Anilox Cell Geometries For Printable Electronics and Flexible Packaging
Authors:   , Foulston Sakulrat 
Published: November 2021

Flexography is a major high-volume printing process used extensively for ﬂexible packaging. The heart of ﬂexographic press is the anilox roll, which meters the ﬂow of ink to the image carrier (plate) by virtue of the engraved cells on the surface. The anilox was original engraved mechanically using a stylus to peck at the surface. This limited the size and proﬁle of the engraved cells. However, laser engraving has enabled much more control with a variety of shapes and aspect ratios. Much has been claimed by the manufacturers for these new designs – improved ink transfer, higher volumes of ink transfer and better half tone reproduction – on the basis of industrial ﬁeld trials. The objective of the research reported in this thesis has been to quantify the ink release from the anilox to the plate for both traditional cell proﬁles and the open channel designs.Previously, the ink release was mostly determined by examining the optical density of the print products. The optical density is a qualitative indicator of the ink release from anilox cells. These studies were limited to closed anilox cells with a low ink viscosity, as typically used for graphic prints. This study explores an extended range of anilox cell shapes, including open channel geometries, and the ink viscosities. The ink released from the anilox cells has been be directly measuring and quantiﬁed.Experiments were performed printing directly to glass and on ﬂexible packaging at a commercial printers to establish the current industry position. A laboratory scale printability tester was then used to study ink release using three inks: UV Cyan, Carbon and Silver. These represented a link to the graphic experiments in previous published studies, while the Carbon and Silver were highly viscoelastic functional inks used in printed electronics. Four cell geometries were used: laser engraved closed cells, extended hexagonal and wavy channels together with mechanically engraved conventional closed pyramid cells. The laser engraved anilox aﬀorded the opportunity to vary key parameters of cell width, depth, proﬁle and volume. A brief exploration of print speed was also undertaken with exemplar anilox of each cell type. The main study considered ink transfer to a 100% solid plate, as this would allow the ink release to be studied without inﬂuence of the plate distorting into the cells thereby extracting more ink. A limited study was then undertaken with a half tone plate to establish the impacted on ink transfer.The amount of ink transferred was highly dependent on the absolute volume of cells, i.e. the amount of ink available on the anilox. The anilox cells with wider, shallower and smaller depth-to-width ratio released a higher proportion of the ink. The ink’s physical characteristics of viscoelasticity and extensional viscosity also determine the proportion of ink transferred.The anilox hexagonal closed cells (typically used in the ﬂexographic printing process) performed best with the low viscosity ink. The information gaining from this study would aid in the design of anilox cell geometries and development of ink characteristics to enhance its capability for functional print applications such as printable electronics. The anilox wavy channels released the greatest proportion of the ink with high viscosity, elastic modulus, and ﬁlament breakup time. The anilox wavy channel has the potential to be used for the functional print as it increased the release of paste-like ink. Additionally, it improved the ink lay-down. The anilox engraving technique aﬀected the ink release. The anilox cells, which were engraved by the laser technique, gave greater ink release comparing to the anilox cells, which were engraved by the mechanically engraving technique. The increase of the dot coverage increased the ink release out of the anilox cells because of the increase of the receiving area. However, the increase of the ink release plateaued after the dot coverage of 50% for UV Silver because of its large ﬁlament breakup time.The characteristics of ink inﬂuenced the ink release out of the anilox cells. Unlike previous work which examined only the ink viscosity, this studied included ink elastic modulus and ﬁlament breakup. The ink with high viscosity and elastic modulus, but small ﬁlament breakup time gave greatest ink release for all anilox shapes.When the printing speed increased, it decreased the ink release due to two factors; reduction of engagement time between the anilox cells and the plate (reducing time for ink to transfer) and enlargement of the ﬁlament extension rate (reducing the amount of ink transfer). The decrease of ink release was aﬀected by the ink characteristics and the anilox cells shapes. The decrease of ink release was signiﬁcant when UV Cyan ink (small viscosity and elastic modulus) was used with the anilox open cells and wavy channels. Contrarily, the decrease of ink release was insigniﬁcant when UV Carbon and Silver inks (large viscosity and elastic modulus) was used with the anilox open cells and wavy channels.The experimental data was analysed and the critical parameters in releasing the ink of the anilox cells were identiﬁed. The depth of anilox cell was the most critical parameter; the shallower cell depth released a higher proportion of the ink. The ratio of depth-to-width was the second most important parameter in determining the ink release. The smaller depth-to-width ratio released more ink. The width of anilox cell could not be used as a parameter predicting the ink release because the wider anilox cell did not always release the higher proportion of the ink.