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Just as cuts, shapes, and colors change with the times, so do print designs. But one thing will never change: the challenge of getting colors harmoniously and permanently onto the fabric. Irrespective of the printing technique and type, the quality of the results hinges on the right choice of printing thickener. With Pulcra Chemicals printing chemistry, our customers will always be on the safe side.

Flat screen, rotary screen, transfer or jet printing – no matter what the technique, printing chemistry always follows the same basic principle. The dyes are bound in a carrier substance, then applied to the fabric. The way the fiber takes up the dye is very similar to the processes involved in dyeing. Pulcra Chemicals possesses extensive know-how in conditioning, preparing, and applying these carrier materials. Whether our customers need thickeners for printing pastes in additive processes, such as pigment, reactive, direct, and resist printing, or reductants for the subtractive discharge process, we manage them all.

Synthetic or natural? A crucial question in printing chemistry – and one which can only be correctly answered by aiming for the best possible results. In pigment printing, there is no getting around acrylates. Instead of dyes which penetrate the fibers, this process uses water-insoluble crystalline granules like iron or copper salts. Wherever possible, we preferentially select natural-source, biodegradable substances. For printing on cotton and other cellulose fibers, alginates – obtained from marine algae – guarantee optimal color transfer. For wool and silk, on the other hand, substances based on guar meet the most exacting demands. There are similar processes for printing on delicate fabrics such as silk or polyester. In all cases, the dyes are bound in organic carrier substances.

True, people have been printing on wool and silk for aeons. But today, you can get high-fashion and high-quality results with printing thickeners from Pulcra Chemicals' Lameprint® family. If your objective is intricate prints with sharp contours, good color yield, and excellent fastness on synthetic fibers, you will find the ideal special printing thickeners in the Lameprint® range. And all based on renewable raw materials of superb purity and quality.

Our development specialists have even the most complicated processes at their fingertips. Discharge printing, which involves destroying an existing dye in predyed fabrics to replace it with another or to let the ground shade shine through, requires powerful reductants. Pulcra Chemicals has distilled all factors down to a common denominator. Our reductants attack only the unwanted dye, but not the printing pastes. They stay resistant and consistently processable. Ethoxylated natural-source thickeners from the Lameprint® range guarantee maximum color yield, absolutely sharp contours, and outstanding colorfastness in the wash off. Hydrophobic fibers are a headache to all printers. Our specialty chemicals will help our customers achieve superb results.

In the printing trade, flexibility is a must. The business is increasingly characterized by small production runs. To cater to our customer’s situation, we have reorganized our service network worldwide. You can obtain Pulcra Chemicals printing products rapidly and without fuss. And for advice on applications, you will find our “Texpert” right next door.

• Printing thickeners for all fiber grades and printing processes
• Specially developed products for printing on synthetic fibers, wool and silk
• New, ethoxylated natural-source thickeners for discharge printing
• Formulations for prints on non-absorbent fibers
• Product focus on natural, biodegradable substances