With the great success of High Density and Clear Gel printing, and the way artists sometimes prepare the art work for a particular design, we have learned that pigment migration can occur with certain colors. This happens when red, scarlet, and yellow pigments are overprinted with a lighter color ink or clear. The under color may migrate through the top color making a color change i.e. a white turning pink. The migration could take several days to occur. This migration is common with several pigments used in our industry when subjected to these conditions. The most severe migration occurs when the plastisol ink is not fully fused. Fusion occurs at 320°F (160°C) and inadequate fusion is usually due to lack of dwell time or temperature. We have also found that improperly cooled garments may migrate at different degrees of severity depending on how long the garment was at an elevated temperature. This occurs when garments are stacked in piles while they are warm.

Solution: Non-Migrating Pigments

Rutland suggest not printing any color over red, scarlet, or yellow in any of the Rutland ink mixing systems including the M2 Mixing System, High Density (HD) Mixing System, Color Booster (CB) Mixing System, Nylon Mesh (NM) Mixing System, Spande-Sol (NX) Mixing System and the Hot Split (HS) Mixing System. Care should also be taken to use only non-migrating pigmented inks if your art cannot be changed to accommodate this problem. Nonmigrating
inks are generally more expensive due to the specialized selections of the pigments. Call the Technical Service Hot Line for more information on Non-Migrating inks. You can test any print to see if migration is probable by running the following test: Print the color on a white fabric. Gel the print (flash). Print white or other top color partially on and partially off the under color. Fuse the print @ 320° F (160°C). Accelerate the migration by placing in an oven or other heat source at 190°F (88°C) for 12 to 18 hours. If pigment migration is present, the portion of the top print that is directly over the under print will take on a stain from the under print.