TEXTILE CHEMICAL PROCESSING

Comparative Study on Screen, Digital and Printing

SCREEN PRINTING

INTRODUCTION

Screen printing is the process of transferring a stencilled design onto a flat

surface using a mesh screen, ink and a squeegee. Fabric and paper are the
most commonly screen-printed surfaces, but with specialised inks it’s also
possible to print onto wood, metal, plastic, and even glass. The basic method
involves creating a stencil on a fine mesh screen, and then pushing ink (or
paint, in the case of artwork and posters) through to create an imprint of
your design on the surface beneath.

The process is sometimes called 'silk screening' or 'silk screen printing' and
while the actual printing process is always fairly similar, the way the stencil is
created can vary, depending on the materials used. Different stencilling
techniques include:

 Using masking tape or vinyl to cover the desired areas of the screen.
 Painting the stencil onto the mesh using 'screen blockers' such as glue
or lacquer.
 Using a light-sensitive emulsion to create a stencil, which is then
developed in a similar way to a photograph
 Designs made using the screen printing technique may use just one
shade of ink, or several. In the case of multicoloured items, the col ours
must be applied in individual layers, using separate stencils for each
ink

USES OF SCREEN PRINTING

One of the reasons that the screen printing technique is so widely used is
because it produces vivid colours, even on darker fabrics. The ink or paint
also lies in layers on the surface of the fabric or paper, which gives the print
a pleasingly tactile quality.
The technique is also favoured because it allows the printer to easily
reproduce a design multiple times. Because the same stencil can be used to
replicate a design again and again, it's very useful for creating multiple
copies of the same garment or accessory. This makes screen printing a very
efficient technique for creating large batches of custom clothing for sports
teams or work uniforms.

When carried out using professional equipment by an experienced pri nter,

it's also possible to create intricate multicoloured designs. While the
complexity of the process does mean there's a limit to the number of colours
the printer can use, it does allow for more intense colouring than is possible
to achieve with digital printing alone.

PROCESS

The screen printing process step by step

There are different methods of screen printing, but they all involve the same
basic technique. The form of printing we'll talk about below uses a special
light-reactive emulsion to create a custom stencil; this tends to be the most
popular type of commercial printing, as it can be used to make intricate
stencils.

Step 1: The Design Is Created

To start, the printer takes the design they want to create on the finished
product, and prints it out onto a transparent acetate film. This will be used to
create the stencil.

Step 2: The screen is prepared

Next, the printer will choose a mesh screen to suit the complexity of the
design, and the texture of the fabric being printed. The mesh screen is the n
coated with a layer of light-reactive emulsion, which will harden when
developed under bright light.
Step 3: The emulsion is exposed

The acetate sheet featuring the design is then laid onto the emulsion -coated
screen, and the whole thing is exposed to a very bright light. The light
hardens the emulsion, so the parts of the
screen which are covered by the design
remain in liquid form.

If the final design is going to include more

than one colour, then a separate screen
must be used to apply each layer of ink. To
create multi-coloured products, the printer
must use his skill to design each stencil, and
line them up perfectly to ensure the final
design is seamless.

Step 4: The emulsion is washed off, creating the stencil

After the screen has been exposed for a set time, the areas of the screen not
covered by the design will have turned hard. Any unhardened emulsion is
then carefully rinsed away. This leaves a clear imprint of the design on the
screen for the ink to pass through.

The screen is then dried, and the printer will make any necessary touch-ups
or corrections to make the imprint as accurate as possible to the original
design. The stencil is now ready to be used.

Step 5: the item is prepared for print

The screen is then placed on the printing press. Th e item or garment being
printed is laid down flat onto the printing board, underneath the screen.

There are a number of different presses, including manual and automatic

styles, but most modern commercial printers will use an automatic rotary
carousel printer, as this allows several different screens to work at once. For
multicoloured prints, this sort of printer can also be used to apply the
separate colour layers in quick
succession.

Step 6: The ink is pressed

through the screen onto the item

The screen is lowered down onto

the printing board. Ink is added
to the top end of the screen, and
a squeegee is used to pull the ink
along the full length of the
screen. This presses the ink through the open areas of the stencil, imprinting
the design on the product underneath.

If the printer is creating multiple items, then the screen is raised and a new
garment is placed onto the printing board. The process is then repeated.

Once all the items have been printed and the stencil has served its purpose,
the emulsion is removed using a special washing fluid so the mesh can be
reused to create new stencils.

Step 7: The product is dried, checked and finished

The printed product then passes through a dryer, which 'cures' the ink and
creates a smooth, colourfast finish. The
final product will be checked and
washed thoroughly to remove any
residue, before being passed on to its
new owner

To get a clean, sharp print, a screen

printer needs to have the right tools for
the job. Here, we’ll talk about every
piece of screen printing equipment, including what function they serve
during the printing process.

EQUIPMENTS REQUIRED

THE INKS

The ink, pigment or paint is pushed through the mesh screen and onto the
item being printed, transferring a coloured imprint of the stencil design onto
the product.

There’s much more to choosing an ink than just picking a colour. There are
lots of specialist inks, which can be used to create different effects on the
finished product. For instance, a printer may use glittery inks, texturised inks,
or puff inks (which expand to create a raised surface) to create a unique look
or feel. The printer will also take into account the type of fabric being screen
printed, as some inks will work better on certain materials than others.

When printing clothing, printers will use a type of ink which becomes
machine washable once it has been heat-treated and set. This produces a
colourfast, long-wearing item that can be worn again and again.

THE SILK SCREEN

The silk screen in silk screen printing is a metal or woode n frame with a fine
mesh fabric stretched over the top. Traditionally, this
mesh was crafted from silk thread, but nowadays this
has been superseded by polyester fabrics, which offer
the same performance for a lower price. The thickness
and thread count of the mesh can be chosen to suit the
texture of the surface or fabric being printed, with
smaller spaces between threads allowing for greater
detail in the print.
Once the screen has been coated in emulsion and exposed, it is ready to be
used as a stencil. After the screen printing process has finished, it can be
washed and re-used.

THE SQUEEGEE

A squeegee is a rubber blade attached to a long wooden, metal or plastic

handle. It’s used to push the ink through the mesh screen and onto the
surface being printed. The printer will usually pick a squeegee that is a
similar size to the frame of the screen, as this will give better coverage.

A firmer rubber blade is better for printing intricate designs with lots of
detail, as it ensures all the nooks and
crannies in the stencil receive an even
layer of ink. A softer, more yielding
rubber squeegee is often used when
printing less detailed designs, or when
printing onto fabric.

THE WASHING STATION

The screens need to be washed to remove all traces of emulsion after u se, so
they can be reused again for future prints. Some larger printworks may use
large tubs of special cleaning fluid or acid to remove the emulsion, while
other printers simply use a water trough or sink and a power hose to clean
their screens.

ADVANTAGES

1 – Long lasting

Due to the composition and thickness of inks used in screen printing, designs placed
with this method can withstand far more stress than others without losing the quality
of the print.
2 – Big Order Friendly

Since this is a method that requires the fabrication of screens for every color used in
an artwork, it is best reserved for large orders. The more garments placed in an order
then the cheaper the cost per unit will be.

3 – Great Finish

Screen printing produces vibrant colors that are hard to replicate by other printing
techniques. Techniques like direct to garment (DTG) use cyan, magenta, yellow and
black (CMYK) dots to recreate their images and while it is a great method to replicate
details it usually pales (literally) in comparison to screen printing.

4 – More Ink

Screen printing allows for greater thickness of the ink than other techniques, which
result in greater possibilities when it comes to the finish of the piece.

5 – Versatility

It is hard to find a printing method as versatile as screen printing. It can be done on

almost any surface as long as it is flat, fabric, wood, plastic and even metal, among
many others.

6 – Straightforward

It is a basic process that does not change regardless if it’s automated or done by
hand. The tools are not hard to replace and won’t become obsolete as fast as other
technologies.
DISADVANTAGES

1 – Not practical for small orders

As we already mentioned, screen printing needs more prep than other techniques
before going into production. This doesn’t make it suitable for “on-demand” printing,
which is the creation of a garment as soon as it is ordered.

2 – The more colors, the more expensive it is

Turns out that having to create a screen for each color can be a bit of a hassle.
Colorful designs complicate the process and make it more expensive, that is why it is
better to keep designs for screen printing with as few tones as possible.

3 – It’s not environmentally friendly

While efforts have been made to create eco-friendly inks and screens, it is still a reality
that screen printing wastes a lot of water. Water is used to mix up inks and clean the
screens, which may not seem like much at first, but manufacturers produce hundreds
of garments a day (if not thousands) and when we start to add up, it can get scary.

4 – Relative Complexity

It might sound like a contradiction, but screen printing can be quite complex
depending on the design and project because it has more steps than other methods.

DIGITAL PRINTING

INTRODUCTION

Textile industry has taken a big leap in the digital printing sector. One of the most
promising developments in the textile industry is digital fabric printing. It has opened
the doors for numerous prospects to enhance the quality and maintain the growing
demands of textile printing. Anything can be printed with ease and perfection on
fabric using digital printing technology.
In simple words, when digital images are reproduced on physical surface, it is called
digital printing. The physical surface can be in forms like paper, cloth, plastic, film, etc.
In digital textile printing, once the design is created, it can be directly printed on the
fabric from the computer. This process does not require any other step. Just as an
image is printed on the paper easily, one can print designs on fabric.

To print the designs on the fabric digitally, a dye-sublimation printer is used, which
carries out the printing process by using heat to transfer design onto the fabric. In
digital printing, it is necessary to pre-treat the fabric. This will ensure that the fabric
holds the ink well, and a variety of colors can be attained through the pre-treatment
process.

Digital textile printing is considered to be the 'next generation' printing which is quite
different from the conventional fabric printing. With fabric printing going digital,
many textile entrepreneurs are coming forward to invest in digital printing
technology, as it is the most budding method of printing. In India, the textile industry
is embracing digital printing technology by printing novel designs on saris and dress
materials to meet the demands of domestic and international markets.

The textile industry in India has advanced tremendously in last ten years. According to
the industry sources, digital printing in India caters to 1% of the global demand of
printed textiles. However, in the coming five years this share is going to increase to
10%.

With digital printing gaining huge popularity and technological improvements that
have taken place in ink, consumables, print heads and printing machinery, the global
production of printed textiles is estimated to reach 32 billion square meters by 2015,
according to a global report released in U.S.
PROCESS

Step 1> Pre Treatment:

Apply coating chemical to the fabric before printing. This is also known as
padding. Padding is useful because coating chemical holds and penetrates the
reactive dyes better.

Step 2> Ready Your Design:

Choose the profile according to the fabric, and RIP the design to get it ready to
print.

Step 3> Printing:

Your fabric is placed flat on the sticky printer belt. Coated fabric is then fed into
the direct digital printer for printing. The fabric is then gets printed. This is the bit
where we look a like a cat watching
the tennis

Step 4> Drying:

Your printed fabric gets dried by

the heater attached with the digital
printer.

Step 5> Post Treatment:

The printed fabric is gone through the streaming, washing, drying, and ironing.
This is the most vulnerable process. Each fabric requires a different length and
quantity of steam depending on a number of variables including fabric type and
length of fabric
ADVANTAGES

 Eliminates the issue resulting from the use of rotary screens.

 Reduce time to introduce new designs and make modifications.
 Reduce costs to introduce new designs.
 Lowers energy, water and material consumption.
 Low cost production.
 Reduces environmental impact.

DISAVANTAGES

 It is prone to banding.
 There problems in reducing half tones.
 There are problems in colour repetitions.
 Expensive inks are used.
 They run with limited speed.
 Printing is economical for short runs.

FLAT-BED SCREEN PRINTING

The first of the modern printing methods is flat-bed screen printing. In the textile
industry, this process is an automated version of the older hand operated silk screen
printing. For garments such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, and caps, the hand-
operated process is often used. For each color in the print design, a separate screen
must be constructed or engraved. If the design has four colors, then four separate
screens must be engraved. The modern flat-bed screen-printing machine consists of
an in-feed device, a glue trough, a rotating continuous flat rubber blanket, flat-bed
print table harnesses to lift and lower the flat screens, and a double-blade squeegee
trough. The in-feed device allows for precise straight feeding of the textile fabric onto
the rubber blanket. As the cloth is fed to the machine, it is lightly glued to the blanket
to prevent any shifting of fabric or distortion during the printing process. The blanket
carries the fabricunder the screens, which are in the raised position. Once under the
screens, the fabric stops, the screens are lowered, and an automatic squeegee trough
moves across each screen, pushing print paste through the design or open areas of
the screens. Remember, there is one screen for each color in the pattern. The screens
are raised, the blanket precisely moves the fabric to the next color, and the process is
repeated. Once each color has been applied, the fabric is removed from the blanket
and then processed through the required fixation process. The rubber blanket is
continuously washed, dried, and rotated back to the fabric in-feed area. The flat-bed
screen process is a semi-continuous, start-stop operation. From a productivity
standpoint, the process is slow with production speeds in the range of 15-25 yards per
minute. Additionally, the method has obvious design limits. The design repeat size is
limited to the width and length dimensions of the flat screen. Also, no continuous
patterns such as linear stripes are possible with this method. However, this method
offers a number of advantages. Very wide machines can be constructed to
accommodate fabrics such as sheets, blankets, bedspreads, carpets, or upholstery.
Also, this technique allows for multiple passes or strokes of the squeegee so that large
amounts of print paste can be applied to penetrate pile fabrics such as blankets or
towels. Currently, approximately 15-18% of printed fabric production worldwide is
done on flat-bed screen machines.

PROCESS

1. The screen is a rectangular frame

with a fine polyester nylon woven
mesh stretched across it. To create
the design it is first necessary to
completely coat the screen with a
photosensitive polymer, the stencil
of the design is then placed flat onto
the mesh before the screen is
‘photo-exposed’ under special lighting.
2. This exposure hardens the polymer
into an impenetrable lacquer. The area
that was masked by the stencil remains
fluid and once the screen is washed the
stencilled off area once again becomes
open mesh. This allows the printing inks
through.
 3. To print the screen is placed
face down onto a long flat table
that has a length of wallpaper laid
tight against it from one end to
the other.
4. A typical table would be 2
metres in width and 31 metres in
length. (Because of this rolls of
wallpaper are often supplied as a
single ‘triple’ roll that is three
times the length of machine
printed roll; 30 metres instead of
the standard 10).
5. The thick water based inks are
applied to the back of the screen
and are drawn across the mesh
using a rubber squeegee
(imagine a car windscreen wiper
blade), forcing the ink through the areas of open mesh in the shape of the design.
Once the colour is laid the screen is lifted and moved along to the next position,
where the process is repeated. It is important that the inks are allowed to fully
dry before any subsequent screens are placed on top, this is to prevent the screen
potentially picking off the
previous colour laid down,
smudging the design. To
counter this potential
problem it is normal to
print every alternate
screen, before going back
and filling in the gaps once
the inks have dried.
 6. The opportunity to use a limitless amount of
strong, rich opaque colours, make these wallpapers
very desirable. However, the process is labour
intensive and demands constant vigilance. As such,
wallpapers produced this way tend to be
comparatively expensive and are therefore generally
aimed at the top end of the market.

ADVANTAGES

 Greater production than manual screen printing

 Printing with different repeat can be made easily
 Good print is obtained

DISADVANTAGES

 A big setup required for more no. Of screens.

 Prints with more colors may not be possible.
 Printing paste not evenly controlled.

REFERENCES
1. TECHNICAL BULLETIN, TEXTILE PRINTNG RE[ORT.
2. A GUIDE TO WALLPAPER PRINTING
3. WWW.TEXTILE LEARNER.BLOGSPOT.COM
4. https://oecotextiles.wordpress.com