Question Printing on Vinyl

[Bradley Signs]

Can I print with sublimation ink on any vinyl?

 

[Jburns]

you "can" but it probably wont stick very well i imagine

 

[James Burke]

I don't print, but won't it be unstable in hot weather (obviously less than sublimation temps.)? And won't it make a mess if it's laminated? Seems like it wouldn't be UV resistant, regardless.


JB

 

[Jim Hancock]

Sublimation ink is not meant for printing on vinyl, only on paper designed to accept sublimation ink. If you do get it to stick, it will most likely have muted colors.
Solvent & Eco-solvent inks use a combination of solvent and heat to soften the vinyl surface and allow the ink pigments to slightly sink into the softened vinyl. As the solvent evaporates and the vinyl cools, the pigment is now "trapped" in the vinyl, like putting a small rock into soft tar and when the tar has cooled at night, the rock is stuck.
Sublimation ink is water based and needs a special receptive coating on the paper, which helps to control dot gain (ink spreading). Vinyl does not have this coating. This coating is different from the coating used for water based inkjet photo paper, so photo paper cannot be used for sublimation. Without controlling dot gain, your image will start to take on the look of water colors, due to the ink bleeding.
In addition, sublimation ink is an "intermediate" ink, meaning it is not meant to be the final product, but is meant to be transferred to a material designed to receive the gaseous dye created from the heat process of sublimation production.
Even color profiling the sublimation process has to be approached a little differently than conventional profiling. My knowledge comes from running a sublimation department for 7 years, running 12 printers and printing thousands of images a day.
Hope this helps!

 

[Bradley Signs]

Sublimation ink is not meant for printing on vinyl, only on paper designed to accept sublimation ink. If you do get it to stick, it will most likely have muted colors.
Solvent & Eco-solvent inks use a combination of solvent and heat to soften the vinyl surface and allow the ink pigments to slightly sink into the softened vinyl. As the solvent evaporates and the vinyl cools, the pigment is now "trapped" in the vinyl, like putting a small rock into soft tar and when the tar has cooled at night, the rock is stuck.
Sublimation ink is water based and needs a special receptive coating on the paper, which helps to control dot gain (ink spreading). Vinyl does not have this coating. This coating is different from the coating used for water based inkjet photo paper, so photo paper cannot be used for sublimation. Without controlling dot gain, your image will start to take on the look of water colors, due to the ink bleeding.
In addition, sublimation ink is an "intermediate" ink, meaning it is not meant to be the final product, but is meant to be transferred to a material designed to receive the gaseous dye created from the heat process of sublimation production.
Even color profiling the sublimation process has to be approached a little differently than conventional profiling. My knowledge comes from running a sublimation department for 7 years, running 12 printers and printing thousands of images a day.
Hope this helps!

Thank You. This is the type of explanation I was looking for.