Sometimes, your screen printing machine gives you an output of blurry screen print or less vibrant than usual. You may blame your screen printer but sometimes it happens for fibrillation.
Quality control for screen printing can bring most of your success. To give high satisfaction to your customers and to produce high-quality screen print, you need to choose the right products and have to follow the right steps. Although you have your best effort to give quality, you shouldn’t avoid fibrillation. If you avoid fibrillation, it may bring something unpleasant for your screen printing process.
What is Fibrillation?
Fibrillation may be surprising for many newbie screen printers. Fibrillation may be blamed for fade looking and hazy screen printing after finishing prints by your screen printing press. Actually, fibrillation is to form fibers. In screen printing, it relates to the garment fibers that break loose and sticks with the ink. Fuzzy prints create for fibrillation as the un-inked portion looks fade.
Right Garment to Avoid Fibrillation
You should avoid those garments that are helpful to form fibrillation. Vintage look fabrics create more fibrillate than the other fabric. Though you can follow some tips, it is difficult to diagnose in advance whether the t-shirts would be under fibrillation. You can continue your screen printing machine with the garment that most perfect and well prints for the customers. If your client wants vintage look screen print, soft and different styles t-shirts, it becomes a challenge for you. You can easily prevent fibrillation running a test run for your new garment. Besides, you have to check the test run printed garment through several wash and dry cycles.
Solving the Fibrillation Problem
If the usual process doesn’t work, you can use following tips to prevent the fibrillation problem. You can minimize fibrillation largely for your desired garments.
After finding fibrillation in your usual printing you should try for another print and lay it down to deposit ink nicely. But it is a limited solution and some garment fibers require heavy ink. On the other hand, it’s not an easy to handle enough ink and make balance to prevent fibrillation.
Here are some other processes you can try
1. Use mat-down screen. In your screen printing equipment, an additional empty screen which coated fully with harden emulsion can be used to make down the fibers in the fabric. Don’t let them popping through the layer of ink. To create lubrication, provide some more ink or grease on the screen. At last, print through the heard squeegee and hard pressure to solve the fibrillation.
2. In your screen printing equipment, you can print multiple thin layers of ink. You must make sure that you are using print, flash cure, print, flash cure, print technique consequently to get the softer print. It is good but if you don’t a set up for it, it brings no good for you.
3. Using the ink additives. In the modern age, you will find some special additives that are suitable for garment fibers. They work well to prevent the fibrillation.
4. Use Clear ink. You can use the clear ink to prevent fibrillation in two ways. Lay down a clear under-base and printing a clear layer of ink. It will help the color to keep vibrant and prevent fibrillation.
5. You can take water based ink for your screen printing machine. It helps to reduce the fibrillation.
Awareness is the first step to prevent fibrillation. Avoid hurry in printing to bring clients attention. Always make the test run in every new project.
