Abstract:
A printed textile fabric can be produced by a wide variety of methods. Some of these require expensive equipment but others need only a very modest outlay. All methods represent the means of transferring the creative talent of the designer to the fabric. Among the various printing method, one of them is sublimation transfer printing on which this thesis focuses. In this work, a detailed study was conducted on optimization of printing temperature and time, comparison of normal duplicating paper and sublimation transfer paper, analysis on fastness property of printed fabric and the effect of using auxiliary chemical on dye transfer. The research method employed was experimental research design. Data were collected using different kinds of tests & observations made were documented with analysis. These include UV-Vis Spectroscopy analysis for determination of absorbance value to optimize printing temperature and time in terms of Dye transfer (%) and also fastness property of the printed samples were assessed for wash and rubbing fastness in launder-o- meter and crock meter respectively. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively & qualitatively. The finding of the study showed that the optimum temperature for sublimation transfer printing is 190oc, optimum printing time 90 second, washing and rubbing fastness of the printed fabric is very good (4-5 grades). Using sublimation transfer paper, the percentage of dye transfer is 65% whereas by using normal duplicating paper, 61.7% dye transfer was achieved and incorporation of an ionic auxiliary based on sulphated fatty alcohols in the Indalca AGBV thickening improved the dye transfer considerably from 61.7% to 80%. The study concluded by recommending future works on rheology of print paste and expanding the work on polyester blend fabric.