Influence of Substrate and Screen Thread Count on Reproduction of Image Elements in Screen Printing

The printing plate and its characteristics in the conventional printing techniqueshave a significant impact on print quality and image appearance. In screen printing,a weave of screen mesh i.e. a number of threads per cm, is the most importantcharacteristic of the printing plate, hence the most relevant factor which definesprinting quality. Print quality itself is a complex term that includes desired colourreproduction and satisfactory reproduction of image elements. In this paper focuswas centred upon the reproduction of text and basic image elements (lines and dotstructure) when printing on non-absorbent and absorbent substrates with differentscreen thread counts. The image element analysis led to the conclusion that usingmesh with higher thread count does not significantly improve the reproduction ofimage elements. However, it is a very important parameter for text reproductionsince low thread count may result in poor readability.