Solutions To Ghosting

Screen printers struggle to prevent a problem known as ghosting. It simply is very difficult to predict exactly when the problem will occur. Luckily, we have tested enough fabric to know what causes ghosting and how to prevent it. If you give us the chance, we will stop ghosting problems from affecting your production.

What is ghosting? See the picture above. What is that exactly? Ghosting is a term we coined as we had to call it something. Perhaps reverse dye sublimation would be a better name. Dye sublimation is the process of dying polyester fabric. Ghosting is basically the reverse process as some of the dye is leaving the fabric. This is why you may be left with some strange colors. For instance, a navy tee which ghosts may look magenta as the blue has disappeared. The magenta dye was not harmed during the screen printing process so magenta is what you see. Sounds simple, right?

"Why can't you invent an ink which stops ghosting?" This is a question we hear often.  We already have created an ink (a few actually) to prevent ghosting, but it is not as simple as that. Ghosting has more than one cause. Let us explain. Physical ghosting is caused by heat. You may have seen this when decorating a light color of polyester. If the tee is not layed flat on the dryer belt, the folds of the fabric which are closer to the heating element may change color. The heat alone is ghosting the fabric. Screen printers who decorate apparel know there is no way to take heat out of the process. You can certainly limit the heat as I will discuss later in the article. You simply cannot remove it from the process.  Ink needs to flash cure. Ink needs to fully cure. Heat is going to happen.

Chemical ghosting is when the ink formula itself is causing the ghosting. Keep in mind chemical ghosting is most often found when screen printing white ink. Ghosting is not a problem exclusive to white ink but it is far more common in white ink due to a variety of necessary additives. These additives may help white ink cover better on dark fabric, print easier through fine mesh, or prevent dye migration on polyester and polyester blend fabrics. Even a simple black ink is capable of ghosting fabric.

Now that you know what causes ghosting, there is just a little bit more to know. Your ghosting troubles can be a combination of physical and chemical ghosting. One common occurance of this happens while hot stacking. Hot stacking is exactly what it sounds like.  You snatch a garment off the dryer belt and place it on a table. You snatch the next garment and place it directly on top of the previous garment. Both of these garments are hot. The ink is hot. If you are printing the wrong fabric with the wrong ink, you may have a ghost image on the back of every garment. Heat in addition to ink formulation is the most likely ghosting culprit.

OK, give me the magic fix already! Hey, no problem. First thing is first, let's remove a factor. Get rid of the excessive heat. That's right! We have low temperature ink for a reason. Ghosting isn't the only purpose for low temperature ink but it certainly is near the top of the list. ELT Series, ELT-S Series, and Smart Series are the three low temperature inks we currently offer. ELT and ELT-S will cure as low as 250ºF. Smart Series will cure as low as 280ºF. All three offer a nice cushion below the typical 320ºF to 330ºF cure temperature of most plastisol inks. Choose one of these three inks and you will have the ability to remove excessive heat from the ghosting equation.

If you have been keeping up, we need more than just low heat to prevent ghosting problems. You need low heat and an ink you can trust. Our ELT/ELT-S/ELT-X inks have the chemistry you need and the low cure temperature to keep you safe. Smart Series will also keep you safe even though the cure temperature is slightly hotter at 280ºF. We simply cannot guarantee any ink will not ghost at the highter temperature cure range. Stay safe! Print with our low temperature inks!