Silicone printing and curing

[Maxie]

I am really keep to  print with silicone, we get a lot of synthetic fleece that is a nightmare to print.
I watched a clip on UTube, they printed with Dow Corning inks and cured at 150C for one min,  we cure plastisol at 160C for 2 min.     The Rutland site mentions a much lower temperature, this is a big problem for us because we are running 2 carousels through one oven and it's a real PITA to change the temperature.
Does anyone have any experience with this?     Can you cure Silicone hotter for less time?

[Ross_S]

Maxie;

Call Nazdar talk with Rob Coleman if he doesn't end up chiming in here.  Anyways Dow Corning is associated with Nazdar silicone.  It is best when curing at lower temps (Hand feel).  You can run it at a higher temp but it won't feel as soft but it doesn't remelt either.

Ross

[pwalsh]

I am really keep to  print with silicone, we get a lot of synthetic fleece that is a nightmare to print.
I watched a clip on UTube, they printed with Dow Corning inks and cured at 150C for one min,  we cure plastisol at 160C for 2 min.     The Rutland site mentions a much lower temperature, this is a big problem for us because we are running 2 carousels through one oven and it's a real PITA to change the temperature.
Does anyone have any experience with this?     Can you cure Silicone hotter for less time?

Maxie:  I'm not confident enough to give you an absolutely certain answer to your question; "Can you cure Silicone inks for a shorter time at Plastisol Cure Temps"  What I can tell you is we have exhibited at multiple trade shows where we have used a single dryer to cure both water based DTG inks for 3 - 4 minutes, and silicone screen inks for less than a minute at a higher temperature. 

With Rob Coleman "busting it" at the Atlantic City ISS Show this weekend, he might be a little slow getting back with a qualified response.  I've forwarded this question to a couple of our Nazdar SourceOne Technical Application Specialists and a Product Expert from DOW Corning, and I expect that someone will get back to TSB with a response.  I've attached a copy of the ImageStar Silicone Application Guide for reference.

[Maxie]

Thanks Peter

[Carl Busey]

Hi Maxie,
This is Carl Busey with Nazdar, I just wanted to weigh in on you question regarding the cure temp of the IMS Silicone ink from Nazdar. You are better off curing the IMS silicone  at 260* F  at a minute retention time in the dryer.  Although you are able to cure at higher temperatures like your plastisol inks, it will greatly reduce the products dye migration properties. If you would like to talk about this in detail you can call me on my cellphone. I will private message you my number. Hope this helps...

Carl

[Frog]

Thanks Maxie, you helped draw out our second three year member, first time poster!
And thanks to you as well, Carl. Better late than never 

[pwalsh]

Thanks Maxie, you helped draw out our second three year member, first time poster!
And thanks to you as well, Carl. Better late than never 

Frog; Now that Maxie has lured Carl out from the shadows and into the light, lets hope we can convince him to be an active contributor to TSB.

[AAMike]

You could always flash cure it to the touch and then wait 24 hours for it to fully cure. I would not recommend curing it at high temps. That goes against keeping your poly from releasing dye. This might work on some garments but I would be against it in principle.

[pwalsh]

You could always flash cure it to the touch and then wait 24 hours for it to fully cure. I would not recommend curing it at high temps. That goes against keeping your poly from releasing dye. This might work on some garments but I would be against it in principle.

Good advice Mike

[Larry Tywater]

Peter, I am slowly trying to do my part as well!

[pwalsh]

Peter, I am slowly trying to do my part as well!

Larry:  Thank you so much for joining the TSB Community.

It's great to have another screen-printing professional join the boards.

I'm confident that you will find many opportunities to contribute to the dialogue here.