Processing Chemicals for the DPX System

The DPX System is a polyester computer to plate system. It loads and cuts-to-size a segment of photographic polyester material, or plate, and exposes it with a laser. From there the DPX feeds the material into a processing section where it dips the plate into two chemical baths. This process of chemically treating the light sensitive plate to develop an image is called processing. Processing the plate requires the use of two chemicals; activator and stabilizer.

Activator (Developer)

The first chemical is called Activator; sometimes referred to as developer. Activator is the chemical that causes light sensitive silver to rise to the surface of the plate, thereby turning the patter that was imaged onto the plate by the laser into a visible pattern on the plate. A plate that is not getting activated will process and come out the original color, which is almost blue. Activated plates should be black where exposed to light and silver where unexposed. The process of properly activating a light sensitive material requires that it be activated at a specific temperature. For DPX Systems using digiplate material and Mitsubishi chemistry that temperature is between 84 and 88 degrees Fahrenheit.

Stabilizer (Fixer)

At this point, though the image is visible, the plate is still light sensitive. That's where the second chemical comes in. The second processing chemical is Stabilizer; sometimes referred to as fixer. What stabilizer does is it sets the image on the plate. It removes the light sensitive properties of the plate so the plate can be handled around normal daylight. From then on the machine blows hot air onto the plate to dry it. After all of that, you have an exposed and processed plate which is now ready for use.