The property of an ink or varnish film which enables the film to remain unimpaired by light abrasion, impact or pressure.

To block off a background or other area, so that the unmasked area can be printed, or worked on.

A direct digital colour-proofing process that allows the printer to see the colours desired in the final printing.

A low gloss (no gloss) finish.

A soluble colorant; as opposed to pigment, which is insoluble.

Another term for substrate, the materials to be printed, such as watercolour papers, canvas, copper, wood veneer, cotton, plastic.

1) The resinous fluid that forms the carrier for the pigment in an ink. 2) An ink or varnish that may be used to produce metallic inks. 3) Synonymous with method.

(MB) A million bytes.

A very resistant thermoset plastic.

A high intensity light use into photo screen preparation and curing of ultra violet curing inks. The lamp has a specific spectral output that causes a chemical reaction to take place.

The unit of measure which indicates the number of openings in a linear measurement of screen fabric. Threads per inch t.p.I. Threads per centimetre t.p.cm.

A fine pattern left by the mesh of a screen printing fabric in the ink film.

A UV curing lamp that has additives in the form of Halides that produce a spectral output different to that of mercury vapour.

An ink which, on application, gives a film with a metallic appearance. This effect is normally produced by the incorporation of fine flakes of such metals as copper, bronze or aluminium.

Inks made from different combinations of pigments create matches of the same colour under one type of illumination, but when viewed under another type of illumination, the colours do not match. The phenomenon is known as metamerism and the colours are said to be metameric.

A unit of measure for frequency that can relate to the processing speed of a computer. Equal to one million hertz.

Tones in an image that are in the middle of the tonal range, halfway between the lightest and the darkest.

See "Coverage".

A pattern which is produced by one set of very close parallel lines or dots which cross another group of parallel lines or dots at an angle. This occurs particularly in halftone printing.

An image made of a range of only one colour.

The unit molecule from which a polymer is built up.

A spotty or uneven printed surface with is most apparent in solid areas.

A texturing seen in the smooth or monotone areas of an image. This can be due to faulty processing and a number of improperly used digital processes e.g. excessive un-sharp masking.

Identifies precise, specific colours and shows relationships among colours, relying upon three attributes: hue, value and chroma. The system consists of over 3 million observations of what people perceive to be like differences in hue, chroma, and intensity, choosing samples they perceived to have like differences.

Film containing a reversal of an image, such that the values of the original are reversed with light becoming dark, and vice versa.

A unit of measure used in screen fabric tensioning. In the meter-kilogram-second system, the unit of force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram one meter per second per second, equal to 100,000 dynes.

Concentric multicoloured rings that occur when film is in contact with glass; a problem in scanning from negatives or transparencies.

The point on a laminator or press at which two rolls come together to apply controlled pressure.

A printing process that transfers the ink to the paper without pressure.

The ingredients of a coating composition which, after drying, are left behind on the material to which it has been applied and which constitutes the dry film.

A defect where the ink will not cover the film, usually due to a contaminate preventing the ink from "wetting" the surface.