Method for manufacturing a lithographic printing plate precursor having a patterned back layer

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a lithographic printing plate precursor includes the steps of providing a support as a web, coating an image recording layer on the front side of the support, and depositing a back layer on the back side of the support using a deposition technique which is capable of depositing the back layer according to a predefined image. The method enables stacking and recutting of lithographic printing plate precursors without the need for interleafs.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for manufacturing a lithographic printing plate precursor, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing a support as a web, the support including a front side and a back side;   coating an image recording layer on the front side of the support; and   depositing a liquid on the back side of the support using a depositing technique selected from the group consisting of ink jet printing, valve jet printing, and aerosol jetting to obtain a non-continuous back layer according to a predefined image.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
 at least partially curing the liquid; wherein   the at least partially cured liquid has a Shore A hardness of 90 or less.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the liquid includes a (meth)acrylate monomer. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the (meth)acrylate monomer is a monofunctional (meth)acrylate monomer or a difunctional (meth)acrylate monomer. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the (meth)acrylate monomer is a multifunctional (meth)acrylate monomer. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the liquid is at least partially cured by ultra violet light or electron beam radiation. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the liquid is a phase-change liquid. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the predefined image includes a cutting scheme defining predefined cutting edges of the lithographic printing plate precursor, the method further comprising the step of:
 slicing and cutting the web along the predefined cutting edges.   
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein the web is sliced and cut in sections within 1 cm of the predefined cutting edges. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein the predefined image includes a regular pattern of dots, lines, voids, or a combination thereof; and
 the regular pattern does not coincide with the predefined cutting edges.   
     
     
         11 . A lithographic printing plate precursor comprising:
 a support;   an image recording layer provided on a front side of the support; and   a non-continuous back layer provided on a back side of the support; wherein   the non-continuous back layer includes a predefined image and has a Shore A hardness of 90 or less.