Flexographic printing plate precursor, imaging assembly and use

Abstract

A relief-forming precursor includes a substrate and a relief-forming layer having: a polymer; at least one photopolymerizable monomer; a photopolymerization initiator; and a low surface energy monomer. A relief-forming assembly includes a relief-forming precursor having a low surface energy monomer and a mask element that is in complete optical contact with the relief-forming surface. A method of making a relief image includes: exposing the relief-forming layer to curing UV radiation through the mask element to form an imaged relief-forming layer with polymerized regions and non-polymerized regions; removing the mask element from the imaged relief-forming layer; and developing the imaged relief-forming layer by removing the non-polymerized regions, thereby forming a relief image. A relief image layer has an elastomer and copolymer that includes at least one photopolymerized monomer and a low surface energy monomer that has a silicone moiety with a relief surface having the silicone moiety.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.