The work aims to study deinking and printing effects of physical foaming microsphere. The physical foaming ink was prepared in proportion to thermally expandable microcapsules. The ink was transferred to three kinds of printing substrates, including non-woven fabric, coated paper and aluminized foil paper by screen printing. The shape, thickness and colour change of the sample before and after foaming were measured by scanning electron microscope, thickness meter and spectrophotometer. The relationship between the foaming height of printing products and printing substrates, the foaming height variation with the temperature, and the colour characteristics before or after ink foaming were investigated. The foam printed on the nonwoven fabric was relatively high. After overprinting twice, the thickness after foaming was significantly changed compared to that before the printing. The maximum foaming temperature of the microsphere was about 150 ℃. The colour difference of the cyan ink was 14.49 before and after foaming. The printing saturation and brightness value increased, but the hue was basically unchanged after foaming. The microsphere foaming ink can be printed on the flexible substrate and obtain an embossed three-dimensional ink pattern and a high-saturation colour effect.