Talking about the Sublimation Transfer in Textile Printing

Sublimation transfer printing, also known as "gas dyeing", is mainly used for clothing, shoes and hats, advertising, crafts and architectural decoration, etc. The process is very simple. It can produce off-site transfer in different places, with a short production cycle, and stands out in the textile printing industry.

The process of direct conversion of a solid substance into a gaseous state without liquefaction by a high temperature is called "sublimation." Sublimation transfer printing is the use of dye-based inks with sublimation conditions, printing on paper by means of lithographic printing, screen printing, embossing printing (we call it “sublimation transfer paper”), and then using the principle of sublimation transfer printing. The paper and the substrate are heated and pressurized, so that the sublimation transfer paper layer undergoes a gas-to-heat transition to complete the gas-dyeing of the substrate, which is a practical fabric dyeing method.

Its main features are the use of small paper stretching, printing is simple, graphic and lifelike, with high color fastness, can truly transfer the text on the fabric, so that the fabric graphic color fastness, breathability Strong, bright color. Here are some of the considerations in the production process regarding the two production methods of sublimation transfer.

I. Traditional production methods

Prepress work: The prepress work for production of sublimation transfer papers is important because the dye-based inks used in the production of sublimation transfer papers differ greatly in color before and after transfer. The sublimation transfer ink looks like dark and dull CMYK four colors before transfer (sublimation transfer printing ink does not have white ink), it is rely on about 200 °C high temperature to restore the true color, so give us the production of transfer paper correction and printing tape Difficult to come. Suggestions: (1) First proofing; (2) Adjusting according to customer requirements; (3) Confirming mass production.

Printing equipment: Sublimation transfer paper is usually printed in large quantities using embossing (gravure printing) or lithographic (offset printing), and small batches of screen printing (manual, semi-automatic, fully automatic screen printing), using embossing For printing and screen printing, the amount of ink is large, and it is best to choose pure ink without a diffusion solvent. The lithographic printing ink layer is also thin after the corresponding transfer. Sublimation transfer paper base paper is generally selected 60g-100g offset paper.

Transfer equipment: generally divided into intermittent (flat and curved surface) and continuous (hot roll) two types of hot presses. Intermittent (flat type) for transfer of fabrics or flat ceramics, batch (curved) for transfer of profiled ceramics or shoes, caps, continuous (heat roller) for high volume, large area fabric transfers India.

Second, digital production methods

The production of digital sublimation transfer paper is more flexible and maneuverable than traditional production methods. It does not require plate making and there is no restriction on the amount of printing. Its equipment is fully compatible with the rest of the transfer equipment and tradition. Digital, small size, high speed, easy operation.

(1) MAC Apple Computer G3 or above with a strong high-speed PC computer. Host Pentium4, CPU2.4, memory at least 512MB, hard disk space 80G. System software Windows200/WindowsXP.

(2) High-resolution desktop inkjet printers or high-resolution large-scale dedicated inkjet printers.

(3) commonly used software Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Freehand, Photoshop.

Its consumables have sublimation conditions inkjet printing ink and plain paper. Operators should be able to skillfully operate various drawing-related software and have a certain art base, and can repair and edit incomplete patterns.

Third, the conclusion

Whether it is the sublimation transfer produced in the traditional form or the digital sublimation transfer nowadays, although it has many advantages, there are certain limitations and disadvantages.

For example: In the fabric used for the transfer of textiles, only limited to high temperature resistant partially synthetic white or light-colored fabrics such as: polyester, acrylic, etc., used in other fabrics such as: polyamide and acrylic fabrics and other bright products and Fastness, etc. are always in the ointment, of course, can not be applied on cotton fabrics. Hard material substrates are also limited to such things as ceramics and glass after processing. In addition, it consumes a large amount of paper, though it is not ideal to adopt less, substitute, reuse, and other methods through practice and efforts.