JP2965570B2 - Thermal transfer recording medium - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording medium useful for a thermal transfer ribbon or a clothing label.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, as an ink layer of a thermal transfer recording medium, one having an ink layer containing an emulsified resin having a minimum film forming temperature of 40 ° C. or higher (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-57679);
Methyl methacrylate / butyl acrylate copolymer as main component (JP-A-62-23779); laminated on a permeable protective layer comprising a mixture of a styrene / methacrylic ester copolymer and a polyvinyl chloride resin. Having an ink layer composed of a mixture of a styrene / methacrylic ester copolymer / polymethacrylate / polyvinyl chloride resin and a colorant (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-17992); permeability protection composed of a chlorinated polyolefin resin Having an ink layer composed of a mixture of a (meth) acrylate polymer and a colorant laminated on the layer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-4289)
No. 1).

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, these conventional ink layers have a drawback that when they are used for clothing labels or the like, images are blurred or stained due to a dry cleaning solvent or hot press heat.

That is, in JP-A-63-57679, the minimum film formation temperature is 40
A resin having a temperature of not less than 100 ° C. does not always have good heat resistance, blocking at about 100 ° C., bleeding of an image, and staining. In addition, an emulsion of a high Tg resin such as polymethyl methacrylate has a high minimum film forming temperature and is inferior in thermal sensitivity. Also, if waxes are used as the binder, they fall off during dry cleaning and cannot be used for clothing labels. According to JP-A-62-23779, when styrene or acrylate enters the copolymer component, it easily falls off by dry cleaning. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-17992, when styrene enters the copolymer component, it is easily dropped off by dry cleaning, and even if it is mixed with polymethyl methacrylate, there is not much improvement.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-42891, the acrylate copolymer easily falls off by dry cleaning, and the methacrylate ester alone has poor thermal sensitivity. Also, since chlorinated polyolefin is used for the protective layer, it is not good for dry cleaning.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and does not cause image bleeding or dirt due to the heat of a hot press, withstands dry cleaning, and can form a heat-resistant transfer image. It is intended to provide a recording medium.

Means for Solving the Problems The inventors of the present invention have been studying in order to solve the above problems, but have selected a methacrylate resin as a polymer material used for an ink layer, and The present inventors have found that it is effective to provide a heat-meltable layer on a support, and have reached the present invention.

That is, the present invention has a heat transferable ink layer containing a homopolymer of alkyl methacrylate or a copolymer of alkyl methacrylate and a colorant as main components on a support, and the heat transferable ink layer and the support A thermal transfer recording medium having a heat-fusible layer containing wax as a main component,
(2) having a thermal transfer ink layer mainly containing a colorant and a copolymer composed of at least one of vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride and ethylene and at least one of alkyl methacrylate on a support; And a heat transfer recording medium having a heat fusible layer containing wax as a main component between the heat transferable ink layer and the support.

The thermal transfer recording medium of the present invention comprises a support, a thermal fusible layer and a thermal transferable ink layer.

The support used in the present invention is a plastic film having a thickness of about 3 to 10 μm, for example, a polyester film, a polycarbonate film, a polyimide film, a wholly aromatic polyamide film, a polyetheretherketone film, a polysulfone film, and the like. .

The ink layer used in the present invention is mainly composed of a homopolymer of alkyl methacrylate, a copolymer of alkyl methacrylates or a copolymer of alkyl methacrylate and another monomer, and a colorant.

Examples of the above alkyl acrylate polymer or copolymer include polymethyl methacrylate, polyethyl methacrylate, poly n-propyl methacrylate,
Polyisopropyl methacrylate, poly-n-butyl methacrylate, polyisobutyl methacrylate, poly-
Examples include tert-butyl methacrylate, poly-hexyl methacrylate, polyoctyl methacrylate, and the like, or copolymers of two or more of these monomer components.

Examples of other copolymers of alkyl methacrylate include copolymers of alkyl methacrylate with vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride or ethylene. The copolymerization ratio between the alkyl methacrylate and these monomers is preferably from 50:50 to 90:10.

These polymers or copolymers can be used alone or in combination of two or more.

Colorants include carbon black, titanium dioxide,
Bengala, Lake Red C, First Sky Blue,
Pigments and dyes such as benzidine yellow, phthalocyanine green, phthalocyanine blue, direct dyes / oil dyes, basic dyes and the like can be used. It is preferable to add about 10 to 20% by weight to the whole ink layer.

The heat-meltable layer provided between the support and the thermal transferable ink layer contains wax as a main component.

Examples of the wax include carnauba wax, candelilla wax, paraffin wax, rice wax, microcrystalline wax, montan wax, ceresin wax, polyethylene wax, stearic acid, and derivatives thereof. The amount of the heat-meltable layer is preferably about 0.1 to 3 μm, and the ink layer is preferably about 1 to 5 μm.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail by way of examples.

Example 1 The following composition liquid was applied on a 4.5 μ polyester film, and a 1 μm thick heat-meltable layer was provided.

Carnauba wax 10 parts Toluene (dispersed in a ball mill for 24 hours) 90 parts An ink liquid having the following composition was applied thereon to form an ink layer having a thickness of 4 μm.

Ethyl methacrylate resin 20 parts Carbon black 4 parts Methyl ethyl ketone (dispersed with a ball mill for 24 hours) 76 parts A 4μ ink layer was provided.

Example 3 An ink liquid having the following composition was applied on the heat-meltable layer of Example 1 to form an ink layer having a thickness of 4 μm.

Ethyl methacrylate / n-butyl methacrylate copolymer emulsion (solid content 50%) 20 parts Polyvinyl alcohol 10% aqueous solution 10 parts Carbon black dispersion (SD9020 manufactured by Dainippon Ink) 2.5 parts Example 4 Ethyl methacrylate / of Example 3 An ink layer having a thickness of 4 μm was provided in the same manner as in Example 3 except that an ethyl methacrylate / vinyl chloride copolymer emulsion (solid content: 50%) was used instead of the n-butyl methacrylate copolymer emulsion.

Example 5 Instead of the ethyl methacrylate / n-butyl methacrylate copolymer emulsion of Example 3, an ethyl methacrylate / vinylidene chloride copolymer emulsion (solid content 50%) was used.
%), Except that an ink layer having a thickness of 4 μm was provided in the same manner as in Example 3.

Example 6 An ink having a thickness of 4 μm was obtained in the same manner as in Example 3 except that an ethyl methacrylate / ethylene copolymer emulsion (solid content: 50%) was used instead of the ethyl methacrylate / n-butyl methacrylate copolymer emulsion of Example 3. Layers were provided.

Comparative Example 1 In Example 1, an ink layer was provided directly on a polyester film without providing a heat-fusible layer.

Comparative Example 2 An ink layer having a thickness of 4 μm was provided in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a methyl acrylate resin was used instead of the ethyl methacrylate resin.

Comparative Example 3 An ink having a thickness of 4 μm was obtained in the same manner as in Example 3 except that an ethyl methacrylate / styrene copolymer emulsion (50% solid content) was used instead of the ethyl methacrylate / n-butyl methacrylate copolymer emulsion of Example 3. Layers were provided.

Further, in each of Examples and Comparative Examples, the surface of the support opposite to the side on which the ink layer was provided was coated with the following composition liquid to provide a 0.1 μ-thick anti-stick layer.

Silicon rubber (30%) 10 parts Toluene 90 parts Curing agent 0.1 part A thermal transfer printer (line-type head, applied energy 10 to
At 25 mj / mm ² ), printing was performed on each sheet to be transferred as shown in the following table, and the following tests were performed.

Dry cleaning test (JIS L 0860) Hot press test (JIS L 0850) Friction test (JIS L 0849) The results are shown in the following table.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a thermal transfer recording medium that forms a transferred image having excellent hot press resistance, dry cleaning resistance, and friction resistance.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-3994 (JP, A) JP-A-63-42891 (JP, A) JP-A-1-255589 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A thermal transfer ink layer containing a homopolymer of alkyl methacrylate or a copolymer of alkyl methacrylate and a colorant as main components on a support,
And a heat transfer recording medium comprising a heat fusible layer containing wax as a main component between the heat transferable ink layer and the support. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride,
A thermal transfer ink layer mainly containing a copolymer composed of at least one kind of ethylene and at least one kind of alkyl methacrylate and a colorant, and between the heat transferable ink layer and the support. A thermal transfer recording medium characterized by having a heat-fusible layer mainly composed of wax.