Pigment printing is a textile printing technique that involves applying insoluble pigments mixed with a binder and thickener only to defined areas of fabric to create a pattern. It does not require washing after printing like other techniques since the binder fixes the pigment. Pigment printing can be done on many fiber types at high speeds, making it economical. The process involves preparing a printing paste, applying it using screen or roller printing, then drying and curing the printed fabric without an after-treatment wash.

2.  It can be described as a localized form of dyeing, applying
colorant to selected areas of the fabric to build up the
design.
 Textile printing, like textile dyeing, is a process for
applying color to a substrate.
 However, instead of coloring the whole substrate (cloth,
carpet or yarn) as in dyeing, print color is applied only to
defined areas to obtain the desired pattern.
 Dyeing can hold single color where as printing can handle
12 to 20 colors in single go.

3. “A fabric that has been printed with a paste made of an
insoluble pigment mixed with a binder and a
thickener.”
 In pigment printing, insoluble pigments, which have
no affinity for the fiber, are fixed on to the textile
with binding agents in the pattern required.
 Pigment printing is most economical printing process
and allows maximum output of goods because of the
elimination of washing off, quick sampling and high
printing speeds.
 It is not possible to apply it directly on the fabric.
Binder must be used to apply the pigment dye on the
fabric.

5.  As, Chart Describes major portion of textile printing
is covered by Pigment Printing so it becomes an
important topic to discuss.
 To print on different substrates different chemistry is
required for example printing on natural cellulose is
majorly done with reactive dyes.
 Polyester is printed with disperse dyes.
 Cotton is printed with sulfur dyes.
 But, Pigment printing can be applied to various type
of fibers like Cotton, Polyester, Blend PC, Polyamide
and many more.

6.  Pigment printing has gained much importance today
and for some fibers (e.g. cellulose fibers) is by far the
most commonly applied technique. Pigments can be used
on almost all types of textile substrates and, thanks to
increased performance of modern auxiliaries, it is now
possible to obtain high-quality printing using this
technique.
 Pigment printing pastes contain a thickening agent, a
binder and, if necessary, other auxiliaries such as fixing
agents, plasticizers, defoamers, etc.

7.  White spirit-based emulsions, used in the past as
thickening systems, are used only occasionally today
(mainly half-emulsion thickeners).
 After applying the printing paste, the fabric is dried and
then the pigment is normally fixed with hot air (depending
on the type of binder in the formulation, fixation can also
be achieved by storage at 20°C for a few days).
 The advantage of pigment printing is that the process can
be done without subsequent washing (which, in turn, is
needed for most of the other printing techniques).

8. Pre-treatment
↓
Printing (with binder and fixer)
(roller/rotary printing)
↓
Drying ( Drying the printed fabric)
(90-100%/110-120°C)
(dryer)
↓
Curing (Fixation of the printed dye or pigment)
(cotton 140-160°C/110-120°C 3-5 min)
(polyester 160-220°C , 30-60s)
(stenter)

9. A Typical Printing Process Involves the Following
Steps:
 Color paste preparation
when printing textiles, the dye or pigment is not in an
aqueous liquor, instead, it is usually finely dispersed
in a printing paste, in high concentration.
 Textile Printing
The dye or pigment paste is applied to the substrate
using different techniques, which are discussed below.

10.  Fixation
Immediately after printing, the fabric is dried and
then the prints are fixed mainly with steam or hot air
(for pigments). (Conversion of binder monomer into
polymer).
 After-treatment
this final operation consists in washing and drying
the fabric (it is not necessary when printing with
pigments or with other particular techniques such as
transfer printing).

11.  According to origin
 Natural/Mineral: Iron ores, clays, chalk etc
 Synthetic/chemical: white lead, ZnO, TiO2 and large number
of inorganic and organic color
 According to Reactivity
 Reactive pigment: some pigments on account of the
chemical character react with oil, fatty acids and soaps.
These are called reactive pigments e.g. ZnO, red lead
 Inert pigment: TiO2
 According to Chemical Nature
 Organic pigment:
 Azo pigment
 Diarylide orange and yellows
 Phthalocyanine
 Hasna yellow
 Inorganic pigment

12.  Printing process may be further divided into two steps:
1. Preparation of the print paste.
2. Printing the fabric.

13. Soft Water 700 g/Kg
Anti Foamer 1g/Kg
Binder 200g/Kg
Fixative 10g/Kg
Softener 10g/Kg
Urea 50g/Kg
Thickener 15g/Kg
Total 1 Kg

14. A pigment printing system consists of three essential components:
 Pigment dispersion: Specific pigments are treated in a grinding
mill in the presence of suitable non-ionic surfactants. A particle
size of 0.1-3 μm is typical. Generally, the pigment pastes are
aqueous based and contain the dispersing agent, humectants (to
prevent evaporation and drying out).
 Binders and cross-linking agents (polymers): The binders used
in pigment printing systems are film-forming substances made
up of long-chain macro molecules which, when heated with a
suitable acid-donating catalyst, form a three-dimensional
structure in the pigment.
 Thickeners and auxiliary agents: These give the required print
thickening power (rheology).

15.  Binders plays key role in pigment printing. Binder are
monomers which on heating get converted into
polymers. Just by simple heating, no pressure , no
steaming , no electricity.
Binders{Monomer}----Heat--->
Plasticizer/Plastic{Polymer}
 Binders form plastic but, its too soft and transparent
that its difficult to see it but we can feel its harshness
on the fabric. That’s why pigment printed fabric have
more harshness when compared to other printing
techniques.

16.  Binder actually hold the pigment color and sandwich
it between fabric surface and plastic coating and this
coating help color to stick there and stand with high
and severe conditions.
 In addition to binder an other component is also
added to the textile pigment printing paste and that is
called fixer. Fixers are mostly formaldehyde based,
which helps in strengthening of binder to hold on
pigment.

17. The working of binder that how binder sandwiches
pigment in between itself and substrate. As, nearly 90
to 95% of pigment is successfully entrapped in
between so no need of washing as it was required in
case of reactive printing to wash off unfixed dye. This
is big advantage of pigment over other techniques
which make it economical.

18. A decorative pattern or design is usually applied to
constructed fabric by:
1. Screen printing method
a. Rotary screen methods
b. Flat screen methods
2. Roller printing method

19.  Screen printing is by far the most popular technology in use today.
 Screen printing consists of three elements:
 The screen which is the image carrier;
 The squeegee;
 Ink.
 The screen printing process uses a porous mesh stretched tightly over a
frame made of wood or metal.
 Proper tension is essential for accurate color registration.
 The mesh is made of porous fabric or stainless steel.
 A stencil is produced on the screen either manually or photochemically.
 The stencil defines the image to be printed in other printing technologies
this would be referred to as the image plate.

20.  For each color in the print design, a separate screen must be
constructed or engraved.
 The modern flat-bed screen-printing machine consists of an in-
feed device, a glue trough, a rotating continuous flat rubber
blanket, flat-bed print table harnesses to lift and lower the flat
screens, and a double-blade squeegee trough.
 The in-feed device allows for precise straight feeding of the
textile fabric onto the rubber blanket.
 As the cloth is fed to the machine, it is lightly glued to the
blanket to prevent any shifting of fabric or distortion during
the printing process.

21.  The blanket carries the fabric under the screens,
which are in the raised position. Once under the
screens, the fabric stops, the screens are lowered, and
an automatic squeegee trough moves across each
screen, pushing print paste through the design or open
areas of the screens.
 Remember, there is one screen for each color in the pattern.
 The screens are raised, the blanket precisely moves the
fabric to the next color, and the process is repeated.
 Once each color has been applied, the fabric is removed
from the blanket and then processed through the required
fixation process.

22.  The rubber blanket is continuously washed, dried, and
rotated back to the fabric in-feed area.
 The flat-bed screen process is a semi-continuous, start-stop
operation. Flat screen machines are used today mostly in
printing terry towels.
 Can produce as many as 25,000 impressions without
significant degradation of the image.
 The process is slow with production speeds in the range of
15-25 yards per minute.

24.  Rotary screen printing is so named because it uses a cylindrical
screen that rotates in a fixed position rather than a flat screen
that is raised and lowered over the same print location.
 Rotary presses place the squeegee within the screen. These
machines are designed for roll-to-roll printing on fabric
ranging from narrow to wide-format textiles.
 In rotary printing, the fabric travels at a consistent speed
between the screen and a steel or rubber impression roller
immediately below the screen. (The impression roller serves the
same function as the press bed on a flatbed press.)
 As the fabric passes through the rotary unit, the screen spins at
a rate that identically matches the speed of substrate
movement.

25.  The squeegee on a rotary press is in a fixed position with its edge making
contact with the inside surface of the screen precisely at the point where
the screen, substrate, and impression roller come together .
 Ink is automatically fed into the center of the screen and collects in a
wedge-shaped “well” formed by the leading side of the squeegee and the
screen’s interior surface.
 The motion of the screen causes this bead of ink to roll, which forces ink
into stencil openings, essentially flooding the screen without requiring a
floodbar.
 The squeegee then shears the ink as the stencil and substrate come into
contact, allowing the ink to transfer cleanly to the material.
 By converting the screen-printing process from semi-continuous to
continuous, higher production speeds are obtained than in flat bed
printing. Typical speeds are from 50-120 yards per minute

28.  Applicable to natural and synthetic fiber.
 Pigment printing is most economical printing process and
allows maximum output of goods because of the
elimination of washing off, quick sampling and high
printing speeds.
 The advantage of pigment printing is that the process can
be done without subsequent washing.
 Simple technical process without wet after treatment.
 Pigment printing allows maximum output of goods.
 Fastness properties are good to average.
 Well defined design can be produced by pigment printing.

29.  Pigment printed textile wears are not comfortable to
wear.
 Handling properties of the pigment printing is rough
because of having excessive cross linking agents.
 It is not possible to apply it directly on the fabric.
Binder must be used to apply the pigment dye on the
fabric. Thus, a coat is created on the surface of the
fabric.
 Pigments are sensitible to crushing during roller
printing.
 Rubbing fastness is medium.
 Pigments are completely fast to dry cleaning.