Screen Printing Tips - Dye Migration and Its Prevention

If you have been in this industry for a long enough time, you may have heard of the term dye migration. You may also know that this is one of the biggest pains in the neck of a screen printing , but there are some simple tips that will keep you from having a headache in the future. Before we get the tip, it's important to understand how dye migration occurs and how it occurs. Knowing this will give you the knowledge to prevent it from happening in your future printing.

Notice the fading of the shirt on the right.

This is caused by dye migration.

Dye migration is caused by the ink being too hot. This unwanted reaction occurs when heat turns the dye of the shirt into a gas. The gas penetrates into the plastisol ink, causing an adverse reaction. Worse, it can take a few days before you become aware of the dye migration. This may mean that you have already sent the product to your paying customer, they wash the shirt, print out less, and your store gets a bad review. This is the last thing we want to happen. The most reliable method is to run a test run/clean to see if the color is "running" or bleeding. If they do this - this is the dye migration. But before you panic and decide not to print a shirt anymore, here are some tips to help!

The truth behind the ink

First of all, there is no such thing as "no bleeding" ink. Each ink will ooze to some extent, but there are some options that can be specially formulated to be as "impermeable" as possible. When using low-bleed inks, you may need to print white under the pedestal and print the color on top. While low-bleed inks work more on polyester, printing white on the bottom ensures that your color looks equally vibrant when first printed, because white has good resistance to dye migration. The second option is to print with silicon ink. The downside of using silicone is that you get a thicker print, which may not be the print you need for a particular print job you are working on.

Try the interceptor

The third option is to try to block the program as a basis. They act to protect plastisol prints and shirt dyes. According to the base may be just the best friend of your store in combating dye migration. There are "blockers" specifically designed for use as dye migration barriers based on polyester and high performance fabrics.

Curing at lower temperatures

One of the most important factors to consider is the curing temperature. The polyester began to release the dye near 280F, but most plastisol inks did not begin to cure until 320F. Then what happens is that the dye of the shirt penetrates into the plastisol, so when you wash it you will find that the print is not perfect. Another factor is the color of the shirt. Dye migration is most common in dark or bright clothing such as red, blue and black.