Sublimation Transfer Yield & Ink Waste

The formula

This is the expression the tool evaluates. Every term is named underneath, with the unit it must be supplied in.

How the result is derived

Step by step, from the values you type to the figure on screen.

1. The 9 inputs are read from the form on every keystroke: Ink Laydown, Ink Cost, Transfer Paper Cost, Press Time, Press Temperature, Reference Temperature, Halving Interval, Transfer Rate Constant and Transfer Ceiling.
2. Each value is checked against the accepted range in the input table below. A value outside its range stops the calculation rather than producing a misleading figure — the results blank out and a message appears.
3. The validated values are substituted into the expression above, which resolves Transfer Efficiency together with every supporting figure in one pass — no value is carried over from a previous entry.
4. The supporting outputs — Temperature Factor, Equivalent Time at Reference, Ink on the Fabric, Ink Left on the Paper, Short of the Ceiling, Time to Reach 95% of the Ceiling, Ink Cost, Cost of the Residue, Ink and Paper and Paper Share of that Cost — come from the same pass, so they always describe the same case as the headline figure.
5. Results are rounded for display only. The full-precision value is used throughout the chain, so reading a rounded intermediate figure back into the tool by hand can shift the last digit.

What each input means

Where to read each value on the floor, the unit it must be in, and the range the tool accepts.

What the tool returns

The headline figure and every supporting value it is built from.

Worked example

The tool loads with this case already solved — the Transfer Efficiency shown above is its answer. Change one value and the difference from this baseline is the sensitivity of the result to that variable.

How to use it

1. Work through the input groups in order — Print and Press Cycle. The defaults are a realistic case, so you can change one value at a time and watch what moves.
2. There is no calculate button. Every figure recalculates as you type or drag, which is what makes this usable for a what-if sweep rather than a single answer.
3. Read Transfer Efficiency in the dark results panel — that is the headline figure, expressed in %.
4. Check the supporting rows underneath (Temperature Factor, Equivalent Time at Reference, Ink on the Fabric, Ink Left on the Paper, Short of the Ceiling, Time to Reach 95% of the Ceiling, Ink Cost, Cost of the Residue, Ink and Paper and Paper Share of that Cost) before acting on the headline — they are where an implausible input usually shows itself first.
5. Reset to defaults returns every field to the reference case, which is the quickest way to check whether a surprising result came from the tool or from an input you had changed earlier.

Where this is used

• Process planning — establishing Transfer Efficiency before a trial is booked, so machine time and material in Dyeing, Printing, Color Management & Chemical Control are committed against a calculated figure rather than an estimate.
• Costing and quotation — Transfer Efficiency is an input to the cost sheet, and quoting from a worked number rather than a remembered one is what keeps a margin intact.
• Troubleshooting — when the floor result drifts from plan, entering the measured values (starting with Ink Laydown) shows how much of the gap in Transfer Efficiency each variable explains.
• Teaching and study — the accepted ranges bracket normal Dyeing, Printing, Color Management & Chemical Control practice, so moving one variable at a time shows the shape of the relationship rather than a single answer.

Assumptions and limits

• The saturating exponential has the right shape for transfer and the wrong shape for what happens after it: past the useful window, extra time and temperature stop adding transfer and start costing yellowing, hand and dimensional stability on the polyester, none of which this model sees, so a high dose figure is not permission to press longer. The ceiling is a property of the ink and the fibre together and is the single most sensitive input - it is lower on a heavy or tightly constructed fabric, on a blend where only part of the substrate accepts disperse dye, and on any ground already carrying a finish, and it should be measured by weighing paper before and after rather than assumed. Note that the residue is not recoverable and not inert: paper carrying unsublimed disperse dye is a colour-contamination risk anywhere near a heat source, which is a housekeeping point as much as a costing one. The model treats the whole laydown as a single ink; in practice the four process colours sublime at different rates, and a cycle tuned on total transfer will shift the hue of a mixed shade as the faster components leave first. Nothing here addresses gas-phase transfer distance, calender pressure or paper release coating, all of which move the ceiling.
• Every input is bounded to the range normal practice occupies (Ink Laydown 0.5 to 60 g/m2, Ink Cost 0 to 500 cost/kg and Transfer Paper Cost 0 to 10 cost/m2, and so on for the rest). Those bounds are guard rails against typing errors, not a claim that the formula fails one unit outside them.
• The calculation is deterministic: the same inputs always give the same result. It carries no allowance for machine condition, operator skill, ambient conditions or lot-to-lot material variation unless an input above explicitly represents one.
• Nothing is sent anywhere. The maths runs in your browser, so the numbers you type never leave the page.

Questions people ask