Ean-13 barcode printing using variable plate line screens and plate dots in packaging

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Lecturer, Printing, Publishing & Packaging Dept., Faculty of Applied Arts, Helwan University, Egypt.

2 Lecturer , Printing, Publishing and Packaging Dept., Faculty of Applied Arts, Helwan University, Egypt.

Abstract

Flexography is a major process used to print a lot of  packaging materials with variable plate line screens which vary between 55 line/inch to 200 line/inch with different plate dots from 1% to 100%. But when we need to use this printing technology to print linear barcodes as certain printing objects which used to identify the package attached to, by using variable plate line screens and plate dots and not in a solid line structure, we have to be careful, so the research Pursued analytical and experimental methodology to determine which of these plate line screens and plate dots can produce a perfect ink film module to print high quality and valid linear barcodes that can be used to identify the package from the first time and every time by the special barcode scanners.
 
Experimentally, barcodes can be printed by using various plate screen lines and plate dots, but with special conditions or special plate line screen values of  more than 80 line/inch with plate dot values of more than 20%, also the maximum scale reduction from the standard size of EAN-13 barcodes has to be 50% or more but with high values of plate line screen like 90 or 100 line/inch with high values of plate dot like 30% or more.

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