Consumables
TRELLEBORG PROVIDES INDUSTRY-LEADING BLANKET SOLUTIONS AT IFRA EXPO 2009
Monday 19. October 2009 - New environmentally-friendly blankets offer better print quality
Intensive research and development at Trelleborg Printing Blankets laboratories around the world has resulted in some major breakthroughs in offset blanket technology, which has allowed the company to manufacture blankets with significantly less impact on the environment, plus greater durability on the press and improved print quality.
An extensive range of different materials have been tested during the last two years in order to ascertain which substrates provide the most effective solutions to the challenges facing todays printers. This has resulted in a completely new and unique approach to blanket construction, using innovative materials that enable groundbreaking levels of productivity.
“Weve been examining in minute detail every aspect of blanket production, from the materials and chemicals used in the process, the energy required during production, how blankets are packaged and transported and what characteristics the final product offers to the printer,” says Dario Porta, managing director of Trelleborg Printing Blankets. “Blankets must provide more than good dot reproduction and paper release etc and particularly when used on shaftless or wider width presses the blanket can have a big impact on energy consumption. In some cases fitting a different blanket can reduce energy costs on a printing unit by as much as 20 per cent.
“A wide range of factors have to be taken into account when a manufacturer develops a new product and when a printer chooses a blanket. For example, whether a blanket offers negative or positive feeding can effect on press performance and the likelihood of web breaks. Greater blanket durability means a reduction in cost to the printer and less impact on the environment.”
New Vulcan Metal Green Active
Visitors to the stand at Ifra can hear about Trelleborgs new Vulcan Metal Green Active, a solventless blanket that provides all the advantages of the industry-leading metal-backed Vulcan Metal News Active. This new blanket solution will be available from January 2010.
Vulcan Metal News Active was launched to great acclaim earlier in the year. The unique blanket, which offers excellent smash resistance and print quality, has been adopted by several major newspaper groups and newspaper press manufacturers throughout Europe.
Vulcan Metal News Active incorporates a new film backing and is the result of research by Trelleborgs R&D team, along with its Italian distributor Printgraph, which has been the exclusive Italian distributor for Vulcan blankets for 30 years. Its managing director, Roberto Levi, is the inventor of the Finito series of films and he has worked closely with Trelleborg specialists to develop this latest blanket solution.
Conventional adhesive is attacked by a wide range of commonly used press blanket washing agents. Regardless of whether blanket washing is carried out by hand or automatically the cleaning agent will, over a period of time, dissolve the adhesive, with the usual result being that the film separates from the blankets steel backing. This means the press often has to be stopped and the blanket replaced, with subsequent loss of production.
An increasing number of newspaper press manufacturers are producing presses with cylinders capable of printing 24-pages in one revolution. Conventional rubber/fabric blankets cannot be used on these large size cylinders, which can be more than two metres wide, because the gaps created when they are fixed to the cylinders result in unacceptable gear marks and stripes on the paper. Metal-backed blankets overcome this issue and can also cope with the faster running speeds.
New Rollin solutions provide major environmental benefits
Trelleborgs Rollin Metal-X blanket, which incorporates Stabil-X technology, provides several major environmental advantages. Replacing traditional cotton and rubber compounds with synthetic fibres and polymers enables solvent consumption during manufacture to be reduced by 70 per cent, while the polymers used can be recycled.
Results have shown that Rollin Metal-X equals or exceeds the highest print quality available from traditional blankets with better ink transfer, which reduces ink and fount solution settings. In addition, the polymer structure does not absorb washing solvents and provides excellent durability. The ease with which Rollin Metal-X can be cleaned can result in a reduction in cleaning cycles of as much as 25 per cent, thereby cutting down on blanket wash consumption and paper waste.
Other recently introduced blankets under the Trelleborg Rollin brand include the neutral feed blanket Polycell, which has a 3-ply compressible layer that makes Polycell extremely easy to mount, quick to clean and provides a fast rebound after the nip squeeze, enabling high ink pick-up, good transfer and extremely dense solids.
Graffity is a positive feed 3-ply blanket that incorporates a thick compressible layer and a highly stable carcass. The surface formulation and finish guarantee good solid coverage as well as excellent tone reproduction at maximum press speed, while the foam technology ensures long blanket life. The Rollin blanket Hi-Page offers slightly positive feeding and is designed for large pagination presses. It features a specially ground surface, which results in consistent high print quality and durability.
Trelleborg will complete its range of Rollin coldest blankets with the launch at IFRA of the 1.96 mm Rollin Folder, which provides neutral feeding on the press. The new Rollin Folder completes Trelleborgs range of Rollin coldest blankets, allowing the company to provide a solution to suit all requirements.
“The demands placed upon offset blankets are greater each year,” says Dario Porta. “Wider and faster presses, new chemicals, automatic blanket cleaning systems plus environmental issues all have an impact. Presses are more sophisticated in the number of processes they handle in-line, while everyone is looking to reduce energy consumption and waste. The blanket plays a vital role in all of these areas.
“The technology involved in the creation of a successful blanket has never been more complex. A blanket has to provide consistent dot reproduction, with good ink transfer on to a wide variety of stock, plus durability and resistance to smashes. In addition to the newspaper market, Trelleborg supplies a comprehensive selection of innovative blanket solutions for the heatset web offset market, including cylindrical, metal-backed, blankets for UV applications and conventional blankets.”