Removing surface fibers and lint

Abstract

A product including a textile substrate and an image printed on the textile substrate in a predetermined area wherein surface fibers and lint are selectively removed from the textile substrate in the predetermined area by burning.

1 . A method, the method comprising:
 providing a substrate which has a maximum of radiation absorption at a first wavelength band;   depositing, on a predetermined area of the substrate, a conditioning fluid which has a maximum of radiation absorption at a second wavelength band;   exposing the substrate to electromagnetic radiation at the second wavelength band to selectively remove undesirable surface features from the predetermined area of the substrate; and   wherein the first wavelength band differs from the second wavelength band.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a textile and the undesirable surface features are lint or surface fibers. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the second wavelength band is a near infrared, NIR, band. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the second wavelength band is an ultraviolet, UV, band. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein depositing the conditioning fluid includes printing the conditioning fluid. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the radiation absorption of the substrate in the predetermined area is adjusted to the radiation absorption of the conditioning fluid by printing the conditioning fluid in the predetermined area of the substrate. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 5 , further comprising:
 printing on the predetermined area of the substrate with a printing fluid after printing the conditioning fluid on the predetermined area of the substrate.   
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein depositing the conditioning fluid on the predetermined area and exposing the substrate to electromagnetic radiation are performed successively. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the second wavelength band is in an ultraviolet, UV, band. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic radiation has more than 80% of its power in the second wavelength band and less than 20% of its power in the first wavelength band. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein an absorption of the substrate free from conditioning fluid is lower than 40% in the second wavelength band and higher than 40% in the first wavelength band. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein an absorption of the substrate treated with the conditioning fluid is higher than 40% in the second wavelength band and lower than 40% in the first wavelength band. 
     
     
         13 . A conditioning device; the conditioning device comprises:
 a printing part to print, on a substrate, a conditioning fluid having a radiation absorption pattern over wavelength;   a radiation part to expose the substrate to electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength band matching with a maximum of the radiation absorption pattern to selectively remove undesirable surface features from the substrate.   
     
     
         14 . The preconditioning device according to  claim 13 , wherein the radiation part is an infrared, IR, emitter. 
     
     
         15 . A product including a textile substrate and an image printed on the textile substrate in a predetermined area wherein surface fibers and lint are removed from the textile substrate in the predetermined area by burning.