When Did Silk Screen Printing Start and How Is It Done?

Screen printing refers to the use of silk screen as a plate base, and a screen printing plate with graphics and text is made by a photosensitive plate-making method. Screen printing consists of five elements, screen printing plate, squeegee, ink, printing table and substrate. Printing is carried out by using the basic principle that the mesh of the screen printing plate can pass through the ink, and the mesh of the non-graphic part cannot pass through the ink. When printing, pour ink at one end of the screen printing plate, apply a certain pressure to the ink part on the screen printing plate with a scraper, and at the same time move towards the other end of the screen printing plate at a constant speed. Part of the mesh is extruded onto the substrate.

Screen printing is to stretch silk fabric, synthetic fiber fabric or metal mesh on the screen frame, and use the method of hand-carved paint film or photochemical plate making to make screen printing plate. Modern screen printing technology uses photosensitive materials to make screen printing plates by means of photolithography (so that the screen holes in the graphic part of the screen printing plate are through holes, and the screen holes in the non-graphic part are blocked. living) oil paintings, prints, posters, business cards, binding covers, commodity packaging, commodity signs, printing and dyeing textiles, glass and metal and other plane carriers.

 

Screen printing originated in China and has a history of more than 2,000 years. As early as the Qin and Han Dynasties in ancient China, the method of clip printing appeared. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, the method of batik with valerian has become popular, and the level of printed products has also improved. During the Great Ye period of the Sui Dynasty, people began to use the frame stretched with silk screen for printing, so that the clip printing process developed into screen printing. According to historical records, the exquisite costumes worn in the court of the Tang Dynasty were printed in this way. In the Song Dynasty, screen printing developed again, and the original oil-based paint was improved. Starch rubber powder was added to the dye to make it a paste for screen printing, which made the color of screen printing products more brilliant.

 

There are usually two types of screen printing, namely manual printing and mechanical printing.

 

Manual printing refers to the up and down movement of the printing plate from the paper feed to the delivery, and the scraping and scraping of the plate are all manual operations.

 

Mechanical printing means that the printing process is completed by mechanical actions.

 

•  Manual Screen Printing

Manual screen printing is commercially produced on long decks (up to 60 yards). The printed cloth roll is spread smoothly on the platen, and the surface of the platen is pre-coated with a small amount of sticky substance. The printer then moves the frame by hand continuously along the entire platen, one frame at a time, until the fabric is fully printed. Each frame corresponds to a printing color.

The production speed of this method is 50-90 yards per hour, and commercial manual screen printing is also used in large quantities to print cut garments.

Hand screen printing is also used to print limited edition, highly fashionable women's clothing, as well as fashion underwear for ladies.

 

• Flat Print Screen Print

The printing die is fixed on a square frame and has a polyester or nylon screen (pattern) with hollow patterns. The color paste can be penetrated at the patterned part of the flower plate, and the mesh is closed with a polymer film layer at the non-patterned part. When printing, the pattern plate is pressed against the fabric, the color paste is placed on the pattern plate, and the scraper is used to scrape and press back and forth, so that the color paste penetrates the pattern and reaches the surface of the fabric.

 

The flat screen printing process is intermittent rather than continuous, so the production speed is not as fast as the rotary screen.

Production speed is about 500 yards per hour.

• Rotary Print

The printing die is a cylindrical nickel-skin screen with a hollow pattern, which is installed above the circulating rubber guide belt in a certain order, and can rotate synchronously with the guide belt. During printing, the color paste is input into the net and stored at the bottom of the screen. When the rotary screen rotates with the guide belt, the scraper pressed on the bottom of the screen and the flower net are relatively scraped and pressed, and the color paste reaches the surface of the fabric through the pattern on the net.

 

Rotary screen printing is a continuous process with high production efficiency.

The rotary screen printing process is a continuous process, and the printed fabric is transported under the continuously moving rotary screen through a wide rubber belt. Among screen printing, rotary screen printing has the fastest production speed, greater than 3500 yards per hour.

 

Rotary screen making process: inspection and preparation of black and white drafts---selection of rotary screen---cleaning of rotary screen---applying photosensitive glue---exposure---development---baking---glue filling head---inspection stand-by.

 

The printing of knitted underwear mainly uses the direct printing process of paint. After the fabric is printed, it can be dried or dried naturally, which avoids the problems of easy deformation of knitted fabrics and difficult wet processing of cut pieces. The printing method is mainly flat screen printing, and it is divided into two methods: manual scratch printing and machine operation. This printing method can adapt to the patterns of various forms and organizational structures, and is suitable for the production needs of small batches and multiple colors.

 

WANT TO ORDER SILK SCREEN PRINTING?

Unitex underwear custom supplier customizes a wide range of printed underwear （custom printed boxer shorts，personalized women's underwear，funny personalized boxers and children underpant）for you, please send us your picture or logo and we will calculate the price for you. The price depends on the number, size and quantity of colors in the image. We will find you the best solution for your underwear pattern.

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