custom color imaging

Dye-sub printing is a digital printing technology using full color artwork that works with polyester and polymer-coated substrates. Also referred to as digital sublimation, the process is commonly used for decorating apparel, signs and banners, as well as novelty items such as cell phone covers, plaques, coffee mugs, and other items with sublimation-friendly surfaces. The process uses the science of sublimation, in which heat and pressure are applied to a solid, turning it into a gas.

In sublimation printing, unique sublimation dyes are transferred to sheets of “transfer” paper via liquid gel ink through a print head. The ink is deposited on these high-release inkjet papers, which are used for the next step of the sublimation printing process. After the digital design is printed onto sublimation transfer sheets, it is placed on a heat press along with the substrate to be sublimated.

In order to transfer the image from the paper to the substrate, it requires a heat press process that is a combination of time, temperature and pressure.

The end result of the sublimation process is a nearly permanent, high resolution, full color print. Because the dyes are infused into the substrate the prints will not crack, fade or peel from the substrate under normal conditions.