Preparation of fluorescent pigment latex and its application on binder‐free printing of cotton fabrics

The recognized disadvantages of pigment printing are the stiff hand feel owing to the large particle size of the binder and pigments and the crosslinked binder introducing rigidity. In the current study, fluorescent pigment latex (FPL) was prepared via mini‐emulsion polymerization and further applied on cotton fabric printing in the absence of binder. The mini‐emulsions were prepared by dispersing the fluorescein in the monomers methyl methacrylate (MMA) and butyl acrylate (BA) with DNS‐86 as emulsifier, hexadecane as co‐emulsifier, and ammonium persulfate as initiator. The Fourier‐transform infrared‐attenuated total refraction, transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis showed that the fluorescein was successfully encapsulated into P(MMA‐co‐BA) and the polymer content was 91.22%. The surface morphology study revealed that compact and smooth film was formed onto the surface of FPL printings, which resulted in better hand feel and rubbing fastness as compared to the conventional printings with a large amount of binder. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 45826.