"Some Studies on Printing of Natural and / or Synthetic Fibers by using Electron Beam Curing "

Abstract

Accelerated electrons delivered by electron beam accelerator were used to fix pigment colors and vat dyes, incorporated in curable formulation containing diluted monomer and an oligomer, to cotton and polyester fabrics. Tetrahydrofurfurfryl acrylate (THFA) monomer and trifunctional urethane methacrylate (TFUMA) oligomer were used as curable base beside ethylene glycol. The fabrics were printed with these formulations and exposed to various doses of electron beam irradiation generated from the 1.5 Mev (25 kW) electron beam (EB) accelerator machine .The irradiation dose, formulation composition and pigment color or vat dye concentration were studied. The roughness and color fastness to rubbing, washing, and perspiration of the printed fabrics by electron beam irradiation, were compared to the same fabrics printed by conventional printing pastes. The results showed that cotton and polyester fabrics printed with the pigment colors and vat dyes by electron beam irradiation displayed higher color strength than those fabrics printed by the conventional fixation method at equal pigment color and vat dyes ratios. The durability properties, in term of roughness, rubbing, washing and perspiration of fabrics printed by electron beam irradiation are better than those printed by conventional thermal cunng.