Date of Award

4-2004

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Paper Science and Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Dan Fleming

Abstract

Quality is the goal of every printing company. Every day printing companies spend money trying to find ways to improve the quality of their product. Type of paper, ink, and even the types of printing processes are all characteristics looked at when determining the quality of a printed product.

In today's printing industry, there are two printing processes that have arguably jumped to the front in terms of the highest quality printing ability. The flexographic process and the gravure process have both risen to meet the standards of high quality. The gravure process has always been at the top. For many years, the quality that the gravure process was obtaining was unquestionably the best in the world. The flexographic industry, however, has made great strides in working to improve their printing process.

In the product packaging market, competition is fierce. The package is always the first part of the product that a customer sees. Printing quality in this market is not just wishful thinking, it is a requirement. Many different types of film are used extensively in the food packaging industry. The printing characteristics associated with film are very important, and should be studied to help determine how to obtain the highest quality output.

A direct comparison of the flexographic and gravure processes, printing on polyethylene and polypropylene films has given good insight into the differences between the two processes.

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