Orders are increasingly being made to auto flat screen printing firms recently for banners, indoor koinobori (carp streamers used in certain Japanese festivities) and curtains. Among them, more and more firms are considering the adoption of flame-resistant printing that uses a simplified type thickener and produces no alteration in weatherproof properties, in response to an incident where ad banners caught fire in a Kanto electrical goods retail store. Textileinfo asked an industry associate the background of this recent trend.

Maya Trading develops printing thickener that contains flame-retardant finishing agent

Ad banners (polyester fabric with printed ads) are extensively used in large-scale retail stores nowadays, and the use of indoor carp streamers and printed curtains is widespread because of increases in the number of people living in flats in urban areas.

Being highly inflammable and a possible cause of conflagration, these products have become an important subject for flame-retardant finishing in printing firms.

Up to now, the mainstream printing method for banners, carp streamers and curtains used pigment colors and binders. Once a product of this printing method is ignited, blazing is caused by the pigment color and binder content. A flame-resistant finish as a means of prevention will raise production costs. Any device that prevents change in weatherproof properties with time will cause a further cost increase.

As a countermeasure, the development of a thickener that can be used on its own in achieving two objectives, fireproofing and the prevention of change in weatherproof properties with time, has been anticipated by a conspicuous number of flat screen printing firms.

In response to this, Maya Trading (1-5-6-513, Kita Kyuhoji-cho, Chuo-ku, Osaka) has developed a new printing thickener that serves this very purpose and started distribution to some auto flat screen printing firms.

According to an account given by the firm, the generation of gas in the drying process after printing is unavoidable as the binder component comes to 30-40% in the agent used in the conventional auto flat screen printing of banners and curtains using polyester pongees.

To eliminate this problem, Maya Trading has developed a flame-retardant printing thickener that makes alteration with time difficult. The firm claims that it has obtained printing results in which no damage was caused in the squeegees or belts used.

The images show the results of performance analysis obtained from the WakayamaIndustrialTechnologyCenter, with regard to flame-retardant properties of this printing thickener.

Flame resistant properties JIS L 1091 8.1.1. A-1 (45°micro burner method)