Influence of ink layers on the quality of ink jet printed textile materials

Abstract

This paper will discuss research concerning the influence of the number of ink layers deposited by ink jet for textile printing. With the aim to establish the optimal number of layers as to achieve good quality prints, it discusses the good colourfastness during longer time period and exposure to different environmental factors including temperature, light etc. Three typical materials with the same raw material compositions, but different fabric weight and thread count were chosen and printed with digital ink jet technology. Materials were printed with variations in the ink layers number and the correlation between K/S factor and number of applied ink layers was determined after the printing process. Upon finished printing process, the samples were treated with heat, light and other simulated environmental influences in line with the appropriate international standards. The changes were detected by common visual ranking methods (gray scale and blue wool reference scale) as well the spectrophotometric measurements for obtaining spectral data of the colourfastness and staining, what was followed by additional testing of the heating element with thermo vision camera. Microscopic view of the changes on the printed surfaces upon exposing them to different simulated factors was obtained by SEM microscope. It can be concluded that increase of printed ink layers will lead to a better quality of final product in terms of resistance to various environment influences. This research offers insight in the influence of one parameter in textile materials printing process on longevity of flag products, which can also be applied to any other product printed on polyester material.