| abstract |
A printing method is disclosed wherein a grained and anodizednaluminum support is coated with an image recording layer comprisingnhydrophobic thermoplastic polymer particles. The heat-sensitivenimaging material thus obtained is then image-wise exposed andnprocessed, thereby obtaining a material having a lithographic imagenwhich consists of hydrophobic printing areas on a hydrophilicnsupport and which is used as a printing master in a printing press.nAfter the press run, the lithographic support is recycled bynremoving the hydrophobic printing areas from the hydrophilic surfacenof the aluminum support. The recycled support is then reused in annext cycle of coating, exposing, processing and printing. By using angrained and anodized aluminum support having a hydrophilic surfacenwith a surface roughness, expressed as arithmetical mean center-linenroughness Ra, which is less than 0.45 µm, the run length of thenprinting master is improved. |