Heat Transfer Printing

Watch this amazing video on Heat Transfer Printing



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Water Based Vs. Plastisol Pigment Printing Inks

Until the late eighties water based white inks and clear bases were used for the piece printing of garments. However in the nineties, when automatic machine printing came in vogue, there was a need to have trouble- free-non-choking inks which led to the development of PVC based plastisol inks. Since the beginning of the 21st century there has been an increased awareness about the ill effects of PVC / residual VCM in PVC and phthalate plasticizers used in these inks. Leading European garment brands have been intensively campaigning for PVC / phthalate / APEO / formaldehyde / heavy metal free water based inks. This led to the shift back to water based inks. The challenge to day is to offer water based systems meeting the eco-standards but at the same time ability to address the user friendliness especially on high speed automatic machines.

An excellent comparison between water based and plastisol inks is given here.

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What is High Density Printing

High Density is a popular special effect that rises straight up off the shirt and has a hard rubbery feel with sharp edges. A High density print has slight glossy finish.

The source of this image is Anomaly Ink.

To get these effects about 20% of the puff base is taken which is then mix with colored inks to make it 100%. The base is Vinylidene chloride based polymer and the inks are Acrylic co-polymers. 

Then it is printed in 5-8 rounds depending upon height required on normal screen ( 2 flood/ 2 strokes). After that 3 rounds of printing is given with 150 micron film screen and then 2 rounds with 220 micron capillary film screen depending upon the height. 

An excellent video on flooding and stroking is embedded as below:

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What is Glitter Printing

Glitter Printing

Glitter printing enables the fabric to show glittering granules on the fabric. For this Glitter powder is used.

Glitter Powder is generally PET with size of 1/8" to 1/256". It is cut into square and hexagon shape. It is available in metallic, rainbow, laser and iridescent colors. Generally it comes in 25 kg bag. A typical glitter power substance is heat resistant to 170 degree celcius and is acid and alkaline proof. The picture of the glitter powder is as given below:

To Print, first glitter paste is prepared. Glitter powder is added in the Glitter ink, under stirring slowly to avoid lumb formation. Glitter ink is made of acrylic co-polymer. Then it is screen printed using Bull nose squeegee (You can read an excellent manual on squeegee here.) The mesh size should not be more than 20 T (An excellent premier on mesh size can be read here).

One can get an idea of the prices of the chemicals used for glitter printing here.

Source of Picture: http://www.ampmerch.com


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