Digital textile printing is an interesting concept which has evolved greatly over all these years. It has gained great ground and market acceptance. It is being experimented on a variety of fabrics and is being spanning across diverse markets all inclusive of home furnishings, apparel, flag and banner, tradeshow graphics, swimwear, and point of purchase displays. Surprisingly, with the adaptation of this concept, it has shown rapid growth.
Digital Printing is gaining popularity as compared to analog techniques. The entire cycle of printing ranges from design conception to the actual production which has thus reduced the cost by a significant amount using digital printing. There is a mix of factors that result in high quality of image quality in digital textile printing. These are enlisted below:
Below given are details on distinct pretreatment/coating of the fabrics, ink and fabric types, and post processing in digital textile printing along with tips to optimize these elements for great results:
Ink Selection
The market endows great variety in inks which has 4 types, which are available to digitally print on a variety of textile substrates. There are specific ink types that go along well with specific type of textile fiber/fabric. Thus, selection must be made in accordance with same along with considering the printer choice since all ink chemistries go well with every printer system. Users must also choose system which is compatibility with different ink chemistries to facilitate extensive selection of fabrics.
Digital Textile Printing Process
In this type of printing on textiles, dye based inks undergo pretreatment and post treatment on the printed fabric in order to endure absolute color quality and durability. Once it is dried finally, drying additional treatments are applied to the printed fabric which includes flame retardant, waterproofing, and so forth.
Selection of Fabrics
This is a crucial aspect of selection which is categorized into 3 basic types.
Before beginning with the printing process, fabrics should be checked for the following surface defects:
Digital Printing is gaining popularity as compared to analog techniques. The entire cycle of printing ranges from design conception to the actual production which has thus reduced the cost by a significant amount using digital printing. There is a mix of factors that result in high quality of image quality in digital textile printing. These are enlisted below:
- Preprocessing and post-processing of textiles
- Fabric and ink selection
- Printing equipment used
- Color software
Below given are details on distinct pretreatment/coating of the fabrics, ink and fabric types, and post processing in digital textile printing along with tips to optimize these elements for great results:
Ink Selection
The market endows great variety in inks which has 4 types, which are available to digitally print on a variety of textile substrates. There are specific ink types that go along well with specific type of textile fiber/fabric. Thus, selection must be made in accordance with same along with considering the printer choice since all ink chemistries go well with every printer system. Users must also choose system which is compatibility with different ink chemistries to facilitate extensive selection of fabrics.
Digital Textile Printing Process
In this type of printing on textiles, dye based inks undergo pretreatment and post treatment on the printed fabric in order to endure absolute color quality and durability. Once it is dried finally, drying additional treatments are applied to the printed fabric which includes flame retardant, waterproofing, and so forth.
Selection of Fabrics
This is a crucial aspect of selection which is categorized into 3 basic types.
- Woven fabrics: This type has 2 sets of yarns called warp and weft which run parallel and perpendicular to the selvage. Such type of fabrics is reviewed as dimensionally quite stable.
- Knitted fabrics: This type of fabric is designed by interlooping of yarns in order to form loops. It is also referred to as stitches; vertical ones are known as wales and horizontal ones are known as courses. These are dimensionally less stable as compared to woven fabrics.
- Non-woven fabrics: This type of fabric is also termed as intermingled fibers that is stuck together by thermal bonding, adhesive, spun bonding, and so on.
Before beginning with the printing process, fabrics should be checked for the following surface defects:
- It should be free of any lint and broken fibers or filaments
- Fabric roll must be wound with uniform tension spanning across its width and length
- It should be free from wrinkles or creases
