Thermal transfer printing is a digital printing technology in which the printing process takes place by means of heat and pressure. Thermal transfer printing is preferred over direct thermal printing due to the durability of the print and its ability to print on less heat-resistant materials. This is also the printing technology used to print high-quality barcodes and identification labels. With soft packaging and some products, after printing can add an outer layer of film to increase color fastness
The thermal transfer printing process is to melt and press the ink to transfer to the surface of the printed material. Ink can be based on wax, synthetic resin (other than plastic-plastic), or a mixture of both. The ink strip should be selected by the construction of the machine and the desired printing material.
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Thermal transfer printing can be applied to print directly onto the surface of many materials. For materials with poor heat resistance, a suitable intermediate can be selected. The printing material can be paper, fabric, carton, metal, or plastic. The image is colorfast, has good heat resistance, is resistant to glue, and is washed away by water. To get high print quality and color fastness, it is important to pay attention to the electrostatic properties of the printing material to choose the best inks and media.
Advantage:
-  Low cost.
-  Durable images Images with high contrast and sharpness (important when printing images such as barcodes, and QR).
- Low machine maintenance costs.
High print speed (up to 300mm/s)
Defect:
- Usually used for monochrome printing even though there are many ink colors.

- The density of colors is created only by the number of pixels on an area.

- To ensure security, the ink strips should be handled carefully after printing because the information on the ink strips can still be read.
Thermal transfer printing is in some cases much more economical than other printing methods. When applied correctly, thermal transfer printing can produce very high-quality, vibrant images. Or you can also print out sharp barcodes. And because of their color fastness, these products are subject to the influence of environmental factors. Compared to thermal printing, thermal transfer printing is more durable and suitable for products with a long life cycle