China Dyeing and Printing Association: 2024 China Textile Digital Printing Development Report (3)
Dec 19,2024

This article is translated from a report issued by the China Dyeing and Printing Association


Progress of Major Digital Printing Equipment in China


1. Scanning Digital Inkjet Printer

Scanning digital inkjet printer is the mainstream printing equipment. Digital direct-printing printers are mainly equipped with Kyocera, Ricoh, and Konica Minolta print heads, and their printing speed generally exceeds that of flat screen printers. Domestic digital direct-injection printers can be equipped with 120 Kyocera print heads, with a printing speed of 2700m2/h.

Scanning digital transfer printing machines are mostly equipped with Epson I3200 printheads, generally equipped with 15, 24 or 30 printheads to meet needs at different speeds. Industrial printheads such as Kyocera printheads, Epson S3200-A1/A3 printheads, and Fujifilm Starfire printheads are also used in scanning digital transfer printing equipment for thermal sublimation solutions.


In order to improve production efficiency and meet the production needs of thinner paper printing, equipment suppliers continue to optimize equipment performance, using paper retracting and releasing brake systems, rubber roller transmission methods, guide trough-type suction printing panels, negative pressure ink supply systems, 10,000-meter retracting and releasing systems, etc., to ensure more stable printing, smoother paper feeding, less prone to roller marks and paper wrinkling, and transfer paper weight can reach a minimum of 29g/m2.

2. Single Pass Digital Inkjet Printer

Single Pass digital printer has entered a new development stage, with continuous technological progress, and increasing market share, mainly showing the following significant changes:

First, technology innovation of equipment continues to improve. The development of precise printing platforms, ink circulation systems, automatic calibration ink supply devices, and automated production management systems makes inkjet printing more stable and accurate under high-speed operation.

Single Pass inkjet printer integrates sizing and drying treatment, which can make sizing, printing, drying and other processes in one solution, achieve higher printing efficiency, and meet large-scale printing needs.

Second, the demand for rotary screen + Single Pass equipment continues to rise. Single Pass achieves complementary advantages through further integration with rotary screen printing technology. The equipment supports the use of rotary screens for large-format background and gradient color printing, which can make up for the patterns limitations of pure digital printing and reduce the cost of ink use.

Third, domestic Single Pass equipment is used in the wide-format field. The design and manufacturing of wide-format digital inkjet printing machines are difficult, and they have high requirements for printing accuracy, printhead arrangement and installation, and equipment beam stability. In 2024, Hangzhou Honghua launched a high-speed wide-format Single Pass digital inkjet printing solution, achieving a breakthrough of domestic equipment in the wide-format Single Pass field. The world's first wide-format Single Pass digital pigment ink inkjet printing machine has been used in Jiangsu Interstate Digital, to meet the high-quality and efficient printing needs of home textile products.

In addition, the application field of Single Pass printing continues to expand, from disperse ink transfer printing to reactive ink, pigment ink, and high-temperature dispersed direct printing, meeting the printing of various fabrics. The number of printhead manufacturers that can support Single Pass devices has increased. In addition to Kyocera, Fuji, and Konica printheads, printheads from Epson, Xerox, and other companies also can be used on Single Pass printing machines.

3. Double-sided Digital Inkjet Printing Machine

To meet the digital inkjet printing needs of high-end textiles and solve the problems of large color difference, whitening between the front and back of single-sided digital inkjet printed fabrics, domestic digital inkjet printing equipment manufacturers have developed double-sided digital inkjet printing equipment. Double-sided digital inkjet printing is divided into one-time molding and two-time molding according to the number of printings, and is divided into horizontal printing and vertical printing according to the printing method. Several types of double-sided digital inkjet printing equipment have different characteristics in equipment maintenance, alignment accuracy, speed, adaptability to fabric and impact on workshop environment.

Horizontal printing one-time molding double-sided printing technology is the most advanced double-sided digital inkjet printing technology at present. This technology has two sets of printing systems. Through intelligent identification and automatic alignment, it can print on both sides of the fabric at the same time to achieve one-time molding. The two-time molding printing technology is prone to deformation problems in the process of printing the front and back. It is necessary to use software positioning and graphics processing system to convert the pattern and accurately position before printing to achieve the purpose of double-sided accurate positioning printing. Compared with the two-time molding double-sided printing technology, the one-time molding technology has a short process flow, small alignment error and high printing efficiency.

Driven by consumption upgrades, the demand for personalized and quality textiles and clothing has increased. The application of double-sided digital inkjet printing technology in the field of textile printing has been continuously expanded, and a variety of personalized products on different sides can be printed, such as the same flower and color, the same flower and different colors, and different flowers and different colors. The technology can be used to print "imitation color-woven" fabrics, "anti-counterfeiting" fabrics, scarves that can be worn on both sides, clothing, imitation denim, etc. Double-sided digital printing technology has been widely used in silk printing.

4. Digital Sizing System

In order to improve the wetting, adhesion and curing effect of the fabric surface and the ink, and to prevent the ink from penetrating, the fabric needs to be sizing before the digital direct printing process. Sizing is not only related to the fabric printing effect, but also makes the printed fabric smoother and more comfortable. Therefore, it is crucial to choose the right sizing agent, sizing equipment and process.

Digital inkjet sizing mainly uses equipment such as setting machines, sizing machines, flat screen printing machines, and rotary screen printing machines, among which the most commonly used are setting machines and sizing machines.


The setting machine has a fast sizing speed and is suitable for mass production.


The sizing machine is suitable for sizing small batches of multi-variety fabrics. It is convenient to change the sizing agent, has a high liquid rate and good weft control. It is suitable for sizing thin fabrics, but the speed is relatively slow.


In recent years, professional sizing machines have been optimized and innovated in terms of uniformity, weft control, neat winding, uniform drying, running speed and energy consumption reduction, to meet the needs of high-quality development of digital inkjet printing.

However, the sizing of sizing machines and setting machines belongs to double-sided full-width sizing, and there is sizing agent in the non-printing area, which will cause sizing agent waste and increase the difficulty of subsequent sewage treatment. At present, a single-sided sizing wet printing method has appeared on the market, which can realize sizing and printing at the same time, and can also sizing on demand at the pattern, reducing the drying process, shortening the process, saving sizing agent and energy, and improving production efficiency. At the same time, wet printing makes it easier for ink to penetrate into the fiber, and has better printing effect on printed fabrics with high permeability requirements. During the wet printing process, the fluff and dust impurities on the surface of the fabric are covered, and the printhead will not be blocked during the printing process, which improves the running stability of the printing equipment.

Compared with conventional sizing methods, digital sizing systems can reduce the total printing cost, and can save more costs when printing knitted fabrics or heavy fabrics. However, this method is prone to uneven color after large-area full-bottom printing, and the printing effect of fine lines is not as good as that of sizing and drying before printing.

China's textile digital inkjet printing equipment has been significantly improved in terms of technical level and product quality. Thanks to the complete supply chain, industry chain and cost advantages, China's digital inkjet printing machine has continuously strengthened its international market competitiveness and continued to expand its export scale. In recent years, the export volume of some equipment suppliers has shown a rapid growth trend.
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