Compressible ply for printing blankets

摘要

A laminated printing blanket having compressible and resilient properties and a method for its production are provided. The compressible characteristics are provided by disposing an intermediate layer having substantially uniformly distributed voids of substantially uniform size between the base ply and the working surface of the printing blanket. The voids of the compressible intermediate layer are formed by introducing high melting point microspheres formed from thermoplastic resins into an elastomeric matrix, coating said microsphere containing elastomeric matrix upon an upper surface of the base ply and then vulcanizing the coated base ply at a temperature of between about 80-150° C. for between about one and six hours to form the compressible layer having substantially uniform compression characteristics. Once all of the layers of the blanket are stacked, a final vulcanization treatment at between about 132-160° C. for between about 30 minutes to sixteen hours at a pressure between about atmospheric and 6 kg/cm2 in a known manner completes the curing of all the layers to produce a laminated printing blanket.