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Featured On TV
Integrex developed the software for the ICI Phone Fascia
Printing Process.This is a unique technology for capturing
and printing high resolution photographic quality images
onto phone fascias or other 3D surfaces.
ICI Imagedata's novel printing technology for mobile phone
fascias was featured in 2002 Royal Institution Christmas
Lectures on Channel 4. In the lectures, Professor Ryan
looked at the developments
behind everyday products, such as mobile phones and ice
cream, and will use ICI Imagedata's system to print a photographic
image on a phone fascia
Unlike surface printing techniques, this technology uses
a unique combination of special polymer coatings and a controlled
transfer heat process to 'embed' a colour image into the
surface. The result - a bold, bright image that resists
scratching.
Images used can be from many different sources including
photographs, magazines, digital files on floppy disks or
CD - even digital photographs.
How it works
The scanned or digital image is displayed on screen for
positioning and cropping to fit the selected phone model.
When the customer is satisfied with the image, the printer
prints out a single sheet containing a 'mirror image'. This
is placed over an appropriate phone fascia in the printing
unit and applied using heat and pressure. During the printing
process, the colour's in the print become mobile and transfer
into the specially prepared surface of the phone fascia.
The process uses energy from a thermal print head containing
hundreds of tiny heating elements (100 - 400 per inch) creating
the diffusion of dyes from a colour ribbon into the receiver
paper. The tiny heating elements or pixels are individually
controlled by the computer and, as the dye migrates by diffusion,
the amount of colour transfer is directly proportional to
the heat used. To build up a full colour image, the three
colour's (yellow, magenta and cyan) are printed in sequence
from consecutive panels on the same ribbon.
The media is not paper, but a synthetic analogue with a
dye receptive coating on one side. During the printing process,
dye becomes 'locked' in place and remains fixed until reheated
or dissolved.
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