by Eric Steinwachs, United Silicone Question: What is the difference between heat transfer and hot stamping? Answer: Hot stamping and heat transfer both require heat, pressure and dwell (time) to apply an image to a part. However, heat transfers are pre-printed images using silkscreened, gravure, flexography or digital printing methods on a release paper or film; whereas, hot … [Read more...] about Q&A: Heat Transfer vs. Hot Stamping
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The Fundamentals of Flame Treatment
by Scott Sabreen . " title="COURTESY FLYNN BURNER-Figure 1: A laminar flame profile."> COURTESY FLYNN BURNER Figure 1: A laminar flame profile. . " title="SCOTT SABREEN-Figure 2: A four port ribbon burner stack."> SCOTT SABREEN Figure 2: A four port ribbon burner stack. . " title="SCOTT SABREEN-Figure 3: A typical ribbon burner."> SCOTT … [Read more...] about The Fundamentals of Flame Treatment
Solutions to Pad Printing Adhesion Problems
by John Kaverman Pad printing is a means of placing a high-quality decoration or mark on a variety of products. But what happens when the ink doesn't adhere properly? The following tips can help pad printers overcome ink adhesion problems. 1. Printing on a substrate that is difficult or impossible to print on. Some examples of difficult or impossible substrates include TPU … [Read more...] about Solutions to Pad Printing Adhesion Problems
How Coloring Plastics Affects Secondary Processes
by Scott Sabreen, The Sabreen Group, Inc. . Coloring plastics is integral to most products both aesthetically and functionally. Improperly formulated color compounds can have harmful effects on secondary processes, including bonding and printing. Many colorants can be used only in a limited selection of polymers. For example, dyes have low solubility in polyethylene … [Read more...] about How Coloring Plastics Affects Secondary Processes
Plastic Assembly Trends: Utilizing Infrared Energy
By Kyle Harvey, Extol, Inc. . As plastic assembly demands and designs continue to evolve, engineers continue to refine plastics joining technologies. The process of utilizing infrared (IR) energy to join plastics certainly falls into that category. Extol's InfraStake® technology led the trend of infrared energy in plastic assembly many years ago by applying IR energy in … [Read more...] about Plastic Assembly Trends: Utilizing Infrared Energy