The difference between direct thermal and thermal transfer.

It is well known that there are two different types of thermal printing. The first method is direct thermal printing and the second one is thermal transfer printing.

Most of our customers usually get confused and they frequently ask us about the main difference between these two methods.

Before proceeding to the differences of the two methods it is important to highlight a similarity between them. Both of these methods use a thermal printhead that applies heat to the surface being marked. However, thermal transfer printing uses a heated ribbon to produce durable, long-lasting images on a wide variety of materials while no ribbon is used in direct thermal printing, which creates the image directly on the printed material. It is important to mention that direct thermal media is more sensitive to light, heat and abrasion. As a result the life of printed material is reduced.