Thermal Printer

Thermal printing or direct thermal printing is a digital printing process which produces a printed image by selectively heating coated thermochromic paper, or thermal paper as it is commonly known, when the paper passes over the thermal print head.

The coating turns black in the areas where it is heated, producing an image. Two-colour direct thermal printers can print both black and an additional colour (often red) by applying heat at two different temperatures.

Thermal transfer printing is a very different method that uses a heat-sensitive ribbon instead of heat-sensitive paper, but uses similar thermal print heads.