Determination of the optimal thermotransfer mode in the process of sublimation printing on fabrics

The paper presents the results of the study of the technological process of sublimation printing on fabrics intended for the production of sportswear. At the first stage, the printing of images was carried out on sublimation paper Kaspar Dye Sub Lite using an Epson SC-F7100 inkjet printer using Epson Ultra Chrome DS ink with a configured printing mode: resolution 720×1440 dpi, ink supply 250%. At the second stage, the thermal transfer of the printed image to the fabric was performed on a calender heat press. The prints were obtained under different technological modes and on fabrics with different absorbency: temperature 200, 215 and 240 °C, the speed of movement of the material in the rotary heat press 1.8-3.2 m/min. The absorptive capacity of fabrics was determined by the Klemm method based on the height of capillary rise of the liquid and was 19 mm for WPS fabric, 24 mm for S039 fabric and 29 mm for HS fabric. The optical density index for cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) colors was taken as the initial value of the process quality. The optical density of CMYK-color prints was measured using an X-Rite SpectroEye spectrodensitometer. Calculations showed that the worst image quality – 74.6%, is characteristic of the ninth mode, in which the absorptivity is 32 mm, the calender heating temperature is 200 °C, the material movement speed is 29 m/min. Additionally, it was analyzed which of the factors of the heat transfer modes has the greatest impact on the process. To study the differences between the average values ​​of the factor levels, the construction of a main effects graph was used, which is a component of the variance analysis. The results of the study showed that the maximum rank of influence on heat transfer for CMY colors has temperature, and in the case of black (K) color – the absorptivity of the material, which determines the maximum difference in the optical density of the image.

Keywords: sublimation printing, textiles, process factors, optical density, optimization, quality.

doi: 10.32403/0554-4866-2025-1-89-11-20