Australia’s outback is characterised by its endless expanses of desert. Slowly but surely, dust and sand are spreading; encroaching on the country’s rural and metropolitan spaces as well. Dams are drying up and the tap is running dry.
The public’s tolerance for water wasting is also drying up; restrictions are in full force and backed up with the threat of heavy fines. During June, Sydney Water announced a near doubling of water prices for high-volume users.
In the midst of these developments, Agfa is making its own contribution to Australia’s water saving efforts by becoming the first company to deliver what is considered the ‘holy grail’ of computer-to-plate. Bringing the promise of processless CtP to graphic arts professionals, Agfa’s Azura plate requires no chemicals or processing and very little water. Simply expose, clean and gum, and it’s ready to mount on press.

Turn off the tap

PacPrint represented the region’s first look at the new negative-working Azura plate. Its chemistry-free ‘ThermoFuse’ technology, which bonds the image to the aluminium base, heralded the arrival of a number of groundbreaking advancements. Exposed on standard 830nm thermal laser platesetters, Azura increases productivity as it is ready for press sooner. The constantly-running taps found in many CtP environments can be turned off, because Azura produces only a miniscule 20 litres of rinse water and gum per 300 m2.
“Chemistry-free plates were stand out products for us at PacPrint,” says Garry Muratore, graphic arts marketing manager for Agfa. “With no waste and no water consumption, Azura is certainly a product that printers who are looking to implement ‘green systems’ and water saving strategies, are taking a good look at.
” However, Muratore hopes that Azura’s environmental credentials don’t overshadow the plate system’s other strengths. “Based on ThermoFuse technology, the image is created via a physical process and not a chemical one,” he says. This negates the need for a processor, so the production of a plate remains very simple and very consistent. “We noticed at PacPrint that some of our competitors are claiming to have ‘processless plates’ on the way, but with Azura it’s here and now.” 
Azura CTP is already being used in over 100 printing sites across the world, with two Australian print companies seizing on Agfa’s green initiative. The long-term environmental benefits of technologies such as Azura has not gone unnoticed, with NSW Energy & Utilities Minister, Frank Sartor extending his congratulations to Agfa and its customers for their efforts in implementing watersaving technology.
“It is important to have innovation in this field,” Sartor says. “Water is increasingly recognised as a scarce resource and is being priced accordingly. As the price increases, water-saving technology becomes more affordable, and I commend businesses and inventors who promote these solutions.”

Expose, Gum and Print

To understand exactly how Azura takes CtP a step forward, it’s worthwhile taking a look at how the traditional process of computer-to-plate works. There are two main methods—photosensitive and heat sensitive (thermal). Today’s photosensitive CtP typically uses a violet 405nm lasers to create a latent image, which is then developed, fixed, washed and dried through a processor. The chemistry’s impact on the image depends on a number of different factors: the temperature of the chemicals themselves, the speed at which the plate is put through the processing unit, pH, concentration and replenishment rates.
Normal thermal uses ‘hotter’ lasers in the 830nm infra-red end of the spectrum and ‘burns’ the image into the receptive layer in daylight conditions. However, this image still needs ‘developing’ with pre-heat, pre-wash, develop, rinse, postbake and more rinse/finisher common. Thermal B1 plate lines can typically be ten metres in length. Ablative thermal is a process-free method of platemaking that actually blasts the non-image area away, but creates a lot of fine debris that needs disposing of and can clog lasers.
Throwing all of these complicated procedures out the window, Azura finally delivers on the long-promised possibility of a processless CtP system. Plate processing is eliminated altogether with Azura, removing the variables incumbent with chemical processing, reducing time and space requirements and most importantly, all but eliminating waste water.

Superior on-press performance

Suitable for a wide range of shortto- medium run commercial printing applications (up to 100,000 impressions), Agfa’s patented ThermoFuse technology is the key. Originally developed for Agfa’s Thermolite plates, it combines a standard electrochemically-grained and anodised aluminium base with a single layer of coating that contains the ink-accepting thermofusable particles. An 830nm thermal laser fuses the particles in the image area during exposure, and the subsequent physical process effectively bonds the image to the plate.
Following exposure, the nonimaged areas are efficiently brushed away with a gum wash found in the Azura’s compact C85 cleaning unit, doing away with the need for any hazardous chemicals. It’s important to recognise that this is not a processor; it’s a simple gummer and washer and draws less than 2Kw power. The gum also protects the hydrophilic aluminium substrate from oxidation, and the plate is ready to go straight to the press once it exits the cleaning unit.
Ensuring Agfa’s reputation for image quality is maintained, the particles in the thermofusable coating are small enough to produce razor sharp, stable output. Screen tints of 2-98 percent are possible at 200 lpi, depending on platesetter performance. All 830nm CtP machines can image Azura, but a slight adjustment to the laser wattage may be necessary on some.
The plates (available in thicknesses of 0.15, 0.20 and 0.30mm) can be handled in daylight conditions, and work with the existing onpress chemistry; there is no need to change inks, founts or plate cleaners. All of this shortens makeready times and minimises paper waste and downtime.

Lionheart roars again with Azura

Lionheart Offset has been providing print services to its Sydney clients for over 18 years and in that time general manager Steve Bujeia has watched the company rise and thrive from the ground up. The business had already adopted Agfa CtP technology as part of its quest to remain at the front of the pack, before it was thrust into what could only be described as diffi cult circumstances. A fire flared up in its Mascot factory in late 2004, burning it to the ground and destroying all of its equipment. 
“It certainly was a difficult period for everyone at the business, spending so much time building the business up and then having to start again from scratch,” says Bujeia. Taking it in their stride, the company relocated to its new premises in Banksmeadow to start over. The company enlisted the help of Heidelberg and Agfa to assist it in getting back on its feet, and took the initiative to go ‘green’ with its platemaking by changing to Azura. 
“When we started looking into investing in some equipment again, Agfa told us about Azura, and it was a perfect match for what we were looking for,” says Bujeia. Building on his prior satisfaction with Agfa’s established CtP technology, at the old Lionheart premises, Bujeia was impressed with the environmentally friendly benefits the Azura system promised. 
“The waterless process is a big plus for us, as we’re just as concerned as everyone else is in regards to saving water,” says Bujeia. “If you’re processing plates every day through traditional CtP, then you’re flushing out thousands of litres every month. Now we’re hardly using a drop.”
While water savings are a big drawcard of the Azura system, Lionheart Offset discovered it delivers on a number of other levels as well. Bujeia describes it as a system that requires very little maintenance, and as far as plate runs go, the figures have gone through the roof. “Considering that the plates don’t need to be baked, the manner in which Agfa has optimised the system to get the most runs is extremely impressive,” he says. 
Lionheart Offset reports that during a recent run, it easily managed to make 80,000 impressions from a set of plates. The fact that Agfa has been the first to deliver on the promise of a processless CtP system is not lost on Bujeia either. “The chemistry on normal CtP can tend to be pretty harsh, but now the little waste is pretty harmless.” 
While a factory fire meant Lionheart Offset was out of the game for six months, with the help of its suppliers the business is back on its feet again and going strong. “We have been moving forward over the lifespan of the business, and we intend to keep moving forward,” says Bujeia. “That’s what we expect, and we would not settle for anything less.”

McLaren Press secures a green future

Although McLaren Press is a longstanding family business, established in 1915 by the grandfather of current owner-operator John McLaren, it is far from being out-of-date. According to McLaren, the company is equipping itself for the environmentally conscious future, and Agfa’s Azura plate system is an important part of that process. 
“We want to make a strong impact in Victoria as an environmentally-friendly printer,” he explains. “We moved to the Azura plates because they are chemicalfree. We are doing whatever we can on the environmental side of the business. We have installed water tanks to catch water for running our machines, and we use vegetable-based inks and varnishes. We are also seriously looking at our air emissions now.” 
McLaren Press produces high quality single and multi-colour printing work for corporate, government and other commercial customers requiring large print jobs. Current plate consumption sits at around 5,000 sq. metres each year. 
To date, half of McLaren’s prepress work has been film-based, created in-house using an imagesetter. The remaining 50 percent is produced externally as CtP plates. Since PacPrint, the company has installed a new Agfa Xcalibur 45 thermal CtP device, running Azura plates. 
According to McLaren, the move to total in-house CtP production will provide substantial savings, as the time-consuming film making process will be eliminated. The company has conducted extensive trials of the new Azura plates, running up to 80,000 impressions with very good results. “We even ran the plates through again after two weeks in storage and they still inked up well with just as sharp a dot,” explains McLaren.