The Nature and Use of Thermal Transfer Ribbons
The history of printing is lengthy. It appears to have begun around 200 AD when the Chinese developed the idea of using wooden blocks bearing a carved design to produce lettering and decorative images. First, they inked the raised carvings and placed fabric on top. Next, they applied pressure manually or with a press to transfer the woodblock images onto a suitable material, such as silk. Creating the blocks was time-consuming. However, once completed, they were a means to make unlimited copies, rapidly and accurately. Today, thermal transfer ribbons (TTR) perform a similar role but utilise heat rather than pressure to reproduce an image. Furthermore, this simple but effective printing technology is not confined to print shops; it’s available to anyone who may need it. Let’s examine how it works and how one can use it.
How a TTR Works
If you ever owned an old-fashioned typewriter, you will recall that each key operated a hammer-like lever. At its far-end was a single embossed character. Depressing a key caused the lever to strike an inked ribbon, leaving an imprint of that character behind on the paper. A thermal transfer ribbon also uses ink to perform the same task but operates faster and more efficiently. The secret lies in its laminated structure and the way it produces images.
The ribbons consist of four layers. The first is a smooth protective back-layer that reduces friction and static electricity as it passes through the printer and protects the PET film containing the ink. The third layer assists ink release into the final layer of wax or resin responsible for the exceptionally sharp and durable images characteristic of thermal transfer ribbons.
This technology should not be confused with direct thermal printing, which employs special thermo-sensitive paper that blackens on contact with heat. Although this option has the advantage of operating without ink, toner or a ribbon, its print quality is relatively mediocre. Also, once printed, prolonged exposure to light or high ambient temperatures will cause overall darkening of the paper, rendering customers’ till receipts illegible. By contrast, images produced by transfer technology are unaffected by heat or light. Furthermore, physical abrasion and solvents have little effect on labels created with thermal transfer ribbons.
The Role of the Printer
Pressure plays only a minor role in this form of printing. It must be just sufficient to ensure contact between the ribbon and the printable surface. The machine employs a flat printhead consisting of multiple, individually heated dots. When activated selectively, the dots form patterns of alphanumeric characters or the lines of a barcode. The slight pressure exerted by the head relays heat, releasing ink to combine with wax or resin and replicate the printhead pattern on the required print medium.
The Benefits of Using Thermal Transfer Ribbons
The use of these products with a suitable printer offers several significant advantages.
- Firstly, the crisp, high-definition images are of unparalleled quality. The user can guarantee optimum readability and scan quality coupled with almost indefinite image stability.
- The technology is suitable for printing on almost any form of media stock.
- Maintenance costs are lower than competing options such as inkjet, dot-matrix and laser printers.
- However, speed is perhaps one of the most impressive features of TTR printing. It takes only a tiny fraction of a second for a printer with thermal transfer ribbons to reproduce a barcode or a detailed written message. Anyone who has worked in a busy retail environment will appreciate the importance of saving time in every way possible.
- It’s an economical choice too. You can print a batch or a single item, so there’s never any waste.
Typical Applications of TTR Technology
Much of the demand for this printing technique comes from the retail sector. For a busy hypermarket with thousands of different stock items, ensuring every product is labelled with the means to identify its price at till-points is crucial. The time-proven method is to use barcodes, and thermal transfer ribbons are the fastest and most reliable way to mass-produce them. When necessary, TTR printers are also a quick way to generate any form of labelling, perhaps to promote a special offer. Incidentally, this is also the means used to print receipts at an ATM.
Teraoka is a leading worldwide supplier of retail equipment with eleven stores in South Africa alone. Contact us to learn more about our range of quality wax and resin-based thermal transfer ribbons and world-class Honeywell printers.