Water based fluid for producing ready to press direct inkjet image-able lithographic printing plates

Abstract

A water based fluid that can be utilized in a standard inkjet printer to image a lithographic printing plate. The water based fluid may include a polymer that is soluble in an alkaline aqueous media and that is resistant to neutral or acidic aqueous media. In addition, the water based fluid may include a sufficient volume of water soluble material to raise the pH level higher than 8. Further, the water based fluid may include a sufficient volume of humectant co-solvents to prevent the nozzles of an inkjet printer from drying out. The water based fluid may be used to image a lithographic plate that include an inkjet ink accepting hydrophilic layer hydrophilic properties. Various embodiments of the water based fluid advantageously allow a plate to be imaged, and then without baking or adding other chemical treatments, the plate can be immediately used for printing.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.