Requirements for defoamers in pigment printing
The characteristics of the pigment printing process require that the defoamer not only has excellent defoaming and antifoaming effects, but also has good compatibility with the printing paste and cannot affect the leveling of the printing paste, otherwise it will affect the smoothness of the surface and cause problems such as “fish eyes” and “shrinkage holes”. The most effective method to measure the performance of the defoamer of the printing paste is the scraper test. Our institute has been professionally engaged in the research of defoamers for printing paste since the 1990s, and has successively developed ED, DF, RD and other series of defoamers for printing paste, and has accumulated rich experience in defoaming of printing paste. The performance of emulsion defoamers for printing paste mainly depends on the selection of the main defoaming and antifoaming components and emulsifiers. The different types, ratios and dosages of emulsifiers will directly affect the performance of the defoamer. This paper studies different combinations of emulsifiers to develop RD series defoamers for pigment printing pastes
Pigment printing is a popular dyeing technology in the world. It is a printing process that uses adhesives to form films and mechanically fixes insoluble dyes on the surface of fiber fabrics. An important factor affecting pigment printing is the quality of pigment printing color paste. Printing paste is a complex dispersion, including: emulsion (binder, emulsified paste), suspension (paint paste), inorganic salt (catalyst and reducing agent), resin and water, etc. Since this dispersion contains a certain amount of surfactant, water, additives, etc., a large number of bubbles are often generated when the flower tube is pressed during the paint printing process, causing white spots and spots on the fabric, uneven flower shape and color, blurred flower color and other quality problems. In addition, the main component of the printing paste, the binder, will also produce a large amount of foam during the polymerization production process, affecting the effective capacity of the production container and causing production losses. Therefore, effective defoamers must be added in both processes.
