In many cases, many people are confused with the terms of direct digital printing and dye sublimation. And “what is the difference between direct digital printing and dye sublimation?” is a common question many people may ask.
In fact, both direct digital printing and dye sublimation belong to digital printing. And they are different in the following aspects.
Printing Process
With direct digital printing, inks are directly printed on the fabric. As the water-based inks are directly soaked into the fabric, the penetration or bleeding is good for direct digital printing. Also, direct digital printing is a one-step process printing, so its printing speed is much faster.
Dye sublimation, unlike direct digital printing, is a two-step process printing, namely, two steps are needed when dye sublimation is adopted. The first step is to print the images onto the special paper which is of high ink absorption capability. Then, transfer the printed images from the paper to the fabric. While conducting the second process, a heat press with a degree of 180-230 Celsius is needed. As the printing process of dye sublimation is a little more complex than that of direct digital printing, the production turnaround is longer.
Printing Effect
Different fabrics may present different printing effects. For some fabrics, the printing effects for direct digital printing and dye sublimation are very similar and only the professional printing person can distinguish the differences. For other fabrics, the printing effects will be quite different.
As direct digital printing is excellent in penetration, the direct printed fabric products enable you to read the image or messages on it from both sides. On the contrary, dye sublimation is of low penetration, however, its resolution is very high. Featuring in crisp color and vivid image, dye sublimation is always regarded as a premium to digital printing.
So which one is better? Normally no one can give you a certain and definite answer, because which printing method to choose depends on your project. Digital printing is widely used for printing flags and banners which have high requirements for bleeding. Dye sublimation, which is of high-quality printing effects, is more popular in printing table cover, tents, and garments. Meanwhile, the width of a direct digital printer can reach 16ft, allowing large seamless backdrops. However, dye-sublimation printers can be printed up to 10ft width, which means seams are needed when making anything bigger.
If you have any questions about digital printing, you can contact CFM--A manufacturer with over 10 years’ experience in advertising textile printing--by sending email to sales@china-flag-makers.com.
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