| The importance of the felt quality in the transfer printing |
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There are on the market many qualities of felt for the transfer printing.
LEMAIRE originally equips its machines with the high-quality felts, because these felts are, with the heating cylinder and the guiding, the heart of the machine. Indeed the main element to a high quality transfer printing process is the quality of the contact that is going to give the felt to the set ' fabric / paper ' against the heating cylinder. The suppleness and the surface quality of the felt are essential. The original LEMAIRE felt is made of 100 % Nomex. It means that its ground fabric called the core, and the two needlepunched layers, upper and lower, are in pure NOMEX. The Nomex offers incomparable qualities in term of homogeneity, of suppleness, of resistance to the heat and of longevity.
There is on the market other felt that are sometimes called “Nomex” but who are in reality made of a core in polyester and, for the bests, of two layers of Nomex. Those felts are cheaper and are, for the best one, of a good quality/price ratio. Nevertheless, the polyester basis looses of its suppleness, under the influence of the heat, much faster than the core in Nomex. The quality of the transfer printing will be then affected by colour problems, guiding problems on the calender and some difficulties to achieve plain printing. Other types of felts exist, made of a core in polyester and a single face in Nomex. These felts do not answer to the requirement of temperature and guiding, required for transfer printing applications.
LEMAIRE advises the use of felts 100 % Nomex. The differences between those families of products are difficult to detect, that’s why LEMAIRE guarantee you the composition of its felts. |
