Studies Related to the Weak Fluid Boundary Layer Model in Waterless Lithography

This article deals with some experiments which are carried out in order to tend to verify if the model based on a Weak Fluid Boundary Layer proposed by Gaudioso et al. in 1975 for the ink release from the non-image area of a driographic plate could apply to the current waterless process. After the characterization of the silicone layer of a positive Toray plate before and after exposition, we carried out some experiments to show the possibility for two standard waterless ink diluents to diffuse into the exposed non-image area of this plate. Comparisons will be made with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) samples. We established that the silicone used for the waterless plates is a PDMS with reactive chains. The diluent diffusion in this layer does indeed take place.