Organic solvent free, high performance and cleaning reactive dye ink using hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose for inkjet printing

Organic solvents adjusting the surface tension and viscosity of reactive dye inks for good droplet formation has resulted in low dye utilization and serious environmental pollution. Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) has advantages of biocompatibility, renewability and excellent surface tension and viscosity. Here, an organic solvent free dye ink was developed using HPMC and the printability of HPMC/dye inks was compared with diethylene glycol (DEG)/dye inks and commercial inks. Only adding 0.6 wt% of HPMC could obtain good droplet formation, while DEG needed to be added by 50 wt%. The HPMC/dye ink printed patterns exhibited much deeper color than the DEG/dye ink and the commercial ink due to the less diffusion of HPMC/dye ink to the back of the fabric. moreover, as the small dosage of HPMC and the poor reactivity between HPMC and reactive dye, the coloring effluent of the HPMC/dye ink was less than the DEG/dye ink and the commercial ink. According to the data of World Textile Information Network, HPMC adjusting the jetting performance will save 1.4 billion ¥ than DEG in 2025. The HPMC/dye ink is a clean ink with advantages of high performance and low pollution and cost.