What is thermal transfer printing? A thermal transfer printer transfers a wax or resin based foil on to a substrate after it is heated by a thermal printing head. The melted ribbon stays glued to the specified material. The process was invented by the SATO Corporation in the late 1940s. Thermal transfer printers are inexpensive, easy to maintain, queit and don’t occupy a lot of space. They are flexible and can produce high-quality print jobs with different formats. There are two kinds of thermal transfer printing: direct thermal and thermal wax transfer.

A direct thermal printer does not use ribbons, ink or toner. Instead a direct thermal printer burns dots onto special coated paper when it passes through the print head. Thermal wax transfer printing requires a ribbon that contains a wax based ink. Fax machines and grocery store receipts use thermal direct printing. Direct thermal printing uses special coated heat sensitive materials that turn black when its passed underneath the print head.

Because direct thermal prints are not durable and fade when exposed to heat and light, thermal transfer printing is a reliable method for long lasting and durable prints. Thermal wax transfer printers require a wax-based ink ribbon. The thermal printer print head heats the ribbon, melting the ink and deposits it onto a paper or other desired material. Thermal transfer printers can also accept a larger variety of media other than direct thermal models. 

How does thermal transfer printing work? A thermal transfer printer’s printing head contains very small heating pins that melt a wax based ink onto ordinary paper or burns small dots onto paper with a special coating. A computer program determines which heating pins come in contact with the wax or coated paper to create an image.  The print head covers the entire paper or medium chosen for print. Thermal printers can print on paper, polyester and polypropylene materials.

What kind of products can you print with thermal transfer printing? Thermal transfer printers are very popular for printing bar codes, labels, price tags, asset tags, certification labels, common labels, tags and tickets. The most popular use of thermal transfer printing is for making bar codes. Thermal transfers are ideal for bar codes because the printers produce precise, high quality images with superior edge definition. The precision printing makes scanning the bar codes easy

A few popular applications for thermal transfer printed products are product identification, circuit board tracking, permanent identification, sample and file tracking, asset tagging, inventory identification, certification labels, such as UL/CSA, laboratory specimens, cold storage and freezers and outdoor applications.

For more information about thermal transfer printing visit http://www.datagraphicsinc.com/