A printing assembly for thermal transfer printing is disclosed. The assembly comprises at least one first printing system comprising a transfer member having an imaging surface on the front side, a coating station at which a monolayer of thermoplastic particles is applied to the imaging surface, an imaging station at which electromagnetic radiation (EM) is applied, optionally via the rear side of the transfer member, to selected regions of the imaging surface to render the particles coating the selected regions tacky, a transfer station at which only the regions of the particles coating that have been rendered tacky are transferred to a substrate to form an adhesive image; and at least one more downstream printing system. The transfer member includes on its front side an EM radiation absorbing layer, the imaging surface being formed on, or as part of, the absorbing layer, and on its rear side a body which can optionally be transparent to EM radiation.

Provided is a thermal transfer sheet that can form a good image on both a transfer object made of a polyethylene terephthalate and a transfer object made of a polypropylene, as well as can form an image with high alcohol resistance. The thermal transfer sheet of the present invention includes a substrate, and a transfer layer including a colored layer and an adhesive layer, in which the adhesive layer has a phase-separated structure formed by a polyester and a polyolefin that are incompatible with each other, and in which the percentage of the region formed by one of the polyester and the polyolefin to the total area (100%) of the adhesive layer is 55% or more and 85% or less.

Provided is a thermal transfer sheet enabling printing suitability on high temperature printing to be good. A thermal transfer sheet 100 in which either one or both of a colorant layer 3 and a transfer layer 10 are provided on one face of a substrate 1, and a back face layer 20 is provided on the other face of the substrate 1, wherein a back face primer layer 25 is provided between the substrate 1 and the back face layer 20, and the back face primer layer 25 contains at least one component selected from a silicone resin, a siloxane cross-linked resin, and a silica-introduced resin.

Provided is a thermal transfer sheet with low hot and cold peeling strengths. Thermal transfer sheet according to the present disclosure includes a substrate and a transfer layer, wherein the transfer layer includes at least a peeling layer, and the peeling layer contains a vinyl resin and at least one of an alcohol alkoxylate and an alcohol having 18 to 80 carbon atoms.

Micro characters are expressed by a thermal fusion transfer technique. In a printed matter manufacturing method, a printed matter is manufactured by heating a thermal transfer sheet in accordance with image data, the thermal transfer sheet including a base member, a release layer disposed on the base member and containing a wavelength conversion material that emits visible light with excitation by invisible light, and a thermally fusible ink layer disposed on the release layer, and by transferring the thermally fusible ink layer to a transfer-receiving body. In this method, the image data includes a first pattern and a second pattern. The second pattern is disposed on the first pattern and has a maximum width of a predetermined value or less.

Method and system for thermal transfer printing are disclosed. The system comprises a transfer member having an imaging surface on the front side, a coating station at which a monolayer of particles made of, or coated with, a thermoplastic polymer is applied to the imaging surface, an imaging station at which electromagnetic radiation (EM) is applied via the rear side of the transfer member to selected regions of the particles-coated imaging surface to render the particles thereon tacky within the selected regions, and a transfer station at which only the regions of the particles coating that have been rendered tacky are transferred to a substrate. The transfer member includes on its rear side a body transparent to EM radiation and on its front side an EM radiation absorbing layer, the imaging surface being formed on, or as part of, the absorbing layer.

A dual label combination is provided. The label combination includes a label substrate, and the label substrate is die cut with at least three separate labels. The label combination also includes a liner substrate attached to a back side of the label substrate. The liner substrate including at least two die cuts with one of the die cuts defining a liner label that corresponds to one of the at least three labels of the label substrate. A back side of the liner substrate includes a coating for imaging on the liner substrate with: inkjet, laser, direct thermal, or thermal transfer printing. The liner label and the corresponding label of the label substrate separable from the label combination by a manufactured pull tab substantially centered at a bottom of a first label of the at least three separate labels of the label substrate.

A printing assembly is disclosed for thermal transfer printing onto a surface of a substrate. The assembly comprises at least one first printing system comprising a transfer member having opposite front and rear sides with an imaging surface on the front side, a coating station at which a monolayer of thermoplastic particles is applied to the imaging surface, an imaging station at which energy is applied by a thermal print head, optionally via the rear side of the transfer member, to selected regions of the imaging surface to render particles coating the selected regions tacky, a transfer station at which the imaging surface of the transfer member and the substrate surface are pressed against each other to transfer to the substrate the particles that have been rendered tacky to form an adhesive image; and at least one more printing system downstream from the first system.

A heat sensitive transfer sheet that achieves high optical density and high light resistance without generating scumming. The heat sensitive sheet has a base material and a coloring material layer formed on the base material, and the coloring material layer includes a compound represented by the following formula (1) and a particular dye compound: ##STR00001##
wherein
R.sup.11 and R.sup.13 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aralkyl group, an unsubstituted aryl group or an aryl group having a substituent; and
R.sup.12 and R.sup.14 to R.sup.18 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group.

[Object] To provide a thermal transfer sheet with high transferability and thin-line printability.

[Solution] A thermal transfer sheet according to the present disclosure includes a substrate and a transfer layer disposed on the substrate. The transfer layer includes at least a peeling layer containing an allyl resin.