JPH09133464A - Manufacture and drying device of ink-jet dyed cloth - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To restrain blurs of a printed image, that is a peculiar phenomena of jet-ink dyeing caused by a high-boiling point solvent contained in ink, and perform drying operation without such problems as fouling, uneven drying, transfer, etc., caused by low-viscosity ink. SOLUTION: After dyed by ink-jet dyeing, a piece of cloth is dried by blowing hot-air having temperatures of 90 deg.C or lower to the cloth at the hot-air speed of 0.3-30m/s, and the ratio of the total air flow rate of a dryer to the flow rate of air discharged outside the dryer is within 10:3-10:10.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a cloth. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for producing an inkjet dyed cloth by drying the cloth after printing using an inkjet dyeing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printing of cloth has been carried out by various printing machines such as flat screens, rotary screens, rollers, etc., and subsequently it has been commercialized through steps such as drying, coloring, soaping and finishing.

However, in the conventional printing technique, an original print image is traced, plate-made, etc.
A plate must be made for each color to be printed, which requires a great deal of labor, cost, and time. Further, it is necessary to adjust the color paste for each color and to wash the plate when changing the color arrangement, which is a cause of lowering productivity.

Therefore, research is being conducted on the use of ink jet recording for fabric printing, which is being put to practical use in the field of paper printers. According to this method, the original print image is processed by a computer and the ink droplets of the inkjet printer are controlled, so there is no need for plate making, and there is no need for washing when changing the color arrangement, which greatly reduces labor, cost, and period. Can be shortened to

However, various problems remain when the ink jet technology, which has been put into practical use in the field of paper printers, is used in fields requiring wide and high speed printing such as dyeing of cloth. For example, it is a matter of drying the fabric after printing with an inkjet dyeing device, which is the technical field of the invention.

In the ink jet dyeing, drying of the cloth after printing is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
This is a technique known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 0-75692, but when it is carried out by a drying device which is used for conventional printing, problems such as bleeding of printed images, contamination, and uneven drying occur.

Water-based inkjet inks include water,
In addition to dyes, for example, “Journal of the Electrophotographic Society, Vol. 24, No. 4
No. p354 to 360 (1985) ”, a high boiling point solvent having a low vapor pressure is contained in an amount of several% to several tens% in order to prevent the nozzles from being clogged with ink.

An ink containing such a high boiling point solvent in the range of several% to several tens% is used, for example, as disclosed in JP-A-61-552.
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 77, when a fabric is pre-treated to prevent bleeding in advance, printing is performed, a sharp picture is seen, and color mixing is observed even in an area where different colors are adjacent to each other. It is possible to produce clear prints that cannot be printed clearly, but if you continue to dry it at 120 ° C, which is the drying condition used in conventional printing, the sharpness of the picture is lost, and different colors appear next to each other. The mixture of the colors in the print results in an unclear print.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-23977,
It is described that, immediately after inkjet printing, a heating plate heated by high-temperature and high-pressure steam is dried from the back surface of a fabric transport belt, and drying is performed from the surface by warm air.

Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-214767 discloses an ink jet printing apparatus in which the length of the drying device, the length from the ink jet head to the drying device, etc. are specified.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a drying device and a drying method which solve problems such as bleeding of printed images, contamination, uneven drying, and color transfer.

[0012]

The method for producing an ink-jet dyed fabric according to the present invention has the following constitution in order to solve the above problems.

That is, it is a method for producing an ink-jet dyed cloth, which is characterized in that the cloth after ink-jet dyeing is dried by hot air of 90 ° C. or less.

Further, the drying device for the ink-jet dyed fabric of the present invention has the following constitution in order to solve the above problems.

That is, hot air at 90 ° C. or lower is applied to the cloth after ink jet dyeing at a speed of 0.3 to 30 m.
/ S for drying, and the ratio of the total air flow rate of the drying device to the exhaust air amount outside the drying device is 10: 3-1.
An inkjet dyed fabric drying apparatus comprising the drying apparatus of 0:10.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The method for producing an ink-jet dyed fabric of the present invention will be described in detail below.

In the present invention, the ink-jet dyed fabric is dried with warm air at 90 ° C. or lower, which is lower than the usual drying temperature.

When the ink is dried at 90 ° C. or higher, the ink solvent can be dried in a short time, but as described above, there is a problem that the high boiling point solvent contained in the ink causes deterioration of the printed image due to bleeding. The reason for this is that, under a drying condition of 90 ° C. or higher, the viscosity of the high-boiling point solvent decreases due to the higher temperature than the vaporization phenomenon of the high-boiling point solvent on the cloth, and the solvent moves on the cloth along the fibers by a capillary phenomenon. It is thought that this is because the situation is likely to occur.

The occurrence of such bleeding occurs even in the temperature range of 90 ° C. or less, even when the drying is not performed by air blowing. For example, bleeding occurs in a method of bringing a print cloth into contact with a heating plate or a method of utilizing radiant heat of various heaters without blowing air. Further, even if the temperature is 90 ° C. or higher, the vaporization of the high boiling point solvent on the fabric can be promoted by increasing the amount of air blown, but the resistance of the air blown to the fabric becomes large, and it becomes difficult to convey the fabric. Pollution will occur,
There arises a problem that uneven drying is likely to occur.

Blower drying at a temperature lower than room temperature is
From the viewpoint that cooling equipment is required and it takes a very long time to dry the ink solvent, it is preferable to perform drying with a warm air blowing method of 30 to 90 ° C. From the viewpoint of drying speed and bleeding, it is more preferable to perform drying with a warm air blowing method of 45 to 80 ° C.

The high boiling point solvent in the present invention has a boiling point of 1
It means that the temperature is 50 ° C or higher. Specifically, for example,
Ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, tetraethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, propanediol, dipropylene glycol, tripropylene glycol, butanediol,
Glycols such as pentanediol, hexylene glycol, thiodiglycol, glycerin, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether,
At least one of lower alkyl ethers of polyhydric alcohols such as diethylene glycol monomethyl ether and diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, amines such as triethanolamine, and pyrrolidones such as 2-pyrrolidone and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone is used. be able to. Particularly preferably, a liquid composed of water and an alkylene glycol having 3 to 6 carbon atoms can be used.

As described above, the air flow rate is also a factor that determines the degree of bleeding during drying. Drying progresses due to the difference between the vapor pressure on the cloth surface and the vapor pressure in the warm air, and the drying efficiency can be improved as the amount of warm air supplied to the cloth surface, that is, the warm air blowing speed, increases. The warm air blowing speed is preferably 0.3 to 30 m / s, more preferably 1 to 18 m / s, and further preferably 1 to 8 m / s. When the warm air blowing speed is low, the drying efficiency is extremely reduced, the drying time must be lengthened, and the apparatus becomes large. Further, if the warm air blowing speed is too high, the dried cloth may flutter or the cloths may rub against each other, resulting in contamination. further,
If the blowing speed becomes too high, uneven dyeing or poor appearance may occur due to the migration of the dye.

The warm air may be blown to the fabric either on one side or on both sides. It is preferable that air is blown from the print surface and both sides. In the case of double-sided air blow, it is preferable that the air blown from the print surface is larger than the air blown from the back surface. The blowing angle can be arbitrarily selected from horizontal to vertical with respect to the cloth, but it is preferable to give an angle to the cloth from the viewpoint of drying efficiency. The shape of the warm air blowing nozzle can be arbitrarily designed, but a slit shape designed so that the air is uniformly blown to the width of the fabric is preferable.

Next, with reference to FIG. 1, an example of an apparatus for drying an inkjet dyed fabric of the present invention will be specifically described.

In the present invention, the cloth 10 as the recording medium is subjected to inkjet dyeing before being conveyed to the drying device. For inkjet dyeing, for example, a line-head inkjet dyeing machine or a head-moving dyeing device in which an inkjet head is moved in the width direction of the cloth and the cloth is conveyed intermittently and ink is applied, is used. it can.

The cloth 10 to which the ink is applied is preheated and preliminarily dried before coming into contact with the main body of the drying device.

The preheating and predrying can be performed, for example, by sending air having a predetermined air volume and temperature from the warm air blower 110 in the figure to the air blow nozzle hole 118, or, of course, using a unique drying facility.

The pre-dried fabric 10 is placed on the mesh-shaped conveyor belt 105 of the drying device in an almost tension-free state and conveyed by continuous running. As the belt, a mesh-shaped endless belt is preferably used.

Blower nozzles 116 and 12 are provided on the fabric 10 which is carried on the mesh-shaped conveyor belt 105 and conveyed.
Warm air blown out from Nos. 6, 117 and 127 is applied to perform drying. To the blow nozzles 116, 126, 117, 127, warm air blowers 110, 120 (not shown in FIG. 1) blow air of a predetermined air volume and temperature. Blowing nozzle 11
6 and 126 blow air to the printed surface of the fabric 10, and the blowing nozzles 117 and 127 blow the mesh belt 1.
Air is blown to the back side of the print of the fabric 10 through 05.
The warm cloth is dried to dry the undried cloth. The dried cloth is discharged by the shake-off device 150. It may be wound into a roll without using a shake-off device.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic installation diagram showing an example of the warm air blowers 110 and 120. Two warm air blowers are installed, the blower ducts 111 and 121 are arranged at both ends in the width direction with the cloth sandwiched therebetween, and the blower nozzles 116, 126, 117 are provided in the ducts arranged in parallel with the conveyor belt surface. 1
27 are attached. Blower nozzles 116 and 126
And 117 and 127 are attached alternately in the fabric conveying direction. According to this configuration, it is possible to extremely reduce the dry unevenness at both ends of the cloth width, which is preferable.
It is also possible to change the set temperatures of the two warm air blowers and use them. The warm air blower 110 includes the air intake ports 114 and 115, the heat exchanger 113, and the fan motor 11.
2, a duct 111, and blowing nozzles 116 and 117. The air intake port 114 is for taking in the air outside the drying device, and the air intake port 115 is for taking in the air inside the drying device. Dampers 170 and 171 are attached to the intakes so that the intake rate can be adjusted. Further, by adjusting the dampers 172 attached to the intake dampers 170 and 171 and the exhaust duct 160, it is possible to adjust the ratio of the total air flow rate of the drying medium of the drying device to the exhaust amount to the outside of the drying device.

The air sucked from each intake port is heated by the heat exchanger 113, sent to the duct 111 by the fan motor 112, and jetted from the blowing nozzles 116 and 117. The same applies to the warm air blower 120.

The drying device of the present invention preferably has a belt cleaning mechanism section 130 as shown in FIG. The cleaning liquid is sprayed from the cleaning liquid nozzle 131 onto the mesh-shaped conveyor belt guided to the outside from the main body of the drying device, and the dirt is washed away by the cleaning brush 132. Then, the water is drained by the water draining doctor 133, and the cleaning liquid is blown off by the warm air blower 134 to be dried. The roller 180 is a roller wound with felt and absorbs the remaining cleaning liquid.

It is also possible to insert the under cloth 140 between the cloth 10 and the mesh-shaped conveyor belt 105 and convey them simultaneously. Undercross 140 is
The shake-off device 145 discharges the print cloth 10 separately from the drying device.

The drying device 100 is preferably driven in conjunction with the ink jet dyeing device section 200. Especially,
It is preferable that the drive system control units of both conveyor belts exchange signals with each other and are interlocked with each other. The conveyor of the inkjet dyeing device is preferably always driven at a constant speed. The conveyor speed of the dryer is variable. For example, the sensor 250 measures the distance from the cloth 10 peeled from the conveyor to calculate the degree of tension applied to the cloth 10, and the data is used to drive the conveyor of the dryer. It is preferable to control the drive speed in accordance with the data by sending it to the system control unit.

Even when the head moving type ink-jet dyeing machine for intermittently conveying the cloth and the drying apparatus of the present invention are driven in conjunction with each other, the cloth conveying system of the drying apparatus can be continuously driven. preferable.

From the viewpoint of drying efficiency, the ratio of the total air flow of the dryer to the amount of exhaust air to the outside of the dryer is 10: 3-1.
It is preferably 0:10. More preferably 10:
It is 5 to 10:10. Before exhausting to the atmosphere, it is preferable to install a condenser or the like for trapping a dry component in the exhaust port, if necessary.

The cloth conveying means is preferably a conveyor belt system. For example, although it is possible to use the drying method of the present invention in a drying device having a conveying means for pinning and clipping both ends in the width direction of the cloth, the cloth gripping portion easily causes wrinkles in the cloth, and it corresponds to the print image. Since the tension applied to the cloth changes due to the difference in the applied amount of ink, unevenness is likely to occur. On the other hand, the conveyor belt method has an advantage that it is possible to convey the print cloth with almost no tension applied and the unevenness in drying hardly occurs.

Further, it is more preferable to have a function of cleaning a portion where the undried print cloth and the cloth conveying means are in contact with each other. In the case of inkjet dyeing, an ink having a viscosity of several cP is generally applied to a cloth, and the viscosity is extremely low as compared with a conventionally used printing paste of several thousands to tens of thousands of cP, and the back surface of the cloth is extremely low. The penetration of ink into the ink is large. Therefore, there is a possibility that the portion where the undried print cloth and the cloth conveying means come into contact with each other is contaminated with the ink. That is, when the contaminated transport portion again contacts the undried cloth, the stains on the transport machine may be transferred to the undried print cloth and the print cloth may be contaminated. The washing method is not particularly limited, and may be, for example, a method of washing with water, a method of wiping with cloth or paper, or a method of transferring.

It is also preferable to introduce an undercloth between the undried print cloth and the conveyor belt so that the undried print cloth and the conveyor belt do not come into direct contact with each other. As the under cloth, paper or cloth can be used. The under cloth may be used by a method of continuously introducing and discharging, a method of forming a loop, and a method of replacing when it becomes dirty. It is also preferable to use it in a loop while washing and drying.

The surface member of the conveyor belt type conveyor belt preferably has a specific heat of 800 to 3000 J / kg · K and a thermal conductivity of 0.01 to 2 W / m · K.

If the specific heat is low and the thermal conductivity is too large, heat is rapidly transferred to the portion where the belt and the undried cloth are in contact with each other, and uneven drying is likely to occur. More preferably, the specific heat is 9
It is from 00 to 3000 J / kg · K and the thermal conductivity is from 0.05 to 1 W / m · K. Specifically, nylon, aromatic nylon, polyimide, polyester, fluorine-based polymers such as polytetrafluoroethylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, natural rubber and synthetic rubber can be used. Further, using a material satisfying the specific heat and thermal conductivity as a surface member, metal, glass fiber,
It may be a composite material having a core material such as a natural fiber or a synthetic fiber. It is preferable that both the specific heat and the thermal conductivity satisfy both. The transport belt may be a flat belt, but is preferably a mesh belt. Drying efficiency is further improved by using a mesh belt.

When an ink-jet dyed cloth provided with a low-viscosity ink is dried with a mesh belt, mesh traces are likely to occur due to ink migration,
By using the mesh belt having the above-mentioned thermal characteristics, the generation of mesh marks can be largely prevented. Further, as the shape of the mesh, various shapes can be used, but the average unit size of the mesh shape is preferably 25 mm ² or less, and the ratio of the openings to the entire area is 20 to 60%. Is. When the unit size is 25 mm ² or more and the ratio of the openings is 60% or more, when the thin cloth is dried, mesh marks may be generated depending on the conditions. Unit size is 25m
When it is m ² or more and the ratio of the openings is 60% or less, the area occupied by the material forming the mesh is large, the drying efficiency is deteriorated, and uneven drying is likely to occur.

When the unit size is 25 mm ² or less and the ratio of the openings is 60% or more, the problem of drying unevenness and mesh marks is small, but the strength of the mesh belt may be low. Unit size is 25 mm
^{When it is 2} or less and the ratio of the openings is 20% or less, the drying efficiency is almost the same as that of the flat belt.

From the above, it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the bleeding of the printed image due to the high boiling point solvent in the ink, which is peculiar to ink jet dyeing, when drying the cloth after printing using the ink jet dyeing device, and to cause the low viscosity ink. It is possible to solve problems such as stains, uneven drying, and color transfer, and to obtain a fabric of excellent quality.

[0045]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be specifically described with reference to examples.

[Example 1] (1) Inkjet device Method: Charge amount deflection type continuous inkjet dyeing machine Line head row: 10 rows Deflection width: 10 mm per nozzle (2) Ink composition Disperse dye 1-10% Ethylene Glycol 10% Propylene Glycol 20% Water Remaining Dispersion dyes used were shades of yellow, cyan, magenta and black, blue and violet.

(3) Cloth Polyester satin woven fabric pretreatment liquid Gum-based sizing agent 1% Cationic polymer 2% Porous silica fine particles 1.5% Water 95.5% (4) Dryer conditions Belt material: 0.2 mm Polytetrafluoroethylene (specific heat of 1046 J / kg · K, on a mesh sheet in which 0.9 to 1.0 mm thick yarn made of aramid fiber having a copper wire as a core is arranged in a grid pattern at intervals of about 3 mm in length and width. Thermal conductivity 0.2
5 W / mK) was used.

Belt cleaning: Cleaning was performed with a 0.1% aqueous surfactant solution.

No undercloth is used.

Drying temperature: 75 ° C. Blower speed: 3 m / s Blower circulation rate: 20% (80% exhaust) (5) Post-process Color development according to the post-process of ordinary polyester printing,
Soaping and finishing were performed.

(6) Evaluation items Image: Yellow ground color, each color ink 10 mm, 20
A design in which polka dots having a diameter of 30 mm and a diameter of 30 mm are randomly arranged and the same design in which the background color is blue and the color scheme is changed are printed by 45 m each.

Evaluation: bleeding: The diameter of the polka dot was measured with a microscope image processor.

Contamination: Contamination of the yellow ground color was visually judged.

Drying unevenness: The ground color of blue was measured with a colorimeter at three points at the left and right ends and the center. Trace of mesh: Contamination of the blue ground color was visually judged.

(7) Evaluation Results Table 1 shows the evaluation results. There were no problems with any of the items, and the results were satisfactory.

[0056]

[Table 1] [Comparative Example 1] The conditions were the same as those in Example 1 except that the drying temperature of the drying apparatus was set to 100 ° C and the belt cleaning was not performed. The evaluation results are also shown in Table 1.

There were no problems with uneven drying and traces of mesh, but bleeding was extremely large. Further, as the printing was continued, the yellow portion of the background color was contaminated. It is considered that this is because the dye adhered to the belt was redeposited on the printed fabric because the belt was not washed.

[Comparative Example 2] A belt material of a dryer condition was made of stainless steel (specific heat 1967 J / kg · K, thermal conductivity
17 W / mK) except that a mesh belt made of
The conditions were the same as in Example 1. The evaluation results are also shown in Table 1.

Contamination was not a problem, but mesh traces remained clearly. For this reason, unevenness in dryness was not evaluated. As for bleeding, bleeding occurred in the area corresponding to the trace of the net, and bleeding stopped in the portion without the trace of the net.

[0060]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY According to the present invention, in the production of ink-jet dyed fabrics, deterioration of printed image bleeding due to the high boiling point solvent in the ink peculiar to ink-jet dyeing is prevented, and stains and drying unevenness due to the low-viscosity ink, It is possible to dry without problems such as color transfer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a model of an example of an apparatus for drying an inkjet dyed fabric of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an example of a warm air blower used in the drying device for an inkjet dyed fabric of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: Fabric 105: Mesh conveyor belt 110, 120: Warm air blower 111, 121: Blow duct 112, 122: Fan motor 113, 123: Heat exchanger 114, 124: Air intake 115, 125: Air intake 116 , 126: Blower nozzle 117, 127: Blower nozzle 118, 128: Blower nozzle hole 130: Belt cleaning mechanism part 131: Cleaning liquid nozzle 132: Cleaning brush 133: Draining doctor 134: Warm air blower 140: Under cloth 145, 150: Shaking Dropping device 160: Exhaust duct 170, 171, 172: Damper 180: Roller

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A fabric after being subjected to inkjet dyeing,
A method for producing an inkjet dyed fabric, which comprises drying with warm air of 90 ° C. or lower. 2. The inkjet dyeing is performed using an aqueous ink containing a high boiling point solvent.
The method for producing an inkjet dyed fabric according to item 1. 3. The inkjet according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the drying means is of a warm air blowing type, and the warm air blowing speed on the surface of the fabric to be dried is 0.3 to 30 m / s. Manufacturing method of dyed fabric. 4. The cloth after inkjet dyeing is dried by blowing warm air at 90 ° C. or less at a speed of 0.3 to 30 m / s, and the total air flow of the drying device and outside the drying device. An inkjet dyed fabric drying apparatus, characterized in that the ratio of the exhaust amount to the air is 10: 3 to 10:10. 5. The apparatus for drying an ink-jet dyed cloth according to claim 4, wherein the means for conveying the cloth after the ink-jet dyeing is a conveyor belt system. 6. The apparatus for drying an ink-jet dyed cloth according to claim 4, which has a function of cleaning a portion where the cloth after the ink-jet dyeing is brought into contact with the conveying means of the cloth. 7. The ink jet dyed fabric according to claim 5, wherein an under cloth is introduced between the undried print fabric and the conveyor belt so that the undried print fabric and the conveyor belt do not come into direct contact with each other. Drying device. 8. The cloth conveying means is a conveyor belt system, and the specific heat of the conveying belt surface member is 800 to 3000 J.
/ Kg · k and the thermal conductivity is 0.01 to 2 W /
The apparatus for drying an ink-jet dyed fabric according to claim 5, 6 or 7, characterized in that it is m · k. 9. The drying device for an inkjet dyed fabric according to claim 4, wherein the conveyor belt member has a mesh shape. 10. The mesh-shaped belt has a mesh-shaped unit size of 25 mm ² or less, and the ratio of openings to the total area is 20 to 60%. Inkjet dyed fabric dryer. 11. The inkjet dyeing cloth drying device according to claim 4, wherein the drying device is driven in conjunction with the inkjet dyeing device.