Dye-sublimation paper, or dye-sub paper, is specially designed to accept dye-sublimation inks. The ink conversion imprinting process is done with heat and controlled by pressure. The coated dye-sub printed paper can be the final end-product, but dye-sub paper is most often used as a type of heat transfer paper to imprint the sublimated ink onto a specially coated surface.
Sublimation paper used as heat transfer paper in dye-sub printing is not coated like the receptor surface. It has a special finish that prevents the ink from soaking into the paper. After the paper is printed with the transferable image, it is placed on the coated surface of the receptor product to be imprinted with heat and pressure from a heat press.
Sublimation paper comes in widths of 24 to 96 inches. High-release dye-sub heat-transfer paper has a silicate coating applied in vertical grids to hold the ink. During printing, heat from the press evaporates or sublimates the ink into a gas form. The released ink vapor then bonds with the surface of the receptor material to form a permanent print.