Dye - polymer affinity and its effect on thermal dye-transfer printing

Dye-polymer affinity was estimated quantitatively, and its effect on the printing sensitivity in the so-called sublimation dye-transfer printing was investigated. Printing sensitivity increases with the affinity, although the diffusion coefficient of the dye in the polymers decreases. It is concluded that the dye-transfer rate is determined by an adsorption-like process at the surface of the receiving layer, not by the diffusion in the layer. On this basis a novel dye-transfer equation was proposed and a computer simulation was performed. The results agreed well with the experiments.