NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY

CHENNAI

Assignment No. – 3

PRINTING PROCESSES AND MACHINERIES

Faculty Member: Mr.Praveen D. Nagrajan

Date: 6th November 2009

An effort by:
Deepika Dixit
Sonakshi Saxena
Uma Sindhwani
DFT V
CONTENTS

SR.NO TOPIC PAGE NO

1 INTRODUCTION 3

2 HISTORY 5

3 THE THREE STYLES OF PRINTING 12

4 METHODS OF PRINTING 17

5 STEPS IN PRINTING PROCESS 37

6 PIGMENT PRINTING 40

7 PRINTING MACHINES 42

8 PRINTING STYLES 61

9 TETILE PRINTING PRODUCTS 70

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INTRODUCTION

Textile printing is the process of applying color to fabric in definite patterns or designs. In
properly printed fabrics the color is bonded with the fiber, so as to resist washing and
friction. Textile printing is related to dyeing but, whereas in dyeing proper the whole
fabric is uniformly covered with one color, in printing one or more colors are applied to it
in certain parts only, and in sharply defined patterns.
In printing, wooden blocks, stencils, engraved plates, rollers, or silk screens are used to
place colors on the fabric. Colorants used in printing contain dyes thickened to prevent
the color from spreading by capillary attraction beyond the limits of the pattern or design.
Traditional textile printing techniques may be broadly categorized into three styles:
• Direct printing, in which colorants containing dyes, thickeners, and the mordant or
substances necessary for fixing the color on the cloth are printed in the desired
pattern.
• Resist dyeing, in which a wax or other substance is printed onto fabric which is
subsequently dyed. The waxed areas do not accept the dye, leaving uncolored
patterns against a colored ground.
• Discharge printing, in which a bleaching agent is printed onto previously dyed
fabrics to remove some or all of the color.

COMPARISON BETWEEN DYEING AND PRINTING

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Though the dyeing and printing are the coloration processes using the same classes of
dyes and other chemicals, they differ in the following aspects.

Dyeing Printing

1. Uniform application on both sides of 1. Single or multicolor application on

the fabric surface with single color only. one side of the fabric at selected
portions only.

2. Dyes are applied in dilute form. 2. Dyes are applied in paste form.

3. In fabric preparation, Half bleaching 3. full-bleaching with optical whitener is

is enough. necessary.

4. Color penetrates through the fabric. 4. Color is applied only on the surface.

5. More time is required in batch 5. Not applied in batch process.

application. Applied only by continuous process
alone. Therefore requires less time.

6. Fabric need not be in dry condition. 6. Fabric should be in dry state.

7. Requires single machine and the 7. Requires complex machinery and

process is simple. the process is also complex.

8. Dyeing consumes more water. 8. Printing consumes less water.

HISTORY OF PRINTING

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Textile printing is the process of applying colour to fabric in definite patterns or
designs. In properly printed fabrics the colour is bonded with the fiber, so as to resist
washing and friction. Textile printing is related to dyeing but, whereas in dyeing proper
the whole fabric is uniformly covered with one colour, in printing one or more colours are
applied to it in certain parts only, and in sharply defined patterns.

In printing, wooden blocks, stencils, engraved plates, rollers, or silkscreens are used to
place colours on the fabric. Colourants used in printing contain dyes thickened to
prevent the colour from spreading by capillary attraction beyond the limits of the pattern
or design.

Traditional textile printing techniques may be broadly categorised into four styles:

• Direct printing, in which colourants containing dyes, thickeners, and the mordants
or substances necessary for fixing the colour on the cloth are printed in the
desired pattern.
• The printing of a mordant in the desired pattern prior to dyeing cloth; the color
adheres only where the mordant was printed.
• Resist dyeing, in which a wax or other substance is printed onto fabric which is
subsequently dyed. The waxed areas do not accept the dye, leaving uncoloured
patterns against a coloured ground.
• Discharge printing, in which a bleaching agent is printed onto previously dyed
fabrics to remove some or all of the colour.

Resist and discharge techniques were particularly fashionable in the 19th century, as
were combination techniques in which indigo resist was used to create blue
backgrounds prior to block-printing of other colours.[1] Most modern industrialised
printing uses direct printing techniques.

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Origins

Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely
throughout East Asia and probably originating in China in antiquity as a method of
printing on textiles and later paper. As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest
surviving examples from China date to before 220, and from Egypt to the 4th century.[2]

Textile printing was known in Europe, via the Islamic world, from about the 12th century,
and widely used. However the European dyes tended to run, which restricted the use of
printed patterns. Fairly large and ambitious designs were printed for decorative
purposes such as wall-hangings and lectern-cloths, where this was less of a problem as
they did not need washing. When paper became common, the technology was rapidly
used on that for woodcut prints. [3] Superior cloth was also imported from Islamic
countries, but this was much more expensive.

The Incas of Peru, Chile and Mexico also practiced textile printing previous to the
Spanish Invasion in 1519; but, owing to the imperfect character of their records before
that date, it is impossible to say whether they discovered the art for themselves, or, in
some way, learned its principles from the Asiatics.

During the latter half of the 17th century the French brought directly by sea, from their
colonies on the east coast of India, samples of Indian blue and white resist prints, and
along with them, particulars of the processes by which they had been produced, which
produced washable fabrics.

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Technology

Textile printing was introduced into England in 1676 by a French refugee who opened
works, in that year, on the banks of the Thames near Richmond. Curiously enough this
is the first print-works on record; but the nationality and political status of its founder are
sufficient to prove that printing was previously carried on in France. In Germany, too,
textile printing was in all probability well established before it spread to England, for,
towards the end of the 17th century, the district of Augsburg was celebrated for its
printed linens, a reputation not likely to have been built up had the industry been
introduced later than 1676.

On the continent of Europe the commercial importance of calico printing seems to have
been almost immediately recognized, and in consequence it spread and developed
there much more rapidly than in England, where it was neglected and practically at a
standstill for nearly ninety years after its introduction. During the last two decades of the
17th century and the earlier ones of the 18th new works were started in France,
Germany, Switzerland and Austria; but it was only in 1738 that calico printing was first,
practiced in Scotland, and not until twenty-six years later that Messrs Clayton of Bamber
Bridge, near Preston, established in 1764 the first print-works in Lancashire, and thus
laid the foundation of what has since become one of the most important industries of the
county and indeed of the country. At the present time calico printing is carried on
extensively in every quarter of the globe, and it is pretty safe to say that there is scarcely
a civilized country in either hemisphere where a print-works does not exist.

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From an artistic point of view most of the pioneer work in calico printing was done by the
French; and so rapid was their advance in this branch of the business that they soon
came to be acknowledged as its leading exponents. Their styles of design and schemes
of colour were closely followed-even deliberately copied by all other European printers;
arid, from the early days of the industry down to the latter half of the 10th century, the
productions of the French printers in Jouy, Beauvais, Rouen, Alsace-Lorraine, &c., were
looked upon as representing all that was best in artistic calico printing. This reputation
was established by the superiority of their earlier work, which, whatever else it may have
lacked, possessed in a high degree the two main qualities essential to all good
decorative work, viz., appropriateness of pattern and excellency of workmanship. If,
occasionally, the earlier designers permitted themselves to indulge in somewhat bizarre
fancies, they at least carefully refrained from any attempt to produce those pseudo-
realistic effects the undue straining after which in later times ultimately led to the
degradation of not only French calico printing design, but of that of all other European
nations who followed their lead. The practice of the older craftsmen, at their best, was to
treat their ornament in a way at once broad, simple and direct, thoroughly artistic and
perfectly adapted to the means by which it had to be reproduced. The result was that
their designs were characterized, on the one hand, by those qualities of breadth,
flatness of field, simplicity of treatment arid pureness of tint so rightly prized by the artist;
and, on the other, by their entire freedom from those meretricious effects of naturalistic
projection and recession so dear to the modern mind and so utterly opposed to the
principles of applied art.

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Early Methods

The other forms of textile printing are stencil work, highly developed by Japanese artists,
and block printing. In the latter method a block of wood, copper, or other material
bearing a design in intaglio with the dye paste applied to the surface is pressed on the
fabric and struck with a mallet. A separate block is used for each color, and pitch pins at
the corners guide the placing of the blocks to assure accurate repeating of the pattern.

• In cylinder or roller printing, developed in 1785, the fabric is carried on a rotating

central cylinder and pressed by a series of rollers each bearing one color. The
design is engraved on the copper rollers by hand or machine pressure or etched
by pantograph or photoengraving methods; the color paste is applied to the
rollers through feed rollers rotating in a color box, the color being scraped off the
smooth portion of the rollers with knives.

• More recent printing processes include screen-printing. This is a hand method

especially suitable for large patterns with soft outlines, in which screens, one for
each color, are placed on the fabric. Then, the color paste is pressed through a
wooden squeegee.

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• Spray printing, in which a spray gun forces the color through a screen; and
electro coating, used to apply a patterned pile are the other latest printing
processes.

• In certain cases, the cloth is painted by using a pen with dyes and mordants. This
method is known as kalamkari, a pen work. Printing the outline of the design and
filling in the details with a kalam, a pen, combines the techniques of printing and
kalamkari.

• Direct printing is practised all over India where a bleached cotton or silk fabric is
printed with the help of carved wooden blocks.
• Another technique employed was printing with the use of mordants. Mordants are
chemicals that absorb the dye. The cloth is first printed with mordants and then
immersed in a dye bath. Only the sections that have absorbed the mordant
absorb the dye. The cloth is then washed in flowing water and spread out to dry
on the riverbank allowing the sun to develop the color. Then the untreated

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sections were bleached with local ingredients like goat droppings, etc. Recently,
discharge printing with the use of chemicals has been developed. Here dyes
when printed react on one another, either bleaching the background material or
producing a different shade.

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DISCHARGE PRINTING

Discharge Printing is also called Extract Printing. This is a method of applying a design
to dyed fabric by printing a color-destroying agent, such as chlorine or hydrosulfite, to
bleach out a white or light pattern on the darker colored ground. In color-discharge
printing, a dye impervious to the bleaching agent is combined with it, producing a
colored design instead of white on the dyed ground.

Discharge printing has been around for decades. But only in the past 7-8 years screen
printers in the industry have recognized it seriously. In the early years of discharge
printing, the finished discharge print needed to be steamed during the drying process.
This discouraged the use of discharge systems in the finished garment arena. The
newly developed discharge ink systems are chemically reactive and dont need to be
steam-neutralized. This advancement opened the door to discharge printing for the
average screen printer.

Discharge printing has the ability to make bright, opaque colors on dark fabrics with a
soft hand. Years ago the idea of opaque colors on dark fabrics and soft hand couldnt co-
exist.

Successful light-on-dark printing with plastisol relies on increased pigment loads, fillers
and other additives to block out the color of the garment. Discharge inks modify the
garment color by removing the garment color and replacing it with the new ink color. In
simple terms, the discharge ink "bleaches" out the dye in the garment, thus allowing the
pigment in the ink to absorb into the shirt fibers.

The real magic of discharge printing can be witnessed when printing four-color process
on black 100% cotton shirts. The print before curing appears very transparent. One can
barely see the print until the garment exits the oven chamber, where the results can be
quite remarkable: bright, vivid colors with a soft hand.

The graphics on the casino gaming tables are printed with discharge inks to avoid the
interference of the printed line with the roll of the dice. If the ink on these tables were
printed with plastisol, the ink film (because it is a surface print) would change the speed
and direction of the dice, thus changing the way the dice land. Discharge ink, on the
other hand, provides a dyed-in-the-fabric result, keeping the playing surface smooth.
The decrease in the production time is the biggest bonus of all. The fact that you can
skip flash curing completely saves hours of production time and eliminates registration
problems between the designs colors and the white printer under base used in normal
printing on blacks.

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However, flash curing can be used in conjunction with discharge printing when printing
discharge as an under base.

Cleaner and more transparent inks can also be printed onto dark garments with the help
of discharge additives. Early discharge additives were designed only for water base
inks, but plastisol additives are available.

Characteristics that indicate a garment will work with discharge ink

• The garment has to be made of natural fibers (100% cotton)

• The dye used in the garment must be dischargeable. The best results are
achieved with garments that are 100% cotton and dyed with a reactive dye.

• The garment should not have been over dyed (when fabric is re-dyed to another
color). This often happens because of a shortage of a certain fabric color or, in
many cases, because quality control rejected the fabric color. These rejected
colors are then over dyed with a black dye, which will bring nightmares to life
when trying to use discharge inks. The discharge ink might discharge the black
dye - only to reveal a phantom color underneath.

Always test your garment to see if it is suitable for discharge printing. If you are a major
printer doing large-volume printing, be aware that the shirts you order from the mill are
tracked by lot numbers and it is possible that a completely different dye may be used
from one lot to the next. Let your sales representative know that you are doing discharge
printing and mention in writing that you need a dischargeable garment.

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Discharge printing is frequently used for all-over prints because of its soft hand

DIRECT PRINTING

A direct print is one in which the design is printed on a white cloth or a previously dyed
fabric. The later is called overprint and here the printed design must be of darker color
than the background design. This style is also called application printing because the
design is directly printed over the fabric.

It is the most common approach to apply a color pattern on fabric. It can be done on
white or a colored fabric. If done on colored fabric, it is known as overprinting. The
desired pattern is produced by imprinting dye on the fabric in a paste form. To prepare
the print paste, a thickening agent is added to a limited amount of water and dye is
dissolved in it. Earlier corn starch was preferred as a thickening agent for cotton printing.
Nowadays gums or alginates derived from seaweed are preferred because they are
easier to wash out, do not themselves absorb any color and allow better penetration of
color. Most pigment printing is done without thickeners as the mixing up of resins,
solvents and water itself produces thickening.

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RESIST PRINTING

Resist printing involves two step procedure:

• Printing a pattern design on fabric with chemical or wax like resinous substance
that will prevent or resist the penetration of dyes.
• Piece dyeing the fabric

Resist or reserve printing is related to discharge printing in that the end-results are often
indistinguishable. The resist style, however, offers the advantage that dyes of great
chemical stability, which could not be discharged, can be resisted to give prints of high
fastness standards.
The justification for both styles lies in the aesthetic appeal of a white or colored pattern
on colored grounds, an effect that very often could not be reproduced by any other
technique. The difference, therefore, between discharge and resist printing is not one of
appearance, but of process. In discharge printing, the discharging agent is applied to the
fabric after it has been dyed and the dye in the printed areas is destroyed during
subsequent processing. In resist printing, the resisting agent is printed on to the undyed
fabric and effectively prevents the fixation or development of the ground color, which is
subsequently applied by an appropriate ‘dyeing’ technique, such as dyeing, padding or
overprinting. The result can be either a white resist or a colored resist, where a selected
dye or pigment is added to the resist paste and becomes fixed to the fiber during
subsequent processing. Virtually every class of colorant is capable of being resisted, as
is borne out by reference to older publications on textile printing. Many of the techniques
they describe are too complex and time-consuming to be of commercial interest today,
but they do illustrate the wide scope of the style, with the proviso that it has little
application to synthetic-fiber fabrics. The resisting agents employed, then as now,
function either mechanically or chemically or, sometimes, in both ways. It is used where
background colors in a fabric cannot be discharged. It is usually not possible to visually
differentiate between the discharge and resist printed fabrics since both of them produce
the same results.
The mechanical resisting agents include waxes, fats, resins, thickeners and pigments,
such as china clay, the oxides of zinc and titanium, and sulphates of lead and barium.
Such mechanical resisting agents simply form a physical barrier between the fabric and
the colorant. They are mainly used for the older, coarser and, perhaps, more decorative
styles in which breadth of effect and variety of tone in the resisted areas are of more
importance than sharp definition of the pattern. A classical, and nowadays almost
unique, example of a purely mechanical resist is to be found in the batik style, using wax
applied in the molten state. In a true batik the wax is applied by hand, but the process
has been developed and mechanized for the production of those styles which now come
under the general heading of ‘Africa prints’. It is not possible to apply an illuminating
color with a wax resist but, after removal of the wax, another color can be printed within
the resisted area. A mechanical resist is usually used in conjunction with a chemical
resist, so improving the overall effect.
Chemical-resisting agents include a wide variety of chemical compounds, such as acids,
alkalis, various salts, and oxidizing and reducing agents. They prevent fixation or

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development of the ground color by chemically reacting with the dye or with the reagents
necessary for its fixation or formation. The actual choice of chemical-resisting agent
depends, therefore, on the chemistry of the dye being used and its fixation mechanism.
Consequently, as in discharge printing, a working knowledge of the relevant chemistry is
necessary when choosing effective resisting agents.

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METHODS OF PRINTING
There are several methods of printing namely:

• Block printing
• Roller printing
• Screen printing
• Heat transfer printing

BLOCK PRINTING
Block printing is a special form of printing first developed in China. The earliest known
example with an actual date is a copy of the Diamond Sutra from 868 A.D (currently in
the British Museum), though the practice of block printing is probably about two
thousand years old.
The first step in block printing is the production of the original document. This is laid on a
large, smooth wooden block and fixed into place, reversed. Next, craftsmen of various
skill levels, ranging from master carvers for the fine work to less talented artisans for
cheaper blocks or less important sections, carve the original painted, drawn or written
image into the block of wood. The block can now be covered with ink and used in a
press to create duplicates of the original.

Color paste must be applied to the block surface in a controlled manner, and this was
achieved by using a ‘sieve’. A small tub was nearly filled with a starch paste and a
waterproof fabric, stretched on a frame, rested on the paste. A piece of woolen fabric
was stretched on a slightly smaller frame and fastened to make the sieve. The sieve as
saturated with color paste and placed on the waterproof fabric. For each impression, the
‘tiered’ (a boy) spread the color paste on the top surface of the woolen sieve with a large
brush and the printer charged the block by pressing it on the wool. The block was then
carefully positioned on the fabric, using the pitch pins as guides, and struck with a
mallet. After printing a table length with the first block, the second was printed and then
any others required to complete the design. The fabric was then transferred to a few
elevated rollers or rods and allowed to dry, while the next table length was printed.

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ROLLER PRINTING

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It is a high speed process capable of producing 6000 yards of printed fabric per hour. It
is also called machine printing. Printing, originally a hand craft, developed into an
industrial art requiring the contributions of a range of specialists, coordinated by
someone with a clear vision of the desired end-product. The first of the specialists is the
creator of the original design, which may already be suitable for reproduction but usually
is not, and is sometimes little more than an idea. Another specialist is the engraver
whose task is to convert the original design into a set of engraved rollers that will enable
a printer to achieve an effective reproduction of the design on fabric. Sensitivity to the
original design objectives and awareness of the printer’s requirements are important as
well as skill and accuracy.

An original design must be put into repeat and the dimensions adjusted so that one or
more repeats will fit accurately around the roller circumference. If the repeat is small it
may be that the mill-engraving method should be used. This starts with the hand
engraving of a few repeats on a small soft-steel cylinder, which is then hardened. The
design is then obtained in relief by running the first cylinder (the die) under pressure in
contact with a second soft-steel roller. This relief roller (the mill) is hardened and run in
contact with the copper cylinder to obtain the desired depth of impression, and this is
repeated across the cylinder until the full width is engraved. The raised copper around
each groove must then be polished off.

In the roller printing process the print paste is applied over an engravedA roller and the
fabric is guided between this roller and a central cylinder. The pressure of the roller and
the central cylinder forces the paste into the fabric. Approximately 26% of printed goods
are printed using engraved roller printing.

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Advantages

• High design capability

• Fine detail
• Multiple tones

Disadvantages

• copper cylinders very expensive

• not economical for short runs
• requires highly skilled workers

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SCREEN PRINTING

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Screen-printing is the most flexible printing process. It can be used to print on a wide
variety of substrates, including paper, paperboard, plastics, glass, metals, fabrics, and
many other materials including paper, plastics, glass, metals, nylon and cotton. Some
common products from the screen-printing industry include posters, labels, decals,
signage, and all types of textiles and electronic circuit boards. The advantage of screen-
printing over other print processes is that the press can print on substrates of any shape,
thickness and size.

An important characteristic of screen-printing is that a greater thickness of ink can be

applied to the substrate as compared to the other printing techniques. This allows for
various interesting effects that cannot be achieved through the other printing methods.
Because of the simplicity of the application process, a wider range of inks and dyes are
available for use in screen-printing than for use in any other printing process.

Utilization of screen printing presses has begun to increase because production rates
have improved. This has been a result of the development of the automated and rotary
screen printing press, improved dryers, and U.V. curable ink. The major chemicals used
in screen-printing include screen emulsions, inks, and solvents, surfactants, caustics
and oxidizers used in screen reclamation.

Overview of the Screen Printing Process

Screen-printing consists of three elements

• The screen which is the image carrier

• The squeegee
• Ink

The screen printing process uses a porous mesh stretched tightly over a frame made of
wood or metal. Proper tension is essential for accurate color registration. The mesh is
made of a porous fabric or stainless steel. A stencil is produced on the screen either
manually or photo chemically. The stencil defines the image to be printed. In other
printing technologies this is referred to as the image plate.

Screen printing ink is applied to the substrate by placing the screen over the material.
Ink with a paint-like consistency is placed onto the top of the screen. Ink is then forced
through the fine mesh openings using a squeegee that is drawn across the screen,
applying pressure thereby forcing the ink through the open areas of the screen. Ink will
pass through only in areas where no stencil is applied, thus forming an image on the
printing substrate. The diameter of the threads and the thread count of the mesh will
determine how much ink is deposited onto the substrates.

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Many factors such as composition, size and form, angle, pressure, and speed of the
blade (squeegee) determine the quality of the impression made by the squeegee. At one
time most blades were made from rubber, which, however, had a tendency to warp and
distort. While blades continue to be made from rubber such as neoprene, most of them
are now made from polyurethane, which can produce as many as 25,000 impressions
without significant degradation of the image.

If the item is to be printed on a manual or automatic screen press the printed product will
be placed on a conveyor belt, which carries the item into the drying oven or through the
UV curing system. Rotary screen presses feed the material through the drying or curing
system automatically. Air-drying of certain inks, though rare in the industry, is still
sometimes utilized.

The rate of screen-printing production was once dictated by the drying rate of the screen
print inks. As a result of improvements and innovations in the printing technology, the
production rate has greatly increased. Some specific innovations, which affected the
production rate and have also increased screen press popularity include:

• Development of automatic presses versus hand operated presses, which have

comparatively slow production time.
• Improved drying systems, which significantly improve production rate.
• Development and improvement of U.V. curable ink technologies
• Development of the rotary screen press, which allows continuous operation of the
press. This is one of the recent technology developments.

Screen Preparation

Screen (or image transfer) preparation includes a number of steps. First the customer
provides the screen printer with objects, photographs, text, ideas, or concepts of what
they wish to have printed. The printer must then transfer a "picture" of the artwork to be
printed into an image which can then be processed and eventually used to prepare the
screen stencil.

Once the artwork is transferred to a positive image that will be chemically processed
onto the screen fabric (applying the emulsion or stencil) and eventually mounted onto a
screen frame that is then attached to the printing press and production begins.

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HAND SCREEN PRINTING

The silk screen is a wooden or aluminum frame with a fine nylon or silk mesh stretched
over it. The mesh is coated with a light sensitive emulsion or film, which - when dry - will
block the holes in the mesh. The image that needs to be printed is output to film either
by camera or image-setter. This film positive and the mesh on the screen are
sandwiched together and exposed to ultraviolet light in a device called a print-down
frame. The screen is then washed with a jet of water which washes away all the light
sensitive emulsion that has not been hardened by the ultraviolet light. This leaves you
with an open stencil which corresponds exactly to the image that was supplied on the
film. Next the fabric to be printed is pinned on a wooden table so that it is evenly
stretched and there are no ripples.

Alternatively a wax table is used. The surface of the table is covered with wax. Below
there are a network of pipes through which steam is passed. This causes the wax to
soften and the fabric is just firmly pressed on to the table. The wooden frame of the
screen is fitted with metal handles which will fit onto to corresponding wooden
protrusions on the table. This is to aid placement, when two or more colors are being
used. The dye is poured on the screen A rubber blade with a wooden handle is firmly
pulled across the top of the screen; it pushes the ink through the mesh onto the surface

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of the fabric which is being printed. Another person stands at the other side of the table.
He takes hold of the rubber blade and repeats the process.

Since the nonprinting areas on the silk screen are blocked out, the ink is pushed through
only the porous areas corresponding to the design and is thus transferred to the fabric. If
more colors are used, the process is repeated with another screen and color. The
screen is always washed with a lot of water immediately after use. If this is not done, the
dye dries on the screen and clogs up the design.

FLAT BED SCREEN PRINTING

A screen printing press comprising a main frame, a printing bed supported on the main
frame, a rectangular printing frame having a rear end pivoted to said main frame for
movement between a first printing position generally parallel to said printing table and a
second flood position angled with respect to said printing table, said printing frame
including elongated side members, a front member and a rear member, each of said
side members defining an elongated track, a squeegee and flood bar carriage engaging
said elongated tracks and movable along said side members, said carriage including a
pair of spaced side plates, a pair of slides, each slide extending from one of said side
plates and into a respective one of said tracks, a pair of pivot plates, each pivot plate
pivoted to one of said side plates, a squeegee support member extending between said
pivot plates and a flood bar support member extending between said pivot plates in
spaced, parallel relationship, said squeegee and flood bar support members being
engaged by said pivot plates so that pivoting of said pivot plates alternately raises and
lowers said squeegee and flood bar support members.

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pivot plate actuating means operatively connected to said main frame and engaging at
least one of said pivot plates for automatically lowering said flood bar support member
when said printing frame is raised to its flood position and for automatically lowering said
squeegee support member when said printing frame is in its printing position, said pivot
plate actuating means including an elongated, rigid actuating member pivoted to said
printing frame and operatively connected to said main frame, said elongated actuating
member extending along and parallel to one of said side members of said printing frame
a pivot bracket supporting said actuating member, said pivot bracket being pivoted to
said printing frame;
shifting means fixed to said pivot bracket and operatively engaging said main frame for
pivoting said pivot bracket as said printing frame moves between said first and said
second positions; and means operatively connecting said actuating member to one of
said pivot plates.

• Mechanization of hand screen process

• Fabric glued to blanket
• Screens rise and fall
• Printing done while screen in down position
• Rod or blade squeegee system
• Up to four strokes possible
• Slow process

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All the screens for the design, one screen for each color are positioned accurately along
the top of a long endless belt, known as a blanket. A machine intended to print
traditional furnishing designs might have space for 15 or more screens. The width of the
gap between the areas printed by any two adjacent screens must be a whole number of
lengthways design repeats. This need not necessarily be the same as the lengthways
screen repeat as there may be several design repeats per screen repeat; for example,
where there are three design repeats per screen repeat, the gap between adjacent
screens need only be onethird of a screen repeat.

The fabric is gummed to the blanket at the entry end and moves along with the blanket
in an intermittent fashion, one screen-repeat distance at a time. All the colors in the
design are printed simultaneously while the fabric is stationary; then the screens are
lifted and the fabric and blanket move on. When the fabric approaches the turning point
of the blanket, it is pulled off and passes into a dryer. The soiled blanket is washed and
dried during its return passage on the underside of the machine.

Advantages
• large repeats
• Multiple strokes for pile fabrics

Disadvantages
• Slow
• No continuous patterns

27
ROTARY SCREEN PRINTING

In rotary-screen printing, continuous rotation of a cylindrical screen while in contact with

the fabric ensures genuinely continuous printing. Print paste is fed into the inside of the
screen, and during printing is forced out through the design areas with the aid of a
stationary squeegee.

The design of most machines follows the pattern established for fully automatic flat-
screen machines: an endless driven blanket, screen positions along the top, and blanket
washing and drying effected underneath during the return passage. Provision for the use
of a thermoplastic adhesive is common on rotary machines, with a curved-surface
heating plate to heat the fabric before it is pressed on to the blanket. The cylindrical
screens can be much closer together than is possible with flat screens and so the
blanket is shorter (for a given number of colours). The fabric dryer, however, must be
longer to enable the printed fabric to be adequately dried at higher running speeds.
Typically, speeds of 30–70 m min–1 are used depending on the design and the fabric
quality. It is quite possible to run the machine faster than this, the limitations often being
the length and efficiency of the cloth and blanket dryers and the difficulty of observing
Printing faults at high running speeds. Print paste is often poured into flat screens by
hand, even in fully automatic machines, but the continuous movement of a cylindrical
screen and the restricted access necessitates automation of this operation. The print
paste is pumped into the screen through a flexible pipe from a container at the side of
the machine; inside the screen, the paste pipe has a rigid structure as it also acts as a
support for the squeegee. Holes in the pipe allow the paste to run down into the bottom
of the screen; since the paste is pumped in from one end, the holes need to be larger at
the end furthest from the pump to achieve an even spread across the full width of the

28
screen. A sensor (level control) actuates the pump when the paste level falls below a
preset height.

• Continuous screen printing process

• Fabric glued to blanket
• Fabric moves under rotating screens
• Rod or blade squeegee system
• Fine adjustments easily made
• Speeds up to 100 yds per min

29
 Advantages

• Fast
• Quick changeover of patterns
• Continuous patterns

Disadvantages

• Design limitations
• Small repeats

HEAT TRANSFER PRINTING

Transfer printing is the term used to describe textile and related printing processes in
which the design is first printed on to a flexible nontextile substrate and later transferred
by a separate process to a textile. It may be asked why this devious route should be
chosen instead of directly printing the fabric. The reasons are largely commercial but, on
occasion, technical as well and are based on the following considerations:

1. Designs may be printed and stored on a relatively cheap and nonbulky substrate such
as paper, and printed on to the more expensive textile with rapid response to sales
demand.

2. The production of short-run repeat orders is much easier by transfer processes than it
is by direct printing.

30
3. The design may be applied to the textile with relatively low skill input and low reject
rates.

4. Stock volume and storage costs are lower when designs are held on paper rather
than on printed textiles.

5. Certain designs and effects can be produced only by the use of transfers (particularly
on garments or garment panels).

6. Many complex designs can be produced more easily and accurately on paper than on
textiles.

7. Most transfer-printing processes enable textile printing to be carried out using simple,
relatively inexpensive equipment with modest space requirements, without effluent
production or any need for washing-off.

The design on a paper is transferred to a fabric by vaporization. There are two main
processes for this- Dry Heat Transfer Printing and Wet Heat Transfer Printing. In
Conventional Heat Transfer Printing, an electrically heated cylinder is used that presses
a fabric against a printed paper placed on a heat resistant blanket. In Infrared Heat
Vacuum Transfer Printing, the transfer paper and fabric are passed between infrared
heaters and a perforated cylinder which are protected from excessive heat by a shield.
The Wet Heat Transfer Printing uses heat in a wet atmosphere for vaporizing the dye
pattern from paper to fabric.

31
The process of transfer printing to a substrate comprising applying onto a temporary
transfer support in a desired pattern a heat transfer printing ink composition, bringing
said transfer support containing said ink into close contact with said substrate, the ink
being in direct contact with the substrate, thereby temporarily transferring a portion of
said ink to said substrate as a result of the direct contact, and permanently transferring
said ink to said substrate by applying heat and, optionally, pressure, wherein said ink is
applied to said transfer support by the following computerized method inputting an
image of a desired pattern into a computer central processing unit having a keyboard
and a peripheral video display terminal and printer by means of an optical character
reader, employing in said printer said heat transfer printing ink composition, and printing
said desired pattern onto conventional computer paper, said computer paper being said
temporary transfer support.

Advantages

• Easier handling of units

• Easier training of operators
• Better registration and clarity
• Fewer seconds
• Inventory in paper
• Pollution – free

Disadvantages

• Slow
• Limited to synthetic fibers, mainly polyester

32
OTHER METHODS OF PRINTING

Duplex Printing

Printing is done on both sides of the fabric either through roller printing machine in two
operations or a duplex printing machine in a single operation.

Stencil Printing

The design is first cut in cardboard, wood or metal. The stencils may have fine delicate
designs or large spaces through which colour is applied on the fabric. Its use is limited
due to high costs involved.

33
Transfer Printing

The design on a paper is transferred to a fabric by vaporization. There are two main
processes for this- Dry Heat Transfer Printing and Wet Heat Transfer Printing. In
Conventional Heat Transfer Printing, an electrically heated cylinder is used that presses
a fabric against a printed paper placed on a heat resistant blanket. In Infrared Heat
Vacuum Transfer Printing, the transfer paper and fabric are passed between infrared
heaters and a perforated cylinder which are protected from excessive heat by a shield.
The Wet Heat Transfer Printing uses heat in a wet atmosphere for vaporizing the dye
pattern from paper to fabric.

Blotch Printing

It is a direct printing technique where the background color and the design are both
printed onto a white fabric usually in a one operation. Any of the methods like block,
roller or screen may be used.

Airbrush (Spray) Painting

Designs may be hand painted on fabric or the dye may be applied with a mechanized
airbrush which blows or sprays color on the fabric.

Electrostatic Printing

A dye- resin mixture is spread on a screen bearing the design and the fabric is passed
into an electrostatic field under the screen. The dye- resin mixture is pulled by the
electrostatic field through the pattern area onto the fabric.
Photo Printing

The fabric is coated with a chemical that is sensitive to light and then any photograph
may be printed on it.

Differential Printing

It is a technique of printing tufted material made of yarns having different dyeing

properties such as carpets. Up to a ten color effect is possible by careful selection of
yarns, dyestuffs and pattern.

Warp Printing

34
It is roller printing applied to warp yarns before they are woven into fabric.

Tie Dyeing

Firm knots are tied in the cloth before it is immersed in a dye. The outside of the
immersed portion is dyed but the inside is not penetrated. There are various forms of Tie
dyeing like Ikat Dyeing where bundles of warp and/ or weft yarns are tie dyed prior to
their weaving. In Plangi Dyeing the gathered, folded or rolled fabric is usually held with
stitching to form specific patterns.

Batik Dyeing

It is a resist dyeing process. Designs are made with wax on a fabric which is then
immersed in a dye. The unwaxed portion absorbs the color.

Jet Spray Printing

Designs are imparted to fabrics by spraying colors in a controlled manner through

nozzles.

Digital printing

In this form of printing micro-sized droplets of dye are placed onto the fabric through an
inkjet print head. The print system software interprets the data supplied by a
cademic_Textiledigital image file. The digital image file has the data to control the
droplet output so that the image quality and color control may be achieved. This is the
latest development in textile printing and is expanding very fast. Digital Textile Printing

35
STEPS IN PRINTING PROCESS

1. Preparation of print paste

2. Printing of fabric
3. Drying
4. Fixation of dyestuff
5. Washing – off

PREPARATION OF PRINTING PASTE

Type of specific formulation used depends on the fiber, the colorant system used and to
some extent the type of printing machine.

36
Typical ingredients used include:
• Dyes or pigments
• Thickeners
• Binders, cross linking agents
• Sequestering agents
• Dispersing agents
• Water retaining agents
• Adhesion promoters
• Defoamers
• Catalysts
• Hand modifiers

1. dyestuff or pigments
Depending on the nature of the fiber on which the printing is done, suitable dyes or
pigments are selected. Pigment color can be used for printing on all types of fibers.
Reactive, vat or azoic colors are used for cotton; disperse dyes for polyester and
acid dyes and basic dyes for wool and silk.

2. Thickener
To make viscous paste of dyes in water, a thickener is used. For example: emulsion
thickener, sodium alginate and starch etc. the thickener will be dependent on the
class of dyes to be printed and the style of printing.

3. wetting agent
It helps in obtaining a smooth paste of dyes without any lumps, for example: TRO
and ethylene oxide condensator.

4. defoaming agent
Formation of foam during print paste preparation and application is quite common
but should be avoided. Foam may produce specky dyeing. The antifoaming agents
help in foam generation.

5. acid or alkali
Depending on the types of dyes used in printing, acid or alkali is used in the print
paste. An acid liberating salt is commonly used, for example ammonium chloride and

37
 diammonium hydrogen phosphate. For reactive printing on cotton, sodium carbonate
or sodium bicarbonate are used.

6. oxidizing or reducing agent

They are used in printing with solubilised vat colors and also in discharge and resist
printing. Discharging agents such as Sodium sulphoxylate formaldelyde (Rongalite)
are used in the discharge printing.

7. Hygroscopic agents
The function of hygroscopic agents is to take up sufficient amount of water (moisture)
during steaming to give mobility to lthe dyes to move into the fibre. Eg. Urea and
Glycerin.

8. Dispersing Agent
Dispersing agents are necessary in the print paste to prevent aggregation of the
dyestuff in the highly concentrated pastes.
E.g. Diethylene glycol

9. Preservatives
Preservatives are used to prevent the action of bacteria and fungus to make it dilute.
Eg. Salicylic acid.

10. Binders
Binders are used in pigment printing as a thin film forming polymer.
Eg. Melamine formaldehyde resin.
Fixation methods

1. Atmospheric steam
• treatment at 212 degrees f with saturated steam
• used with
o Direct dyes
o Vat dyes
o Napthol dyes
o Acid dyes
o Cationic dyes
o Reactive dyes

38
 festoon steamer most common equipment
Acid agar for acid dyes

2. Pressure steam
• treatment at 230 degrees f under pressure
• used with disperse dyes
• Turbo-autoclave most common equipment.

3. High temperature steam

• treatment with superheated steam at temperature up to 420 degrees f
• used with disperse dyes and pigments
• can also be used as an atmospheric steamer

4. Dry heat
• treatment with dry heat at temperatures up to 420 degrees
• used with disperse dyes and reactive dyes.

PIGMENT PRINTING

70% of all printed fabrics in U.S. are printed with pigments. Since the pigments used
contain significant amounts of dispersing agent, and since the polymeric binder is also a
dispersion with its own dispersing agent, the printed deposit is readily redispersed in
water after a short drying process. Only when the printed fabric has been raised to an
adequate temperature is the binder given enough energy to form a continuous film that
incorporates the pigment particles and adheres satisfactorily to the fibre surfaces. At the
same time, crosslinking of the binder molecules is completed if appropriate monomers
or agents have been incorporated, and the required pH and temperature achieved.

Composition of print paste

• Pigment
• Thickener(emulsion or all aqueous )

39
 • Binder (acrylic polymer )
• Low crock binder
• Softener

PROCESS

1. Print
2. Dry
3. Care

Advantages

• All fibers and fiber blends

• No after wash

Disadvantages

• Poor crock fastness

• Harsh hard

40
PRINTING MACHINES
Machines used for printing the fabrics are explained in the forth coming section Fabric
are printed conventionally using the table screen printing machines manually. More
perfection and production can be achieved using as modern automatic flat bed screen
printing machine.

41
Today’s most important development in printing machinery lies in rotary screen printing
machines. Before we go into the details of the printing machinery, let us discuss about
the preparation of the screens used for flat bed and rotary screen printing.

SCREEN PREPARATION

Flat Bed Screens

A piece of nylon bolting cloth or metal gauge (phosphobraze) is stretched and nailed to
a strong wooden frame, strengthened by metal brackets at the corner. The frames are
usually 26” x 55” (measured externally) and 23” x 52” (measured internally) for printing
45” wide cloth. When metal frame is used for making the screen, the bolting cloth may
be fixed to the frame by using a solution of polyvinyl acetate in a suitable solvent.
Photochemical method is the most widely used method for preparing screen. This is
based on the principle that when a coating of solution ammonium dichromate – gelatine
or ammonium dichromate – polyvinyl alcohol is dried and exposed to light,
insolubilisation takes place. The photosensitive coating may be given to the bolting
cloth, fixed to the screen frame, dried and exposed to light after keeping in contact with
a positive film and after insolubilisation of exposed portion, the unexposed
photosensitive coating may be given to the bolting cloth, fixed to the screen frame, dried
and exposed to light after keeping in contact with a positive film and after insolubilisation
of exposed portion, the unexposed photosensitive coating is washed out leading the
blocking of the interstices of the cloth at the exposed portions and keeping them open
(for forcing of the print paste later while printing) at the unexposed portion. The
sensitizing solution may be prepared as follows:

Chrome – Gelatine Solution

Solution A
200 g pure gelatine
500 g boiling water

700 g

Solution B
70 g Ammonium dichromate
150 g boiling water
80 g liquor ammonia

300 g

Solution A and Solution B are mixed in dark room.

Chrome-polyvinyl alcohol solution

42
 600 g polyvinyl alcohol (15% solution)
120 ml ammonium dichromate (33% solution)
240 ml cold water
1 litre with cold water

After applying the solution to the screen cloth, it is dried in the dark room at room
temperature. The positive of the design is placed on a glass-topped table and the dried
photosensitive screen is placed over it. The exposure is started from under the glass
table using mercury vapor lamp or fluorescent tube lights with uniform intensity of light
all over the screen. The screens are then washed in the dark, first with hot and then with
cold water. The hardening of the insolubilised chrome-gelatine complex is done by
placing the screen in a solution containing.

50 g chrome alum
50 g formaledehyde
25 g sodium dichromate
1 liter

For 5 minutes at room temperature, washed with cold water and dried. In the case of
chrome-polyvinyl alcohol complex, the hardening is done in a solution containing,

50 ml acetaldehyde
50 ml Isobutyraldehyde
80 ml water
20 ml sulphuric acid (168 Tw)
1 litre with cold water

It is boiled at 15 to 25 degree C for 1 to 2 hours. It is then washed with cold water and
dried.

TABLE SCREEN PRINTING

In Table Screen Printing the fabric is stuck to the printing table, which is covered with a
resilient felt, wax cloth or rubber material. Each screen is placed on the fabric in turn,
the paste applied to one end of the screen and the squeegee drawn by hand through the
paste and across the screen, forcing it through the open mesh areas on to the fabric
beneath, Guide rails along the edges of the table ensure each screen is applied in

43
register. Although the highly skilled printer can produce good quality prints by a hand
screen technique, the production rates are extremely slow.

FLAT BED SCREEN PRINTING MACHINE

The printing operation in a flat bed screen printing machine can be made fully automatic
by standardizing the stages of preparation and producing the print including screen
holding, addition of print paste, pressing the paste on to the cloth, lifting the screen and
carrying the cloth forward to the next screen printing screen position. The automation of
these stages makes the reproduction of printing results quite easy. The fabric is suitably
fed to the machine in a crease free manner. The print pattern is registered on the fabric
by pressing the printing paste through the specially engraved portions on the flat
screens. There are as many number of screens as the number of colors in the print
pattern. The fabric to be printed is conveyed, i.e. carried forward, with each color,
register by register, while the flat engraved screens continuously rise and come down,
at each repeat of the color pattern are printed at the same time, but on differed printing
places of the cloth. The entire colored pattern will be printed only when the far end
screen completes its printing operation.

Good quality nylon gauzes with superfine construction fulfill all the demands made on
the screens by the automatic screen printing machines. These demands can be
summarized as follows: Very thin application of the dyestuff paste on the screen;
Optimum color permeability in relation to the fabric; Minimum number of squeegee
strokes; Maximum mechanical resistance on the part of the screen gauze to the high
squeegee strokes.

ROTARY SCREEN PRINTING MACHINE

This system with the matrix consists of the required number of protrusions per square-
inch (or square cm) Metallic nickel is electro-deposited in the hexagonal gaps in
between the protrusions. The most common mesh sizes used are 60, 80, 100 and 120.
Needless to say, the finer the mesh number, the finger is the pattern printed through the
particular mesh. The cylindrical perforated rotary screens are formed in the forcing
trimmer. The copied designs are transferred to the rotary screen by using a photo-
emulsion of suitable sensitivity. The exposed portions retain the emulsion. The
emulsion from the unexposed portion is washed away, thus forming the design as far as
the color which is to be passed on to the cloth from that particular screen. For each color
one separate cylindrical perforated screen is used. The entire pattern is formed on the
fabric when the rotary screens pertaining to all the colors in the pattern have been
printed on the fabric through the respective color screens. The chosen design is
engraved by one of the methods mentioned earlier. The rotary engraved screens
belonging to the desired pattern are placed and fixed in their proper positions in a
predetermined order. Although patterns with 12 to 14 colors are sometimes printed,

44
only 5 or 6 colored designs are usually most commonly used. The printing paste is
introduced in the centre of the rotary screen by means of the colour pump and the colour
distribution system. The colour paste is well distributed all over the interior of the rotary
screen and is pressed onto the fabric by means of a well designed squeegee system.

The substrate, i.e., the cloth, travels over and along the endless printing conveyer
blanket to the end of the printing table top. The printing process is completed at this
stage, and the printed cloth is then led to the continuous dryer. The dryer, having an
adequate evaporation capacity is suitably designed. After drying the fabric is passed on
t the plaiting down arrangement. The rotary screens run in continuous pressurized
contact with the fabric which is to be printed and also the endless printing conveyor belt.

CURING PROCESS

Curing Chamber
In case of pigment printing the printed fabric has been raised to an adequate
temperature for giving the binder enough energy to form a continuous film. This binds
the pigment particles and achieves satisfactory adhesion to the fibre surface. At the
same time, cross linking of binder molecules is achieved if suitable monomers or agents
have been used, and the required pH and the temperature achieved. The equipment for
this purpose is the roller baker “curing oven”. It has an arrangement for carrying woven
fabrics through hot air, with as many fabric transport rollers as are required to provide
sufficient exposure time and fabric speed desired. Treatment time varies from 5 to 8
minutes and the temperature of the treatment ranges from 140 to 160 C.

Loop Ager
Loop ager is continuous process equipment in which the cloth is handled in loop form
with least contact and transported in tensionless manner. It is a versatile machine by
which hot air curing, saturated steaming water injection along with steam is involved.
Before starting, the inner parts are cleaned and made free of water. The air inside can
be expelled by slow injection and closing the manhole door. According to process
temperature, heating value lines are kept open and temperature is set. The speed of
machine is set as per process time and loop length. Pieces of printed fabric (single or
double web) are stitched to the leader fabric and fed into the chamber.
After the process the cloth is drawn out form chamber and is carried to plaiter through
top guide rolls.

Advantages

• Continuous process leading to consistency in fixation.

• Higher productivity and facility of process double webs.
• Better temperature control and less scope for variations.

45
Disadvantages

• Not economical for short runs.

• Consumes time and energy for heating and cooling.
• Risk of loop rods struck up falling and damage to fabric.

MACHINERY

Flat- Screen Printing

Flat- screen and rotary-

screen printing are both
characterized by the
fact that the printing paste is

46
transferred to the fabric through openings in specially designed screens. The openings
on each screen correspond to a pattern and when the printing paste is forced through by
means of a squeegee, the desired pattern is reproduced on the fabric. A separate
screen is made for each colour in the pattern.

Screen printing with automatic squeegee system

Flat-screen printing machines can be

 Manual
 Semi-automatic
 Completely automatic.

One type of machine, which is still commonly found in printing houses, can be described
as follows.

• The fabric is first glued to a moving endless belt.

• A stationary screen at the front of the machine is lowered onto the area
that has to be printed and the printing paste is wiped with a squeegee.
• Afterwards the belt, with the fabric glued on it, is advanced to the pattern-
repeat point and the screen is lowered again.
• The printed fabric moves forward step by step and passes through a dryer.
The machine prints only one colour at a time.
• When the first colour is printed on the whole length of the fabric, the dried
fabric is ready for the second cycle and so on until the pattern is
completed.

47
flat-screen printing machine

In other fully mechanized machines all the colours are printed at the same time. A
number of stationary screens (from 8 to 12, but some machines are equipped with up to
24 different screens) are placed along the printing machine. The screens are
simultaneously lifted, while the textile, which is glued to a moving endless rubber belt, is
advanced to the pattern-repeat point. Then the screens are lowered again and the paste
is squeezed through the screens onto the fabric. The printed material moves forward
one frame at each application and as it leaves the last frame it is finally dried and it is
ready for fixation.

Mechanized screen printing machine with stationary screens mounted in a frame

In both machines the continuous rubber belt, after pulling away the fabric, is moved
downward in continuous mode over a guide roller and washed with water and rotating
brushes to remove the printing paste residues and the glue, if necessary. After this, the
belt is sent back to the gluing device.

48
In some cases the glue is applied in liquid form by a squeegee, while in other machines
the belts are pre-coated with thermoplastic glues. In this case the textile is heated and
then it is squeezed by a roller or simply pressed against the rubber-coated belt, causing
the glue to soften and instantly adhere.

After printing, the screens and the application system are washed out. It is common
practice to squeeze the color from the screens back into the printing paste mixing
containers before washing them. Specially developed Screen printing machine for Flat
printing application

Features

These flat screen printing machines are extensively used for printing on flat surfaces like
PVC, Metal, Glass, Paper, Board and PCB. These are highly cost effective as these
require less power. The salient features are as below:

• Pneumatically drive.
• Low noise
• Printing table with X, Y and Rotation for accurate registration.
• Printing table with powerful Vacuum to hold the substrate on to its position
while printing.
• Maximum Substrate height 40 mm.
• Squeegee /coater pressure with fine adjustment.

49
 • Angle can be set as per requirement.

Applications

• Letterhead, wedding cards printing

• Stickers printing
• PCB printing
• Metal sheet printing
• Glass printing
• Scale printing
• Printing on Plastic plates
• T.V Cabinet
• Washing machine panels
• Industrial control Panels
• Membrane switches
• Battery containers
• Umbrella panels
• T-shirts
• Coaster printing
• Container lids
• Tube light fittings
• Speedometer dials
• Car stickers

ROTARY-SCREEN PRINTING

Rotary-screen printing machines use the principle in which, the colour is transferred to
the fabric through lightweight metal foil screens, which are made in the form of cylinder
rollers. The fabric moves along in continuous mode under a set of cylinder screens while

50
at each position the print paste is automatically fed to the inside of the screen from a
tank and is then pressed through onto the fabric. A separate cylinder roller is required
for each colour in the design.

A Rotary-Screen Printing Process

A Rotary-Screen Printing Machine

A conventional paste feeding system for rotary-screen printing machines is as follows.

51
 • A suction pipe leads from the paste vat to a pump, from where a printing hose
leads to the squeegee (dye pipe with squeegee). From here the paste is directed
inside the cylinder roller.
• The fill volume of this so-called printing paste input system is quite high and as a
consequence the amount of paste residue that has to be removed at each colour
change is also fairly significant.
• Various systems have been introduced in order to lower the volume configuration
of this equipment, which also reduces the amount of such wastes.
• Another possibility, which has also already been implemented in some
companies, is to recover and re-use these residues for making up new recipes.

Printing-paste feeding system for a rotary-screen printing machine

Rotary-screen printing machines are equipped with both gluing and washing devices
analogous to those described earlier for flat-screen printing. The belt is washed in order
to remove the residues of paste and adhesive. Not only the belt, but also the screens
and the paste input systems (hoses, pipes, pumps, squeegees, etc.) have to be cleaned
up at each colour change.

Rotary Screen Printing Machine

Rotary Screen Printing Machines are widely used in a large number of industries for
faster and finer printing solutions. These printing machines are specially designed

52
keeping printing precision and clarity in mind. These printing machines are apt for
medium to high volume printing. These machines are used for both industrial and
graphical applications.

Salient Features

• Variable screen angle adjustment.

• High grade aluminum castings.
• Robust and sturdy, one-piece tubular steel base.
• High precision tapered roller bearings for rotary sections.

Applications of Rotary Screen Printing Machine

Rotary screen printing machines are used in almost every industry as they provide
quick, easy and high quality printing solutions.

• Specialty Advertising Industry

• Pharmaceutical Industry
• Cosmetic Industry
• Automobile Industry
• Membrane Switches
• Metal or plastic Sheets
• Glass and Ceramics

Roller Printing Machines

Roller printing machines works as follows.

• In roller printing, the print paste is supplied from reservoirs to rotating copper
rollers, which are engraved with the desired design. These rollers contact a main
cylinder roller that transports the fabric.

53
 • By contacting the rollers and the fabric the design is transferred to the fabric. As
many as 16 rollers can be available per print machine; each roller imprints one
repeat of the design.
• As the roller spins, a doctor blade in continuous mode scrapes the excess of
paste back to the colour trough.
• At the end of each batch the paste reservoirs are manually emptied into
appropriate printing paste batch containers and squeezed out.
• The belt and the printing gear (roller brushes or doctor blades, squeegees and
ladles) are cleaned up with water.

Roller Printing Machine Recent Roller Printing Machine

JET PRINTING

Jet printing is a non-contact application system originally developed for printing carpets,
but now increasingly used in the textile sector.

The first commercial jet printing machine for carpets was the Elektrocolor, followed by
the first Millitron machine. The Millitron printing system works, as follows.

54
 • The injection of the dye into the substrate is accomplished by switching on and off
a dye jet by means of a controlled air stream.
• As the carpet moves along, no parts of the machine are in contact with the face of
the substrate.
• Air streams are used to keep continuously flowing dye jets, deflected into a
catcher or drain tray. This dye is drained back to the surge tank, filtered and re-
circulated.
• When a jet is requested to fire, the air jet is momentarily switched off, allowing the
correct amount of dye to be injected into the textile substrate.
• The dye is supplied in continuous mode to the main storage tank to compensate
for the amount of dye consumed.

MILLITRON SYSTEM

Spray printing systems and first generation jet printing methods cannot be controlled to
produce a pre-specified pattern. Thus the equipment must first be employed to produce
a wide range of effects and only then can selections be made from these by the
designer or marketing staff.

55
Digital Carpet Printing Machines

An early improvement was made by the first digital carpet printers (Chromotronic and
Titan by Zimmer and Tybar Engineering, respectively). These machines are based on
the so-called drop on demand principle, namely the use of switch able electromagnetic
valves placed in the dye liquor feed tubes to allow the jetting of discrete drops of dye
liquor in a predetermined sequence according to the desired pattern. The features of this
machine are as follows.

• In these machines, although the amount of dye applied can be digitally controlled
at each point of the substrate, further penetration of the dye into the substrate is
still dependent on capillary action of the fibre and fibre surface wetting forces.
• This can lead to problems of reproducibility (e.g. when the substrate is too wet)
and means that it is still necessary to use thickeners to control the rheology of the
dye liquor.

Some latest jet printing machines are:

o The latest improvement in jet printing of carpet and bulky fabrics is the
development of machines in which the colour is injected with surgical
precision deep into the face of the fabric without any machine parts
touching the substrate. Here, the control of the quantity of liquor applied to
the substrate (which may vary for example from lightweight articles to
heavy quality fabrics) is achieved by varying the firing time and the
pumping pressure.

o Another digital jet printing machine commercially available is Zimmer's

Chromo jet. In the Chromo jet system, the printing head is equipped with
512 nozzles. These are magnetically controlled and can open and close up
to 400 times a second. The carpet is accumulated into a J-box, and is then
steamed and brushed. When it reaches the printing table it is stopped. The
jets are mounted on a sliding frame that can itself be moved in the
direction of the warp while the carpet remains stationary during the printing
process.

o Ink-jet printing is another digital printing technique with its origins in paper
printing technology that is now also increasingly used in the textile
industry. In ink-jet printing, colour is applied to the surface of the substrate
without variation in firing time, pressure or velocity. For this reason it can
only be applied for flat light fabrics, especially silk.

o The TAK printing system can still be found in the carpet industry. With this
technique irregular patterns can be produced. The carpet, previously dyed
with a ground shade, is provided with coloured spots through dripping. The

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 size and the frequency of the coloured spots can be varied by adjusting
the overflow groove placed along the carpet width.

HOT STAMPING MACHINE FOR FLAT OBJECTS

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A wide range of hot stamping machines are used for flat objects. These machines are
widely acknowledged for their high Accuracy and smooth movement. These are ideally
used for hot stamping on Plastic Panel, Clock, Paper Box, Garments, Books, Leather
Goods, Wood and Paper Products.

Specifications:

Power AC 220V 50 Hz , 800 W

Requirement
Temperature 0-400°C
Time control 0-9 sec
Cylinder Ø100mm
Diameter
Stroke 100mm
Size of base 340 x 370mm
plate
Maximum 1500kg
Pressure
Maximum 220mm
Gap
Weight 300kgs.
Dimension L1140xW620xH1750mm

Features

• Operator friendly Machine design.

• Strong Machine construction

• X, Y table with Micro Adjustment

• Easy Up and down movement of the stamping Head

• Low pressure can be controlled easily.

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• 3 timer controls for better performance

• For pressure time.

• For delay time,

• For foil feed adjustment.

• Special design for foil feeder.

• High efficient heater device for quick and easy hot stamping,

• Operating temperature can be adjusted from 0 ~ 400°C easily and accurately.

• Foil feed roll guide.

• High efficiency structure of pneumatic system and an auto lubricator is employed with
easy adjustment and high stability and durability.

• Inductive sensor is easy to adjust and accurate.

• The level of heater can be easily adjusted.

• Accurate depth adjustment can be achieved with micro-adjustment.

• Foil feeder with special motor rotates very accurately.

• Both hands push button prevent industrial accident.

• The machine can be easily moved by the working table with wheels.

• Single Cycle and Auto cycle operation

Applications

• Video cassette panel

• Clock frame etc.

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PRINTING STYLES

1. DIRECT STYLE PRINTING USING PIGMENTS ON COTTON

Pigments are insoluble coloring matter than can be affixed on to the fibre with the
help of some binders. Pigment printing is considered to be one of the simplest
direct style printing, which can be applied on all class of fibres irrespective of their
affinity factor.

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 The main ingredients used in pigment printing are:

 Pigments
Pigments are very fine particles of 0.1 – 3 Micron size.

 Binders
Binders are film forming polymers which will form a thin transparent film over the
printed surface to protect the print from external agencies.

 Thickener
Emulsion thickeners like Kerosene emulsion paste or MTO emulsion paste are
preferred.

 Cross-linking agent
External cross linking agent like melamine formaldehyde resin may be added to
the paste to improve wet fastness.

 Acid liberating agents

Acidic pH is to be maintained for polymerization & cross linking of the binder.
Acid liberating salts are preferred here. Diammonium phosphate, Ammonium
salts of sulphuric acid (Catalylst LCP) etc., are used for the purpose.

 Other Chemicals
Urea as hygroscopic agent and silicone softener can also be used in the paste.

Recipe:

Pigment - X Parts
Binder - 8 – 12 parts
Fixer / Cross linking agent - 1 part
DAP / Catalyst LCP - 0.5 – 1 Part
Urea - 2-5 Parts
Kerosene / MTO emulsion paste - Remaining
_________
100 Parts
__________

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Procedure:

A screen printing machine either table or Rotary is selected for printing purpose
depending on the availability land suitability. Screens are prepared based on
number of colours used in the motif.
Print paste is prepared using the above recipe and printed on the fabric. Then
the fabric is dried at 120 C. Pigment printed fabrics are then cured in a
polymerize at 15o C for 4-5 minutes. Then the fabric my be given a mild soaping
and washing treatment.
Kerosene is found to be hazardous in nature and present trend is to replace it
fully or partially with acrylic thickeners.

2. DIRECT STYLE PRINTING OF REACTIVE ON COTTON

Reactive dyes form covalent bonds with the fibre and show excellent all round
fastness on cellulosic fabrics. It has full range of bright colours.
Cold brand reactive dyes are never preferred for printing. Hot brand
monochlorotriazine dye, Vinyl sulphone dyes etc.

The main ingredients used in pigment printing are:

 Alkali
Sodium bicarbonate is the alkali used which will maintain the necessary alkaline
pH.

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  Mild Oxidizing Agent
Resist salt, [sodium meta nitro benzene sulphonate. It is used for the purpose
which protects the reactive colour from coming out of the print area in the
steamer.

 Urea
Dye dissolution agent while dissolving, hygroscopic agent while steaming and
also helps in better diffusion of dyes.

 Defoamer
Emulsified pine oil, used as a Defoamer controls the foam.

 Thickener
Sodium alginate thickeners are highly preferred in case of reactive printing.

Recipe

Hot brand reactive dye - X parts

Sodium bicarbonate - 2-2.5 parts
Resist Salt - 1-1.5 parts
Urea - 10-15 parts
Defoamer - 0.25-0.5%
Sodium alginate - 35 – 40 parts
Water - Balance
__________
Total 100 Parts
__________

Procedure

Water at 60 C is taken with resist salt, sodium bicarbonate and sodium alginate powder
is added with stirring. The paste is kept for 8-12 hours.

After that Urea, Defoamer and finally predissolved reactive dyes are added.

Fabric is printed using the above paste in any one of the printing machine. Fabric is
dired at 120 C. Dried fabric can be fixed using any one of the following three methods.

1. Steaming Method
2. Dry baking Method
3. Pad – Silicate Method

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Steaming Method
Printed fabric is steamed with saturated steam at 102 C for 12 minutes using any one
ager like star ager or loop ager.

Dry bake Method

For dry baking, excess urea is taken in the print paste to provide necessary hygroscopic
nature to the fabric. After drying the fabric is subjected to dry heat at 150 C for 5
minutes.
As the sodium silicate is not an ecofriendly chemical, Pad-Silicate method is less
preferred now.
After fixing the print paste, thorough washing with cold water, hot wash, followed by
soaping at 80 C with 1-2 gpl non-ionic detergent and then hot wash at 80 C followed by
cold wash are given to complete the process. Pad – silicate process is not eco-friendly.

3. DIRECT STYLE OF PRINTING WITH DISPERSE DYES ON POLYESTER

Polyester, being a hydrophobic material, show no affinity to any dyes.

Disperse dyes can be applied on polyester using direct style printing.

The main ingredients in the paste are:

 Thickening Agent
Acid resistant thickeners like CMC, modified guar gum can be used.

 Acid
Tartaric/Citric acid or an acid liberating agent can be used to maintain the pH at
4-5.

 Oxidizing agents and Defoamer

Oxidizing agents are used for oxidizing and defoamers to control foams

 Levelling Agent
To get uniformity in shades, a leveling agent is required.

Recipe

Disperse dye - Xg
Thickener - Up to 50 g
Acid - to maintain pH at 4-5

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 Defoamer - 0.5- 1 part
Levelling Agent - 1-2 Part
Oxidising Agent - 0.5 Part
Water - Balance
_______
Total 100 parts
________

PROCEDURE

Print paste is prepared with the above chemicals. A thoroughly prepared polyester
fabric is printed with the paste using flat bed or rotary screen printing machine. Then the
fabric is dried. The goods are then steamed in a HTHP ager at 130 c for 30 minutes or
alternatively, the goods are steamed in a loop ager (which is only HT ager) at 175 C for
7-8 minutes.

Washing treatment includes a thorough cold wash, hot wash at 60 C, which is followed
by reduction clearing to remove the unfixed dye.

Reduction clearing is done with

Sodium hydrosulphite - 2 gpl

Sodium hydroxide - 2 gpl
Nonionic Soap - 1 gpl

This treatment is followed by hot wash at 80 C. Then the process is completed with a
cold wash.

4. WHITE AND COLOUR DISCHARGE ON DISPERSE GROUND

To produce a white or colour discharge printing on disperse dyed polyester fabric, the
following steps are followed.

Step 1

Dye the polyester fabric with ground disperse dyes uniformly using HTHP method or by
padding the fabric with disperse dyes and other ingredients required for thermosol
process of dyeing. Hight temperature steaming treatment need not to be done now
which will be actually taking place while steaming after printing.

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Step 2

For producing white discharge, the following recipe is used.

Discharging agent - 10-15 parts

(Zinc sulphoxylate formaldehyde)
Citric Acid - 1-2 parts
Antifoaming agent - 0.5 parts
Optical Brightener (White-R) - 0.5-1 part
Fibre Swelling agent - 1 part
Thickener (locust bean gum) - 50 parts
Water - Balance
_________
100 Parts
_________

For producing colour charge, the following recipe is used.

Non dischargeable disperse dyes - X Parts

Discharging agent (Stannous chloride) - Upto 8 Parts
Citric Acid - 1 Part
Antifoaming agent - 0.5 Part
Fibre swelling agent - 1 part
Thickener (locus bean gum) - 50 part
Water - Balance
___________
100 Parts
____________

The dyed polyester fabric obtained from step 1, is printed with anyone of the above
recipe (depending upon whether white or colour discharge printing is required) using
rotary or flatbed screen printing machine. The printed fabric is dried at100-120 C. For
white discharge printing, Zinc sulphoxylate formaldehyde is used as the discharging
agent as it has more stability to high temperature than Sodium sulphoxylate
formaldehyde. For colour discharge, Stannous chloride serves better.

Step 3

Steaming operation at HTHP ager at 120-130 C for 20-30 minutes is required for the
complete discharge in the printed portion. Alternatively, steaming in HT loop ager at
160-170 for 5-6 minutes can also be done.

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Step 4

A thorough washing cycle follows the steaming operation. Cold Wash and mild hot wash
are given to the printed fabric.

Reduction cleared at 60-70 C with

Sodium Hydrosulphite - 2 gpl

Sodium Hydroxide - 2 gpl
For 20 minutes.
Finally the fabric is hot washed, cold washed and then dried.

5.WHITE AND COLOUR RESIST WITH PIGMENTS ON REACTIVE

GROUND

Resist printing on the reactive ground can be produced using an acid as a colour
resisting agent. As the reactive dyeing is effected only in alkaline pH the presence of
acid in the printed areas neutralises the reactive ground colour and resists the
development of reactive colour at the printed area alone.

For producing white resist on reactive ground.

recipe

Resisting agent (Citric Acid) - 5-6 parts

Thickener (Locust beam gum) - 50 parts

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 Water - Balance
__________
100 Parts
__________

For producing colour resist using pigments

recipe

Pigment - X parts
Binder - 10-12 parts
Fixer - 1 parts
Resisting agent Citric Acid) - 5-6 parts
Kerosene emulsion thickener
with water - Balance
________
100 Parts
__________
The material is printed with any one of the above print paste (depending on whether
white or colour resist need to be produced) and dried.

Reactive colour is applied on the fabric by nip padding method using the following
recipe.

Reactive Dye - X Parts

Urea - 1/5 fo dye quantity
Sodium bicarbonate - 10-20 Parts
Resist salt - 10-20 pats
Sodium alginate - 50 parts
Water - Balance
__________
1000 Parts
Material is dried at 100 C. Then the material is steamed at 102 C for 8-10 minutes. This
is followed by a washing sequence, one cold wash and one hot wash at 80 C. Soaping
is given with 1 gpl nonionic detergent at 70-80 C, followed by one hot wash and cold
wash.

6 .BATIK STYLE PRINTING ON REACTIVE GROUND

This is a mechanical resist process in which the resist design is applied with
hydrophobic wax. Mixture of paraffin wax is used in the ratio of 1:1 to 1:3 to get good
cracking and adhesion effect. The well prepared fabric is applied with molten wax by
brush or special tools or blocks as per desired pattern preferably on both sides of the
fabric. The wax is solidified on drying. The fabric is crushed by hand to form cracks in
the waxed area. This crack will give way for colour diffusion during subsequent dyeing.

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After cracking, the fabric is dyed using reactive dyes to the required ground shade and
washed with cold water. The wax is removed by treating in the hot water bath at 70-80
C followed by hot soap and cold wash. The dewaxed area produce a white resist
pattern with fine hair-line cracks which are not reproducible by other means.

Batik printing is a traditional art expressing culture, tradition and civilization. It claims
good aesthetic appeal. Multicolored resist effects are also possible by repeated waxing
and dyeing operations.

TEXTILE PRINTING PRODUCTS

LABEL PRINTING MACHINE

Textile Label Printing Machines The printing principle Flexo label printing machine is to
let ink transfer to flexo plate cylinder via high-precision anilox roller. Then impress the
picture on the textile belt surface by plate cylinder directly. It can make high speed
printing for cloth, textile and rolling paper. The ink layer is thick and solid. The color
duration is good. The plate cylinder can be changed at whim and change the length of
printing. Product Specification/Models 4C+2C Label Printing Machine - MK4002R

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SPECIFICATIONS
Label Length : 10.0 mm ~ 294.0 mm
Label Width : 4 mm ~ 140 mm
Speed : 0 ~ 1.2 m/s Power : 220V AC 50 - 60Hz 2.5 KW
Dimensions : 760 mm (W) x 1333 mm (L) x 1900 mm (H)
Net weight : 580 KG
Printing : 4C + 2C

TEXTILE HOT STAMPING FOIL

This is a kind of hot stamping foil which stamping on

textile, such as candy bags for marriage and indian's
beautiful clothes sarees and some of large piece curtain
and so on. It can make your clothes more beautiful.

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MINI BALL VALVE

Features:
• Little cubage
• good appearance
• long life Operating fast
• low pressure expending Perfect sealing
• it could work in vacuum 740mm HG.

Application
• Textile printing & dying
• chemical industry
• brewage
• foodstuff industry,
• water disposal.

SODIUM ALGINATE

In Printing and Textile Industry It has been a long history since sodium alginate has
been used in warp sizing, packing and printing. In printing, The food industry Sodium
alginate is widely used in food industry. A. Synthetic Food Sodium alginate is the
main material of seaweed,synthetic grape and synthetic cherry. B. Iced Food

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VISCOSE RAYON FLOCK POWDER

Precision cut and ground mix viscose (rayon) flock powder with different dtex, cutting
lengths, and colour. You can send your own colour and flock sample for perfect
matching

72