Pad Printing Terms:
- Registration – a process of lining up colors to each other to produce a multicolored print.
- Cob Webbing – fine threads of ink on printed part
- Ink Split – when ink separates in the etch of a plate when pad picks up image, usually causing cobwebs.
- Closed Cup – the device that holds the ink and doctors ink across etch in plate filling image with ink.
- Open Well – a method of holding ink for doctoring across plate for pad printing.
- Doctoring – the process of filling an etch in a plate and cleaning the un-etched area of excess in.
- Overprint – printing one color of ink over another.
- Trapping – printing one color over another color slightly to make registration of colors easier in print process.
- Ring – ceramic or metal blade used in a closed cup pad printing system to doctor or meter the ink over plate or cliché.
- Scooping – when the ring or doctor blade does not have enough support and removes ink from center of etch in plate.
Plate Terms:
- Plates / Cliché – a prepared surface from which an etch is created for printing.
- Etch – to produce (use a pattern or design) on a hard material by eating into the materials surface.
- Halftone or Screened Image – a dot pattern etched into plate or cliché to help support the ring or doctor blade
- Open Image – a plate or cliché that is etched without the use of a screen.
- Fast Ink – an ink that has a quick drying rate or an ink that has solvents that make it evaporate very quickly.
- Gloss – a surface luster or brightness (shine)
- Matte – free from shine or highlights (deprived of luster or gloss)
- One Component Ink – an ink that is fully cured when all the solvent in the ink has evaporated, leaving a dry resin film on the substrate.
- Two Component Ink – to combine 2 resins to change the chemical structure into a new resin.
- Opacity – blocking the passage of light
- Retarder – a solvent that will slow down the cure rate or evaporation
- Slow ink – an ink that cures very slowly
- Thinner – a solvent to make the ink less dense or viscous, to change the viscosity or thickness of ink
- Transparent – allowing the passage of light through
Material Terms:
- Dyne Level – the surface tension of substrates
- Flame Treatment – a method of changing surface tension by use of fire
- Corona Discharge – a method of changing surface tension by use of electricity
- Polyolefins – plastics, polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) surface tension for ink adhesion should be between 38-46 DYNES/cm
- Substrate – the base on which and ink is printed onto
- Static – electricity that consists of isolated motionless charges (as those produced by friction)