What is Sublimation Printing?- Ultimate Guide in 2022

January 17, 2022

Sublimation printing is becoming more and more popular. So, What is sublimation printing? How to do sublimation? What is a sublimation printer？ T shirt sublimation printer, the Pros and Cons of Sublimation Printing and so on. All of the information you need to know is available right here in this comprehensive guide.

What Is Sublimation Printing?

Do you want to know what is sublimation definition or sublimation meaning? While the name might make sublimation printing seem complicated and technical, it's printing is a popular printing method designed to transfer a design actually quite easy to understand. So, what is sublimation printing? Sublimation from sublimation paper to a piece of fabric or material by using pressure and heat (between 350 - 400 degrees). Turning solid particles of ink into a gaseous state is an easy and cost-effective way to add personalization to products that companies and people use at home. To put it simply, sublimation printing is a printing process that uses a carrier material to transfer designs onto various materials, such as T-shirts or ceramic mugs. Special sublimation printers and sublimation inks are used for this purpose.

How Do I Sublimation Print?

How to do sublimation? We explain the actual details here, how it makes things colorful. First, your design is printed on a professional transfer paper. It is printed as a mirror image using professional dye inks. These are water-based inks that have a lower environmental impact than harsher chemical inks. Afterwards, the transfer is aligned with the fabric and a combination of heat and pressure is applied. This results in a direct transition of the ink from its current solid form to a gas. The ink then penetrates into the fibers of the material and becomes permanently bonded to the fibers. The end result is a high-definition print with an incredibly intricate level of detail. You have know how to do sublimation.

Also, a nice design plays a vital role in the final sublimation quality. See this article if you don't have any good idea on how to get free sublimation designs.

What is a sublimation printer？

What is a sublimation printer? Sublimation printer is used for special types of printing, not regular black and white documents. Ever wonder how t-shirts get such vibrant colorful prints on them? Or maybe you want to customize a mug or a wooden frame? To get a better understanding of sublimation printers and printing, compare them to normal printers.

Printing Art

You may be more familiar with regular printers or inkjet printers. It uses an ink-dot technique to place ink on paper. At the same time, sublimation printers penetrate ink vapor into their media. Depending on the printer you use, most sublimation prints also need to go through a heat press. For inkjet printers, the documents delivered are complete. But for sublimation printers, you need to heat press the sublimation paper with the media of your choice

Ink

Regular printers usually use ink cartridges. These contain liquid, and you can even see that it's still wet when a normal printer delivers the document. Sublimation printers use a special type of ink called dye-sublimation ink. This dye ink turns into a gas or vapor when transferred.

Output

If you have a normal printer, it probably uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink cartridges. While it can reproduce different colors, the base ink is still very limited. Dye-sublimation printers also have the same base colors, but some can accommodate fluorescent dye-sublimation inks for bright and bright output.

Printing Capability

Both sublimation printers and normal printers have their own limitations when it comes to the types of materials a printer can print. Regular printers are of course designed specifically for plain paper, but can also print on photo or sticker paper.

Sublimation printers print on special sublimation paper, which can then be used on a variety of media from fabrics to ceramics. There are also large format models that can be printed directly on tarpaulins.

It is easy to find out what a sublimation printer is when you distinguish it from a normal printer. A sublimation printer can definitely do more than an inkjet printer, but it has its own special purpose.

Likewise, sublimation printers use special dye-sublimation inks and sublimation paper. Instead of putting ink on a sheet of paper, it embeds itself into media like shirts for a durable and liquid-free output.

T shirt sublimation printer

Are you looking for sublimation printer for t-shirts? T shirt sublimation printer is useful. The following are some sublimation printer for shirts for you choose:
1.Sure Color f170 Epson Sublimation Printer
2.Sawgrass Virtuoso SG400 Sublimation Printer
3.Epson ET-15000
4.ET-2760
5.Epson Workforce wf-7210

What Are the Pros and Cons of Sublimation Printing?

Pros:

With sublimation printing, any pattern can be easily, flexibly and relatively inexpensively printed and transferred to a variety of materials, such as complex photographic patterns. Dye-sublimation printing is also characterized by high precision and can print detailed designs. Doing this, you can eliminate the need for post-processing or long waits after transfer: the pattern is immediately ready.

The fact that the ink is completely contained in the fabric of the substrate and not just smeared on it brings a number of advantages: on the one hand, you don't feel any smeared colors that can simply be wiped off or become brittle . However, the color is intense and hardly fades. So you can easily wash or rinse them without losing color brightness. They are also resistant to UV radiation and harmful environmental effects. This makes sublimation printing also suitable for outdoor use - for example, for printing on flags. In addition, the ink does not seal the fabric: properties such as breathability are preserved - ideal for sportswear and club jerseys. Sublimation printing is also a particularly environmentally friendly process as no adhesives or solvents are required.

Cons:

For sublimation printing, you need a special printer and sublimation ink. Therefore, the initial cost is higher compared to some other methods. The main disadvantage of this sublimation printing is that it is expensive. While dye-sublimation printers are suitable for both home and professional use, small home printers can cost around $300, while higher-end products can cost as much as $600. They can cost as much as $10,000 for mass-produced large printers.

What Materials Can Be Sublimated?

If you are considering starting your own printing business and want to take advantage of sublimation printing, or if you want to start the process at home, it is important to know what materials are available to you. these are:
– Polyester cotton textiles
– Polymers
– Polyester
- Ceramics
– PVC
– Polyester coated aluminum
– Polymer coated metal
– Polyester fabric
– Polymer coated plastic
The best materials for sublimation printing in the above list are polyester or ceramic.

Is there any material that cannot be sublimated? 100% cotton material or other natural materials are not suitable for this printing method. This is because they do not have the pores needed to absorb ink. If you are working with these types of materials, perhaps digital printing is more suitable.