3 Things You Must Know About Hot Peel DTF Film

DTF film is a transfer media specially designed for DTF printing, which is used to bear the pattern printed by inkjet of DTF printer, and then transfer the pattern onto fabric or other materials by heat pressing. Choosing a quality DTF film is crucial to your printing business as it directly affects the printing quality.

With the continuous development of DTF technology, many types of DTF films have appeared in the market, which are usually categorized into cold peel DTF film and hot peel DTF film according to the peeling method.

What is hot peel DTF film?

A type of DTF film that can be peeled off without having to wait for complete cooling when heat transferring a design is called DTF Hot peel Film. In practice, it can be peeled off within 10 seconds after turning on the press or when the temperature of the film surface is greater than 100℃. The use of hot peel DTF film saves time waiting for it to cool down and improves productivity for mass production printers.

What is cold peel DTF film?

DTF cold peel film is a DTF film that needs to wait for complete cooling after hot pressing before it can be peeled off. Usually, it needs to wait for 30 seconds, or the temperature is lower than 55℃ before it can be peeled off, otherwise, it is very likely to tear the hot stamping pattern.

Due to the special characteristics of DTF hot peel film peeling coating, many printing workers may encounter in the use of the process in poor ink absorption, peeling residue, a washing fastness cycle is short and other problems. Below we have chosen 3 questions about hot peel DTF film to answer in detail, we hope it will help you when you buy DTF film.

1. Is hot peel DTF film better than cold peel DTF film?

Cold and hot peel DTF films have advantages and disadvantages, which are suitable for different types of production and printing needs.

In general printing business scenarios, DTF hot peel film is suitable for the mass production of ordinary fabric garments such as cotton T-shirts. Hot peel film requires a temperature between 140-160℃, pressure 4-5KG, and pressing 8-10 seconds to realize hot peel easily. The cost of hot peel film is higher than cold peel film because the production process of hot peel film is more complicated, and the requirements for uniformity and coating precision of the coating machine are also more stringent. For this reason, we need to be more careful when choosing hot peel DTF film. Some poor-quality hot peel DTF films have poor ink absorption, and small printed letters or lines may easily fall off, affecting your production.

Compared with hot peel DTF film, the stability of cold peel DTF film will be better. However, it is less efficient because it needs to wait for cooling during the production process.

When purchasing DTF film, in addition to distinguishing the peeling method should also comprehensively examine the thickness of the DTF transfer film, coating quality, ink-carrying capacity, release effect, shaking powder effect, high temperature resistance and other elements. (Extended reading >> How to choose DTF transfer film? )

2. Is it better to peel off the hot peel film as fast as possible?

It's not true. Although DTF hot peel film has great advantages in production efficiency, it should be noted that while paying attention to the hot peel efficiency, it is also necessary to observe the stability of the release, especially the stability of the release of small fonts. Excessive peeling speed may cause some fine-line designs to be mutilated, affecting the quality of the finished product. The hot peel film has a special hot peel coating and uses water-based back coating technology. Hot peeling coating that pursues peeling speed too much will also affect the ink-absorbing layer, causing the final prints color to become lighter, and the long-term washing fastness of the water-based adhesive layer cannot be guaranteed. Suppose you find some hot peel DTF film that claims to peel off instantly in 1-2 seconds. In that case, we suggest you pay more attention to its small print release performance, color expressiveness, and washing fastness whether as expected during the sample testing stage. The current more stable hot peel DTF film on the market generally requires a pressing temperature of 140-160℃, hot pressing for about 10 seconds, and peeling off after 5 seconds. Hanrun Paper PRO 100μ hot peel DTF film uses aqueous-oil coating technology to improve release efficiency and high productivity while ensuring consistent production quality and a finished product feel that meets customer requirements.

* The hot peel DTF film with a poor release effect will have residual printed fine lines.

3. Why is there a problem when peeling?

A. The temperature of hot stamping is not right, it must be adjusted to the right temperature in advance of the press machine.

B. Stamping pressure is not enough, should increase the stamping pressure, the greater the pressure stamping out the better.

C. Wrong film used. Use hot peel film as cold peel film, or use cold peel film as hot peel film. Be sure to distinguish between cold peel film and hot peel film when using.

D. Wrong understanding of DTF printing applications. When applying to materials such as rough fabrics or leather, you need to use specific DTF ink or DTF hot melt powder. For example, when printing on burlap fabrics, you need to choose a DTF coarse powder with higher grip.
In summary, it is necessary to choose the appropriate application solution of DTF film, DTF powder, and DTF ink based on different fabric characteristics and set accurate temperature, time, and pressure. These are the three elements of hot pressing.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us. We look forward to communicating with you about digital printing technology and unlocking more possibilities!