What is thermal transfer paper?

There are many questions when you don't know Thermal Transfer Printing Technology. Today, we would like to share some insights about heat transfer printing paper and heat transfer printing technology.

1. Definition

Heat transfer paper is a heat-sensitive chemical absorbent paper . When the paper is exposed to heat, the chemical changes color (usually black), and will produce an image. The surface of the paper is covered with a solid mixture of a dye and a suitable surface, eg a combination of a LEUCO fluoran dye and octadecylphosphonic acid.

When the surface is heated above its melting point, the dye will react with the acid, change the color of the thermal paper, and the changed forms are then preserved in a super-strong state when the paper surface becomes about normal temperature.

Picture 1 of What is thermal transfer paper?
Thermal transfer printer.

2. Types of thermal paper printing

There are many different types of thermal paper and different uses, depending on the needs of the user.

  1. Normal heat transfer printing paper : also known as color printing paper, is the most used paper on the mayor, used to print on light-colored shirts, porcelain cups, ceramic tiles, crystals .
  2. High quality Sublimation transfer printing paper is better than light-colored shirt printing paper when printing, it will move from paper to ink more, giving more beautiful, more realistic colors.Can print on 60% cotton shirt.
  3. Bold thermal printing paper : Specially used to print dark colors such as black, dark red, dark blue .
  4. Jetpro thermal transfer paper : Replace the bold thermal printing paper, originating from Europe, higher quality bold thermal printing paper, specialized on dark, dark color, when printing rubber, not peeling and discoloration.

3. Benefits

Direct thermal printing has some advantages over other types of printing because it is quick, quiet and does not need tape or ink cartridges.

4. Limited

One drawback of thermal paper is that if a printed page is exposed to heat, the entire page will change color and the image will be erased. Like many products, paper also contains Bisphenol A, a potentially harmful chemical.

Picture 2 of What is thermal transfer paper?
Thermal transfer paper.

5. Application

Thermal paper has many applications, including fax machines, labels, invoices and lottery tickets. It is used in thermal printers and especially in devices such as extra machines, cash registers, terminals, and cheap credit cards.

6. What is thermal transfer printing technology?

Thermal transfer printing technology is a technology that uses a special ink (Thermal transfer ink) Printed on specialized printing paper (thermal transfer paper or medicine paper). Then use a heat press device (including: heat press on a cup, heat press on a plate, heat press on a plane, .) to help transfer images from printed professional paper output from the printer adheres to the material to be printed.

Heat transfer printing technology is quite popular, most in advertising printing, prototyping in garment companies, gift printing companies. This technology is often used to print images, logos on porcelain cups, porcelain plates, print T-shirts, print on crystal, print on glass, print on ceramic tiles, wood .