Cotton fabrics were coated from one surface with different pigment colors incorporated in formulations containing ethylene glycol (EG), methyl methacrylate (MMA) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) oligomer as a base material. The coated fabrics were exposed to various doses of accelerated electrons generated from the 1.5 MeV (25 kW) electron beam accelerator machine. In order to find the suitable conditions that afford the highest performance of pigment printing, the effect of irradiation dose and formulation composition on the color strength of the printed fabrics was investigated. The durability of the printed fabrics in terms of color fastness, tensile mechanical, crease resistance and water absorption was also studied. The results of pigment printing by electron beam irradiation was compared with the conventional thermal printing method with the same pigment colors involving the use of pastes containing binder and thickener systems. It was found that cotton fabrics printed with the pigment colors under the effect of electron beam irradiation displayed higher color strength than those fabrics printed by the conventional thermal fixation at equal pigment color ratios. In this regard, the color strength on cotton fabrics printed with the Imperon violet, blue and yellow pigment colors was 85.2, 75.4 and 91.3 in the case of printing with electron beam and 63.5, 46.0 and 50.2 in the case of thermal curing, respectively. The results showed that the pigment printing by electron beam or thermal curing improves the crease recovery and mechanical properties of cotton fabrics and exhibited comparable durability properties in terms of washing, rubbing and handling. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.