Textile treatment for sublimation ink transfers

Abstract

Compositions and methods for treating textile materials so as to facilitate transfer of an image thereto using a dye sublimation transfer system are provided. The compositions are applied to the textile in the form of an aqueous pretreatment composition, which comprises a polymer resin and a crosslinking agent. The resin and crosslinking agent are cured upon the textile material to form an image-receiving area. The sublimation transfer system is then applied to the image-receiving area to form a finished, image-bearing textile product.

1 . A method of transferring an ink image onto a cotton-containing textile material comprising:
 applying an aqueous pretreatment composition to at least a portion of the textile material that is to receive the ink image, the pretreatment composition comprising from about 18% to about 30% by weight of one or more polyester resins, polyurethane resins, or polyester-polyurethane resins and one or more crosslinking compounds;   heating the textile material containing the pretreatment composition so as to remove moisture from the pretreatment composition and react the one or more polyester resins, polyurethane resins, or polyester-polyurethane resins with the one or more crosslinking compounds thereby forming an image-receiving area on the textile material; and   transferring the ink image to the textile material by positioning a sublimation transfer system in contact with at least a portion of the image-receiving area and heating the sublimation transfer system to a temperature sufficient to cause the gassing of at least a portion of one or more dyes contained within the ink image and the transfer of at least a portion of the gasified dyes to the image-receiving area.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the applying step comprises spraying or inkjetting the pretreatment composition onto the textile material. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the pretreatment composition comprises from about 0.25% to about 10% by weight of the one or more crosslinking compounds. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the pretreatment composition comprises a polyester resin. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the polyester resin comprises a polyester-polyurethane resin. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the pretreatment composition further comprises from about 0.25% to about 10% by weight of glass particles. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of heating the textile material so as to form the image-receiving area comprises heating the textile material to a temperature of at least 275° F. for at least 30 seconds. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of transferring the ink image comprises heating the sublimation transfer system to a temperature of at least 300° F. for at least 15 seconds. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the textile material comprises at least 50% cotton. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the textile material comprises 100% by weight cotton. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the pretreatment composition comprises:
 from about 0.25% to about 10% by weight of the one or more crosslinking compounds, wherein the one or more crosslinking compounds comprise one or more melamine crosslinking agents;   from about 0.25% to about 10% by weight of glass particles; and   from about 50% to about 90% by weight of water.   
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the pretreatment composition further comprises from about 0.25% to about 10% by weight of a silica material. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the pretreatment composition comprises from about 10% to about 20% by weight of the one or more polyester resins, polyurethane resins, or polyester-polyurethane resins. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the pretreatment composition comprises a polyester-polyurethane resin. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the one or more polyester resins, polyurethane resins, or polyester-polyurethane resins are formulated as a water-based dispersion. 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the pretreatment composition comprises from about 0.5% to about 5% by weight of the one or more melamine crosslinking agents. 
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the one or more melamine crosslinking agents comprises an alkylated melamine-formaldehyde resin. 
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the one or more melamine crosslinking agents are formulated with isobutanol. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the composition comprises from about 0.5% to about 5% by weight of the glass particles. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the glass particles have an average particle size of from about 7 to about 10 μm. 
     
     
         21 . (canceled) 
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the pretreatment composition is applied to the textile material in an amount of from about 0.05 to about 1 g/in 2 . 
     
     
         23 . (canceled) 
     
     
         24 . (canceled) 
     
     
         25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the textile material is a T-shirt.