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SUBLIMATION on Rayon/Poly blend?

64K views 25 replies 18 participants last post by  cherlmas  
#1 ·
Would that work? Or is Sublimation only for Polyester? I have some cool shirts but they are Rayon Polyester.

Thanks!
 
#5 ·
Hi. I would be inclined to 'sacrifice' one of your shirts and see what happens. The sublimation will certainly work with the polyester component, but I have the feeling that it will possibly wash out of the rayon part and give the same faded look you get with poly cotton mixes. Could be wrong though, so I'd be inclined to give it a blast.
 
#10 ·
Mardiv,

Rayon is a cellulose fiber (not a synthetic fiber) and will perform just like cotton when it comes to dye sublimation, if there is some polyester in the blend the poly will take the color and hold it, rayon will not. Nylon )and poly amides in general) will take sublimation ink however the dyes will "migrate" within the fibers over time and you will get poor wash and rub fastness.

Hope this helps,

Milabix
 
#11 ·
Mardiv,

Rayon is a cellulose fiber (not a synthetic fiber) and will perform just like cotton when it comes to dye sublimation, if there is some polyester in the blend the poly will take the color and hold it, rayon will not. Nylon )and poly amides in general) will take sublimation ink however the dyes will "migrate" within the fibers over time and you will get poor wash and rub fastness.

Hope this helps,

Milabix
yes, thanks so much for the definition and help!
 
#13 ·
Hello, i'm from romania and I just bought an epson stylus sx 115 with ciss adaptor and heatpress machine, and wanna make some fine good t-shirts,but only a problem, here we have only 3-4 distribuitors of heattrasferpaper and they all told me that the paint will last only 10 washes... and also they don't know what kind of sublimatioan paint do i need, it's so wierd they are a little slouch... anyway, please can someone tell me if there's a much stronger durable paper than chromablast? and what kind of ink do i need?
now i have dye ink, and want to make printing with any kind of ink or paper,just tu last longer, on bumbac t-shirts,white, is it possible? thank you for your time, felix :)
www.bindiribli.ro if you wanna join or see ,thanks
 
#15 ·
HOW TO SUBLIMATE ON MATERIAL OTHER THAN POLYESTER.

Needed:

photo emulsion (Michael's or any craft store will carry it)
water
spray bottle (easier for larger areas) or paint brush
cheap can of aerosol hair spray (release agent)

STEP 1: Pre press garment 5-10 secs.
STEP 2: Mix 1 part emulsion with 2 parts water (ex: 1 cup emulsion mix with 2 cups water).
STEP 3: Pour into spray bottle or use paint brush and apply mixture to garment and allow to dry 4 hrs.
STEP 4: REPEAT STEP 3
STEP 5: spray garment with hair spray and begin sublimating garment.

I tried this first on a 100% cotton washcloth, t-shirt and a pair of white socks and it worked BEAUTIFULLY!!! After the test run I prepared several items and stored them since the process is so long. Good Luck and plz let me know how it worked out for you all.
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#22 ·
"Synthetic" is a very broad term of a property of a material. It just means that it is not found naturally, i.e. grown or organic like cotton.

Polyester is synthetic just like Acetate, but not to say they are the same. Much difference in the chemical structures.

The reason why polymers (polyester is a polymer) sublimate and other "synthetics" don't ...

It's called "glass transition", which is unique to polymers. The glass transition phase is needed to allow sublimation. It is during the glass transition stage that the polymer can begin to fuse with a sublimation dye in the gas phase.

The glass transition "frees" the electrons between the 2 materials up enough to attract to each others atoms nucleus.

Upon cooling down from the glass transition stage the 2 materials are now locked (no longer free) and sharing each others electrons. We call this a molecular bond.
 
#24 ·
Wow Mike,
Thank you... I feel like I just got a much needed science lesson. Wonderful information and explanation!

I have found some of the newer styles have a higher polyester content. Mainly the women's styles, can have 70+% poly, but I have to go into each description to see. Some of them are strictly on certain colors (the heathers seem to come to mind).
Thank you again for the info. It will serve me well to know this.
 
#25 ·
Just keep in mind the more poly % the better. 70% is probably doable unless you need a full saturated deep color.

One trick is to slightly oversaturate the graphic then it will "land" where it needs to be after washing. But this is only possible with graphics that are not at full saturation. For example pink and not red. Light blue and not blue. ETC

Be careful that other materials in the blend can withstand up to 400 degs F. Always plan to buy some extra test material on any new fabric.