Electrophotographic printing of fabrics: Investigating the effect of fabrics on color reproduction

Fabric printing systems are essentially needed nowadays and should meet the requirements of manufacturers. Digital electrophotographic (Xerographic) printing has the potential of meeting these requirements. Digital electrophotography printing is affected by several parameters, including printer and substrate type which determine the final printed color gamut and the quality of reproduction. To examine these effects, we performed different tests on a number of printed common fabrics. The gamut volume was generated by Eye-One spectrophotometer, ProfileMaker, and ColorThink software. The results indicated that all fabrics cannot be printed with electrophotography. Also, the gamut volume of the printed fabrics was low. Properties of different types of fabric were investigated by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, spectrophotometer, and fabrics-specific tests (fastness).