Ink transfer process is very important to determine quality of printed pattern, therefore its mechanism should be understood to control printing quality. Although there have been many attempts to understand ink transfer mechanism by numerical simulation and experimental studies, their model was too much simple to model realistic printing process and our understanding is not enough yet. In this paper we designed ink transfer visualization system to present flow visualization of ink transfer process for gravure offset printing. We considered rotational effect of blanket roll which is related with printing speed and used non-Newtonian fluid as working fluid such as Ag paste. For printing unit, cantilever-type blanket roll is used for convenient visualization of ink transfer. Serial images were captured continuously by using highspeed CMOS camera and long range microscope. We investigated the effects of various design parameters such as printing speed and pattern angle on the ink transfer process. We found more stretched ink filament for non-Newtonian fluid than Newtonian fluid. As increasing printing speed, length of stretched ink filament and height of break-up point are also increased. We also compared ink transfer process between CD and MD pattern and its relationship with ink transfer mechanism.
