Pretreatment fabrics

Figure 8.1 Images collected at 0 and 0.5 s of a water droplet applied to unwashed, pretreated fabric and fabric washed 1, 5 and 10 cycles.

BTCA treatment system Treatment speed (mm/s) Oxygen flow rate (L/min) Jet-to-substrate distance (mm) Dominating factor WRA of the untreated fabric (°) WRA of plasma-pretreated fabric (°)... 

As shown in Table 3.2, there was an increasing trend after BTCA treatment in the presence of SHP (catalyst) and TiO (cocatalyst). WRAs of plasma-pretreated fabrics further improved compared with those of the untreated fabrics. This confirms that plasma treatment with a lOmm/s speed, a O.lL/min oxygen flow rate, and a 4 mm jet-to-substrate distance is the most effective method for improving wrinkle-resistance properties of BTCA-treated fabric in the presence of SHP (Lam et al., 2011). 

Another solution has been to borrow from the desktop ink jet printer and put paper back into the system. Lengths of paper are lightly adhered to lengths of pretreated fabrics, with the resulting roll able to successfully feed through a print system, as the paper-backing prevents distortion of the fabric. However, the addition of paper adds to the purchase price of the fabric, its overall weight and cost for transport, and the... 

The extra step to pretreat fabric did impact negatively on the speedy uptake of ink jet printing for textiles. Research continues into novel or improved ways to pretreat cloth for digital or ink jet printing, aiming to improve dye retention, maximize color integrity, and minimize effluent. This research covers diverse areas, but some key research paths are ... 

For an imprint the dye is applied locally consistent with the pattern on the pretreated fabric. Afterwards, the dye that adheres superficially has to be fixed with a corresponding treatment. 

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