Comparison of various types of technical advantages and disadvantages of T-shirt printing

Printing refers to the technical process of printing patterns on textiles. According to the form of the fabric before printing, it can be divided into cloth printing, cut piece printing and clothing printing. Fabric printing means that the entire cloth is printed on the pattern before cutting; the cut piece is printed after the garment has been cut and is not cut yet; the ready-to-print is printed after the garment is sewn. For T-shirt printing, mainly cut piece printing and clothing printing.

According to the materials and methods used in printing, they can be mainly divided into: water paste printing, glue printing, ink printing and hot stamping, transfer printing, as well as special and uncommonly used tie-dyeing, wax dyeing, etc., also can be attributed to printing technology. The range.

Let's analyze the various printing technologies and their advantages and disadvantages.

☆ water paste printing: is the earliest application of printing technology. The material used to print the pattern is an aqueous slurry, similar to the pigments or dyes used in painting. Through the technical treatment of the printing screen, the patterned spot can be penetrated to the fabric without penetration of the pattern, so that the pattern can be printed on the fabric.

Its characteristics are: only one color can be printed at a time. If you want to print a second color, you must wait for the previous color to dry before proceeding; you need to make a printing plate; generally you cannot print color patterns with four colors, and you cannot use dark colors. A light-coloured pattern is printed on the fabric; the advantage is that the printed fabric has good air-permeability, but because the paste is washed during printing, the clothes will harden. This method is more used for fabric printing.

☆ Glue printing: The basic process is the same as the water paste printing, except that the material used is a sizing agent that will freeze on the fabric after drying.

The feature is: only one color can be printed at a time. If you want to print a second color, you must wait for the previous color to dry before proceeding; you need to make a printing plate; generally you cannot print color patterns with four colors; because the glue is not transparent, It is also possible to print light-colored patterns on dark fabrics; very poor breathability; and non-washable patterns that can easily come off, especially when used on chemical fiber fabrics. The most common printing T-shirts on the market today use glue printing.

☆Ink printing: also called thermosetting ink printing. It uses chemical ink as a printing material and requires high temperature drying to solidify the ink onto the fabric; a printing plate needs to be produced; a color pattern can be printed using four-color impact nets, or a layer of white on a dark fabric can be printed first. After printing light-colored patterns; the same as the paste printing, poor air permeability; washable pattern is not easy to fall off, especially when used in chemical fiber fabrics. Some cool T-shirts seen in the market are ink-printed works.

☆ Hot Stamping and Transfer Printing: It is a technology developed at a relatively late period. It uses an intermediate medium (such as transfer paper), that is, the pattern is first printed on the transfer paper coated with a special coating, and the pattern on the transfer paper is transferred to the fabric by pressure and high temperature. The advantage of this is that the production process of the printing is simplified, and the production of the pattern, that is, the transfer paper, becomes a new industry independently, and the distribution of the pattern is facilitated. Its actual effect is the same as ink printing, but its pattern accuracy is higher. Heat transfer, T-shirt transfer paper is representative of this type.