Screen Printing

Screen printing refers to the use of silk screen as a plate base, and through the photosensitive plate making method, made into a screen printing plate with pictures and texts. Screen printing consists of five major elements, screen printing plate, squeegee, ink, printing table and substrate. Use the basic principle that the mesh of the graphic part of the screen printing plate can penetrate the ink, and the mesh of the non-graphic part cannot penetrate the ink for printing. When printing, pour ink on one end of the screen printing plate, use a squeegee to apply a certain pressure to the ink part on the screen printing plate, and at the same time move toward the other end of the screen printing plate at a uniform speed, the ink is removed from the image and text by the squeegee during the movement. Part of the mesh is squeezed onto the substrate.

Screen printing originated in China and has a history of more than two thousand years. As early as the Qin and Han dynasties in ancient China, the method of printing with valerian has appeared. By the Eastern Han dynasty, the batik method had become popular, and the level of printed products had also improved. In the Sui Dynasty, people began to print with a frame covered with tulle, and the valerian printing process was developed into silk-screen printing. According to historical records, the exquisite clothing worn in the court of the Tang Dynasty was printed in this way. In the Song Dynasty, screen printing developed again and improved the original oil-based paint, and began to add starch-based gum powder to the dye to make it into a slurry for screen printing, making the color of screen printing products more gorgeous.

Screen printing is a great invention in China. The American "Screen Printing" magazine commented on China's screen printing technology: "There is evidence that the Chinese used horsehair and templates two thousand years ago. The clothing of the early Ming Dynasty proved their competitive spirit and processing technology. "The invention of screen printing promoted the development of material civilization in the world. Today, two thousand years later, screen printing technology has been continuously developed and perfected and has now become an indispensable part of human life.

The characteristics of screen printing can be summarized as follows:

① Screen printing can use many types of inks. Namely: oily, water-based, synthetic resin emulsion, powder and other types of inks.

②The layout is soft. The screen printing layout is soft and has certain flexibility not only for printing on soft objects such as paper and cloth, but also for printing on hard objects, such as glass, ceramics, etc.

③Silk-screen printing has low printing force. Since the pressure used in printing is small, it is also suitable for printing on fragile objects.

④The ink layer is thick and the covering power is strong.

⑤It is not restricted by the surface shape and area of ​​the substrate. It can be known from the foregoing that screen printing can not only print on flat surfaces, but also on curved or spherical surfaces; it is not only suitable for printing on small objects, but also for printing on larger objects. This printing method has great flexibility and wide applicability.

The range of screen printing applications is very wide. Except for water and air (including other liquids and gases), any kind of object can be used as a substrate. Someone once said this when evaluating screen printing: If you want to find the ideal printing method on the earth to achieve the printing purpose, it is probably the screen printing method.