Digital printing of silk fabrics

The paper investigated digital printing of silk fabrics with reactive dyes for improving its color yield and handle of the printed fabrics.The effect of dyeing formulation on the color yield as well as the impact of washing and steaming parameters on color yield of the reactive green,magenta,yellow and black were studied.The results of printing including color fastness was tested.The results showed that better color yield was obtained when the steaming time was 3 min.When the pretreatment formulation contained sodium alginate 0.5%~1%,sodium sulfate 7%,sodium bicarbonate 1%,urea 4%,the ink jet printed silk fabric acquired the best color yield,with K/S value up to 74.81 and all color fastness rating 4.