Environmentally friendly digital printing on cotton using, synthesized pigmented inkjet inks and comparison of their properties

Abstract

The “top-down” approach was adopted to manufacture nano inkjet inks. Pigment Black 7 and Pigment Red 122 both 100% dried powders were used. The premix of these two pigments was subjected to bead milling to reduce the particle size to the nano-scale. The inkjet inks prepared were characterized for their particle size, zeta potential, purity, viscosity, surface tension, foaming properties, and pH using required analysis and spectroscopy techniques. Both inkjet inks were applied digitally on pre-treated cotton. The printing was performed on a Monna Lisa Evo Tre printer (EPSON). The printed samples were evaluated for colour fastness to light, rubbing, washing, and laundering using relevant AATCC and ISO methods. The powders of the same colour index numbers were kneaded and emulsified by a traditional ball milling method. Emulsions prepared were characterized and applied on singed, desized, scoured, bleached, and pre-treated pure cotton through a traditional rotary screen-printing method. The printed samples were evaluated for their application fastness properties for comparative studies. It was concluded that by promoting the use of green chemistry and nanotechnology, the digitally printed fabric samples displayed better print quality, increased application fastness properties and good colour gamut as compared to traditionally printed fabric samples. Moreover, the new digital printing process resulted in reduced chemical, energy and water consumption along with socio-economic, environmentally friendly effectiveness, with almost zero waste production as compared to the traditional printing method.