Dye sub printing on High Density Polyethylene HDPE

[Newbie_Chris]

Hi,
I am trying to source Polyethylene sheet, white, about 1mm in thickness. I will be dye sub printing on both sides and therefore the plastic must be opaque so that you cannot see the print of the other side through it.
I am having real trouble sourcing this material and wondered if anyone knew of any suppliers?
I dont want to use a 'normal' plastic with a ployethylene coating, i need to be able to print directly onto the plastic.

I have been told that HDPE High Density Polyethylene may be less translucent than Polyethylene but can it be printed on using standard dye sub printing techniques?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and i look forward to any help that any of you can give.
Regards
Chris

[bms]

Not come across this, but a quick wikipedia search tells me that "can withstand somewhat higher temperatures (120 °C/ 248 °F for short periods, 110 °C /230 °F continuously).". For sublimation you need to be at 180-190 degrees so this is the first issue to overcome. The second is more fundamental as if the material isn't polyester (or polyester heavy) then sublimation isn't going to adhere to it. From a quick googling this looks like a plastic rather than a material.

What are you trying to achieve as there may be alternatives.

[John G]

This is a good topic - is there any other flat media we can sublimate onto

[TransferGraeme]

There are a wide range of "plastic" materials which will "accept" dyesub printing, and I have spent the last year or so playing with a wide range of samples. The main problem is that many of these materials do not melt but do become "elastic" at the temperatures which you dye-sub at so they are extremely difficult to handle until they have cooled. However I believe I am very close to being able to offer a thin sheet material which will be ideal for membership cards, and other similar uses, at a realistic price, and will also be vacuum-formable. We also expect to be offering a range of clear and frosted acrylic sheet early in the new year which will have a very wide range of uses.

[bms]

thin sheet material

Depends on how thin you want to go. Already available is white sublimation sticky backed vinyl and 0.22mm thick white metal sheets (available up to 300mm x 600mm double sided coated for sublimation). Then there is the 0.5mm thick standard ali material (one sided coated), polyester sheet material, thick FRP (fibre glass reinforced plastic) which is what a lot of the UniSub branded products are made of (fridge magnets, id badges) and this is around 2-3mm thick - this is also available single sided or double sided in sheet form.

How thick/ thin do you want to go?

[richuk]

There are a wide range of "plastic" materials which will "accept" dyesub printing, and I have spent the last year or so playing with a wide range of samples. The main problem is that many of these materials do not melt but do become "elastic" at the temperatures which you dye-sub at so they are extremely difficult to handle until they have cooled. However I believe I am very close to being able to offer a thin sheet material which will be ideal for membership cards, and other similar uses, at a realistic price, and will also be vacuum-formable. We also expect to be offering a range of clear and frosted acrylic sheet early in the new year which will have a very wide range of uses.

I'd like to hear more about a thin plastic laminate that will accept dyesub printing. One side will be printed, the reverse will be suitable for bonding using epoxy. Flexibility at low temperature is a must.

Chris, if you are still looking for HDPE then I can point you towards a few contacts.