Printing screen – High Tension, Low Elongation for Accurate Print

Printing screen is commonly made of polyester mesh or stainless steel wire mesh. Compared with the polyester mesh, the stainless steel woven wire cloth for printing has high tension, low elongation and excellent chemical, solvent corrosion resistance performance.

The weaving method of printing screen is plain weave, twill weave an dutch weave. Plain weave printing screen is the most commonly used type. The roll width is commonly 40", 48" and 60" while the length is commonly 100'. It can be customized according to your requirements.

The stainless steel printing screen can be standard stainless steel mesh and ultra thin stainless steel mesh. See the following introduction and decide which one is suitable for you.

Types of printing screen
Standard stainless steel mesh.
Plain weave stainless steel mesh has uniform wire diameter, consistent mesh thickness, even mesh openings and smooth surface. It is suitable for printing applications where requires fine pattern printing with high accuracy. Standard stainless steel mesh is widely used in micro-circuit manufacturing, silk, glass, china and other high end applications.
Three rolls of stainless steel mesh on the table and a small coil stainless steel wire on the screen.
PM-01: Stainless steel mesh has bright surface and corrosion resistance material.Three rolls of stainless steel meshes on the table and a detection tool on the screen.
PM-02: Stainless steel mesh has even and precious mesh openings for high accuracy.
Ultra thin super stainless steel mesh.
Compared with standard stainless steel mesh, ultra thin supper stainless steel mesh has smaller wire diameter and bigger opening area. Additional, it has high tensile strength, little elongation, good deposit uniformity and good release of paste to be used in highly accurate fine line printing applications.
A hand is holding a piece of ultra thin super stainless steel mesh and we can see the finger clearly.
PM-03: Ultra thin stainless steel printing screen is high transparency.A piece of ultra thin printing screen is placed on the company brochure.
PM-04: Ultra thin printing screen has high tension and low elongation performance.
Operating principles of printing screen
Screen printing is a printing technique that uses stainless steel woven wire cloth or polyester mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas.

Screen printing is also a stencil method of print making in which a design is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface. It is also known as silkscreen and serigraph.

Specifications of printing screen

Material: stainless steel 304, 316, 304L, 316L, 310S, 430, 317L, 904L.
Weaving method: plain weave, twill weave and dutch weave.
Mesh: 80 mesh to 400 mesh.
Wire diameter: 18 micron to 120 micron.
Thickness: 28 micron to 230 micron.
Width: 40", 48", 60 " and customized.
Length: standard is 100'.
Table 1: Common Specs of Stainless Steel Printing Screen
Item Mesh/Inch Wire Dia.
(μm) Opening (μm) Open Area
(%) Thickness
(μm) Through Ink
(cm3/m2) Calender Thickness
(μm)
PS-01 80 × 80 90 228 52 198–207 103.0 168–170
PS-02 80 × 80 120 198 39 276–288 92.9 228–230
PS-03 100 × 100 100 154 36.8 230–240 77.2 188–190
PS-04 120 × 120 80 132 39 184–192 65.8 148–150
PS-05 150 × 150 60 109 41.7 138–144 50.0 138–142
PS-06 165 × 165 45 109 50.1 95–104 45.1 78–80
PS-07 165 × 165 50 104 45.6 110–115 45.6 88–90
PS-08 180 × 180 45 96 46.4 99–104 41.5 78–80
PS-09 180 × 180 50 91 42 115–120 41.7 88–90
PS-10 200 × 200 40 87 46.9 81–82 43.0 68–70
PS-11 200 × 200 50 77 37 115–120 42.0 88–90
PS-12 230 × 230 35 75 46.7 72–76 37.0 50–67
PS-13 250 × 250 30 72 49.7 63–64 30.0 48–49
PS-14 250 × 250 35 67 43 76–78 32.0 59–61
PS-15 250 × 250 40 62 49.7 82–86 34.0 50–80
PS-16 270 × 270 35 59 39.4 76–80 30.0 58–70
PS-17 290 × 290 20 68 41.7 43–44 18.4 29–30
PS-18 300 × 300 30 55 38 66–68 28.0 40–59
PS-19 325 × 325 23 55 49.8 49–53 25.4 38–39
PS-20 325 × 325 28 50 41.2 63–64 26.4 50–51
PS-21 325 × 325 30 48 38 66–68 24.0 40–59
PS-22 350 × 350 25 48 43 52–54 18.7 41–50
PS-23 400 × 400 18 46 51.3 36–40 20.0 28–30
PS-24 400 × 400 23 41 40.7 50–54 19.0 35–48
Advantages of stainless steel printing screen

Uniform wire diameter.
Consistent mesh thickness.
Evenly tension weaves.
High tension.
Super precision. Fine wire diameter and even mesh opening ensures high precision.
High flexibility. The printing mesh will not lose elasticity at extreme tension.
Low elongation. Very small elongation of printing screen at high tension.
High corrosion resistance. Stainless steel printing mesh has better corrosion resistance than the polyester fiber.
Good heat-melting resistance. Stainless steel printing mesh is suitable for heat-melting ink.
Great solvent resistance. It can prevent various solvents from corroding printing mesh and ensure the safety of printing screen.
A glass printing machine on the white background.
PM-05: Printing screen is high flexibility for glass printing.A textile printing machine with four extensions on the white background.
PM-06: Printing screen is high precision for textile printing.
Applications of stainless steel printing screen

LEP shielding mesh.
Micro-circuit manufacturing.
Textile printing.
Ceramics printing.
Glass printing.
A lady is holding a purple silk muffler with flowers on the muffler.
PM-07: Printing screen for silk printing.Several tableware with blue and white porcelain pattern on the table.
PM-08: Printing screen for ceramic printing.
Three glass decoration with scenery patterns are hanging on the wall.
PM-09: Printing screen for glass printing.A circuit board is placed on the table.