Advantages and Disadvantages of Dye Sublimation Printing on Fabric Banners
Dye sublimation printing is, by definition, the sublimation of dyes onto fabrics. The way it works is like this. First, a transfer paper is printed on a digital printer that is configured with CMYO dye cartridges instead of typical CMYK inks. CMYK, or process printing (4CP is the abbreviated version of CMYK which stands for cyan-magenta-yellow-black) is used in printing the surfaces of materials, including direct-to-fabric printing, but does not become part of the fabric as dye sublimation printing does.
Dye sublimation uses dyes, as I said, and a set of CMYO dye cartridges that replaces the black in CMYK printing with an “Overprint Clear”. The inkjet printer that is set up to print dyes (this cannot be done interchangeably without a significant amount of knowledge and expense, so once a printer is set up to print dyes it usually doesn’t convert back to standard CMYK inkjet printing) prints a mirror image of whatever you need to print on a treated, dye-accepting paper known generically as “transfer paper.”
This paper is now “married” to a piece of polyester or other synthetic fabrics (polyester is the most common due to its versatility in appearance and use, from stretchy fabrics for trade show booths to apparel, outdoor flags, and much more). more) and is then fed through heated rollers that combine heat (around 375°F or 210°C) with pressure to expand the cells of the fabric and convert the dye to a gaseous state.
The dye sublimates into the open pores of the polymeric synthetic material and when it cools again, it traps the sublimated dye within the cells of the fabric. Because the dye turned gaseous, it does not create a dot pattern during the sublimation process as inkjet printing on fabric or vinyl or other rigid plastic substrates will, but instead creates a very similar continuous tone print. to how photographs develop and look.
So now that I have explained the basic difference between dye-sublimation printing and inkjet printing, I will address the original question of the advantages or disadvantages of both. As you know, I don’t think there are many cons to dye-sublimation printing on fabric, but I’ll give you the two that come to mind. First of all, it is slower than inkjet printing because it has two processes in the heat transfer part of dye-sublimation, so the labor costs will be higher to some extent, although there are now printers that have the cloth and paper online and are drawn. on the hot rollers while the printer continues to print.
The second drawback is also a production problem that is being solved by the new printer/roller units just explained in the previous paragraph. In the past, and still in the present, it’s not uncommon for fabric to wrinkle or wrinkle, or paper, and suddenly the entire transfer print and piece of fabric is ruined. You would have to start over. Many who have been at it a while and are using older equipment charge higher prices per square foot for wider material, but many who have newer equipment don’t either.
As for the benefits, I talked about continuous-tone printing that creates brighter, smoother color variations and transitions than you’ll find with inkjet printing, and a superior overall appearance, in our opinion. Also, because the dye impregnates or sublimates into the fabric, it is permanent and cannot flake off like some types of ink do, particularly garment inks used for T-shirts or inks printed on rigid substrates. Therefore, durability and appearance are probably the best examples of the superiority of fabric or garment dye-sublimation printing.
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