# Sublimation on Dupont Corian



## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

I sublimated this 1/4" piece of Glacier White Corian today. The colors are quite pleasing. I can't say they have the pop that other things do with poly coatings, never the less it turned out good. (please pardon my crappy photography). Here is what we did.
Print was done with the Ricoh printer with Subli-R inks on TexPrint-R paper. The image is a painting that was done by my cousin and printed with her permission.
1. Heat press at 320F for 15 minutes at 7 pressure on a Hotronix Swinger press. Used Conde Dye Trans Pro spray adhesive to hold the print in place
2. Teflon sheet top and bottom
3. After 15 minutes, open the press, peel the paper
4. Replace the piece in the press, with teflon, close it and turn it off. Let it cool in the press for an hour or more.
That's it. No cupping, no sticking of paper


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## MrRudeDog (Aug 24, 2010)

LB said:


> Print was done with the Ricoh printer with Subli-R inks on TexPrint-R paper. The image is a painting that was done by my cousin and printed with her permission.​1. Heat press at 320F for 15 minutes at 7 pressure on a Hotronix Swinger press. Used Conde Dye Trans Pro spray adhesive to hold the print in place
> 2. Teflon sheet top and bottom
> 3. After 15 minutes, open the press, peel the paper
> 4. Replace the piece in the press, with teflon, close it and turn it off. Let it cool in the press for an hour or more.
> That's it. No cupping, no sticking of paper​


Kinda looks neat! Good job LB! Is step 4 to keep it from warping? What size is the piece?

Thanks,
Ray


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## Ken Dolph (Aug 15, 2011)

Nice job

I have been dye subbing Corian for about 17 years. 

May I offer some tips on the process? They should make your image "pop"

1. Solid color Corian comes from the factory with a mold release. Sand lightly with 4oo grit sandpaper and wipe with alcohol to remove this.

2. Preheat the piece for about 15 minutes before applying the transfer. This will shorten the transfer time and lessen the bleeding of the image.

3. Press for 7 to 12 minutes. The longer will give you deeper colors and the deeper the transfer. The shorter the crisper the image.

4. Remove the transfer and allow to cool with a flat weight on top. This does not need to be done in the press. This would not be necessary if your press is heated from both sides or you turn the piece over half way through the preheat.

5. Sand the image lightly with 400 and 1,000 grit sand paper. Buff with a plastics polish like Novus 2. Yes you can sand the image it is not on top it has penetrated about .003" into the Corian.

If you don't like the image you can sand with 220 grit sand paper until the image is gone and start over.

One advantage over polyester coated ceramic or metal is that the Corian does not deteriorate with UV light. So it will not fade or flake off over time.

When the Corian is still hot you can bend it to make shapes of your creation.

I hope this helps.
Ken


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

Hiya Ken, 
I posted this at SMC also. I followed your advice, but I was guessing a bit with the 1/4" Came out pretty nice though. I'm going to try a couple more of these. I didn't preheat it, but if you do that, you obviously have to let it cool down to handle for putting on the transfer..or do you have a different method?


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

MrRudeDog said:


> Kinda looks neat! Good job LB! Is step 4 to keep it from warping? What size is the piece?
> 
> Thanks,
> Ray


Ray, it is 8x10. Yes, Corian will cup if your not careful so leaving it in the press works well. However, if you need the press to continue making product, get a couple of flat pieces of something and some clamps. Take it out and clamp it up until it cools.


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## Ken Dolph (Aug 15, 2011)

Larry.

I just lay the transfer on the piece while hot.

you don't need to clamp during cooling. I just use a little weight.

Ken


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

Ken Dolph said:


> Larry.
> 
> I just lay the transfer on the piece while hot.
> 
> ...


I was just going by what Keith said about the clamping. Makes sense to me.
Hehehe..maybe you can just lay that transfer on there and get the edges even but I doubt I am good enough to do that. I can imagine all kinds of vile language whilst doing that.


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## sid (Oct 6, 2007)

Sounds interesting. Where can you buy the 1/4" material?


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

sid said:


> Sounds interesting. Where can you buy the 1/4" material?


I bought this off Ebay. Quarter inch is kind of hard to find because distributors don't stock a lot of it. Half inch works fine also and sometimes you can find it from counter top people. Glacier White is what you want. Here is the link to the guy I got mine from 10 Pc's 1/4 Corian -8"x10" Glacier White for Lithopanes | eBay


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## Conde_David (May 29, 2008)

I found a PDF from like 1990's from Dupont
describing sublimation on Corian.

Only product I can think of that
If you make a mistake you can sand it off.

Not sure about the comment on uv.
Inks do fade outdoors.


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

Conde_David said:


> I found a PDF from like 1990's from Dupont
> describing sublimation on Corian.
> 
> Only product I can think of that
> ...


David,
Would you make that PDF available please.
Ken Dolph, who posted above, is very experienced with doing this. He has done extensive research and I'm not sure but I believe he is an engineer. I do know he has a degree in physics.

Here is a quote from him from another forum relative to the UV. Quote:

"The downside for dye-sub on polyester is that it will fade in the sun or other UV sources. The acrylic in the Corian protects the image from UV. The polyester itself breaks down in UV. "


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## Ken Dolph (Aug 15, 2011)

David

Have the inks ever been tested in a substrate that itself does not degrade in UV? Corian is made of ~30% acrylic polymers and 70% ATH, neither of which transmit much UV.

The image seems to penetrate to a depth of about .003". This will provide UV protection to the image.

Ken

The PDF is here http://www.corian.co.uk/Corian/en_GB/assets/downloads/documentation/corian_sublimation_en.pdf


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## skdave (Apr 11, 2008)

I have Dye sublimated on cultured marble which is awesome.


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

skdave said:


> I have Dye sublimated on cultured marble which is awesome.


Got any pictures to share?


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## Conde_David (May 29, 2008)

The challenge is that the uv inhibitors are
ultimately used up. 

But, I have not tested Corian with sublimation
for durability.

Even if it had infinite uv properties,
the heat of the sun would ultimately
out gas the ink and cause extreme dye
migration.

This is why sublimation has challenges
outdoors.

Keep your comments coming. Love
this stuff.


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

Ken Dolph said:


> David
> 
> Have the inks ever been tested in a substrate that itself does not degrade in UV? Corian is made of ~30% acrylic polymers and 70% ATH, neither of which transmit much UV.
> 
> ...


The attached PDF (from 2004) describes a different methodology. Interesting. Thanks for the link Ken.


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## skdave (Apr 11, 2008)

LB said:


> Got any pictures to share?


 
I'll post some tomorrow.


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## uncletee (Feb 25, 2007)

I would crank the heat to 400 thats when sublimation really works. I'll try some and see. teflon and weights to put on it to cool good idea. keep us posted, thanks uncletee.


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## Ken Dolph (Aug 15, 2011)

Undetee,

STOP Don't do it. When Corian hits 360 degrees F, it out gasses water vapor carrying with it The smell of melted acrylic. It will make your Corian look like a relief map of China. 

400 degrees F is not the temperature of transfer. If it were I would not have been successful with Corian at 325 to 350. 400 is what you set your equipment to to raise the temperature of your transfer and substrate to 300+ for the transfer to happen in a short time. 

A steak does not instantly hit 400 when it hits a 400 degree frying pan. And in fact if the steak ever hit 400 degrees you could not eat it. The setting of your equipment and the temperature of transfer are two different things.


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## Ken Dolph (Aug 15, 2011)

Other interesting facts about dye sub in Corian:

You will notice on the PDF that no mention is made of DuPont USA. That is because there are several patents since 2001 that cover this. They are indefensible in that the temperatures are wrong and Since I was not the first one to do this and I first did it in 1996. The technology was state of the art for several years before. But DuPont does not take chances.

You will see that they like I recommend sanding and buffing after the transfer. This improves the image considerably.

Here are two images I have done.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B2...ZGU1OS00NTk4LWE5MzYtYjNkNWIxNDI5ZDQ0&hl=en_US

https://6202051974569812653-a-18027...GVwllTobvPvfCyTyp0GSSfzbxYbPY=&attredirects=0

Have Fun
Ken


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

Beautiful work Ken! I think the idea of working with this product is, as the kids say, wayyyyy cool. For the most part it is out of the norm for sublimated product. May I inquire what type of ink and printer you used for these and is it the same your using now?


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## Ken Dolph (Aug 15, 2011)

LB

Now you want to know my dirty little secret. I don't have my own dye sub printer and no press. 

Our business is to sell Corian for art and industrial uses. I don't want to be competition for my customers. We do keep a "proof of concept" shop. This is to help our customer design their products. With it we do some manufacturing when a customer does not want to.

I have my transfers printed at a local trophy shop and press in an oven. I preheat two pieces of Corian in the oven. One is used as my "blanket" for the transfer. 

It works.
Ken


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

Ken Dolph said:


> LB
> 
> Now you want to know my dirty little secret. I don't have my own dye sub printer and no press.
> 
> ...


Wow..that IS off the "beaten path". So, your saying that a heat press is really not a necessity for the process? I am mystified by this and also quite intrigued. I don't suppose you would want to share some more details on that..huh?


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## Ken Dolph (Aug 15, 2011)

There is not much more to it than what I wrote.

I have a flat steel plate on the oven rack.

I put in 2 - 1/2" pieces. If I am sublimating into 1/4" I put that in as well. Otherwise one of the 1/2" pieces is my substrate. Oven is preheated to 325.

After about 15 minutes I remove the pieces and make a sandwich with the transfer face down on the substrate I wish to use. I add a couple more 1/2" pieces on top for pressure and put it back into the oven for about 12 minutes. I add another substrate piece to preheat (it may be one of my weight pieces), if I am in production mode. That way I can do one every 15 minutes.


When I remove the sandwich from the oven I dissemble set aside the finished substrate and continue.

When the substrates are cool, I sand and buff them and finish the edges.

Done

Ken


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## LB (Jul 25, 2009)

Ken Dolph said:


> There is not much more to it than what I wrote.
> 
> I have a flat steel plate on the oven rack.
> 
> ...


What kind of oven?


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## Ken Dolph (Aug 15, 2011)

A home style oven or even a broiler oven. I use an accurate oven thermometer.

Use Gloves!!!


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## artisanmac (Mar 16, 2018)

A very interesting discussion about sublimating on Corian. I have been thinking about the same thing. I am very glad for the info. How though do we do it in a heat press?


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## TomNJ (Apr 9, 2017)

8 years later..... what temperature are you pressing???


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## WalkingZombie (Mar 15, 2014)

TomNJ said:


> 8 years later..... what temperature are you pressing???


Who are you referring to?

Looks like the OP said 320 degrees for 15min and Ken said 325-350 for 7-12min.

Both are using two different methods to heat and press, but can be used as guidelines to help you start out.


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