What Is Immersion Printing And How Is It Done?

Table of Contents (click to expand)

The process of applying complex designs to objects by immersing them in an aqueous medium containing printed graphics is known as immersion printing.

As an ardent automobile enthusiast, I am always looking for upgrades for my car. Being fond of luxury cars, it was only natural for me to look for parts that had a wooden finish. However, wooden finished parts do not come cheap, and my budget could only be stretched so much before it became impossible for me to afford.

Immersion printing can be used to inexpensively and quickly apply camouflage on various pieces of equipment, such as helmets and the body panels of vehicles and guns.

2. Automotive

car disks over the white background(vierra)s
Immersion printing can replicate patterns of exotic finishes on various vehicle parts (Photo Credit : vierra/Shutterstock)

Vehicles can be made to look upscale by replicating the surface finishes of wood grain and carbon fiber, without incurring the expense of using real materials. Immersion printing can also be used to transfer creative graphics on bicycle frames, skateboards and motorcycle helmets, among other things. Immersion printing is also extensively used for imparting exotic finishes to alloy wheel rims.

3. Domestic

Ebru is a Turkish traditional painting method to transfer paint from a special fluid onto paper(Zinemo)s
Water marbling is commonly used by nail artists (Photo Credit : Zinemo/Shutterstock)

Immersion printing is also widely used for decorating domestic and personal grooming items. It is popular among nail artists, and is used on mobile phone covers, flower vases, door handles and other things with great success. Nail artists use a special type of immersion printing wherein the colors are added directly to the surface of water, rather than through print media. This technique is also known as water marbling.

References (click to expand)
  1. Motoyasu Nakanishi Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications.
  2. Computational Hydrographic Printing - Columbia CS.
  3. Q&A with Hydrographics Industry Professionals - dipjunkies.com:80
  4. Buying and sending eBooks to others - amzn.to