Measuring Print Quality of Digitally Printed Textiles

This paper aims to develop an understanding of the factors affecting print quality in inkjet printed textiles and discusses tools for quantifying print quality in these textiles. Cotton fabrics with different fabric structures, yarn sizes, yarn types, and surface treatments were printed on a commercial desktop inkjet printer. Print quality (PQ) analyses were performed using an automated print quality analysis system to quantify quality attributes including line width, image noise, optical density, tone reproduction and CIELab color. Wicking tests were also conducted to elucidate the correlation between the observed print quality and the wicking behavior of the fabric structure. An image processing technique was developed to enhance the accuracy and reliability of print quality measurements and minimize the “noise ” introduced by the structure of the fabric. The results of this study provide some insight into the relationship between structure and printability in inkjet printing of textile fabrics. The efficacy of the automated PQ analysis instrument used is also demonstrated