Dye Sublimation Printing

Sublimation printing is a
procedure that allows the
transfer of a full colour
graphic or photograph onto a
specific object selected out of
a large range. The objects include materials such as
metal, glass, ceramics and
unisub products. These
materials are then given a
special coating to allow them
to become sublimation receptive. There are also
some certain synthetic
fabrics that allow
photographs or designs to be
printed onto them. These
include T-shirts, jigsaw puzzles, mousemats, metals,
tiles, mugs, coasters,
keyrings and more, however
there are some materials that
cannot be printed on, these
include cotton fabric and garments because
sublimation printing is
always done on polyester,
polymer or polymer coated
products. Although it is not
advisable to print on cotton it can actually be done
however the image will wash
out within a few washes. The process is described as
simple as there are not very
many steps that are taken to
produce the high quality
goods. First, the customer
designs the specific piece of artwork on their computer
using any graphical design
software they desire. The
printer is then loaded with
sublimation ink which
prints onto Epson photo quality paper with 720dpi
(dots per inch) giving the
graphic a very high quality
appearance. Sublimation
inks are basically a
formulation of a range of coloured dyes suspended in
liquids that are able to pass
through a digital printer. A heat press is then used to
transfer the image from the
photo quality paper to the
desired object, which is later
recognised as the finished
product. With the heat and pressure applied, the inks
convert from a solid to a gas
and penetrate into the
substrates surface. This
method used gives a much
more durable finish compared to many other
transfer methods used in the
industry which simply
applies to the chosen image
to the surface of the wanted
object. The process is relatively
quick and easy considering
the quality of the end
product. As the equipment is
compact, only a small
amount of working space is required. The finished product results
are vibrant, glossy, scratch
resistance, photo realistic
images on a very wide range
of promotional goods and
personal goods that anyone who receives them will love!
These products make great
gifts and have become very
popular in recent years. The required equipment for
dye sublimation printing
includes; sublimation
printer, dye sublimation
inks, sublimation paper and
hat press or wraps.