Cliché

The cliché is the carrier of the print motif, which is transferred to the object by the pad. The print image is etched into the cliché or washed out. The etching depth of steel clichés is approx. 18 µm - 25 µm, depending on the application.

Since the printing pad can only transfer a limited amount of ink, a greater depth does not make sense. With an etching depth of 25 µm, the pad only takes off about 12 µm of ink film, the rest remains in the depression of the cliché.

Since about 40% of the ink film consists of solvent, which evaporates during transfer and drying on the printed object, effectively about 7 µm of ink film thickness remains on the printed part.

Cliché types

Due to the different requirements such as fineness, accuracy, service life and price, various clichés have become established:

- Green plastic clichés: up to approx. 10,000 impressions
- Longlife plastic cliché red: up to approx. 30'000 prints
- Thin sheet clichés: up to approx. 100,000 prints
- Steel clichés: up to approx. 1'000'000 prints
- Ceramic clichés: up to approx. 3'000'000 prints

We are happy to supply you with clichés (also perforated) for all pad printing machines on the market.