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“Heat transfer printing” and “dye sublimation” printing technology

Thermal transfer printing head does not contact with the card surface – the image is first printed on the special printing film, and then transferred to the card surface.

 Dye-sublimation printing head is in direct contact with the card surface to form images. The working principle of the card printer is the use of dye sublimation technology. 

 “retransfer/direct printing”, which is actually a truth. Whether it is thermal transfer printing or thermal sublimation, it is a printing method that uses thermal energy to transfer pigments to the printing medium, and controls the proportion and shade of the color through the different temperatures adjusted by the semiconductor heating element. 

The working method of thermal sublimation is: the card printer receives the printing command from the PC, and the print head analysis command instructs the print head element to use thermal energy to transfer the ribbon pigment to the printing medium, that is, the PVC material surface card, through the semiconductor heating element Adjust the different temperatures to control the proportion and intensity of the color. The key point in this process is that the print head touches the ribbon, and the ribbon must be close to the PVC surface card, and the non-PVC material surface card cannot be well fused with the ribbon.

At the same time, the print head must have a certain pressure on the card during the process of heating and fusing the ribbon. This way of working determines that the print head must be lifted before it has finished walking the card surface.

At the same time, this working method has relatively high requirements on the surface of the card. If the surface of the card is uneven or the chip card will appear uneven after reheating, white spots that do not print the picture will appear after printing. So how to solve this situation?

If the card you need to make has a large area and a large number of patterns. You pre-print the common part of the pattern before printing directly, and then use the card printer;

Print the dynamic parts on the card surface, such as personal photos, personal information, etc.; the direct printing machine is suitable for customers who do not have high requirements for card imaging and pursue the lowest printing cost.   

The working method of thermal transfer printing is: the card printer receives the printing command from the PC, and the print head analysis command instructs the print head element to use thermal energy to first print the card image onto the printing film, and then fuse the printing film against pressure. To the card, this avoids the problem that traditional card printers cannot perfectly print cards with built-in electronic chips, RFID coils and other surfaces that are not very flat, and even damage the print head. It can achieve real photo-level production effects, and at the same time perfectly realize high-definition edge-to-edge printing.

It can perfectly print contact and non-contact IC cards, ID cards, magnetic stripe cards, ultra-thin cards.

Considering the problem of chip positioning without damaging the print head, it can print on cards made of different materials such as PET, PVC, ABS and PC, and can obtain high-quality printing results.

Because the print head does not directly contact the card surface, this greatly increases the service life of the print head. 　　

To sum up, the main advantages of thermal transfer card printers are:　　

1. The printing effect can achieve professional-level effect;　

2. Truly realize borderless and full-width printing;

3. Printhead life has been extended by four times;　

4. Can print materials other than PVC, such as PET, ABS, PC, etc.;　　

5. Can perfectly print IC, SIM card.