Which ink for printing on textiles?€¦ · Sublimation printing is a method for printing textiles indirectly, you print directly on specially coated transfer paper, and later is

Which ink for printing on textiles?

Which ink for which fabric?

January 2013

Nicholas Hellmuth and Maria Renée Ayau

Which ink for printing on textiles? Which in for which fabric?

II

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Copyright 2013

Contents

Advantages, but also issues, with each ink 2

Typical workflow (for reactive inks and acid inks) 5

Workflow for dye sublimation 7

Workflow for direct to fabric (disperse dye ink) 9

Workflow for pigmented textile ink 12

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1

Which ink for printing on textiles?

Which ink for which fabric?

Textile printing can be divided into two mayor branches: direct to garment and sublimation transfer printing.

Direct to garment printing (DTG) uses four kinds of inks: • Acid dyes: for printing onto animal derived fabrics, such as silk or wool• Reactive dyes: used to print onto vegetable derived fabrics like cotton or linen.• Pigment: it is mostly used to print onto cotton-blended fabrics.• Disperse dyes: for polyester and most synthetic fabrics, such as rayon or satin.

Sublimation printing is a method for printing textiles indirectly, you print directly on specially coated transfer paper, and later is transferred onto the fabric by using a heat fixation unit. This process is what is called sublima-tion, and hence the inks used for this are called dye sublimation inks.

Disperse dye sublimation ink bottles by Chromoink.


2

In printing signage, we all know full solvent ink, mild-solvent, eco-solvent, and the mythical (pseudo)bio-solvent ink. We know UV-cured and latex ink. For a few months we saw a glimmer of a resin ink (AquaRes), but it is now recognized to work primarily only for highly specialized applications (not general signage and definitely not for PVC). And we have latex ink from HP; now in its second improved generation. So for signage there are many flavors of solvent ink; and then all the true water-based inks: Canon, HP Designjet Z3200, and traditional Epson Stylus Pro systems from past years.

Each of these inks has benefits, and can do some things very well. But each kind of signage ink has an issue. It is the same with textile inks: there is no one single perfect ink (there is no one “textile ink.”) Instead there are FIVE kinds of inks for textiles, plus a few signage inks which can also handle some fabrics. Within the five kinds of textile ink, even within one kind (sublimation for example).

You can have water based sublimation ink, oil-based sublimation ink, and solvent based sublimation ink (plus you can have disperse dye and basic “dye sublimation). Water-based dye sublimation ink has so much water that the transfer paper may cockle (deform).

Advantages, but also issues, with each ink

See comparative tabulation on subsequent page.

HP Temporary textile exhibit, drupa 2012.UV ink container. Sepiax ink bottle.


3

Some sublimation inks release extreme smog as a result of the heating sublimation process. Ironically solvent-based sublimation inks may better than other chemistries (less fumes, or at least easier to handle).

So be sure to understand which pros, and which downsides, the ink has in the printer you are considering. No one single ink is perfect for all fabrics or for all applications. Yet it is rare for a spec sheet to admit to any inadequa-cies. And it is almost unheard of for an advertising brochure to admit to what the ink can’t do, or does poorly, or issues (such as cockling of the paper, or smog released during sublimation).

Solvent sublimation ink, in addition to less smog, has an advantage that it can also be switched over to non-textile solvent ink, such as on the Scitex and VUTEk printers of earlier years.

It is human nature to focus on the good features. So consider a company which, either is forthright about pros and cons, or a company that makes all three kinds of sublimation inks: this way they are less likely to hedge (or lie).

efi VUTEk TX3250r textile printer, drupa 2012


4

Disperse dye Direct to fabric Polyester only Needs sublima-tion unit

Colors some-times not as bright as via transfer paper

Dye sublimation

Oil-based, water-based, solvent-based

Normally for transfer paper only

Needs separate heat transfer press

(most) Colors are bright

Dark areas are iffy; some colors do not repro-duce well

Reactive dye

Direct to pre-treated fabric.

Dye is absorbed by the fabric.

Cotton and cel-lulose materials

Needs lots of pre- and post- work (saturated steam and wash-ing)

Bright colors, light fastness and great wash fastness

Acid dye

Direct to pre-treated fabric.

Dye is absorbed by the fabric.

Nylon, wool, silk

Bright colors, light fastness (better than reactive inks) and great wash fastness

Pigmented Direct to fabric Primarily cotton Needs heat fixa-tion

In past years color pop was weak; now Hongsam has patent on new chemistry better colors.

LatexExtreme curing temperature means you can’t use some fabrics. High cost of electricity. Slow to start up (must be “warmed up).

Longevity and color gamut weak on first generation (a bit better now)

Make sure the feel of the fabric is acceptable

UV-curedDirect to any-thing and every-thing

Curing system is expensive

No post print-ing processing required in most cases

Color gamut ok but yellows and greens and reds may be a tad “unique”

You can feel the ink layer on top of the fabric.

Silk and wool can also be printed on with reactive dye ink. May require coating on the fabric.


5

Typical workflow (especially for reactive inks; comparable for acid inks)

There are several ways to divide the work-flow with terms for each item of equipment needed, but in essence it is about five to seven steps. Here is a six-step example: Pre-treat (coating, called padding), dry, print, fix (steaming), washing, drying

Pre-treatment varies by the material and de-sired ink. In jargon it is called padding. Nor-mally you will buy material that a company has already pre-treated for the specific ink and end-result that you seek. Naturally pre-treated material is more expensive.

If you treat yourself, you must then have a dryer to dry the material

Hollanders textile printer

Hollanders Color Booster.


6

Printing (which involves RIP software, color management software and spectrophotometer which can handle fabrics).

Fixation, such as steaming, heating.

Wash off excess ink. This is not done in your home laundry machine! Normally requires an industrial workflow setup.

Drying also is most effectively done in a professional work-flow. So if you have a home-run business, you will not likely have space (or budget) for all the equipment needed.

Hollanders Color Wash.

Hollanders Color Edge.


7

Workflow for dye sublimation

• Printontotransferpaper.• Putthetransferpaperintoaheatpress.

Normally that is it; normally no wash, dry se-quence after the transfer. But heat press equip-ment is expensive. Plus you normally must feed the paper into the transfer machine by hand. At trade shows I almost always see TWO people needed to handle this. So equipment and labor is not cheap. However dye sub heat transfer tends to give much better color than direct to fabric (though some brands can achieve remarkable di-rect to fabric colors).

Fortiuna i-Jet 2600A transfer paper printer.


8

Klieverik GTC heating unit.


9

Workflow for direct to fabric (disperse dye ink)

• Printontothefabric• Sublimate:

• Usually at the bottom of the printer (cheap entry level)• Sublimate about one to two meters away (sophisticated systems)

Cheap disperse dye ink may give weak re-sults. And in general, you get splotchy re-sults in dark areas. Pure black may be okay, but grays may be awkward, and a few col-ors do not reproduce well. In contrary, a few other colors, some yellows, reproduce with a wow factor (which makes the unin-spired colors all the more obvious).

However I have seen excellent results with ATPColor, d-gen, DigiFab, efi VUTEk, and other systems.

d-gen was cut off from Roland in Autum 2012 so it unsure what obstacles Roland might place on spare parts. It is totally unknown what printer chassis d-gen will consider to replace Roland.

DigiFab StampaJet IB-64 textile printer.


10

ATPColor DTF textile printer.


11

d-gen Teleios Grande textile printer.


12

Workflow for pigmented textile ink

• Printontothefabric(generallycotton)• Heat

Two companies which produce top of the line workflow equipment are Zimmer (in Austria, focuses on printers but also has the workflow equipment) and Rimslow (in Australia).

For the past decade everyone commented how uninspiring the color of pigmented textile ink was. The only reason people used it was to avoid all the pre-printing work flow and post-printing washing, drying, etc. But every year the color has gotten a bit better. At drupa 2012, I overheard experienced textile manager from Europe comment on how pleasantly surprised he was to see the remarkable quality of the new pigmented ink from Hongsam.

DigiFab, NY office1412 Broadway, Suite 2100

New York, NY 10018

Tel. (212) 944-9882Fax. (212) 944-9659

[email protected]

DigiFab, main office and factory5015 Pacific Blvd.Vernon, CA 90058

Tel. (323) 581-4500Fax. (323) 582-4500

[email protected]

If you obtain a textile printer from DigiFab or ATPColor or EFI VUTEk,

they will have their own ink suppliers

efi headquarters303 Velocity Way Foster City,

California 94404United States of America

Tel. +1-650-357-3500 Fax. +1-650-357-3907

w3.efi.com

FLAAR_Reports Nicholas Hellmuth

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Our Textile team at FLAAR produce reports on textile print-ers and textile inks at most major trade shows around the world each year. Here are the front covers of samples. You can order these by writing FrontDesk “at” FLAAR.org and asking to be invoiced.

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FLAAR Reports on Textile Printing

Introductory Textile Reports


15

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FLAAR Reports on Inkjet Inks

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Which ink for printing on textiles?€¦ · Sublimation printing is a method for printing textiles indirectly, you print directly on specially coated transfer paper, and later is