THERMAL TRANSFER PRINTING

摘要

A retransfer intermediate sheet for receiving an image to be printed onto an article by thermal retransfer comprises a substrate; and an image-receiving coating on one side of the substrate for receiving an image by printing of dye-containing ink, the coating comprising a fluid-absorbing layer and a superposed dye management layer comprising functionalised polyvinyl alcohol and/or an ionic polymer. The dye management layer functions to reduce back diffusion and to increase dye transfer efficiency, resulting in production of printed images of improved optical density. The sheet can be heat-deformable, and finds particular use in printing on 3D articles, e.g. being heated and vacuum formed to conform to an article. The invention also covers a method of printing and an article bearing a printed image.