JPH03221484A - Printing method and printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve high accuracy by curing only a portion of ink applied to a picture element section of an intaglio plate and in contact with the recesses of said plate, and applying thereafter printing to a base board. CONSTITUTION:A planar intaglio plate 8 is composed of resin which transmits light and comprises picture sections 1 and non-picture sections 2, whereby ink 5, which is cured by application of light, is applied to the sections 1 by means of a roller 9. When light is applied to the ink 5 by means of an ultraviolet lamp 10 from the side of the plate where picture sections are not formed, the ink in contact with the wall of the sections begins to be cured, whereupon volumetric contraction of ink occurs, so that forces act on the ink so as to separate it from the wall, while curing of the surface of the ink, not in contact with the plate, is still in process. When a glass board 6 is engaged with the plate 8 to perform printing by moving a pressure roller 11, the surface of the ink is attached to the board 6. When the plate 8 is separated from the board 6, the ink is easily separated from the plate 8, so that the configurations of the recesses of the picture sections are precisely formed on the board 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention is a printing method applicable to manufacturing precision patterns for color filters, etc. used in liquid crystal color television cameras, color cameras, color display devices, etc., and color imaging devices. It is related to.

Conventional technology Generally, color filters used in color televisions, color cameras, etc. have pixels of three colors such as green, blue, etc. arranged in stripes or matrix. A thin black stripe or grid (orthogonal lattice) is placed in between.

Conventionally, there are methods for manufacturing such color filters (methods in which photosensitive gelatin is patterned and then dyed, and methods in which light-sensitive colored photoresist in which pigments are dispersed are patterned).These methods require a photolithography process. In contrast to these methods, in order to reduce the number of steps, intaglio printing is also used.As shown in Figure 6, this method involves printing the image area in advance by photolithography. Intaglio plate 3 in which (grooves) and non-image areas 2 (other than grooves) are formed.
This is a method in which this is wound around and attached to the plate cylinder 4, ink 5 is applied to the image area 1 of the intaglio plate, and then the plate is pressed against the glass substrate 6 to transfer the ink.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in this case, although the number of steps is reduced, the pattern accuracy and film thickness flatness are poor. As shown in Fig. 6, the ink 5 applied to the printing area 1 of the intaglio plate is
The plate and the board are stretched together and cause splitting.
The surface of the ink film 7 transferred onto the glass substrate 6 becomes uneven, and for the same reason, even a flat pattern (not shown) cannot be printed according to the pattern. This is thought to be due to the presence of adhesive properties between them.

Another disadvantage of the conventional method is that the amount of ink remaining on the printing lines without being transferred is the amount of ink that remains on the printed lines.If printing is continued for a long time, the viscosity increases due to changes over time.In some cases, this ink may transfer to the glass substrate, resulting in extreme A thick film may be formed on the surface of the ink, or the ink deposits may return to the rollers, etc., resulting in poor ink deposition.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention solves the above problems. After applying photocurable ink to an intaglio plate, printing is performed by curing the ink in the portion that contacts the inner wall of the image area.

Function The present invention uses the method described above to transfer ink in the image area to a glass substrate faithfully following the shape of the recessed portion without leaving any ink present in the image area on the print.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the printing method of the present invention.

In FIG. 1(a), a flat intaglio plate 8 is made of a thick resin, such as acrylic resin, that transmits light at the wavelength sensitive to the photocurable ink used, and has a printed area 1 and a non-printed area 2. It is formed by photolithography.

11(b) shows a state in which photocurable ink 5 is applied to the image area 1 by the inking roller 9.The surface of the non-image area 2 is ink repellent, Ink does not stick.

In FIG. 1(c), the ink 5 deposited on the image area 1 is irradiated with light from the side of the intaglio plate where the image area is not formed by an ultraviolet lamp 10 containing light at the wavelength to which the ink is sensitive.

Therefore, the ink 5 begins to harden from the portion that is in contact with the inner wall of the printed line portion. At this time, the ink changes from a monomer state to a polymer state, causing volumetric contraction. Therefore, a force acts on the ink 5 to try to separate it from the inner wall of the print area.

Ink 5 is a colored ink containing pigments and has low light transmittance, so the surface that is not in contact with the printing plate is not hardened (t.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1(d), an intaglio plate 3 is placed on a glass substrate 6.
When the pressure roller 1 is rotated over the entire surface of the intaglio and printing is performed, the surface of the ink 5 adheres to the uncured glass substrate 6. Next, when the intaglio plate is peeled off from the glass substrate, the part of the ink 5 that was in contact with the inner wall of the image area (because there is a force trying to separate the ink 5 from the inner wall of the image area, the ink 5 and the plate 8 easily separate). is peeled off, and the shape of the concave part of the image area is almost faithfully copied onto the glass substrate.
The film thickness is flat, and the ink film 7a exactly as the plate can be reproduced on a plane. (Figure 1 (e)) Also, since no ink remains on the plate side, new ink is always supplied to the plate, allowing stable printing.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a printing apparatus that implements the above-described printing method. The figure shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the printing device. The configuration and operation of this printing apparatus will be explained below based on the drawings.

A flat plate-like intaglio plate is attached to a holding frame 12 with appropriate tension with the printed line facing down.The holding frame 12 can be moved from side to side with the plate attached. 9 is an inking roller. , ink 5 is supplied to the printing area of the intaglio plate.
When the ink supply ends, it moves downward and away from the intaglio. Reference numeral 10 denotes an ultraviolet lamp, which irradiates light over the entire upper surface of the transparent intaglio after ink is supplied to the intaglio.

After the irradiation is completed and the ink in contact with the inner wall of the image area is cured, the holding frame 12 slides to the right and moves onto the glass substrate 6, which is the substrate to be printed, placed on the printing table 13 (Fig. (The position is indicated by the mid-dotted line).

This unit's ultraviolet lamp is blocked by a shutter, etc., so that no light hits the inking roller. Next, a pressure roller 11 applies pressure to the intaglio plate from above to transfer the ink onto the glass substrate 6.

In the embodiments described above, the same effect can be obtained by using a flat pressure plate, squeegee, etc. in addition to the cylindrical pressure roller 11 as the pressure means.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a method of printing by bringing the ink deposited on the image area of the intaglio plate into contact with the printing material and applying pressure while simultaneously irradiating the ink with light.

FIG. 3(a) shows a state in which a photocurable ink is applied to the image area of the intaglio plate and then brought into contact with a glass substrate.

In FIG. 3(b), a transparent glass roller 15 containing an ultraviolet lamp 14 is pressed against the side of the intaglio plate 8 on which the image area is not formed, pressure is applied, and the plate is rotated while being irradiated with light. It is in a state of being

The ink 5 begins to harden from the surface that is in contact with the inner wall of the image area. At this time, the ink changes from a monomer state to a polymer state, causing volumetric contraction. Therefore, a force acts on the ink 5 to try to separate it from the inner wall of the print area. On the other hand, the portion of the ink 5 that is in contact with the glass substrate is not yet cured. Therefore, the ink 5 is strongly pressed against the glass substrate by the pressure of the roller 15 and adheres to the glass substrate. After rotating the roller over the entire surface of the intaglio plate, when the intaglio plate is peeled off from the glass substrate, the part that was in contact with the inner wall of the image area of the ink 5 (
Since the ink 5 and the printing plate 8 are easily separated because there is a force trying to separate them from the image area 1, the shape of the concave part of the image area is almost faithfully copied onto the glass substrate 6, and the film thickness is The ink film 7a is flat, and the ink film 7a can be reproduced exactly as the plate. (Figure 3 (C)) Also, since no ink remains on the plate side, new ink is always supplied to the plate, allowing stable printing.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a printing device that implements the above-described printing method. The figure shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the printing device.

The configuration and operation of the apparatus of this embodiment will be explained below based on the drawings. The flat intaglio plate is attached to the holding frame 12 with appropriate tension. The holding frame 12 is movable left and right with the plate attached thereto. Reference numeral 9 denotes an ink applying roller, which supplies ink to the image area of the intaglio plate. After ink is supplied to the intaglio plate, the holding frame 12 moves to the right and moves onto the glass substrate 6, which is the printing material placed on the printing table 13 (indicated by a dotted line in the figure). 15 is an ultraviolet lamp 14
This is a glass roller with a built-in roller, and by rotating it, it presses the entire top surface of the intaglio and simultaneously irradiates the ink with light.

FIG. 5 is a partially broken plan view of the glass roller 15. An ultraviolet lamp 14 is attached inside a cylindrical transparent glass tube 16. The ultraviolet lamp can rotate integrally with the cylinder 16. 17 is a holding shaft for holding the cylinder 16. The holding shaft can be given rotational motion from the outside via a gear or a belt, and the holding shaft is provided with a slip ring 18 for supplying voltage to the ultraviolet lamp.

In addition to a roller with a built-in ultraviolet lamp, a flat pressure plate is used as a means of pressurization and heating.
It is also possible to irradiate the pressure plate from above with an ultraviolet lamp.

In addition, in the above embodiment, when it is desired to change the film thickness of the printing ink film (the bottom of the intaglio was flat), by forming the bottom of the intaglio in this way, the thickness of the film can be adjusted faithfully to the cross section of the intaglio. Printing with variations is also possible.

Effects of the Invention The present invention is as described above.After the ink applied to the pixel portion of the intaglio plate is cured only in the portion that is in contact with the concave portion of the plate, printing is performed on the substrate. High-precision printing becomes possible, and therefore color filters with fine patterns used in color televisions and the like can be provided at low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 4 are explanations of a printing method and apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a partially broken view showing a glass roller according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a conventional printing method. This is a process diagram.

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) A process of holding the intaglio plate in a flat plate shape and applying photocurable ink to the print line area of the plate, irradiating light at the ink-sensitive wavelength to harden the ink that is in contact with the inner wall of the print line area. A printing method comprising the steps of bringing the ink in the image area into contact with the printing substrate and applying pressure from the side of the intaglio plate where the image area is not formed to transfer the ink. (2) Hold the intaglio plate in a flat plate shape, apply ink to the intaglio plate using an inking roller, and apply the ink applied to the image area of the intaglio plate to the side where the image area of the intaglio plate is not formed. A printing device comprising means for irradiating light at an ink-sensitive wavelength from the substrate, and further comprising a plate pressure mechanism that brings ink in an image area into contact with a printing material and presses it. (3) A step of holding the intaglio plate in a flat plate shape and applying photocurable ink to the image area of the plate, bringing the ink in the image area into contact with the substrate, and ensuring that the image area of the plate is not formed. A printing method that consists of applying pressure from the side and at the same time curing the ink that is in contact with the inner wall of the print line area by irradiating light at the wavelength to which the ink is sensitive. (4) The intaglio plate is held in a flat plate shape, ink can be applied to the intaglio plate by an inking roller, and at the same time, the ink in the intaglio image area is brought into contact with the printing material and pressurized, and at the same time, the ink is applied to the intaglio image area. A printing device consisting of a pressure means that can irradiate light at an ink-sensitive wavelength from the side where no ink is formed. (5) The printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the pressurizing means is a glass roller that is rotatable and equipped with an ultraviolet lamp inside to emit light.