Digital printing, as its name suggests, digital printing is a printing process that uses digital technology to print. It is a high-tech product that integrates machinery and computer electronic information technology; screen printing is the use of screen printing dies, designed , Out of the film, printing, printing, drying a few steps to complete the printing of the printing process. The specific differences between the two are as follows:

1, digital printing more vivid colors

The greatest advantage of digital printing is that the colors and patterns of digital printing are more delicate than screen printing.

(1) Color

Digital printing inks can be divided into dye-based inks and pigment-type inks. The color of dyes is bright and has advantages over pigments. Dye-type inks are used in printing techniques such as acid digital printing, active digital printing, disperse thermal transfer printing, and discrete direct digital printing. Pigment inks are used in digital printing of paints. Although they are pigment inks, pigment pastes are all nanoscale. Specific inks, coupled with a dedicated ICC curve, can achieve the ultimate in color performance.

The traditional screen printing is mainly controlled by prepress ink color, and according to the four-color dot hit color, the color display power is not as good as digital printing.

(2) fine graphics

The fineness of the pattern of digital printing is related to the characteristics of the inkjet print head and the printing speed. The smaller the ink drop of the inkjet print head, the higher the printing accuracy, with the smallest drop of ink from the Epson Micro Piezo print head. Although the ink drop of the industrial head is larger than this, it can also print an image with an accuracy of 1440 dpi.

Screen printing first needs to make a negative plate, errors in the plate making process, and the mesh number of the screen have an effect on the fineness of the pattern.

Therefore, in terms of color and fine graphics, screen printing is not advantageous. The advantages of screen printing are special printing pastes, such as gold, pearlescent, and suede foam effects. In addition, screen printing can print 3D stereoscopic effects, which are precisely the current digital printing is difficult to achieve.

2, digital printing feel soft screen printing color fastness

Traditional screen printing, due to the relatively large amount of ink, the higher the amount of resin used as a binder in the printing ink formulation, so in addition to the water slurry and discharge, other types of printing coating are relatively strong. However, digital printing has almost no sense of coating, and the printing has characteristics such as lightness, thinness, softness, and good tackiness. Even if the paint digital printing, because the formula resin content is very small, basically does not affect the feel. Acid digital printing, active digital printing, disperse thermal transfer printing and discrete direct digital printing, these are uncoated and do not affect the original fabric feel.

3, high cost of digital printing equipment

There are three main types of printers used in digital printing. (1) Epson desktop machine modified tablet, this type of machine is mainly used for small-format digital ink printing ink production, the purchase cost of these models is much cheaper than other models. (2) Printers equipped with Epson DX4/DX5/DX6/DX7 series inkjet print heads, and the cost per printer for these models is about 100,000 yuan. (3) Industrial inkjet digital printing machines, each brand's print head single market price is more than 10,000 yuan, and a print head can only print a color. As a result, if you want to print four colors, one printer has to install four print heads. The total cost is very high.

It can be seen that the cost of digital printing equipment is extremely high, and the inkjet print head is the main consumable for digital inkjet printers, and the price is also very expensive.

4. The environmental performance of screen printing needs to be improved

The environmental pollution caused by traditional screen printing is rather serious, mainly in the following aspects: (1) a large amount of waste water and waste ink produced in the production process, (2) solvents with environmental pollution, such as plasticizers (3 In the actual work, the printing worker will inevitably come into contact with chemical solvents, glues and other chemicals that affect the health of workers.

Digital printing has better environmental performance than screen printing. In the production process of digital printing, only a certain amount of waste liquid is generated during the pre-treatment paddle and the post-treatment water wash process, and waste ink is rarely generated during the entire ink-jet printing process. The sources of pollution are less than traditional prints and have less impact on the environment and the health of the contacts.

Both printing processes have their own advantages and disadvantages. The manufacturer can choose according to the actual situation and choose the appropriate printing process.