Sublimation Printing: All You Need to Know About Sublimation Ink

Sublimation printing is used to print photographic quality pictures. With the recent spurt in technology, the cost of sublimation printing has gone down drastically and digital camera owners are lapping it up. A sublimation printer loads a long roll of film that is transparent. These look like rolls of colored cellophane of red, yellow, blue, and gray. The printing dyes get embedded in this film. Commonly used subtractive primary dyes are used that are cyan, yellow, magenta, and black (CMYK). When the printhead traverse over the film, it heats up. Because of this the dyes vaporize and penetrate the glossy surface of the paper and form a permanent image. As a result of the permeation, the printing is fade resistant over a long period of time.

What can be sublimated?
• Hard substrates – Polymer coated items are ideal for sublimation. The sublimation print penetrates the polymer coating and becomes part of it. When running a hand over the coating, the print cannot even be felt.
• Soft substrates – Synthetic fabrics like polyester, satin, nylon and rayon are good substrates for sublimation. When working with nylon or rayon, specific types must be chosen. Soft substrates include can koozies, car flags, mouse pads and puzzles.
• White substrates – Since sublimation ink is translucent, white substrates replicate true colors. Ash gray substrates also work well. For other light colored substrates, if the print colors are dark and complementary, then sublimation can be done well. Darker substrates kill the color of the print.

What cannot be sublimated?
• Soft substrates like cotton cannot be sublimated. If there is a fabric that is 50-50 cotton and polyester, sublimation cannot be done. The image will look unimaginative, faded and dull. For decorating 50-50 cotton and polyester fabric, heat transfer paper should be used.
• Hard substrates that are not polymer coated cannot be sublimated. Specialized suppliers must be contacted to procure polymer coated hard substrates. Color is of extreme importance in sublimation. Dark colored hard substrates will render the print color useless and impossible to detect.

The unique part of dye sublimation ink is that like dry ice, it gets converted from solid to gas without any liquefaction. The conversion is pressure and time controlled and initiated by heat. When the sublimation transfer is put into a heat press along with a substrate at 400 F, the ink turns into gas to form a permanent bond on the substrate. The substrate is a polymer coated item or synthetic fabric. The resulting print is a premium full color, photographic quality image that does not crack, peel or wash away.

There are two types of dye sublimation inks that are available in the market. For use in desktops and large format printers, the most popular dye sublimation ink is aqueous dye sublimation ink. The other type of dye sublimation ink is used in XAAR, Spectra and Konica printhead wide format printers and it is a solvent dye sublimation ink. With a spurt in digital textile printing, these inks are gaining huge popularity.