Method for mounting printing plates to printing cylinders or sleeves with adhesive tape

1. A method for mounting printing plates to printing cylinders or sleeves, which comprises mounting said printing plates to said cylinders or sleeves with a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape having a flat carrier material which is coated on both sides with a pressure-sensitive adhesive, the side of the flat carrier material upon which said printing plate is mounted being coated with a weakly adhering pressure-sensitive adhesive having a bond strength of <2.5 N/cm and comprising polymers formed from a monomer mixture of at least the following components:

i.a) 49.5%-89.5% by weight (based on the monomer mixture) of acrylic esters and/or methacrylic esters and/or of free acids corresponding to said acrylic esters and/or methacrylic esters, with the following formula:

CH 2 ═C(R 1 )(COOR 2 ),

where R 1 ═H or CH 3 and R 2 is an alkyl radical having 1 to 10 carbon atoms or H and a homopolymer thereof possesses a static glass transition temperature of <−30° C.;

i.b) 10% to 40% by weight (based on the monomer mixture) of acrylic esters and/or methacrylic esters with the following formula:

CH 2 ═C(R 3 )(COOR 4 ),

where R 3 ═H or CH 3 and R 4 is a cyclic alkyl radical having at least 8 carbon atoms or a linear alkyl radical having at least 12 carbon atoms and a homopolymer thereof possesses a static glass transition temperature of at least 30° C.;

i.c) 0.5%-10% by weight (based on the monomer mixture) of acrylic esters and/or methacrylic esters with the following formula:

CH 2 ═C(R 3 )(COOR 5 ),

where R 3 ═H or CH 3 and R 5 ═H or an aliphatic radical containing a functional group X, X comprising COOH, OH, —NH, NH 2 , SH, SO 3 H, and a homopolymer thereof possesses a static glass transition temperature of at least 30° C., said polymers being crosslinked with a metal chelate crosslinker,

and the side of the flat carrier material that is mounted to said cylinders or sleeves being coated with a more strongly adhering pressure-sensitive adhesive.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said polymers of said weakly adhering pressure-sensitive adhesive have a molar mass M n of between about 10 000 and about 600 000 g/mol.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said polymers are present in a branched state as graft polymers.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said weakly adhering pressure-sensitive adhesive comprises tackifier resins.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the tackifier resins are present in an amount of up to 40% by weight of said polymers.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said weakly adhering pressure-sensitive adhesive comprises additives selected from the group consisting of plasticizers, fillers, nucleators, expandants, compounding agents, aging inhibitors, and light stabilizers.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carrier material is a film of polyester, PET, PE, PP, BOPP or PVC.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the film is a film made of PET and has a thickness of 5 to 500 μm.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carrier material is a polymer foam of PU, PVC or polyolefin.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carrier material is a combination of a film and at least one foam carrier, the film being connected by an adhesive to the at least one foam carrier.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carrier material is pretreated by flame, corona and/or plasma, and/or chemically, and/or by provision with primer.