What is the difference between the tin box and the paper box printing process?

In recent years, tinplate tin boxes have become more widely used. Basically, all walks of life have begun to use custom tin box for product packaging. However, many customers and friends often ask questions about the printing process of our business. Some customers even think that tin boxes are the first If it is made and then printed, here, Xiaoxin and friends will briefly explain it.

The printing materials for tin box printing are generally zinc iron plates, tinned tinplate, etc. Among the printing methods of tinplate boxes, most of them are lithographic offset printing, and the printing materials are mostly tinplate. The following Xiaoxin will elaborate on the lithographic printing of metal:

The iron box is mostly lithographic printing, which is similar to the lithographic printing principle of paper but different from paper printing, which is determined by its process characteristics. The similar aspect is that the lithographic printing of the iron box is measured from the printing point of view. It belongs to the category of offset printing. It starts from the traditional document office, film output, printing, and proofing. Now the CTP directly outputs the printing plate and directly outputs the digital sample paper. The printed matter is finished, and the overall process still has many similarities. There are three differences:

1. The substrate is different, it is a metal tinplate instead of paper. The basic characteristics of metal tinplate is an important consideration in the metal lithography operation process. The materials that need to be used for the lithography of the tin box should be selected according to the different requirements of the tin box after it is formed. The variety of materials, such as the amount of tin plating on the surface of the metal tinplate and its quenching and tempering degree, etc. The surface properties of the metal tinplate also directly affect the appearance of the printed matter and the value of the product. If the tin layer on the surface of the tinplate is not uniformly distributed, it will cause different shades of color after metal plate printing, uneven corrosion resistance, and affect the final use value of the product.

2. When tinplate is made into a tin box, it needs to go through various processes such as stretching, buckle bone, and stamping. These processes are not required for carton forming. Therefore, this requires the ink adhesion on the surface of the tinplate to reach a certain physical and chemical index. Therefore, before the lithographic printing of the tin box, the corresponding coating process must be done on the surface of the tinplate. A basic function of the coating is to enhance the adhesion and affinity between the ink layer and the tinplate. Depending on the product, the coating process is also different.

3. After the tin box is printed, we need to apply varnish or dumb oil on the coating machine. The main function is to play a protective role on the printed patterns, increase the brightness of the graphics and texts on the iron box pattern, and make the iron box not change color and paint during molding.