Flexography is a printing process in which flexible relief plates are fed with ink to then print images or text on a substrate.
Flexography is usually described as a modern version of the letterpress technique. However, unlike the traditional letterpress method, flexography is a highly automated printing process where printing is carried out at high speed with extremely fast-drying inks.
The mechanical structure used in flexography consists of several rollers.
A first roller (usually called fontain or inking roller) feeds a second roller (called anilox roller) with ink. The anilox roller then transfers the ink to a plate cylinder equipped with a flexible printing plate. Last, an impression cylinder is placed next to the plate cylinder. The substrate on which the printing is going to be made is then placed between these two cylinders, allowing the printing.
Flexography can be used to print on many different substrates, including:
As a printing process, flexography offers many advantages. These including the following:
However, flexography also has some disadvantages: