Stainless Steel Vacuum Flask Manufacturing: Thermal Transfer Printing Process

Thermal transfer technology has long been used in the production of fabric thermal transfer printing. With the rapid development of high technology, thermal transfer technology is more and more widely used. The types of inks are classified into a hot press transfer type and a sublimation transfer type. From the material to be transferred, there are fabrics, plastics (boards, sheets, films), ceramics and metal coated plates, etc.; from printing methods can be divided into screen printing, lithography, gravure, embossing, inkjet and ribbon Printing, etc.; classified from the substrate are thermal transfer paper and thermal transfer plastic film.

The thermal transfer printing process of stainless steel vacuum flask is already a mature thermal transfer technology at stainless steel water bottle factory . Almost every vacuum bottle on the market has its own unique characteristics, and each water bottle / travel mug brand has also spent a lot of thought on the design. The excellent performance of the thermal transfer process in the appearance of stainless steel vacuum flasks has been favored by the brand of the vacuum flask.

Introduction of Thermal Transfer Printing

Thermal transfer is to design the pattern, make the copper plate, and then engrave the pattern on the copper plate by electric carving machine.

The copper plate is then printed on a printing machine to print the pattern on the PET film, and the pattern is transferred to a stainless steel water bottle or other product by a thermal transfer machine.

Heat press machine selection:

1. The core part of the heat press machine is the heating plate, so you should pay attention to it when selecting the heat press machine.
2. The upper and lower plates should be made of aluminum, and the heating tube is cast inside the aluminum plate. The above plate is an aluminum plate slotted, and then the heat pipe is attached to the top, which causes unnecessary energy loss, and has disadvantages such as slow heating and large temperature difference.
3. If the lower plate is made of iron plate or other materials, it will work easily under high temperature and high pressure for a long time, and it will be easily deformed and aged.
4. According to the different area and shape of ​​the heating plate, the lower and upper plates have weight standards. If it is too thin or too light, the heating plate will be deformed easily and affect the use. In general, the greater the weight, the more reliable the performance. After the upper plate of the heat press machine is pressed, it should be absolutely parallel with the lower plate. For example, if the upper and lower plates are tightly pressed, a piece of hard film or other sheet-like tough material can be placed at four corners, and then the handle is pressed down. After the upper and lower plates are snapped, the cardboard is turned toward If you pull it outside, you can know whether the upper and lower plates are flat and the machine is qualified.

heat press transfer printing (thermal press transfer printing)

Thermal Transfer Equipment and Consumables

Thermal Hot stamping / Press Transfer

After the manufacturer produces the flower film, install the film on the thermal transfer machine, adjust the temperature to 180-270 degrees, the pressure, and then press the switch to stamp.

The thermal transfer film is suitable for hot stamping on the plane, curved surface, profiled surface, cylindrical surface and circular surface of plastic (ABS, AS, PS, PVC, EVA, PP, PE), metal, leather, ceramic, wood and other products. Widely used in daily necessities, cosmetics, toys, electrical appliances, building materials, stationery, gifts, food packaging, signs and other industries and packaging materials. It has the characteristics of good adhesion, wear resistance, good light fastness, vivid pattern and colorful color, which greatly improves the grade of the product. Especially in the flat, curved surface, cylindrical surface and circular surface of plastic products, multi-color printing can be completed at one time, with few processes, high efficiency, low cost and no environmental pollution. It is a creative innovation of stainless steel water bottle printing.

Digital Inkjet Sublimation Transfer

Digital inkjet sublimation transfer is to use digital cameras or scanners and professional libraries to digitize images, image processing and design through computer, to produce the desired colorful, delicate images, and then through the special thermal sublimation The inkjet printer that transfers the ink prints the image of the ink on the base film, and then heats the image on the transfer film through a baking machine, a baking machine or a baking machine, and the image is transferred to the porcelain in a few minutes. Plates, cultural shirts and other souvenirs.

1. Production of thermal sublimation transfer film

The process of sublimation transfer film is similar to the digital color inkjet proofing system, that is, the computer processes and designs the images, photos, etc. to be thermally transferred, and prints on the base film with a digital inkjet printer. The printer is equipped with four separate ink cartridges of yellow, black, black and black, so you can print a monochrome image on the base film or print a color image. This inkjet printer saves the plate making process, reduces manufacturing costs, and makes the thermal transfer process simpler.

2. Thermal transfer pattern on souvenirs such as cups, plates, plates, etc.

The pattern on the sublimation transfer film can be transferred to the cup in a few minutes using an electronic digitally controlled baking cup machine. Using a baking cup machine to make a beautiful, full-color picture on the cup, the required consumption is only a special transfer ink and a cup with a special coating, which is convenient and quick to operate.

The pattern on the sublimation transfer film can be transferred to the plate in a few minutes using an electronic digitally controlled baking machine. Equipped with special transfer inks, you can use the baking machine to bake various patterns on special plates.

The pattern on the sublimation transfer film can be transferred to the porcelain plate and the metal plate in a few minutes by an electronic digitally controlled baking machine. Suitable for making medals, honor certificates, commemorative cards, portrait porcelain plates.

Stainless Steel Vacuum Flask Thermal Press Transfer Process

Let’s take a look at the effect of stainless steel vacuum flask after thermal press transfer.

As shown in the figure, the color of the vacuum flask is rich, and the effect of the appearance pattern is vivid, which is the application of the thermal transfer process. The realization of this process is divided into the following two steps: thermal transfer film printing and thermal transfer processing.

1. Thermal Transfer Film Printing

The first step is to design and produce a high-resolution thermal transfer printing artwork according to the size of the vacuum flask;

The second step is to discolor and layer according to the size of the thermal transfer transfer artwork of the thermos cup, and to produce a dot-type gravure electro-engraving plate;

In the third step, the pattern on the gravure plate is printed onto the coated PET polyester film by a gravure printing machine, that is, printed as a thermal transfer film.

2. Thermal transfer processing

The thermal transfer processing of stainless steel vacuum flask is to transfer the pattern on the printed thermal transfer film of the thermal insulation cup to the surface of the stainless steel outer casing of the thermal insulation cup by one-time processing (heating and pressing) of the thermal transfer machine, so that the thermal transfer ink ( That is, the pattern is integrated with the metal surface of the cup.

To ensure the effect of thermal transfer of the thermos cup, you need to do the following two things:

1) According to the shape of the thermos cup, select the exact curved hot stamping machine model.

2) Prepare a suitable thermal transfer mold before heat transfer cup processing.