Controlling the Spreading of Nanoliter-Scale Droplets on the Fibers of Fabrics for Enhancing Image Quality and Ink Utilization

Electronic and traditional textiles have been widely manufactured through inkjet printing. However, nanoliter-scale ink droplets tend to excessively spread along the fiber direction, which results in poor image quality and low ink utilization. Here, hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) were introduced to control the spreading of nanoliter-scale droplets on cotton fabrics. The results showed that both HEC and HPMC could reduce the spreading of nanoliter droplets along the fibers through increasing the hydrophobicity of the fabric. However, the effect of HPMC was much better than that of HEC due to its higher surface activity. The flow of nanoliter droplets along the fibers was well consistent with the Washburn function. After HPMC treatment, the depositing length of one droplet reduced from beyond 200 μm to about 50 μm. The imaging quality was greatly improved. In addition, the dye utilization increased by 33-78% due to the decrease in the diffusion of dye solution to the back of the fabric. This study is of great significance for improving the quality of inkjet printing and the utilization of depositing materials, particularly expensive materials.