Generally, carpets are made of natural fibers such as cotton, linen, wool, silk, grass, etc. or chemical synthetic fiber raw materials. Carpet is one of the arts and crafts categories with a long history and tradition in the world. Carpets are widely used on the floors of residences, hotels, office buildings, gymnasiums, exhibition halls, vehicles, ships, airplanes, etc., with effects of sound absorption, sound insulation, warmth, dust resistance, skid resistance, comfort, decoration, and beautify the environment.

Carpets can be divided into wool carpets, chemical fiber carpets and plastic carpets according to their raw materials.

 
-Wool carpets are mostly made of wool.
-Chemical fiber carpets include nylon carpets, polyester carpets, modified polyester carpets, acrylic carpets, etc.
-Plastic carpets are made of polyethylene resin, plasticizers and other auxiliary materials.

Digital Carpet Printing Solutions Can Be Divided into Transfer Printing and Direct Printing

Transfer Printing Solution

Transfer printing is mainly used for printing flat carpets made of polyester.

Transfer printing process:

Transfer printing process is simple, no plate making is required, the colors are bright, the equipment cost is low. The disadvantage is that it has no penetration ability and can only be used to print some flat carpets without fluff or sanding.

Direct Printing Solution

The direct printing process is mainly used for printing carpets with fluff.

According to the different fluff materials, it can be divided into acid ink direct printing, disperse ink direct printing, and cationic ink direct printing.

The direct printing process can be divided into pressure infiltration process and colorless ink infiltration process based on the principle of penetration. The pressure penetration process mainly uses physical methods to penetrate the ink into the roots of carpets. The colorless ink penetration process uses RIP software to control the printing of colorless ink and guide the color ink to the roots of carpets through capillary effect. The pressure penetration process is mainly used in carpets with soft fluff, such as flannel carpets. The colorless ink penetration process is mainly used in engineered carpets such as cut fluff carpets or loop fluff carpets.

* Acid ink direct printing carpet solution is mainly used for printing wool carpets and nylon carpets

* Cationic ink direct printing solution is for printing acrylic and modified polyester carpets

Carpet printing flow with acid ink:

Cationic ink has good permeability, and whether it needs to be pre-wetted and printed with colorless ink can be decided according to the weight of the carpet. Cationic ink direct printing  process is similar with that of acid ink.

Disperse ink direct printing solution is mainly used for direct printing of polyester carpets and modified polyester carpets

* Disperse ink direct printing solution can be divided into low temperature disperse ink direct printing solution, high sunlight fastness disperse ink direct printing solution and DTF® (Direct to Fabric) disperse ink direct printing solution.

Disperse Ink Direct Printing	Washing or Not?	Applicable	Color Development
Low temperature disperse ink	Yes	Polyester Modified polyester	160-180℃, 6-8min
DTF® (Direct to Fabric) disperse ink	No		130-150,  10-15min
High sunlight fastness disperse ink	Yes	Polyester	160-180℃, 6-8min

Carpet printing flow with disperse inks:

Carpet direct printing process is relatively complex, and the specific process depends on the carpet material. Its advantages are good permeability and high color fastness, but high equipment cost, and strict process requirements.