Thermal Transfer Printer

Thermal transfer printed labels are easily identified by the crisp often glossy printed surface.

Thermal transfer printer.

The clarity is achieved by using a thin ribbon roll that when heated by the printhead melts onto the label to form the image. The ink is absorbed so that the image becomes part of the media. Thermal transfer printing is done by melting wax within the print heads of a specialized printer. A thermal transfer printer is a non impact printer that uses heat to register an impression on paper.

A direct thermal printer requires specialty paper that activates when heated and thermal transfer printers use a thermal print head to transfer ink from a wax or resin ribbon. Many thermal printers work without ink toner and ribbons using small heating elements to transfer the print onto paper while others use a wax ribbon to create prints. The thermal transfer print process utilises three main components. A non movable print head a carbon ribbon the ink and a substrate to be printed which would typically be paper synthetics card or textile materials.