Sublimation Coating Introduction, FAQs and Q&A

A. Hi Kay. More words please. Your question is probably clear in your mind, but unfortunately I have no understanding of what you are asking.

Luck & Regards,

A. First, an aside to bring readers up to speed and minimize confusion:
"Sublimation" means going directly from solid to gas without the middle step of liquid. The best known example of sublimation is dry ice, which goes from a solid directly to carbon dioxide gas without ever getting wet.

The sublimation coating process is sort of an "iron-on coating". You print an image onto paper using special dyes in an ink-jet printer, hold it against another object, and apply heat. The dyes/inks that you used in the ink jet printer then sublimate, i.e., turn to gas, and are absorbed onto the surface you are coating.

Strictly speaking, it's actually the dye/ink which sublimates. But when people talk about "sublimation coatings", what they really mean is the clear/white polyester paint/coating they put onto their sign, T-shirt or coffee mug, which will accept that sublimated gas, and pick up and hold the image.

Hi Ali. I think most polyesters take sublimation, and that includes lots of paints, although optimum formulations appear to not be generic information. So I would suggest that you either try some common clearcoats (for example 2-part automobile clearcoat), or do a free patent search, both to learn what particulars supposedly makes it work best, and what things you need to refrain from doing. Good luck!

A. Hi,
Sublimation coatings for your purpose would consist of a resin, solvents and a dye that volatizes when it is heated. To obtain a formula to meet your requirements, you could follow the route that Ted has suggested or spend some money on a consultant. Nobody will be willing enough to give away freebies as formulation costs time and money to develop.

Terry

A. YOU CAN USE THE CLEAR COAT THAT IS USED AS A FINISHING COAT WHEN YOU PAINT A CAR. IT SUBLIMATES REAL GOOD.

Hi cousin Ebrahim; hi cousin Patrick, and gentle readers ... Please help make this dialog fun, useful, & informative by posting what you do know, not just what you don't know :-)

You've probably tried something, -- so, in a word, what did you do and what happened? Did you try the automotive clearcoat as suggested by Wilfredo? If so, what happened? If not, why?! Thanks!

Regards,

A. Hey, don't go out and buy the expensive sublimation coatings. I've been doing months worth of research. You really aren't going to believe this but go purchase Rave 4X hairspray .

... (yeah, I'm serious). I've successfully used it on porcelain tiles, wood and most recently a 100% cotton T-shirt. When I used the T-shirt I washed it three times in cold water (didn't use hot) and dried it. NO COLOR FADE. The reason I did this research is because it takes me a week to get the coating in and as a business just starting out I couldn't afford to have a lot of it in stock.

Hi cousin Sanjay. Please don't start the thread over again, as that only makes it long & boring and chases away readers without moving us forward :-(
Rather, please request clarification on anything you didn't follow, or make a comment about something from the discussion above that you tried, or tell us something from your own experience. Thanks!

I don't know much myself, but while the hard automotive clearcoat that Wilfredo suggested is appropriate for hard surfaces, it doesn't seem like something you'd want to put on a cotton shirt, so also please also explain what you are trying to coat.

Regards,

A. SANJAY, URETHANE CLEAR COAT AND URETHANE WHITE PRIMER WILL SOLVE ALL YOUR SUBLIMATION PROBLEMS. YOU CAN COAT ANYTHING, AND IT IT IS A HARD DURABLE COATING. YOU CAN APPLY IT TO WOOD OR METAL, EVEN CERAMICS, AND IT IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL AUTOMOTIVE PAINT DISTRIBUTOR. TRY IT AND YOU CAN STOP ASKING THE SAME QUESTION :-)

Hi cousin Amjad. Wilfredo has told us to simply buy urethane automotive clearcoat or white primer, which you can get from several automotive parts supply stores in Punjab. They come as 2-part kits in the right proportion and with instructions including coverage information.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi Sachin. We appended your inquiry to a thread which partially answers it:
1. If you just want to use the coating, either buy coating products marketed for the purpose or use urethane automotive clearcoats or primers.
2. If you are trying to formulate and market your own chemical formulation made from raw commodity chemicals, there are many books that cover how to formulate paints; or if you are already experienced in paint making, I would suggest that you search expired patents for formulations. But even then, you should experiment with the readily available automotive paints because your formulation will certainly not be saleable unless it proves to be cheaper or better in some way than automotive paints which are affordable & available right off the shelf all around the world :-) Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Hemant. Did you try Wilfredo Torres' answer of simply spraying your metal with urethane two-part automotive clear coat, which he has already offered twice? If not, why?

If Wilfredo's answer has proven unsatisfactory in any way, please let us hear the results/reasons so we can all continue to learn rather than drown in this dull repetition of the same abstract question.

If you want to manufacture your own sublimation coatings from raw commodity chemicals, you're need to start by deciding whether solvent based, and whether baking will be required, vs. 2-part catalytic; clear vs. white or colored, applied by spray vs. brush, etc. Then you'll need to read books & patents on that subcategory and spend several months in development and testing of hardness, salt spray resistance, UV resistance, etc.

The idea that with no paint formulation experience, folks can be given a universal 'recipe' of commodity chemicals to mix together doesn't sound very realistic ... but the question, asked 7 times before you asked it, remains here if anyone wants to give it a try -- and you can read the SDS for various brands of sublimation spray coatings and from that learn that they contain something like 25%± acetone [on eBay or Amazon], 25%± n-butyl acetate [on eBay or Amazon], 40%± dimethyl ether [a propellent gas], and 5-10% [on eBay or Amazon] xylene. Mixing such without hazmat training sounds like yet another dangerous problem though :-(

Good luck!

Regards,

A. When coating metals with automotive clear coat you must make sure they are grease free; you do that by cleaning with xylol [on eBay or Amazon] or alcohol or other solvents that are not oil based

A. Hi Lara. Although Angela suggested Rave4X here, she also has a later posting on letter 25612 suggesting Dyepress [affil link to info/product on Amazon] instead. I probably wouldn't consider that a retraction about hair spray, but a clarification on its limitations. I think two-part automotive clearcoat does not require baking, but the sublimation process itself will later require heating to make the dyes sublimate (convert from solid to gas).

Porous materials absorb small amounts of moisture from the air, which cannot help but turn to steam at high temperatures and force their way through the coating. So, although I haven't done sublimation, as a general rule I'd expect that you should bake such stuff immediately before coating. Good luck!

Regards,

A. Have you asked Ricoh? You probably are not the first to have this problem.
If they are no help, I would contact tech services of a competing company to see it their product will work and how they do it.

A. HI EVERYBODY

I TOO DO SUBLIMATION ON CERAMIC ITEMS AS A HOBBY AND OF COURSE I USED TO BUY THE SUBSTRATES. I ALSO HAVE AN IDEA OF MAKING MY OWN SUBSTRATES BUT STILL NOT HAVE TRIED ANY BECAUSE I COULD NOT FIND THE NECESSARY INGREDIENTS THAT I HAVE READ IN MOST SITES.

THANKS FOR THE MANY SUGGESTIONS HERE AND I ALSO NOTICED THE FAILURES ENCOUNTERED AFTER TRYING THOSE SUGGESTIONS. MANY OF THOSE WHO FAILED HAVE NOT MENTIONED ABOUT THE TYPE OF SUBLIMATION PAPER USED SO IT MAY BE THE PROBLEM LIES THERE.

A. Hi, I can remember Sublimation back to 1971. I've been doing Sublimation on Tiles since 1995. I used to get my coatings from America which was called COATOM from a company called novachrome.com; they have since closed. I do Tile murals with as many as 300 tiles and I now get my coatings from digicoat.com, I have tried my own coating including car clear coat and it does not work.

This is all a secret; why should we disclose it when it took us over 20 years to work it out? The bottom line is if you looking for the coating you have to buy it or carry on regardless.

A. I have to agree with Zack to an extent. Some of us have spent A LOT of time and money to figure this out. I myself have tried several different coatings to save money. I don't feel this is a place to cut corners. The coating I currently use is DigiCoat. Works great! What I have found is the easiest place to save money is on the printer and ink. You don't need to spend a grand on a printer and 60+ dollars per color on ink. I have also found your press times and temps will very depending on your weather. Good luck.

Hi Zack, Hi Mike. True that few of us are willing to share all that we have or all that we know, but most of us can afford to share something ... as you have done. Thanks!

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey