There are many different printing processes on silicone products. silicone silk screen printing, silicone printing, silicone color printing, silicone transfer printing, silicone film printing.
Silicone silkscreen printing
The silkscreen is the first printing method. Screen printing requires a logo screen set. Generally, the silk screen printing ink will be thicker and brighter, and the printed pattern has a strong dimensional sense. Silkscreen printing can also print thin lines and is also suitable for large-area printing. The disadvantage is that it is low efficiency as by hand printing and only can up to print 5colors. Silkscreen can only print one color at a time, bake it. Then fix another logo screen set to print the second color.
Silicone pad printing
It is printed by machine with a metal plate. The plate is flat, with the image chemically imprinted. The silicone pad is pressed onto the ink, picking up the image. And then the silicone pad is pressed onto the substrate, transferring the image on the silicone product.
The advantage of pad printing is that the printing speed is fast, and you can print several colors at the same time. Pad printing can be used on a variety of substrates, particularly oddly shaped objects that are difficult to screen print. The disadvantage is that the ink is slightly thinner than the silkscreen, not too bright.
Silicone color printing
color printing is also called digital printing, CMYK printing. The technique used to print full-color images. The silicone ink and the silica gel itself are chemically reacted with each other, so the based product should be white. Otherwise, the logo will be discolored. If the based products in different colors, it is better to print with white ink by silkscreen printing or pad printing first, then do the CMYK printing. However, because there is dust in the printing process, when there is color printing, there will be small dust particles on the surface.
Silicone heat transfer printing
Your custom logo is printed on transfer label or film first, and then ink is thermally transferred from the label to the silicone products using heat by press machine. It can print several color logo. But the logo screen is expensive.
Silicone water transfer printing
Firstly put the printed water-soluble film on the surface of the water. Immerse the silicone products into the water, the upward pressure of the water causes the ink to wrap and adhere to the item. Then removed the products from the water. It can be applied to all types of substrates with full colors printing.
Silicone film printing
Cover the film on the silicone while compressing the product, without secondary processing and printing. Washable, folding, scratch-resistant grade A, dry-wearing and wet-resistant grinding A grade, excellent color printing pattern, clear and vivid color printing pattern, environmental protection
Ukong can do the above all kind of silicone printing. We carefully evaluated all methods and help you choose the right way to print your silicone products.