Textile Printing: Explore 10 Fabric Printing Methods

By Eman Abdallah Kamel

Eman is a writer and textile engineer. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in textile sciences from the College of Applied Arts in Egypt.

In this article, you will learn about ten different methods of fabric printing, from block printing to digital inkjet printing, and some safety tips.

Fabric Printing

Printing is applying color to fabric in specific patterns or designs. The color is bonded to the fibers in printed fabrics to resist washing and abrasion. One or more colors are applied to certain parts in strictly defined patterns in printing. The outline of the design is clearly defined on the outer side of the design. The design does not penetrate the back of the fabric. On the other hand, sheer, thin materials might have a pattern on the back.

Because of their fastness qualities, VAT, reactive, naphthol, and dispersed colors are the most commonly used dyes in printing.

VAT and reactive dyes are typically used for cotton printing. Wool is printed with acid or chrome dyes but is treated with chlorine before printing to make it more color-receptive. Acidic color printing is commonly used on silk. Dispersed and cationic dyes are used for printing on synthetic fibers.

Textile Printing Methods

There are many types of textile printing processes, including:

Block Printing,
Stencil Printing,
Flat-Screen Printing,
Rotary Screen Printing,
Screen Engraving,
Laser Engraving,
Engraved Cylinder (Roller) Printing,
Flexographic Printing,
Heat Transfer Printing,
Digital Ink-Jet Printing.

An attractive variety of carved blocks. Image source: istockphotos.com

1. Block Printing

Block printing is one of the earliest techniques for printing textiles.
Block printing is a technique where color is applied to fabric in the shape of a design by carving a block with the design on it. The block is pressed onto the fabric to transfer the sculpted design. Out of all the textile printing techniques, this is the slowest process. There are many types of blocks used in this process, including wooden, linoleum, and matchstick blocks.

To learn more about the block printing process, click here.

HIT520 automatic stencil machine. Image source: blundell.co.uk

2. Stencil Printing

Japanese people have been practicing stenciling on textile fabrics for a long time. In 1894, S. H. Sharp received a patent for the stencil machine. It contains an endless stencil plate of thin steel sheets constantly passed over a cast-rotating iron cylinder. The fabric to be embellished is passed between the two, and a mechanical device applies color to it through the stencil’s holes.

In this method, a pattern is cut from a sheet of thick paper or thin metal with a sharp-pointed knife, with the uncut portions representing the part that will be left uncolored. The sheet is laid on the fabric, and the color is brushed through its interstices.

Today, the stencil printing machine range accommodates the many board applications that are becoming standard in the industry.

Between 15% and 18% of printed fabric is produced using flatbed screen machines. Image source: echnotexautomation.com

3. Flat-Screen Printing

The first modern method is flat screen printing, an automated version of the old manual silk screen printing. The flat-bed screen process is a start-and-stop, semi-continuous process.

In manual screen printing, each color has a separate screen; if the design has four colors, four separate screens must be engraved.

The modern flatbed screen printing machine consists of a feeding device, a glue trough, a rotating flat rubber blanket, flatbed printing table belts for raising and lowering flat screens, and a double-blade squeegee trough. The feeder allows precise and direct feeding of fabric onto the rubber blanket. As the fabric is fed into the machine, it is lightly taped to the blanket to prevent any fabric movement or distortion during the printing. The blanket holds the fabric under the screens in a raised position. Once under the screens, the fabric stops, the screens are lowered, and an automatic squeegee tub moves across each screen, pushing the printing paste across the open areas of the screens. The screens are raised, the blanket moves the fabric to the following color, and the process is repeated. Once each color is applied, the fabric is removed from the blanket and processed through the required fixing process. The rubber blanket is washed, dried, and rotated continuously to the fabric feeding area.

The process is slow, 15–25 yards per minute. However, this method offers several advantages. Machines can accommodate fabrics such as sheets, blankets, bedspreads, carpets, or upholstery. This method enables the squeegee to make several passes, allowing for the application of thick layers of print paste to penetrate pile fabrics like towels or blankets. Today, flat-bed screen machines are used in about 15–18% of printed fabric production worldwide.

4. Rotary Screen Printing

The idea of rotary screen printing was first proposed in 1947 in Portugal, but the prototype commercial machine was first presented by Stork (Holland) at the ITMA exhibition in Germany in 1963.

The process initially involves feeding the fabric onto the rubber blanket. As the fabric travels under the rotating screens, the screens rotate with the fabric. The printing paste is continuously fed to the inside of the screen through the color bar or tube. As the screen rotates, the squeegee device pushes the printing paste through the design areas of the screen and into the fabric. As in flatbed screen printing, only one color can be printed per screen. After the print is applied, the process is similar to flat-screen printing.

Typical speeds range from 50 to 120 ypm for rotary screen printing, depending on the complexity of the design and fabric construction.

Flatbed screen printing is more suitable for high-pile fabrics because only one squeegee pass is available with the rotary screen. Rotary machines are also used for carpets and other types of pile fabrics.

5. Screen Engraving

The process of placing designs to be printed on rotary and flat screens is known as screen engraving. The most commonly used process for screen engraving is known as the lacquer process.

Each color is transferred into opaque black ink on clear plastic film. The design is then reproduced, color by color. The flat or rotating screen is evenly coated with a water-soluble, light-sensitive liquid resin. The screen is then dried and stored in the dark.

The coated screen is then covered in the exact desired location by the opaque design. A high-intensity light is then directed at the screen. When light hits the screen, it hardens the resin and forms a water-insoluble barrier. Since light is prevented from reaching the screen due to the positive design, the resin remains soluble in water. The screen is cleaned and dried following the proper exposure period. Printing paste passes through the design’s open areas.

Did you know?

A method of screen printing using a metal screen made by electroforming, which features a pattern of openings separated by bridges and crossing points. And has a flat surface on the wiper side. On the printing side of the screen, a 3D screen is present. 3D screen printing with an attached stencil, with or without the negative image to be printed. A printing machine comprising one or more 3D printing screens, with one or more ink tanks, and with a roller or squeegee. The 3-D screen may be used in flatbed, cylinder, and rotary screen printing. To learn more about this process, visit patents.google.com.

Laser engraving and rotary textile printing. Fast, efficient, high-quality, and environmentally friendly method. Image source: spgprints.com

6. Laser Engraving

The newer method of making rotary screens is known as laser engraving. The original design is digitized on a computer-aided design (CAD) system. Once again, a talented textile designer separates each color of the design. After that, the coated screen is loaded on a mandrel attached to a laser engraving machine.

The machine engraves the screen using digital CAD print design data. Only one color per screen is possible. The laser vaporizes the resin without damaging the screen material, usually the nickel mesh of modern rotary screens.

Since printing errors cannot be fixed, this method requires accurate color application the first time. There have been many new improvements in screen printing in recent years, especially for rotary screen machines. Microprocessor control systems have allowed more accurate printing, reduced print defects, and increased productivity.

New technologies for recovering and reusing unused printing paste have reduced dye and chemical costs and the pollution burden on waste processing systems. Improvements have produced machines capable of better-quality printing at higher productivity with fewer defects and reduced environmental impact.

7. Engraved Cylinder (Roller) Printing

Cylinder gravure printing is a modern continuous printing technology developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this process, a heavy copper cylinder is engraved by carving the design into copper. One roller per color is engraved and loaded on the printing machine.

The machine has a master cylinder with large gears. This gear fits over and drives each printing cylinder. A roller that rotates in a color box full of printing paste feeds each roller with the paste. As the print paste is applied to the print cylinder, a fixed blade scrapes off all the surface print paste, leaving only what is embedded in the design patterns.

Fabrics are fed to the machine, backed by a greige fabric to absorb the print paste flow, and backed by a quilted print blanket. The greige back is often discarded, but the print blanket is washed, dried, and reused. Printing occurs when the fabric passes the printing paste from the printing cylinder as it passes through the pressure point between the roller and the master cylinder.

Did you know?

Greige fabric is a raw, untreated, unfinished woven fabric taken directly from the loom. The term originated as a combination of “gray” and “beige” because the gray cotton fabric is usually gray or off-white.

The fine design detail of this technique has been its main advantage, but it has many disadvantages that have led to its decline in use, which is now less than 5% of the worldwide textile printing market, such as:

The high fixed cost of copper rollers.
The expense of the engraving process.
Possible distortion of fabric during printing.

8. Flexographic Printing

Flexography is a type of relief printing wherein the printing plate, made of flexible rubber, is mounted on a metal cylinder. Flexographic printing is used extensively on all paper products, including tissue, cardboard, plastic foils, and films.

Flexographic printing on textiles was not widely used for several reasons, the most important of which was that it was difficult to obtain prints with the desired colour density due to the relatively small amount of ink transferred in the flexographic process.

The researchers discovered that the flexographic printing process can be used for printing on textiles, provided certain critically formulated inks containing water-soluble acrylic polymers are used. It is necessary to use aqueous inks with relatively high levels of pigment and a high level of water-soluble acrylic polymer. Latex binder and melamine cross-linking resin are included to give the required fastness properties. Print pastes are formulated without water thickeners. The aqueous inks for flexographic printing on textiles generally have viscosities of about 10-65 poises at 20 RPM and about 3 to 15 poises at infinite shear.

This method uses a flexographic printing press equipped with an engraved chromium-plated roller as the ink-feeding roller. The etching depth on this roller, which rotates in the ink, determines the amount of ink fed to the printing cylinder.

The research has been used to print muslins, percales, and broadcloths.

The binder system for the ink consists of,

An acrylic resin terpolymer containing 30 to 55 percent by weight styrene, 20 to 35 percent by weight acrylic acid or methacrylic acid, and 15 to 40 percent by weight N-methylolacrylamide or N-methylolmethacrylamide.
A water-soluble melamine-formaldehyde aminoplast.
An elastomer latex.

The amount of pigment in the print paste depends on the depth of the shade of colour to be printed. For example, for full shades, 7 to 10 percent pigment, by weight, may be used, although up to 12 percent may be required for deeper shades. The lower limit of pigment is not particularly critical and may be as low as 1 percent or lower for very light shades. The ratio of water-soluble acrylic polymer to pigment will be 0.6 to 2.5 parts of polymer for each pigment part for full shades, but it can be as high as 20 to 1 or higher when printing very light shades.

Printing pastes contain conventional amounts of water-insoluble elastomer to impart rub fastness.

The total solids of the print paste are on the order of 20 to 50 percent, preferably 28 to 42 percent. The total binder-to-pigment ratio is 1.5 to 6 parts for each part by weight of pigment for full shades. But it can be as high as 30 to 1 when printing light or pastel shades. To learn more about this invention, visit patents.google.com.

9. Heat Transfer Printing

Heat transfer printing involves printing on paper and then transferring the design from the paper onto textile fabric.

The design is placed on the fabric and heated so the pigment binder softens, releases from the paper, and adheres to the fabric. The release temperature is usually around 400°F (205°C).

The two most commercially important transfer-printing methods are sublimation transfer and film release. Other methods include transferring an aqueous film (wet transfer) and a meltable ink (melt transfer).

An example of transfer printing is the printing of T-shirts at market stalls. The film release method is often used. In this process, the colored pattern and the polymer film are transferred to the fabric.
In the sublimation transfer process, a roll of polyester fabric and a roll of paper printed with selected dispersed dyes are held together for about 30 seconds at 190–210 °C as they pass around a heated roller. The dyes sublime from the paper and diffuse into the polyester.
The melt transfer method has been used since the 19th century to transfer embroidery designs to fabric. The design is printed on paper using wax ink, and a hot iron is placed on the back to press the paper to the fabric. The ink dissolves on the fabric in contact with it.
In the wet transfer method, water-soluble dyes are incorporated into printing ink to produce a design on paper. The design is transferred to wet fabric using carefully regulated contact pressure. The dye is transmitted by diffusion through the aqueous medium. This method is not used to a large extent at present.

The digital ink-jet printing method is suitable for small runs. Image source: shutterstock.com

10. Digital Ink-Jet Printing

The newest method of printing textiles is digital inkjet printing. For fabrics, these machines are 60–84 inches wide. Digital printing offers huge design possibilities. The quality of the photographic image can be designed using this technique. The method uses a CAD system with digital image data.

In this method, maximum printing speeds range from 30 to 70 yards per hour for flat fabrics compared to the rotary screener’s output of 50 to 120 yards per minute. The determining factor in print speed is printhead technology. According to reports, production speeds will not rise unless printhead mechanics progress significantly. Other printer hardware limitations include the cost of printer heads, ink recycling, inkjet nozzle clogging, and reuse systems.

Did you know?

Japan’s Seiko Printek (SPT) developed and produced the print heads for the 2020 printer. It uses piezo shared-wall technology and is manufactured under a license from Xaar, Cambridge, UK. SPT developed the printhead to meet DuPont’s requirements for water-based textile inks. In the shared-wall technique, the walls of the piezo chamber are compressed to expel a droplet through a nozzle. The room shares walls with the room next to it. When the nozzle is released, adjacent channels cannot be released.

Additionally, colorfastness and color depth are problematic; the fabric to be printed needs to be pre-treated with alkali and sodium alginate to prevent bleedthrough or smearing of the printed dye before fixation; pigment inkjet inks have been developed, but there are still issues with ink viscosity, dye coloration particle size, and printing durability.

However, digital ink-jet printing is a viable commercial alternative technique for small runs (50 yards and under) of highly styled premium fabrics, such as scarves and ties. Research is ongoing to overcome the problems of inkjet printing.

Safety Tips During the Printing Process

Before and during printing, as well as before handling printing machines, keep the following tips in mind:

Work must be done in a safe and healthy work environment.
Before printing, wear printing clothes and wash them after finishing.
Wear gloves and a face mask.
Ask about the dangers of the dyes, chemicals, and inks you use.
If dyes or inks come into contact with your skin, wash them off quickly. If you feel skin irritation, you should consult a doctor.
Know the parts of the machine you are dealing with and the function of each part, especially the parts directly related to electricity.
Do not handle the machine parts forcefully, and clean them regularly.
Close containers of unused inks, pigments, and dyes tightly.
Avoid inhaling fumes from chemicals and dyes, as well as dust.
Constantly expose yourself to fresh air.

Sources

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