Use of nano-scale synthesized polyurethane acrylate as a binder in textile printing

Four Nano-Scale synthesized polyurethane acrylates were utilized in pigment printing as a binder for screen printing of different textiles. The study of the impact of time, temperature, binder concentration, and thermos-fixation curing on color strength and print durability of cotton, polyester, and cotton/polyester fabrics was conducted. The findings demonstrated that the fabricated polyurethane acrylate binders could effectively secure pigments to cotton, polyester, and cotton/polyester blends using thermos-fixation. Overall, the prints produced with these binders exhibited superior color strength compared to commercial binders. Printed cotton fabrics exhibit acceptable rubbing for both wet and dry results, with all binders used. But printed polyester and CO/PET fabrics show enhanced dry rubbing but lower wet rubbing fastness results, depending on the type of binder used. The K/S values are 13.8, 12.2, 14.8, and 13, using binder with a concentration of 5 g /L in printing paste, PUAmcs, PUAms, PUAm, and PUAt, respectively, compared to the commercial binder with a concentration of 50 g /L in printing paste at the same conditions, the K/S is 12.8. Both the washing and perspiration fastness ranged from very good to excellent for all, and the dry rubbing for all binders used ranged from good to very good. The effect of increasing the thermal fixation temperature from 80 to 140 °C leads to an increase in the K/S, and after that, increasing the temperature to 160 °C, produced a slight increase in K/S values. This is true irrespective of either the concentration or the type of binder used. Binder PUAmcs seem to have produced prints with the highest K/S values as compared with the results obtained by the commercial binder and binders (PUAms, PUAm, and PUAt) in most cases. As observed in the SEM images, the binding agents applied to the surface of the printed textiles were able to generate a homogeneous and uniform coating layer.