TEXTILE PRINTING

TXL242 Technology of Textile Coloration

3 credits (3
(3-0-0)
Pre--requisites: TXN101
Pre
Printing module
• Methods of printing namely, roller, screen,
transfer, ink jet and the preparation of printing
paste. Direct, discharge and resist printing styles.
PRINTING - Localized dyeing

• Cave painting Print on fabric

 PAINTING VS PRINTING

 Speed of production

 Reproducibility

 Repeat size

 Number of colors
 INTRODUCTION

Printing combines

• Design idea
• Colorants
• Textile substrate
• A technique to apply the colors with some
precision
THE EARLIEST TECHNIQUE..

Block printing

Foot prints
Block

Block printing
 FEATURES
• Wooden blocks having raised surfaces

• Inked and pressed on fabric surfaces

• Complete design is created by

repetition

• More than 2000 year old

• Earliest evidence – wooden blocks

found in tombs in Upper Egypt
DESIGNS CREATED BY PAINTING
AND DYEING IN INDIA

• India was known to produce high quality

designs by painting, using natural colors
and mordents (Calico prints)
• Were in great demand in Europe around 15th
century
• India was exporting large quantities to
Europe in about AD 1700
CALICO PRINTING (1754)
GROWTH OF BLOCK PRINTING

• The economics of producing prints in

Europe was the driver
• 1648 – The first calico printing factory was
set up in Marseille
• 1676 – Units in London and Amsterdam
• In Britain number of units in 1760 – 28 in
1785 - 111
ENGRAVED COPPER PRINTING
(INTAGLIO)

• First time by Francis Nixon in 1752 in London

• Copper plate was incised (engraved) with a
sharp steel tool
• Ink applied on the plate and the unengraved
surface wiped
• This plate was then pressed on a moistened
paper, transferring the design
• Could be adapted to printing of textiles
• Can produce much finer, almost
photographic quality prints
• Tonal effects possible
• Engraving of copper was a
highly skillful, difficult and time
consuming process
• Was made by use of blackened
wax
• The technique was mastered by Durer (16th
Century), Rembrandt and Picasso
• It had the problem of fitting the design in exact
repeats (fabric had to be moved)
• Answer to the problem – converting the plate
into a roller
 ROLLER PRINTING
• 1783 – patented by Thomas bell
• 1785 – the first machine in use
• 1840 – 435 machines in England
• A key feature was – doctor blade to remove
the excess ink/print paste
 GROWTH OF ROLLER PRINTING
AND DECLINE OF BLOCK PRINTING

• Block printing could produce six pieces of simple

design per day; for roller it was 500
• In 1796 the production was 1 million pieces, 7
million in 1821 and 20 million in 1851
• No of machines – 604
• In 1911 the production was 1400 million yards
• No of block printing tables declined from 8234 in
1840 to 3939 in 1851
• However, the cost of copper rollers and engraving
was high
STENCILS TO ROTARY SCREENS

• Stenciling was developed into an art in Japan

• In 17th Century, tying of parts (islands) with human
hair was developed
• In 1850, the use of silk gauze as a supporting stencil
base was employed in Lyons
• It was known as screen printing
• Growth period – 1930-1954
 Mechanization of flat screen printing and ultimately
rotary screen printing led to the decline of roller
printing

Relative contribution of printing methods to total world printed textile production

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
• Ink Jet printing – building a design from ink
drops

Working principle of an inkjet printing device

ADVANTAGES AND ISSUES
• Rapid response
• No need to produce screen or rollers
• Instantaneous use for sampling or long runs
• Use of computer technology has made the
scanning, transmission of image and color
formulation possible and rapid
• Initial capital and ink costs are high
 SURFACE PRINTING METHODS
BLOCK MAKING
• Maximum width – 10 mm
• Size – 45 square cm ,
weight – 5 kg
• Block making – requires
patience and skill
• Design is traced on the
surface and the non design
area is chiseled away
• Depth of engraving – 1 cm
THE PRINTING TABLE

• A very solid table topped with slabs of

stone or iron
• Topped with a resilient blanket and a
waterproof sheet material
• Finally topped with a back grey of plain
cotton stretched over waterproof sheet for
absorbing any surplus color
• The fabric to be printed was immobilized
on table
• Immobilization was either done with small pins

• Or by applying a layer of wax over the back grey

• It was heated by steam pipes which used to keep

wax in a soft state

• Such wax used to act as adhesive and would

immobilize the fabric to be printed on table
 MECHANISATION

• 1834 - a machine that performed

all the actions of block printing (by
Perrot)
• Printing of polymer film, other
packaging materials and transfer
paper is known as flexographic
printing.
o Each engraved cylinder (F), is
pressed against the fabric being
printed (E) as it travels around a
pressure bowl (A).
o As the rollers rotate, a furnishing
roller (G) transfers print paste from a
colour box (H) to the engraved
cylinder.
• This surface colour is almost
immediately removed by the steel
blade known as the colour doctor (J).

• An endless printing blanket (C) is used and washed and dried continuously to
prevent spoiling of the lapping
• A back-grey (D) is used to absorb colour and give greater resilience
• After transferring its colour, the engraved roller is cleaned by a brass blade
known as the lint doctor (K)
o What may happen if some lint is
stuck below a doctor blade?
o As the rollers rotate, a furnishing
roller (G) transfers print paste from
a colour box (H) to the engraved
cylinder.

oThe lint doctor on the second (and any subsequent) roller removes
a significant amount of the previously printed colour that the roller
takes up from the fabric
fabric..???
oWithout the lint doctor, this colour would be carried into colour two
and cause rapid contamination
oAthough some contamination is unavoidable because the lint doctor
will push a little colour into the empty engraving.
AFTER PRINTING OPERATIONS
• The printed fabric is detached from the back-grey and blanket
and sent for drying
• On a multicolour machine, the printing rollers are arranged
around a larger pressure bowl with minimum separation of the
rollers.
• Setting and maintaining the correct registration requires an
arrangement for separately rotating each roller a small distance
while the drive to all the rollers is engaged.
• It is necessary to correct the pattern fit from time to time
during printing, because each roller will have a different
effective circumference if there are significant differences in the
area engraved or the pressure applied.
OVERALL ARRANGEMENT OF A SIX-COLOUR MACHINE WITH
HOT-AIR DRYING, SHOWING BLANKET WASHER
 PROBLEMS - 1
• There is a limit to the fabric width that can
be printed (beyond 1.8 meters)
 PROBLEMS - 2

• Sequence of colours printed cannot be

chosen arbitrarily (contamination problem)
• ‘Crush
Crush effect
effect’ can reduce the visible colour
strength by up to 50%.
• Successive rollers take off some of the
printed colour and push some further into
the fabric
 PROBLEMS - 3

• Time lost in pattern changing

• Handling of heavy rollers and associated
accessories and difficult access
• Effective printing time is often less than 50% of
working time
• Short runs are inefficient to produce
 SOLUTIONS…

• Roller weight was reduced by using cast-

iron cylinders with an electrodeposited
copper plating
• Damage to roller surfaces reduced by
chromium plating
• New design for better access to rollers
Roller-printing machine (Brückner) with better access
 ROLLER ENGRAVING
• The multicolor design – color separation
• Each design is converted into a repeat such that
one or multiple repeats fit roller perimeter
• For small repeats, mill engraving is used
• Photoengraving is more widely used
• Here, chemical etching of copper is done from
design areas
 MILL ENGRAVING
(SMALL REPEATS)
• Hand engraving on a soft steel roller
• It is hardened by heat treatment
• Design in relief is obtained by running the first
cylinder (the die) under pressure in contact with
another soft steel roller (relief)
• The second roller is also hardened (relief)
• The relief (mill) roller is run in contact with a
copper roller to obtain engraved design
• The process is repeated across the cylinder width
 PHOTOENGRAVING
• A copy of the master design (in outline only) for each
color is made
• For each copy, all the areas are blocked with an
opaque paint except for that color
• This process can now be done with electronic scanners
and suitable software's
• Negative colour separations are converted into
positives (diapositives) on stable photographic film
• Ground lines are introduced by exposing through a
grid of lines
The main steps in the photoengraving process
• A step-and-repeat machine is used to produce a full-
size positive film for each colour to cover the
complete roller surface
• The set of films is checked by transmitted light to
ensure perfect register.
• Each roller is given an even coating with a
photosensitive polymer solution
• Each film is fixed on one roller and the roller rotates
under a suitable light.
• In the areas exposed to light, the polymer coating is
altered chemically and becomes insoluble and acid
resistant.
• Unchanged polymer is washed off from the unexposed
areas.
• Etching is carried out in a bath of acid or iron(III)
chloride solution
• This is done till the adjacent V-shaped grooves almost
meet each other (small pieces of polymer float off at this
point
• The number of grooves per inch (scale/mesh),
corresponds to the grid spacing and determines the depth
of engraving obtained and the amount of print paste
held.
• A scale of 55 gives a depth of about 0.11 mm (0.005 in)
(suitable for a smooth-surfaced synthetic fibre)
• Whereas a scale of 35 gives a depth of 0.20 mm (0.008
in) (more suitable for a cotton fabric)