“The Premier Supplier Of Short Run Custom Printed Self Adhesive Labels For UK Businesses”

Thermochromic labels

Thermochromic (heat sensitive) labels change colour at different temperatures, and can produce an effect that is desirable for security, brand protection, marketing and aesthetic purposes.

Thermochromic inks fall into 2 categories

• reversible thermochromic inks change colour from normal to altered and back to normal again many times
• irreversible thermochromic inks change colour only once, from normal to altered, leaving a permanent indication that the temperature has changed

Typical applications include:

• security authentication and brand protection - labels can change colour on contact with body heat
• chilled food quality checking, ensuring that goods are stored at the correct temperatures
• industrial product storage, where products must reach certain set temperatures as part of a process.

The key feature of thermochromic inks to be aware of is that at normal temperature, the majority of inks are solid colours (typically red, blue or black), but change to become clear at the designated change temperature. This allows you to hide the normal printed image at normal temperature, and show this at the colour change temperature.

Our standard thermochromic inks changes are:

colour at room temperature (20°C)	colour change temperature (°C)	colour at the changed temperature	type
red	15°C	clear	reversible
blue	15°C	clear	reversible
black	15°C	clear	reversible
red	30°C	clear	reversible
blue	30°C	clear	reversible
black	30°C	clear	reversible
clear	65°C	black	irreversible

This is not a definitive list of all our thermochromic inks; many other colour changes and temperature levels are available, but these are often custom made and subject to minimum order values.

Of course incorporating thermochromic inks into labels does increase the cost, but the typical effects are impressive and cost effective. It wasn't long ago that the minimum order value for a thermochromic label was over £5000, but now we are able to do jobs at less than 1/10th of the cost!

If you would like details of these emerging products then please contact us with details of your specific application.