Thermal labels are one of the many types of labels that are used in daily life. These labels are used to label all kinds of things – starting from clothes to furniture to fruits to vegetables to electronic gadget to automobiles to industrial equipments etc. The different kinds of labels are used in different kinds of places. For example, it would be unwise to use a thermal label for an industrial product. In such cases, rivets are generally used to screw the label in place. Thermal labels can be used in a variety of places as well. They can be used in small or hand held equipments, for example. They can be used in those places where there can be a certain level of heat. But this too will depend on what kind of thermal label is being used.
There are mainly two types of thermal labels – the direct thermal label and the thermal transfer label. These labels are used in different conditions because of their different makes. The direct thermal labels are made of some thin plastic or foil. The printing on it is done with the help of some heating element, that itself will be shaped like the letters or words to be printed. There can be images that can be printed on the thermal labels too. The heating element will then have to be of the shape of the image.
There is a major drawback, though, of this kind of thermal label. The DT label will not be able to withstand the heat emanating from another heat source. The label’s printing will fade out or will become too obscure to read. In fact, it is not unknown to have such a DT label become completely black and useless when exposed to heat. This obviously renders them useless in applications where there will be heat exposure from other sources. So they cannot be used in factories or other industrial locations where heat sources are present. They also cannot be used in electrical equipments like toasters, bulbs, tube lights, lamps, electric heaters etc. in which heat is generated.
But since the printing is usually very good in the thermal type of labels, the other thermal label, known as the thermal transfer label is used in those applications where there are going to be heat sources nearby. The biggest advantage with this type of label is that they will not turn black as they are resistant to the heat exposure from other sources of heat. So this means that they are actually more durable than the direct thermal labels. So their range of application is also greater. The TT or thermal transfer labels can be used in equipments that will be used in garages, factories as well as other in other applications where there could be heat exposure. The TT type labels are generally made by using a thermal label printer. This type of printer can be a bit costly, but the overall cost of the thermal ribbons and the TT labels is actually not more than the cost of the DT labels alone.
