High-Quality Images Inkjetted on Different Woven Cotton Fabrics Cationized with P(St-BA-VBT) Copolymer Nanospheres

Abstract

The porosity, roughness, and thickness of woven fabrics limit inkjet printing quality, which is extremely important for obtaining high-quality inkjet printing images on fabrics. This study reveals the application of poly[styrene-butyl acrylate-(P-vinylbenzyl trimethyl ammonium chloride)] nanospheres prepared via a soapfree emulsion polymerization approach as a novel kind of the cationization modifier for the inkjet printing of different woven cotton fabrics by the pad-cure process. It was found that the nanospheres exhibited an average diameter of 65.5 nm, a zeta potential of +57.8 mV, and a glass transition temperature of 94.7 °C. The nanospheres deposited on three cotton fabrics through the dip-rolling process, resulting in the increase of zeta potential, hydrophobicity and thickness of the fabric, and the decrease of porosity and roughness. The high-quality inkjet printing images can be obtained on fabrics with different structures owing to the differences in zeta potential, hydrophobicity, porosity, roughness, and thickness of fabrics. The plain, twill, and honeycomb weave fabrics obtained high-quality inkjet printing images for portraits, oil paintings, and landscape paintings, respectively. The nanospheres could strongly adsorb on the fiber by electrostatic attraction. The reactive dye molecules in the inks could react with the cationized fibers by electrostatic attractive force, resulting in the increase of the color strength, fixation rates, and outline sharpness. The nanosphere cationization of different woven fabrics offers a new potential method for obtaining high-quality patterns without significantly affecting the fabric handle.

Chromatographic Effects in Inkjet Printing

“…A number of techniques have been developed in order to optimize the achievable resolution and pattern fidelity by improving and accelerating dye fixation. These include pretreatments by corona discharges and other plasmas, − the incorporation of ionic compounds into paper that have the opposite charge polarity as the dye, ,− the use of reactive dyes that form covalent bonds, − the use of nanoporous coating layers that increase the effective surface area, the use of binders that reduce the permeability and thus the ink absorption rate, or an increase of the solvent evaporation rate by increasing the temperature or by using microwave or infrared irradiation to reduce the time available for ink transport. − …”

“…the incorporation of ionic compounds into paper that have the opposite charge polarity as the dye, ,− …”

Amino-modified Reactive Red 195/P(styrene-co-butyl acrylate-co-trimethyl(vinylbenzyl) ammonium chloride) nanospheres with high coloration performance for enhancing cotton dyeability

“…The maximum size (108.0 nm) is obtained when the dye dosage reaches 50%. This might be because the cationic polymer nanospheres with quaternary ammonium groups attract the anionic reactive dye molecules through electrostatic attraction and van der Waals forces, 43 which leads to the increasing anionic reactive dye on the polymer nanosphere surfaces. However, a further dosage increment results in a slow downtrend of the size.…”

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

“…Jeferson Correia et al reported that cationic modi cation of cotton fabric with 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl trimethylammonium chloride enhanced the a nity between cotton and reactive dyes and improved the inkjet printing performance of cotton fabric (Correia et al 2020). Yang et al prepared a cationic nanosphere to modify cotton fabrics, which enhanced the electrostatic attraction between cotton fabric and reactive dyes, and improved the color performance (Yang et al 2019). Pransilp, P et al achieved a good color strength through increasing the contact area between ink and cotton bers by plasma etching (Pransilp et al 2016).…”