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Metallograph

Metallograph® is the brand name for a family of thermal transfer and hot stamping ribbons used to manufacture flexible electronics. Metallograph® products are manufactured by IIMAK, Amherst, New York, and distributed globally. There are two primary types:  conductive metal and dielectric or insulating resin. The metallic ribbons are made by roll-to-roll sputter coating thin polyester film, so the metal is essentially continuous and has properties close to thin pure metal foils. Dielectric ribbons are made by roll-to-roll gravure coating of polymer/pigment dispersions onto polyester film.

Thermal transfer printing is very closely related to thermal printing of barcodes and labels, so the technology is well known, has modest pricing, and is very reliable. It is a type of digital printing so it offers the Digital Print Value Proposition to commercial users, and via Metallograph to the designers and manufacturers of flexible electronics. Key to that is the ability to change quickly without stopping the press, and to make sequential prints incrementally different. Advantageously, by producing the ribbons in a factory, ink thickness is precisely controlled and liquid inks are not required for the printer.

The complementary analog methods using ribbons for transfer printing are hot stamping, rotary stamping and cold foiling. Analog methods have longer changes overs but are typically faster and more economical for long production runs

Metallograph is used for printing UHF RFID antennas, chipless RFID tags, mounts for small electrical components such as integrated circuits, LEDs, micro-switches and sensors, and low current circuits on flexible substrates such as film and paper.

Alternative use of metallograph:  An image formed by metallography, which is the study of the physical structure and components of metals, by using microscopy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallography Category:Printing Category:Flexible electronics