Lithography is a printing process, based on the intrinsic non-mixing property of water and oil, and the controlled production of hydrophobic image areas and hydrophilic non-image areas on the surface of the printing plate made out of aluminium.

In this section lithographic printing and the process used to create the hydrophilic properties of aluminium are introduced.

Learning Outcomes for this Section

After completing this section, you should be able to:

• explain the terms hydrophobic and hydrophilic
• describe the lithographic printing process
• describe the AC-graining mechanism of aluminium
• list the parameters important in the AC-graining of aluminium

Pre-Requisites

Before starting, it is important that you are familiar with the following terms: hydrophilic; hydrophobic; oleophilic;