Key Factors Affecting Color Reproduction On T-Shirt Fabrics Using Heat Transfer Printing

Abstract

Dye sublimation heat transfer printing is commonly used to transfer an image to
fabric for small production runs. This process is very inexpensive and is very quick.
Unlike digitally printing on fabric, there is no need to treat the fabric once the image has
been transferred onto it. Heat transfer printing is also commonly used due to the fact that
three different factors can be controlled while printing. These three factors are the
temperature, the dwell time, and the pressure. Color reproduction is easy to do once the
correct combination of these three factors is found. The temperature, time, and pressure
can all be adjusted on the press to assure you are getting the same results every time you
transfer an image. This experiment was done in order to figure out which factors
influence color reproduction the most on 100% cotton fabric, 50/50 cotton/polyester
blend fabric, and 100% polyester fabric. It determined the optimum operating conditions
for each type of fabric so that the maximum yield of color gamut, optical density, and
print contrast were found. Based on common printing times, temperatures, and pressures
for each fabric, the experiment tested each fabric using a randomized 23 factorial design
with each of the three factors having a high level ( 1) and a low level (-1 ). This
experiment contained three independent variables which were the dwell time in the heat
zone (X1), the temperature at which the image was transferred (X2), and the pressure of
the heat press (X3). The dependent variable (Y) was how well the color was able to be
reproduced on each fabric and was measured using the optical density, gamut volume,
and print contrast. Although the blend and cotton fabrics were found to be fairly
inconsistent in the data collected, the best treatment combination for the blend fabric
would be -1, 1, 1 and the best treatment combination for the cotton fabric would be 1, 1, 1.
The polyester fabric was the best for this test and proved to be more consistent with a
best treatment combination of 1, 1, 1. For the blend and cotton fabrics, the most dominant
effect was the pressure, but for the polyester fabric, the most dominant effect was the
dwell time.

Date of Award	2011
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	Eastern Illinois University
Supervisor	Yu-Ju Wu (Supervisor)