While paper and vinyl prints, photos and signage are all extremely common in the business world, there is another material you can use to get a great-looking sign or piece of art: aluminum. That’s right—as technology has advanced over the years, HD metal printing has become an even more reliable option for people seeking signage or graphics for their business.
The process is relatively simple. First, any signage or artwork to be printed gets printed onto a transfer paper. Then, the transfer paper is attached to a coated aluminum sheet. The sheet gets sent through a heat press, at which point the dyes in the transfer paper are converted into a gaseous form before being pressed down onto the surface of the aluminum. Once the metal cools, the dyes go back to a solid state.
Here are just a few of the benefits of going through this process with a machine shop in Phoenix, AZ:
- Outstanding durability: During the transfer process, the dyes are actually transferred under the exterior coating of the aluminum. This means the finished product is significantly more durable than your standard canvas, vinyl or paper prints. You will never be able to scratch or peel off the images—they have essentially fused with the metal, meaning they’ll last you for years to come.
- Long-lasting clarity: One of the problems with paper and canvas is that the graphics or text can start to fade after a certain amount of exposure to the sun. But with HD metal printing, there is a much longer period of time before that happens—usually after 100 years of sunlight exposure. If your sign or print isn’t exposed to direct sunlight, it’ll last even longer. You’ll never have to worry about it fading in your lifetime!
- Easy to clean: With some forms of signage or prints, they can be difficult to clean without damaging them. However, with aluminum artwork, you can easily wipe off fingerprint marks, dust or stains without having to worry about doing any damage to the image, because the dyes that color the design are located underneath the aluminum’s surface coating.
- Heat tolerance: Your aluminum artwork or signage will even withstand fires, so if a worst-case scenario happens, you don’t have to worry about losing it. In addition, if the signage will be located in a high-temperature environment, you don’t have to worry about long-term exposure to those temperatures causing any sort of damage to the print.
- Light weight: People often worry about hanging heavy art and frames on their walls. Depending on the type of wall, it could take special anchors or screws to do so safely. Aluminum, however, is an extremely lightweight material, which means you can put it up on your walls without worrying about it doing damage to the material or falling down.
These are just a few of the benefits of aluminum artwork and signage. Contact Metal Pro Inc., your trusted machine shop in Phoenix, AZ, for more information.