Pigment Printing: Advantages And Disadvantages

What is pigment?

Pigments are mainly synthetic organic materials. Pigment printing is done to produce attractive designs by applying pigment paste on the fabric surface. Pigments have particle states and the particle size range should be in the region of 0.1 – 3 microns.

How pigment printing process is done?

Pigment printing is done with a binder system. We know that pigment has no affinity to cotton fabric for this reason binder is necessary during printing. The binder is a film-forming substance made up of long macromolecules that when applied to the textile materials together with the pigment, produce a 3-dimensional network. The 3-dimensional links are formed during some suitable fixing process, which usually consists of dry heat and a change in pH value (<5), bringing about self-crosslinking or reaction with a suitable cross-linking agent. This cross-linking improves the elasticity and adhesion of the film to the substrate.

Advantages And Disadvantages of Pigment Printing

Pigment printing has lots of advantages and disadvantages. The following are the advantages and disadvantages of pigment printing. They are-

Advantages of Pigment Printing

The following are the advantages of pigment printing:

• Firstly, pigment applies to natural as well as synthetic fibers.
• Secondly, the pigment print is an easy task for the printer.
• Thirdly, pigment printing is the most economical printing process.
• After that, pigment printing allows the maximum output of goods.
• Then, sometime it uses for dope dyeing for filament yarn.
• Therefore, fastness properties are good to average.
• Lastly, a well-defined design produces with pigment printing.

Disadvantages of Pigment Printing

The following are the disadvantages of pigment printing. They are-

• Firstly, pigment printed textile wears are not comfortable to wear.
• Secondly, pigments are sensitive to crushing during roller printing.
• Thirdly, rubbing fastness is medium.
• Then, This printing process is not controllable for the binder film.
• This can produce problems like flammability, odor, and pollution because of the Use of solvents like kerosene, spirit, etc.
• Therefore, it causes air and water pollution and also it jamming up the equipment.
• Lastly, pigments are completely fast to dry cleaning.

So, print your T-Shirt, Polo-shirt or other textile materials with pigment and get various attractive designs.