Decal

A transfer is a multi-layered one over the other printed image or motif of paints, varnishes and adhesives. Sticker on the other hand are made of plastic or paper, and are thicker.

Production

A decal is thinner than a human hair. It is produced in various printing processes, such as screen printing or offset printing. Depending on the task, different transmission types are used:

• Manual transmission with water and a soft rubber squeegee to press
• Transferring with heat and pressure with a thermal transfer press
• Transmission with an automatic roll transfer machine

History

You may already invented around 1780 for decorations in the ceramic production, the technique of making decals developed in parallel with the rise and spread of lithography. A patent " for lithographic prints in color and black and white on metal, wood, wax, canvas ... " 1826 filed by the princely Esterhazy Gallery Director Rothmüller. As early production centers are called Leipzig ( printer Kramer ), Fürth (Johann Hesse 1825 and G. Löwensohn 1844) and Nuremberg ( Pocher 1858 Brunner, 1862, Huber, Jordan & Koerner 1862 and Schimpf 1868). Typical uses for custom decals were decorations on porcelain dish, painted trays, candles, bicycles and sewing machines. Technically, it was mostly a mirror image printed on bond paper lithographs that were transferred to the new pad after wetting the paper support.

Advantages in the economy

Decals, especially dry decals, be used wherever an own printing department would produce too much cost, standstill, Committee etc., or simply to market conditions can not follow production technology; or if you want to reduce downtime and scrap. They can be applied technically well integrated into production lines of manufacturing establishments. The advantage is that the manufacturer does not have its own printing facility and still relies on a perfectly printed decorative items. The goods must not be supplied awkward to a print shop. The decal is cured after a very short time and is met with the substrate material that in later release experiments, the ground is damaged with.

Forms of decals

For different loads and materials, there are different types of decals.

• Dry Decals: The decals can be modern dry - boiling wash resistant, highly elastic, abrasion resistant, chemically cleanable, food safe or fluorescent.

A distinction is made dry transfers for leather, plastics, rubber and neoprene, and dry Decals for smooth surfaces such as glass, wood, metal, ceramic, etc.

• Wet decals: Wet transfers are used wherever it is technically impossible to manage otherwise because of the quality or sub- base material. Most wet - transfers are not protected with clear lacquers against UV radiation. Thus, they are not quite as high quality as dry transfers.

Other applications

Known and loved decals are also in children. So individually wrapped chewing gum are common in Abziehtattoos that can be applied to the skin with water and thus give the appearance of a tattoo. These decals are legally to the objects, " which are intended to temporarily come not only with the human body in contact, they must not transfer any harmful substances in the skin contact " and subject to the provisions of the Food, Commodities and Feed Code.

Decals are also used for the decoration of porcelain, earthenware and glass. These images are usually printed with ceramic inks screen printed on coated with dextrin or wax paper. By soaking in water (at Dextrinbeschichtung ) The decal is released from the backing paper and transferred to the part to be decorated. By means of a rubber doctor blade the excess water is squeezed out.

For automatic transmission are printed decals with a heated silicone pad (similar to the pad printing) transferred ( " heat-release method " ) on wax paper. In both methods, the decor needs to be fired then.

Application Examples

Dry decals are numerous industrial products for decades in the decorative use.

Decal

Decal ( di ː Kael, di ː kəl ) is derived from English, but also in the common German name for the wet sliding images used mainly in modeling. They are used when labels on a model (eg aircraft, ships, cars) must be applied, which are too fine for recording or painting. Decals must be moistened prior to attachment to the model in order to activate the adhesive layer on which they are printed.

For producing decals there are two methods:

• High quality screen printing
• Thermal transfer printer

Screen prints are usually qualitatively superior and easier to process, but are printed by most manufacturers only at high volumes. In addition, there are also special decal sheets that can be printed using commercial printers. Since most printers, with the exception of thermal transfer printers, however, are not able to print the color white, this leads to limitations in the application, but is printed on pre-treated white Decalpapier.

Decal is a short form of Engl. decalcomania " transferred " from French decalcomania of décalquer.