured by measuring the surface temperature of the roll with an infrared radiation thermometer. The roll surface temperature was adjusted at 120 ° C. ± 5 ° C. as the heating temperature.

  The cooling roll 115 was a hollow roll to circulate and cool the dry air. The temperature of the roll was measured by measuring the surface temperature of the roll with an infrared radiation thermometer. The roll surface temperature was adjusted at 23 ° C. ± 5 ° C. as the cooling temperature.

  The rotational speed of the blanket cylinder 102 at the time of removing the solvent absorbed by the blanket 103 was rotated at 50 mm / sec, and was rotated two revolutions from the heating roll 114 contact start position.

The conductive silver paste was supplied at 0.5 g / cm ² onto the gravure plate 101. The gravure plate 101 was filled with ink at a doctor 106. The position where the gravure plate 101 and the blanket 103 contact each other is defined as the zero point of the blanket cylinder 102. The position where the blanket cylinder 102 was brought close to the 0.5 mm gravure plate 101 from the zero point was the position where the filling ink 107 was taken out from the gravure plate 101 to the blanket 103. At this position, the gravure plate 101 was moved at 50 mm / sec and, at the same time, the blanket 103 was rotated at a speed of 50 mm / sec, so that the filling ink 107 of the bravia plate 101 was received by the blanket 103. The receiving ink 108 received by the blanket 103 is pressed and transferred onto the printing substrate 110 and printed.

  After transfer is completed to the printing substrate 110, the heating roller 112a and the cooling roller 113a are brought into contact as shown in FIG. 4, and the blanket cylinder 102 is rotated twice at a speed of 50 mm / sec. Was removed from the blanket 103, and the removal of the solvent absorbed by the blanket 103 and the cooling of the heated blanket 103 were simultaneously performed.

  Up to 50 sheets were continuously printed by the above-described process.

  As a result, according to the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the printing state of the printed matter does not change from the printing start to the printing end, and the high-definition and high-precision printing is continuously and stably printed. It was possible to print.

  The printing apparatus of the present invention is not limited to only the aspect described in the above embodiment, and all forms, applications, and equivalents included in the concept of the present invention defined by the claims are included in the present invention. Be Accordingly, the present invention should not be interpreted in a limited manner, and can be applied to any other technology falling within the scope of the present invention.

100 ... printing apparatus 101 ... gravure plate 102 ... blanket cylinder 103 ... blanket 104 ... pattern groove 105 ... ink 106 ... doctor 107 ... filling ink 108 ... acceptance Ink 109 ... printing pattern 110 ... printing substrate 111 ... printing plate 112 ... heating plate 113 ... cooling plate 114 ... heating rolls 114a to 114d ... heating rolls (additional state )
115 ··· Cooling rolls 115a to 115d · · · Cooling rolls (additional state)
116 ··· Hot air nozzle 200 ··· Printing device with heating plate, cooling plate 201 ··· Drive unit 300 ··· Printing device with heating roller and cooling roller

Claims (6)

In a printing apparatus comprising at least a gravure intaglio plate filled with ink and a cylindrical blanket for removing ink from the gravure plate,
A heating body for heating the blanket;
A cooling body for cooling the blanket;
A heater contact rotating means for contacting and rotating the blanket to the heater;
And a cooling body contact rotating means for contacting and rotating the blanket to the cooling body. The heating body and the cooling body have a flat plate shape, and
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a mechanism that brings the blanket into contact with the heating body and the cooling body and moves the heating body and the cooling body relative to each other simultaneously with the rotation of the blanket.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size of the heating body and the cooling body is at least larger than the width of the blanket and longer than a circumferential length of the blanket. The heating body and the cooling body are cylindrical, and
The heating body and the cooling body are rotating bodies in which the heating body is supported by a rotating shaft parallel to the rotating shaft of the blanket, and when removing the solvent, the blanket and the heating body come into contact with each other. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 3, further comprising a mechanism for relatively rotating the heating body simultaneously with the rotation of.   The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein at least one or more of the heating body and the cooling body are provided.   The step of removing the solvent absorbed by the blanket each time printing is performed and the step of cooling the blanket are continuously performed using the printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5. Characteristic printing method.