Curing
Print method — one of 27 in the glossary
Bringing a print up to the temperature at which the ink permanently sets, usually by passing the garment through a conveyor dryer. An undercured print looks perfect and then cracks or washes away on the first or second wash, which is why wash-testing a sample matters more than inspecting one. Overcuring scorches the fabric and can shift the garment's colour.
Setting, not drying
Curing brings the ink up to the temperature at which it permanently sets. For plastisol that means fusing the PVC particles into a continuous film; for water-based ink it means driving off the water and cross-linking the binder.
Either way it is a chemical change, not evaporation, and it has to happen through the whole thickness of the deposit rather than at the surface.
Garments normally pass through a conveyor dryer, where belt speed and temperature together decide the dose of heat delivered.
Why undercuring is the classic failure
An undercured print looks completely finished. It is only the first or second wash that reveals it, when the ink cracks, fades or lifts.
By then the whole run has shipped, which is why this single mistake ruins more jobs than any other in screen printing.
Thicker deposits, heavier fabrics and higher ink coverage all need more heat or more time, so a recipe that worked on a light tee can undercure on a heavyweight.
How shops check
A heat gun or temperature probe reading the ink film rather than the fabric, since the two differ.
A wash test on a sample from the actual run — the only test that reflects what the customer will do.
A stretch test on the print: properly cured plastisol stretches and recovers, undercured plastisol cracks.
Common questions
- What does curing mean in screen printing?
- Heating a print until the ink permanently sets — fusing plastisol into a continuous film, or driving off water and cross-linking the binder in water-based ink.
- How do you know if a print is cured?
- Measure the ink film temperature rather than the fabric, stretch the print to see whether it cracks, and wash a sample from the actual run.
- What happens if a print is undercured?
- It looks perfect and then cracks, fades or lifts in the first couple of washes — after the whole order has already shipped.
Where this comes up
Last reviewed