SILICONE INK
Are you ready to learn more about the color magic of
silicone ink?
Soft touch
Flexible & Durable
High-end texture
HOW IT WORKS
The 3 steps to follow when using
Ink Preparation and Printing
Silicone ink is a viscous, transparent paste. Before use, it needs to be diluted with a silicone-specific thinner to achieve a printable consistency. For color mixing, use silicone pigment paste.
Curing Conditions
Silicone ink mixed with hardener must be used within 4–6 hours. Do not use it after this period.After printing, the printed silicone should be placed in an oven at 100–120°C for 1 hour to ensure complete curing.
Storage and Security
Storage conditions:Avoid light, keep cool and ventilaion.
Characteristics
Three Key Benefits of Silicone
Superior Elasticity
Silicone ink is naturally flexible and elastic, making it ideal for stretchable fabrics and products that undergo repeated deformation.
Soft & Smooth Hand Feel
Silicone inks are formulated to provide a soft and smooth hand feel after curing. The finished print offers a comfortable touch, making it particularly suitable for sportswear, activewear, fashion garments, and other applications where print feel is important.
Excellent Molding Performance
Highly moldable and versatile, allowing the ink to be screen printed in thick layers to create striking 3D effects. It can also be used for embossing and molding applications, providing greater flexibility for creating dimensional and textured designs.
Screen Mesh Selection
Select the appropriate screen mesh size according to the required printing thickness, pattern detail, and coverage. For high-build screen printing effects, a lower mesh count of 100–120 mesh is recommended, which is more suitable for thick-layer printing. For color printing, a higher mesh count of 150–180 mesh can be used. For silicone screen printing, the maximum recommended mesh count is 180 mesh. Higher mesh counts are more difficult to control and can easily result in visible mesh marks on the printed surface.
Squeegee Selection
For silicone screen printing, a sharp-edge squeegee with a hardness of 65–70 Shore A is recommended.Silicone ink has a high viscosity and elastic, which makes it more prone to deformation and dragging during printing. A sharp-edge squeegee provides a more precise contact point with the screen, allowing the ink to pass through the mesh in a more controlled manner. This helps reduce ink dragging and uneven deposits, while maintaining a stable and uniform print thickness, which is particularly important for high-build and 3D silicone printing.
Drying & Curing Conditions
Our silicone ink is generally mixed with 10% hardener. The more hardener is added, the slower the silicone will cure. The mixing ratio should be adjusted according to the actual environmental conditions, such as temperature and humidity. Silicone ink mixed with hardener must be used within 4–6 hours. Do not use it after this period.After printing, the printed silicone should be placed in an oven at 100–120°C for 1 hour to ensure complete curing.
Avoid Cross-Contamination
Do not mix different ink systems, series, or curing agents unless compatibility has been verified. Even small amounts of incompatible materials may affect viscosity, adhesion, drying, or final performance. Water-based or solvent-based inks cannot be screen printed directly onto silicone, as this result in poor bonding and delamination between the ink layers. If this application is necessary, a special intermediate layer treatment is required to ensure proper adhesion.
Special Fabric Considerations
For polyester fleece fabrics, pay special attention to dye migration and sublimation issues. It is recommended to first print two layers of right-angle silicone ink, followed by a layer of anti-sublimation silicone ink. For Lycra fabrics with a silicone oil coating or fabrics that have undergone special surface treatment, silicone ink may cannot adhere directly to the surface. In such cases, apply 7# Silicone Ink as a base coat before proceeding with regular silicone screen printing.
Screen printing diagnostic
Understand your problem
Why do you keep having problems with your screen printing? Is it the ink? Or is it your technique?
SILICONE
PRODUCTS SHOWCASE
Shoe upper
Silicone heat transfer sticker
Underwear Anti-slip
Embossing effect
3D moulding logo
High-elasticity band