Abstract
Inkjet printing on polyester fabric displays versatile environmental advantages. One of the significant benefits of inkjet printing is a dramatic enhancement of the printing quality. In this study, xanthan gum—a bio-based thickening agent accompanied by several salts—was adopted for the pretreatment of polyester fabric aiming at improving the sharpness and color depth of inkjet printed patterns. The influences of four metal salts (NaCl, KCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2) on inkjet printing performance were studied. More importantly, a quantitative method for evaluating the sharpness of an inkjet printed pattern was established according to the characteristics of anisotropy and isotropy of diffusion and adsorption of ink droplets on a fiber surface. Results showed that xanthan gum along with a low dosage of bivalent salts can significantly improve the color depth (K/S value) and sharpness of the printed polyester fabrics. It is feasible to evaluate the sharpness of inkjet printed polyester fabrics using a five-stage system, selecting the inkjet ellipse coefficient (T) and inkjet ellipse area (S), which can provide a quantitative and rapid evaluation method for defining inkjet printing.
Highlights
Inkjet printing technology has been widely applied in the textile field due to its ability to do short runs of production and lower cost advantages, when compared to conventional dyeing and printing processes [1]
polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers for inkjet printing are surface modified with atmospheric-pressure air/He plasma [4] and a commercial pretreatment agent [2]
By considering the environment protection issues, the eco-friendly natural materials such as xanthan gum [5], chitosan or chitosan derivative [6], and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) [7] are widely applied for the surface modification of PET fibers prior to inkjet printing. With application of these pretreatment agents, great improvements have been achieved in inkjet printing on PET fibers
Summary
Inkjet printing technology has been widely applied in the textile field due to its ability to do short runs of production and lower cost advantages, when compared to conventional dyeing and printing processes [1]. As a surface modification technique, the pretreatment of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers for inkjet printing is very important. By considering the environment protection issues, the eco-friendly natural materials such as xanthan gum [5], chitosan or chitosan derivative [6], and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) [7] are widely applied for the surface modification of PET fibers prior to inkjet printing. With application of these pretreatment agents, great improvements have been achieved in inkjet printing on PET fibers. The pretreatment agents have a great influence on the diffusion shape and printing accuracy [8]
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