Flexographic printing plates are produced by exposing the photopolymer
plates to a light source and washing out (developing) the masked out, non-exposed
areas with a solvent. The invention provides terpene ether solvents suitable for
use in the development of photopolymer printing plates. The solvents, which include
terpene ethers alone or mixed with co-solvents and/or non-solvents, are effective
in developing a large number of different photopolymer printing plates and can
produce images superior to those obtained with commercially available solvents
currently used in such applications.
