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Screen Printing on Lycra – synthetic fiber
Screen printing Lycra, or called Spandex, is a Synthetic fiber. Used for swimwear or how they call it today Performance Wear. Yes, Performance wear is nothing else than a synthetic fiber.
I belief, this is a marketing strategy, to sell a product more expensive than cotton.
However, screen printing on Lycra or Spandex, you will face a different problem.
A synthetic fibre does not like heat. We screen-printer used to cure our garment at about 160C.
Lycra will shrink at this temperature. Colour change occurs, special white or pale colours, tend to this problem.
Even the migration problem come up easily!
The solution for screen printing on lycra
What we need is now a screen printing ink, what cure below 160C! And you better print an anti-migration ink underneath like the Printperfekt AM 1. Don’t worry if these inks have darker colours, from black to grey (never white). But they do an excellent job, to prevent the migration problem on synthetic fiber.
All that you need is a low cure ink and a blocker as under base and Reduce the impact heat on the garment!
Then you will print your performance garments easily, even swimwear.
