JPH0362252B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for forming a transmission image, and in particular,
A heat-developable photosensitive material section having a photosensitive layer and a conductive heating layer that releases a mobile hydrophilic dye from exposed or non-exposed areas when heated, and a transparent image receiving material section having a dye fixing layer are arranged between the photosensitive layer and the dye fixing layer. The present invention relates to a new method for forming a transmission type image, in which a transmission type color image is obtained using a heat-developable photosensitive transfer material having a peelable layer structure.

The heat-developable photosensitive material part and the photosensitive layer of the heat-developable photosensitive transfer material that can be used in the present invention include at least photosensitive silver halide, as described in Japanese Patent Application No. 56-157798, Reducing to the organic silver salt oxidizing agent, binder, and photosensitive silver halide and/or organic silver salt oxidizing agent, and movable by reaction with the photosensitive silver halide and/or organic silver salt oxidizing agent upon heating. Examples include a photosensitive layer having a dye-donating substance that releases a hydrophilic dye. Such a photosensitive layer can simultaneously provide a silver image in the exposed area and a hydrophilic dye in the area corresponding to the silver image by simply heating the layer after image exposure. That is, this photosensitive layer is imagewise exposed and heated, and an oxidation-reduction reaction occurs between the organic silver salt oxidizing agent and the reducing dye-donating substance using the exposed photosensitive silver halide as a catalyst, causing a redox reaction to occur in the exposed areas. A silver image results. In this step, the dye-donating substance is oxidized by an organic silver salt oxidizing agent to form an oxidant. This oxidant is cleaved in the presence of a dye release aid, resulting in the release of a mobile hydrophilic dye. Thus, in the exposed areas a silver image and a mobile hydrophilic dye are obtained imagewise.

If an autopositive emulsion is used as this photosensitive layer, a silver image and a mobile hydrophilic dye will be obtained in the unexposed areas.

Further, as another photosensitive layer, for example,
As described in No. 26008, at least a photosensitive silver halide, a binder, and a reducible material that releases a dye upon heating and does not react with the photosensitive silver halide upon heating to release a hydrophilic dye. A photosensitive layer having an immobile dye-donating substance can be mentioned. Such a photosensitive layer can simultaneously provide a silver image in the exposed area and a mobile hydrophilic dye in areas other than the areas corresponding to the silver image, simply by heating after imagewise exposure.
That is, when using an immobile dye-donating substance that originally releases a hydrophilic dye, but does not release the hydrophilic dye when oxidized,
When this photosensitive layer is imagewise exposed and heated, the exposed photosensitive silver halide is used as a catalyst to release an organic silver salt oxidizing agent and/or an originally hydrophilic dye that is reducible to the photosensitive silver halide, but is not oxidized. As a result, a redox reaction occurs between the dye and the immobile dye-donating substance, which does not cause release of the hydrophilic dye, and a silver image is produced in the exposed area. In this step, the immobile dye-donating substance that originally releases the hydrophilic dye but no longer causes the release of the hydrophilic dye upon oxidation becomes an oxidant, and as a result, the hydrophilic dye is released in the exposed area. and a mobile hydrophilic dye is obtained only in the unexposed areas. If an autopositive emulsion is used as this photosensitive layer, a silver image will be obtained in the unexposed areas and a mobile dye will be obtained in the exposed areas.

As the conductive heating layer of the heat-developable photosensitive material portion of the heat-developable photosensitive transfer material that can be used in the present invention, for example, powder of a conductive material such as carbon, graphite, titanium, titanium oxide, etc. is finely powdered using a ball mill or the like. It is obtained by mixing this with a gelatin solution, PVA solution, or polyester and applying it to the support of the photothermographic material section. Then,
Conductive lacquers can be used, including mixtures of graphite, carbon black, and polyester binders.
As a commercially available product, DOTITE (trade name) manufactured by Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. can be used. This electro-heating layer may be applied before or after coating the photosensitive layer on the support. Further, the conductive heat generating film may be attached to the support of the photothermographic material section, or the conductive heat generating film itself may be used as the support of the photothermographic material section. The conductive heating layer is preferably applied to the back side of the photothermographic transfer material.

The image-receiving material part of the heat-developable photosensitive transfer material that can be used in the present invention is a dye fixing layer that can receive the dye released by heating from the photosensitive layer of the heat-developable photosensitive material part described above.
It is formed on a transparent support such as film or glass. This dye fixing layer contains a dye fixing agent such as a dye mordant, and the dye fixing agent is selected and used depending on the physical properties of the released dye, other components contained in the photosensitive layer, transfer conditions, etc. I can do it. For example, high molecular weight polymer mordants can be used, such as those described in Japanese Patent Application No. 56-157798.

A bonding layer for releasably adhering the heat-developable photosensitive material part and the image-receiving material part is provided between the photosensitive layer and the dye fixing layer, which forms the boundary between the heat-developable photosensitive material part and the image-receiving material part, if necessary. Either or both of the photosensitive layer and the dye fixing layer may have an adhesive function. Further, the bonding layer may be made of a material that melts when heated and makes it possible to separate the photosensitive layer and the dye fixing layer, such as PVA, PVC, etc.
Other thermoplastic materials and thermofusible materials can be used.

A diffusion aid is added to the dye fixing layer or the bonding layer so that the mobile hydrophilic dye released into the photosensitive layer can be better transferred to the dye fixing layer.
Examples of diffusion aids include substances that melt when heated and become water-like, such as urea, PVA, and PVC; substances that release water from crystallization water when heated; and substances that release water into microcapsules that melt when heated. A built-in one can be used.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for obtaining a transmission image using a heat-developable phototransfer material as described above.

The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and includes a photothermographic material portion having a photosensitive layer and a conductive heating layer that release a mobile hydrophilic dye from exposed or non-exposed areas when heated, and a dye fixing layer. The photosensitive layer is imagewise exposed through the image-receiving material portion of the heat-developable photosensitive transfer material, which has a transparent image-receiving material portion having a releasable structure between the photosensitive layer and the dye fixing layer, and then the photosensitive layer is exposed to light through the photosensitive layer. forming a movable hydrophilic dye in the form of an image on the photosensitive layer by heating the conductive heating layer with electricity, and moving the hydrophilic dye formed in the image to the dye fixed layer;
The method for forming a transmission image is characterized in that the image receiving material portion is then peeled off from the heat development material portion to obtain a transmission color image on the image receiving material portion.

In order to record a latent image on the photosensitive layer of the heat-developable photosensitive transfer material, radiation including visible light can be used as a light source for image exposure. Generally, light sources used for normal color printing, such as tungsten lamps, mercury lamps, halogen lamps such as iodine lamps, xenon lamps, laser light sources, CRT light sources,
Fluorescent tubes, light emitting diodes, etc. can be used as the light source.

The original image may be a line image such as a drawing, or a photographic image with gradation. It is also possible to photograph images of people and landscapes using a camera. When printing from an original image, the photosensitive layer is exposed through a transparent support of the image-receiving material, so if this support is extremely thin, there will be little blurring even if the original image is printed in close contact with the original image, but the imaging optical system It is preferable to form an image through the support onto the surface of the photosensitive layer using a photosensitive resin, and this may be carried out by enlarging and baking. It also directly receives signals from images taken with a video camera, etc., and images sent from television stations.
It is also possible to send the image to a CRT or FOT (fiber optics cathode tube), form this image using a lens on a heat-developable photosensitive material, and then print it. If blurring is taken into account, it is also possible to print in close contact.

When using an LED (light emitting diode) as an exposure means, it is currently difficult to obtain a sufficient amount of blue light. In this case, to reproduce a color image, for example, exposure is performed using three types of LEDs that emit green, red, and infrared light, and yellow, magenta, and cyan dyes are extracted from each photosensitive layer that is sensitive to these lights. The photosensitive layer may be designed to emit . That is, if the green-sensitive area (layer) contains a yellow dye-providing substance, the red-sensitive area (layer) contains a magenta dye-providing substance, and the infrared-sensitive area (layer) contains a cyan dye-providing substance. good.

In addition to the method of directly attaching or projecting the original picture,
The original image illuminated by a light source is read by a light-receiving element such as a phototube or CCD, is stored in a memory such as a computer, and after performing so-called image processing to process this information as necessary, this image information is processed.
You can reproduce it on a CRT and use it as an image-like light source.
Based on the processed image information, three types of LEDs may be emitted and scanned for exposure.

In the present invention, the heating temperature for development to form a movable hydrophilic dye in the image form on the photosensitive layer of the photosensitive material portion that has been imagewise exposed to light is about 80°C to about 80°C.
It can be developed at 250°C, but especially at about 110°C to about 160°C.
°C is useful. The heating time varies depending on the properties of the photosensitive layer, but is usefully from about 0.5 seconds to about 300 seconds, particularly preferably from 2 seconds to 30 seconds. This temperature and time also vary depending on the nature of the dye fixing layer to which the hydrophilic dye released to the photosensitive layer is transferred. That is, the progress of development in which a mobile hydrophilic dye is released from the photosensitive layer is determined in consideration of the progress of transfer in which the released hydrophilic dye moves to the dye fixed layer. This heating is carried out by applying electricity to the conductive heating layer of the photothermographic material section. Electricity is applied from an electrode that is in contact with this conductive heat generating layer, and the conductive heat generating layer is heated by the current and rises in temperature, and the photosensitive layer is heated by the heated conductive heat generating layer and the temperature rises. It is necessary to set the voltage (that is, current) and time by taking into consideration the rising process. The degree of heat generated by the conductive heat generating layer varies depending on the amount of power per unit area. Therefore, the supplied current value varies depending on the width of the conductive heating layer that is in contact with the electrode. When the widths are the same, the degree of heat generation will be the same if the applied voltage value is varied depending on the electrode spacing so that the same current value is obtained.

Electricity is applied to the conductive heating layer by bringing the back side of the photothermographic transfer material into contact with parallel electrodes, but the electrodes may be provided parallel to the width direction of the conductive heating layer or at right angles to the width direction. may be provided. When a long length of heat-developable photosensitive transfer material is fed intermittently at predetermined intervals or continuously for processing, an electrode is provided perpendicular to the traveling direction of the heat-developable photosensitive transfer material. preferable. The electrodes may also serve as means for supporting the photothermographic transfer material, or may serve as means for transporting the photothermographic transfer material.

Next, the present invention will be explained using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory side view showing the layer structure of the heat-developable photosensitive transfer material used in the present invention and the state of implementation of the present invention. The heat-developable photosensitive transfer material 1 comprises a heat-developable photosensitive material portion 5 having a photosensitive layer 3 on the surface of a support 2 such as a plastic film or paper, and a conductive heating layer 4 on the back side, and a transparent support such as a plastic film. 6 and an image receiving material portion 8 provided with a dye fixing layer 7 are bonded via a bonding layer 9 containing a diffusion aid. Light 10 is applied to this heat-developable photosensitive transfer material 1 from the image receiving material 8 side so that a light spot is focused on the photosensitive layer 3.
The image is scanned with light and exposed in an image-wise manner. After that,
When a set voltage is applied from the electrodes to the conductive heat generating layer 4 for a set time, the conductive heat generating layer 4 generates heat, and the photosensitive layer 3, bonding layer 9, and dye fixing layer 7 are heated through the support 2. When heated, a mobile hydrophilic dye is released from the photosensitive layer 3 in an imagewise manner. When heated, the bonding layer 9 melts and becomes sticky, which facilitates the movement of the hydrophilic dye released into the photosensitive layer 3 to the dye fixing layer 7 and separates the heat-developable photosensitive material portion 5 and the image-receiving material portion 8. possible. In this way, the hydrophilic dye 11 released in an imagewise manner onto the photosensitive layer 3 moves to the dye fixing layer 7 and is transferred thereto. Then, when the image-receiving material portion 8 is peeled off, a transmission type image is formed on this image-receiving material portion 8.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention in which a heat-developable photosensitive transfer material 1 similar to that shown in FIG. 1 is exposed using an exposure method using an imaging optical system such as a camera or an enlarger to form a transmission image. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the situation in a side view. An imaging lens 1 is applied to the heat-developable photosensitive transfer material 1 so as to form an image on the photosensitive layer from the image receiving material section 8 side.
A light image having a set amount of light is exposed by an aperture 13 and a shutter 14 through a lens 2. Thereafter, the voltage set by the power supply device 15 is applied from the electrodes 16, 16 to the conductive heating layer for a set time,
In the same manner as described with reference to FIG. 1, an image-shaped hydrophilic dye is released from the photosensitive layer and transferred to the dye fixing layer. Then, by sending the transferred heat-developable photo-sensitive transfer material 1 from the heat-developable photo-sensitive transfer material supply roll 1A toward the heat-developable photo-sensitive material part collection roll 5A, the image-receiving material part 8 is peeled off by the scraper 17. Heat-developable photosensitive material section 5
is wound up on a collection roll 5A and collected. A transmission image is formed on the peeled-off image-receiving material portion 8.

As described above, the present invention is a method for obtaining a transmission image using a novel thermal development transfer method, and a transmission transfer color image can be obtained in a simple manner by simultaneously performing development and transfer by supplying electricity to a conductive heating layer. In particular, the fact that a conductive heating layer is not necessary for image-receiving materials from which images can be obtained as color photographs or hard copies has a great practical effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the layer structure and implementation of the heat-developable photosensitive transfer material used in the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view of main parts showing another embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Heat-developable photosensitive transfer material, 2... Support, 3... Photosensitive layer, 4... Conductive heating layer, 5... Heat-developable photosensitive material part,
6... Transparent support, 7... Dye fixing layer, 8... Image receiving material portion, 9... Adhesive layer, 15... Power supply device, 16... Electrode.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heat-developable photosensitive material portion having a photosensitive layer and a conductive heating layer that release a mobile hydrophilic dye from exposed or non-exposed portions when heated, and a transparent image receiving material portion having a dye fixing layer are combined with the photosensitive layer and the photosensitive layer. Imagewise exposure is performed to the photosensitive layer through the image-receiving material portion of the heat-developable photosensitive transfer material, which has a peelable layer structure between the dye fixing layers, and then the photosensitive layer is heated by applying electricity to the conductive heating layer. forming a mobile hydrophilic dye in the form of an image, moving the hydrophilic dye formed in the image to the dye fixing layer, and then peeling off the image-receiving material portion from the heat-developable material portion; A method for forming a transmission image, characterized in that a transmission color image is obtained on the image-receiving material portion.