How the Process of Fabric Sublimation Printing Works
Dye sublimation printing is often implemented on polyester fabric. If you research dye sub printing, you will find that it has been utilized to create full colored flags, banners, and posters, among other things. It has also been employed for large format poly-fabric displays and backdrops, typically used in trade show booths in most – if not all - trade shows and conventions.
This printing method is relatively new compared to the conventional inkjet printing, which creates printed items, such as vinyl banners and large format (and small as well) decals. Vinyl banners used to be a major offline advertising medium, for low-cost, short-term advertising. They still play a huge part in terms of outdoor and indoor advertising. In fact, most billboards, and billboard-sized banners posted on buildings are made from vinyl banners.
Many of our clients are not satisfied with the reflection caused by the glossy, plasticky look of vinyl banners in a trade show, convention, or retail environment, where printed advertising displays can be seen at close range. Dye sublimation fabric banners are the perfect alternative. And even small business owners can purchase one or a few banners at a reasonable price. Note that full color printing pricing is already priced into these banners, as the initial printing is done with a four color process build.
Dye sublimation printing makes use of large format digital printers that uses the dye sublimation version of 4CP printing, utilizing the CMYO combination of dyes, instead of the CMYK colors (CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), which is the ink set used for standard 4CP digital printing (some printers add a light pink and a light blue cartridge to make bluer blues and redder reds, as well as options for white ink and even metallic inks).
In dye sub printing, which uses CMYO dyes as mentioned above, the black color cartridge is replaced by a clear overprint which represents that letter O. The CMYO dyes need to be printed to a special type of paper, oddly enough called “transfer paper,” before heat pressing the transfer paper (and hence the dye) onto the fabric. The clear becomes the black in the process through a chemical and heat process that smarter persons than myself invented!
The chemical component of the dyes requires a special type of cloth with high polymer fabric, such as polyester and nylon. “What about cotton,” you may ask? Cotton is made from natural fibers, and it doesn’t have the polymers – plastic-like molecules which come from oil - which absorb the dyes - unlike polyester or nylon. The dyes are transferred, at about 205 degrees Celsius through heated rollers, at a pressure of around 185kg per 2.5 square centimeters.
With the high temperature and pressure, the dyes are converted to gas and the polymers in the polyester fabric opens, somewhat like a flower on a spring morning greets the heat of the sun. The dyes, which due to the heat, change from solids to a colored gas, which in turn is forced into the open polymer “flowers,” impregnating the open polymer “flowers” with colored gasses, which cool rapidly after passing through the heated rollers, leaving beautiful, continuous tone, colored graphics. Once the temperature of the print cools down, the polymer “flowers” in the fabric close, like a flower as the heat of the sun disappears, with the dyes permanently embedded in the fabric. We have even had clients who want family photos printed using this method.
There are various types of ink used for printing large format related advertising graphics, primarily vinyl (PVC) in the form of adhesive decal materials (ignoring static cling which is its own type of PVC that uses plasticizers to create a super soft plastic that will adhere, at least for a while, to glass or other super-smooth surfaces), vinyl banner material, and fabric banners.
The first vinyl decals printed 4CP commercially used a dry transfer ribbon, similar to an old typewriter ribbon (millenials may or may not know what that is!). By the late 1990’s, technology had advanced, first with color desktop printers, and later larger digital printers which could print to PVC materials with varying degrees of quality initially.
Somewhat later, someone (as previously mentioned whose name I don’t know) thought, gee, what would happen if we created a dye, that, if heated and pressurized, would print full color photos and logos on fabric? Really, who thinks of these things? I wish I had…I would be rich! At any rate, this type of ink, as mentioned in the previous section is called a “dye,” although it is just another form of ink, like ink is another form of dye. In the last section of the last section, I described the process of how dye sublimation works. You can review that if you want to as it will save me from writing it twice!
One advantage I failed to mention is that because the dye impregnates, or literally becomes part of the fabric, it cannot be scratched or scraped off, unlike a vinyl decal or banner (although it is not an easy task to separate ink from PVC products either, due to some pretty tough bonding agents used in today’s ink sets. You can typically also throw your cloth prints into the washer at a normal temperature setting, and dry them on a normal setting as well. I mean, really, they already got hit with 205C anyway!
High Quality Advertising and How it Can Dominate Your Competitors
The dye sublimation printing method has a natural edge in terms of being able to produce a continuous tone prints, whereas digital printers spray a series of colored ink - the printed image typically has a more photographic appearance than that of an inkjet printer, especially on close examination. The inkjet can spray colors in pattern to create a similar continuous tone appearance. At one glance, it may seem like a photographic print, but if you compare it alongside the dye sublimated print, you will notice a significant difference, where the latter excels in print quality.
Now, imagine you’re attending a trade show representing your company, are you are planning to use either digitally printed full color vinyl banners or full color continuous tone dye sublimated fabric banners? What if your competitor next to your trade show booth uses a beautifully printed continuous tone fabric banners, and you’re advertising with (gasp!) vinyl banners, hanging there looking plasticky? What could be the impression of a potential client between you and your competitor? If you are the client, who do you think gives the better impression? The materials you use may reflect the kind of product or service you can give, thinks the client subconsciously. You have one shot at a “first impression.” Advertising with dye sublimation printed banners can boost your image, giving potential clients the impression that you embody quality in your products and services.
