What is Dye-Sublimation?
Dye: to impregnate color into a material. Many times this color change is permanent.
Sublimation: a change directly from the solid to the gaseous state without becoming liquid.
Polymer: consisting of large molecules made up of a linked series of repeated simple molecules.
Dye sublimation: Solid dye particles are changed into gas using heat and pressure, then bond with any polymers present, and change back into a solid.
Why can't I do this on a dark material?
This is not an ink. This is a dye. Adding a little color to something that is dark doesn't do much of anything. If you have a bucket of black paint and add a cup of green, what do you get? It doesn't make the paint green. It may add a hint of green to the black but, I doubt that you will be able to tell.
Why can't I reclaim shirts like in screen printing?
This is not an ink that sits on top of the fabric, it is a dye that penetrates the fiber of the fabric.
What's with these polyesters you mentioned in the definition, you ask? The dye particles that are used for this type of dye sublimation are designed to only bond with polymers, so the higher the polyester content in the material the more dye that will bond giving you a brighter image.
If dye sublimation only works with polyester how does it work on ceramics, glass and metal? Magic? Nah, it's another easy answer, all of these products need a coating which is a special layer of polymer for the dyes to bond to.
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