Ink jet printing

Ink jet printing is a stream of liquid in the form of dye solution produced by a spray nozzle. Ink
jet printing is mainly used to produce patterns on carpets. This printing method is fundamentally
different from other printing techniques. This is an innovative method for the application of
wonderful patterns to the textile material where small droplets of dye solution are affected and
applied to a precise location.

Special features of Ink jet printing:

 In ink jet process there is no contact between a dye applicator (e.g. engraved roller or
screen) and the material being printed.
 No print paste (with thickener) is used in ink jet printing. Rather dye liquors (inks) are
squirted through microprocessor controlled jet nozzles i.e. dye liquor is used for printing.
 The ink must be of low viscosity, have adequate fastness to light and wash and have PH as
close as possible to neutral
 Ink jet printing is the only approach that can provide the really rapid response the
changing demand.
 Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems can be attached with ink jet printing.
 Ink jet printing is carried out almost silently at a high speed (120 m2/min) on surfaces
which can be in any form e.g. eggs, wadding, metal cans (round). That is to say the
surface to be printed needs not to be flat.
 A large number of colors can be used in the print and all the colors can be used in
printing at a time.
 Very large repeats are possible to print.
 The machines are very expensive.
 Pretreatment of fabric is necessary before printing.
 It is used for sophisticated and decorative printings.
 Special type of reactive dyes has been developed for printing on cotton fabrics by ink jet
printers.

Flow chart of Ink jet printing:

In ink jet printing the fabric is passed in open width form through the printing zone and the
printed fabric is rolled in a batcher. The process flow chart as below-

Pre-treatment
↓
Printing by ink jet printer
↓
Fixation
↓
After treatments
 Printer

Fabric Pre-treatment Fixation After-treatment Printed fabric

In ink jet printing, the printing speed is 120 m2/min (maximum). There are 14000-15000 nozzles
in a single/double head printer.
For printing in the dye liquor, disperse dye is used for polyester fabric and reactive/basic dyes
are used for cotton. Pigment dyes are not used because nozzles may be blocked by pigments.
For printing, the grey fabric is first pre-treated in pad bath. Here scouring-bleaching is done. For
P/C fabric this scouring-bleaching operation is mild. After this fabric is squeezed to remove
excess water, and then dried by infra-red heating or micro-wave heating. Then it is printed, fixed
and after treated.
Types of Ink Jet Printing: In ink jet printing patterns are produced on substrate by impinging
very small droplets of dye on the substrate in a predetermined pattern. According to this aspect
there are Two (2) types of ink-jet printing, namely,-
1. Continuous ink-jet in which drops are continuously produced and selectively printed
2. Drop-on-demand in which drops are produced when required.
1. Continuous ink-jet printing:
 In continuous ink jet printing, the ink is force at high pressure through a small nozzle of
10-100 microns in dia.
 The emerging stream of ink breaks into small droplets. Electric charge is imparted to the
drops by placing a charge electrode.
 The charged droplets are directed onto the substrate where the design is built up in the
desired color way and uncharged drops are collected in a catcher. This system is based on
4-color printing(Cyan, magenta, yellow and black)

Oscillator Nozzle Baffle

plate
e
Substrat

Charging Catcher

Ink Back
flow

Fig: Continuous ink jet process

Drop-on-demand (DOD) ink jet machine:
 The Chromotronic machine (developed by Zimmer) is a DOD ink jet printing machine.
 It resembles a flat screen printing mechanism because here the substrate is moved
intermittently and printing is performed by a print head traversing the substrate from side
to side while it is a held stationary on the transport belt.
 During the traverse a bank of needle valves in the print head are made to open
individually in turn to place “shots” of dye liquor in appropriate positions, so as to build
up one color of the pattern.
 The print head is relatively large, as the special needle jet valves are about 5 cm in
diameter.
 In the original full width printing machine each successive color was applied by another
traversing print head, in a manner analogous to the successive screens in a flat screen
printer.
 In this process the dye liquor flow is intermittent, controlled by means of high speed
valves which are operated from digital data on magnetic storage discs.

Printed Dryer Washer Steamer Print

Fabric head
Fig: DOD Printing m/c

 In DOD ink jet printers valve opening time i.e. firing time is 5-15 micro seconds and
liquor pressure is about 70 kpa.
 The chromo jet machines use shorter firing times and higher liquor pressure and valves
can operate at up to 400 Hz.

Advantages of available Ink Jet printing m/c:

 No limitations of number of colors.

 Large repeats are possible to print without restoring of special techniques i.e. No
limitation of repeat length.
 No requirements of screen preparation or engraving roller.
 Saving of expensive printing materials.
 Low energy consumption
 Exclusive design.
 Eco-friendly.
 Optimum surface appearance results.
 Allowing quick customer response.
Limitations of Ink Jet Printing:
 Machine is not commercially available.
 It is very expensive and sophisticated. So initial investment cost if high.
 Printing speed is limited.
 Pretreatment are necessary before printing.
 Very skilled persons are required for operating.
 Pigments can be used carefully because pigment particle may create blockage in jet
nozzles.