How Much Do You Know about Thermal Transfer Printing?

Thermal transfer printing is a new method of printing patterns on goods of various materials, especially suitable for making small and diverse personalized and customized goods, and printing patterns containing full-color images or photos. The principle is to print the digital pattern on the special transfer paper with special transfer ink through the printer, and then use the special transfer machine to accurately transfer the pattern to the surface of the product at high temperature and high pressure to complete the product printing.

Transfer Principle

The color pattern is printed on the heat-resistant substrate film in advance (by release treatment), and then with the special transfer equipment, it is transferred to the surface of the product by hot stamping. The quality of the thermal transfer process is reliable and the technology is stable and good. The material formula is closely matched with the equipment.

Transfer tool

✔️Thermal transfer equipment

A thermal transfer machine is a general term for machines used in thermal transfer technology. Thermal transfer machines include flat heat transfer machines, high pressure heat transfer machines, shaking head heat transfer machines, roasting cup machines, roasting pan machines, roasting cap machines and other thermal transfer printing machines. machine.

✔️Thermal transfer paper

Various patterns are printed on a special kind of paper with special thermal transfer ink, and then the patterns are transferred to the product through temperature and pressure. This special paper in the thermal transfer process is called thermal transfer paper.

Transfer printing refers to the printing process in which dyes are transferred to fabrics through transfer paper. It is based on the sublimation characteristics of some disperse dyes, selects disperse dyes sublimated at 150~230°C, mixes them with the slurry to make "color ink", and then prints the "color ink" on the Transfer paper (this is a special kind of paper, so it is called transfer paper), and then the transfer paper printed with the pattern is in close contact with the fabric, and enters the fabric through diffusion under the control of a certain temperature, pressure and time. inside, to achieve the purpose of coloring.

✔️Thermal transfer film

The thermal transfer film is mainly used in plastic transfer. The carrier of thermal transfer film is different from wood grain paper. It is made of PET/PVC/CP and other materials, but the characteristics of each material are different.

✔️Target substrate

It can be transferred on substrates such as leather, textile fabrics, plexiglass, metal, plastic, crystal, wood products, coated paper, etc.

Printing method

There are two printing methods, one is thermal sublimation transfer and the other is thermal pressure transfer.

✔️Sublimation transfer printing

Thermal sublimation transfer, also known as vapor-phase thermal transfer, is to use dye-based inks with sublimation conditions to mirror images and texts that need to be printed, such as portraits, landscapes, texts, etc. printed on paper. Then put the paper printed with the graphic on the substrate, and by heating (usually about 200 ℃) and pressurizing, the ink on the sublimation transfer paper is directly transformed from a solid state to a gaseous state, to transfer the graphic to the substrate. on things.

✔️Heat press transfer

Thermal transfer printing uses screen printing (also gravure printing, etc.) to print graphics on thermal transfer paper or plastic, and then transfer graphics to substrates by heat and pressure. However, with the popularity of laser printers and inkjet printers, many small workshops use laser printers to directly print graphics and texts made by computers on transfer paper, or use inkjet printers to print graphics and text on ordinary printing paper. , and then copy it to the transfer paper with an electrostatic copier, and finally, transfer the pictures and texts on the transfer paper to the substrate by heating and pressing.

The difference between the two methods is:

The sublimation transfer method is mainly used on chemical fiber fabrics and hard materials coated with thermal transfer coating, while the thermal set transfer method is mainly used on pure cotton products;

The texture produced by the two methods is also different. After the sublimation pattern is transferred, the original texture of the material is not changed, and the hand feel and look and feel are good. After the thermosetting pattern is transferred, a layer of glue is formed on the surface of the attachment, which has a poor hand feel and is airtight. The two printing methods have their own advantages and disadvantages in production and production.

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