A Growing Need For Customization with Hydrographics

The hydrographics industry is estimated to have emerged in the early 1980s in Japan as a method of transferring images to dimensionally challenging substrates. For those unfamiliar with the process, an image is printed onto a water-soluble film which is then floated on a water bath with the image facing upwards. Once the film starts to soften and becomes more pliable, a solvent mixture (activator) is applied to the film surface. The activator is used to soften the ink on the film and to help with adhesion to the substrate. The substrate is then slowly pushed through the film. The hydrodynamic force of the water bath allows for the image to wrap effectively around the substrate with minimal distortion. The residual film is then washed from the substrate surface and the image is left intact. While not every complex substrate geometry is possible with this technique, it certainly reduces the challenges associated with film wrapping or the time associated with applying an image by hand....

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