Thermal labels can be the perfect choice to get a perfect quality of printing that brings an excellent return for your investment. Such labels can bring the right solution to get printed information for barcodes, dates, as well as ingredients. It is important to choose the right options for thermal labels that can match the requirements of the application and match the capabilities of a printer.

The greatest advantage of using a thermal label printer is that a huge number of printing of thermal labels are possible to be done within a very short time. With a high density of thermal images, the content and design of the print get very clearly defined. Moreover, with the choice of right kind of such labels a great printing performance can be achieved at a reasonable cost.

There are two types of thermal labels used in a thermal label printer. A brief discussion on these types of labels will help to have a better understanding of the labels and will help to make the correct choice.

Direct Thermal Type Labels

The direct thermal labels are used in direct thermal printers and are very easy to use. No ribbon is required to print the images as the images get transferred to the labels through heating of the small elements present in the printer head. The chemical layer that is available in the synthetic or paper base of the labels gets activated by such heat and clear images are created.

The direct paper thermal labels are idle for logistics, retail as well as in other industrial applications where the labels do not get exposed to moisture or high heat. On the other hand, direct synthetic thermal labels can be excellent to use for the packaging that get exposed to a lot of moisture. Such labels are used for both 1D and 2D and since there is no need to change the ribbons, there can be an increase in productivity. Direct thermal type labels are available as desktop thermal labels and industrial thermal labels.

Thermal Transfer Type of Labels

Thermal transfer printers are required for using thermal transfer labels and ribbons are used for printing the labels. On the label top, a ribbon layer is placed that comes in contact with the print head. The elements of the print head upon getting heated transfer the carbon pigments located on the ribbon on to the label that produces the desired image. The choice of such labels can be best for application where direct type thermal labels are not suitable.

Thermal transfer type labels are suitable for 1D as well as 2D barcodes and the labels are used in a wide variety of synthetic and paper labels. Further, for promotional and branding purposes colored ribbons can produce an excellent result. Unlike the direct type of thermal labels, the use of thermal transfer type ribbon can produce long-lasting results. Also, for printing line work as well as small characters the choice of thermal transfer type of labels can produce excellent results. Thermal transfer type labels are available as desktop thermal labels and industrial thermal labels.