“It is a very desirable fabric in the aqueous latex market today, as it provides a unique, high-end look with great image quality.” Digital printing on fabric got its earnest beginning in the silk industry in Italy more than 15 years ago, Compton said. It was an effective way to replace laborious screen printing and offer unique, one-ofa kind prints. The lion’s share of digital printing on textiles today is comprised of dye sublimation, heat transfer, or direct disperse dye printing. The reason for this is the ease of production as well as the availability of polyester fabrics mimicking other fabrics. Natural fibers, such as cotton, require different ink solutions and finishing equipment. This also is true of silk, Compton said. Cotton is still the most printed fabric worldwide in traditional screen printing. The majority is produced with pigment inks at low cost. While widely used, pigment ink doesn’t offer the same color or hand as printing with textile dyebased inks. The alternative solution for cotton is to print with reactive dye inks that provide excellent color and hand to the finished product, he reported. Most of the US digital printing market has stayed within the realm of dye sublimation with heat transfer. That’s because it eliminates the need for extra steps and cost in pretreatment, post treatment, equipment, and labor, Compton said. Direct disperse printing on polyester is a rapidly growing trend. “Direct disperse printing is basically the same as heat transfer printing, except that the ink is printed directly on the polyester fabric,” he added. “The ink differs in the makeup due to the different energy level needed to cure the finished print.” Tischer has also noted the move toward polyester. “The most popular fabric used today is coming from a polyester yarn,” he said. “Ninety percent of the fabrics we make start with a polyester base. Finished with a PVC or acrylic water-based coating, they can be appropriate for many different types of print output. When you’re talking about dye sub, polyester is the mainstay.” Charting the Future Especially in the area of interior graphics, use of fabrics is exploding, Tischer said. “We see that trend continuing. That’s because what you can do with fabrics, due to the stretch characteristics, color, image quality and hand, is almost unlimited. Along with it, we are going to get much more into non-PVCcoated textiles that have better durability for outdoors. Therefore, the future of fabrics is just going to become steadily brighter.” Find this article at MyPRINTResource.com/12071742 – Seamless end-to-end workflow incl. layout/nesting – Touchless file retrieval with automatic QR-code capture – Automatic material-handling, robotic off-load integration – Fully modular, upgradeable – Unsurpassed, non-stop productivity. Total Automation For more information, visit MyPRINTResource.com/10008759 Wide-Format I MyPRINTResource.com maging | July 2015 17
Wide-Format Imaging July 2015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above