Developing solution for lithographic printing plate precursor and method for making lithographic printing plate

Abstract

An alkaline developing solution for development of a presensitized plate for use in making a lithographic printing plate, which developing solution comprises a polyoxyalkylene adduct of alkylene diamine, a polyoxyalkylene compound having an acid radical, and an anionic surfactant; a method for making a lithographic printing plate comprising the steps of: light-exposing a presensitized plate for use in making a lithographic printing plate; and developing the light-exposed plate with an alkaline developing solution comprising a polyoxyalkylene adduct of alkylene diamine, a polyoxyalkylene compound having an acid radical, and an anionic surfactant.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to an alkaline developing solution for use in processing a lithographic printing plate precursor, i.e., a presensitized plate for use in making a lithographic printing plate (hereinafter possibly referred to as “PS plate”), and further a method for making a lithographic printing plate using the alkaline developing solution. More particularly, the present invention relates to an alkaline developing solution which is suitable for making a lithographic printing plate from a PS plate capable of achieving direct plate making, that is, making a printing plate directly by exposing the PS plate to infrared laser scanning based on digital signals from computers or the like, and a method for making a lithographic printing plate using said alkaline developing solution. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] There have been great strides made in the study of laser in recent years. In particular, solid lasers and semiconductor lasers that c...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to overcome the above conventional drawbacks and provide an alkaline developing solution which makes possible that a highly sharp and clear image is formed without damages to the formed image areas, and exhibits a certain performance and retains favorable image forming performance, even if components of an image recording layer dissolve into the developing solution in course of processing. An another object of the present invention is to provide an alkaline developing solution which can suppress the occurrence of development sludge originated from the component of an image recording layer. A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for making a lithographic printing plate wherein the above developing solution is used to carry out stable development procedure and stable image formation for a prolonged period.

[0011] Further, it has been found that among the above specific compounds, the compound which may have a development inhibiting effect on image areas can be selected in terms of a molecular weight thereof, and such a compound is added to a developing solution to ensure more sufficient latitude in variation of development conditions in a plate making process, resulting in a longer-lasting stable development procedure.

[0017] According to the alkaline developing solution of the present invention, a highly sharp and clear image can be formed in a printing plate without damages to the formed image areas. The alkaline developing solution of the present invention can exhibit a certain performance and retain favorable image forming performance, even if components of an image recording layer dissolve into the developing solution in course of processing. Further, according to the alkaline developing solution of the present invention, occurrence of development sludge originated from the component of an image recording layer can be suppressed. Accordingly, a method for making a lithographic printing plate using the alkaline developing solution of the present invention makes it possible that stable development procedure and stable image formation are carried out for a prolonged period.

Problems solved by technology

However, in the above lithographic printing plate precursor of positive-working mode for infrared laser scanning, there is a problem that it is difficult to make highly sharp and clear images, because a difference of dissolving rate in an alkaline developing solution between a light-exposed portion and an unexposed portion is small.

Furthermore, in a heat-sensitive printing plate precursor as described above, there is a problem that excessive development or defective development tends to take place depending on variation of use conditions, since a difference between a resistance of dissolution residing in an unexposed portion (image portion) to a developing solution and a solubility of a light-exposed portion (non-image portion) in a developing solution is still insufficient in various use conditions.

In addition, the image-forming ability of the lithographic printing plate precursor depends on a heat generation on the surface of an image recording layer through an infrared laser exposure, and in the vicinity of a substrate, quantity of heat which is used for dissolution of the image recording layer, i.e., for an image formation is small due to a dispersion of heat, resulting in that a difference between light-exposure and unexposure becomes small and a reproducibility of highlight becomes insufficient.

Such insoluble matter becomes sludge in a processing bath for development, and when such sludge adheres to a non-image area of printing plate, said condition may cause scumming during printing.

On the other hand, the development inhibitor is consumed through the interaction with the compound dissolving from a light-sensitive layer into a developing solution, resulting in that the advantages of inhibiting development by the development inhibitor is not maintained.

Though the above compounds are used, image forming performance or inhibition of occurrence of development sludge is not sufficiently accomplished.

Such insoluble matter is accumulated and aggregated to form development sludge in the developing solution after repetition of the development steps, which becomes a factor that will make the development step unstable.

To be more specific about the disadvantages caused by the above-mentioned phenomenon, the development sludge can be deposited on the resultant plate to impair the images formed thereon, and the development sludge which settles down and precipitates in a processing bath for development makes the maintenance of the processing bath more burdensome.

In the case where the PS plate is subjected to a burning treatment, the development sludge, if still remaining on the non-image portion of the PS plate, will be carbonized, thereby resulting in scumming, in other words, staining the printed matter.

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