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Pretreatment of silk for digital printing: identifying influential factors using fractional factorial experiments

Saira Faisal (Department of Textile Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan)
Aurelio Tronci (Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy)
Muhammad Ali (Department of Textile Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan)
Long Lin (Department of Colour Science, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK)
Ningtao Mao (School of Design, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK)

Pigment & Resin Technology

ISSN: 0369-9420

Article publication date: 21 October 2019

Issue publication date: 27 February 2020

172

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to identify the most influential factors affecting the printing properties and print quality of digitally printed silk fabrics in terms of colour strength and fixation percentage.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, five factors (concentration of thickener, concentration of urea, concentration of alkali, pH of pretreatment liquor and steaming duration) were investigated using a blocked 25−1 fractional factorial experiment. The type of thickeners [polyacrylic acid and polyacrylamide (PAM)] were considered as a block.

Findings

Linear models were obtained and statistically tested using both analysis of variance and coefficient of determination (R2), and they were found to be accurate at 90 per cent confidence level. It was revealed that concentration of alkali, concentrations of urea and pH of the pretreatment liquor had an increasing effect on colour strength, whereas concentration of thickener and steaming duration showed decreasing effect on colour strength of digitally printed silk fabrics. Furthermore, concentration of alkali, concentrations of urea had increasing effect on dye fixation percentage, whereas steaming duration showed decreasing effect on dye fixation percentage of digitally printed silk fabrics. In addition, PAM thickener based pretreatment recipe exhibited better printing properties for the digitally printing of silk fabrics.

Originality/value

The main influences and significant two-factor interactions were discussed in detail to gain a better understanding of the printing properties of digitally printed silk fabrics. The findings of this study are useful for further optimisation of pre- and post-treatment processes for digital printing of silk fabrics.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their gratitude towards NED University of Engineering and Technology for moral support.

Citation

Faisal, S., Tronci, A., Ali, M., Lin, L. and Mao, N. (2020), "Pretreatment of silk for digital printing: identifying influential factors using fractional factorial experiments", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 49 No. 2, pp. 145-153. https://doi.org/10.1108/PRT-07-2019-0065

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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