TEXTILE PRINTING

(PRINTING PASTE PREPARATION)

Lecture# 22-27

Mujahid Mehdi Abro

Indus University Karachi.

Printing Process:
Pre-treatment

Printing (with binder and fixer)

(roller/rotary printing)

Drying ( Drying the printed fabric)

(90-100%/110-120C)
(dryer)

Curing (Fixation of the printed dye or pigment)

(cotton 140-160C/110-120C 3-5 min)
(polyester 160-220C , 30-60s)
(stenter)

Printing paste preparation

The ingredients found in paste formulations include the following: dyes or
pigments, thickeners, sequestering agents, dispersing or suspending
agents (surfactants), defoamers, catalysts, and hand modifiers.

In addition to the ingredients, pigments require a binder or resin system to

fix the pigment.

For blended fabrics pigments are used, which are not dyes but are colored

particles glued to the surface of the fabrics.

Ingredients of Print
Paste
Dyestuff or Pigments Disperse dye for polyester.
Solvents Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) , Ethylene
glycol, Di-methyl form amide (DMF) .
Wetting Agents Turkey Red Oil,

Ingredients of Print
Paste
Defoaming Agents or Defoamers Emulsified pine

oil, Silicones.
Acids and Alkalis Citric acid, Acetic acid,

Phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid

_ Caustic soda, soda Ash, baking soda

Ingredients of Print
Paste
Thickeners Starches and gums, Sodium Alginate.
Oxidizing Agents Chlorates, Per oxide, Sodium

Bromate.
Reducing Agents Sodium Hydrosulphite, Sodium

Bisulphite.
Catalysts Copper Sulphide.

Steps of printing
process:
A Typical Printing Process Involves the Following
Steps:
Color paste preparation
when printing textiles, the dye or pigment is not in an
aqueous liquor, instead, it is usually finely dispersed in
a printing paste, in high concentration.
Textile Printing
The dye or pigment paste is applied to the substrate
using different techniques, which are discussed below.

Steps of printing
process:
Fixation

Immediately after printing, the fabric is dried and then the

prints are fixed mainly with steam or hot air (for pigments).
(Conversion of binder monomer into polymer).
After-treatment
this final operation consists in washing and drying the fabric
(it is not necessary when printing with pigments or with other
particular techniques such as transfer printing).

Printing process:
Printing process may be further divided into two steps:
1.

2.

Preparation of the print paste.

Printing the fabric.

Typical Recipe for

Pigment Printing:
Soft Water
Anti Foamer
Binder
Fixative
Softener
Urea
Thickener

Total

700 g/Kg
1g/Kg
200g/Kg
10g/Kg
10g/Kg
50g/Kg
15g/Kg

1 Kg

Components of printing:
A printing system consists of three essential components:
Pigment dispersion: Specific pigments are treated in a grinding mill in

the presence of suitable non-ionic surfactants. A particle size of 0.1-3

m is typical. Generally, the pigment pastes are aqueous based and
contain the dispersing agent, humectants (to prevent evaporation and
drying out).
Binders and cross-linking agents (polymers): The binders used in
pigment printing systems are film-forming substances made up of longchain macro molecules which, when heated with a suitable aciddonating catalyst, form a three-dimensional structure in the pigment.
Thickeners and auxiliary agents: These give the required print
thickening power (rheology).

Binders:
Binders plays key role in pigment printing. Binder are

monomers which on heating get converted into

polymers. Just by simple heating, no pressure , no
steaming , no electricity.
Binders{Monomer}----Heat--->
Plasticizer/Plastic{Polymer}
Binders form plastic but, its too soft and transparent
that its difficult to see it but we can feel its harshness
on the fabric. Thats why pigment printed fabric have
more harshness when compared to other printing
techniques.

Binders:
Binder actually hold the pigment color and sandwich it

between fabric surface and plastic coating and this coating

help color to stick there and stand with high and severe
conditions.
In addition to binder an other component is also added to the
textile pigment printing paste and that is called fixer. Fixers
are mostly formaldehyde based, which helps in strengthening
of binder to hold on pigment.

The working of binder that how binder sandwiches

pigment in between itself and substrate. As, nearly 90
to 95% of pigment is successfully entrapped in
between so no need of washing as it was required in
case of reactive printing to wash off unfixed dye. This
is big advantage of pigment over other techniques
which make it economical.

Thickeners
Thickener is a thick mass which imparts stickiness and

plasticity to the print paste

It may be applied on the fabric surface without bleeding

or spreading and be capable of maintaining the design out

lines

Function or Object or Purpose of Thickener

1. To give the required viscosity to the printing paste.

2. To prevent premature reactions between the chemicals
contained in the print paste.
3. To hold the ingredients of the print paste on the fabrics

Properties of Thickener
Viscosity
Print paste stability
Good adhesion of the dried thickener film,
Minimum effect on colour yield

Ease of removal
Acceptable cost

 Viscosity = Shear stress/Shear rate

Shear Stress = Force/Area Sheared
Shear Rate = Velocity/ Clearance