Shoe  Screen Printing Product Solutions And Performance

1. From the perspective of screen printing materials: water-based and silicone:

The earliest printing materials used on shoe materials are water-based. Acrylic glue is used for general quality requirements,
and PU glue is used for higher requirements, because PU has better toughness and aging resistance than acrylic, which is easy
to crack and become brittle. So far, water-based is still the most used. Because silicone is softer, brighter, matte, and skin-feeling
than water-based, and silicone is more shiny than water-based in various gold, silver, reflective, pearlescent, etc., the market for
silicone is gradually expanding.

2. Starting with silicone, we divide the material into two grades:high performance series and economical series

1. Product plan

2. Series explanation

(1) High performance series:

A. Environmental protection: Comply with OEKO-TEX level 3, Bluesign

B. Quality: Meet the following performance indicators, and each batch of shipments is strictly tested

(2) Economical and Affordable Series:

A. Environmental protection: Meets general environmental protection requirements, OEKO-TEX level 1

B. Quality: We do not have specific standards for testing.
    Users can test according to their own performance requirements and purchase after testing.

3. How to use screen silicone

1.The catalyst should be added to the silica gel,fully mixed with the silica gel and
stirred evenly to ensure that the catalyst and liquid silica gel are combined before printing.

The mixing ratio is as follows:

Note: If you add a small amount of catalyst, the drying will be slow. You can gradually increase the amount of catalyst,
but please note that the more catalyst you add, the longer the liquid silicone will last.
Select the appropriate catalyst ratio to ensure that the ratio is dry (the more you add, the faster it dries).

2. Mesh: within 250 mesh (less than 100T), commonly 120-150 mesh (45T-60T), use thick screen,
the thickness of the screen depends on the thickness of the pattern.

3. When the silicone is thicker or the silicone becomes thicker during printing,
you can add diluent RG-1080 to adjust the appropriate fluidity. The addition ratio is not limited and can be added as needed.

4. Suitable for manual printing and machine printing. When printing by machine,
you can add additional delay agent (1%-2%) to extend the use time of silicone.

3. How to screen print silicone on shoe materials and key points

(1) Flatness:Shoes have very high fastness requirements, and will be tested for fastness strength through washing, soaking, friction, and peeling strength machines.

(2) Flatness: Generally, shoe materials have mesh or deep textures.
The silicone base must have a relatively flat performance and pass the printing master's technology to achieve a flat effect.
The flatness of the bottom printing determines the color of the top and the flatness of the cover.

(3) Good glue bonding with the sole: The printed upper and sole must be glued together with special glue to form a shoe.
The water performance is well combined with the glue. At present, silicone still faces the problem of not being able to combine well with glue.
The solution is to print the silicone just to the upper edge of the sole.

Shoe Upper Printing Silicone Operation Process 

Step 1: Primer printing
Choose RG-2626 or 1520, mix A and B at a ratio of 100:10, and then screen print.
The number of printings depends on actual needs.

Step 2: Print thickly:

Use 3D high-density silica gel (RG-2660M-3/RG-606#, Then add catalyst RG-B90, mix evenly,
then screen-print, and repeat printing to obtain sufficient thickness.

Step 3: Printing Color

Use 3D high-density silicone to mix silicone color paste. The amount of color paste added is determined according to the color depth.
Then add catalyst RG-B90. Stir well and then screen print. Repeat printing until enough color is obtained

Step 4: Covering：

1. Matt silicone effect: After adding catalyst RG-B90 to matte silicone (LS-273/RG-0118A), directly screen print, usually print twice

2. Glossy crystal silicone effect: After adding catalyst RG-B90 to glossy silicone (RG-2781/RG-2780A), 
directly screen print, usually print twice. Do not bake immediately after each printing,
wait until the bubbles disappear before baking.

Step 5: Baking：

Put the printed product in the oven and bake for 3 minutes to cure. The silicone will fully cure in 48 hours. 

The curing after baking is only surface curing, not full curing. 

The test data needs to be tested after 48 hours of full curing.