Nanopastes for use as patterning compositions

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention provides methods of forming image areas on a substrate for a variety of applications, including lithographic printing plates and masks.
In one embodiment, an image area is formed on a substrate by applying a thermally sensitive composition composed of a nanopaste onto the substrate and then treating the thermally sensitive composition (e.
g.
, air or oven drying) to form a layer.
The layer is then imaged and developed to form an image area.
Suitable substrates for the present invention may vary widely depending upon the desired application and the specific composition employed.
Suitable substrates or substrate surfaces may be hydrophilic or oleophilic, and may be composed of metals, polymers, ceramics, stiff papers, or laminates or composites of these materials.
Suitable metal supports include aluminum, zinc, titanium and alloys thereof.
In one embodiment, the substrate includes aluminum, which may be treated by graining and anodizing and may then be conditioned to produce a hydrophilic surface.
Suitable polymeric supports include polyethylene terephthalate films, polyester, epoxy laminates an photopolymerisable layers of flexographic printing precursors.
Such polymeric supports may be coated with hydrophilicity-enhancing components, including alkoxysilanes, aminopropyltriethoxysilane, glycidoxypropyltriethoxysilane and epoxy functional polymers, as well as conventional coating materials used on polyester bases in photographic films.
The substrate may be of sufficient thickness to sustain the wear from printing or other desired applications, and be thin enough to wrap around a printing form, typically from about 100 to about 600 .
mu.
m.
Specific examples of suitable substrates and substrate treatments are provided in Table 1 below: TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 SURFACE INTERLAYER SUBSTRATE TREATMENT TREATMENT AA Quartz Grained and None Anodized EG-PVPA Electrograined and Polyvinyl phosphoric acid Anodized PF Electrograined and Sodium dihydrogen Anodized phosphate/Sodium fluoride G20 Electrograined and Vinylphosphonic Anodized acid/acrylamide copolymer EG-Sil Electrograined and Sodium Silicate Anodized DS-Sil Chemically Grained and Sodium Silicate Anodized PG-Sil Pumice Grained and Sodium Silicate Anodized CHB-Sil Chemically Grained, Sodium Silicate Anodized and Silicated In Table 1 above, the abbreviation "AA" refers to "as anodized