Phase change plate with a thermally alterable coating on a standard grained aluminum Requires ShockWave Plugin

Phase change plate with any metal surface with a special coating Requires ShockWave Plugin

Phase Change

This is the future technology of thermal plate making.

The idea is to create a chemical or physical change to a substrate characteristic so that it becomes ink-receptive.

There are two possible approaches:

1. A thermally alterable coating on a standard grained aluminum: The thermal process changes the water-soluble coating into an ink-receptive, insoluble image. On the press, the unimaged layer is washed off by the fountain solution to reveal the water receptive aluminum.
    
    
   
2. Any metal surface with a special coating: The coating, after thermal exposure, changes its state from water-receptive to ink-receptive.

Phase-change plates are not expected to be available before the year 2000.