CASE STUDIES
Discover how Only Imaging provides professional TTR solutions to global partners.
Case Study: Tracking Hot Steel Coils at 300°C (High-Temp Resin)
In the heavy metallurgy industry, traceability is a massive logistical challenge. When a steel coil or aluminum billet rolls off the production line, it must be tagged immediately with a unique barcode indicating its grade, weight, and destination.
The problem? That metal is literally radiating heat.
The Problem: Burning Barcodes
The Client: A leading multinational steel manufacturer producing hot-rolled coils for the automotive industry. The Issue: The factory was tagging coils just minutes after they exited the rolling mill. The surface temperature of the steel was consistently between 200°C and 300°C (390°F – 570°F).
The client was using specialized aluminum hang-tags, but they were printing the barcodes with a standard industrial resin ribbon. As soon as the printed tag was attached to the radiating steel coil, the extreme heat caused the resin ink to remelt and blister. By the time the coil reached the outdoor cooling yard, the barcode had smeared into an unreadable black smudge.
Without a scannable barcode, forklift drivers couldn’t identify the coils, leading to massive shipping delays and inventory chaos.
The Diagnosis: Thermal Breakdown
Standard pure resin ribbons are highly durable against scratching, but they are typically engineered to melt at around 80°C to 110°C under a printhead. When exposed to 300°C ambient radiating heat, the polymer binders in standard ink simply liquify and break down.
The Solution: Only Imaging High-Temp Resin
We partnered with the client to overhaul their tagging process using our Extreme High-Temperature Resin.
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Engineered for Heat: The utilizes a highly specialized, cross-linked polymer structure that only melts under the precise, concentrated energy of a thermal printhead. Once transferred to a metal or polyimide tag, it cures and withstands ambient temperatures exceeding 350°C.
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Outdoor Durability: Not only did the ink survive the heat of the foundry, but it also resisted the rain, snow, and UV exposure when the steel coils were stored in the outdoor holding yard for months.
The Result
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Outcome: The foundry achieved a 100% first-pass scan rate on their hot-rolled coils.
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Business Impact: They completely eliminated the need for manual recounting and manual data entry at the loading dock, saving thousands of man-hours annually and ensuring critical automotive steel shipments were never delayed.
Conclusion: Beat the Heat
If your manufacturing process involves extreme heat, your traceability system needs industrial-grade armor.
ONLY IMAGING is a leading supplier of labels, printing equipment and associate consumables, including TTR products in various widths and lengths. Please take the opportunity to learn more about our range of high-quality thermal transfer ribbons and explore our other products for any further questions you may have click Here.
