Disperse ink‐jet inks: properties and application to polyester fibre

Water‐based ink‐jet inks were prepared using press cake samples of two commercially available azo disperse dyes. The suitability of the inks for printing polyester fabric was evaluated via measurement of surface tension, conductivity, viscosity, pH and particle size distribution. Inks prepared by the proposed method fulfill most requirements for an ink‐jet ink depending on the colorant structure, the dispersing agent and the alcohol used. The inks were applied to polyester fabric by both printing and dyeing and the fastness of the ensuing coloured samples was assessed. The fastness properties of the dyed and printed polyester samples were found to be very good to excellent and generally meet accepted customer requirements. Oil‐in‐water microemulsions containing the same colorants were also prepared. Their properties, which are crucial to the suitability for ink‐jet ink, were compared with those of the conventionally prepared inks and were found to be improved, with the exception of conductivity, while surface tension remained within acceptable values.     

Synthesis and characterization of hetarylazo disperse colorants: Preparation and properties of conventional and microemulsified inks for polyester ink‐jet printing

The synthesis and characterization of three hetarylazo disperse colorants are described. These compounds were used for the preparation of conventional inks and/or oil‐in‐water microemulsions (microemulsified dyes). The viscosity, conductivity, surface tension, and pH of these inks were studied over a period of time and discussed with respect to their structure. The particle size and particle size distribution of a representative microemulsion were compared to those of a corresponding conventional ink. The measured properties were compared to the properties of commercially available inks. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Formulation of a ceramic ink for a wide-array drop-on-demand ink-jet printer

This paper describes the methodology for simulating a reprographic ink with a ceramic ink based on a commercially available zirconia powder for direct ceramic ink-jet printing. Of over-riding importance was matching viscosity and this was tested systematically by using a mineral oil–hexane binary system. Of secondary importance was adjustment of the pressure defect behind the nozzle to compensate for small differences in surface tension. The inks tested in the wide array print-head were based on low electrical conductivity liquids to avoid damage to the electroding system. The organic binder for the zirconia ink was paraffin wax and the dispersant was a hydroxystearic acid based polyester.     

喷墨打印和喷墨印花用染料和有机颜料的进展

本篇是关于喷墨打印和喷墨印花用染料和有机颜料的综述文章。主要论述了用于纸张打印水性墨水的颜料和染料、纤维素纤维喷墨印花用活性染料、丝绸喷墨印花用酸性染料以及聚酯纤维喷墨印花用分散染料的进展情况。给出了组成各种墨水的典型配方。并预测了未来可能的发展趋势。     

Development of Ceramic Inks for Direct Continuous Jet Printing

A ceramic ink that contains 30 vol% of zirconia in butyl acetate and 2 wt% of a commercial oligomeric dispersant is considered. The dispersion and viscosity of this ink was optimized in previous work; however, its conductivity is too low for continuous ink-jet printing. The conductivity has been improved by the addition of ethanol and ammonium nitrate, but this addition detrimentally affects the dispersion, viscosity, and surface tension of the ink. This problem has been largely overcome by reducing the amount of ceramic in the ink. The ceramic inks that have been developed are tested in a pressurized, continuous ink-jet printer, and, depending on their performance, the ink composition is modified further.     

The use of plasma pre-treatment for enhancing the performance of textile ink-jet printing

In this study the effect of low temperature plasma (LTP) treatment of cotton fabric for ink-jet printing was investigated. Owing to the specific printing and conductivity requirements for ink-jet printing, none of the conventional printing chemicals used for cotton fabric can be directly incorporated into the ink formulation. As a result, the cotton fabric requires treatment with the printing chemicals prior to the stage of ink-jet printing. The printing chemicals as a treatment to cotton fabric are applied by the coating method. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility and effectiveness of applying LTP pre-treatment to enhance the performance of treatment paste containing sodium alginate, to improve the properties of the ink-jet printed cotton fabric. Experimental results revealed that the LTP pre-treatment in conjunction with the ink-jet printing technique could improve the final properties of printed cotton fabric.     

A study of the properties of ink-jet printed cotton fabric following low-temperature plasma treatment

This paper studies the effect of low-temperature plasma treatment on an ink-jet printed cotton fabric. Due to the specific printing and conductivity requirements for ink-jet printing, not all conventional printing chemicals, such as sodium alginate and urea, used for cotton fabric can be directly incorporated into the ink formulation. As a result, the cotton fabric requires pretreatment with the printing chemicals prior to the stage of ink-jet printing. Cotton is pretreated with the printing chemicals by means of a coating method. The aim of this paper was to study the possibility and effectiveness of applying low-temperature plasma treatment to enhance the performance of pretreatment paste containing sodium alginate so as to improve the properties of the ink-jet printed cotton fabric. Experimental results revealed that a low-temperature plasma pretreatment coupled with the ink-jet printing technique could improve the final printed properties of cotton fabric.     

Ink‐jet printing of cotton with natural dyes

Four natural dyes, annatto, cutch, pomegranate fruit rind, and golden dock, were used as colorants for the preparation of water‐based ink‐jet inks for digital textile printing. The physical and rheological properties (pH, conductivity, surface tension, and viscosity) of the inks were measured over a period of 90 days for the evaluation of ink stability and suitability for ink‐jet printing. The inks were found to be suitable and were used for the digital printing of cotton fabrics. The prints were subjected to wash, light, and rub fastness tests and colour measurements. Colour consistency and fastness results, especially after fixation, are comparable with those of synthetic dyes, which paves the way for the production of environmentally friendly ink‐jet inks using natural dyes for the digital printing of cotton through the formulation of suitable printing techniques.     

Synthesis of waterborne acrylic copolymer resin as a binding agent for the development of water-based inks in the printing application

In this study, a new waterborne acrylic copolymer resin (acrylic-co-resin) was synthesized to develop water-based printing inks on polyester (PET) film. The synthesized acrylic resin showed good water solubility, high acid value (120 mg KOH/g), about 57% solid content. The developed water-based inks (cyan, magenta, and yellow) exhibited small particle size (<1 μm) and optimum surface energy within required values (31.5, 32, and 30 mN/m) for good adhesion of ink upon PET films. The developed inks also showed good storage stability for 30 days. Further, to evaluate the application performance, the inks were printed on corona-treated PET films at room temperature, and the ink drying time was measured. Further, the inks were printed on the corona-treated PET film to evaluate the application performance. The developed inks showed a short drying time (7–9 s), which indicates their fast drying nature. Moreover, the developed inks showed good printability, color strength, high adhesion, and excellent rub-resistant properties. Thus, the overall results demonstrated the potential of water-based inks in printing applications.     

喷墨技术进展及在电子元件中的应用

喷墨印刷可称之为当前发展最快的印刷技术。为了提高喷墨印刷的质量和扩大喷墨印刷的适用范围,人们正在进行大量的研究和开发工作。本文概要介绍喷墨技术的特点及原理;阐述了喷墨墨滴的产生方法、喷墨油墨以及喷墨介质的性能要求;同时指出了喷墨技术的新进展及其在电子元件中的应用。     

喷墨打印机颜料型油墨的最新进展

喷墨打印技术是一种非接触式的数字印刷技术,它将数码技术与传统的印刷技术合二为一。用于喷墨印刷的染料型墨水通常表现出差的耐光性和耐水性,因此将颜料引进到喷墨油墨中以克服染料型墨水的缺点是必然趋势。为了在低粘度下保持颜料稳定的分散,性能优异的合成分散剂对于获得稳定的颜料分散体是必不可少的。本文介绍了水性喷墨油墨的组分及各组分作用,对喷墨油墨的生产技术、发展前景进行了展望。     

喷墨打印技术的发展现状

简要介绍了喷墨打印技术的发展现状。目前主要有两类喷墨打印技术:连续喷墨打印和脉冲喷墨打印技术。前者可设计成双重或多重弯曲系统;后者可分为热喷墨、压电喷墨、阀门喷墨、静电喷墨过程,描述了喷墨打印用墨的最新发展。水性、溶剂性、热熔性、紫外固化和反应性墨是目前主要的喷墨打印用墨。     

Single‐phase ink‐jet printing onto cotton fabric

The current commercial application of ink‐jet reactive inks to cotton fabrics requires pretreating with pad liquor containing a thickener, urea and alkali prior to printing. In this study, attempts have been made to develop a reactive ink‐jet print in a single‐phase process by adding an organic salt to the ink formulation and hence removing the need to pretreat fabrics. This approach utilises inks containing both a reactive dye, in this case Procion Red H‐E3B, and an organic salt such as sodium formate, sodium acetate, sodium propionate or tri‐sodium citrate. The behaviour of a novel reactive ink formulation for ink‐jet printing on to cotton fabric was evaluated at different pH vlaues. The results at optimum pH indicated that printed non‐pretreated fabrics with ink containing organic salts exhibited a higher level of reactive dye fixation than printed pretreated fabric containing no organic salt ink. The yielded prints demonstrate excellent colour fastness to washing and dry/wet crocking properties. The light fastness of the printed fabrics was improved by adding an organic salt to the ink formulation.     

复合软包装用水性聚氨酯油墨的制备与性能

用不同结构的聚酯二元醇或聚醚二元醇制备水性聚氨酯( WPU)油墨,分别探讨了不同二元醇结构制备的WPU油墨对基材附着牢度、聚己二酸乙二醇-丁二醇酯(PBA)体系的硬段含量对水性油墨抗返粘性、交联剂对水性油墨耐湿性、乙醇溶剂对水性油墨干燥速度的影响.结果表明,用PBA制备的WPU油墨具有较好的附着牢度;硬段质量分数40％...     

The influence of ink viscosity,water and fabric construction on the quality of ink‐jet printed polyester

This paper is concerned with the quality of lines and disperse ink in printing patterns on different untreated polyester fabric constructions. The lines running in the weft and warp directions were printed on polyester fabric constructions, and printing accuracy was assessed. Ink spreading is one of the important factors that influences the ink distribution. Thus, in order to acquire satisfactory ink‐jet printing products, it is essential to control the spreading of ink on the polyester fabric. To meet these conditions, a series of chemicals (disperse dye 5.01 wt%, PVP‐K30 0‐2 wt%, DEG 5‐20 wt%, water 64.17‐79.17 wt%, etc) with different mass fractions was used to prepare disperse ink. The jetting behaviour of ink was related to its surface tension and viscosity, which was characterised by an automatic surface tensiometer and rotational viscometer. Line profile was used to evaluate the printing effect. Low field nuclear magnetic resonance and three‐dimensional super depth digital microscopy were used to reveal the relationships between the state of water, ink diffusion behaviour and printing sharpness. The results showed that increasing ink viscosity or decreasing free water content is advantageous to improve the sharpness of the printing pattern. The effects of fabric structural parameters on line image quality are discussed. The printing quality was closely related to the weight and structure of fabric. The heavy weight fabrics had accurate print pattern sharpness. The fastness test results showed that the ink printing pattern had good colour fastness.     

The use of carbon nanotubes in textile printing

The characteristic properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), particularly their heat conduction, electrical conductivity, high modulus of elasticity, high strength, and resistance to chemicals, have resulted in widespread application of CNTs in nanotechnologies. In this study, CNTs were used to impart specific functionality to textiles by printing techniques. To this aim, modified commercial aqueous dispersions of multiwalled CNTs from Nanocyl^® were used for preparing special compositions as paste for printing by conventional techniques (screen printing) and as inks for ink‐jet printing to bestow the fabric antistatic and antibacterial properties. Taking into account the importance of the dispersion level of CNT in the printing composition from the point of view of antistatic properties, the quality of the CNT dispersion was assessed on the basis of particle size distribution by means of a DLS PSS Nicomp device. Printings were done on two types of woven fabrics: 100% cotton and 30/70% cotton/polyester blend. The CNTs used in printing were found to impart antistatic and antibacterial properties to the printed fabrics. These imparted properties were resistant to repeated washing. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Rheological Characterization of Aqueous 3Y‐TZP Inks Optimized for Direct Thermal Ink‐Jet Printing of Ceramic Components

Aqueous 3Y‐TZP inks with solid contents of 22 and 27 vol% were used for fabricating three‐dimensional ceramic components by the direct ink‐jet printing process (DIP). The DIP fabrication was realized using a thermal ink‐jet (TIJ) printing system. Despite the different physical properties of the inks, both inks were successfully ejected and deposited. To define the optimum window of the ink properties required for a stable printing operation, both ceramic inks as well as a typical TIJ ink were characterized in terms of particle size distribution, zeta potential, viscosity, surface tension, and the inverse Ohnesorge number (Oh^?1). Moreover, single drops of all inks were deposited and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to examine the form and integrity of the ejected drops. Demonstration objects (a base with curved channels and a sample molar tooth) were DIP fabricated using both of the ceramic inks. These objects show the potentials of the DIP process for ceramics manufacturing particularly by using TIJ printing systems.     

Resistance variation of conductive ink applied by the screen printing technique on different substrates

This research study focuses on the application of conductive ink by the screen printing technique to evaluate the potential of creating printed electrodes and to investigate the effect of washing upon electrical resistance and flexibility. Two conductive inks were applied by a conventional screen printing method on four different textile substrates, 100% cotton, 50%/50% cotton/polyester, 100% polyester and 100% polyamide. The inks were also applied on a multifibre fabric. Atmospheric plasma treatment was applied to improve the adhesion to the samples, and the resistance values were compared with those of non‐treated samples. The values were measured before and after cleaning and washing tests, which were performed to simulate domestic treatment for garments to predict the behaviour of the inks after normal usage of the fabrics. Comfort properties like stiffness of the fabrics were also evaluated after five and 10 washing cycles. It was observed that PE 825 ink forms a thicker film on the fabric surface, contributing to the loss of flexibility of the textile. However, PE 825 ink also produced the best results in terms of durability and lower values of resistance. Polyamide fabrics lost their conductive property after five washing cycles due to weak bonding between the ink and the fibres, whereas cotton fibres provided the best results.     

分散红喷墨墨水的制备及性能研究

在自制分散红染料色浆中加入各种添加剂,制得分散红喷墨墨水.通过考察墨水染料粒径、粒径分布、Zeta电位及墨水粘度等特性,探讨了分散剂用量、分散染料用量和各种添加剂种类及用量对喷墨墨水胶体性能的影响.结果表明,优选分散染料为20％(色浆)、分散剂对染料比为1:1.25、PEG-200质量百分比为2％、PVPK-30质量百分比为1％、丙三醇∶1,2-丙二醇∶异丙醇=2∶1∶1,加去离子水至100％.墨水的粒径能够达到150nm左右、粒径分布约为0.2、Zeta电位约为-40 mV、粘度大约在3.0 mPa·s左右,其性能均符合压电喷墨打印要求.研究表明分散剂对喷墨墨水稳定性有显著影响,其用量可调节墨水粒径、稳定性及粘度;水溶性高分子聚合物作为墨水的成膜剂和粘度调节剂,可以改善墨水的喷射性能.甘油、1,2-丙二醇和异丙醇在作为保湿剂的同时还可调节墨水粘度.     

Effect of Surfactants as Dispersing Agents on the Properties of Microemulsified Inkjet Inks for Polyester Fibers

The preparation of microemulsified disperse inkjet inks was carried out and the effect of the surfactant used as dispersing agents on the properties of the inks was studied. The dispersing agents used were anionic conventional and non-conventional surfactants and a gemini type surfactant. The properties studied were surface tension, pH, conductivity, viscosity and the particle size distribution. The use of the gemini type and the two non conventional surfactants even in submultiple amounts resulted in a significant increase in the ink stability.