In recent years, one of the widely used techniques to improve the appearance of garments is screen (garment) printing. Depending on the printing type and the workload of companies, curing of printed fabrics is achieved at high temperatures (130-200°C) in this process. At these conditions, an important colour difference may occur between fabrics which are printed and not printed. In this study, the relationship between the colour difference which occurs during the curing of cotton fabric and softeners which were used as finishing agent were investigated in screen printing conditions. In this context, effects of the different type of cationic, non-ionic and silicon softeners on the colour change of the dyed & undyed cotton fabric after curing were investigated in screen printing conditions. The colour change of the cured samples were evaluated using CIE L* a* b* coordinates.
Key Words: Screen printing, Yellowing, Curing, Softener.
