| A contrafibra | Curling or folding paper at right angles to the grain direction. |
| A prueba de la humedad | The property of a material that makes it almost impervious to water vapour. |
| Abertura de la malla | Refers to the size of gaps in the mesh for the ink to be pressed through in screen printing (screen process). |
| Abrasión | The tendency of a substrate, or coating, to abrade or wear cutting edges on dies and slitting units. |
| Absorción | The property which causes substrate to take up liquids or vapours that come into contact with it. |
| Acabado de las clisés polímeros?????? | The final process in photopolymer platemaking when the relief surface is cured in order to make it more ink receptive and less tacky. |
| Acabado gofrado | Creating a relief design on the surface of a material. May be printed or left plain, and may be achieved by passing the web between rotary of flat engraved dies in a male and female formation. |
| Acabado máquina | A grade of paper available for use in the finish that comes from the paper machine. |
| Acabo | The procedures which follow on after the printing stage is complete. May include punching-out, folding, perforating, gluing, etc. |
| Acciòn de laminar | A clear plastics film, bonded by heat or adhesive to a printed web to both enhance the appearance and add protection. |
| Acero de útiles | The steel containing a high proportion of chrome and carbon from which rotary tooling is made. |
| Acetato | A family of solvents also known as esters such as normal propyl acetate. Also one of, or the family of, cellulose acetate films. |
| Acetona | A very active solvent used mainly in gravure inks. The fastest drying solvent in the keytone family. |
| Acondicionamiento del papel | The process of subjecting materials to specific temperature and humidity conditions for specified periods in order to make them stable in general use. |
| Acoplamiento mutuo; interface | The linking of different electronic devices. |
| Acortamiento | May refer to the cut or print length. |
| Acrílico | A general chemical term relating to a particular family of thermoplastic resins based upon acrylic acid and its derivatives. |
| Activación | The application of heat to a heatseal coating to render it fluid and thus tacky. |
| Activación por radiofrecuencia | The use of electromagnetic waves of radio frequency to generate the heat required in a heatseal coating to activate the adhesive. |
| Activado por calor | A coating of adhesive which is dry to the touch until activated by the application of heat through the thickness of the coated substrate. Also called heatseal. |
| Activar | To put into a state of motion or chemical activity. |
| Actividades para el pasado primero | The activities that take place during a single pass through the press. Ie. the job will be completed in a single working. |
| Acumulación de adhesivo | The transfer of adhesive from label material to machinery parts during conversion or application. |
| Acuosa | Water containing or water based. Refers to adhesive or ink formulations which use water as the carrier or vehicle. |
| Adherencia final | The adhesion determined by the force necessary to remove an adhesive coated material from a surface after an extended period of time. |
| Adherencia; adhesión | The state in which two surfaces are held together by chemical or physical forces, or both, with the aid of an adhesive. |
| Adherencia; específico | The adhesion determined by the force required to remove an adhesive coated material from a specified surface under specified conditions. |
| Adherencia; pegajosidad | The stickiness of the adhesive. |
| Adhesión anti-desprendimiento | The ability to withstand stress, as in holding semi rigid label materials on small diameter cylindrical objects. Involves both adhesive and cohesive strength and the flexibility of the face material. |
| Adhesion definita de la tinta | The ability of ink, once dry, to remain on the surface of the substrate under specified conditions. |
| Adhesión del adhesivo | The adhesion of an adhesive, coating or ink to a material. |
| Adhesion inicial | The feeling of stickiness obtained when the surface of an adhesive is touched or when a label is applied to a surface and quickly pulled away. |
| Adhesión posterior | The second stage of adhesion which takes place once the tacky adhesive and the container surface have been in contact for a specified time. This time period may be varied my modification of the adhesive formulation. |
| Adhesivar con adhesivos termosellables | A method of coating in which adequate flow properties are temporarily imparted to the coating material by the application of a specified heat. |
| Adhesivo-activado por agua | An adhesive coating which is dry to the touch and may be activated by moistening the coating with water. |
| Adhesivo a base de caucho | Pressure sensitive adhesive based on natural or synthetic rubber. Can be coated as a solvent, hotmelt, or emulsion system. |
| Adhesivo acrílico | Pressure sensitive adhesive based on high strength acrylic polymers. Can be coated as a solvent or emulsion system. |
| Adhesivo claro???/transparente | An adhesive which forms a clear, colourless and transparent coating. |
| Adhesivo húmedo | Paper labels which require wet glue to be applied to the reverse side in order that they may be attached to a container. |
| Adhesivo para alta temperatura | See adhesive, high temperature. |
| Adhesivo para bajas temperaturas | An adhesive that will induce a bond to cold surfaces in a cold environment. |
| Adhesivo para congelados | See low temperature adhesive. |
| Adhesivo para textil | Adhesive formulated for application to textiles. It may be permanent or removable in type, according to specific requirements. |
| Adhesivo pelable | See removable adhesive. |
| Adhesivo permanent | An adhesive with a high ultimate adhesion. |
| Adhesivo permanente | An adhesive which when applied to the specified surface will key permanently within a short space of time. |
| Adhesivo pretratado | A label coated with an adhesive which may be activated by pressure, heat, or water. |
| Adhesivo removible | An adhesive with a low ultimate adhesion to a wide range of surfaces. |
| Adhesivo removible al agua | An adhesive that upon contact with water at a specified temperature will have a reduced bond, allowing clean removal. |
| Adhesivo removible | Adhesive which when applied to one of the specified surfaces may be cleanly removed at a later date. |
| Adhesivo reposicionable | An adhesive which permits removal and repositioning shortly after the initial application. The ultimate adhesion develops following the repositioning. |
| Adhesivo reposicionable | A permanent adhesive that may be removed and repositioned, within a stated time, following the initial application. |
| Adhesivo resistente al calor | An adhesive capable of retaining its properties when used at high temperatures. |
| Adhesivo semi-permanente | Permanent adhesive which when used on a particular surface permits repositioning of the item for a given period prior to the adhesive keying permanently. |
| Adhesivo soluble al agua | A pressure sensitive adhesive in which all the components are soluble in water at a specified temperature. |
| Adhesivo termosellable | A dry adhesive that is rendered tacky by the application of heat. |
| Adhesivos para congelados | Adhesive that will continue to function below the freezing point. They may become removable at room temperature. |
| Aditivos | Compounds which control such ink characteristics as tack, viscosity, drying time etc. |
| Aditivos diluyentes | Varnishes, solvents, oily or greasy compounds used to reduce the body and/or viscosity for printing. |
| Adquisición automática de datos | Automatic Data Collection. Production information collected electronically from the press and fed into a computer for the collation of information. |
| Agente adhesivo | An additive used to improve the stickiness or tack of an adhesive. |
| Agente antiespuma | An additive used in ink, especially flexo, that reduces or eliminates the foaming of a liquid ink. Also used to break down foam already formed. |
| Agente antiespumante | A subtance or chemical devised to obviate or remove the tendency for inks to foam or form small bubbles during agitation on the printing press. |
| Agente emulgente | A method of coating in which adequate flow properties are temporarily imparted to the coating by dispersing it in water. |
| Agentes antioxidantes | Agents which retard the action of oxygen in substances subject to oxidisation. |
| Agentes antistáticos | Ingredients added to coatings in order to reduce static attraction. |
| Agitación | The flow of the processing solution from side to side during chemical processing. |
| Agrumarse | A spotty or uneven appearance. Noticed in solids printed from over thinned ink. |
| Agujeros de arrastre | Traction holes punched along the edges of the web of labels. Sometimes required for feeding labels through an overprinter. |
| Agujeta; microagujeros | A defect in film processing, often caused through dust in the air settling on the film and causing small holes in the emulsion which require filling in before further exposure. |
| Ajuste de precisión de grupos de impresi | Calibrating each printhead and die cutting unit in order to correct any deviation from 100% accuracy. Any deviation that cannot be corrected being allowed for in origination and the setting of standards. |
| Ajuste de registro por agujeros (trepana | The use of accurately positioned holes and special pins on copy, films, plates, and presses to ensure the proper register, or fit, of colours. |
| Ajuste del registro para pasado secundar | The system whereby a pre-printed web is registered for a second pass through the press. Also applies when two printed webs are to be laminated together. |
| Alcohol | A group of organic solvents often used in flexo ink formulations. |
| Alineación | Refers to the relative position of the printing and die cutting units located on a label press. Also refers to the relative position of a scanner or light source to a bar code. |
| Almacenamiento de constantes de material | The phenomena whereby a material that has been produced under tension retains a memory of its natural dimension and returns to it once the tension is removed. |
| Almacenamiento hidrófilo; productos de l | A term which refers to those household products that are likely to be stored in damp conditions. |
| Alteración en puntos; rasterización | The conversion of image data into a pattern of dots, usually performed by an imagesetter for the production of a negative or positive image on paper or film. |
| Altura media | Distance from the base line to the top of a letter x in a given font. |
| Aluminio | A very thin metal sheet that may be used as face stock material in label production. |
| Alveolo | A small engraved or etched depression in the surface of an anilox roll that carries the ink to the plate. Gravure; the depressions that hold ink around the circumference of the printing cylinder. |
| Amarillo | Hue of a subtractive primary and a four colour process ink. It reflects red and green light and absorbs blue light. |
| Análisis | The separation of a substance into its component parts in order that a percentage analysis of each may be obtained. |
| Análisis de pedidos;planificación de ped | The listing of every requirement together with the source of supply for a particular order. |
| Analógico | Continuously variable signals or data. |
| Anchura de la banda de papel (de la máqu | The width of the web on a paper machine. |
| Anchura de la banda de papel | The distance from one edge to the other taken across the width of material at 90 degrees to the edge. Total width may include an allowance for trim. |
| Aparato de vigilancia para la banda | A number of systems are available that facilitate the viewing of the web whilst it is moving rapidly on the press. They vary from a simple stroboscope through to video systems which may electronically adjust register on the run. |
| Apilador | An item of equipment which when mounted following a sheeter unit stacks the sheeted labels into specified quantities. |
| Aplastamiento | The die cutting action when a flat or rotary die cutting blade is pressed against the face of the laminate. |
| Aplicación parcial de adhesivo-reserva d | When adhesive is applied in stripes, or patterns rather than coated all over evenly. |
| Apolar | Having no concentrations of electrical charge on a molecular scale, incapable of significant dielectric loss. Examples include polystyrene and polyethylene. |
| Apoyo electroestático | A method of printing in which the image is created on a drum in the form of a powder, transferred to the substrate and pressed into the surface by a combination of pressure and heat. |
| Aprestado; lisura | The surface properties of a material which may refer to gloss, smoothness, or roughness. The printing process chosen must be compatible with the surface finish of the material to be printed. |
| Apropiado | BSI and ISO denotes a standard of quality and refers to traceability. The quality might be fine but is the item suitable for the intended purpose in addition to being of sound quality. |
| Aptitud de pasado | Paper properties which effect the ability of the paper to run on the press such as a too high or low humidity content. |
| Arañamiento; desgaste | The action of rubbing a surface against another surface. Can be used to replicate the agitation that may occur during transit. |
| Arreglo preliminar electrónico | Any technology which repoduces images without the use of traditional ink, water, or chemistry. |
| ASCII código alfanumérico | An alphanumeric code used in electronic communication (pronounced 'As-key'). |
| Asociación de fabricantes australianos d | Label and Tag Manufacturers of Australia. The trade organisation for label printers in Australia. |
| Asociación de Fabricantes europeos de ci | Association des Fabricants Europeens de Rubans Auro-Adhesives. The European Association for manufacturers of pressure sensitive adhesives. |
| Asociación de Fabricantes europeos de Ma | A group of solvents made by reacting an acid with an alcohol, eg. Ethyl acetate, isopropyl acetate etc. |
| Asociación Flexográfica Técnica | Flexographic Technical Association. A trade association with branches around the world who act as a training and information service to flexographic printers. |
| Asociación nacional de los fabricantes a | Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute. The national association for label printers covering the USA. |
| Asociación national de impresores jabone | The National Association for Japanese Label Printers. |
| Aspecto no etiqueta | A self-adhesive label printed on clear material and permitting the container, or contents to contribute to the overall appearance. |
| Attributo; emblema | Qualitive data which can be counted or classified in some useful way but which does not include measurement. ie the number of dirty specks within a square centimetre of tonal area. |
| Autoadhesivo | An adhesive which in dry (solvent free) state is tacky at room temperature and adheres to diverse surfaces by simple contact under light pressure. |
| Autoadhesivo, transparente con soporte t | A term used to identify the fact that a label laminate is constructed from a clear backing, clear adhesive, and clear face material. |
| Autoadhesivo | Pressure Sensitive Adhesive. An adhesive which remains 'tacky' when dry and which is used in the manufacture of self-adhesive labels. |
| Autoclave | A pressurized, steam heated, vessel used for sterilization procedures. Special tests should be carried out if labelled items are to be put through this process. |
| Autoridad de Alimentación y Drogas | The ragged, coarse edges that appear in the image resulting from ink soaking along the fibres of the material. |
| Autoridad de Protección del medio Ambien | Plastic or resinous materials used for strong, fast-setting adhesives, as heat resistant coatings and binders etc. |
| Avance intermitente; avance discontinuo | A printing press which although fed from a reel feeds the material through in a stop-go action. |
| Avanzar poco a poco | To run the label press intermittently by very short increments. |