JP2003191568A - Image recording body for operating panel, its producing method, and operating panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image recording body for operating panel onto which an image requiring gradation reproducibility can be printed. <P>SOLUTION: A protruding/recessed part 22 is formed such that the surface side of a plastic film 20 is protruded and the rear surface side thereof is recessed. A toner layer 25 consisting of a toner image printed by electrophotographic technology is formed on the surface of the protruding/ recessed part 22. Upper surface of the toner layer 24 is covered with an ink layer 26 by coating it with silk screen ink in order to reinforce mechanical strength of the toner layer and the plastic film thus preventing the toner layer from stripping. Furthermore, a conductive ink pattern 28 having switch function is formed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording body for an operation panel, a method for manufacturing the same, and an operation panel, and more particularly,
The present invention relates to an operation panel image recording body suitable for high-mix low-volume production, a manufacturing method for manufacturing the operation panel image recording body, and an operation panel including the operation panel image recording body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, operation panels used in electrical equipment such as household electrical equipment, measuring instruments, and telecommunication equipment are
As shown in FIG. 3C, the operation panel image recording body 14 in which the uneven forming portion 14A is formed and the conductive ink pattern 14B is applied to the concave portion of the uneven forming portion 14A.
Is used. This operation panel image recording body 14
Is such that the conductive ink pattern 14B is located at a predetermined distance with respect to the space between the pair of electrodes 12 for the switch provided on the printed circuit board portion 10 at a predetermined distance.
It is arranged on the printed circuit board section 10.

The operation panel image recording body 14 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), the plastic film portion 14C
And the concavo-convex shaped portion 1 formed by the silk screen ink layer 14D on the surface of the plastic film portion 14C.
4A and an image displaying the function of 4A.
Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, a silk screen ink layer 14D may be formed on the back surface of the plastic film portion 14C, and a conductive ink pattern 14B may be formed on the silk screen ink layer 14D.

This image is formed by the silk screen printing technique.
This is a printing technique that uses a printing plate in which an image portion through which ink passes and a non-image portion through which ink does not pass are formed on a mesh screen made of nylon or the like.

However, in the silk screen printing technique, a large number of printing plates are required for printing, and in the case of color printing, as many printing plates as the number of colors to be used are required. In addition, products with high designability that require high-mix low-volume production can increase the product value because of their designability, but conventional silkscreen printing technology allows printing plates to be printed even if the design is changed easily. Had to be made anew. For this reason, the conventional silk screen printing technique is not suitable for printing in a large variety of small quantities. However, since there is no other suitable printing method, it is used until today.

A method of manufacturing an image recording body for an operation panel using the conventional silk screen printing technique will be described below.

First, a plastic film, which is a medium to be printed, is covered with a printing plate coated with ink, and printing is performed with a blade or the like on the printing plate to transfer the ink to the plastic film. By the above operation, the image pattern on the printing plate is printed on the plastic film. The printed ink is dried and then overprinted on the image pattern printed using another printing plate. This silk-screen printing technique requires as many printing plates as the number of inks used, and repeats the overcoating by the number of printing plates. Further, it is a troublesome printing method that requires cleaning and storage of the printing plate after printing is completed.

Next, in the silk screen printing technique, a pattern of conductive ink for performing the function of a switch is printed, although it is not an image as a design. The plastic film on which the conductive ink has been printed is die-cut in the next die-cutting step and cut into the size of the operation panel.

Finally, in a predetermined portion of the die-cut plastic film, a portion where the conductive ink pattern is printed is located on the concave side, and a side opposite to the portion where the conductive ink pattern is printed is convex. The concave-convex shaped portion is formed so that The concave-convex shaped portion is used as a button portion of a switch, a Braille notation portion, a design of an operation panel, or the like depending on the size of the concave-convex shaped portion. In addition,
The order of the molding step and the die-cutting step of molding the above-mentioned concave-convex shaped portion may be reversed.

In this silk screen printing technique, opaque inks are generally used for overprinting in different colors, but recently, printing with highly transparent inks such as process inks (yellow, magenta, cyan) is also performed. Has been.

[0011]

However, in order to stably provide color reproducibility, it is difficult to stably reproduce the gradation of each process ink density by using highly transparent ink, and Many steps are required for concentration adjustment. Therefore, it has been difficult to manufacture an operation panel including an image requiring continuous gradation such as a photographic image by the conventional silk screen printing technique.

On the other hand, in recent years, the sale of products that individually meet the design requirements of each consumer has started via the Internet. In order for the designs of household electric appliances and the like to freely meet such demands, a printing technique with high productivity is required even in the case of high-mix low-volume production.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problem of high-mix low-volume production that cannot be dealt with by the above-mentioned conventional techniques, and gradation reproduction of photographic images and the like, which has been difficult with conventional silk-screen printing techniques, has been made. It is a first object of the present invention to provide an image recording body for an operation panel, which is capable of printing images required to have good properties and is suitable for high-mix low-volume production.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method for manufacturing an image recording body for an operation panel.

A third object of the present invention is to provide an operation panel using the operation panel image recording body.

[0016]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned first object, the image recording body for an operation panel of the first invention is formed by a film-shaped substrate and the surface of the substrate by electrophotography. And an image layer. In the first invention, since the image layer is formed on the surface of the substrate, the film-shaped substrate may be transparent or opaque.

The image recording body for an operation panel of the second invention comprises a transparent film-like substrate and an image layer formed by electrophotography on the back surface of the substrate. . In the second invention, since the image layer is formed on the back surface of the substrate, this film-shaped substrate needs to have transparency.

In the first invention and the second invention, since the image layer is formed by using the electrophotographic technique which is a plateless image forming technique, the conventional silk screen is used in the case of producing a variety of products in a small amount. Eliminates the need to use multiple printing plates as in printing technology. Further, since the electrophotographic technique is used, the gradation reproducibility of images such as photographic images can be improved as compared with the case where a large number of printing plates are used.

In the first invention, the image layer can be further coated with a transparent protective coating layer. First
In the invention of (1), since the image layer is formed on the surface of the substrate, the coating layer needs to have transparency in order to view the image of the image layer.

Further, in the second invention, a protective coating layer can be further coated on the image layer. In the second invention, the image layer is formed on the back surface of the transparent substrate, and the image of the image layer can be visually observed from the front surface side of the substrate. Therefore, even if the coating layer has transparency. It may not have transparency.

By covering the image layer with the protective coating layer as described above, the image layer formed of toner or the like can be protected and the durability can be increased, and the adhesion strength between the substrate and the image layer can be improved. Can be increased. This coating layer can be composed of a coating of ink or the like.

When the image recording body for an operation panel is constructed as an operation panel, the uneven portion is formed so that the image of the image layer can be visually observed from the convex side. The uneven portion can be formed by forming an image layer formed of toner or the like and a coating layer such as an ink layer on the film-shaped substrate and then performing heat molding. When the uneven shaped portion is formed using a plastic film, the uneven shaped portion of the plastic film is heated to a temperature between the glass transition temperature and the melting point to form the uneven portion. For this reason, the toner used in electrophotography may flow due to this heating, which may cause a defect that the toner image of the uneven molding portion flows. Therefore, the coating layer composed of an ink layer or the like is more heat-resistant than the toner. It is preferable to use a member having a high

When the operation panel image recording body is constructed as an operation panel, a pattern of conductive ink may be formed to have a switch function.

In order to form an image layer on a film-shaped substrate by an electrophotographic printer, in order to improve the running property of the film-shaped substrate in the printer and prevent the flow of the image when forming the uneven portion, The film substrate is 100μ
It is preferable to use a plastic film having a thickness of m to 188 μm, and more preferable to use a PET film having a thickness of 125 μm to 188 μm.

In the electrophotographic printing, the adhesion strength between the toner layer and the substrate such as a plastic film is not always sufficient depending on the usage of the operation panel. Further, the toner of the electrophotographic printer does not have sufficient strength in mechanical strength, light resistance, heat resistance, detergent resistance, alcohol resistance, oil resistance and the like.

Further, in an operation panel where the operating environment is harsh, peeling between the toner layer and the substrate such as a plastic film becomes a problem. That is, the peeling of the toner layer is accelerated by the user's finger touching or pressing the user's finger on the switch or the Braille display portion of the concave-convex shaped portion on which the toner layer is formed. .

When the image layer is formed of toner by electrophotography, silicone oil is attached to the fixing roll in order to enhance the releasing property between the toner and the fixing roll at the time of fixing. Silicone oil is attached. Even in an oilless fixing device of the type in which silicone oil does not adhere to the fixing roll, the toner contains a wax agent that has the same function as silicone oil. It oozes out.

As described above, the silicone oil and the wax are attached to the upper surface of the image layer formed of the toner by a thin coating film, and this coating film is a protective layer composed of an ink layer or the like coated thereon. It significantly reduces the adhesive strength of the coating layer. In particular, when manufacturing an image recording material for an operation panel which is used in a severe environment, it is necessary to increase the adhesive strength of the coating layer such as the ink layer.

Therefore, in order to achieve the above-mentioned second object, the manufacturing method of the third invention comprises a step of roughening one surface of a film-like substrate and a roughening of the substrate. A step of forming an image layer on the surface by electrophotography, a step of forming a protective coating layer on the image layer, a step of forming a conductive ink pattern for providing a switch function, and a convex portion And a step of forming an uneven portion so that the image of the image layer is visible from the side and the pattern of the conductive ink is located on the concave side.

In the third invention, since one surface of the film-like substrate is roughened and the image layer is formed on the roughened surface, the contact area between the substrate and the image layer becomes large. The mechanical strength and durability of the adhesiveness between the substrate and the image layer can be improved.

In order to achieve the second object, the fourth invention is a step of forming an image layer by electrophotography on one surface of a film-shaped substrate, and a corona treatment for the formed image layer. Or a step of performing a heat treatment, a step of forming a protective coating layer on the image layer subjected to a corona treatment or a heat treatment, a step of forming a pattern of conductive ink for providing a switch function, and a convex portion side. And a step of forming the uneven portion so that the image of the image layer is visible and the conductive ink pattern is located on the concave side.

In the fourth invention, the formed image layer is subjected to corona treatment or heat treatment, and the protective coating layer is formed on the image layer subjected to corona treatment or heat treatment. The mechanical strength and durability of the adhesiveness with the coating layer can be improved.

In the third and fourth aspects of the invention, the outer shape of the operation panel image recording body can be formed by punching out the film-shaped substrate into a predetermined shape.

In the third and fourth inventions, as described above, when the image is formed by the toner, it is preferable that the coating layer is made of a member having higher heat resistance than the toner. Further, in order to improve the running property of the film-shaped substrate in the printer and prevent the flow of the image at the time of forming the uneven portion, it is preferable to use a plastic film having a thickness of 100 μm to 188 μm as the film-shaped substrate. 125μ
It is more preferable to use a PET film having a thickness of m to 188 μm.

The image recording medium for operation panel of the first and second inventions and the image recording medium for operation panel manufactured in the third and fourth inventions are combined with a printed circuit board on which switch electrodes are printed. Thus, the operation panel can be configured. And this operation panel can be used for electric appliances such as household appliances.

[0036]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, this embodiment includes a plastic film 20 that is cut into a rectangular shape by punching or the like. The plastic film 20 has a plurality of rectangular or circular concave-convex shaped portions 22. Is molded. A toner image composed of characters "reservation", "cooking rice", "reheating", and "cancel" is printed on the circular concave-convex shaped portion 22. Further, the operation panel image recording body of the present embodiment is provided with a time setting unit 24 made of liquid crystal or the like for setting the timer time.
A rectangular concave-convex shaped portion 22 on which a toner image including characters of “hour”, “minute”, and “second” is printed is formed on the lower side.

As the toner image described above, an optimum image is selected according to the electric equipment such as household electric equipment to which the image recording body for the operation panel is attached.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the concave-convex shaped portion 2 is formed.
2 is formed such that the front surface side of the plastic film 20 is convex and the back surface side is concave. On the surface of the concave-convex shaped portion 22, a toner layer 24 composed of a toner image on which the above-described image is printed by an electrophotographic technique is formed.

On the upper surface of the toner layer 24, in order to reinforce the mechanical strength of the toner layer and the plastic film and prevent the toner layer from peeling, a silk screen printing machine is used to apply transparent silk screen ink. As a result, the ink layer 26 made of a film is covered.
At this time, the printing plate used in the silk screen printing machine is
It uses a printing plate that can be printed in full solid.

The ink layer 26 may be coated by using a silk screen printing machine or another method such as roll coating or spray coating. By covering the upper surface of the toner layer with an ink layer made of an ink film, the toner layer can be mechanically pressed and fixed, and mechanical strength and durability can be increased. Further, in order to improve mechanical strength and durability, it is preferable to use an ink composed of a member having higher heat resistance than the toner of the toner layer for the ink layer. When the uneven forming portion 22 is formed, it is formed in a heated state, but by increasing the heat resistance of the ink layer, it is possible to prevent the toner image from flowing due to heat even when heated during forming. it can.

A conductive ink pattern 28 is formed by printing on the back surface of the concavo-convex shaped portion 22 of the plastic film 20 in order to have a switch function.

When the toner layer is formed on the surface of the plastic film, it is necessary to visually check the image of the toner layer. Therefore, the ink forming the ink layer needs to be transparent. In this case, since the image is viewed from the transparent ink layer side, the plastic film 20 as the base may be transparent or opaque.

In FIG. 2A, an example in which the surface of the plastic film 20 is sequentially coated with a toner layer and an ink layer by electrophotography has been described.
As shown in FIG. 3, the back surface of the plastic film 20 is sequentially coated with the toner layer 24 and the ink layer 26 by electrophotography, and the conductive ink pattern 28 is formed on the portion of the ink layer 26 located on the concave side of the concave-convex shaped portion 22. May be coated.

In this case, the plastic film 20
Since the image of the toner layer 24 is viewed from the surface side of the above, that is, from the convex side of the concave-convex shaped portion 22, the plastic film needs to have transparency, but the ink layer may act only as a protective layer. It may be transparent or opaque.

As shown in FIG. 2C, the image recording material for the operation panel having the above-mentioned structure is used for the printed circuit board unit 1.
A pair of electrodes 1 that make up a switch printed on 0
The conductive ink pattern 28 is arranged so as to be spaced a predetermined distance from the two spaces, and an operation panel for electric equipment such as home electric appliances is configured.

The toner layer 24 is formed by a photoconductor, a charging device for charging the photoconductor, and an exposure device for exposing the charged photoconductor with laser light modulated according to image data to form a latent image. A developing device that forms a toner image by visualizing the latent image with toner, and a belt-shaped intermediate transfer body or a roll-shaped intermediate transfer body that transfers the visualized toner image to a plastic film. It is formed on a plastic film by an electrophotographic printer equipped with a transfer device.

As described above, by forming a toner image using the electrophotographic technique, various toner images can be formed on the plastic film only by changing the image data, which is suitable for high-mix low-volume production. Can be printed. Also, for photographic images, it is easy to use toner image by using image data that is electronic data obtained by shooting with a digital still camera, or by using image data obtained by reading a photographic image with a scanner and converting it into electronic data. Since it is possible to form a photographic image, it is possible to form a photographic image or the like, which requires gradation, which has been difficult with the prior art, with high quality.

As the plastic film 20, a polyester (polyethylene terephthalate (PET)) film, a polypropylene film, a polycarbonate film or the like can be used, but in this embodiment, the PET film is used.

Next, the thickness of the plastic film suitable for the present invention will be described. As a PET film,
Thickness 50μm, 75μm, 100μm, 125μm, 1
50 μm, 188 μm, 250 μm, 350 μm, 50
An image of a predetermined operation panel was printed on each PET film by an electrophotographic printer using 9 kinds of 0 μm film. The electrophotographic printer used a color electrophotographic printer that transfers a toner image onto a PET film via a belt-shaped intermediate transfer member and employs a heat roll type fixing device in the fixing process.

When images are formed on PET films having different thicknesses as described above, various problems occur in the paper transport path, the transfer process and the fixing process.

In the paper transport path, when the film was thin, the fixing roll portion was jammed during running. Further, when the film was too thick, the film could not be conveyed from the paper tray at the start of running.

In the transfer process, as the PET film becomes thicker, the toner image on the intermediate transfer member is electrostatically PET-transferred due to the potential drop between the intermediate transfer member and the surface of the PET film receiving side due to the volume resistance of the film. The film could not be attracted to the film side, resulting in poor transfer and poor transferability.

It was confirmed that in the fixing step, the temperature setting of the fixing roll can be adjusted according to the thickness of the PET film, and the fixing property can be improved by the adjustment.

The above results are tabulated as shown in Table 1 below. In the electrophotographic printer, there is a limit to the thickness of the PET film that can be used.
0 μm, 125 μm, 150 μm, 188 μm, 250
It was confirmed that 6 kinds of PET films of μm can be used.

[0055]

[Table 1]

As the PET film used above, a film having an untreated surface was used, but in order to strengthen the adhesiveness between the toner layer and the PET film, an image receiving layer on which the toner is easily adhered is provided on the PET film. It is also possible to use other types of PET film.

Next, silk screen ink was printed on the toner layers of the above-mentioned 6 types of PET films on which the toner images were formed by using a silk screen printer, and the ink layers were coated on the toner layers. At this time, the silicone oil of the fixing device remaining on the PET film on which the toner layer was formed by electrophotography was left as it was.
As the printing plate used in the silk screen printing machine, a printing plate capable of solid printing on the entire surface was used.

As the ink, water-based ink and UV-based (ultraviolet curing type) ink were used, and the adhesive strength and durability of these inks were evaluated. As ink, UV F
IL, UV FAL, UV IPO, UV ESE, U
V FIL 385 Clear, UV SPS 520
0 clear, Aqua UV OSC 350 clear, Aqua JAQ, Aqua QL (all manufactured by Teikoku Ink Mfg. Co., trade name) were used. The adhesive strength and durability were evaluated for each of scratching, cellophane tape (R) peeling, bending property, scoring, punching property, and keystroke property. The results are shown in Table 2 in comparison with the case of only the ink layer.

[0059]

[Table 2]

As can be seen from Table 2, the mechanical strength and durability of the adhesiveness are improved by selecting the type of ink, and in particular, when compared with the case where no ink layer is provided on the toner layer surface, The mechanical strength and durability of the adhesive property are improved step by step.

However, in a keying test in which the surface of a PET film on which a toner layer is formed with a stick having a hardness equivalent to that of a human finger is mechanically repeatedly hit, a machine equivalent to the case where an ink layer is not provided on the toner layer surface is used. It can be understood that only the desired strength and durability are obtained.

The advantages of coating the ink layer as described above are:
There are also the following: Using a concavo-convex molding device for molding a concavo-convex molding part on a conventional silk-screen-printed plastic film, a PET film having only a toner layer formed by electrophotography is processed.
The toner in the toner layer adheres to the concavo-convex molding device, which not only impairs the image quality of the operation panel image recording medium, but also requires a great number of man-hours for maintenance of the concavo-convex molding device to remove the adhered toner.

However, by coating the ink layer on the toner layer, the toner of the toner layer does not adhere to the uneven forming device even when the uneven forming portion is formed by using the uneven forming device. The conventional concavo-convex molding device can be used as it is without modification. In addition, coating the upper surface of the toner layer with silk screen ink, especially silk screen ink having higher heat resistance than the toner, makes the image recording material for the operation panel light resistant, heat resistant, wash resistant and alcohol resistant. And is an effective method for imparting oil resistance and the like.

Next, a method for improving the adhesiveness between the toner layer and the ink layer with respect to the operation panel required to have mechanical strength and durability will be described.

As a first method, a corona treatment was applied to a toner layer formed on a PET film thinly coated with silicone oil. The corona treatment is a treatment of exposing a substance (toner layer in the case of the present embodiment) to electrons or ions generated by a corona discharger to change the characteristics of the substance surface.

As a second method, a toner image was electrophotographically printed on the mat-treated surface side of a PET film roughened on the surface and treated in a matte shape. The surface roughness of the matte treatment is Rmax of 5 μm to 20
It was in the range of μm.

Then, as a third method, the toner layer formed on the PET film was heat-treated. In this heat treatment, the toner layer formed on the PET film is subjected to heat treatment in the range of 100 ° C. to 170 ° C. separately from the electrophotographic fixing process.

Subsequently, the printed P which has been subjected to corona treatment
For each of the ET film, the PET film on which the toner image is printed using the PET film subjected to the matte treatment, and the heat-treated printed PET film,
The ink layer was covered by silk screen printing to form a film.

The inks to be coated are shown in Table 2 as IPO and UV of UV ink which are considered to have good mechanical strength and durability.
Three types of transparent inks, FIL and OSC, were used. Table 3 shows the types of ink to be coated and the effects of surface treatment in comparison with the case without surface treatment.

[0070]

[Table 3]

As can be seen from Table 3, corona treatment,
Keyability is improved by adding matte treatment or heat treatment.

Next, using PET films having different thicknesses, the characteristics of the concave-convex shaped portion formed on the PET film,
The relationship between the switch characteristics and the change in the toner image was observed. The results are shown in Table 4.

[0073]

[Table 4]

In the thin PET film, when the uneven shape was processed, the thickness of the film in the processed portion became too thin, the strength of the uneven shaped portion decreased, and the uneven workability deteriorated. In an extreme case, the concave-convex shaped part was cut off. For this reason, it was confirmed by experiments that the PET film having a thickness of less than 100 μm deteriorates the workability of unevenness.

Further, in the radiant type fixing device, a toner that melts at a low temperature cannot help but be adopted.
When the toner layer of the image recording body for the operation panel is formed by using a toner that melts at a low temperature, the heat resistance of the toner is insufficient when the uneven portion is formed by heating, and the image formed by the toner is not formed. May flow. With respect to the flow of this toner image, it was confirmed by experiments that the fluidity is limited by setting the thickness of the PET film to 100 μm or more.

As switch characteristics, a protrusion having a diameter of 5 to 30 mm was formed on a PET film, and the feel when the protrusion was pressed with a finger was evaluated by a sensory test. The range of pressing that feels pleasant depends on the thickness of the PET film, but a PET film having a thickness of 100 μm to 350 μm was suitable in the range of the diameter of the convex portion.

Further, when the thickness of the PET film which can tolerate the disturbance of the toner image at the time of molding the uneven shaped portion was evaluated, the image of the uneven shaped portion flowed in both the thin PET film and the thick PET film.

It was confirmed that the thickness of the PET film for improving all of the characteristics of the concave-convex shaped part, the switch characteristics and the change of the toner image is 100 μm to 188 μm, preferably 125 μm to 188 μm.

Next, a manufacturing method for manufacturing the above-mentioned image recording body for an operation panel will be described. In the first method, one surface of a transparent plastic film is roughened and an electrophotographic printer is used to form a toner layer of a toner image on the roughened surface of the plastic film.

Next, an ink layer is applied onto the toner layer by a method such as silk screen printing, roll coating or spray coating, and dried.

Next, a conductive ink pattern is printed on the ink layer so as to have a switch function.

The plastic film on which the conductive ink pattern has been printed is die-cut in the die-cutting step and cut into the size of the operation panel, and the conductive ink pattern is printed using an uneven molding device. The concavo-convex shaped portion is formed by the heat forming step so that the open side becomes the concave portion and the opposite side becomes the convex portion.
Either the die cutting or the molding of the uneven portion may be performed first.

In the above manufacturing method, a toner layer and an ink layer are sequentially formed on the roughened surface of the plastic film, and then a conductive film is formed on the surface of the plastic film opposite to the surface on which the toner layer and the ink layer are formed. The pattern of the ink may be printed, and the die cutting step and the heating step may be performed.

When an opaque plastic film is used, a toner layer and a transparent ink layer are sequentially formed on the roughened surface of the plastic film, and then the toner layer and the ink layer of the plastic film are molded. A pattern of a conductive ink is printed on the surface opposite to the surface, and a die cutting step and a heat molding step are performed to manufacture an image recording body for an operation panel.

The second method is to form a toner layer composed of a toner image on one surface of a transparent plastic film.

Next, the corona treatment or the heat treatment described above is performed on the formed toner layer.

Next, an ink layer is applied onto the treated toner layer by a method such as silk screen printing, roll coating or spray coating and dried.

Next, a conductive ink pattern is printed on the ink layer so as to have a switch function, and a die-cutting step and a heat-molding step of the uneven portion are performed.

In the above manufacturing method, after forming the toner layer on the plastic film, corona treatment or heat treatment is performed to form the ink layer on the upper surface of the toner layer, and then the toner layer and the ink layer of the plastic film are formed. A pattern of the conductive ink may be printed on the surface opposite to the formed surface, and the die cutting step and the heat molding step may be performed.

When an opaque plastic film is used, a toner layer subjected to corona treatment or heat treatment and an ink layer having transparency are sequentially formed on one surface of the plastic film, and then the toner layer and the ink of the plastic film are formed. A pattern of a conductive ink is printed on the surface opposite to the surface on which the layer is formed, and a die-cutting step and a forming step are performed to manufacture an image recording material for an operation panel.

[0091]

As described above, according to the first and second inventions, it is possible to print an image such as a photographic image which requires gradation reproducibility, and which is suitable for high-mix low-volume production. The effect that an image recording body can be provided is obtained.

Further, according to the third and fourth inventions, it is possible to efficiently use an image recording body for an operation panel which can print an image requiring gradation reproducibility such as a photographic image and which is suitable for high-mix low-volume production. The effect that a manufacturing method which can be manufactured well can be provided is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an image recording body for an operation panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A is a cross-sectional view of a concavo-convex shaped portion of the operation panel image recording body of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of a concavo-convex shaped portion of the operation panel image recording body according to another embodiment. , (C) are cross-sectional views of a concavo-convex shaped portion of the operation panel using the image recording body for the operation panel.

FIG. 3A is a sectional view of a concavo-convex shaped portion of a conventional operation panel image recording body, FIG. 3B is a sectional view of a concavo-convex shaped portion of another conventional operation panel image recording body, and FIG. 8] is a sectional view of a concavo-convex shaped portion of a conventional operation panel.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Printed circuit board section 12 electrodes 14A Uneven shaped part 14B Conductive ink pattern 14C plastic film part 14D silk screen ink layer 14 Image recorder for operation panel 20 plastic film 22 Uneven shaped part 23 Time setting section 24 Toner layer 24 Time setting section 26 Ink layer 28 Conductive ink pattern

Claims (20)

[Claims] 1. An image recording body for an operation panel, which comprises a film-shaped base and an image layer formed on the surface of the base by electrophotography. 2. The image recording material for an operation panel according to claim 1, further comprising a transparent protective coating layer coated on the image layer. 3. An image recording body for an operation panel, comprising a transparent film-like substrate and an image layer formed on the back surface of the substrate by electrophotography. 4. The image recording body for an operation panel according to claim 3, further comprising a protective coating layer coated on the image layer. 5. The image recording body for an operation panel according to claim 2, wherein the coating layer is an ink layer coated by being coated on the image layer. 6. The image according to claim 2, wherein the image is a toner image formed of toner, and the coating layer is composed of a member having higher heat resistance than the toner.
The image recording body for the operation panel described. 7. The image recording body for an operation panel according to claim 1, wherein an uneven portion is formed so that the image of the image layer can be visually observed from the convex portion side. 8. The image recording body for an operation panel according to claim 7, wherein a pattern of conductive ink is formed on the concave side of the uneven portion. 9. The film-shaped substrate has a thickness of 100 μm to 1
A plastic film having a thickness of 88 μm.
9. An image recording body for an operation panel according to any one of items 8 to 8. 10. The film-shaped substrate has a thickness of 125 μm or more.
A PET film having a thickness of 188 μm.
An image recording body for an operation panel according to any one of 1. 11. A step of roughening one surface of a film-like substrate, a step of forming an image layer on the roughened surface of the substrate by electrophotography, and a protective layer on the image layer. Of the coating layer, the step of forming a conductive ink pattern for providing a switch function, the image of the image layer is visible from the convex side, and the conductive ink pattern is present on the concave side. A method of manufacturing an image recording body for an operation panel, including a step of forming a concave-convex portion so as to be positioned. 12. A step of forming an image layer by electrophotography on one surface of a film-like substrate, a step of subjecting the formed image layer to corona treatment or heat treatment, and a corona-treated or heat treated image layer. A protective coating layer on top of it, a step of forming a pattern of conductive ink to give a switch function, the image of the image layer is visible from the convex side, and the conductive layer is conductive on the concave side. Forming a concavo-convex portion so that the pattern of the functional ink is positioned, and a method for producing an image recording body for an operation panel, including: 13. The method of manufacturing an image recording body for an operation panel according to claim 11, further comprising a step of punching the film-shaped substrate into a predetermined shape. 14. The operation according to claim 11, wherein the image is a toner image formed of toner, and the coating layer is composed of a member having higher heat resistance than the toner. Manufacturing method of image recording body for panel. 15. The film-shaped substrate has a thickness of 100 μm or more.
The method for producing an image recording body for an operation panel according to claim 11, which is a plastic film having a thickness of 188 μm. 16. The film-shaped substrate has a thickness of 125 μm or more.
A PET film having a thickness of 188 μm.
15. The method for producing an image recording body for an operation panel according to any one of 14. 17. A printed circuit board on which a switch electrode is printed, a film-shaped substrate, an image layer formed by electrophotography on the surface of the substrate, and a protective coating layer coated on the image layer. An uneven portion is formed so that the image of the image layer can be visually observed from the convex portion, and a conductive ink pattern is formed on the concave portion of the uneven portion, and the conductive ink pattern is formed on the switch electrode. An operation panel including: an image recording body for an operation panel, which is arranged at a predetermined distance from the printed circuit board so as to correspond thereto. 18. A printed board on which a switch electrode is printed, and a conductive ink pattern produced by the method for producing an image recording body for an operation panel according to any one of claims 11 to 16. An image recording body for an operation panel, which is arranged at a predetermined distance from the printed circuit board so as to correspond to the electrodes for use, and the operation panel. 19. The operation panel according to claim 17, wherein the image is a toner image formed of toner, and the coating layer is made of a member having higher heat resistance than the toner. 20. An electric device comprising the operation panel according to claim 17.