Development of UV-curable inkjet printing onto poly (lactic acid) fabrics

Karim, Nazmul, Rigout, M, Yeates, S G and Carr, C (2013) Development of UV-curable inkjet printing onto poly (lactic acid) fabrics. In Proceedings of First International Conference on Digital Technologies for Textile Industries.

Abstract

Poly (Lactic Acid) (PLA) fibre has generated great interest as a green materials due to its natural-based origin and biodegradability. However, the wet and dry processing of PLA fabrics is typically carried out at lower temperature because of its lower glass transition temperature and melting point, as well as potential degradation at higher temperature and treatment time. Therefore, inkjet printing of PLA fabrics using UV-curable inks is of interest due to the “ambient” temperature curing of the surface. In this study, PLA fabrics were printed with Mimaki LH-100 (hard), LF-140 (semi-flexible) and LF-200 (flexible) UV-curable inks using a Mimaki UJF-3042 LED UV inkjet printer, and cured with a UV LED. The colour values and Kawabata mechanical properties of the printed samples were evaluated and surface topography using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysed.

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Contributors

Author: Nazmul Karim

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