Surface Preparation
Printing images and designs onto melamine plates begins with taking a previously pressed, cured and polished melamine plate called a blank and coating it with a thin layer of cool uncured liquid melamine.
Image Transfer
A thin film with the image or design printed onto it is laid down over the wet melamine plate with at least a 5 percent overhang around the circumference or lip of the plate to allow for placement and shrinkage in the curing process. On occasion, a paper transfer reverse of the image is also used to imprint the design and this varies by design and manufacture. A second, thin coat of cool liquid melamine is then painted or sprayed on top of the image and plate.
Curing
The plate moves on in the process to an oven to where it cures at a temperature between 200 and 300 degrees. Under heat, the liquid melamine bonds with the previously hardened plate and encases the image or design between the two new and hardened layers of melamine.