With the improvement of the silicone product industry, many customized silicone gift processing will use the appearance pattern technology, some products choose mold printing patterns, while others choose pad printing processing or heat transfer printing. For soft silicone rubber products, what are the differences between thermal transfer and water transfer?

The appearance processing technology is a prerequisite for the customized processing of silicone products. And the thermal transfer and water transfer appearance treatment process is widely used in all walks of life, the silicone industry is no exception. Although the thermal transfer and water transfer printing patterns are similar, the functional difference and complexity are different among them, because their craftsmanship can be used in different fields. It has been mainly popularized in many materials such as plastics, hardware, rubber, silicone rubber, PVC, ceramics, solid wood, etc.

The thermal Transfer Printing

The thermal transfer film process uses thermal transfer film for one-time heating, and transfers the decorative pattern on the thermal transfer to the surface of the building material to be decorated, thereby forming a process of high-quality decorative film. In the process of thermal transfer, the joint action of heat and pressure is used to separate the maintenance layer and the pattern layer from the polyester substrate, and the hot melt adhesive can make the entire decorative layer and the substrate permanently glued.

The Water Transfer Printing

Water transfer printing is like this. First, the specially chemically treated film is printed with the required color lines, and then it is sent flat on the surface of the water. With the effect of water pressure, the color lines and patterns can be evenly transferred to the product. On the outside, the coating film will automatically dissolve in water at this time. After cleaning and drying, a transparent maintenance coating is applied. At this time, the product has a completely different visual effect!

Thermal Transfer VS Water Transfer

If the same silicone watch band is used for two transfer processes, the difference lies in: the heat transfer process method is complicated, and it requires professional operation technicians to modulate size paper and high-resolution pictures to make a dot-type intaglio electro-engraving plate. The prepared intaglio plate is installed on a printing machine and printed on PET polyester film. It can be printed into a thermal transfer film, and then the thermal transfer film is installed on a thermal transfer hot stamping machine for printing operation. The pattern is formed at one time without color registration. In addition to silicone gifts, many different material processing methods are the same!

The water transfer printing process avoids these defects. It is mainly used to complete the printing of solid objects on the surface of the solid object with the use of the image produced by the inkjet printer and the combination of water. It is not affected by the surface of the material and the coating, so it can Print the pattern specified by the user on different products to complete any personalized visual effect. It inherits all the advantages of thermal transfer, but does not have the solid defects of thermal transfer, such as equipment, heating, and heat transfer. Factors such as pressure adsorption force.

Personalized water transfer printing can be put into consumption without using any special equipment, but its disadvantage lies in its low processing efficiency and high cost, and its effect is not as good as the heat transfer effect!

For the above two processing processes, if you don't know how to choose, the silicone product manufacturer recommends that you do mass transfer of silicone products, then choose thermal transfer. If the quantity is small, you can use the water transfer process. The two differences can be distinguished from efficiency issues. , One for mass production, one for a few processing, one for low cost and one for high cost! One has complex processing technology but exquisite patterns, and one is easy to operate but energy-saving and environmentally friendly. Mainly depends on what product you need to print and the pattern and quantity to choose!

The application of the thermal transfer technique

With the movie "Taking the Crown" (formerly titled "Chinese Women's Volleyball") is officially released nationwide on 25th September, Lexinda here used this emerging heat transfer printing on the newly released Bluetooth speaker clock in 2020 to pay tribute to the Chinese women's volleyball team.

wooden led clock built-in Bluetooth speaker

This wooden led clock built-in Bluetooth speaker is different from the various of CLOCKS with Bluetooth speaker we showcased before, because an heat transfer printing designed on the front.

All in all, the heat printed pattern is rich in layers, bright colors, ever-changing, small color difference, good reproduction, and can achieve the design pattern of the required effect, which make it suitable for mass production.