A composite image heat transfer is disclosed for use on specific merchandising articles, sports jerseys, or other apparel for a specific sport. A scannable mark would be embedded in a heat transfer positioned on a sports jersey, such as a jersey number or a club crest. The scannable mark would be scanned by a user to provide stats, personal information, or other information about the corresponding sports team/club and/or individual athlete. The user can also register the scannable mark and follow the sports team/club and/or athlete on social media. Thus, the composite image heat transfer with embedded scannable mark would link each jersey number with information related to the corresponding player/athlete, and each club crest would be linked to information related to the corresponding club/team. This would enable a strong interaction through social media and other web tools between athletes and/or clubs and fans.

Building panels, especially floor panels, and a method of forming embossed in register surfaces with a digital ink head that applies a curable ink on the panel surface or on an upper side of a foil as a coating and forms an ink matrix that is used to create a cavity in the surface by applying a pressure on the ink matrix.

A system (10, 110) includes: (i) a flexible intermediate transfer member (ITM) (44, 500, 600), including: a stack of: In (a) a first layer (602), located at an outer surface of the ITM (44, 500, 600), configured to receive ink droplets to form an ink image thereon, and to transfer the ink image to a target substrate (50, 51), and (b) a second layer (603) including a matrix holding particles (622), configured to receive optical radiation (99) passing through the first layer (602), and to heat the ITM (44, 500, 600) by absorbing the optical radiation (99); (ii) an illumination assembly (113), configured to dry the ink droplets by directing the optical radiation (99) to impinge on the particles (622); and (iii) a temperature control assembly (121), configured to control a temperature of the ITM (44, 500, 600) by directing a gas (101) to the ITM (44, 500, 600).

Disclosed is an apparatus to generate heated air to sublimate a sublimating printing substance. The apparatus comprises: a self-regulating heating element; an air retaining device to retain air in the apparatus for heating by the self regulating heating element; and an airflow generating device arranged selectively to urge heated air to leave the retaining device. Also disclosed is a method to sublimate a sublimating printing substance deposited on a printing medium and a system to produce printing content on a printing substrate using a sublimating printing substance.

A multilayer imaging blanket for a variable data lithography system, including a multilayer base including a sulfur-containing layer; and a cured topcoat layer including a polyurethane in contact with the sulfur-containing layer of the multilayer base.

Apparatuses and methods for applying a transfer material onto the surface of an article are disclosed, including apparatuses and methods of transfer printing on and/or decorating three-dimensional articles, as well as the articles printed and/or decorated thereby. In some cases, the apparatuses and methods involve providing a deposition device, such as a printing device; providing a transfer component; depositing a material onto a portion of the transfer component with the deposition device; modifying the portion of the transfer component with the transfer material thereon to conform the transfer component to at least a portion of the surface of the three-dimensional article; and transferring the transfer material onto the surface of the article.

A printing process is disclosed which comprises directing droplets of an ink onto an intermediate transfer member to form an ink image, the ink including an organic polymeric resin and a coloring agent in an aqueous carrier, and the transfer member having a hydrophobic outer surface so that each ink droplet in the ink image spreads on impinging upon the intermediate transfer member to form an ink film. The ink is dried while the ink image is being transported by the intermediate transfer member by evaporating the aqueous carrier from the ink image to leave a residue film of resin and coloring agent. The residue film is then transferred to a substrate. The chemical compositions of the ink and of the surface of the intermediate transfer member are selected such that attractive intermolecular forces between molecules in the outer skin of each droplet and on the surface of the intermediate transfer member counteract the tendency of the ink film produced by each droplet to bead under the action of the surface tension of the aqueous carrier, without causing each droplet to spread by wetting the surface of the intermediate transfer member.

Method and system for thermal transfer printing are disclosed. The system includes 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.

An intermediate transfer medium that allows formation of high-density images on a transfer layer while suppressing printing unevenness and provides good foil cutting properties of the transfer layer, a combination of the intermediate transfer medium and a thermal transfer sheet, and a method for forming a print using the intermediate transfer medium. In an intermediate transfer medium having a transfer layer on a substrate, the transfer layer has a single layer structure including only a receiving layer or a layered structure including the receiving layer. When the transfer layer has the layered structure, the receiving layer is located furthest from the substrate among layers constituting the transfer layer. The receiving layer contains a binder resin having a number average molecular weight of 8000-32000 and a release agent. The content of the release agent based on the total mass of the receiving layer is 6% by mass or more.

A thermal transfer and process for producing it that provides a fully-digital printed heat transfer capable of little to no process changeover between different graphics. Specifically, the method comprises printing a digital image onto a treated adhesive substrate, applying the image side to a carrier substrate, then digitally cutting and removing substrate not containing graphic elements through a combination of kiss-and-through cutting to produce a high stretch, multi-color photographic quality print transfers for the apparel and soft goods industry.