Agfa launches Avatar V-ZH preheat-free chemistry-free violet plate

Eleven years after the launch of the first chem-free violet newspaper CtP plate, Agfa Graphics launches Avatar V-ZH, which does not require pre-heating, according to the company.

The Avatar V-ZH plate requires no pre-heating unit, which reduces printers’ capex and energy consumption while gaining them floor space, the company says.

Avatar V-ZH works with all violet CtP units in use at newspaper print sites across the world, the company says. During exposure, the violet-laser diode triggers the polymerization of the image area. The plate is gummed in the clean-out unit with a dedicated gum, which removes the soft, unexposed non-image areas in an easy and clean way.

“Violet-laser technology makes up the majority of the newspaper market,” said Rainer Kirschke, market manager newspapers for Agfa Graphics. “We have a worldwide base of customers who have been using our violet chem-free plates for more than a decade. During the development of Avatar V-ZH we carefully listened to their remarks, and we made every effort to bring maximum economic and ecological benefits to their production.”

The plate will make its global debut at the IFRA World Publishing Expo 2018 in Berlin in October and will be available worldwide early in the fourth quarter of 2018.

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