JP3089016B2 - Sublimation type thermal transfer image receiving medium - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sublimation type thermal transfer image receiving medium used in combination with a thermal transfer recording medium having a transfer layer containing a thermal sublimation dye.

[Related Art] A sublimation type thermal transfer recording system using a thermal transfer recording medium having a transfer layer containing a thermal sublimable dye and an image receiving medium receiving the dye sublimated by thermal printing from the back of the recording medium is excellent. In recent years, it has attracted attention as a medium capable of recording halftones and providing a full-color hard copy close to a color photograph.

As the dye receiving layer of the image receiving medium used in this recording method, a thermoplastic polyester resin showing a strong dyeing property to a heat sublimation dye is mainly used alone, and as a base, a synthetic paper is used. I have. However, a set-off occurs in which the printed image is transferred to the back side of the image receiving paper while the images are being stored while being overlapped.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide an image receiving medium having no set-off and high storability.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present inventors have intensively studied to solve the above-mentioned problems, but found that it is effective to select a specific resin as a material used for the back layer. Having found this, the present invention has been achieved.

That is, the present invention relates to the following: 1. In an image receiving medium having a dye receiving layer capable of dyeing a sublimable dye on a substrate, the substrate back layer provided on the side opposite to the receiving layer dyes the dye more than the receiving layer. A set-off preventing sublimation type thermal transfer image receiving medium, comprising a styrene-maleic acid copolymer having low reactivity or an ester thereof, 2. a dye receiving layer capable of dyeing a sublimable dye on a substrate Wherein the substrate back layer provided on the side opposite to the receiving layer comprises a vinyl chloride resin having a lower dye-dyeing property than the receiving layer, for set-off preventing sublimation type thermal transfer. 3. an image receiving medium, 3. an image receiving medium for set-off preventing sublimation type thermal transfer according to 2., wherein the substrate is made of a material other than paper, 4. the vinyl chloride resin contains at least 80% of a vinyl chloride component. Or the receiver for set-off prevention sublimation type thermal transfer described in 3. Media, it is.

Since the present invention has the above configuration, there is no set-off,
Moreover, it has high preservability.

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The specific configuration and operation of the present invention are as follows.

In FIG. 1, the image receiving medium of the present invention comprises an image receiving substrate A, a dye receiving layer B and a back layer C. That is,
The image-receiving medium of the present invention is obtained by coating a dye-receiving layer B on an image-receiving substrate A, and forming a styrene-maleic acid copolymer on the opposite surface.
Alternatively, a back layer C composed of at least one selected from the group consisting of an esterified product thereof and a vinyl chloride resin is applied. Reference numeral 1 denotes a thermal head, and the sublimation transfer recording medium includes a heat-resistant layer 2, a transfer substrate 3, and a dye transfer layer 4.

By the heating from the thermal head 1, the heat sublimable dye sublimates and diffuses from the dye transfer layer 4 of the sublimation transfer recording medium,
The sublimed dye is transferred to the dye receiving layer B of the image receiving medium. The sublimation dye transferred to the image receiving medium is diffused and dyed in the dye-dyeable resin forming the dye-receiving layer B.

When the image after recording is stored in an overlapping manner, the image is stored in a state where the receiving layer B to which the dye is dyed and the back layer C are in contact with each other. When a high resin is provided, the dye migrates to the surface on the back side of the image receiving body during preservation, and offset occurs. However, when the back layer of the present invention is provided, a stable image can be obtained without the dye dyed on the receiving layer being transferred to the back surface during storage.

The resin used for the back layer of the present invention is selected from a styrene-maleic acid copolymer, an ester thereof, and a vinyl chloride resin.

Styrene-maleic acid copolymer, and its esters include methyl ester, ethyl ester, n-propyl ester, iso-propyl ester, n-butyl ester, i
so-butyl ester, sec-butyl ester, tert-
Butyl ester, n-amyl ester, n-hexyl ester, cyclohexyl ester, benzyl ester,
Phenyl esters and the like.

Examples of the vinyl chloride resin include polyvinyl chloride, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-vinyl chloride copolymer, vinyl chloride-vinyl propionate copolymer, and their alcohol-modified and maleic-acid-modified products. Or an isocyanate reactant.

Of these, those having a vinyl chloride component of 80% or more are particularly preferred.

Such a styrene-maleic acid ester resin can be easily obtained only by mixing and heating a styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer and about 10 to 20 times the amount of alcohol. Layers can be formed. Alternatively, the reaction product may be added to a large amount of n-hexane to be powdered, and then dissolved in another solvent, for example, tetrahydrofuran or methyl ethyl ketone, and applied to form a layer.

The back layer may contain inorganic particles, an antistatic agent and the like. The coating amount of the back layer on the substrate is preferably 0.1 to 20 g / m ² in terms of solid content.

The resin used in the accepting amount of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is a resin that dyes a sublimable dye. Among them, polyester resin, polyvinyl chloride, vinyl chloride copolymer, polyacrylate resin, and polycarbonate resin And styrene acrylate resin.

 These may be used alone or as a mixture.

In the present invention, a release agent such as an amino-modified silicone, an epoxy-modified silicone or an alkyd-modified silicone can be contained in the dye receiving layer. By using these silicones, the effect of preventing thermal fusion with the transfer medium is further improved. However, if the silicone content increases, the storage stability after recording deteriorates as described above. Therefore, the content is desirably 10% by weight or less based on the resin amount of the dye receiving layer.

In addition, a filler can be contained in the dye receiving layer. Examples of the filler include white pigments such as silica, titanium oxide, and calcium carbonate. The amount of the filler is preferably 5 to 60% by weight based on the resin amount of the receiving layer. In addition, the dye receiving layer may appropriately contain a surfactant, an ultraviolet absorber, an antioxidant, and the like.

Further, as the substrate A in the image receiving medium of the present invention, synthetic paper, art paper, high quality paper, coated paper, cellulose fiber paper,
A plastic film or the like is preferably used alone or in a laminate thereof.

The coating amount of the dye receiving layer on the substrate is preferably 0.1 to 20 g / m ² in terms of solid content.

[Examples] Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples. The percentages and parts shown below are based on weight.

Example 1 A mixture having the following composition was sufficiently mixed and dispersed to prepare a coating liquid for a receiving layer [Solution A].

[Solution A] Vinyl chloride vinyl acetate copolymer (trade name: VYHH; manufactured by Union Carbide) 20 parts Amino-modified silicone (trade name: SF8417; manufactured by Toray Silicone) 2 parts Toluene 40 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 40 parts Next, [Solution A] Using a wire bar, thickness about 150μ
m of synthetic paper (trade name: YUPO FPG-150; manufactured by Oji Yuka Synthetic Paper) and dried at a drying temperature of 75 ° C. for 1 minute to form a dye receiving layer having a thickness of about 5 μm.

Next, a back layer having a thickness of about 5 μm was provided on the side opposite to the receiving layer using the following [B solution] to obtain an image receiving body of the present invention.

[Solution B] Styrene-maleic acid copolymer (trade name AP20; BASF
10 parts Tetrahydrofuran 90 parts On the other hand, as a sublimation transfer medium, 6 μm thick PE provided with a silicone cured resin film (about 1 μm thick) as a back layer.
On the T film, a coating liquid for ink layer of the following formulation [C liquid]
Was applied to a thickness of about 2 μm to obtain a transfer medium.

[Liquid C] Polyvinyl butyral resin (trade name: BX-1; manufactured by Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.) 10 parts Sublimation disperse dye for cyan (trade name: Kayaset 714; manufactured by Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd.) 6 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 45 parts Toluene 45 parts Transfer obtained The medium and the image receiving medium were overlapped so that the ink layer of the transfer medium faced the dye receiving layer of the image receiving medium, and the recording was performed by heating from the back surface of the transfer medium with a thermal head. Overlay the sample after this recording,
The back surface of the sample after storage for 100 hours was observed.

Example 2 The same procedure was performed as in Example 1, except that the following [Solution D] was used instead of the [Solution B].

[Solution D] Styrene-maleic acid copolymer 5 parts Ethanol 100 parts was stirred at 70 ° C to obtain a styrene-maleic acid ethyl ester copolymer solution.

Comparative Example 1 A test was performed in Example 1 without using the back layer.

Comparative Example 2 The same procedure was performed as in Example 1, except that the following [Solution E] was used instead of the [Solution B].

[E Solution] Polyester resin (trade name: Byron 200; manufactured by Toyobo) 10 parts Toluene 40 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 40 parts [Results] The back side (offset) of the image receptor after storage was compared.

Example 1 None 〃 2 None Comparative Example 1 Stained (offset) 〃2 Stained (offset) Example 3 A mixture having the following composition was sufficiently mixed and dispersed to prepare a coating solution [A solution] for a receiving layer. .

[Liquid A] Polyester resin (trade name: Byron 200; manufactured by Toyobo)
20 parts Amino-modified silicone (trade name: SF8417; manufactured by Toray Silicone) 1 part Epoxy-modified silicone (trade name: SF8411; manufactured by Toray Silicone) 1 part Toluene 40 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 40 parts Next, [Liquid A] was added using a wire bar. About 150μ thick
m of synthetic paper (trade name: YUPO FPG-150; manufactured by Oji Yuka Synthetic Paper) and dried at a drying temperature of 75 ° C. for 1 minute to form a dye receiving layer having a thickness of about 5 μm.

Next, a back layer having a thickness of about 5 μm was provided on the side opposite to the receiving layer using the following [B solution] to obtain an image receiving body of the present invention.

[Liquid B] Polyvinyl chloride (manufactured by Kanto Chemical Co.) 10 parts Tetrahydrofuran 90 parts On the other hand, as a sublimation transfer medium, a 6 μm thick PE provided with a silicone cured resin film (about 1 μm thick) as a back layer.
On the T film, a coating liquid for ink layer of the following formulation [C liquid]
Was applied to a thickness of about 2 μm to obtain a transfer medium.

[Liquid C] Polyvinyl butyral resin (trade name: BX-1; manufactured by Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.) 10 parts Sublimation disperse dye for cyan (trade name: Kayaset 714; manufactured by Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd.) 6 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 45 parts Toluene 45 parts Transfer obtained The medium and the image receiving medium were overlapped so that the ink layer of the transfer medium and the dye receiving layer of the image receiving medium faced, and the recording was performed by heating from the back of the transfer medium with a thermal head. Overlay the sample after this recording,
The back surface of the sample after storage for 100 hours was observed.

Example 4 The same procedure as in Example 3 was carried out except that [Solution D] was used instead of [Solution B].

[D Solution] Vinyl chloride vinyl acetate copolymer (trade name: VYNS; Union Carbide) 10 parts Toluene 45 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 45 parts Comparative Example 3 A test was conducted in Example 3 without using a back layer.

Comparative Example 4 The same procedure was performed as in Example 3, except that the following [Solution E] was used instead of [Solution B].

[E Solution] Polyester resin (trade name: Byron 200; manufactured by Toyobo) 10 parts Toluene 40 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 40 parts [Results] The back side (offset) of the image receptor after storage was compared.

Example 1 None 〃 2 None Comparative Example 1 Stained (offset) 〃2 Stained (offset) [Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, storage stability is improved and image quality is improved. Even when the image data is stored while being superimposed, the printed image is not transferred to the back surface of the image receiving medium.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an image receiving mechanism of a sublimation type thermal transfer image receiving medium according to the present invention, and also includes a schematic sectional view of a sublimation transfer recording medium. A: Image receiving substrate, B: Dye receiving layer, C: Back layer, 1: Thermal head, 2: Heat resistant layer of transfer recording medium, 3: Transfer substrate of transfer recording medium, 4: Transfer recording Dye transfer layer of the medium.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masaru Shimada 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Naoya Moroboshi 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Ricoh Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-62-21580 (JP, A) JP-A-51-66012 (JP, A) JP-A-1-108090 (JP, A) JP-A-1-125291 ( JP, A) JP-A-60-137690 (JP, A)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] In an image receiving medium having a dye receiving layer on a substrate, on which a sublimable dye can be dyed, a substrate back layer provided on the side opposite to the receiving layer has a lower dye-dyeing property than the receiving layer. A set-off preventing sublimation type image transfer medium for thermal transfer, comprising a styrene-maleic acid copolymer or an ester thereof. 2. In an image receiving medium having a dye receiving layer capable of dyeing a sublimable dye on a substrate, a substrate back layer provided on the side opposite to the receiving layer has lower dye-dyeability than the receiving layer. A set-off preventing sublimation type thermal transfer image receiving medium comprising a vinyl chloride resin. 3. The image-receiving medium according to claim 2, wherein the base is made of a material other than paper. 4. The image receiving medium according to claim 2, wherein the vinyl chloride resin contains at least 80% of a vinyl chloride component.