Planning to use the Thermal Transfer Label?

The thermal transfer label is used with thermal tranfer label printing which is one of two thermal printing methods. The other being direct thermal printing.

While both of the methods use a thermal printhead that applies heat to the surface that is being marked, the thermal transfer  printing used a heated ribbon that produces  durable images that last for a long time on a variety of materials.

Zebra label printers are a popular choice for both thermal tranfer label printing and direct thermal label printing. Along with the printers, you can also get  Zebra thermal transfer labels. Of course, there are also other brands like WASP, DYMO and others.

In direct thermal printing, a ribbon is not used . The image is created directly on the printed material. Direct thermal media is more sensitive to heat, light and abrasion, resulting in a shorter life of the printed material.

The thermal media images may fade over time. Or if the label is overexposed to light, heat or other catalysts, the material darkens and the barcode becomes unreadable. This makes thermal printing not so applicable for lifetime identification applications.

As opposed to this, in a thermal transfer label printer, a thermal printhead applies heat to a ribbon, which melts the ink onto the material used to form the image. The ink is absorbed making the image part of the media. This technique results in image quality and durability.

Further more, a wider variety of media can be used with thermal transfer printers than direct thermal printers. This includes paper, polyester, and polypropylene materials.

Zebra Thermal Transfer Label Printer

Uses of Thermal Transfer Printers

Very durable wristbands, certification labels, asset tags can be produced in addition to common thermal transfer labels, tags and tickets using thermal transfer printers.

The specific thermal transfer material and ribbon must be matched carefully, to make sure of good performance and durability.

Archival quality labels can be created to withstand extreme temperatures, chemicals, ultraviolet exposure and more by matching selecting the right combination of media and ribbon, together with specialty adhesives.

Application of transfer includes product identification, permanent identification, inventory identification, circuit board tracking, sample and file tracking, asset tagging, certification labels, laboratory specimens, cold storage and freezers, and outdoor applications.