Heat transfer printing is a general term that refers to the process or technology of printing patterns on a substrate through high-temperature hot pressing technology. Commonly known as heat transfer printing, pigment printing, weak solvent printing, and sublimation transfer printing, strictly speaking, all belong to the category of heat transfer printing. Although there are significant similarities in the process flow between heat transfer printing and sublimation, the two have essential differences in the principles of printing and coloring.

Firstly, the ink used on synthetic fabrics or hard materials coated with heat transfer printing is water-based dye ink, which belongs to a full solution; The ink used for heat transfer printing is water-based pigment ink, which belongs to suspensions. Secondly, thermal sublimation uses thermal sublimation transfer paper, while thermal transfer printing uses PET release film. Furthermore, thermal sublimation refers to the solidification of dye molecules from a solid state to a gaseous state on a substrate under high temperature and pressure. Thermal transfer printing uses hot melt adhesive to heat print images onto fabrics under high pressure and pressure. From the perspective of printing effect, thermal sublimation is the infiltration of patterns or motifs into the medium, resulting in vivid colors and distinct layers, truly achieving photo quality.

Heat transfer printing is a transfer printing technique that creates realistic patterns with a textured texture and high glossiness. Due to the color gamut of the dyes used in sublimation exceeding that of pigments, sublimation is superior to heat transfer printing in terms of image quality. It has irreplaceable advantages in washing, dry grinding, UV protection, etc. However, sublimation can only be applied to polyester fabrics and coated media, and its scope of application is limited. Heat transfer printing has a much wider range of applications than sublimation.