Sublimation Coating Formula

A. Hi Brijesh; Hi Babar.
I don't want to discourage anyone from trying to answer you, but 20 postings preceded yours on this thread, and this is but one out of more than 40 threads about sublimation coatings on this site alone. So the subject is broad. If the question is restricted to what coating to put on the mugs so they will absorb sublimated gasses, then polyester coatings, whether one part baked, or two-component reaction coatings, can apparently be used -- but remember that you need a food-safe coating. Many companies offer polyester coatings specifically for sublimation. If you are a coatings formulator, that should be a start. Good luck.

Regards,

A. I use clear coat for cars with activator. I use 2 thin coats sprayed on, then cure in oven for 12 min at 385 °F. Works great on metal.

A. I purchased an Epson XP-310 printer from Walmart for $59.00. I purchased empty refillable cartridges from Amazon.com along with the sublimation ink. Although the printer would say not genuine ink when I added the sublimation ink, it still printed really good. I purchased 400 sheets of sublimation paper from Dyepress. I use a oven at 400 °F for 15 minutes.

A. It usually all boils down to being all about the research and reasoning things out doesn't it? I also am just now getting started with sublimating tiles and other ceramics. The suggestion of using clear coat made sense to me, so I decided to do it the easy way and do the research myself.

There are basically three kinds of automotive clear coat. There's the (ACRYLIC) spray can that you buy at Walmart, (which I wouldn't hold out much hope for), a URETHANE based clear coat that mixes in two parts, a resin and a hardener (three if you count the reducer), and a POLYESTER (not polyurethane) based clear coat, which also uses reducer and hardener. Of the three, the urethane MAY sublimate, or it my not. I just don't know.
The polyester though is by definition what you need to sublimate. It makes a very tough polyester coating used for automotive and marine applications where wear & tear are the norm. Of course it's not what you need for apparel, but it should be good for any hard substrate like ceramics, porcelain, metal, hardboard, wood, stone, etc. It cures by a chemical reaction, not heat, so no oven time is required. There's also a product called "DOLPHIN GLAZE Self-Leveling Polyester Finishing", that you can get from Amazon that looks interesting.
I believe that the gel coat used for fiberglass is also a polyester compound that would have to be painted on with a brush or applicator of some kind.
Again, I'm no expert. I'm just now getting geared up to try some of this. I'm just passing on what I've learned from my research. I also got some Dyepress to try. The thing that bothers me about Dyepress though is that it's water based, and being a woodworker first I know that polyester resins and water don't get along very well. I've also heard reports about the release paper sticking to dyepress coated objects. I'll try it and we'll see.
Professional people will use professional products, and my money is on the polyester clear coat as the one that the professional don't want you to know about. I'll let you know what I find out as I try it, or if someone else tries, pass on the information.

Peter DeBrucque
- Greer South Carolina USA
September 12, 2015

Peter,
I found your post most helpful! Thank you for sharing. How did your trials turn out?
We are looking into sublimation on wood.
Thank you!

A. Hi Carrie. I have never done sublimation and can only respond from my book knowledge, but maybe even that is better than an unanswered question :-)

The idea behind sublimation is that the ink on your paper sublimates (turns to gas rather than liquid) when you heat it. If the paper is pressed against a substrate that can absorb it, it will. Thus, I think that the required temperature & time are defined by the sublimation ink manufacturer rather than the substrate.

I don't think natural materials like wood or cotton are good at absorbing the gaseous ink. I think you need a clear coat as described by others, including Peter, just above. Good luck.

Regards,

A. I am trying out some today. I know this thread is old but no one really answered it. It was a bunch of jumping around.

I been using a company out of Arizona since we started a year ago. The coating supply we bought lasted us a year (about 80 dollars worth). We are currently doing glass and blanks are now more affordable than ever before. We do t-shirts metal tags and even have our own type of dog tags made for paracord and are the only company in the paracord company offering our ideas to clients. No one wants to invest in sublimation when shoe lace charms are so ready available. Well shoelace charms cost about a dollar and your print time and glue (that's expensive glue to hold). We can press one out for about 60 cents that tag and all its more durable than shoelace which if you don't glue correctly it pops off and ruins the project.

Anyway, today I'm trying a new coating. As I learned it's all part of the poly family so I got polyurethane clear coat yesterday. Will spray. let it dry, and then plan on a small heat time cause it's glass. So I'm thinking 1:30 seconds at 300 because it will already be dry just need to bake the coating on or bond it together. Then I will use my transfer at 300 for 1:30 as well. Well image comes out great on my first glass. I tried now I'm just trying to see if it can be sustainable (smooth finish with no streaks and I'm not having to use a ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] or load a hopper to paint it). Rather just spray on out of a can instead of mixing putting on and have runs in the clear coat or streaking.

A. Hi Prem. I think you may be misunderstanding the meaning of the word "hardener" in this context. There are two general types of clearcoats:
- "single component" clearcoats, where water or solvent evaporates in the air or in an oven, or UV radiation cures the coating, leaving a solid coating behind.
- "two pack" or "2k" or "two component" clearcoats where nothing evaporates; instead, the two components chemically react with each other to produce a solid hard coating. Sometimes the two components are called "part A" and "part B"; but sometimes (and it's confusing) people will call "part A" the clearcoat and "part B" the hardener … but they're really just A and B, and there is only sticky syrup, no clearcoat, until the two parts mix and react. Once they are mixed they harden fast, somewhere between 10 minutes and 2 hours depending on the components and the mixing ratio.

That should answer questions 1, 2, and 3. Sorry I don't know the answer to number 4 but suspect it depends upon the sublimation ink, the press design, the pressure, the coating you are sublimating onto, etc.

Regards,

A. Hi Prem. I'm just the website administrator with some general knowledge of metal finishing. I've never even attempted sublimation coatings. Hopefully another reader will offer help.

But "thinner" is a very broad term. The first google link I followed offered Thinner 5, Thinner 222, Thinner 290, Thinner 308, Thinner 316, Thinner 357, Thinner 616, Thinner 902, Thinner 909, Thinner 990, and Thinner 995 -- all based on different solvents, as their basics. So what do you mean by "thinner"?

Regards,

A. Dear Alkaraly,
Before, thinner used with success for the removal of ink. After, I switched to ethanol 98% successfully also. Put the pieces in a closed container with alcohol and wait some 24 hours and then scrub with a sponge. The ethanol is low cost in Brazil; it's a renewable product, and less toxic.

A. Sharath,

The color gamut for sublimation ink does not match the printer cmyk gamut.