JPS649958B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image forming method based on transferring an image formed using ink to another.

Recently, there has been a demand for observing (color) images such as photographs, drawings, characters, etc. created by inkjet recording methods or thermal transfer recording methods, especially using transmitted light. For example, for original pictures for overhead projectors (abbreviated as OHP) and photographic panels with rear lighting, resin films, glass plates, etc.
It uses an image printed on a translucent substrate.

By the way, such translucent substrates generally have poor ink absorbency or do not absorb ink at all, so conventionally, transparent images have been created using inkjet recording methods or thermal transfer recording methods. The difficulty of doing so has been pointed out.

As an example, when performing inkjet recording on a resin film, even if ink adheres to the film, it is hardly absorbed, so the ink does not adhere to the film and flows on the film surface, causing image distortion. The drawbacks were that the ink could peel off from the film, resulting in missing images.

In view of these drawbacks, some attempts have been made to provide an ink absorbing layer made of water-soluble resin paint on the resin film, but in this case, the ink adhering to the film diffuses within the absorbing layer, causing ink dots to smudge and density. A new drawback has arisen in that it is difficult to obtain a high-quality image (hereinafter, an image formed thereon is abbreviated as a print) due to a shortage.

Therefore, the main purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks found in the above-mentioned prior art.

That is, a first object of the present invention is to form a high-quality printed matter even on a substrate with poor ink absorbency.

A second object of the present invention is to form a print suitable for viewing by projection or transmission.

Furthermore, a third object of the present invention is to form a printed matter with excellent water resistance, light resistance, and stain resistance.

And, the fourth object of the present invention is to have a glossy
Moreover, the object is to form a printed matter with good coloring properties.

The present invention, which achieves the above-mentioned various objects, is directed to a recording medium comprising an ink-absorbing layer containing a pigment and removably provided on an ink-absorbing substrate whose surface is smoothed or coated with a release agent. Image formation characterized by performing inkjet recording to form an image on the ink absorption layer, and then transferring the ink absorption layer on which the image has been formed from the substrate to a translucent or transparent resin film or glass. It is the law.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings and examples.

First, the image forming principle of the present invention will be outlined with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross section of a recording medium 1 for transfer,
In order to quickly fix the ink, the substrate 2 shown in the figure is preferably a porous material such as ink-absorbing paper, cloth, porous resin, or wood.

And 3 is a coating layer as an ink absorbing layer. This coating layer 3 is basically composed of a film-forming resin paint, but the paint further contains:
It is also possible to mix various surfactants and porous inorganic particles. Such surfactants and porous inorganic particles are components that can increase the absorption and capture rate of pigments (for example, dyes) in the ink in the coating layer 3, and are actively used in the present invention. It is desirable to use the As such a component, a white inorganic pigment that is porous and has ionicity on the particle surface can be particularly effectively used in the present invention.
Specifically, natural zeolite, synthetic zeolite (for example, molecular sieve [manufactured by Union Carbide]), diatomaceous earth, kaolin clay, talc, CaCO ₃ , MgSi ₂ O ₃ , TiO ₂ , finely divided silica (average particle diameter, 1μ or less), silica (average particle size, 20μ
(below), synthetic mica [general formula: M・Mg2.5 (Si ₄・
O ₁₀ )·F ₂ , where M is a hydrogen atom or a metal atom. ], etc. can be used.

Incidentally, as surfactants, dispersants,
Almost all of the various cationic, anionic, or nonionic activators used as polishing agents, color improvers, etc. can be used. These surfactants can also be used in combination with the inorganic pigment.

In the present invention, these particles (generally particles of several hundred millimeters to several micrometers) are ground and mixed with a resin solution, either alone or in combination, to produce a coating material. In addition, the resin in this paint is
Any water-soluble or organic solvent-soluble resin can be used. For example, water-soluble resins include polyvinyl alcohol, starch, casein, gum arabic, glue, gelatin, polyacrylamide, carboxymethyl cellulose, sodium polyacrylate, sodium alginate, etc., and organic solvent-soluble resins include polyvinyl butyral,
These include polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate, polyacrylonitrile, polymethyl methacrylate, polyvinyl formal, melamine resin, polyamide resin, phenolic resin, polyurethane resin, alkyd resin, and the like. The mixing ratio of the inorganic pigment particles and the resin component in such a paint is generally 5 to 20 parts by weight of the resin component to 100 parts by weight of the inorganic pigment.

To form the coating layer 3, generally 1 g/m ² to 10 g/m 2 is coated on the surface of the substrate 2 by a known method (for example, roll coating method, rod bar coating method, spray coating method).
Apply an amount of paint about ² m2. Also, in practical terms,
It is best to apply the coating at a rate of about 2 g/m ² to 5 g/m ² . After such a coating layer is provided, the coating layer is dried as soon as possible.

By the way, in the present invention, as will be described in detail later, the coating layer 3 is transferred during the process of forming a print, so it is necessary that the coating layer 3 be easily peeled off from the substrate 2.

For this purpose, there is a method of smoothing the surface of the substrate 2 or applying a mold release agent before providing the coating layer 3.

Further, for the same purpose, there are also methods such as using a resin that has relatively few active groups (polar groups) as a component of the coating layer 3, or keeping the resin content in the paint low.

Since there is no official standard that indicates the degree of ease of peeling of the coating layer 3, a tentative determination standard in the present invention will be explained below.

That is, the transfer recording medium 1 obtained by the method described above
The peel strength of the coating layer 3 is defined as the resistance (load) exhibited by the coating layer 3 when an 18 mm wide adhesive tape (commercially available cellophane tape) is peeled off on the surface of the coating layer 3.

In the present invention, a transfer recording material 1 having a peel strength of approximately 10 g/mm or less is preferable. Further, in order to prevent uneven transfer or lack of transfer, it is more preferable to use a material with a weight of 5 g/mm or less.

However, if the peel strength is extremely low, it is not preferable because it is difficult to manufacture, especially the coating operation itself, and the coating layer 3 is likely to fall off from the substrate 2 due to a slight impact.

Therefore, the lower limit of the peel strength of the coating layer 3 is approximately 0.3
Practically speaking, it is desirable to set the value to g/mm.

Incidentally, as described above, various materials can be used for the base 2, regardless of whether or not it has ink absorbency, but in particular, when a base 2 with poor or no ink absorbency is adopted, It is desirable that the covering layer 3 be made thicker than usual, such as by having a multilayer structure.

Further, the form of the recording medium 1 for transfer may be either a sheet form or a roll form, depending on the use or the form of the medium to be transferred (not shown).

Next, after forming an arbitrary image 4 with ink on the transfer recording medium 1 obtained as described above,
A transfer medium 5 is laminated on the surface of the coating layer 3. (FIG. 2) At this time, the adhesive layer 6 provided on one side of the transfer medium 5 is made to face the coating layer 3. Incidentally, 7 in the diagram
generally refers to the main body of the transfer medium made of semi-transparent to transparent (colorless to light-colored) glass or resin, and its form may be any form such as a plate, sheet, or roll film. do not have. However, a resin film with appropriate flexibility is optimal because it allows easy transfer operation.

The resin constituting this main body 7 is not particularly limited. Here, some examples are as follows.

Polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polyacrylonitrile, polyvinyl acetate, cellulose acetate, polyvinyl butyral, acrylic resin, polyamide resin, styrene-butadiene latex,
Examples include alkyd resins, polyvinyl alcohol, polyester resins, and copolymers thereof.

Furthermore, plasticizers can also be added to these resins. Examples include dibutyl phthalate, dioctyl adipate, polyethylene glycol, chlorinated paraffin, and the like.

Further, the adhesive layer 6 can be formed using any so-called adhesive that is liquid, semi-solid, or solid at room temperature, ignoring the inconvenience of handling.

However, when emphasis is placed on ease of handling, the adhesive layer 6 may be formed using a semi-solid adhesive that exhibits a certain degree of viscosity at least at room temperature, or a hot-melt type resin adhesive that is solid at room temperature. It is desirable to form.

Further, although not shown, an adhesive layer similar to that described above may be provided on the remaining surface of the main body 7 in advance. In this case, after the coating layer 3 is transferred to the adhesive layer 6 side shown in the figure in the process described later, the transfer medium on which the printed matter is formed is adhered to an arbitrary member using the adhesive layer on the other side. can do. In other words, it can be used as a so-called sealing material with an image. Incidentally, when the adhesive layer (not shown) exhibits adhesiveness at room temperature, it is desirable to cover this adhesive layer with a suitable mount. Then, when necessary, it is preferable to peel off the mount and adhere the image-formed transfer medium.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the transfer recording medium 1 and the transfer medium 5 stacked as shown in the second figure are passed between a pressure device, for example, a pair of pressure rollers 8a and 8b. When the separation operation is performed using the separation claw 9, the coating layer 3 is peeled off from the substrate 2 and transferred onto the transfer medium 5. Note that the separating claw 9 used here is just an example of a separating means, and instead of this, for example, a separating roller, a separating belt, etc. can be used as appropriate.

The separation operation as described above does not necessarily have to be performed immediately after passing between the pair of pressure rollers 8a and 8b.
After storing for a certain period of time, a manual separation operation may be performed when necessary.

Further, when the adhesive layer 6 is made of a hot-melt adhesive, a heater is attached in advance to either of the pair of pressing rollers 8a, 8b.

Incidentally, if the transferred image obtained here has a front and back side, it may be best to observe it with a transmission type, but if you want to observe it with a reflection type, print a mirror image of the original image in advance. Should.

Although it is not essential in the present invention, a resin solution may be further applied to the surface of the coating layer 3 transferred to the transfer medium 5 in the above manner, and then a transparent resin coating may be provided by drying. It is desirable to protect the coating layer 3 by laminating a transparent resin film.

In this way, even when the coating layer 3 is subjected to impact, it can be prevented from falling off, and the effect of preventing image staining and improving water resistance and light resistance can also be obtained. Furthermore, in the case of color images, the additional effect of increasing the vividness of the colors is also obtained.

Here, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a multicolor inkjet printer to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 101 is a recording paper cassette containing recording paper 102, and 103 is a paper feed roller that feeds the recording paper 102. 10
4 is a pair of registration rollers; 105 and 106 are a pair of conveyance rollers for conveying the recording paper 102; 107;
108, 109, 110 and 111 are recording paper 1
This is a conveyance guide that facilitates the conveyance of 02. 11
2Y, 112M, 112C, and 112B are inkjet recording heads that eject yellow, magenta, cyan, and black color inks onto the recording paper 102, respectively, based on image signals from an image reading means (not shown). Playback and record color images. These recording heads are arranged, for example, in a full line in a direction substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction of the recording paper 102, that is, in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in the figure, and are configured as a so-called full multi-head. 113 is a suction fan, 114
is a porous guide plate, and this suction fan 113 sucks the recording paper 102 to the guide plate 114 to maintain the flatness of the recording paper 102, and connects the recording paper 102 and the recording heads 112Y, 112M, 112C, and 112B.
Maintain the best distance between.

The recording paper 102 used here was created for the purpose of later transfer, and specifically includes 3 g of polyvinyl alcohol, 20 g of zeolite powder,
Weigh the paint obtained by grinding and mixing 1 g of CaCO ₃ powder,
After coating at a rate of 3 g/m ² on a 65 g/m ² base paper,
It is dried. Incidentally, this coating layer showed the above-mentioned peel strength of 3 g/mm.

Next, 121 is a transfer material cassette containing the transfer material 122, and 123 is a supply roller that supplies the transfer material 122. Incidentally, the transfer material 122 used here is a transparent polyester sheet with a thickness of about 0.2 to 0.5 m, and one side of which is uniformly coated with a hot melt adhesive.

124 is a pair of transfer material registration rollers; 125;
Reference numeral 126 denotes a conveyance guide that facilitates conveyance of the transfer material. Reference numeral 127 denotes a pair of conveying rollers, and as will be described later, the recorded recording paper 102 is gripped by the pair of rollers 127, with the recording surface of the recording paper 102 superimposed on the transfer material 122 supplied from the cassette 121. Reference numeral 128 denotes a pair of pressure rollers with a built-in heater 129, which heats and presses the recording paper 102 conveyed via the pair of conveyance rollers 127 and the transfer material 122. That is, the transfer material 122 is attached to the recording surface of the recording paper 102. 130 and 13
1 is a conveyance guide, 132 is a pair of discharge rollers, 133
and 135 are discharge trays, and 134 is a separation claw.

The transferred material 122 passes through the pressure roller pair 128.
The recording paper 102 with the
2, the transferred material 122
The base paper (not shown) of the recording paper 102 can be easily separated from the base paper (not shown).

Then, the transfer material 122 that has passed the discharge roller
The stack of recording papers 102 collides with the separating claw 134, and here, the layered body of the recording paper 102 is transferred to the transfer material 12 to which the unillustrated coating layer (that is, the recording layer) has been transferred.
2 and the base paper (not shown) are completely separated. The transferred material 122 separated in this way is separated by the separating claw 13.
4 and is then discharged onto the discharge tray 135. Further, the base paper (not shown) is discharged to the lower discharge tray 133.

In the figure, S1 and S2 are disposed in front of the pair of transport rollers 127, and are respectively connected to the transfer material 12.
2 and a sensor for detecting the recording paper 102;
S3 is the recording head 112Y, 112M, 112
After recording is performed at C, 112B, roller pair 1
A sensor S4 is a sensor for detecting the recording paper 102 being conveyed toward the conveyance roller pair 105. Based on the detection outputs of these sensors S1 to S4, the recording paper 102 and the transfer material 122 can be synchronized.

In the above embodiments, the case has been described in which both the recording paper (for transfer) and the transfer material are sheet materials, but it goes without saying that both or one of them may be a roll material.

Further, although not shown, a laminate coating device for forming a transparent resin film for the purpose of protecting the recording layer on the transferred material may be further added. In this case, the laminate coating device may be integrated into the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, or may be separate and independent from the embodiment.

Furthermore, in this example, an inkjet was used as the recording means. Although an inkjet head is advantageous for miniaturizing the apparatus, the present invention is not limited thereto, and other methods such as an ink pen, thermal transfer recording, electrostatic recording, etc. can also be used.

According to the present invention described in detail above, images are quickly fixed by ink during the recording process, and high-quality image recording is ensured. Extremely high quality printing can be performed.

In particular, high-quality printing can be performed on translucent to transparent resin films and glass plates, and it is possible to provide printed materials suitable for OHP projection systems and transmission-type display systems.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 are schematic sectional views outlining the image forming principle of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an internal configuration diagram showing an example of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Recording medium for transfer, 2...Substrate, 3...Coating layer, 4...Image, 5...Transfer medium, 6...Adhesive layer, 7...Main body, 8a, 8b...Pair of pressure rollers , 9, 134... Separation claw, 101... Recording paper cassette, 102... Recording paper, 103... Paper feed roller, 104... Registration roller pair, 105, 10
6... Conveyance roller pair, 107, 108, 109,
110, 111...Conveyance guide, 112Y, 11
2M, 112C, 112B...recording head, 11
3... Suction fan, 114... Porous guide plate, 1
21...Transfer material cassette, 122...Transfer material, 123...Transfer material supply roller pair, 124...
... Transferred material registration roller pair, 125, 126...
... Conveyance guide, 127 ... Conveyance roller pair, 128
... Pressure roller pair, 129 ... Heater, 130,
131...Conveyance guide, 132...Export roller pair, 133, 135...Ejection tray, S1 to S4
...Sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Perform inkjet recording on a recording medium consisting of an ink-absorbing substrate whose surface has been smoothed or coated with a release agent, and an ink-absorbing layer containing a pigment is removably provided on the ink-absorbing substrate, and the ink-absorbing layer is coated with the ink-absorbing layer. An image forming method characterized by forming an image and then transferring the ink absorbing layer on which the image is formed from the substrate to a translucent to transparent resin film or glass.