Glossary

The PRINTING United Alliance Glossary serves as an excellent industry terminology resource. It is the language by which we all communicate. Without it, universal understanding would be impossible.

To keep our constituents well informed about changes to the increasingly complex industry terminology, PRINTING United Alliance has developed this glossary of terms. Definitions are for general reference only. Usage may vary between companies, individuals, or national and country customs. The information presented is as accurate as the authors and editors can ascertain and PRINTING United Alliance assumes no responsibility for the use of information presented herein.
  • Reticulation
    (1) A separation or cracking of a photographic emulsion caused by processing at too high temperature or thermal shock in transferring from a very warm bath to one that is too cold; (2) a defect where the ink film recedes in large areas due to incompatibility of the surface energy of ink and substrate.
  • Retouching
    The act of altering continuous tone prints, halftone negatives, or positives to eliminate defects, emphasize detail, or perform minor color corrections.
  • Retrofit
    The addition or removal of equipment, or a required adjustment, connection, or disconnection of an existing piece of equipment to comply with a change.
  • Retro-reflective
    The property of a material that causes it to reflect light back toward the source under non-daylight conditions.
  • Reverse
    An image that is the opposite of the original.
  • Reverse printing
    (1) Process of printing on the second surface of a material, referred to as back printing; (2) forming an image by laying ink down around the subject and letting the white space show through to form the image.
  • Reverse roll coating
    A coating technique where the coating is pre-metered between rolls then wiped off the substrate, usually by a doctor blade, coating thickness is controlled by the metering gap and the speed of the rolls.
  • Reversing turntable
    A geared motor that reverses its motion automatically.
  • Rewash
    Glassware that is washed due to misprint or mis-spray.
  • Rewetting
    (1) The re-softening of a dried ink film; (2) the ability of fresh ink to unblock dried ink in a mesh.
  • Rewinder
    A device for rerolling a substrate after printing.
  • Rework
    A salvage operation to recover defective work.
  • Reynold?s number
    The ratio of a liquid’s inertial forces to its drag forces (flow rate and specific gravity are inertia forces, while pipe diameter and viscosity are drag forces).
  • RF
    Acceptable acronym for radio frequency.
  • RFI
    Acceptable acronym for radio frequency interference.
  • RGB
    A color model using red, green, and blue, the additive primary colors used by video display.
  • Rheogram
    A graph of flow curves plotted by shear stress versus shear rate that provides a picture of a material’s response to varying shear rates, yield, stress, and thixotropy.
  • Rheology
    The science of flow and deformation of fluid matter under pressure: the study of flow characteristics of liquids.
  • Rheopectic
    The opposite of thixotropic, sometimes referred to as anti-thixotropic, a characteristic associated with some resins.
  • Rhodamine red
    A class of clean organic bluish red pigments with excellent light fastness, good resistance to acid, poor resistance to alkali, often called magenta when used in color process screen printing inks.
  • Ridging
    A swelling of the outer layers of a roll material, usually due to moisture absorption.
  • Right-reading
    Copy that reads correctly (same as original) from the emulsion side.
  • Rigid
    Inflexible; not bending.
  • Rigid board
    A fully cured laminate, generally over 0.030 inch thickness, used in manufacturing double-sided printed circuit boards.
  • Rigid frame
    A screen frame made of metal or wood where the mesh is tensioned and then glued to the frame.