Graphic Arts Film, Processing Conditions, and Designed Experiments? Yes!

Graphic arts film manufacturers all make recommendations for processing conditions for their respective films. What happens when, in practical use, these conditions are not met? A statistically designed experiment was run to quantify the effects of changing developer temperature and development time for a variety of graphic arts contact films on a variety of film quality characteristics. The experiment provided side by side comparisons for the selected films. An optimal processing condition window was found for each film. A statistically designed experiment was run to quantify the effects of changing developer temperature and development time for a variety of graphic arts contact films on a variety of film quality characteristics. The experiment provided side by side comparisons for the selected films. An optimal processing condition window was found for each film. Mathematical models were generated that predict film quality when processing conditions.