Abstract

Cotton fabric has been extensively used as the substrate of inkjet printing to manufacture traditional garments as well as emerging e-textiles due to its comfort, renewability, good dyeability, biodegradability and relatively low cost. In present work, the spreading and coalescence of ink drops on a cotton fabric as well as their effects on the image quality were investigated. A reactive orange 13 dye was selected as the colorant to make it convenient to observe the depositing morphologies of ink drops. The impacting and wetting processes of an ink drop on a cotton fiber were observed through a high-speed camera. Depositing morphologies of an ink drop, coalescing structures of ink drops and patterns printed with different drop spacings were observed through a microscope. The results show that the ink drop stably deposited on the cotton fabric and formed a long strip pattern after wetting. That indicates the inkjet printing pattern on a cotton fabric should be composed of “line segments” instead of round points. The edges of the pattern printed with a small drop spacing appeared bleeding phenomenon due to the ink drops excessively accumulated on the gaps between cotton fibers. Ink drops could not coalesce at a large drop spacing resulting in the printed pattern being discontinuous. The ideal pattern was printed at an intermediate drop spacing, which was 20 µm in this experiment.

Graphic abstract

中文翻译：

---

墨滴散布和聚结对印花棉织物图像质量的影响

摘要

棉织物由于其舒适性，可更新性，良好的可染性，可生物降解性和相对较低的成本，已被广泛用作喷墨印刷的基材，以制造传统服装以及新兴的电子纺织品。在目前的工作中，研究了墨滴在棉织物上的扩散和聚结及其对图像质量的影响。选择活性橙色13染料作为着色剂，以方便观察墨滴的沉积形态。通过高速相机观察到墨滴在棉纤维上的冲击和润湿过程。通过显微镜观察到墨滴的沉积形态，墨滴的聚结结构以及以不同墨滴间隔印刷的图案。结果表明，墨滴稳定地沉积在棉织物上并在润湿后形成长条状图案。这表明棉织物上的喷墨打印图案应由“线段”而不是圆点组成。由于墨滴过多地积聚在棉纤维之间的间隙上，因此以较小的墨滴间距打印的图案边缘出现渗色现象。墨滴无法在较大的墨滴间距处聚结，导致打印的图案不连续。理想的图案以中间的墨滴间距打印，在本实验中为20 µm。由于墨滴过多地积聚在棉纤维之间的间隙上，因此以较小的墨滴间距打印的图案边缘出现渗色现象。墨滴无法在较大的墨滴间距处聚结，导致打印的图案不连续。理想的图案以中间的墨滴间距打印，在本实验中为20 µm。由于墨滴过多地积聚在棉纤维之间的间隙上，因此以较小的墨滴间距打印的图案边缘出现渗色现象。墨滴无法在较大的墨滴间距处聚结，导致打印的图案不连续。理想的图案以中间的墨滴间距打印，在本实验中为20 µm。

图形摘要