1. Different principles

Letterpress printing: The principle of letterpress printing is relatively simple. In relief printing, the ink feeding device of the printing machine first distributes the ink evenly, and then transfers the ink to the printing plate through the ink roller. Since the graphic part on the relief plate is much higher than the non-graphic part on the printing plate, therefore, The ink on the ink roller can only be transferred to the graphic part of the printing plate, while the non-graphic part has no ink.

Gravure printing: Gravure printing is a direct printing method. It directly imprints the ink contained in the pits of the gravure onto the substrate. The shades of the printed picture are determined by the size of the pits. It depends on the thickness and depth. If the pits are deeper,

it contains more ink, and the ink layer left on the substrate after imprinting will be thicker; on the contrary, if the pits are shallow, it contains more ink. The amount of ink is less, and the ink layer left on the substrate after imprinting is thinner.

2. Different characteristics

Letterpress printing: ink expressiveness is about 90%, with rich tones. Color reproduction is strong. The layout is durable. The printing quantity is huge. The range of paper used is wide, and materials other than paper can also be printed.

Gravure printing: Anti-counterfeiting, gravure printing uses pits carved according to the original image and text to carry ink. The thickness of the lines and the shade of the ink can be controlled arbitrarily during the engraving process, making it difficult to be imitated and counterfeited, especially It depends on the depth of the ink pit, and the possibility of realistic engraving according to the printed pictures and texts is very small.

Therefore, current banknotes, stamps, stocks and other securities are generally printed with gravure printing, which has a good anti-counterfeiting effect. At present, some companies have consciously adopted gravure printing for their trademarks and even packaging and decoration, which shows that gravure printing is a more viable anti-counterfeiting printing method.

Wide range, general soft materials can be used as substrates for gravure printing. Such as plastic, paper, aluminum foil, etc., especially for some materials that are easy to stretch and deform, such as textile materials, etc., it has good adaptability, which is incomparable with letterpress printing and offset printing.

The printing quality is high, gravure printing uses a large amount of ink, the graphics and text are convex, rich in layers, clear lines, and high quality. Most of the printing of books, magazines, magazines, packaging and decoration uses gravure printing.

For mass printing and gravure printing, the plate making cycle is longer, the efficiency is wasteful, and the cost is high. However, the printing plate is durable and is suitable for large-volume printing. The larger the batch size, the higher the efficiency. For printing with smaller batches, the efficiency is lower. Therefore, the gravure method is not suitable for printing small batches of trademarks.

3. Different application scopes

Letterpress printing: Engraving and gravure printing, because of its exquisite lines and difficulty in counterfeiting, are used in printing securities, such as banknotes, Stocks, gift certificates, stamps, certificates of commercial reputation or stationery, etc. Due to its relatively high cost of plate making and printing, few people use it for general printing.

Gravure printing: Gravure printing is mainly used for fine publications such as magazines and product catalogs, packaging printing and printing of securities such as banknotes and stamps, and is also used in special fields such as decorative materials; in China, Gravure printing is mainly used for flexible packaging printing. With the development of domestic gravure printing technology, it has also been widely used in paper packaging, wood grain decoration, leather materials, and pharmaceutical packaging.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Letterpress Printing

Baidu Encyclopedia - Gravure Printing