The Dye Sublimation Paper Curl Up,Do You Know Why and How To Solve It?

In the process of sublimation printing, the dye sublimation paper curling is a common and troublesome phenomenon. Do you know why and how to solve it？

What cause the dye sublimation paper curl up?

1. PAPER QUALITY

Paper quality is important when printing. Factors which affect quality include: stiffness,smoothness, electrical resistivity, friction coefficient, curl moisture, flatness, millwork, porosity and composition. The usual basic weight for paper is 75grams per squared meter.Good manufacturing processes keep this weight 99% of the time, however there is no single set of paper qualities that are optimum for all printing machines. You can find the optimum paper for your printer using the printer manual or visiting the manufacturer website.

(1)The width of the paper

The width of paper may, in some point, have a connection with the curling of paper after the printing process, but technically speaking, it affects a little in the real operations.

(2)The thickness of paper

Generally speaking, the thinner the paper, the easier the paper might be curled, and that is why most American users would choose to use low-weight sublimation papers. But thinner paper, like 45gsm, 60gsm can also perform very well with some famous printers, like Epson,Mimaki etc. This depends in deed.

2.  STORAGE OF PAPER

Dye sublimation paper

Paper should be stored in a cool dry place to avoid it from becoming damp prior to printing. Paper has a tendency to absorb moisture from its environment.Leaving paper in the tray for long periods of time may also cause it to curl. If it is left in the tray it is advised that the stack is flipped over and turned 180 degrees before printing.Paper should also be fanned before being put into the tray to separate the sheets of paper. They often get'stuck' together which can cause problems within the printer.Under normal conditions,we should keep humidity between 40%-60% . Never too high or too low.

3. FUSER

Curling can be caused by heat. If the fuser was too hot while the paper passed through, then the paper would curl.If your printer is old, it is advisable that it is serviced. Temperature controls within the fuser rollers degrade over time, so the fuser may be too hot, resulting in the paper curling too much. Cooler temperatures reduce the moisture loss and therefore reduce the curl.

4. INK LOAD

If the ink system allows or requires to load much inks, the paper would have to absorb too much inks, which makes the paper extremely wet, causing the paper curled easily.

Here are some tips help you to solve this problem:

1.Use high quality sublimation base paper

Our premium sublimation transfer paper uses advanced sublimation base paper (not offset). This base paper is made from natural wood pulp (softwood and hardwood), with a longer fiber length and a more flexible fiber than offset paper. So performance and scalability better. Better performance and scalability help reduce the possibility of curling.

2.Anti-curl coating

Base paper has two sides: felt surface and wire surface. The smooth surface of the base paper is usually felt face. The web side of the base paper is generally considered to be rough. Sublimation heat transfer paper is usually printed on only one side. Therefore, the sublimation heat transfer paper need only have a sublimation ink-receptive coating on the side that receives and fixes the sublimation ink. So smoother side will be coated with sublimation coating. The wire side can be uncoated or can have a coating on it.

Sublimation printing

However, if the paper is coated on one side only, the structure is unstable and balanced and the tendency of the paper to curl increases. Therefore, the second method of preventing the problem of curling is to coat the functional coating on the wire side. Functional coatings, also known as anti-curl coatings, provide enhanced stability of sublimation transfer paper.

In order to avoid bending the inkjet sublimation paper, it is necessary to solve the problem from the source, but even if you do it according to the above method, the sublimation paper will bend more or less during the transfer, so it cannot be said that 100% is not bent. It can only be said to avoid bending as much as possible.

More Info:
Website: www.skyimagepaper.com
Company Name: Fei Yue Digital Technology Co.,LTD
E-mail: sales@feiyuepaper.com
Tel: 86-025-86628894
Whatsapp: +86 15007920742
Address: Central Road 323, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China