Patent ID: 8557504

Claim:
A method of providing a lithographic printing plate comprising: A) imagewise exposing a thermally ablatable lithographic printing plate precursor by thermal ablation at an energy of at least 100 mJ/cm 2 and less than or including 1000 mJ/cm 2 , to cause the materials in an infrared radiation-absorptive and thermally ablatable outer layer to be ejected or disrupted from the lithographic printing plate precursor, thereby revealing an underlying non-thermally ablatable first layer and B) optionally removing ablation debris during the exposure step, wherein the thermally ablatable lithographic printing plate precursor consists essentially of a hydrophilic substrate having thereon: the non-thermally ablatable first layer disposed on the hydrophilic substrate, and the infrared radiation-absorptive and thermally ablatable outer layer disposed on the first layer, the infrared radiation-absorptive and thermally ablatable outer layer consisting essentially of an infrared radiation absorbing compound dispersed within a thermally ablatable organic binder, and the non-thermally ablatable first layer is hydrophilic and composed of a discontinuous inorganic phase dispersed within a continuous inorganic sol gel phase.