Uniform-Colored Synthetic Textiles by Digital Inkjet Printing: Effect of Vacuum Plasma Treatment and Multiple Printing Passes

Abstract This study investigates the potential use of digital inkjet printing to produce uniform-colored textiles comparable to those dyed conventionally. The color uniformity of inkjet-printed block pattern using combined vacuum plasma treatment and inkjet printing of nano-pigment ink is studied. The surface properties of the plasma treated textiles were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and absorption. The color performances, color uniformity and fastness properties of printed textiles were evaluated by color measurement, wash fastness, and abrasion tests respectively. The results showed that plasma treatment significantly enhances the color performance of printed polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyamide 66 (PA). The color strength increases with printing passes and the most significant enhancement was with two printing passes, thereafter it reaches saturation. It was found that plasma-treated fabrics absorbed the ink faster, therefore the colorants concentrated at the textile surface. Furthermore, the inks printed on plasma-treated samples showed better wash fastness and abrasion property for both PET and PA fabrics. Moreover, the color uniformity results showed that Δ E CMC is distributed between 0.25 and 0.5 over the uniform-colored surface. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using resource-efficient textile processes, such as plasma treatment and inkjet printing, to produce uniform-colored textiles as alternative to conventional dyeing methods.