Chamber doctor blade - Development of an innovative chamber doctor blade system for gravure printing presses

The increasing substitution of print media by the internet and the impact of demographic change on the purchasing and reading habits of the population have led to a decline in print volumes and a sharp reduction in jobs in the printing industry ("structural crisis") in recent years. While this has recently eased somewhat, news of bankruptcies and plant closures continues to be the order of the day.

In gravure printing, doctor blades have been used to wipe off ink. Chamber doctor blade systems are used, for example, in flexographic printing or in waterless offset printing. Flexographic printing is dominated by its homogeneous cell distribution and the same diameter of the printing plate. Both the anilox roller and chamber doctor blade components are thus usually optimally matched to one another. In contrast to flexographic printing, there are no homogeneous and thus defined conditions in gravure printing, since the gravure cylinders (= form cylinders) are provided with a grid (cells) depending on the printed image. The size and pattern of the cells reflect the required print image.

The aim of the project is to develop a closed chamber doctor blade system for gravure printing, with which the advantages of chambered doctor blades are transferred to the gravure printing area for the first time in comparison to the current state of the art.