Difficulty of Metal Thermal Transfer Film Technology

1- Difficulty of Metal Thermal Transfer Film Technology
Metal thermal transfer film technology is the most complex and difficult transfer technology among all thermal transfer technologies.

The reason why metal thermal transfer film technology is complex is because of the diversity of metal materials.

Common metal materials in the printing field now mainly include: galvanized sheets and pipes, copper sheets, copper pipes, aluminum alloy sheets, stainless steel sheets, stainless steel pipes and other metal objects. The surfaces of these metal objects are mostly smooth, and it is difficult or impossible to attach printed patterns directly on them. This is the difficulty of metal thermal transfer film technology.

2- Application of Metal Thermal Transfer Film
The application of metal thermal transfer film is increasing day by day, among which aluminum plate thermal transfer, iron plate thermal transfer and other metal plate thermal transfer are the most common.

The application of metal thermal transfer film for specific metal products such as key chains, tea cans, pen holders, metal pipes, fishing rods, sports equipment, etc. is also increasing day by day.

3-Metallic thermal transfer film and metal screen printing
Currently, metal thermal transfer film and metal screen printing occupy a large market share in the appearance decoration of metal products on the market.

Below, let's take a look at the difference between the two.

1. Metallic thermal transfer film - the difference in printing method

The metallic thermal transfer film is transferred to the metal surface by a thermal transfer machine at one time (heating and pressurizing), so that the metallic thermal transfer film and the aluminum plate surface are integrated.

Metal screen printing is a method of orifice printing. Through a certain pressure, the ink is transferred to the metal through the holes of the orifice plate to form an image or text.

2. Metallic thermal transfer film - the difference in transfer pattern

Metallic thermal transfer film can print colorful patterns or gradient patterns; it can almost meet the appearance decoration needs of any color and any pattern.

Metal screen printing can only print patterns with fewer colors; and screen printing can hardly print patterns with gradient colors.

3. Metallic thermal transfer film - the difference in printing speed

If we talk about the transfer speed of a single piece. With more layouts and rich colors, the metal thermal transfer film is faster. The metal thermal transfer transfer process is a one-time molding. Metal screen printing requires color registration and screening to perform color printing.

Even if the layout is small and the color is single, the speed of the metal thermal transfer film is still much ahead of the metal screen printing.

4-Metal thermal transfer film technology-glue
The traditional metal thermal transfer film technology has made great progress, and the biggest contribution is "metal thermal transfer film glue".

It is precisely because the metal thermal transfer film glue has been continuously improved that it can now directly form a good adhesion ability on the surface of metal objects, and no longer needs to rely on the surface paint of the metal object, which has laid a solid foundation for the widespread application of metal thermal transfer film technology, because adhesion is an important criterion for testing the maturity of metal thermal transfer film technology.

5- Development direction of metal thermal transfer film technology
With the continuous improvement of people's living standards and aesthetic views, a single pattern can no longer meet people's requirements for surface decoration of metal products. Market pressure forces practitioners in the thermal transfer industry to initiate new research on metal thermal transfer film technology.

So far, although it cannot be said that there have been fruitful results, there have indeed been significant improvements, which is mainly reflected in the emergence of metal thermal transfer films. Various patterns with rich layers, bright colors and lifelike appearance appear on the surface of metal products, and the surface decoration of metal products is no longer monotonous.