What Is Digital Textile Printing?

Digital Textile Printing delivers the ability to print designs on fabric, directly from a PC or Mac. Inkjet printing is done on fabric in the same manner as its done on paper, and just as easily. Printed textiles can be used for a vast range of applications including flags and banners, exhibition signage, Clothing etc. Digital textile printing is a process of printing on garments and textiles using specialized or modified inkjet technology. The two key requirements of a digital textile printer are a transport mechanism for the garment and special inks that are applied to the textile directly to be absorbed by the fibres. Direct to garment Visual communication Interior decoration Fashion

Digital Printing Process Digital Printing:

Digital printing is an invention that involves artwork being process by a computer, and then printed directly on to the surface of fabric. Digital printing is not a heat transfer, as the ink is directly adhered to the fabric. Digital printing is an easier process than screen printing. A customer can get a multiple colour design without having to have a screen made for each colour. Digital printing does not use screen allows for a photographic print, with much more details than traditional screen printing. This provides significant saving in both time and money. Digital printing is often used for design with a lot of detail, colour and high resolution. As the ink is apply thinner, Digital printing is best used on lighter coloured ground, to allow the design to shine through4. The fact the design is processed and printed digitally allows for a quantity one, since there are no screens or physical set up. Production requirements The textile market comprises many different applications and requirements. The intended use of the fabric is the most important starting point to identify exactly whats needed to produce a specific end-product. A textile product may vary from natural yarns for garments, through to synthetic

fibres for flags and banners. A textile product can be a wall mounted banner, a stand-alone pop-up banner, a beach flag, country flag or company flag. It can be a carpet, back-lit frame, curtain, room divider, building wrap, bed cover, a garment and much more. The predominant textile media used in visual communication is a polyester based fabric. In the USA, nylon is often used for flags. In northern Europe, polyspun material has been the choice of fabric for traditional flag printing. In todays market, a woven or knitted polyester is the de facto standard. This differs from the predominant coated vinyl or pvc media used in the sign and display industry. The production process needs to fit requirements for the type of ink: high energy sublimation (also known as disperse direct), low energy sublimation (dye-sub), acid, reactive and pigment. In turn, the type of ink chemistry needs to fit requirements for the media (such as polyester, nylon, cotton, silk). Based on the media and ink combination, the choice comes for infra-red fixation, heat-press sublimation or steaming. The structure of the fabric also needs attention, for example whether it is woven, nonwoven or knitted. Polyester fabric is printed mostly with dye-sub or disperse direct ink, although UV and solvent inks

(including HPs latex formulation) can also be used. The great benefit of sublimation ink is the fact that the colorants will bond with the fibre during sublimation or fixation. The colours are inside the media and dont stay within the coating and on top of the media, as it is the case with UV-curable formulations. Even latex inks on porous textiles can suffer from crocking issues or rub-off. Low energy sublimation ink is easier to print with, but has the disadvantage of colours fading faster; its UV resistance, or light-fastness, is less resistant than equivalents using high energy disperse direct ink. Dye-sub can also suffer from a halo effect which results in less sharp images. The disperse direct ink is a stronger ink than the dye-sub kind, and this is very important for outdoor use, such as for fence fabric, flags and banners: artwork will last longer. Another benefit of aqueous-based sublimation ink is the absence of hazardous components as found in UV-curable, solvent and, even, in latex inks. When executed properly, direct to media printing with disperse ink is achievable on uncoated fabrics and offers maximum print-through; this is essential in applications viewed from both sides, such as with flag printing. As such, products can be sold at a higher margin, with a green label and with a higher

quality. Other media and ink combinations cannot allow this. The biggest advantage of direct to media is drastically reduced waste. This method doesnt need printing on transfer paper first before calendering (or heat-pressing) it onto the media. Waste is both an economical and an ecological factor in print production. Print speed doesnt account for much if a large portion is being thrown away as waste due to incompatibility of media, ink, treatment or lack of know-how. The qualities of the printed end product should fit the needs of the application. Longevity, fastness and hand properties are important. Post-processing is something to think about: is the printed material easily confectioned, applied or handled. Should it be washed or does it need a finish (e.g. fire retardant, water repellent). A washed textile no longer has coating or ink residues and will, therefore, have a better feel. Moreover, it will be less prone to stains and it will last longer. An alternative which does not require expensive equipment and dyes is Inkjet Fabric Printing which uses a standard inkjet printer (e.g. HP, Epson, Canon, Lexmark) and specially treated, paperbacked fabric sheets. Inkjet fabric sheets are currently available in cotton, bamboo and silk on

Amazon and other websites. The removable paper backing makes the fabric stiff enough to go through your inkjet printer. Once the ink is dry (1 hour to overnight for heavy ink coverage), simply remove the paper backing, follow the directions for a water dip to set the ink, let the fabric dry, and you are ready to sew. Manufacturers Within the digital textile printing market for visual communication using roll-to-roll printers, few manufacturers have successfully developed devices that can print directly onto polyester media.

Agfa (based on former Gandinnovations Aquajet) Atexco ATPColor Durst Dgen Hollanders Printing Systems (HPS) Meijet Mimaki Mutoh PrinterEvolution Reggiani Vutek (subsidiary of EFI)

ColorJet SAP Printing Solutions

Digital Printing Process The quality of an inkjet printing is very much influenced by the physico-chemical properties of printing ink. Here lies the importance of inkjet dyes. Dyes for Inkjet ink are a bit different from the usual dyes that are available for fibers. This is because of the fact that they need to have high purity, and do contain small salt and inorganic matters. Dye inks are prepared by dissolving of the liquid colored dyes into a fluid carrier. This makes the dyes easy to apply. When it is applied to a paper, the dyes are absorbed very uniformly so they reflect light very evenly. As the printing is a high precision job the inkjet dyes need to have superior quality in terms of colors, physical properties, and stability. Generally direct, reactive, and acid dyes are used as dyes for Inkjet Ink. Inkjet dyes can also come in the form of powders besides the usual liquids.

Properties Required of Ink-Jet Dyes: The two major classes of colorants, namely dyes and pigments. The choice of dye depends upon the ink used, whether it is aqueous, solvent or hot-melt and on the type of printer (thermal or non thermal). However irrespective of the solvent system, all inkjet dyes have to satisfy a number of stringent criteria. 1. Color: Though Black is the predominant color, for full color printing the three subtractive primary colors of yellow, magenta and cyan are also required. The key parameters are the absorption maxima (peak wavelength), and the shape of the absorption curve, in particular its broadness and the presence (or absence) of unwanted secondary absorption. Ideally, bright dyes (which have narrow absorption curves) are required in order to produce a comprehensive balanced color gamut because bright dyes can be made duller (e.g. by adding a shading color such as a black), but dull dyes cannot be made bright. 2. Color Strength: The color strength of the dye should be as high as possible for several reasons. One reason is to enable prints having high optical densities to be produced, Other one is the increased flexibility

possible in the ink formulation. The ink staprecipitation and also kogation on thermal ink-jet systems. 3. Solubility: A dye for ink-jet should have as high solubility as possible to minimize any tendency for the dye to crystallize and cause problems such as nozzle blockage. Generally greater the number of sulfonic acid groups per molecule, the greater the water solubility. Carboxylic acid groups, especially in the form of salts, also confer water solubility on dyes. 4. Electrolytes / Metals: Anion such as sulfate and especially chloride are undesirable in ink-jet inks due to the corrosion problem they cause to the metal print heads. Certain metal cations particularly divalent cations such as calcium, need to be removed, since these can precipitate with certain anions such as sulfate and with dye itself so the permissible amount is 100 ppm. Which is generally accomplished by dialysis or ukrafihration8 5. Light Fastness: The final printed document must have reasonable light fastness (resistance to fading by light) if it is to serve any useful purpose. However it is well-known

fact that in general dyes have much poorer light fastness than pigments. 6. Water Fastness: The final print should be resistance to water so that if the paper gets wet or is rubbed by moist fingers, smudging does not occur. On the one hand high solubility is required for the ink, but on the other hand, water insolubility is required once the dye is on the paper. Hence a compromise position has to be reached to adequate solubility and adequate warer fastness. One of the promising approaches to achieving high water fastness is by using the concept of differential solubility. 7. Smear Fastness: This is effectively resistance to smear when using a highlighter pen. Such pens usually contain aqueous inks and can cause a dye to smear by facilitating the formation of water soluble species. Again dyes from solvent or wax / resin inks are less prone to smear than those from aqueous inks.9 : 8. Shade The shade or hue appears the same irrespective of the substrate on which it is printed. :The shade or hue appears the same irrespective of the substrate

on which it is printed.This can be achieving science the substrate varies enormously in physical properties. For instance, paper varies in texture, adsorption, additives, and pH, and ideally the dye should be insensitive to this differences.10 9. Toxicology: Because of the increased awareness of Environmental health and safely, in recent years. It has been made imperative that screening test for mutagenicity (in bacteria) is the Amens test, and it is normally required that dyes should be Amens negative, i.e. not cause mutations in bacteria. Therefore, ink-jet dyes should ideally be Amens negative 10. Thermal stability If the dye is required for thermal ink-jet system such as canon's bubble jet or Hewlett Packard's Think Jet, then the extra parameter of thermal stability or kogation fastness is required. Since the temperatures involved are as high as 300C, then dyes stable to these conditions are required. Good kogation is when these deposits are absent or very low, whereas poor koagtion is when the deposits substantial. Poor kogation produce by two factors The first is the presence of inorganic impurities such as iron, copper and silicon. The second is the

degradation of the dye itself Solving the second cause of kogation, namely dye degradation, has proved more difficult Aqueous Ink-Jet Dyes: Colorants comprising the first generation of inkjet dyes were selected for their vividness (high chroma), good aqueous solubility, and the stable inks derived therefrom which gave a reliable printing performance InkJet printers have become considerably more sophisticated over the years, and demand for dyes and inks capable of producing very high print quality has grown. Ink formulation research has complimented dye development and has been aimed towards achieving the following print properties:

Good optical densities No feathering Minimal black to color bleed Uniform and controlled drop spreading Good water fastness Rapid dry time Smear resistance Media compatibility

Solvent Inks: Solvent based inks find application in continuous

printers in the industrial segment where they are used to print bar codes, batch numbers, sell-by dates and other such information on packaging materials. The used of solvent based inks rather than aqueous inks affords a faster dry time and makes the inks more suitable for printing hydrophobic or non-porous substrates. Traditionally, ketonic solvents like methyl ethyl ketone are used but these are being replaced by less flammable alcohol. Solvent dyes are usually used as colorants and the predominant color is black. A typical example of a black dye used in this area is the trisazo dye. Another dye used in solvent inks is CI Solvent Black 35. This dye exhibits high light fastness. Hot-Melt These inks are solid at room temperature but become fluid when heated at 60-125C. They are fired using a piezo printer. The ink vehicle includes Cig-24 fatty carboxylic acids and alcohol. Dyes that are soluble in the vehicle tend to be hydrophobic, an example of which is the modified xanthenes magenta. Ink Jet Printing Technology for Textile Definition of type: There are two types of ink-jet printer. The coarse resolution type & Stork true cote within these two

types are further sub groups. It is in this area of fine resolution that there has been the most recent research activity2. Coarse Ink Jet Printer These are normally based on valve technology and have essentially found use only in the carpet industry. There are two main commercial available systems. The Millitron system use an array of jets with continuous streams of dye liquid which can be deflected by a controlled air jet. The chromo jet uses computer-activated on/off valve systems to control the flow of the dye liquid. The use of electrochemical valves which are computer controlled to open and close rapidly so that liquid is fired in a succession of short pulses. The contribution of BTTG in Manchester on the type of technology but with increased resolution. Strock Trucolor Jet Printer The Strock Trucolor pronter is a development based on the continuous stream technology (using the binary method). Essentially a dye formulation is pumped at constant pressure through nozzle, 14.4in diameter. The continuous stream is brolen up into droplets by modulation 625kMz, meaning that 625000 drooplets of colorant are formed each second . Because of the number of droplets per

colour in any one pixel area can vary between zero and 15,16 color level possible. On each pixel of pattern which allows the production of smooth continuous tones. This contrast with drop on demand printing, which has to relay on dither patterns to naked eye, instead of the snooth shade afforded by continuous stream method. Pre and post Treatments Printing with reactive and acid dye inks generally involves pre and post treatment in order for the dyestuff to fix onto the fabric. This is a multi- step process with a substantial degree of complexity. Reasons for Pre Treatments The main reasons for separating the dyes from thickeners and other chemicals and applying them separately to the fabric are as follows

All In inks are less stable and have lower storage stability, e.g. reactive dyes are more likely to hydrolyse when alkali is present in the ink. Chemical in the ink cause corrosion of jet nozzle; the detrimental effect of the sodium chloride on steel surfaces is well known, for instance; inks for use in charged drop

continuous printers should have low electrical conductivity. Thickeners in the ink often do not have the desired rheological properties. Some chemicals can be utilized in pre treated fabric but would cause stability problems in the ink e.g. sodium carbonate as alkali for reactive de fixation is acceptable on the fabric but not in the ink. The presence of large amounts of salts in aqueous inks reduces the solubility of the dyes; concentrated inks are required in jet printing due to the small droplets size.

When pre treated fabric has been dried and then jet printed there is usually little need to provide a drying station to dry the print. Fixation Steaming is the process normally used to fix printed textile. Reactive and acid dyes are steamed under atmospheric pressure at just over 100C. During the process steam condensed on the fabric and is absorbed by the thickners and hygroscopic agents in the pronted areas. Dyes and chemicals dissolves and form extremely concentrated dyenath within the thickener film. As the result of extremely low liquor ratio fixation is much more rapid than in exhaustion

dyeing. High temperature steam is necessary for the fixation of disperse dyes on polyester. The Tg of polyester in steam is lower than it is in dry air, and fixation is more efficient. Usually steam is heated to 170-180C at atmospheric pressure, but sometimes pressure steaming at 130-150C is used. Pigment prints are cured hot air in a stenter or a roller baker. The Advantage of the digital ink jet printing

When consider as a whole, it can be said that digital ink- jet printing above all saves time. It speeds up the process between design and industrial production in an almost dramatic way in an emergency,Sampling for shadePrototypes. Design variation ate possible overnight There is also considerable cost reduction in these areas the cost savings are between 50% and 90%. Ink jet printing enables the production of luxury goods (designer fashion etc), custom made textile and the economical production of short runs and small batches. And yet, I the course of technical progress, the profitability ceiling of short production runs is fast moving upwards and could very soon reach a level where the average production quantities could be a interesting proposition.

A further advantage of high speed printing is that for the first time Just In Time production and delivery are possible. This opens up entirely new business opportunities and at all level reduces the stock level and fashion related risks. In addition the digital production is more environmentally friendly as far as effluents; energy consumption and waste are concerned. Because of software aided optimization processes, there is hardly any textile waste and it is possible to make an exact calculation of the amount of the colorant to be applied.