Ballard skin
In gravure printing, Ballard skin is a peelable copper layer on the gravure printing cylinder . The steel gravure cylinder is covered by a 2 mm thick base copper layer on which a second copper layer, the so-called Ballard skin, is galvanized. Between the 100 µmA separating layer lies between the thin Ballard skin and the base copper. This makes it easy to remove the Ballard skin after printing and replace it with a new one. The print image is chemically etched into this thin copper layer in the form of tiny cells, electromechanically or engraved using a laser beam. Finally, the copper layer is also chrome-plated in order to achieve better durability for longer runs.
After printing, the Ballard skin can be peeled off together with the chrome layer. For reuse, the cylinder surface is cleaned and polished, and a new separating layer is applied in order to galvanize a Ballard skin again.