Textile Printing is a process of decorating textile materials using dyes, pigments & other materials according to design to produce a particular impression on this. Printing is done on the surface of the fabric. That's the main difference between dyeing and printing. In dyes, the color is added to the fabric. Dyes makes physical, chemical & also mechanical bond with the fiber. But while printing the color is added to the surface by producing a thick color paste.
Four types of printing are normally done is the textile industry. Those are:-
Block printing
Roller printing
Screen printing
Heat transfer printing
In the block printing method, the printing is done bye using wooden blocks. Here the design is firstly produced in those wooden blocks. Then the color is transferred from the wooden blocks into the surface of the fabric.
In the roller printing method, the printing is done by using a roller. In a roller, the design is produced on its surface. When the fabric is passed under the roller, the color is printed on it.
Screen printing is a printing process where the printing is done using a screen. A design is made on the surface of a screen & color ink is transferred onto the fabric from the screen by squeegeeing.
To produce a screen for screen printing a frame is required first. Then a mesh fabric is added using the gum. Mesh fabric is coated using some materials and dried. finally, the design is produced on the screen from the screen paper. Now the screen is ready for screen printing.
In the heat transfer printing method, the design from the design paper is printed on the fabric by using heat. Mainly heat doing the work here.
After every printing process, the printed fabric goes through a curing process to fix the color of the fabric. This improves the color's fastness properties. Curing is done at 150 degrees C temperature. Some fabrics & color need more and less temperature while curing.
Some printed samples are given below:-