Screen printing is extremely versatile. Any flat surface can be screen printed. The ink is extremely important for this kind of job. It must suit the substrate or given material. As a professional printer, you must be aware of an ink's abilities, limitations, economic factors and applications which are provided by the different ink systems.
Plastisol
It is the go-to ink for the printing industry. This ink is being used for textile printing for an extremely long time. They are not soluble in water. These inks must be heated to cure and not dry on the screen itself. Plastisols are convenient to work with on the press. When it comes to dark garments, these are opaque. Color matching is comparatively simple and can be done using the Pantone mixing systems. The huge number of available additives offers an excellent amount of flexibility. A number of special effects can be achieved through the use of plastisol inks. These inks are suitable for a wide variety of garment materials, thus making it extremely versatile. It has repeatability and consistency as well. One negative aspect of this ink is that components of this ink can be relatively expensive compared to discharge or water-based inks. Plastisol is frequently the preferred ink of apparel industry due to its economy of use and cost effectiveness.
H S A or Discharge and Water-based inks
Water-based inks have risen up the popularity stakes. There are good reasons for this. When these inks are used, they are driven into the substrate. The plastisol inks, in contrast, sit on the surface. Water-based based inks offer a soft hand and is suitable for heavy fabrics like towels where a soft surface is preferred. If cured in a proper manner, the ink will remain for quite a long time. The Discharge inks are the water-based inks which utilize a Zinc Formaldehyde Sulfoxylate or ZFS activator. These work on the 100 percent cotton fibers to remove dye from the cotton threads. It follows that discharge inks are best utilized on dark and 100 percent cotton garments. Testing is vital with both Discharge and Water-based inks. It is particularly applicable for blended garments. The water-based inks can be hard to mix.
Silicone ink
It is the newest in the printing industry. This ink was invented to print on 100 percent polyester garments. These garments are sensitive to heat and the dye falls off when heated. It is the most expensive of all the three inks.
