Today, I will discuss which fabrics are suitable for digital printing. In the textile digital printing industry, some textiles will be decoupled and damaged when they encounter the printing machine nozzle. Below, I will explain in detail which materials are suitable for digital printing and which are not:
1. Cotton
Cotton is a natural fiber that is widely used in clothing, especially in the fashion industry, for its high moisture resistance, comfort, and durability. With a textile digital printing machine, you can print on cotton. In order to achieve the highest quality possible, most digital printing machines use reactive inks because this type of ink provides the highest color fastness to washing for printing on cotton.
2. Rayon
Another natural fiber widely used in the fashion industry is rayon. It is feasible to print on rayon using a digital printing machine. As with printing on cotton, printing on rayon with reactive inks can achieve the best results.
3. Wool
It is feasible to print on wool fabrics using a digital printing machine, but this depends on the type of wool fabric used. If you want to print on a “fluffy” wool fabric, which means that the fabric has a lot of fluff on the surface, the nozzle must be as far away from the fabric as possible. The diameter of the wool yarn is five times the diameter of the nozzle in the nozzle, so it will seriously damage the nozzle. Therefore, it is very important to choose a digital printer that allows the printing nozzle to print at a higher position from the fabric. The distance from the nozzle to the fabric is generally 1.5 mm, which may allow you to print on any type of wool fabric digitally.
4. Silk
Another natural fiber suitable for digital textile printing is silk. Silk can be printed with reactive inks (better color fastness) or acid inks (wider color gamut).
5. Polyamide Lycra
Polyamide Lycra is a fabric mainly used for swimwear. Polyamide Lycra can be printed using a digital printer, preferably with acid inks. Using acid inks, you can get the highest color brightness, the best washing fastness, and resistance to salt water and chlorine bleaching.
6. Polyester
In the past few years, polyester has become an increasingly popular fabric in the fashion industry. However, disperse inks, which are most commonly used for polyester printing, do not work well when used on high-speed digital printers. The typical problem is that the printer is contaminated by ink flying. Therefore, printing plants have turned to thermal sublimation transfer printing on paper and, more recently, have successfully switched to direct printing on polyester fabrics using thermal sublimation inks. The latter requires more expensive printers because the machine needs to add a guide belt to fix the fabric, but saves on paper costs and does not require steaming or washing.
7. Blended fabrics
Blended fabrics refer to fabrics composed of two different types of materials, which is a challenge for digital printers. In digital textile printing, only one type of ink can be used on a device. Since each material requires a different type of ink, as a printing company, it is necessary to use ink that is suitable for the main material that makes up the fabric. This also means that the ink will not color on another material, resulting in lighter colors and whitening.
For digital printing, there are still certain limitations, and the treatment methods for different fabrics are also different. The above is what I want to share with you, I hope it will be helpful to you.