Investigation of disperse fluorescent ink formulation via thermal transfer printing for polyester substrate

Disperse fluorescent ink was controllably prepared via the cyclic sander grinding process and used for thermal transfer printing on a polyester substrate. Via process optimization, 0.1% pH regulator triethanolamine and 0.15% surfactant NP-12 were added in the disperse fluorescent ink. The lightness L* of the polyester substrate was 101.84 and the saturation C* was 84.21 within thermal transfer printing on the polyester substrate. Compared with flat screen printing, the bending rigidity and bending hysteresis moment of the ink-jet printed polyester substrate presented a slight change. The fluorescent effect of the printed polyester substrate was increased to 165.65, and the fluorescence reflectivity increased 4.1% at the maximum emission wavelength λmax = 510 nm. The color fastness of the printed polyester substrate was improved. In particular, the wet rubbing fastness was enhanced by one grade after the ink-jet thermal transfer printing.