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Screen-printing on RAYON Made From Bamboo

We have printed the Rayon/organic cotton T-shirts with both discharge and plastisol.
Be aware high peak temperature. Its better to use long dryer or slow belt to keep temperature as stable as possible; 160 - 165 degrees celsius.
Many printers blame fabric manufacturers for burning garment. The reason is that they put too high temperature and fast belt. Result might be OK but inside dryer there is short high peak temperature 190-200 celsius. With rayon you have to be careful.

Discharge is great with rayon because the fabric is quite thin and discharge ink goes easy into the fibers.
Curing Instructions:
Cure for a minimum of 90 seconds at 320º F (160º C) to activate the discharge reaction and produce a washable print. Evaporating the water too quickly will stop the discharge reaction and result in dull colors.

Note that printing with water based inks its same as discharged: 90 seconds at 320 F (160 C). Plastisol can be faster at the same temperature, that's the difference.
Some problems are dryers: they are not stable. If you measure the temperature by lasermeter from start area or end area you can get wrong measurement. Also some problems are also dryers own meters; they measure just one area.
Best way to measure  correct temperature is the temperature sticker you put on the garment, let it go thru the dryer and check what was the highest temperature: This is not allowed to be over 165-170.

About Inks: Plastisol or Water-based?

About Plastisol. Yes it includes PVC. This is not good but of course its our job as a printer to take care all extra unused ink goes to Ekokem who handles waste correctly. They handle waste ink as waste oil. Anyway our waste ink is very, very small.

Opaque water based inks includes also chemicals. Read bottom "about Water based inks".

Union Ink www.unionink.com


Health, Safety, and Environmental Concerns. Plastisol inks are innocuous when used with reasonable care. A true plastisol ink contains no air-polluting solvents or volatile organic compounds. The manufacture, transportation, storage, use, and disposal of plastisol inks do not cause injury, illness, or environmental contamination as long as the appropriate safety and environmental protection procedures are followed. Most plastisol inks have a Health Rating of 1 (hazard - slight), a Flammability Rating of 1 (hazard - slight), a Reactivity Rating of 0 (hazard - minimal) and a Personal Protection Rating of B (wear safety glasses and gloves).

 

Water based inks


Health, Safety, and the Environment - Water-Based Inks - The Green Factor

Many textile screenprinters use water-base inks because they, or their customers, believe that waterbased textile inks are safe in the shop and do not damage the environment. What they do not realize is that water-based inks, like all other inks, are industrial chemicals. Screen printers who buy and use water- based inks are required to obey exactly the same local, regional, and federal laws and regulations pertaining to employee training, storage, handling, and disposal as screen printers using any other kind of textile ink.

About Inks: Summary

What can honestly and accurately be said about water-based inks, shop safety, and the environment?

  • Water-based inks can be cleaned up with water. most screen printers use mineral spirits or something similar for cleaning up plastisol inks.
  • The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Right to Know (RTK) regulations apply to water-base inks just as much as to any other kind of ink.
  • You must have Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS Sheets) on all the water- based inks and ink additives in your plant.
  • You must make sure your employees read and understand the MSDS Sheets.
  • You must train your employees to handle, store, and clean up water-base inks safely and make sure that they do so.
  • Some water-base inks contain volatile organic compounds (VOC's), chemicals that evaporate as the ink dries and, unless you have an excellent ventilation system, get mixed into the air everyone in the plant breathes.
  • Until recently, some water-base inks or ink additives contained chemicals that were suspected or known to be human carcinogens; that is, they could cause cancer in people exposed to them. Review the MSDS sheets on the inks in your plant carefully to determine if this is the case with any of the inks you use.
  • Do not assume that you can dispose of water-based inks, or waste water used to clean waterbased inks off screens and squeegees by dumping it down the drain. Only your local waste water treatment facility can determine if the ink you are using can be disposed of in this manner, and if they do permit it, they will certainly put limits on how much you can dump down the drain.
  • If your waste water is not processed by a wastewater treatment plant (if you have a private septic system) you should consult with the nearest health department before you start dumping your waste ink and wash water down the drain.

I am unaware of any research or scientific reports that indicate that the chemicals used in water- based inks are safer to manufacture, use, or dispose of than the chemicals used in plastisol inks, assuming that in both cases the chemicals are processed in accordance with applicable health, safety and environmental protection regulations.

On the other hand, water- based inks, like all other kinds of screen printing inks may be hazardous to your health and damaging to the environment if handled illegally or carelessly.
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