Dye Sublimation - Variation of Dye Penetration Depths with Semi-Crystalline and Amorphous Polymers

Abstract

The dye sublimation process is used to decorate the surfaces of plastic, coated metal and ceramic components. Limited data is published on the performance of polymers under this process, and these findings show there are differences in the performance of amorphous and semi-crystalline polymers. The reason for these differences was investigated. Experimentation was conducted on a range of semi-crystalline and amorphous polymers. These were decorated using a standard cyan, magenta, yellow and black pattern. The level of dye penetration was measured using optical microscopy. It was found that the dye penetrated the semi-crystalline polymers approximately ten times more than in the amorphous polymers. There are disparities between the measured values here and previously published data. These disparities were found to exist as a result of large operating processing temperatures and times.