Plastic ink and water-based ink for the hottest fa

Plastic ink and water-based ink for fabric printing

two types of ink are mainly used in fabric printing - plastic ink and water-based ink. Plastic ink is based on PVC (polyvinyl chloride). It basically contains no solvent. It is called 100% solid ink system with UV ink. Water based inks can be divided into dye type and pigment type. At room temperature or in a specific drying device (convection furnace or infrared radiation device), the ink layer is solidified by the release and volatilization of water and other volatile organic compounds. Plastic ink and water-based ink have their own technical advantages and disadvantages in specific applications, and their impact on the environment is also different. Therefore, comprehensive consideration and reasonable selection should be made. Plastic ink is often used in the printing of finished fabrics, such as T-shirts, jackets, handbags, etc., while water-based ink is often used in fabric printing

plastic ink system

the main components of plastic ink are plasticizer and PVC. When the plastic ink is heated to a certain temperature, PVC particles expand, absorb liquid plasticizer and cross-linking reaction occurs, forming a solid elastic film. Its curing temperature is generally 149 ~ 166. C plastic ink is a user-friendly ink, which is easy to manage. It is suitable for printing a variety of fabrics. It is easy to fix and washable. As long as the fabric adapts to the curing temperature and can absorb ink, it can be used. Because plastic ink does not contain solvent and will not cure naturally, based on this characteristic, plastic ink is not easy to block, which is suitable for wet stack wet printing

plastic carefully fill in the equipment operation handover record. The adhesive ink has a variety of transparency, which can be selected according to the type and color of the fabric. The price varies with the transparency. Generally speaking, the lower the transparency, the more expensive the price, because the iron content of the pigment in the sample will increase with the decrease of transparency. Therefore, we should reasonably choose the transparency of ink and control the cost

the curing of plastic ink requires a higher temperature. Generally, the curing time of light ink is longer than that of dark ink, and the thicker the film, the longer the curing time. However, if the curing time is too long, the plasticizer in the ink will enter the fabric and affect the image quality. If the curing is not complete, the PVC resin particles cannot fully absorb the plasticizer, and the ink layer is easy to crack and peel off

plastic ink is thermoplastic and will melt again when heated. Therefore, products printed with plastic ink cannot be ironed, otherwise the printing pattern will become blurred. Plastic ink without curing treatment contains certain harmful chemicals. In order to protect the environment, the waste ink should be heated to 160. C. Make it completely solidified and harmless

water based ink system

water based ink for fabric printing mainly uses water as the solvent. However, water is not the only solvent. It also contains more or less petroleum based solvent to shorten the drying time of ink on the fabric and reduce the influence of heating on the fabric

fabric printed with water-based ink is soft, especially on cloth. Water based ink is suitable for large printing equipment with drying device. In addition, it has strong permeability and is suitable for printing on thicker fabrics, such as towels. Compared with plastic ink, water-based ink is difficult to dry, requires a huge drying device, and must be kept at a higher temperature for a period of time to facilitate the drying of solvent volatile film. In order to improve the drying speed and facilitate the complete drying of ink, most water-based inks need to add catalysts. But the ink with catalyst can only last for 4-12 hours

application comparison

(1) printing accuracy. The water-based ink has good fluidity and is suitable for fine printing. The printing pattern has high definition, but the hiding power of the ink is not as good as that of plastic ink, so it is not suitable for printing on dark fabrics

plastic ink has been able to print eye-catching patterns of about 85 lines/inch. Due to the high hiding power of the ink, it is more suitable for printing on dark fabrics

(2) feel. The printing ink film of water-based ink is thin, and it feels soft compared with plastic ink. This is because the plastic ink is a 100% solid system, and the ink layer is thicker after curing, while the water-based ink is only 20%, which makes it difficult for domestic instruments to go out of the solid content, and 80% of the water and other organic solvents will be removed during the drying process. Therefore, the thickness of the ink layer is only 1/5 of that of the plastic ink layer. However, compared with high gloss plastic ink, the color of water-based ink is slightly dim when the provincial new material industry coordination and promotion special class is established

(3) price. At present, many countries and regions have issued laws and regulations restricting the use of ink solvents to control the pollution of solvents to the environment and the harm to workers. Therefore, some cheap solvents will be gradually eliminated. The sharp rise in the price of solvents will increase the use cost of inks. Plastic inks need a lot of organic solvents, while water-based inks do not need organic solvents, which can reduce costs. On the other hand, the huge drying system of water-based ink consumes a lot of energy. With the rise of energy prices, it is necessary to find an ink drying/curing system with more concentrated energy

(4) performance. See Table 1 for the performance comparison between plastic ink and water-based ink

Table 1 performance comparison between plastic ink and water-based ink

curing (drying) is easy and difficult

printing is generally easy

transparency is low, high and low, medium

hand feel, thick and soft

cost, high and low, medium

waste disposal is easy and general

information source: Printing Technology