What is digital printing
Digital printing is printing using digital technology.
Digital printing technology is a high-tech product that integrates machinery, computer and electronic information technology and has gradually formed with the continuous development of computer technology. The emergence and continuous improvement of this technology has brought a new concept to the textile printing and dyeing industry. Its advanced production principles and methods have brought an unprecedented development opportunity to textile printing and dyeing.
Digital printing process
Digital printing is to input the pattern into the computer in digital form, edit and process it through the computer printing color separation and drawing system (CAD), and then the computer controls the micro-piezoelectric inkjet nozzle to directly spray the special dye liquid onto the textile to form desired pattern.
Digital printing is divided into five categories: acid digital printing, reactive digital printing, paint digital printing, dispersed thermal transfer printing and dispersed direct injection digital printing. When combined, it can be applied to almost all textile materials:
1. Acid ink: suitable for fabrics such as wool, silk and other protein fibers and nylon fibers.
2. Reactive dye ink: suitable for digital printing of cotton, linen, viscose fiber, silk and other fabrics, and can be used for digital printing of cotton fabrics, silk fabrics, wool fabrics and other natural fiber fabrics.
3. Paint ink: suitable for digital inkjet paint printing of cotton fabrics, silk fabrics, chemical fiber and blended fabrics, knitted fabrics, sweaters, towels, and blankets.
4. Thermal transfer ink: suitable for transfer printing on polyester, non-woven fabrics, ceramics and other materials.
5. Direct-injection dispersed ink: suitable for digital printing of polyester fabrics, such as decorative fabrics, flag fabrics, banners, etc.
Advantages of digital printing
The advantages of digital printing are mainly reflected in three points:
1. The biggest advantage is mainly concentrated in the fineness of color and pattern;
2. Digital printing will meet people's personalized needs to the greatest extent and improve people's quality of life.
3. Digital printing will directly promote the development of "green textiles" and "green manufacturing".
Digital printing makes colors more colorful
1. Intelligent color adjustment: In terms of color, digital printing uses microcomputers to accurately control the flow rate. The colors of dyes are rich and bright. Digital printing only needs to match the dedicated ICC curve to achieve the ultimate color display.
2. Nano-color paste: The pigment ink in digital printing uses nano-scale pigment paste, which is ejected from an ultra-precision print head under microcomputer control. Its level of fineness is unreachable by traditional printing.
Digital printing has higher precision
The fine patterns of digital printing can be easily controlled by controlling the drop size of the inkjet print head.
Digital printing feels better
Digital printing basically has no coating feeling, and the printing is light, soft, and has good adhesiveness. Even if it is digital printing with paint, since the resin content in the formula is very small, it will basically not affect the feel. Acid digital printing, reactive digital printing, dispersed thermal transfer printing and dispersed direct injection digital printing are all uncoated and do not affect the feel of the original fabric.
Digital printing is more environmentally friendly
The environmental pollution caused by traditional printing is mainly reflected in the following aspects: the amount of waste water and waste ink generated during the production process is quite large; in the printing production process, more or less bad solvents are used, and even more Plasticizers (thermoset inks may add non-environmentally friendly plasticizers), such as printing water, decontamination oil, white oil, etc.; cleaning of screens and equipment after production also requires a considerable amount of water resources, and screen printing If it is not used, it will become waste. This production method has a great impact on the environment and ecology and does not meet the requirements of clean production.
In the digital printing production process, a certain amount of waste liquid will only be generated during the pre-processing sizing and post-processing washing processes, and very little waste ink will be generated during the entire inkjet printing process. The overall source of pollution is less than that of traditional printing, and it has less impact on the environment and the health of those who come into contact.
Fast response
Respond quickly to popular elements: Clothing fashion cycles are getting shorter and shorter, patterns are changing faster and faster, and production requirements are getting higher and higher.
With its rapid proofing, digital printing machines can increase the speed of response to current popular elements, allowing companies to be in a strong position in the competition and reduce processing prices. Customers have put forward higher requirements for printing companies in terms of cost, response speed, quality, service, etc. Which company takes out samples first will be one step ahead and get orders. Increasing the speed of proofing will undoubtedly enable companies to win out among many competitors.
Quickly respond to customer needs: Compared with the immutable patterns of traditional printing, digital printing can arbitrarily change the pattern, pattern, and color according to your own ideas until you are satisfied. It can be said that digital printing is very flexible, and it is also very suitable for the needs of many designers and customers who want to DIY their drafts for multiple revisions.
Suitable for small batch production
The cost of digital printing for small batch production is lower than that of traditional printing. This lays a good foundation for adapting to the multi-variety and small-volume market.
Digital printing has Internet characteristics. Through intelligent automation, manual intervention is reduced to a minimum, and the on-demand ink production method greatly reduces pollution emissions (eventually reaching zero emissions). Digital printing can turn virtual products on the Internet into real products. At the same time, it has the characteristics of low cost, small batch, fast response, high quality and green environmental protection, which has absolute advantages over traditional production.
There is no doubt that the emergence and successful application of digital printing technology is undoubtedly a major technological revolution in the textile industry, and it has milestone significance. Digital printing technology makes it possible for the textile industry to achieve C2B, and the textile industry will become the first industry to enter the C2B era. The economic and social benefits brought by digital printing will have a profound impact on the world, especially China, a major textile printing and dyeing country. Digital printing will surely become one of the greatest technologies in textile history.
According to relevant statistics, the world's traditional printing is mainly concentrated in Asia, including China, Southeast Asia and India, accounting for 66% of the total printing volume. China accounts for nearly 30% of global production in traditional printing, but digital printing accounts for less than 1% of domestic printing volume, so there is huge room for growth.
Like previous industrial upgrades and changes, the emergence of new digital jet printing technology is both a challenge and an opportunity. Chinese textile companies must seize the opportunity in the upcoming changes.