Digital textile printing is currently one of the most widely used printing technologies in the world and has become one of the most promising directions for the textile industry. This article will reveal the mysteries of digital textile printing and explore its great impact on the textile industry.

We will discuss what textile digital printing is, compare it with traditional textile printing, explore the different types of textile digital printing and the corresponding printing machines, outline the processes involved, introduce the various inks used, and highlight the advantages of digital printing in textile printing.

 

What is Textile Digital Printing

Textile digital printing is a printing process that uses inkjet technology to print colorants onto fabrics without the use of any screen screens and color limitations. What's more, textile digital printing can produce customized products with creative designs in a short period. Any digitized design or pattern can be printed on clothes, fabric rolls and other textiles such as sheets and curtains. Before exploring textile digital printing prints, let us take a look at some concepts about traditional textile printing.

 

 

Different types of traditional textile printing

In comparison, traditional textile printing has a slow cycle time and high initial cost but is of the best quality. Woodblock printing, screen printing and cylinder printing are the three most common methods of traditional printing.

1. Block Printing - This is the simplest but slowest method of printing. Wooden blocks with carved designs are used to imprint patterns on fabric, using each color separately.

2. Screen printing - this is the most common traditional printing technique used today. It makes a specific design by squeezing ink or printing paste through small holes in a flat or rotating screen. It is worth noting that each color needs to be squeezed through a different screen.

3. Roller Printing - This is a much more efficient method and also a very common technique for printing on long pique fabrics. In this way, a metal roller with an engraved plate is used to transfer the printing paste directly onto the fabric while the fabric is transported through the machine. A different roller is used for each color.

Traditional textile printing inevitably suffers from several limitations, such as designs limited by screen size and time-consuming and laborious screen production. Unsurprisingly, textile digital printing is much quicker than its rivals and cheaper if produced in small batches. It is for this reason that digital printing is becoming more and more widely used in the fast fashion sector.

 

Digital Printing Process and Different Types of Digital Printing Machines

There are two main types of textile digital printing processes - direct printing and thermal transfer printing. Direct printing can be done using roll-to-roll printers or garment direct printing machines, where the fabric is fed from the roll to the printer, and the latter where it is printed directly onto the garment or textile. Heat transfer printing can be accomplished using a sublimation digital printer.

 

Textile Digital Printing Ink

Textile printing inks play an important role in the printing process. Different kinds of inks are suitable for different types of fabrics, which can bring higher printing quality. Below we will detail several types of inks commonly used for digital printing.

 

1. Reactive inks - suitable for printing cotton and silk

Reactive inks are currently the most commonly used in digital textile printing. They are known for their bright colors, good color fastness and ease of application.

Take cotton, for example, which is a natural fiber. Especially in the fashion industry, cotton is widely used in apparel because of its high moisture, comfort and durability. For optimal results, most digital printers use reactive inks, as this ink brings the best color fastness for printing on cotton fabrics.

 

2. Acid inks - suitable for printing on nylon, wool and silk

Acid inks are known for their vibrant colors, even when printing on fabrics that do not retain their colors easily. For this reason, acid inks are used exclusively on pre-treated nylon, wool and silk fabrics.

In addition, acid inks are often used to print swimwear, which contains elastic fibers, mostly Lycra.

 

3. Disperse ink - suitable for printing polyester and polyester-cotton fabrics

In dispersion printing, the ink is sprayed directly onto the fabric, which is then processed through the next steps of steam and washing. The steam process opens up the fibers and allows the ink to penetrate completely into the fabric, thus becoming part of the fabric.

Disperse inks are used to print polyester fabrics because they are the most suitable for these fabrics. Polyester is becoming increasingly popular in the fashion industry due to its "green" properties and reduced costs. However, they are still difficult to use in high-speed printers because of the ink mist that is produced. This ink mist can contaminate the entire printer and cause troublesome electrical problems.

 

4. Pigment Ink

Pigment ink uses pigments to color and adhere to the surface of the fabric. DTF inks, for example, allow us to create unique patterns on a variety of fabrics made from a variety of fibers, although they have limitations. It is suitable for digital inkjet pigment printing of cotton fabrics, silk fabrics, chemical fiber and blended fabrics, knitted fabrics, sweaters, towels and blankets.

 

 

When it comes to fabric versatility, water resistance, color vibrancy and sustainability, the winner is pigment inks. Pigment inks do not require post-washing or steam treatment, making them more environmentally friendly than other dyes.

Traditional pigment printing is one of the most popular methods of fabric printing in the world. In it, rotary screen printing uses pigment inks on a large scale. Although the share of coating inks in textile digital printing is still small today, there is great potential for further growth.

 

5. Direct-Disperse inks

Inkjet printers use direct-disperse inks to color the materials and fibers in the sublimation paper substrate. When heated and pressurized, the solid dye turns into a gas and then adheres permanently to the substrate.

Direct-disperse inks can be used to create carpet fabrics, banner materials, canvas and sports, all of which are washable and abrasion-resistant, and polyester fabrics become gorgeous with these inks.

 

 

Process steps of textile digital printing process

Different textile digital printing, such as digital direct printing and thermal sublimation printing, involve different steps and the whole process is more complicated.

 

Advantages of Textile Digital Printing

Now that you have a basic understanding of textile digital printing, let's talk about some of its advantages.

1. Richer and more accurate colors

Different people have different tastes in fashion and patterns, so more possibilities mean more business opportunities. As mentioned above, textile digital printing offers offers unlimited color and pattern options. Textile digital printing allows you to control the droplet size of the inkjet nozzles so that you can easily control the precision.

2. Better Hand Feeling

Textile digital printing usually has no coating feeling, and the printing is lighter and softer than traditional textile printing. In addition, it has good adhesion.

3. Quick turnaround and greater flexibility

Textile digital printing makes the production process simpler and faster, eliminating the need to spend a lot of time preparing different printing screens. Even more surprisingly, textile digital printing can respond quickly to last-minute changes in design.

4. More cost-effective

The cost of screen printing depends on the number of colors used in the design, whereas textile digital printing costs a fixed amount per print, regardless of how many colors are used. Therefore, it is ideal for printing small batches of complex patterns.

5. Environmentally friendly

The whole process of textile digital printing is more environmentally friendly as it produces very few pollutants, toxic fumes or wastewater emissions. In addition, it uses less ink, which also minimizes waste.

 

 

Conclusion

Digital printing has Internet characteristics. Through intelligent automation, manual intervention is reduced to a minimum, and the on-demand ink production method greatly reduces pollution emissions (eventually reaching zero emissions). Digital printing can turn virtual products on the Internet into real products. At the same time, it has the characteristics of low cost, small batch, fast response, high quality and green environmental protection, which has absolute advantages over traditional production.

The continuous improvement of textile digital printing provides solutions to support the changing needs of the textile market. Important trends such as increased demand for customized and personalized products, fast-changing fast fashion brands, and the need for sustainability and environmental friendliness in the manufacturing process are key drivers of market growth.

There is no doubt that digital textile printing will have a vibrant future, in contrast to how the traditional textile industry evolves will be a major issue in the development of the textile industry.