Method of curing a compressible printing blanket and a compressible printing blanket produced thereby

A laminated printing blanket construction comprising at least one substrate layer, a surface layer, and an intermediate compressible layer having a substantially uniform thickness, said intermediate compressible layer comprising an elastomeric material and having a cellular structure with a plurality of closed cells forming voids, said voids being of substantially uniform size and being substantially uniformly distributed throughout said intermediate compressible layer, said voids being formed by distributing microcapsules and an accelerator capable of causing vulcanization of said elastomeric material at a temperature below the melting point of said microcapsules within said intermediate compressible layer, and maintaining said intermediate compressible layer at a temperature below the melting temperature of said microcapsules for a time sufficient to cause said elastomeric material to vulcanize to a degree sufficient to substantially fix the positions of said microcapsules within said intermediate compressible layer.

A compressible layer for use in a laminated printing blanket construction comprising an elastomeric material having a substantially uniform thickness and having a cellular structure with a plurality of closed cells forming voids, said voids being of substantially uniform size and being substantially evenly distributed throughout said compressible layer, said voids being formed by distributing microcapsules and an accelerator capable of causing vulcanization of said elastomeric material at a temperature below the melting point of said microcapsules within said compressible layer, and maintaining said compressible layer at a temperature below the melting temperature of said microcapsules for a time sufficient to cause said elastomeric material to vulcanize to a degree sufficient to substantially fix the positions of said microcapsules within said compressible layer.

A method of making a compressible layer for use in a laminated printing blanket construction comprising the steps of:

• forming said compressible layer of an elastomeric material and mixing microcapsules with said elastomeric material so that said microcapsules are substantially uniformly distributed therein,
• maintaining said compressible layer at a temperature below the melting point of said microcapsules for a time sufficient to cause said elastomeric material to vulcanize to a degree sufficient to substantially fix the positions of said microcapsules within said compressible layer,
• thereby providing a compressible layer having a substantially uniform thickness with said microcapsules being substantially uniformly distributed throughout said compressible layer.