Digital Textile Printing Dyes
The non contract method of substrate decoration is
called "Digital Printing". Images, colors and patterns can be
created by this method, using computer driven ink-jet nozzles or charged
drums. The process of directly printing the textile dyes onto
pre-treated fabric, is called as Digital Textile Printing. Digital
Textile Printing is quite different from Traditional Textile Printing,
and it is considered to be the next generation printing. The only
requirement of the Digital Textile Printing is that the fabrics which
have to be used must be pre-treated to confirm about their ink holding
capacity. A wide range of colors can be obtained through the
pre-treatment process.
Literally, we can reproduce the digital images on
physical surfaces through Digital Printing. The physical surfaces can be
a common paper, a photographic paper, cloth, plastic, film, etc. Through
digital printing, thousands of impression of the same object can be
drawn from one set of plates. The specialty of Digital Printing is that,
unlike ordinary printing, the ink is not absorbed into the paper.
Instead of absorption, the ink forms a layer on the surface.
The Dyes which are commonly used for digital textile
Inks are as follows: Acid Dye Inks, Reactive Dye Inks and Disperse Dye
Inks. Acid Dye Inks for Digital Textile Printing Acid Dye Inks are mainly used on wool, albumen fiber, silk and polyamide textile. The printer used for these inks are piezoelectric printers and thermal printers. These dye inks don't block the printer head, have high color saturation and good color fixation. These properties assure us about to get vigorous color. Reactive Dye Ink for Digital Textile Printing Reactive Dye Inks can be used on textile of fabric, cotton, silk, wool, nylon and chemical fiber. The printer used for this purpose is mainly of piezoelectric type. Disperse Dye Ink for Digital Textile Printing The inks formed from dispersed dyes, are able to generate shinny and reproducible colors in polyester fibers. These inks have excellent and complete end-use properties. The various fixation methods which are used in the conventional methods of textile printing, are also used for the fixation process of disperse-inks in the digital textile printing method. These dispersed inks for digital textile printing, are formulated in the same way as these are formed for the conventional methods of printing. Post processing is required for these Disperse-inks to produce vibrant and color fast results during their uses in digital textile printing method. These inks are very reliable for long term operations.
Primarily, the digital textile printing enables us to
produce very quick prototyping of fabric designs and related products.
These reduce the requirements of the traditional methods which are time
consuming and expensive. The advantages of Digital Textile Printings are
as follows:
The specifications of DTPT lie in its coloring
process. The requirement for screens or rollers to be engraved are
eliminated because of the preset colors. In DTPT, a design on textile
does not require any set repeat size. Also, there is no color
restriction regarding the number of colors. Any graphic that is created
on a paper for printing purpose, can be printed on fabrics. The
Photographic and Tonal graphic which are created with the help of
million of colors in the photoshop, can be also applied on fabrics. Latest development which has taken place in ink products, color management software and substrates, has enabled users to produce a wide color range and finer printing quality. Addition of a new set of colors, consists of orange, blue green etc. to the conventional process colors of CMYK, has become the new standard for process color. Simultaneously, the development of color management software helps in managing all those complex color systems. DTPT also follows the Drop on Demand Technology. That has permitted to short run production on a variety of substrates with minimum down time. All those factors are responsible for the development of a new look of digitally printed fabrics in the high-end fashion design market.
During the Digital Fabric Printing, it is advisable
to choose such a printer, which has an ink delivery system. This system
is called as "Piezo". Another advisable step that we should
follow is that instead of heating to force out the ink or dye, we should
use electro-potential charge. In this new technique, a piece of metal is
moved and consequently, it moves out the ink onto the surface to be
printed. This technique is useful for us because in this technique, we can use any dye out of the dyestuff for cotton. Today, pigment dyes have become very popular for digital textile printing. These new pigment dyes don't form a stiff film on the fabric that has to be printed. Other benefits from the use of these pigment dyes are: the users don't have to pre-treat, steam and after wash these, as these things are occurred with other kind of dyes like reactive, acid and disperse dyes. The advancement of the pigment dyes, makes it possible to introduce nice range of colors. The introduction of jewel tones and dark colors, has boosted-up the digital textile printing process. |