DTF Transfer Safety
Ink
Water-based pigment ink: what is in it, what leaves during curing, what stays in the printed film, and the two pigments that carry a listing.
What it is
We print with water-based pigment inkjet inks: ten colours in three families. The four process colours (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) and the white share one formulation; the five expanded-gamut colours (orange, green, red, blue, violet) share a simpler one. The manufacturer classifies every one of them the same way: not classified as hazardous under the GHS and the EU CLP regulation. No hazard pictogram, no signal word, no hazard statement.
The ink is a mixture. Most of it, by weight, is water. The rest is a humectant or two that keep the ink from drying in the print head, a polyurethane dispersion that becomes the binder, and the pigment. The exact shares, as the manufacturer reports them, are below.
- Form
- Water-based pigment ink; liquid; weak odour
- Classification of the input
- Not classified as hazardous under GHS / CLP. No hazard pictogram, no signal word, no hazard statement.
- Physical state
- Liquid
- Odour
- Weak
- pH
- 7 to 10
- Flammability
- Not flammable; not explosive; not oxidising
- Viscosity
- 3.0 to 5.0 cP
- Toxicological endpoints
- Skin corrosion/irritation, serious eye damage/irritation, skin sensitisation, respiratory sensitisation, mutagenicity, reproductive toxicity, specific target organ toxicity (single and repeated) and aspiration hazard: classification criteria not met on available data.
- Chemical inventories
- Reported components listed on TSCA (United States), DSL (Canada), EINECS (EU) and the Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Australian, New Zealand and Philippine inventories.
The facts above are reported identically for all three families; the composition differs.
Composition
Process-colour ink (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) — composition as reported by the manufacturer
| Component | CAS | Share | Role | In the finished transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 7732-18-5 | 70 % | Carrier | Driven off during drying and curing |
| Diethylene glycol | 111-46-6 | 14 % | Humectant — keeps the ink from drying in the print head | Driven off during drying and curing |
| Polyurethane dispersion | 51852-81-4 | 6 % | Binder — the film the pigment sits in once cured | Remains in the finished transfer |
| Glycerol | 56-81-5 | 6 % | Humectant | Driven off during drying and curing |
| Pigment Blue 15 (copper phthalocyanine) — cyan | 147-14-8 | 4 % | Colourant | Remains in the finished transfer |
| Pigment Violet 19 (quinacridone) — magenta | 1047-16-1 | 4 % | Colourant | Remains in the finished transfer |
| Pigment Yellow 155 — yellow | 68516-73-4 | 4 % | Colourant | Remains in the finished transfer |
| Pigment Black 7 (carbon black) — black | 1333-86-4 | 4 % | Colourant | Remains in the finished transfer |
Shares are the manufacturer's reported weight percentages. Humectants are driven off during drying and curing; trace residues are possible.
White ink — composition as reported by the manufacturer
| Component | CAS | Share | Role | In the finished transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 7732-18-5 | 66 % | Carrier | Driven off during drying and curing |
| Diethylene glycol | 111-46-6 | 14 % | Humectant | Driven off during drying and curing |
| Titanium dioxide | 13463-67-7 | 8 % | White pigment — the opaque underbase | Remains in the finished transfer |
| Polyurethane dispersion | 51852-81-4 | 6 % | Binder | Remains in the finished transfer |
| Glycerol | 56-81-5 | 6 % | Humectant | Driven off during drying and curing |
Shares are the manufacturer's reported weight percentages. Humectants are driven off during drying and curing; trace residues are possible.
Expanded-gamut ink (orange, green, red, blue, violet) — composition as reported by the manufacturer
| Component | CAS | Share | Role | In the finished transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 7732-18-5 | 80 % | Carrier | Driven off during drying and curing |
| Glycerol | 56-81-5 | 15 % | Humectant | Driven off during drying and curing |
| Pigment Orange 34 — orange | 12236-62-3 | 5 % | Colourant | Remains in the finished transfer |
| Pigment Green 7 (chlorinated copper phthalocyanine) — green | 1328-53-6 | 5 % | Colourant | Remains in the finished transfer |
| Pigment Red 254 (diketopyrrolopyrrole) — red | 84632-65-5 | 5 % | Colourant | Remains in the finished transfer |
| Pigment Blue 60 (indanthrone) — blue | 81-77-6 | 5 % | Colourant | Remains in the finished transfer |
| Pigment Violet 23 (dioxazine) — violet | 6358-30-1 | 5 % | Colourant | Remains in the finished transfer |
Shares are the manufacturer's reported weight percentages. Humectants are driven off during drying and curing; trace residues are possible.
What leaves and what stays
A transfer is printed, powdered and then cured with heat. During drying and curing the water and the humectants are driven off. What remains on the film is the pigment held in the polyurethane binder, a thin solid layer that the adhesive then bonds to the garment. The right-hand column of each table says which is which.
Trace residues of the humectants are possible; "driven off" is a description of the process, not a measurement we have made.
Two pigments with a listing
Eight of the ten pigments are organic colourants with no listing of note. Two are not organic, and both carry a classification a careful reader will find when they look up the CAS number. We would rather you read it here first.
Titanium dioxide
CAS 13463-67-7 · used in: White ink
- IARC
- Group 2B — possibly carcinogenic to humans, by inhalation of the respirable powder (source: manufacturer SDS)
- Proposition 65
- Listed, as "titanium dioxide (airborne, unbound particles of respirable size)"
The listing describes breathing loose, respirable powder. In the ink the pigment is dispersed in liquid; in a cured transfer it is bound inside a polyurethane film. California's OEHHA, which keeps the list, wrote in its 2024 rulemaking that titanium dioxide bound within a product matrix such as rubber, ink or paint is not included in the listing. Sanding, grinding or burning a transfer is the only way to free the particles, and we advise against all three.
Carbon black (Pigment Black 7)
CAS 1333-86-4 · used in: Black ink
- IARC
- Group 2B — possibly carcinogenic to humans, by inhalation of the respirable powder (source: IARC Monographs)
- Proposition 65
- Listed, as "carbon black (airborne, unbound particles of respirable size)"
The manufacturer's data sheet does not carry this classification in its carcinogenicity table; we add it from the IARC Monographs because a reader checking the CAS number will find it. The same reasoning applies: bound in a liquid dispersion and then in a cured film, it is not the airborne powder the listing describes.
What a listing is and is not
An IARC Group 2B classification means the agency found limited or inadequate evidence in humans and sufficient evidence in animals for one route of exposure, here inhalation of the loose powder. It is not a statement about a pigment bound in a cured film. We do not sand, grind or burn transfers, and we ask you not to.
Handling the liquid ink is our job
Customers never receive liquid ink from us. The handling, first-aid, fire and disposal guidance in the Product Safety Summary describes the raw material as our print operators handle it; it is published for completeness and for readers who want the whole picture.
What this page does not tell you
It describes the ink. It does not describe a test on a finished transfer, because we have not commissioned one. For what that means when a transfer is worn, read Wearing and washing; for what it means for a children's garment, read Children's products.