Processes

Hot Stamping Foils

Learn about Why We Use Foils for Decorating

Foil Stamping is a dry printing process which is achieved with the combination of 7 elements: 4 physical attributes of stamping foil, die, machine and the part to be decorated. 3 elements are the process parameters of Heat, Pressure, and Dwell time. When all of these elements are matched, the decoration is excellent. To achieve superior decoration results, stamping foil, application machine, and the die must be satisfactorily matched.

Foils are the critical element to hot stamping and heat transfer, as their properties, print, and quality all impact the resulting print.

There are a variety of foils that can be used in foil stamping:

• Metallised foils
• Pigment foils
• Hologram foils
• Multi-colour foils (heat transfer foils)
• In-mould foils
• Cold stamping foils

All foils are either soft release, medium release or hard release, based on the material properties they are being printed on (Eg: the type of plastic or paper and the graphics)

Heat transfer foil is typically made by rotogravure, flexography, silkscreen, or digital printing process. Image is created by color pigment. Multi color jobs can easily be created. The foil consists of adhesive lacquer, ink layer, protective lacquer and release paper/film. Metallic finish foils are widely used for their advantage of selective metallisation in comparison to plating, and for their high DOI (Distinctness of image), with hundreds of color variety available, including texture effects like chrome, brushed, wooden finish, etc.