Production of flexographic printing plates by thermal development

Abstract

Flexographic printing plates are produced by thermal development by a process in which an imagewise exposed flexographic printing element is developed by heating and removing the softened, unpolymerized parts of the relief-forming layer, the flexographic printing element used comprising an olefin/(meth)acrylate copolymer having an olefin content of from 50 to 94 mol %. The photopolymerizable flexographic printing element comprises an olefin/(meth)acrylate copolymer having a content of from 50 to 94 mol % of olefin monomers, from 6 to 50 mol % of (meth)acrylate monomers and from 0 to 5 mol % of further comonomers. This flexographic printing element is used for the production of flexographic printing plates both by thermal development and by development by means of washout compositions.

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         14 . A photopolymerizable flexographic printing element for the production of flexographic printing plates, at least comprising 
 a dimensionally stable substrate,    at least one photopolymerizable relief-forming layer, at least comprising an elastomeric binder, monomers and a photoinitiator,    wherein the elastomeric binder is an olefin/(meth)acrylate copolymer which contains    from 50 to 94 mol % of olefin monomers,    from 6 to 50 mol % of (meth)acrylate monomers and    from 0 to 5 mol % of further comonomers,    based in each case on the total amount of all monomers incorporated in the form of polymerized units.    
     
     
         15 . A flexographic printing element as claimed in  claim 14 , which furthermore comprises a digitally imagable layer.  
     
     
         16 . A flexographic printing element as claimed in  claim 15 , wherein the digitally imagable mask is one selected from the group consisting of IR-ablative masks, inkjet masks and thermographic masks.  
     
     
         17 . A flexographic printing element as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein the olefin content is from 70 to 92 mol %, the (meth)acrylate content from 8 to 30 mol % and the content of further comonomers from 0 to 5 mol %.  
     
     
         18 . A flexographic printing element as claimed in  claim 17 , wherein the olefin content is from 80 to 90 mol %, the (meth)acrylate content from 10 to 20 mol % and the content of further comonomers from 0 to 5 mol %.  
     
     
         19 . A flexographic printing element as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein the elastomeric binder has a melt flow index MFI (190° C., 2.16 kg) of from 1 to 100 g/10 min.  
     
     
         20 . A flexographic printing element as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein the elastomeric binder is an ethylene/(meth)acrylate copolymer.  
     
     
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         24 . A flexographic printing element as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein the olefin monomers comprise at least one olefin selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene, 1-butene, isobutene, 1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-heptene and 1-octene.  
     
     
         25 . A flexographic printing element as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein the olefin monomers are one or more olefins selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene, 1-butene, isobutene, 1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-heptene and 1-octene.