What is Replication

Replication is a manufacturing process where the CD or DVD is made from scratch, for this reason the minimum economical run size tends to be from a 1000 units upwards.

So what is the process? Well once your master is received the data is burnt onto a glass plate with a photosensitive layer using a laser. A metal stamper is then grown from this plate via electrolysis this contains all the information in pits and troughs. The stamper is then mounted in an injection molding machine ready for the creation of the disc. Tiny particles of optical grade polycarbonate are then heated and melted and forced to to the mould with a pressure of around 30 tons and an image is formed of the data from the stamper into the plastic.

The disc is released from the mould and cooled before entering a vacuum chamber containing a large magnet and aluminium plate, a puff of argon gas then enters the chamber and a charge of several 1000 watts is put in the surface of the aluminium plate is released and a plasma formed which is drawn onto the disc by the magnet underneath.

The next process is to add a UV lacquer to the aluminum to prevent it from oxidizing. Once this process is complete the discs are ready to be printed and packed. There are two options for printing if it is a full colour image the best result will be litho printing if spot colours then screen printing will be used. Please not for copyright reasons and to prevent piracy all replicated discs have to have some form of print on them.