PRINTING THICKENERS

MOHAMMAD MAHBUBUL ALAM

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
WET PROCESSING
DTE.
 Thickener
Thickeners used in textile printing are high
molecular weight compounds giving viscous
pastes in water.
These impart stickiness and plasticity to the
printing paste, so that it can be applied to a
fabric surface without spreading and be
capable of maintaining the design outlines
even under high pressure.
Their main function is to hold or adhere the dye
particles in the desired place on the fabric until
the transfer of the dye into the fabric and its
fixation are complete.
The thickener should give a stable paste viscosity,
which would allow an even and measured flow
through the screen.
The viscosity stability must not only be durable in
terms of the time during which the printed cloth
is on the machine, but it must also hold during
storage times in terms of week/months.
The total solid content of the printing paste is
important for producing good prints under
different conditions in limited period of time,
especially while printing light-weight
materials. In such cases thickeners of high
solids content should be used of safeguard
against bleeding and to retain the sharpness
of the print.
The thickener must maintain the print sharpness
(prevent spreading of the colour beyond the
boundaries of the design till steaming or
curing is completed to effect dye fixation).
Thickener is the ease of removal after steaming
by an after wash.
Thickener must be compatible with the other
ingredients of the printing paste.
The thickener film should dry properly on the
fabric to prevent spreading the colour.
Thickener should not have affinity for the dye
and should not keep the dye from the fabric.
Thickener should be cheap and available.
 Types of thickener
There are two types of thickening agents used in
textile printing
(a) Temporary thickener, which acts as a vehicle
for the dye and after dyestuff is transferred
into the fabric, the thickener is washed off
from the fabric completely. Example. Starches
and gums type thickener.
(b) Permanent thickener, which also acts as a
vehicle for the dye, but is retained in the fabric
and forms an integral part of the final print.
Example: Glue, albumin, synthetic resins and
binders type.
 IMPORTANCE OF thickener
The total solid contents of the printing pastes important for
producing good prints under different conditions in limited period
of time, especially while printing light-weight materials.
In such cases thickeners of high solids content should be used to
safeguard against bleeding and to retain the sharpness of the
print.
The thickener must maintain the print sharpness (prevent spreading
of the colour beyond the boundaries of the design till steaming or
curing is completed to effect dye fixation).
During steaming, the adhesive nature of the thickener holds the dye
particles, while the fabric becomes saturated with and the
chemical reactions takes place, giving the dye its fastness
properties.
 Classification of thickener
• Natural
a. Cereals Starch (Maize, Wheat etc.)
b. Plant Exudates (Gum tragacanth, Gum Arabic and
Gum Karaya).
c. Roots and Seeds (Guar gum, Locust bean gum)
d. Sea-weeds (Sodium alginate)
• Modified Natural
a. Starch derivatives (British gums, Carboxy methyl
starch)
b. Cellulose derivatives (CMC & HEC)
c. Gum derivatives (Meypro gum Indalca)
• Synthetic
a. Acrylic (Polyacrylic acid, Polyacrylic amide)
b. Vinyl (Polyvinyl alcohol)
Rheological behaviour of thickener
The water-soluble gums may be divided
into four groups, depending on their
viscosity response to an applied force in
an aqueous media-
1. Newtonian flow
2. Dilatent flow
3. Thixotropic flow
4. Pseudo-plastic flow
 NEWTONIAN FLOW
• In this case, the viscosity is not dependent
upon the time or shear rate. But dependent
upon solution concentration and
temperature.
• Solution of high polymers are very rarely
Newtonian. In this flow, the shear rate is
directly proportional to the applied shearing
stress.
 DILATENT FLOW
• This is rarely encountered except in
dispersions having about 50% solids.
• It involves an increase in viscosity with
increasing shear rate.
• Starch exhibits dilatent flow
 THIXOTROPIC FLOW
• This involves a decrease in viscosity as a function
of time.
• Thixotropic flow never exists alone, it is a
superimposition of the viscosity-time relationship
upon either Newtonian, dilatent or pseudo-
plastic flow.
• The most common is the thixotropic- pseudo-
plastic flow combination.
• Solutions of CMC, HEC etc. can be thixotropic or
pseudo-plastic.
 pseudo-plastic flow
• Most polymer solutions of moderate
concentrations exhibit this type of flow.
• In this case, viscosity decreases with
increasing shear rate.
• HEC, CMC, Alginate etc. demonstrate pseudo-
plasticity.
 viscosity
• Viscosity is the ratio of shearing stress to the rate
of shearing, or
• Viscosity is the measure of the resistance of a
liquid to flow:
Viscosity= Shear stress/Shear rate
Shear stress is the resistance of the liquid to flow
under the influence of an applied force:
Shear stress= force/Area Sheared
Shear rate= Velocity/Clearance
 Essential qualities of thickener
 Stability to keeping (physico-chemical stability)
should be good.
 It should have certain physical and chemical
properties such as viscosity, flow property, ability
to wet and adhere to the internal surface of
etchings of engraved roller.
 It must be compatible with the other ingredients
of the printing paste, e.g. compounds such as
oxidising and reducing agents, electrolytes,
dispersing and wetting agents, solvents, dyes and
pigments etc.
 The thickener film should dry properly on the
fabric to prevent spreading of the colour by
capillary action beyond the boundaries of the
design (to ensure print sharpness).
 The thickener should not have affinity for the dye
and should not keep the dye from the fabric
 The thickener molecule should have a control
over the free water pick up and not carry the dye
beyond the boundaries of the impression
 Thickener should be cheap and available in
abundance.
 Sodium Alginate
Alginates are obtained from the alginic acid found
in brown seaweed. A copolymer is formed
between β‐d‐mannuronic acid (a) and
α‐l‐guluronic acid (b), linked in 1,4‐positions in a
ratio of 1.5 : 1

a b
Alginates are especially important when printing
with reactive dyes on cellulosic substrates. The
carboxylate ion present in the alkali print paste
prevents the approach of the dye anion, and
since neither monomer contains a primary
alcohol (─CH2OH) group, there is little chance of
the reactive dye reacting with the print paste
instead of reacting with the substrate. The
viscosity of pastes is controlled by the
incorporation of calcium ions (Ca2+) into the
print paste to encourage cross‐linking, thereby
increasing paste viscosity.
The following are the properties of alginates
responsible for their application:
• Formation of viscous solution at relative low
concentrations,
• General colloidal property, e.g., polyelectrolyte
and flocculating or deflocculating depending on
the presence of other compounds,
• Formation of films on surfaces, which includes
the binding of particles into solid masses,
• Formation of free films and fibres and,
• Base exchange properties.
The viscosity of a solution of alginates is
influenced by the concentration, degree of
polymerisation, temperature, presence of
other substances and shear stress operating
on the solution. The solutions are marked by
pseudo-viscous behaviour, i.e., the apparent
viscosity decreases with increasing stress.
Alginate thickening have great thickening
properties and their protective colloid action
makes them suitable for use in combination
with starch.
Alginates have attained great importance in printing
specially after the introduction of reactive dyes.
Alginates are unique in that they do not react with
reactive dyes while conventional thickening
agents like starches and gums do react.
Also alginates have no affinity for other classes of
dyes and hence alginate prints give up the dyes to
the fabric without difficulties.
Printing pastes prepare with sodium alginate have
good stability but addition of starch (if possible)
gives increased colour yield.
Alginates produces sharp and well defined prints
due to its low adhesive property.
 CMC

Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is a cellulose derivative

with carboxymethyl groups bound to some of the
hydroxyl groups on the glucopyranose of the cellulose
backbone.
CMC is synthesised by the alkali‐catalysed reaction
of cellulose with chloroacetic acid to modify the
hydroxyl group(s) on the backbone ring.
Various formulations of the CMC can be in the form
of both high and low solids, so this enables the
production of a wide range of print pastes.
The pastes tend to have good stability during
printing and good stability to highly alkaline
pastes, allowing printing of both vat and reactive
dyes to cellulosic substrates.
 Emulsion Thickening
Essentially these are dispersion of inert hydrocarbon oil (white spirit,
mineral spirits) in a continuous phase (oil-in-water, i.e O/W emulsion),
or Dispersions of an aqueous phase in hydrocarbon oil (water-in-oil, i.e.
W/O emulsion).
A stable emulsion is formed in the presence of an emulsifying agent. The
type of the emulsion formed depends on the ratio of polar to non-polar
groups present.
When an emulsion is mixed with water, if it remains stable and
homogeneous, it is an Oil-in-water emulsion. It can also conduct
electricity, while a water-in-oil emulsion cannot.
The viscosity of the dispersion is governed by the ratio of white spirit to
water. Increasing the amount of oil increases the viscosity of the
dispersion. The viscosity will also depend upon the size of the dispersed
droplets – the smaller these are, the higher the viscosity of the
dispersion.
For printing applications, the emulsion should
be stable to (a) the dyes used and (b) the
other ingredients of the paste (salt, acid,
alkali, metal salts etc.). Thus anioic dyes
should not be added to emulsions prepared
by using cationic emulsifiers and vice-versa.
Addition of electrolytes may affect the
distribution of the emulsifier between the two
phase or alter the charge on the dispersed
phase and the emulsion may break with the
separation into two layers.