Printing

Printing is the method of applying colour to fabric to make decorative patterns in a uniform way.
There are many printing methods available.

Fabrics are often printed with colour and patterns using a variety of techniques and machine
types. Of the numerous printing techniques, the most common is the rotary screen. However,
other methods, such as direct, discharge, resist, flat screen (semicontinuous), and roller printing
are often used commercially. Pigments are used for about 75 to 85 per cent of all printing
operations, do not require washing steps, and generate little waste (Snowden-Swan, 1995).

Compared to dyes, pigments are typically insoluble and have no affinity for the fibres. Resin
binders are typically used to attach pigments to substrates. Solvents are used as vehicles for
transporting the pigment and resin mixture to the substrate. The solvents then evaporate leaving
a hard opaque coating. The major types of printing are described below.

Printing Methods
Block Printing
This is a traditional printing method where a block made from wood, rubber, sponge or metal is
shaped into a relief pattern (usually using a laser cutter or by hand), then dye is applied to the
block and it is hand printed, or stamped, on to fabric. The print can then be repeated several
times to achieve a pattern.

Screen Printing
This method requires a screen, which is a frame with a fine mesh fabric tightly stretched over it.
A pattern is either in stencil form or is blocked off on the screen itself, using a screen for each
colour to be printed. Dye is pushed through the mesh fabric with a squeegee tool to evenly
disperse the dye into the fabric below in the areas that have not been blocked out. Flat-screen
printing is done in a similar way but machines operate each stage and often the pattern is applied
to the screen digitally. Digital printing is a favoured method for small batches of fabric, as screen
printing is an expensive process requiring space and specialist equipment.

Engaved Roller Printing

Engraved roller printing is an industrial method for large print runs; metal rollers are engraved
with a pattern and dye reservoirs apply the color as needed. As in screen printing, a roller is
needed for each color; the method is therefore too expensive for short runs of fabric, but it can be
very cost-effective for large print runs as hundreds of metres can be printed per minute.

Transfer Printing
Transfer dyes are applied to paper and then heat transferred to the fabric. You can do this with
transfer paints and an iron. These chemical transfer dyes are beter suited to synthetic fabrics, on
which they give a better depth of colour.

Stencilling
Stencils are made from card or acetage; the pattern is cut out and then the dye is sponged or
brushed into the cut-out areas. Each stencil can be used several times. Today many stencils are
made using computerised cutting machines for more accuracy than hand-cut stencils.
Digital Printing
A design can be made on the computer using computer-aided design (CAD) packages and then
either transferred on to paper (sublimation paper), which can be transferred to the fabric with
heat, or it can be directly printed on to the fabric using a textile printer and then steam heated to
fix the design. In direct printing the fabric may need to be thickened using a special chemical
agent, which can be washed out afterwards, to help it feed through the printer.

Rotary screen printing

Rotary screen printing uses seamless cylindrical screens made of metal foil. The machine uses a
rotary screen for each colour. As the fabric is fed under uniform tension into the printer section of
the machine, its back is usually coated with an adhesive which causes it to adhere to a conveyor
printing blanket. Some machines use other methods for gripping the fabric. The fabric passes
under the rotating screen through which the printing paste is automatically pumped from
pressure tanks. A squeegee in each rotary screen forces the paste through the screen onto the
fabric as it moves along (Corbman, 1975). The fabric then passes to a drying oven.

Direct printing
In direct-printing, a large cylindrical roller picks up the fabric, and smaller rollers containing the
colour are brought into contact with the cloth. The smaller rollers are etched with the design, and
the number of rollers reflects the number of colours. Each smaller roller is supplied with colour by
a furnisher roller, which rotates in the colour trough, picks up colour, and deposits it on the
applicator roller. Doctor blades scrape excess color off the applicator roller so that only the
engraved portions carry the color to the cloth. The cloth is backed with a rubberized blanket
during printing, which provides a solid surface to print against, and a layer of gray cloth is used
between the cloth and the rubber blanket to absorb excess ink.

Discharge printing
Discharge printing is performed on piece-dyed fabrics. The patterns are created through removal,
rather than addition, of color, hence most discharge printing is done on dark backgrounds. The
dyed fabric is printed using discharge pastes, which remove the background color from the
substrate when exposed to steam. Colors may be added to the discharge paste to create
different colored discharge areas (EPA, 1996).

Resist printing
Resist printing encompasses several hands and low-volume methods in which the pattern is
applied by preventing color from penetrating certain areas during piece-dyeing. Examples of
resist printing methods include batik, tie-dyeing, screen printing, and stencil printing.

Ink-Jet printing
Ink-jet printing is a non-contact printing method in which droplets of colorant solution are
propelled toward a substrate and directed to the desired spot. Inkjet is an emerging technology in
the textile industry and has not yet been adopted for widespread commercial use. The dye types
most amenable to the ink-jet printing of textiles are fiber reactive, vat, sulfur, and naphthol dyes.

Heat-transfer printing
In heat-transfer printing, the pattern is first printed onto a special paper substrate. The paper is
then positioned against the fabric and subjected to heat and pressure. The dyes are transferred
to the fabric via sublimation.