Curable jettable fluid for making a flexographic printing master

1. A curable jettable fluid, which when applied as a layer and subsequently cured, produces a printing master layer of thickness 0.38 mm and an elongation at break of at least 30%, the curable jettable fluid contains no plasticizer and which has a viscosity measured at 45° C. at 12 rpm utilizing a 12T program of a Brookfield DV-II+Pro viscosimeter of less than 15 mPa·s and which comprises at least 50 wt. % relative to the total weight of the fluid of a mixture of a cyclic monofunctional (meth)acrylate monomer, monofunctional urethane acrylate, and a difunctional (meth)acrylate monomer.

2. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 1 , wherein the jettable fluid comprises at least 75 wt. % relative to the total weight of the fluid of a mixture of a cyclic monofunctional (meth)acrylate monomer, monofunctional urethane acrylate, and a difunctional (meth)acrylate monomer.

3. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 1 , wherein the jettable fluid has a viscosity measured at 45° C. at 12 rpm utilizing the 12T program of a Brookfield DV-II+Pro viscosimeter of less than 10 mPa·s.

4. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 2 , wherein the jettable fluid has a viscosity measured at 45° C. at 12 rpm utilizing the 12T program of a Brookfield DV-II+Pro viscosimeter of less than 10 mPa·s.

5. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 1 , wherein the difunctional (meth)acrylate monomer is a polyalkylene glycol di(meth)acrylate.

6. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 2 , wherein the difunctional (meth)acrylate monomer is a polyalkylene glycol di(meth)acrylate.

7. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 6 , wherein the difunctional (meth)acrylate monomer is a polyethylene glycol di(meth)acrylate.

8. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 1 , wherein the difunctional (meth)acrylate monomer is an alkoxylated hexanediol di(meth)acrylate.

9. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 1 , wherein the monofunctional urethane acrylate, is an aliphatic urethane acrylate.

10. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 2 , wherein the monofunctional urethane acrylate, is an aliphatic urethane acrylate.

11. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 1 , wherein the cyclic monofunctional (meth)acrylate monomer is isobornyl acrylate or 4-t.butyl cyclohexyl acrylate.

12. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 2 , wherein the cyclic monofunctional (meth)acrylate monomer is isobornyl acrylate or 4-t.butyl cyclohexyl acrylate.

13. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 5 , wherein the cyclic monofunctional (meth)acrylate monomer is isobornyl acrylate or 4-t.butyl cyclohexyl acrylate.

14. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 6 , wherein the cyclic monofunctional (meth)acrylate monomer is isobornyl acrylate or 4-t.butyl cyclohexyl acrylate.

15. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 1 , wherein the jettable fluid further comprises an initiator.

16. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 15 , wherein the initiator is a photo-initiator.

17. A method of preparing a flexographic printing master comprising the steps of:

providing a flexographic support;

jetting subsequent layers of a curable fluid as defined in claim 1 on the flexographic support; and

at least partially curing each jetted layer before a following layer is applied.

18. A method of preparing a flexographic printing master comprising the steps of:

providing a flexographic support;

jetting subsequent layers of a curable fluid as defined in claim 6 on the flexographic support; and

at least partially curing each jetted layer before a following layer is applied.

19. A method of preparing a flexographic printing master comprising the steps of:

providing a flexographic support;

jetting subsequent layers of a curable fluid as defined in claim 14 on the flexographic support; and

at least partially curing each jetted layer before a following layer is applied.

20. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the support is a basic sleeve.

21. The method according to claim 19 , wherein the support is a basic sleeve.

22. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 1 , wherein the monofunctional urethane acrylate is a polyether urethane acrylate.

23. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 9 , wherein the aliphatic urethane acrylate has a viscosity of 100 mPa·s or lower at 25° C.

24. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 9 , wherein the aliphatic urethane acrylate is 2-acrylic acid 2-{[(butylamino)carbonyl]oxy}ethyl ester.

25. The curable jettable fluid according to claim 1 , wherein the monofunctional urethane acrylate is a monofunctional urethane acrylate oligomer.