Engaged in the digital printing industry, just two years, in these two years, witnessed the rapid development of digital printing technology in the Chinese market, a variety of data has shown the potential development of the technology market.

　　1. How to understand and understand digital thermal transfer technology

　　1. What is digital thermal transfer technology: Digital thermal transfer technology is a new technology that combines traditional thermal transfer technology and digital printing technology to print color images and patterns without plate making. Initially, this technology was mainly used in the production of advertisements, signs, cards, and ceramic images in China. Later, with the expansion of the application field, it was more used in industrial production, such as digital printing and dyeing, clothing production, shoe material production, In the industrial production of webbing and clothing labels, the number of applied products is increasing.

　　The earliest countries applying this technology are the United States, South Korea, Italy, Switzerland, China and other countries. In terms of the scale of the market in the past two years, China has become the world's largest digital thermal transfer processing market. Many thermal transfer color printing ink brands in the world have begun to focus on the huge Chinese market and participate in market competition. There is a looming trend of competition. The competition will become increasingly fierce. Here, we are talking about digital thermal transfer. Inkjet printing technology is used as a digital thermal transfer technology, because this type of technology can ensure a certain width and fixed length, suitable for industrial production.

　　2. The market significance of digital thermal transfer technology: digital thermal transfer technology can be said to be a new technology that emerges in order to adapt to the development of personalized markets and consumers' demand for personalized products. An effective supplement to the traditional thermal transfer product market. Therefore, strictly speaking, digital thermal transfer technology and product market positioning are personalized product markets. Traditional thermal transfer products are difficult to produce small batches of personalized products due to technical limitations and plate-making costs. Therefore, in the traditional thermal transfer market, in terms of personalized products, digital thermal transfer technology is a market gap before the emergence. The emergence of this technology makes it possible to produce personalized thermal transfer products. Not only that, the printing quality of the image patterns of digital thermal transfer products also far exceeds the traditional thermal transfer technology. This is why digital thermal transfer technology can be promoted and popularized in just a few years.

　　Second, how to distinguish and understand thermal transfer and digital thermal transfer

　　1. What is thermal transfer? Generally speaking, thermal transfer is a transfer technology and product. It is to transfer the patterns and images on the thermal transfer paper to 180C0--230C0 by using thermal transfer equipment. Different material media, thermal transfer technology was first used in textile printing and dyeing industry, shoe material industry. Later, with the development of the times and the advancement of science and technology, the application fields continued to increase, especially the emergence of digital technology and the emergence of personalized consumption concepts, making the application of thermal transfer technology more popular and widespread, and the application products emerged endlessly, covering almost all material fields. . Such as: metal, wood, stone, ceramics, glass, PVC, leather, chemical fiber fabrics can apply thermal transfer technology to transfer beautiful patterns and images to produce and produce beautiful products.

　　2. Two printing methods of thermal transfer There are two printing methods of thermal transfer, one is sublimation transfer method, the other is thermosetting transfer method, sublimation method refers to the color paste produced by thermal sublimation disperse dye After printing into printing paper with silk screen or gravure, transfer the pattern on the printing paper to the required medium. The thermosetting transfer method refers to printing with silk screen using thermosetting ink (also called hot melt glue). After the paper, the pattern on the printed paper is transferred to cultural shirts and clothing. The two printing methods have obvious differences in application. The sublimation transfer method is mainly applied to chemical fiber fabrics and hard coated with thermal transfer coating. For quality materials, the thermosetting transfer method is mainly applied to pure cotton products.

　　The difference in texture between the two printing methods is that after the sublimation pattern is transferred, the original texture of the material is not changed, and the hand and look are good. After the transfer of the thermosetting pattern, a layer of gel is formed on the surface of the attachment, which has a poor hand feeling and is not breathable. The two printing methods have their own advantages and disadvantages in production.

　　3. Several technical methods of traditional sublimation thermal transfer There are three technical methods of traditional sublimation thermal transfer: silk screen thermal transfer, gravure (copper, electric engraving) thermal transfer, and offset thermal transfer. The traditional sublimation thermal transfer is characterized by plate printing.

　　4. Digital thermal transfer Digital thermal transfer is a new technology for printing pattern images in the form of plateless printing based on traditional sublimation thermal transfer combined with digital printing technology. It is characterized by the use of digital printing technology to print color patterns and images without plate-making, saving plate-making process and costs, so it is suitable for the production of personalized printed products.

　　The technical characteristic of digital thermal transfer is that digital printing equipment uses special thermal transfer color printing ink and thermal transfer printing paper.

　　5. The difference between traditional thermal transfer and digital thermal transfer

　　(1) The difference in printing methods: traditional thermal transfer belongs to plate printing; digital thermal transfer belongs to plateless printing.

　　(2) The difference in printing color quality: traditional thermal transfer can not solve the problem of color reproduction well; digital thermal transfer can solve this problem as long as the ink quality is guaranteed.

　　(3) The difference between application products: traditional thermal transfer application products are relatively single; digital thermal transfer application products are relatively extensive.

　　(4) Difference in market positioning: The traditional thermal transfer market positioning is a mass market; the digital thermal transfer market positioning is a personalized market.

　　(5) The difference in production quantity: traditional thermal transfer capacity is large, suitable for production of mass-produced mass products; digital thermal transfer capacity is small, suitable for production of small-volume personalized products.

　　(6) Differences in market prices: Traditional thermal transfer products have low market prices because they are popular products; digital thermal transfer products have high market prices because they are personalized products.

　　6. How to understand and distinguish the traditional thermal transfer market and the digital thermal transfer market

　　The digital heat transfer market is a new personalized market, and its products and market prices are determined by the concept of personalization. Digital thermal transfer products and technologies are the development and extension of traditional thermal transfer. The two markets coexist and complement each other and are independent of each other, forming different market prices and consumer groups.

　　The traditional thermal transfer market is a low-priced market, and the digital thermal transfer market is a high-priced market.

　　The difference between the two markets cannot simply be based on price. The fundamental difference between the two markets is the quality, content, form and technical content of the product. Due to technical limitations (plate making, color expression), traditional thermal transfer cannot produce high-quality products and personalized products required by digital thermal transfer.

　　Therefore, the market targeted by digital thermal transfer is a consumer group of high-value-added application products. Due to the clear market positioning of digital thermal transfer, it is not only inconsistent with the traditional thermal transfer market, but also has different consumer groups and application fields.

　　Considering the production cost and added value of digital thermal transfer products, digital thermal transfer technology does not involve the traditional price of thermal transfer market.

　　Third, the core technology of digital thermal transfer-thermal transfer color printing ink

　　1. Thermal transfer color printing ink (water-based): Thermal transfer color printing ink is formulated with sublimation disperse dyes, other chemical additives and water. In the ink market, it is customary to divide the ink into oil-based inks and water-based inks, so when this product appeared in the early stage of the market, it was called thermal transfer color printing ink. Because this ink is a water-based ink, people are now used to calling it Sublimation printing ink or thermal transfer printing ink.

　　2. The difference between thermal transfer color printing ink and screen printing thermal transfer (sublimation) color paste, thermosetting ink, gravure thermal transfer (sublimation) color paste, offset thermal transfer (sublimation) ink Transfer color printing ink is different from screen printing, gravure printing, offset thermal transfer paste, ink and screen printing thermosetting ink. Thermal transfer color printing inks are used for desktop printers and photo inkjet printers. The form of printing is plateless printing, and other forms of thermal transfer printing are plate printing. In addition, there are qualitative differences in printing quality such as color saturation and color reproduction. Digital thermal transfer has obvious quality advantages.

　　◆The thermal transfer color printing ink is mainly used to produce personalized products.

　　◆Silk screen thermal transfer color paste and gravure thermal transfer color paste are mainly used to produce printing paper for chemical fiber fabrics and shoe material fabrics, which is suitable for producing low-cost traditional products.

　　◆The thermosetting ink (thermosol) is mainly used in the production of printed paper for cultural shirts and children's clothing, which is suitable for the production of traditional products.

　　◆Offset thermal transfer ink is mainly used to produce thermal transfer pictures for advertising posters, colored flags and banners, suitable for the production of mass advertising products.

　　3. Classification of thermal transfer color printing ink: Digital thermal transfer color printing ink can be roughly divided into two categories. Because digital thermal transfer application products are roughly divided into advertising image products and industrialized products, if the thermal transfer color printing inks currently used in the market are differentiated from quality and price by this category, they can be divided into ``advertising image grades'' ''Ink and ``Clothing Printing and Dyeing Grade'' ink.