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Methods of Printing: Session 11

This document discusses various methods of printing fabrics, including direct, discharge, and resist printing styles. It describes common printing techniques like block, roller, screen, flat bed screen, and rotary screen printing. Key details include how each technique works, advantages like speed and repeat size, and limitations such as cost or ability to print fine details. Heat transfer printing is also summarized as transferring dye from a printed paper to fabric using heat.

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Vaisistha Bal
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89 views

Methods of Printing: Session 11

This document discusses various methods of printing fabrics, including direct, discharge, and resist printing styles. It describes common printing techniques like block, roller, screen, flat bed screen, and rotary screen printing. Key details include how each technique works, advantages like speed and repeat size, and limitations such as cost or ability to print fine details. Heat transfer printing is also summarized as transferring dye from a printed paper to fabric using heat.

Uploaded by

Vaisistha Bal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Methods of Printing

Session 11
Printing
• Localized application of dye or pigment in paste
form to generate a design or pattern on the
fabric.

• The main aim is to produce coloured designs


with sharp boundaries on fabrics without any of
the colours spreading beyond the boundary of
the design.
Styles of printing
• A clear relationship b/w dyestuff & chemical
used to a produce a particular effect for a
particular dyestuff

• Direct
▫ The printing paste is directly applied to the fabric
▫ Every component of the design has its own place
on fabric
▫ Can be done on white or dyed fabric
▫ Ensures colour placement at right location
Styles of printing
• Discharge
▫ Fabric to be printed is dyed first
▫ The printing paste will discharge the colour of the
dyed ground shade in the printed areas. – White
▫ Having a dye in the discharge printing paste will
lead to colour discharge
▫ The dye should not be affected by the discharge
chemicals
▫ Localized bleaching or removal of dye
Styles of printing
• Resist
▫ Fabric is first printed with a resisting agent
▫ Then dyeing with ground colour
▫ This ground colour is resisted by the resisting
agent in the printed areas leading to a white resist
▫ Having a dye in the resist printing paste will lead
to colour resist
▫ Chemical and mechanical resists- citric acid
(mostly used in reactive dyes), wax
Methods of printing
▫ Block

▫ Screen
General Process
▫ Roller
Print  Pad  Dry  Cure/
Steam After treatment
▫ Rotary

▫ Flat bed

▫ Spray, etc.
Ingredients of a printing paste
• Dye or pigment- as per the fabric type
• Solvent, dispersing agent
▫ To prevent aggregation of dye molecules in the highly
conc. Ptg. paste
• Wetting agent
• Thickeners
▫ High mol wt compounds giving stable viscous pastes in
water.
▫ Impart stickiness and plasticity to the paste so that it
can be applied to a fabric surface without spreading
▫ Holds the dye particles in the desired place on fabric
until the dye transfer and its fixation is over
Ingredients of a printing paste
▫ Good physico-chemical stability
▫ Ease of removal after steaming
• Defoamers
▫ During roller printing, cont agitation of the ptg paste
foam  faulty prints
▫ Silicone defoamers, sulphated oils, etc
• Binders
▫ organic polymers - melamine formaldehyde resin
▫ for fixation of pigment prints/dyeing and as adhesive
• Acid / alkali
• Oxidising / reducing agent
• Hygroscopic agent- urea and glycerine
Block Print
• Requires immense skill and a long
apprenticeship
• Suitable for exclusive fabrics
• Blocks made up of stem of sal or teakwood
• The effect is a heavy build-up of colour providing
a special depth and graining
▫ ++ availability of large repeat sizes
▫ Available in custom colors and backgrounds
▫ -- very slow and high cost of production
▫ -- maintaining uniformity is difficult
Roller Printing
• Similar to newspaper printing
• High speed of production
• Engraved printing roller
• Design is engraved on roller
• Print paste is applied to this
roller and fabric is guided b/w
roller and cylinder, the pressure
forces print into the fabric
• High quality & widely used for
fine lines and paisley print
Roller Printing
Roller Printing- Limitations
• Limited pattern size 16”, 22”
• Expensive copper cylinders
• Uneconomical for short runs
• Long production delay is changing of engraved
rollers- expensive
• Highly skilled workforce required
Screen Printing
• Printing screen made up of fine mesh fabric of
nylon or polyester tightly mounted on a metal or
a wooden frame
Screen Printing
• Placing the screen in
close contact and on
top of fabric to be
printed
• Print paste is poured
into the frame and
forced through the
mesh areas of screen
through a squeezee
Screen Printing
• Each color in a screen print requires its own
screen and a separate application of color
• A 2 color print will require two screen frames
and application of color will be twice.
Flat Bed Screen Printing
• Mechanization of hand screen printing
• Fabric glued to the blanket
• Screens rise and fall, printing happens when screen
is down
• Max 4 strokes are possible
• Slow process
• The fabric moves to the screen, then stops for the
squeezee action. Then again it moves to the next
screen frame.
• Rate of prod. Is 500 yds/hour
• Large repeat size upto 120 inch
• Suitable for woven and knitted fabrics
• Not suitable for low yardage
Flat Bed Screen Printing
Flat Bed Screen Printing
Flat Bed Screen Printing
Rotary Screen Printing
• Continuous screen printing method
• Fabric is glued to a blanket and it moves under
rotating screens
• Rod or blade squeezee system
Fine adjustments can be made easily
Sharp designs and high repeat size is possible
Fast production
Quick changeover of patterns
Continuous patterns
Rotary Screen Printing
• Print paste
distributed
inside the screen
is forced into the
fabric as it is
pressed between
the screen and a
printing blanket.
Rotary Screen Printing
• Used mostly but not exclusively for low weight
apparel fabrics or fabrics not for apparel use
• Mostly suitable for knitted fabrics as it does not
stretch the fabric during printing
• Over 40” repeat size possible, > roller but < flat
bed
• Cleaner and brighter colors than on roller print
• Efficient for long and moderately short runs
(1000 yds)
Rotary Screen - Limitations
• Fine line paisley prints not possible

• Half-tone designs are not as effective as in roller


printing

• Screens do not last as long as rollers


Heat/Thermal Transfer Ptg
• Design 1st printed on paper with printing inks
containing disperse dyes
• Fabric to be printed is passed through a heat
transfer ptg machine which brings the unprinted
fabric and printed transfer paper face to face
• When they pass at high temp. (400˚F), dye on
printed paper sublimes and gets transferred to
the fabric
• No further treatment required
Heat/Thermal Transfer Ptg
• Advantages
▫ Simple process
▫ High quality prints
▫ Very less time required
▫ Economical for short runs
▫ Practically pollution free
▫ Tagless garments
• Disadvantages
▫ Slow process
▫ Primarily only for polyester
Heat/Thermal Transfer Ptg
Heat/Thermal Transfer Ptg

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