Direct Thermal Labels

Direct thermal label technology enables organizations, small business, and individuals alike to quickly print labels, barcodes, and tags without the use of ribbons, inks, or toners. This technology is very simple and easy to use for general purpose labels where long-term durability is not a requirement.

Direct Thermal Printing Basics

Direct thermal printers use a special type of heat-activated paper and a heated printhead to produce a printed image. While some direct thermal printers can also be used as thermal transfer printers with a ribbon, there’s no ribbon required for direct thermal label printing. Rather, a special coating containing dye and chemicals reacts to heat. Once heated, the dye activates and turns black.

Because direct thermal labels work in this manner, direct thermal label printing is quite affordable. The only consumables to manage are your direct thermal label rolls.

One of the potential downsides of direct thermal print technology is that direct thermal labels do not have a long shelf life and are vulnerable to UV light, moisture, heat, abrasions, fading, scratching, and smudging.

Direct Thermal Label Applications

Direct thermal labels are ideal for short-term general purpose and industrial label applications where durability isn’t all that important such as:

-Shipping, tracking, and logistics labels

-Product return labels / return merchandise labels

-Inventory labels

-Warehouse “pick” tickets

-Bakery labels

-Service deli labels

-Meat counter labels

-Food tracing labels

In general, items that need labels for short-term use are good candidates for direct thermal labels. In most cases, the printed labels will look good during their intended use; by the time they begin fading, they will have already been discarded.

What Direct Thermal Labels Will Work With My Printer?

Argon Technology has a large selection of direct thermal labels compatible with a wide range of direct thermal label printers from manufacturers like Zebra, Seiko, Toshiba / TEC, Honeywell, GoDEX, Avery, and more. In order to find the best direct thermal labels for your printer, you’ll need to consider the following:

-Label roll core size and outside diameter — Direct thermal label rolls come on cores of various sizes such as ¾”, 1”, 2”, or 3” and with outside diameter (OD) sizes from 2 to 8 inches. You’ll need to find out what sizes your direct thermal label printer accommodates.

-Label application — Your intended application will also influence the type, shape, and size of direct thermal labels you choose. For example, if you will be printing meal tickets which will be discarded after the meal’s been delivered, uncoated direct thermal labels are a cost-effective choice. On the other hand, if you need your labels to stand out, you might want to choose a color, floodcoated label. Whatever the case may be, we have direct thermal labels with a variety of properties, shapes, and sizes.

-Adhesive requirements — Direct thermal labels come with an adhesive backing while tags and paper rolls do not.

Our direct thermal labels will work with direct thermal barcode printers and thermal transfer barcode printers. Thermal transfer printers can print both type of labels while direct thermal printers can only print direct thermal labels. Click here to learn more about thermal transfer label printing.

Argon Technology has everything you need for thermal label printing including thermal label printers, direct thermal labels, thermal transfer labels, and thermal transfer ribbons.