English
Pad printing is a unique printing process used for transferring 2-D images onto 3-D objects.Like the name,this technology utilizes a silicone ‘pad’ to pick up an image(such as your logo) and transfer it onto a designated object(your product).This typically used to print on difficult or oddly shaped surfaces like a golf ball,toy,syringe or remote.From single-color transfers to a multi-colour print process,or even from printing flat objects to oddly shaped ones.
Pad printing is an indirect printing process in which a soft silicone pad is used to transfer a two-dimensional image to the surface of a three-dimensional object.This unique printing method allows detailed images to be added to delicate,mechanically sensitive or irregularly shaped products that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to print.With its versatility,reliability and low cost,pad printing is a suitable printing option for everything from decorative consumer goods and electronics to precision medical devices and automotive parts.
The unique ability of the silicone pad to unusual shapes or textured surfaces makes pad printing a valuable printing technique in numerous industries.
Medical Industry:
Accurately applying images on curved or hollow medical instruments such as syringes,catheters,tubing,inhalers and insulin pins etc.
Pharmaceutical Industry:
Printing high-quality images on the surface of tablets,soft gels,hard gels and capsules.
Cosmetics Industry:
Adding decorative images to cosmetic bottles,jars,caps and lipstick holders.
Food and Beverage Industry:
Printing on food packing surfaces,drink bottle caps,corks etc.
Automotive Industry:
Decorating automotive components with abrasion-resistant images.
Electronics Industry:
Adding eye-caching images and brand logos to intricately shaped electronic devices
Sporting Goods Industry:
Printing high-quality graphics on the surface of golf balls,mouth guards and other difficult-to-print sporting goods.
The pad printing process is a quick and cost-effective method for adding quality images to substrates with curves,unusual shapes or difficult surface textures.While the exact printing parameters will depend on the application, all pad printing process will follow the bellow steps:
1. The image to be transferred is etched onto a flat print plate.
2. The ink cup /inkwell filled with the printing ink glides across the print plate,flooding the etched sections of the plate with ink.When exposed to air,the ink becomes tacky.
3. A sooth silicone pad presses itself into the ink-filled etched area of the plate.As the pad compresses, air is forced outward and ink is transferred from the etched plate to the pad.
4. The pad then moves to the substrate and presses into it,depositing the image onto its surface.
