Effects of Pigment Printing on Cotton Knitted Fabric with Different Natural and Synthetic Thickening Agents

Printing in textiles is an important part of designing and embellishing textile material either with dyes or pigments in printing paste. This research work evaluates the effects of printing with three types of natural and synthetic thickeners on the fastness properties of cotton fabric with two different hues of pigment. Pretreated cotton knit fabrics were treated for printing. Printing was carried out in a flat screen-printing method on the cotton fabrics individually and in equal ratios. The printed samples were then assessed for bursting strength, colorfastness to washing, colorfastness to rubbing, and colorfastness to perspiration. Finally, after analyzing the test results, it was established that the properties of the fabrics printed with Zamoprint PT 300E synthetic thickener and Tamarind seed powder natural thickener were better than those printed with other thickeners. Satisfactory performance was also achieved with starch and Lutexal-HIT-Plus thickeners.