Enhancing digital ink-jet printing patterns quality through controlling the crystallinity of cotton fibers

Abstract

Cotton fibers have a high crystallinity, which makes a large number of reactive hydroxyl groups blocked and therefore affects the ink-jet printing performance of reactive dyes on cotton fabrics. In this work, the alkali treatment was employed to adjust the structure of cotton fibers. The crystallinity of treated cotton fibers reduced from 73.9–58.5%, and the breaking strength did not decrease compared with original cotton fiber. Thus, the accessible reactive hydroxyl groups and the wettability were enhanced for treated cotton fibers, which promoted the penetration of inks into the fibers. The optimal K/S value of 23.47 was achieved for treated cotton fabrics which was higher than that of untreated cotton fabrics (17.15). Meanwhile, the printed fabrics displayed good washing fastness, rubbing fastness and glossiness. This work provides an effective way for improving the utilization of dye solution and producing high-quality cotton fabric digital printing products.