Unveil self-plasticized polyvinyl alcohol derived customizable patterned photosensitive resin films

Since the invention of movable type in ancient times, relief printing, often called flexographic printing, has been performed to mass-produce artifacts ranging from decorative graphics to printed media. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) substrates are soluble in water with low toxicity but have the disadvantages of poor elasticity and brittleness . Thus, this study aims to improve the resilience of water-developable photopolymer resin plates by modifying PVA with allyl polyoxyethylene ether (APEG) in solution polymerization . In order to better control polymerization, the reactivity ratios of both were investigated (r VAC  = 0.32 and r APEG  = 0.12). Impressively, the lowest glass transition temperature (T g ) of the modified PVA ( m -PVA) can reach −49.98 °C, which is significantly lower than that of PVA0599 (degree of polymerization = 500, degree of hydrolysis = 99 mol%) (T g  = 52.02 °C). Moreover, this resultant m -PVA exhibits superior elongation at break (443.23 ± 37.65 %) than PVA0599 (9.98 ± 3.95 %). It is found that photopolymer plates of m -PVA have maintained a 98 % elasticity recovery rate even after water washing. Due to the better elasticity of m -PVA, the clarity of the photopolymer plate is higher than that of traditional PVA. This water-soluble self-plasticized m -PVA is expected to be applied to the fine flexographic printing industry, such as electronic devices, components, and sensors.