Preparation and application of nanoscale microemulsion as binder for fabric inkjet printing

To obtain a nanoscale binder suitable for pigment-based inkjet ink printing on fabrics, a polymer microemulsion with a high content of soft monomer of butyl acrylate (BA) was synthesized via a modified microemulsion polymerization method, where N-methylolacrylamide (NMA) served as the cross-linking monomer and monododecyl maleate (MDM) as the copolymerizable surfactant. The effects of the functional monomers (NMA, MDM), the weight ratios of monomers, and the solid contents on the microemulsion properties were investigated by TEM, DSC, particle size analyzing, and fabric inkjet printing. The results indicated that the microemulsion had a number-average particle diameter less than 50 nm and with narrow particle size distribution. It was also found that the glass transition temperatures (Tg) of the film formed from the microemulsion could be lower than −30 °C. Fabric inkjet printing application of the pigment-based inks formulated with the as-considered optimum microemulsion as a binder and commercial pigment dispersions demonstrated excellent printability of the inks, and good colour fastnesses and softness of the printed fabrics.