SUMMARY FOR

Smith 1987i Ink jet printing

4.k Printing:Smith 1987i:HE STATES THAT Several pollution advantages result from ink jet printing, including the elimination of photographic screen making (produces silver in the effluent); elimination of messy color mix kitchen activities; instantaneous pattern or color change-over without cleanup waste or fabric loss; elimination of the need for all thickeners and clears (kerosene/stoddard solvent or synthetic polymer); elimination of screen, squeegee, machine cleaning wastes; direct computer control of printing, thus reducing seconds, strike-offs, etc. The method is used widely in document printing, and this paper describes its application to textile fabric printing. Recipes and suitable dye selections based on commercially available dyes and chemicals are given.:MY COMMENTS

ANY commercial printing methods are used today, and each has es which make it more or less attracto particular situations (1-3). Comcia1 textile printing processes using trams of dye have been employed for resolution end-uses such as carpets High resolution ink jet printing is an rging technology with several attractiatures including computer compatiy, electronic data formatting, reliabily, versatility, multicolor capability, high t resolution, a relatively low cost and ontact between print mechanism and trate ( 5 ) . Although jet printing is mainly for documents, the technique be adapted to textile requirements. antages asssociated with jet printing textiles include print resolution approaching photographic grain size; no rm 'or expensive screens or rollers; quick i &respeise by avoiding time consuming procduction of screens and rollers; instanta&eou pattern or color changeover; print *capability directly from computer aided ,e &design (CAD) system memory, scanned

patterns or pictures with essentially no design limitations; no inherent pattern repeat limitations; easy adaptability to different fabric widths and ability to modify patterns instantaneously. 'Commonly available high resolution jet document printers have inherent limitations; for example, insoluble textile dyes such as disperse dyes and pigments are not compatible with existing jet printing devices. This report summarizes many aspects of jet printing technology in relation to textile processing. Various types of jet printers and modified document printers applicable to textile purposes have been evaluated. Additionally, appropriate dye/ subtrate systems and suitable jet printing inks available from commercial textile dyes have been investigated with regard to colorant selection, vehicle rheology, shelf life and other requirements necessary for successful printing of textile substrates.
Ink Jet Printing

Tj-

r' r z .z ._ -

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&In this review of ink jet printing :technology, types of jet printers are :,detailed with regard to their fapplicability to textiles. The study also )discusses important criteria for jet :Printer operation, providing special i,reference to textile situations. in $,addition, specific jet printing ink recipes tare given with a review of applicable dye gclasses and data for a number of dyes.

$$ -.

9 Computer Printing
f Disperse Dyes

5 Colorant

i-

Ink Jet Printers

Pigment Dyes Printers Reactive Dyes

Jet printing is a generic family of noncontact printing methods which project drops of ink onto surfaces to be printed. The most important commercial methods used today are continuous, drop-on-demand (DOD) and compound jet printing. Work of nineteenth century physicists in acoustic waves, electrostatics and fluid flow through nozzles is of major significance to & present day jet printing (5). Early in t + century, many patents concerning j e j printing were filed but never used because of the lack of market interest and cqst effective electronic driver circuits. In tf;e early 19603, Sweet developed a method of producing high frequency oscillograph traces in a signal recording system by jet printing (6).Each drop was given a charge dependent upon the signal to be recorded and then deflected to a strip of moving chart paper, forming a trace representative of the input signal. Sweet's technique was extended later by Lewis and Brown to print characters using a character generator to select desired patterns (6).'
Characteristics of Ink Jet Printing

Commercial jet document printers produce high print quality at rapid speed. In

these, characters are formed from small ink drops which can be produced at approximately 100,000 drops/second. At 1000 drops/character for high quality document printing, printing rates o t u p to 104 ,characters/second can be realGed. For textile applications, speed and quality considerations .are even more important. The speed, quality and appearance in jet print products are controlled to a substantial extent by the drop formation characteristics of the system. Drop size, placement accuracy and substrate coverage are important factors controlled by the compatibility of the jet printer, ink and substrate. Factors such as droplet size control ink fog that is produced when an incoming drop overlaps a wet dot. This problem can be avoided by using inks with spreading characteristics that prevent dot overlap and by controlling drop size and spacing, substrate absorbency, drop production rate and ink rheology. Dot placement accuracy also affects print quality. Vertical placement errors usually are caused by the ink, while horizontal errors may be caused by variations in printhead velocity. Misplacement of adjacent drops may cause ragged edges. voids and loss of optical density. Optical density losses result from failure to achieve necessary ink overlap for solid fill. At a resolution of about 100 drops/cm, misplacements of 0.025 mm to 0.050 mm cause visually detectable voids, depending on ink spread and drop size. The impression of color value is an important aspect of print quality. Whiteness of substrate, character edge definition, drop uniformity and spatter combine with optical density to produce the perceived color value patterns. Water soluble dyes are preferred as ink jet colorants to avoid problems with nozzle clogging, stability and rheology. However, it is more difficult to achieve high optical densities with water soluble dyes. Since human visual perception integrates large areas to judge optical density, voids or poor edge definition will reduce perceived color value. Spatter, which produces tinted areas around printed patterns and reduces print quality, occurs when ink fragments on impact and forms smaller satellite drops with slight electrical charges and low

23

Ink Jet Printing

Ink

Charging plates

Deflection plates

+ :

Ink res.

Ejection

chamber

VI

kinetic energy. These drops can be attracted to the substrate or into the printer mechanism.
Types of Jet Printers

Pump & filter inputs

In addition to the substrate, there are four critical components in jet printing: namely, the printhead, transport system, ink and ink handling system. Variations have led to continuous, intermittent, impulse and compound ink jet printers under several patents shown in Table I. Major distinctions between the printers include droplet ejection and droplet placement techniques. In the continuous stream or
Table 1. Modern Ink Jet Technology Patents __
~~

Fig. 1. Continuousjet printer. method, a droplet is given an electrical charge, passed between electrically charged deflection plates and guided to its proper position. The nozzle movement technique, which uses multinovle array configurations, places droplets by positioning of the nozzle; droplet placement occurs by selecting a nozzle to eject an ink droplet. In the substrate movement technique, droplet placement is obtained by moving the substrate to the proper location. Commercially available jet printers also employ various ink supply systems. DOD printers supply ink to the printhead a t low pressure where it is ejected by sudden high pressure pulses (8).Continuous printers use a high pressure method in which ink is ejected as a continuous stream and then a return gutter catches the unused ink (5,7). Since about 99% of the droplets produced in continuous stream systems fall into the gutter, ink recirculation and reconstitution are essential. Continuous stream printers usually have a high rate of droplet ejection (around 50,000-100,000 droplets/sec), and a fairly high droplet velocity of about 20 meters/sec (7). These printers work well in high speed applications where high system productivity can better justify the cost of pumps, filters, reconstitution devices and droplet charging equipment.

Fig.2. Dropon-demand (DOD) printer.

Applying Jet Printers To Textiles

1970 1971 1973 1975 1981

Silonics IBM/Stemme Olyrnpia/Facit Xerox/ Ricoh /Siemens Cannon

synchronous droplet ejection technique, ink is pumped through a small nozzle to produce a constant stream of fluid broken into droplets by vibration (Fig. 1). Dropon-demand (DOD) is an asynchronous technique in which individual drops of ink are ejected in response to electrical impulses (Fig. 2). A third method of droplet ejection is an intermittent technique which uses a high voltage platen behirid the substrate to attract ink droplets. Droplet placement techniques include electrostatic deflection, nozzle movement, multiple nozzle selection and substrate movement. In the electrostatic deflection

Continuous systems hold the most promise for high speed textile printing pr&uc. tion; however, their Cost is much higher than DOD or other systems. Also, prob lems may result from the required ink recycle, exposure of ink to ambient con&tions, oxidation of the ink vehicle and/or colorant and their tendency to pick up l i t and other foreign matter. These problem must be solved in actual production situations before continuous stream printen can become commercially viable for textile printing. - _ _ - less_populg-intermittent jet sviThe tem, in which ink enters the nozzle under slight pressure and forms a convex meniscus, uses a low surface tension ink to produce a short stream of equally charged drops. Droplets are attracted to the s u b strate without further deflection. AIthough this method is used for facsimile drum recording (5), it does not seem to offer any advantages for textile applications over continuous stream jet printers. Furthermore, static electric charges on substrates could cause serious problem for textile printing with intermittent jets. DOD, or impulse jetl is the fastest growing area of jet printing technology and offers the greatest potential for protctypeldesign use. These printers can easily

Fig. 3. Tandy ink jet printer with textile ink supply.

Fig. 4. Sieman ink jet printhead with textile ink in the ink pack.

24

Fig. 7. Surface tension and drop velocity.

cling devices. DOD systems operate at lower drop production rates than continuous stream systems. Maximum ejection rates of about 10,000 droplets/sec (7) are limited primarily by the time required for capillary forces to replenish the ink in the nozzle and for acoustic damping of pressure pulses. The ink will be replenished faster a t higher surface tensions and capillary forces, all of which are controlled by nozzle diameter decreases. Therefore, smaller drops permit higher resolution and higher maximum drop rate. Smaller drops and higher resolution, however, result in the need for more drops to obtain the same coverage. High resolution a t higher speeds requires faster and more accurate movement of the printhead and substrate. Small variations in droplet trajectory or velocity can cause relatively larger variations in drop placement. The compound jet technique consists of a primary fluid exiting under high pressure from a nozzle submerged slightly below the surface of a secondary fluid (Fig. 6 ) . When the primary fluid jet
I

breaks the surface it carries with it a concentric layer of secondary fluid. Thickness of the secondary fluid-isyer depends on the distance between the r32zle and the seconaary fluid surface and the jet speed and fluid viscosities. Since secondary fluid does not pass through a small nozzle, it may contain insoluble materials such as pigment or disperse dyes. The ratio between amounts of primary and secondary liquid can be adjusted by changing the depth of the inner jet beneath the surface. This system has good potential to develop into a printing system with inks made of pigment or disperse dyes that cannot be used in other jet printing methods ( 5 ) .
Jet Printing inks

Table 111. Ink Formulation

Colorant Vehicle Anticlogging Fungicide Viscosity Control Surfactant pH Buffer O2 Absorber

I
I

Developing inks with proper rheology and fixation properties is a critical factor in the application of jet printing to textiles. Inks must have physical properties suitable for drop formation while being capable of producing sharp, dense and permanent images (Fig. 7). Jet printing ink also must be chemically stable, compatible with the materials it contacts as well as meet all of the requirements of a specific jet printer type (9-10). Rheology (surface tension, viscosity, density) and conductivity requirements differ between DOD and continuous stream printers. Ink colorants must have the proper affinity for the substrate and have good fastness properties under expected end-use conditions. Some additional properties required for jet printing ink are (1 1): 0 Steady ejection of a homogenous droplet reproducible in size, speed and direction 0 Ejection in response to a signal with no clogging a t any time 0 Fast wetting 0 High concentration 0 LOWfluctuation of ink properties with temperature change 0 Long shelf life Inks are composed of a colorant, vehicle and additives to achieve,the desired properties as outlined in Table 111. Water is the best vehicle for jet inks because of its viscosity, ionic nature, conductivity
25

Ink Jet Printing

requirements, safety, cost, low odor and dye solubility. Jet inks for textile substrates must give a wide range of colors while exhibiting required fastness properties to light and end-use conditions.
C o l o r a n t Selection

Water soluble dyes were chosen for this study to avoid flow, clogging and nozzle wear problems. Also, it is more difficult to predict and control the rheology of a dispersion; even soluble dyes can present problems. For example, the size of a typical acid dye molecu!e is approximately 10 to 30 A wide and 3 A thick (11).However, at dye concentrations even as low as 0.01 to 0.1 mole/L or greater, dye molecules can form micelles which can change the viscosity and other properties. Some of the desirable properties jet ink colorants have are high color value, clear color tone, high solubility in water and compatibility with other vehicle components. High purity, excellent wet and light fastness properties and little if any influence of the colorants on vehicle rheology are desirable charac-. teristics. Of the many dyes commercially available, few if any possess all of these properties. Dyes with low conductivity (formulated with deionized water) were chosen for DOD jet inks. Common salt was added to adjust the conductivity to meet the speci-

fications of continuous stream printers. A review of dye classes for jet printing inks based on the above criteria led to the selection of fiber reactive and naphthol dyes as being most suitable for extensive study. Both types are commercially available as liquids or powders but careful selection is important because the noncolorant content may affect printing performance (10). Commercially available liquid naphthol dyes are adaptable to jet printing inks. Typically these dyes have low to moderate viscosity and are supplied in solutions of water and high boiling, water miscible alcohols of low volatility. Naphthol coupling component liquids are designed to have high concentrations and good storage stability. The use of Liquid Fast Color Base@ offer further advantages. Many are true solutions of aromatic amines with low viscosities which may contain low vapor pressuresurfactants and solubilizers. The additives help to minimize clogging, concentration increases due to evaporation and resulting crystallization. Some of the bases are moderately viscous dispersions containing surfactants and other auxiliaries. Settling out may occur over long storage times, but simple shaking is usually adequate to rehomogenize the product. These products are easily diazotized for use in ink formulations. In this study, @-naphtholwas applied to the fabric and dried, and jet ink formulations containing diazo salts were used in the printhead. Jet inks formulated from fiber reactive dyes were used in the printhead and applied to alkali treated fabrics.

Detailed recipes of both groups of dyesart discussed later.

Vehicle Composition

The ink jet vehicle must maintain physig, properties necessary for droplet formulation. Water possesses the necessary pro P erties of low viscosity and high surraoc tension and has the ability to dissolve commercial dyes; however, its relatively high vapor pressure makes water based inks susceptible to evaporation and clog. ging. Also, water is an ideal medium for undesirable biological growth and torrs sion. In order to prevent potential clog. ging and to adjust the ink rheology, sol. vents with the following properties were added to the water base: 0 Miscible in all proportions and stabit in aqueous solut ,711 0 Low vapor f'ysure 0 Good water';~>lding capacity-;.e., hygroscopic 0 Viscosity less than 10 cp and surface tension greater than 40 dyne/cm if possible 0 High solubility for dye 0 Low freezing point Glycols, glycol esters and a few other solvents almost satisfy the above conditions. . --- - - - - . . . .. --Properties which make glycol a highly desirable additive for water based jet inks include high surface tension, low vapor pressure, lack of odor and good dye solubility. However, the high viscosity of glycol can create a problem in droplet ejection when it is the major component of the ink. Generally, the viscosity and surface
(11)
Solvent Power For Dyes
A

Table IV. Physical Properties of Organic Solvents Surface Tension Dyne (cm-'/C) 26.1/15 56.0/20 3a.0120 47.8/20 55/20 48/25 69/25 133/25 1.7/20 2.1/20 6.4/20 3.9/20 4.3/20 6.5/20 2.8/20 1.4/20 7.5/20 7.8/20 1.8/25 945/25 590/25 3.8/20 0.9/20 2.1 /20 1.7/25 1.9/25 46.5/20 36.5/25 48.5/25 45.2/20 N/D 45.1/25 45.1 /25 M.9/25 35/25 32/25 31.5/25 41.3/25 35.5/25 33.6/20 31.1/20 29.5/25 36.0/25 35.2/25 27.1/20 64.3/20 53.5/20 58.4/20 36.8/20 43/25 42.5/25 41.0/25

Solvents Ethylene glycol Propylene glycol Diethylene glycol Triethylene glycol Tetraethylene glycol Polyethylene glycol MW 200 Polyethylene glycol MW 300 Polyethylene glycol MW 600 Ethylene glycol monomethyl ether Ethylene glycol monoethyl ether Ethylene glycol monobuthyl ether Methyl carbitol Ethyl carbitol Butyl carbitol Ethyl carbitol acetate Diethyl carbitol Triethylene glycol monomethyl ether Triethylene glycol monoethyl ether Propylene glycol monomethyl ether Glycerin Triethanolamine Formamide '. Dimethyl formamide Dimethyl sulfoxide N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone 1.3 Dimethyl imidazolidinone

Boiling Point (C) 198 1 aa 244 278 327 N/D N/D N/D 124 135 171 194 201 231 217 1a8 249 256 120 290 360 210 150 189 202 226

Odor
A A A A A A A

B
A

C B B

C C
A A A A

C C C C C
A

B
A A A A B A A

..
'

C C C
A

C C C
A A A A A A

C C C
8

Note: A = Best, C = Worst, N / D = Not determined.

P
F

h
i

2b

io

40 ;o

$0 i o

eo

sb

I k

% ETHYLEM GLYUX (by Vdume)

iqg. 8. Viscosity of solutions of ethyiene glycol in water.

1 of a solvent increase with the ;ension

itrength of intermolecular interactions, juch as hydrogen bonds. Therefore, huirements of low viscosity and high i"rf2.e tension are somewhat contradictory. Glycol ethers have lower viscosities, lye solubility and surface tensions than giycols. Amides and alkanol amines have !ewer viscosities, higher surface tensions, nigher dye solubility and stronger odor &andvcols. Nitrogen containing solvents N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) .dimethyl imidazolidinone (DMI) ilso were found to be useful solvents. None of these solvents satisfy all of the required properties for jet inks (Table

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g. 3

1i.k rheology is one of the most important factors in producing a well defined print. The main elements to consider in ' k rheology are viscosity, surface tension nd density. If density is too high, velocity ill be below the desired value of about .5 meters/second. If surface tension is 40 dynes/cm, satellite droplets nd directionality suffers. If viscosigher than about 10 cp, droplets will not form and if too low, velocity will not be un! *mn(Fig. 7). If vapor pressure is too .hign, evaporation rate will be excessive, shelf life will be short, and nozzle clogging will be a problem. Typical rheological & Properties of a vehicle mixture are shown in Fig. 8. Jet printing inks must have very good flow since viscosity tolerance varies between printers. Viscosity is a more critical factor for DOD than for continuous jet Printers because of the DOD jet's inherent . design. Drop ejection dynamics, ink refill - an:! viscous damping effects must be carefully balanced in DOD jets. Since viscosi!Y is affected by temperature, some Impulse jet printers use thermostatically controlled nozzles. DOD inks must maintain constant viscosity over long periodsof use and through variations in ambient conditions. Optimum values for DOD Printing inks are 4-10 cp. Increasing viscosity results in a lower drop velocity; higher drop formation rates; higher threshold energy; higher satellite formaAugust1987 033

tion threshold and a more uniform velocity. Continuous jet printers can usually tolerate inks having a wider range of viscosities than DOD. Viscosity affects the length of the ink stream which emerges from the nozzle before individual drops break off. Problems may arise in continuous drop printing if inks contain volatile solvents which evaporate during printing, causing a viscosity increase. Surface tension is a critical factor for continuous and DOD jet printer inks. It plays a crucial role in forming and maintaining discrete. unbroken drops after ejection. Table V shows the effects of surface tension changes. Dyes, impurities and additives decrease the surface tension of water based inks. Most ink jet printers can use inks with surface tensions of 40-60 dynes/cni (10). Other factors which must be controlled in jet inks are conductivity, pH and drying speed. Conductivity is important in inks for printers which deflect drops by static electric charges. Polar solvents are more convenient for conductivity and pH control, making water the best solvent. The pH of water based inks is important since it has an effect on dye solubility and corrosion. Strongly alkaline or acid inks may attack and corrode metals if they are allowed to come in direct contact. To avoid these problems, the pH of water based inks is usually adjusted to be neutral or slightly alkaline (pH 7-10) Organic

solvents, on the other hand, are more convenient for printing nonabsorbent materials for faster drying. Fast drying inks made with ethanol and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) have lower conductivity than water. Upon striking the substrate, an ink must dry as quickly as possible without spreading or kathering to prevent a blurred image on an absorbent substrate. The extent to which spreading occurs depends on the surface tension and viscosity of the ink. Ink spread is similarly caused by ink wetting of nonabsorbent substrates and spreading over the surface after impact. This effect can be minimized by quick drying, which gives the inks less time to spread. Hot air blowers and infrared lamps were used in this study to accelerate drying and to improve print d e h i tion. Fast drying solvents such as e t h x b l and MEK can be used in continuous jet printers but fast drying inks cannot be used in DOD inks because they dry and clog nozzles between print operations. Dissolved air increases a vehicle's compressibility, which can be substantially reduced by eliminating dissolved oxygen from the ink by adding an oxygen absorber. Sulfites such as sodium sulfite, ammo-

. Table V. Effects of Changes in

Surface Tension
High Surface Tension
a

No satellites a Possible to drive with wide voltage range a Poor fabric penetration a Uniform drop velocity a Faster rates possible

Low Surface Tension a Good fabric wetting a Poor drop formation a Satellites a Non-uniform velocity a Driving energy critical a Lower limit of drop formation frequency

&cument

M o d i f i e d Tandy printer
1

2,

I n k waste

nium sulfite, potassium sulfite, potassium hydrogen sulfite and ammonium hydrogen sulfite can be used as oxygen absorbers but must be kept at low concentrations to avoid nozzle clogging. Chelating agents can be added to prevent formation of insoluble calcium and heavy metal deposits. A typical ink is composed of varying amounts of wetting agent to adjust surface tension, 0.1 - 10% colorant by weight, 0-1076 oxygen absorber by weight, antiseptic and/or fungicide (if required), water (up to 50% water by weight can be replaced by water miscible organic solvent), and, if required, a viscosity modifier
(11).
\Textile Printing

i n k pack

T e x t i l e inks

Mod i f i ed

Fig. 9. Delivery for formulated textile inks.

.:\In this project, a Tandy TRS 80 Model 2000 computer was used to drive a Tandy CGP-220 jet printer which is a piezoelectric DOD device (Fig. 3). Also, Siemens

27

Ink Jet Printing

Table VI. Density, Viscosity and Surface Tension Values of Formulated Jet Inks
Ink Recipes Triton Colorant Remazol Liquid Dyes Black GFA Brilliant Yellow GL Brilliant Red R-FGR Brilliant Blue RA Brilliant Yellow 4GL-A Brilliant Red F3B-A Brilliant Red BB-A Black 2F-A Cibacron Liquid Dyes Navy G Black GR Levafix Liquid Dyes Scarlet E2GA Brilliant Red E-48A 80 76 80 78 76 80 78 76 80 66 76 80 Properties
P.

,-

0
0 0

0 0 0 0 0
0 10 0 0

8 10 8 8 10 8 8 10 8 10
10 8

8 10 8 8 10 8 8 10

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

0 0 0 4 0 0 3 0

1.1044 1.0421 1.0944 1.0907 1.0433 1.0577 1.0066 1.0580 1.0925 1.0977 1.0524 1.0919

2.4180 3.9490 2.8190 4.1320 1.9300 2.1167 1.7812 2.1448 N/D N/D N/D N/D

43 00 38 SO 43 50 46 50 43 22 4540 4497 4437 43.00 37 35 4300 41 50

.
z

8
10 10 8

0 0 0 0

EG = Ethylene glycol. DEG = Diethylene glycol. PG = Propylene glycol. N/D = Not determined

Table VII. Density, Viscosity and Surface Tension Values of Commercial Liquid Reactive Dyes
Apparent Viscosity (est) 1.1411 1.1481 1.0904 1.1002 1.0870 1.0026 0.9818 0.9962 1.0098 0.9910 0.9953 1.0689 1.0322 1.0475 1.0212 1.0458 1.0312 1.0666 1.0498 1.0535 1.0093 0.9972 1.0396 1.0511 1.0483 1.0511 1. O M 1.0596 1.0634 1.0259 N/D' 0.9022 1.1829 1.2024 .. N/D 1.0890 1.0336 1.0189 1.0195 1.0385 1.0678 1.0068 0.9923 1.0501 1.0588 4.540 N/D 2.263 1.457 N/D 0.961 * 1.596' 0.8780 1.3550 1.7792 2.934. 0.576' 0.961' 1.1826 1.4411 2.843' 2,957' 1.2705 1.279. 1.732' 1.5695 3.6742 1.324 2.276. 0.848' 1.206 . 27.382Q 8.858 0.7577.969' 462.653Q N/D 16.290 2.91 1 ' 151.802 N/D 1S05' 2.095' 0.145' 11.439 very lo+ 2.370 1.598 2.551 1.905

Commercial Dye Remazol Brilliant Blue R-A Remazol Black GF-A Remazol Brilliant Yellow GL Remazoi Brilliant Red R-FGR Remazol Brilliant Red F3B-A Remazol Black RL Remazol Navy Blue R-GB Remazol Bordeaux B-A Remazol Brilliant Yellow 4GL-A Remazol Brilliant Red BB-A Remazol Brilliant Violet 5R-A Remazol Turquoise R-P Remazol Black GF-A 8/85 Remazol Yellow R-A Remazol Brilliant Red R-FGR Remazol Brilliant Blue R-A Remazol Brilliant Green 66-a Remazol Brilliant Red F3BA Remazol Blue BR-A Remazol Brown GR-A Remazol Golden Yellow 3R-A Remazol Brilliant Scarlet R-3G Remazol Brilliant Red R-3BN Remazol Blue R-2R Remazol Black 2G-A Levafix Scarlet EZGA Levafix Brilliant Red E-6BA Levafix Brilliant Red EJBA Levafix Slue E-3GLA Levafix Brilliant Blue EB Levafix Turquoise Blue EBA Levafix Orange E-3GA Levafix Brilliant Yellow E-3G Levafix Black E-B Levafix Golden Yellow EG Levafix Navy Blue E-2R Cibacron Navy G Iq. Cibacron Blue 3R Iq. Cibacron Black GR Iq. Cibacron Turquoise Green Iq. . Cibacron Brown 6R Iq. Cibacron Red 6 8 Iq. Cibacron Yellow 6G Iq. Cibacron Red B Iq. Cibacron Orange 2R Iq.

. . -.

Surface Tension ; (dynes/cm) . 1 . 52.50 40.00 35.50 40.00 43.00 49.47 50.48 40.40 35.00 52.57 54.70 36.60 39.93 33.82 40.87 46.97 49.27 39.47 42.83 30.58 45.60 34.42 49.70 37.93 37.07 32.50
I* .

I--

.
-

-~

44.00
40.50 34.50 41.OO 38.00 44.00 55.00

44.00
58.00 45.77 41.73 49.35 36.90 58.20 27.03 46.50 33.07

48.30
30.15

28

'Measurements by Zahn Cup Viscometer. QMeasurementsby Zahn Cup Viscometer. but beyond calibration range. <N/D = Not determined.

I
44 printheads were used. These
s use inks typical of DOD devices in
Ink colorant
Remazol

Table VIII. Shelf Life Data for Formulated Jet Inks'

Apparent viscosity (est)
2.418 2.041
N/Db

Surface

Density Date
8/85 12/4/85 2/5/86 7/85 12/4/85 2/5/86 7/85 11 /26 /85 2/5/86 10/9/85 10/25/85 12/4/85 2 / 10/86 16/3/85 10/25/85 2/12/86 2/11/86 5/86 2/11/86 3/86 5/86 (g/W 1.1044 1.0997 1.0249 1.0421 1.0738 1.0642 1.0944 1.0945 1.0794 N/D N/D 1.0534 1.0593 N/D

tension (dynes/cm)
43.00 42.90 45.13 38.00 37.63 38.57 43.50 44.50 45.02 43.00 41.50 58.77 56.63 41.50 41.00 41.90, ; 43.00 3 41.83 37.35 36.53 37.55

inks are supplied to multiple noz-

Black GF-A

,
'

Remazol Yellow GL Remazol Red R-FGR

wide strip of masking tape to the fabric. In this way, it was print fabric with a document making only minor modificaprinter's paper transport sys-

Levafix Scarlet E-2GA

Levafix Red E-4BA Cibacron Navy G

N/D
1.0919 1.0925 : . N/D '' 1.0977 N/D

arriage position, the extra thick-

Cibacron Black GR

3.949 3.006 3.928 2.819 2.167 2.242 N/D N/D 2.222 N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D N/D'. N/D N/D

N/D

N/D

'Typical data. "/D

= Not determined.

was used as a nonrewetting during fabric preparation to etting properties after drying ng. and during printing. Any

hthol solution a t 75% wet pickup. er reviewing shade ranges, safety nd fastness properties of different no, components, two naphthol derivand several Liquid Color Bases@ selected for ink formulations. The

ponent 32) and Fast Scarlet G Base

mercially available fiber reactive dyes studied. Alkalis included caustic, ish, TSP and bicarbonate. Alkali

was padded on the fabric at an appropri1 ate level of 0.5- .O owg followed by drying at 220F. Borax was used if necessary to prevent fabric yellowing and strength loss. Analysis of a document printing ink with an acid dye colorant showed 5 5 parts ethylene glycol, 55 parts diethylene glycol. 30 parts propylene glycol and 360 parts water. When properties of such a mixture did not meet printer requirements, adjustments were made based on data similar to that shown in Fig. 8. Successful dye recipes were formulated from fiber reactive liquid dyes as shown in Table VI. Amounts of additives were altered as necessary to adjust for variations in the commercial dye rheology (Table VI). As shown in Table VIII, the formulated jet printing inks had very good shelf life, with little or no change in rheology over time, except for one particular ink, which was made from Levafix Scarlet E-2GA. Evaporative rates also were evaluated anti found to be acceptable (typicalmin-'). Some 20 successful ly 5 x inks were produced with typical data shown in Fig. 8. In order to reduce the risk of clogging ink delivery lines, it was necessary to insure the absence of any foreign particles or undissolved dye in the inks. Therefore, before pumping the formulated inks into the printer, a syringe was used to push the inks through an Acrodisc-CR disposable filter assembly having a pore size of 0.45 micron. Inks made from Levafix reactive dyes were found to be more prone to settling out and clogging ink lines. The liquid reactive dyes used were easily dissolved in water. Pumping warm distilled water through the ink lines generally was effective in unclogging ink lines.

Summary

The dye recipes in this study were used successfully to produce commercial quality prints on 100% cotton fabrics applied in modified document printing systems. Fastness, print quality and other properties of the printed fabric were no different in these applications than conventional methods. Print resolutions was at least as good on the 100% cotton print cloth as the printer normally produced on paper prior to modification. m
References
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