Direct Sublimation Inkjet Printing as a New Environmentally Friendly Approach for Printing on Polyester Textiles

Polyester is one of the most important synthetic fibers extensively used in textile industry. Inkjet printing on polyester textile is performed either by direct or transfer approaches. The first method needs chemical surface treatment, while the latter uses transfer paper. In this article, direct sublimation inkjet printing (DSIP) on polyester textile has been studied to overcome the natural resource limitations and environmental problems by eliminating the need for transfer paper and chemical surface treatment. Polyester textile was surface treated using atmospheric-pressure plasma under air atmosphere. The effects of different factors including plasma speed, plasma power, and the number of treatments on the contact angle and K/S value have been investigated via experimental design method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), attenuated total reflection-fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), and bleeding test showed that plasma power has the least effect on both K/S value and contact angle. The K/S values increased while the contact angle decreased by increasing the number of treatments and decreasing the plasma speed. Optical and scanning electron microscopy images also revealed that the treated textile using constant plasma power of 350 W, 60 plasma treatments and the plasma speed of 3 m/min showed the most printing thickness and the highest image resolution.