Improving printed products manufacturing technology using 3D printing

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to analyze the state of the printing industry in the current conditions, learn reproduction technologies on non-absorbent surfaces, and study modern technological processes of obtaining products based on 3D printing, which is the research object. The problem lies in the lack of general recommendations for using the above technology to produce printed products or their elements. The main factors affecting the quality of finished products have been determined. The criterion to compare possible options for creating printed products was selected, namely, the examination method was considered. After processing the expert group summary, the consistency degree of opinions was determined using Kendall’s concordance coefficient. The most significant factor was identified, and further research is focused on it. Layer-by-layer deposition modeling was chosen as the technology for creating the test. Test fragments were developed, and materials and equipment to run the experiment were selected. A quantitative and qualitative assessment of the quality of 3D printing was carried out. Following the conducted research, the shortcomings were taken into account, and a number of recommendations for further creation of the forthcoming high-quality product were made. Those recommendations refer to the optimal line width (1.5 points and more), typeface origin and font size (20 points and above) for the reproduction of text information, and thickness of the element base of printed products (minimum 2.5–3 mm). The above recommendations allow a 3D printing product and its elements to achieve a remarkable quality level and visual appeal, as well as enable enterprises to use it as the basis of technological instructions for applying modern technologies.

Optical density of imprints of flexographic printing

“…To obtain a bright, saturated imprint with normalized color indicators, not only triad inks, but also Pantone inks are used 3 . However, the use of mixed colors requires special attention and control of color reproduction on the imprint, since normalized color indicators regulated by the standard exist only for triad colors [4][5] .…”

“…The analysis of previous studies [1][2][3][4][5] gives reason to assert that the direction of research of color indicators of imprints obtained by the flexographic method on various printed materials is widespread. This is due to the rapid pace of improvement of the components of the technological environment, inks, printed materials, printing forms, anilox shafts, etc.…”