Effects of ultraviolet pretreatment on pigment printing of cotton/polyester blend fabric

Introduction: Pigments have become the largest colorant group for textile prints because pigment printing is the oldest and cheapest method. Binders are used to fix pigments to the fibers by adhesion. Pigment binders play a significant role in pigment printing because it encloses the pigment particles and adheres to the fiber Objective: In this study, cotton/polyester blend fabrics were treated with ultraviolet light (UVB) at an air pressure of 1 atm to improve printability. Methods: To study the influence of pretreatment time, experiments were carried out at different exposure times. Untreated and UV treated fabrics were analysed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy to investigate changes in the chemical composition of fabrics. It was observed that carbonyl groups were formed on the surface of UV pretreated cotton fibers. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the roughness and cracks on the treated fiber surface. Then, all UV treated and untreated fabrics were screen printed with different kinds of pigments. The color strength of the printed fabrics and fastness properties to washing and dry/wet rubbing were evaluated. Results: Experimental data showed that atmospheric UV pretreatment led to an increase in pigment uptake. Moreover, UV pretreated fabrics had better dry and wet rubbing fastness compared with untreated fabrics. Conclusion: The washing fastness of UV pretreated fabric showed no significant change and was comparable with that of untreated fabric. The loss in tensile strength of UV pretreated fabrics was greater than untreated samples. © 2019 Bentham Science Publishers.