Principles and Applications of Coated Textiles

THE use of coated textiles for protective clothing, shelters, covers, liquid containers, etc., dates back to antiquity. Historically, the earliest recorded use of a coated textile was by the natives of Central and South America, who applied latex to a fabric to render it waterproof. Other materials such as tar, rosin, and wax emulsions have been used over the years to prepare water-resistant fabrics. Due to their vastly superior properties, rubber and other polymeric materials have become the preferred coatings. Today, coated fabrics are essentially polymer-coated textiles. Advances in polymer and textile technologies have led to phenomenal growth in the application of coated fabrics for many diverse end uses. Coated fabrics find an important place among technical textiles and are one of the most important technological processes in modern industry.

Coated textiles are made impermeable to fluids by two processes, coating and laminating. Coating is the process of applying a viscous liquid (fluid) or formulated compound on a textile substrate. Lamination consists of bonding a preprepared polymer film or membrane with one or more textile substrates using adhesives, heat, or pressure. Fibrous materials are also used for reinforcing polymeric materials to form composites for use in tires, conveyor belts, hoses, etc. The scope of this book has been restricted to coated and laminated coated textiles and does not address polymer fiber composites.

Several methods of production are used to manufacture a wide range of coated textiles or laminated fabrics. Broadly, they are spread coating, dip coating, melt coating, and lamination. They not only differ in the processing equipment used, but also in the form of polymeric materials used. Thus, paste or solutions are required for spread coating; solutions are required for dip coating; and solid polymers such as powders, granules, and films are required for melt coating and lamination. The basic stages involved in these processes include feeding the textile material from rolls under tension to a coating or laminating zone, passing the coated textiles through an oven to volatilize the solvents and cure/gel the coating, cooling the fabric, and subsequently winding it up into rolls.

This article comes from textileebook edit released

PVC Free Banner Printing

We offer printing onto PVC free banner material at widths up to 3.1 Metres and at almost any length which means that we can produce almost any sized custom made size on demand.

PVC free banners are printed using a UV digital process that provides a durable finish that is waterproof and highly resistant to fading too.

Unlike some other printing processes, UV digital printing involves the use of no harmful solvents (VOC’s) that are environmentally damaging.

Eco Friendly Banner Finishing

Printed banners are traditionally finished with a seam around the edge and eyelets so they can be hung using rope, bungee cords or other fastenings. With some pvc-free materials, this is not possible because the material is not suitable for heat welding. This is a disadvantage since a welded seam gives maximum strength for the hanging eyelets that are punched through it.

Fortunately our PVC Free banner can be heat welded in exactly the same way as the traditional PVC product so there is no compromise as to the strength of the eyelets.

We offer pvc free banners with eyelets positioned at intervals of approximately 1M around the edge for hanging or we can finish the banner with pockets at the top and the bottom if you would like to slide rods inside to hang it. If you don’t want the banner finished with eyelets or pole pockets, that’s no problem either.

Choice Of Material Grade

We have PVC free banners available in two material grades. Our economy material has a weight of 210g per sqM whereas our premium material is heavier at 300g per sqM.

Both products can be printed at the same photographic quality with no restriction on the amount of colour that can be used within the artwork.

We recommend our economy material for short term event use whereas our premium PVC free banner material is recommended for longer term use outdoors for up to 6 Months.

Of course the lifespan of any outdoor banner can be shorter or longer due to environmental conditions, prevailing weather and other factors.

This article comes from printdesigns edit released

Digital Printing Fabric Fact Sheet

WHAT IS DIGITAL PRINTING?

First, let’s look at conventional printing. Conventional screen printing requires the engraving of one screen per color in a design. So a design with 18 colors would require 18 screens. Additionally, 18 separate colors also need to be mixed and matched. With digital printing, there are no screens or colors to mix. Any image you can see on a computer can be reproduced on fabric in the same way as your desktop printer prints images on paper.

WHAT FABRICS CAN BE PRINTED?

Unlike other digital printing operations, our digital printing fabric solution is not limited in regards to any fabric content. We can print on cotton, polyester/cotton, rayon, silk, linen, nylon, wool, etc., as well as blends with a maximum width of 66”. There are however various reasons why any specific fabric may not perform well on our printer. Examples of things that can make a fabric unprintable include: water repellent finishes, softeners, hairy fabrics, extreme textures, sheer fabrics, warped selvages, long haired selvages, etc.

ARE THERE ANY DESIGN LIMITATIONS?

The more ink coverage a design has, the more likely the hand feel of a fabric may be affected. Designs with large solid flat backgrounds or other large flat areas, primarily in darker shades, may not print solidly. Some colors will print more pixelated than others.

WILL YOU PRINT ON MY FABRIC?

No. We are unable to control the quality of a customer’s fabric and to control potential fabric losses due to the performance of that fabric on our printer. For this reason, we will not be accepting a customer’s fabric for use on the printer.

WHAT KIND OF INKS ARE USED?

Our digital print solution uses a patented pigment ink technology that is water based and absolutely free of heavy metals, formaldehyde and Alkylphenol Ethoxylates (APE), making them non-hazardous, non-toxic and 100% biodegradable. Our inks adhere to the strictest human health and environmental standards and contain no animal by-products and are completely vegan friendly, meeting both the Oeko-Tex 100 and Global Organic Textile (GOTS) standards.

IS THE FABRIC WASHABLE AND COLOR FAST?

The printed inks are all washable and meet excellent color fast standards. The below results are, in general, readily achievable, however results may vary depending on the basecloth and how it was finished. We recommend: Machine wash cool or warm, delicate or gentle cycle, Tumble dry low, remove promptly. Best to iron the reverse side. Ultimately, it is buyer’s responsibility to order and test sample yardage to establish any performance standards that they require.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PRINT MY DESIGN? ARE THERE ANY DESIGN LIMITATIONS?

The image file can be any Photoshop (PSD), JPEG, or TIFF, file, with optimally 300 DPI. When designing continuous patterns they should be put into a repeat, however, unlike conventional printing, your repeat is not limited by the size of the print screen. You can also print panels and other engineer layouts.

WHAT ABOUT COLOR MATCHING?

Digital printing is more of an art than a science. The color effect seen on a computer screen is not exactly what will print out on the fabric. Though a vast number of colors can be achieved, there are some colors that go beyond the range of digital color, making exact color matching problematic. To help with managing color, you may wish to purchase a color guide printed on the fabric you will be using.

This article comes from robertkaufman edit released

Coated Textile: Processes and Applications

Coated textile and lamination are two functional processes which are used make a proper finishing to the textile material.

The coated textile formulation with different textile grade polymer like PVC, PU, acrylic, PTFE are hugely used to make a textile product with multipurpose way like- waterproof protective clothing, tarpaulin, protective clothing, electrical insulation etc. on the other hand lamination process is used to prepare some important textile products with daily uses in our practical life like- blackout curtains and blinds.

In this current work is related to details of lamination theory, various processes, formulations, application, recent developments of the coated textile and lamination in the textile field.

This article comes from sapub edit released