Pigment ink, is a dispersion composed of particles. To put it more vividly, it is a powder solid pigment dispersion ink. Of course, this is just a figurative statement and not accurate enough. To be more precise, it is a suspension/dispersion solution or semi-solution, because it’s made by grinding solid pigments into very fine particles and dispersing them in water/organic solvents using dispersants.

Pigment ink is a dispersion composed of particles. Its minimum particle size is much larger than the molecular diameter of dye ink (Dyebase ink), ranging from nanometers to micrometers. If it is truly nanometer-level, it is a transparent liquid, and micrometer-level usually exists in the form of opaque liquid. The pigment particle size used to make pigment ink is divided into nanometer and micrometer levels. The average nanometer particle size (LD50) is 40-125 nanometers, the maximum particle size (LD90) shall not exceed 180 nanometers, and the micrometer particle size is 0.125-0.300 micrometers.

Pigment inks used for digital inkjet printing are also divided into two levels: nanometer and micron. Generally, the nozzle diameter of Japanese inkjet print head is about 43 microns, so the pigment particle size of pigment ink is required to be nanometer level. Inkjet printers produced in other countries, such as XAAR in the UK, spectra printers produced in the United States/Canada, etc., have nozzle diameters of about 53-63 microns, and their pigment particle size is required to be 0.25-0.35 microns.

At present, there are only a handful of manufacturers with the technical ability to develop and produce inkjet printers. Because inkjet printer manufacturers are not capable of producing nozzles, a machine brand may not necessarily use the same brand of print heads. They can use print heads of different brands on different printers. At present, there are numerous digital inkjet printer brands on the market, but users do not have to care about the machine brand. Print heads brand decides the particle size level of the pigment ink that can be used.

Of course, nozzles that use micrometer-level pigment ink can definitely use nanometer-level pigment ink, because the pigment particle size in its ink is much smaller than the particle size requirement when the machine is designed. However, if a printer is designed to use nanometer-level pigment ink, it can’t use micrometer-level pigment ink, or the nozzle will soon be clogged.

Market Application of Textile Pigment Inks Digital Printing
1. Direct printing of T-shirts to achieve personalization; proofing of large order.
2. For digital printing of clothing pieces, used on large flatbed printer and guide belt machine.
3. Elliptical printer + digital printing solution, to achieve the combination of traditional screen printing and digital inkjet printing, which is an application trend.
4. Roll-to-roll digital fabric printing is the main development direction in the future. This production method will become more and more common to meet the market demand for bedding, curtain fabrics, sofa fabrics, wall coverings, etc.
5. Textile pigment inks can be used for almost all fabrics, with very wide application such as handbags, shoes materials, luggage materials, leather, curtains, sofa fabrics, wall coverings, etc.

Key Points of Using Digital Textile Pigment Ink 
1. The texture rate of semi-finished fabrics before printing cannfot be too high. If the texture rate is too high, the permeability of the fabric will be increased, and the pigment ink will penetrate to the back, and the color on the front will be lighter. Therefore, for semi-finished fabrics for pigment ink printing, its texture rate should be properly controlled, and its permeability should not be too high.
2. Softeners, especially water-repellent silicone softeners, will greatly reduce the adhesion of the pigment inks and reduce color fastness. Most digital printing factories now generally do not do pre-treatment themselves. Therefore, when purchasing semi-finished fabrics, digital printing factories should communicate with the printing and dyeing factories to ensure that softeners are not applied.
3. For orders have high requirement on color fastness, you can apply pre-treatment liquid in advance, which not only improves color fastness, but also improves color vividness. According to the test results, the color can be improved by 20-30%, and the color fastness can be improved by 0.5-1 level.
4. The color fastness of the same pigment ink on different fabrics is different, and the maximum difference can reach 0.5-1 level.
5. The color fastness of pigment ink is related to the fixing temperature and time. The higher the temperature and the longer the time, the better the color fastness. However, pure cotton cloth will turn yellow at high temperatures. Therefore, the color fixing process should be determined according to the fabric. For temperature-sensitive fabrics, the temperature should be lower. If the temperature is low, the color fixing time should be extended to ensure color fastness. Generally, the color fixing temperature is between 150-170℃, and the color fixing time is between 90-300 seconds.
6. If you want to further improve color fastness, you can use fixing agent and softener in the post-process. However, it should be noted that after using softener, the wet friction fastness is improved, but the dry friction fastness will be reduced.
7.Digital printing of dark fabrics: For dark fabrics, there are three methods of digital printing with textile pigment ink.
A: Print white pigment ink first, and then print color ink. Since white ink has no adhesion, the pre-treatment liquid must be sprayed first. This method forms a film on the surface of the fabric, which feels hard and has poor air permeability. 
B: Scrape the discharge slurry first, and then print the pigment ink. After high-temperature treatment, the dye is pulled out and the pigment is bonded on. It feels soft and has good color effects. In this way, dyes that can be discharged should be used when dyeing fabrics. 
C: The third method is to scrape the bottom slurry on the screen, which can also achieve digital pigment ink printing on dark fabrics.

HONGSAM textile pigment inks include roll-to-roll direct fabric printing pigment ink, DTG ink and DTF ink.
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