JPH04229291A - Support having microvoid for acceptor element to be used for thermal dye transfer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To develop a dye receiving of a support with high heat insulation effect and good dye thermal transfer efficiency. CONSTITUTION: In the dye receiving element used for a thermal dye transfer of a support having a dye image receiving layer on its surface, the support is brought at least part into contact with voids, and is made of a continuous layer of an oriented polymer matrix in which microbeads of a crosslinked polymer coated with a slip agent are dispersed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to dye-receiving elements for use in thermal dye transfer. More particularly, the present invention relates to a receiving element having a microvoided support.

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, thermal transfer systems have been developed for the purpose of printing images electrically produced by color video cameras. According to one of the methods developed,
First, separate the colors of the electrical image using a color filter,
Convert each color image into an electrical signal. Then, cyan, magenta, and yellow electrical signals are created from these electrical signals and sent to the thermal printer. For printing in a thermal printer, cyan, magenta and yellow dye-donor elements are superimposed on a dye-receiver element. These two elements are inserted between the thermal print head and the hot platen roller. Heat is applied from the back side of the dye donor sheet by a linear thermal printhead. The thermal print head has many heating elements and heats up intermittently in response to cyan, magenta and yellow signals. In this way, a color hard copy corresponding to the image on the screen is obtained. This process and an apparatus for carrying out this process are described in U.S. Pat. is described in more detail. Dye-receiving elements used in thermal dye transfer generally have a polymeric dye image-receiving layer coated on a support. The support must have sufficient strength, dimensional stability, and heat resistance, among other properties. In terms of reflectivity, it is preferable that the support be as white as possible. Attempts have been made to process cellulose paper, synthetic paper, plastic film, and the like to meet these requirements and use them as supports for dye-receiving elements. Recently, it has been proposed to use microvoided films prepared by stretching stretchable polymers of incompatible organic or inorganic materials in dye-receiving elements. U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,782 to Ito et al. discloses a support in which a translucent plastic film containing particulate fillers such as clay or mica is stretched to produce a microvoided film. There is. The presence of microvoids in this manner can reduce the density of the film, making it white and opaque. European Patent Application No. 0,322,771 discloses a support for a dye-receiving element consisting of polypropylene and micro-close cells formed in the film after stretching.

0003

However, with such conventional support production techniques, there is a problem in that it is difficult to produce a support with many microvoids. Increasing the number of microvoids is desirable because it increases the thermal insulation properties of the support, thereby improving dye transfer efficiency. For example, European Patent No. 0,32
Comparative Test 4 of No. 2,771 shows that the presence of a large number of microvoids in a stretched polyester/polypropylene film results in a lower specific gravity, lower mechanical strength, and increased susceptibility to breakage during stretching. There is. The lowest specific gravity support that can be used is described in Example 2 of the above-mentioned patent and has a specific gravity of 0.71.

It would be desirable to develop a dye image-receiving element for thermal dye transfer comprising a manufacturable microvoided support capable of increasing thermal transfer efficiency.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The object is to provide a dye-receiving element for use in thermal dye transfer comprising a support having a dye image-receiving layer on its surface, the support having at least a part of it in contact with voids. This has been achieved by the present invention, which provides a dye-receiving element consisting of a continuous layer of a stretched polymer matrix in which microbeads of cross-linked polymer coated with a slip agent are dispersed.

[0006] By coating cross-linked microbeads in combination with a slip agent, a support having a relatively large number of microvoids can be produced. Resilience and elasticity can be imparted by crosslinking microbead polymers. Furthermore, since the slip agent can improve the slippage between the microbeads and the matrix polymer, microvoids can be formed more effectively. In this way, films with high porosity can be prepared and materials with high thermal insulation properties can be obtained. It has been revealed that such a film has high dye transfer efficiency due to its high heat insulation properties and is effective when used for thermal dye transfer.

[0007] The receptor element of the present invention uses a support consisting of a continuous layer of thermoplastic polymer, at least partially bordering voids, in which microbeads of polymer are dispersed. Polymer microbeads are 2-30 microns,
It preferably has a size of 5 to 20 microns and is used in an amount of 5 to 50% by weight of the continuous layer polymer. The voids are less than 60% of the volume of the support, preferably 30%
It accounts for ~60%. If larger beads are used, more voids will be formed by stretching the support, but the surface of the support will be rougher. On the other hand, if you use small beads,
The surface of the support becomes smooth, but the void volume becomes relatively small. In order to obtain a support with a large void volume and a smooth surface, the support may be made of two layers. That is, first, in order to increase the volume of the void, a layer composed of relatively large beads is included in the support. This layer is then produced by coating with a smooth layer consisting of relatively small beads or containing no beads at all.

In one embodiment of the invention, generally spherical polymeric microbeads are cross-linked with sufficient resilience and elasticity such that the cross-linked polymer remains generally spherical after stretching of the matrix polymer. Included in matrix polymer. The supports of the present invention, without added additives or colorants, are pure white, resistant to scratching and abrasion, and resistant to moisture and oil.

[0009] The support is preferably a paper such as a sheet having a thickness of 50 to 300 microns. The support is also preferably produced by a biaxial stretching method well known to those skilled in the art.

The continuous layer polymer can be a variety of material-forming polymers, such as polyester, which can be cast into a film or sheet. When using polyester, the glass transition temperature is 50-1
50°C, preferably 60 to 100°C, is stretchable, and has an intrinsic viscosity of 0.5 or more, preferably 0.6 to 0.
．． 9 is preferably used. Preferred polyesters include those synthesized from aromatic, aliphatic or alicyclic dicarboxylic acids having 4 to 20 carbon atoms and aliphatic or alicyclic glycols having 2 to 24 carbon atoms. Preferred dicarboxylic acids are terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, phthalic acid, naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, azelaic acid, sebacic acid, fumaric acid, maleic acid, itaconic acid, and 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid. acids, such as sodiosulfoisophthalic acid and mixtures thereof. Preferred glycols are ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butanediol, pentanediol, hexanediol,
These include 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol, diethylene glycol, other polyethylene glycols, and mixtures thereof. These polyesters are well known to those skilled in the art and can be synthesized, for example, by well-known methods described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,465,319 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,901,466. A preferred continuous layer is one having repeating units of terephthalic acid or naphthalene dicarboxylic acid and one or more glycols such as ethylene glycol, 1,4-butanediol, or 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol. Among these, poly(ethylene terephthalate), which may be modified with a small amount of other monomers, is particularly preferred. Polypropylene is also useful. Other preferred polyesters include liquid crystalline polyesters formed by including a suitable amount of a co-acid component such as stilbene carboxylic acid. Examples of such liquid crystal copolyesters are disclosed in U.S. Pat.
420,607, 4,459,402, 4,4
No. 68,510.

Crosslinked polymers suitable for use as microbeads are the following compounds: Structure below

001
2]

(Here, Ar is a benzene-based aromatic hydrocarbon atomic group or an aromatic halogenated hydrocarbon,
R is hydrogen or methyl);

[0014]

(Here, R is hydrogen or carbon number 1
~12 alkyl and R' is hydrogen or methyl); copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinylidene chloride, acrylonitrile, vinyl chloride, vinyl bromide, structure below

[0016]

(wherein R is alkyl having 2 to 18 carbon atoms), acrylic acid,
Methacrylic acid, itaconic acid, citraconic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid, oleic acid, vinylbenzoic acid, terephthalic acid and dialkyl terephthalic acid or their ester-forming derivatives are combined with HO(CH2)nOH (herein, n
is an integer from 2 to 10),
A synthetic polyester resin that has a reactive double bond in its molecule, or a synthetic polyester resin that has a reactive double bond in its molecule.
The above polyester copolymerized with less than 20% by weight of a second acid or its ester, and divinylbenzene,
It consists of a crosslinking agent selected from the group consisting of diethylene glycol dimethacrylate, diallyl fumarate, diallyl phthalate, and mixtures thereof.

Typical monomers for crosslinked polymer synthesis include styrene, butyl acrylate, acrylamide, acrylonitrile, methyl methacrylate, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, vinyl pyridine, vinyl acetate, methyl acrylate, vinyl benzyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, and acrylic acid. , divinylbenzene, arylamidomethylpropanesulfonic acid, vinyltoluene, etc. Preferably, the crosslinked polymer is polystyrene or poly(methyl methacrylate). Among them,
Most preferably polystyrene is used with the crosslinker divinylbenzene.

Conventional methods, well known to those skilled in the art, result in non-uniform particles having a wide range of sizes. The resulting beads can be screened for beads having an initial particle size distribution. Suspension polymerization and ultimate agglomeration (li)
Particles of fairly uniform size can be directly obtained using methods such as mitered coalescence. Suitable slip agents include colloidal silica,
These include colloidal alumina and metal oxides such as tin oxide and aluminum oxide. Among them, colloidal silica and colloidal alumina are preferred, and colloidal silica is most preferred. Crosslinked polymers coated with slip agents can be prepared by methods well known to those skilled in the art. For example, a conventional suspension polymerization method in which a slip agent is added to the suspension is preferred. As the slip agent at this time, it is preferable to use colloidal silica.

Preferably, a limited aggregation method is used to prepare the coated and crosslinked polymeric microbeads. Details of this method can be found in U.S. Patent No. 3,615,972.
listed in the number. However, the coated microbeads used in the present invention are prepared without the blowing agents described in this patent.

An example of a method for preparing crosslinked polymeric microbeads coated with a slip agent is described below. The polymer in this example is polystyrene crosslinked with divinylbenzene and the microbeads are coated with silica. Droplets of monomer containing an initiator are metered and heated to form solid polymer particles having the same size. The aqueous phase is 7
liter of distilled water, 1.5 g of potassium dichromate (aqueous phase polymerization terminator), 250 g of adipic polymethylaminoethanol (promoter), and 350 g of L
Prepared by mixing UDOXTM (DuPont's 50% Silica Colloidal Suspension). Monomer phase: 3317g styrene, 1421g
divinylbenzene (55% active crosslinker and 45% ethylvinylbenzene forming part of the styrene polymer chain)
and 45% VAZO52TM (a DuPont monomer soluble initiator). This mixture is made into 5 micron droplets by passing it through a homogenizer. The suspension is heated to 52° C. overnight to obtain 4.3 kg of approximately spherical microbeads (average size 5 microns, narrow particle size distribution 2-10 microns). The molar ratio of styrene and ethylvinylbenzene to divinylbenzene is about 6.1%. The concentration of divinylbenzene is adjusted so that the degree of crosslinking by the crosslinking agent is 2.5 to 50% (
(preferably 10 to 40%). Of course, moimers other than styrene and divinylbenzene can be used in similar suspension polymerizations well known to those skilled in the art. Other initiators and promoters known to those skilled in the art can also be used. Additionally, slip agents other than silica can also be used. For example, various LUDOX™ colloidal silicas from DuPont, LEPANDINT™ colloidal alumina from Degussa, NALCOAG™ from Nalco, tin oxide, and titanium oxide can also be used.

Crosslinking is common in order to obtain polymers with favorable physical properties such as resilience. In the case of styrene crosslinked with divinylbenzene, the polymer is 2.5-50% crosslinked, preferably 20-40%. Here, % crosslinking means mol% of crosslinking agent relative to the main monomer. Such a limited crosslinking method makes it possible to prepare microbeads with such cohesive properties that they are not damaged during stretching of the dispersed polymer. Such cross-linked beads are still highly elastic, and even if they are stretched and deformed (flattened) by pressing a matrix polymer on the opposite side of the microbeads, they will return to their original spherical shape and form the largest voids around the microbeads. formation, thereby reducing the density of the product.

[0023] In this specification, microbeads refer to those coated with a slip agent. By coating with a slip agent in this manner, the friction on the surface of the microbeads is considerably reduced. In fact, it is believed that this is because the silica acts as a small ball bearing on the microbead surface. Slip agents can also be included in the suspension polymerization mix and coated onto the surface of the microbeads during preparation.

The size of the microbeads is adjusted by varying the ratio of silica to monomer. for example,
By changing the ratio, you can get results like the table below.

Microbead size Monomer
Slip agent (silica)
(micron) (parts by weight)
(parts by weight)
2
10.4
1 5
27.0
1 20
42.4
1. The support used in the present invention can be manufactured by the following method.

(a) creating a mixture of a molten continuous matrix polymer and a crosslinked polymer, where the crosslinked polymer is a number of microbeads heterogeneously dispersed in the matrix polymer, and the matrix polymer and the crosslinked polymer are as described above; (b) forming a shaped body from the mixture by extrusion, injection molding or molding; (c) stretching the shaped body by stretching, with microbeads of cross-linked polymer being uniformly dispersed throughout the shaped body; The microbead can be manufactured through steps of forming a void in which at least a portion of the surface of the microbead is in contact with each other in the direction of stretching.

The mixture can also be made by melting the matrix polymer and mixing the crosslinked polymer therein. The crosslinked polymer can also be solid or semi-solid microbeads. Because the matrix polymer and crosslinked polymer are incompatible with each other, there is no agglomeration or sticking between these materials. These materials are therefore dispersed non-uniformly within the matrix polymer upon mixing.

[0028] When the microbeads are non-uniformly dispersed within the matrix polymer, a molded body is produced by methods such as extrusion, injection molding or molding. For example, films or sheets can be made by extrusion or injection molding, or molded into blow molds and reheated. Such molding methods are well known to those skilled in the art. When forming a film or sheet by extrusion or injection, it is important to stretch the molded product in at least one direction. Methods of forming sheets or films that are oriented in one or two directions are well known to those skilled in the art. Basically, such a process consists of stretching the sheet or film at least in the machine or longitudinal direction after extrusion or injection molding to 1.5 to 10 times its original size. The sheet or film may be processed in the original 1.
It can also be stretched 5 to 10 times (usually 3 to 4 times when polyester is used, and usually 6 to 10 times when polypropylene is used). The instruments and equipment used for this operation are well known to those skilled in the art and are also described in US Pat. No. 3,903,234.

Voids, herein defined as spaces surrounding microbeads within a continuous matrix polymer, become larger at temperatures above the Tg of the matrix polymer. Cross-linked polymer microbeads are more rigid than continuous matrix polymers. Also, since the microbeads and matrix polymer are mutually incompatible and immiscible, the continuous matrix polymer slides over the microbeads as it expands. Therefore, voids are formed in the direction of stretching. In this way, the final shape and size of voids depend on the direction and degree of stretching. When stretched in only one direction, microvoids are formed on the stretching direction side of the microbeads. Further, when stretched in two directions, the stretching has vector components extending radially from a specific location, and doughnut-shaped voids surrounding each microvoid are formed.

The dye image-receiving layer used in the dye-receiving element of the invention may be composed of, for example, polycarbonate, polyurethane, polyester, polyvinyl chloride, poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile), poly(caprolactone) or mixtures thereof. Good too. The dye image-receiving layer may be used in any amount that can effectively accomplish the intended purpose. Generally, the concentration is 1-5 g/m
A value of 2 gives good results. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the dye image-receiving layer is polycarbonate. The term "polycarbonate" as used herein refers to polyesters of carboxylic acids and glycols or dihydric phenols. Examples of such glycols or dihydric phenols include p-xylene glycol, 2,2-bis(4-oxyphenyl)propane, bis(4-oxyphenyl)methane, 1,1-bis(4-oxyphenyl) ) ethane, 1,1-bis(4-oxyphenyl)butane, 1,1-bis(4-oxyphenyl)cyclohexane, 2,2-bis(oxyphenyl)butane, and the like. In a preferred embodiment, bisphenol-A having an average molecular weight of 25,000 or more
Use polycarbonate. A preferred polycarbonate is General Electric's LEXANTM.
Polycarbonate resin and Bayer AG's MACROLO
N 5700TM can be mentioned.

The dye-donating element that can be used in the dye-receiving element of the present invention comprises a support having a dye-containing layer on its surface. Any dye that can be thermally transferred to the dye-receiving element can be used in the dye-donor element used in the present invention. In particular, commonly used thermal transfer dyes such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,830 and the formula

[0032]

Good results can be obtained by using a sublimable dye represented by: The above dyes may be used alone or in combination of two or more. The amount of dye used is 0.
05 to 1 g/m2. It is also preferred to use hydrophobic dyes.

The dye in the dye-donor element is dispersed in a polymeric binder. Such polymer binders include cellulose derivatives (cellulose acetate hydrogen phthalate, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate propionate, cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose triacetate, etc.), polycarbonate, poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile), poly(sulfone). and poly(phenylene oxide). The binder can be used at 0.1-5 g/m2.

The dye layer of the dye-donor element may be printed by a printing method such as gravure printing, or may be coated on a support.

The backside of the dye-donor element can be coated with a slip layer to prevent the printhead from sticking to the dye-donor layer. Such a slip layer may contain lubricants such as surfactants, liquid lubricants, solid lubricants or mixtures thereof. Also, a polymeric binder may or may not be used. The amount of lubricant that can be used in the slip layer depends largely on the type of lubricant, but is generally between 0.001 and 2 g/m2. When a polymeric binder is used, the lubricant is used in an amount of 0.1 to 50% by weight, preferably 0.5 to 40% by weight of the polymeric binder.

As mentioned above, the dye-donor and dye-receiver elements used in the present invention are used to form dye images. The method of image formation consists of transferring the dye image by heating the dye-donor element in an imagewise manner as described above and transferring the dye image to the dye-receiving element.

The dye-donor element can be used in sheet form, a continuous roll or a ribbon. When made into a continuous roll or ribbon, only a single dye may be applied to the surface, or different dyes such as sublimable cyan, magenta, yellow, and black as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,830 may be applied. The dye may be applied repeatedly to the area. Such single color, two color, three color, four color (and more multicolor) elements are all within the scope of the present invention.

In a preferred embodiment, the dye-donor element consists of a poly(ethylene terephthalate) support coated with consecutive repeating areas of cyan, magenta and yellow dyes. The above steps are then performed for each color to form three-color dye transfer images on the auxiliary dye-receiving element.

Thermal printheads used to transfer dye from the dye-donor element to the auxiliary dye-receiver element are commercially available. For example, Fujitsu thermal head (FTP-040 MCS001), TDK thermal head F415 HH7-1089, or Rohm thermal head KE2008-F3 can be used.

The assemblage for thermal dye transfer consists of a) the dye donating element described above and b) the dye receiving element described above. The dye-receiving element is superimposed on the dye-donor element such that its dye image-receiving layer is in contact with the dye-donor layer of the dye-donor element.

The dye thermal transfer assembly consisting of these two elements may be integrated in advance when a monochromatic image is to be drawn. Integration can also be achieved by temporarily gluing the edges of the two elements. After transferring the image, the dye-donor element will be peeled off to expose the dye image.

When drawing a three-color image, the dye thermal transfer assemblage described above is formed three times while heat is being supplied from the thermal print head. After making the first dye transfer, peel off the element and use the second dye donor element (or a different dye area on the same dye donor element).
is placed on the dye-receiving element to thermally transfer the dye. Repeat this operation one more time to draw a three-color image.

The present invention will be further explained below with reference to Examples.

[0045]

[Example] (1) Preparation of support with microvoids 2
An extrusion molding machine (Welders Eng) heated to 82°C.
inering Twin Screw Compo
Polystyrene microbeads (size, % crosslinking, and coating with lubricant are shown in the table below) and polystyrene microbeads (size, % crosslinking, and coating with lubricant are shown in the table below) using a
Ethylene terephthalate) (sold under the name PET by Eastman Chemical) was mixed. Both ingredients were weighed and placed into a blender. One pass was sufficient to disperse the beads in the PET matrix.

The above bead/PET injection sheet with a smooth layer of poly(ethylene terephthalate)
illion Sample Coextruder
System (1 to create beads/PET melt flow)
．． Using a 5-inch Killion Extruder, melt flow of a smooth layer of PET was performed.
Both were extruded using an inch Killion Extruder). The two melt streams at 282°C were placed into a single 7 inch coat hanger mold and the dye was also heated to 282°C. When the extruded sheet emerged from the dye, it was transferred onto a quench roll at 55°C. The final size of the continuous injection sheet is 18 cm wide and 127 cm thick.
It was set to 0 micron. Bead/PET layer thickness is 1016
In microns, the thickness of the PET smooth layer was 254 microns.

[0047] The resulting sheet (18cm x 18cm) is
Model BIX at 50mm/sec at 110℃
7025 sample stretcher (Iwamoto Seisakusho), it was first stretched 3.75 times in the X direction and then 3.5 times in the Y direction. The stretched sheet was annealed at 117-122° C. for 90 seconds, cooled to room temperature, and then removed from the stretcher.

A support with microvoids having the composition shown below was prepared. The thickness of the PET smooth layer on each support was approximately 20 microns after stretching.

[0049]
Table 1

beads crosslinking
Lubricant bead size
(Weight%) (%) Coating (micron) E-1
17 30 Silica 2E-2
20 5
Alumina 2E-3
5 30
Silica 5E-4
20 30
Silica 10E-5
25 30
Silica 10

Table 2

Support thickness Support concentration
Void ratio (microns) (g/cm3)
(%) E-1
144 1.03
25E-2
158 1.01
27E-3 177
0.84
43E-4 230
0.67
54E-5 297
0.59 5
9 The void ratio was calculated assuming a PET concentration of approximately 1.4 g/cm 3 and a polystyrene concentration of approximately 1 g/cm 3 .

The following three types of supports were also studied.

C-1: Eastman Radiogra
phic Intensifying Screen (
A support of poly(ethylene terephthalate) containing about 8% titanium dioxide with a thickness of 180 microns and a density of 1.41 g/cm3, without microvoids) C-2:I
CI's MELINEX571TM (no microvoids, 180 micron thickness and 1.35 g/cm density)
C-3: Oji Yuka Synthetic Paper YU
PO FPG150TM (polypropylene support without microvoids and containing about 18% polypropylene with a thickness of 150 microns and a density of 0.78 g/cm3) (2) Preparation of the dye-donor element Smoothness of the support with microvoids The side was first coated with a layer of poly(acrylonitrile-co-vinylidene chloride-co-acrylic acid) from butanone (weight ratio 14:80:6). On top of this layer, Buyer AG's MAKROLON 5700TM
(Bisphenol A polycarbonate) (2.9g/m
2), 3M FLUORAD FC-431TM (fluorinated surfactant) (0.02 g/m2) and Dow Corning DC-510TM silicone fluid (0.01
g/m2) from methylene chloride. Control supports were each coated with an identical dye-receiving layer.

(3) Preparation of Dye-Donor Element A cyan dye-donor element was prepared by coating dye layers in sequence onto a 6 μm thick poly(ethylene terephthalate) support.

1) DuPont TYZORTBTTM Titanium Tetra n coated from 1-butanol
- Butoxide (0.12 g/m2) subbing layer 2) Cellulose acetate butyrate (coated from a mixed solvent of cyclopentanone, toluene and methanol)
17% acetyl and 28% butyryl) binder (0.6
The following structure in 6g/m2)

[0054]

Cyan dye (0.42g/m2) with
, Shamrock Technology's S-363TM (ultra-fine blend of hydrocarbon wax particles) (0.016g/
m2) Add a magenta dye donor element to a dye layer of 6 μm thick in order.
prepared by coating on a support of poly(ethylene terephthalate) m.

1) DuPont TYZORTBTTM coated from 1-butanol (0.12 g/m2)
2) Structure below in cellulose acetate butyrate (17% acetyl and 28% butyryl) binder (0.40 g/m2) coated from a mixed solvent of cyclopentanone, toluene and methanol:

[0057]

A dye-donor element having a magenta dye, S-363TM (micronized blend of hydrocarbon wax particles) from Shamrock Technology (0.016 g/m2) was coated with the following layers.

1) DuPont TYZORTBTTM coated from 1-butanol (0.12 g/m2)
Undercoat layer 2) Axon colloid EMRALON 329TM coated from a mixed solvent consisting of n-propyl acetate, toluene, 2-propanol and 1-butanol.
Polytetrafluoroethylene dry film lubricant (0.
59g/m2) Petrarch System PS-513TM (
amino-terminated polydimethylsiloxane) (0.005g/
m2), BYK-Chemie's BYK-320TM (polyoxyalkylene siloxane) (0.005g/m2) and Shamrock Technology's S-232TM (ultra-fine blend of polyethylene and carbana wax) (0.016g/m2) (4) Evaluation of Dye Transfer The dye image side of cyan and magenta dye-donor strips having an area of approximately 9 cm x 12 cm was brought into contact with the image-receiving layer of a dye-receiving element in the same area. This assemblage was fixed to the jaws of a take-up device driven by a stepper motor, and placed on a rubber roller with a diameter of 14 mm. TDK thermal head L-133 (No.6-2R1
6-1) was pressed with a force of 3.6 kg from the donor element side toward the rubber roller using a spring.

[0060] The image forming electronic system works to increase the assemblage between the print head and the roller by 3.1 mm/3.1 mm.
I picked it up in seconds. At the same time, the resistive elements of the thermal print head were pulsed for each pixel with a pulse width of 8 milliseconds to draw a maximum density image. The voltage supplied to the print head was about 25 V, which was about 1.6 W/dot (13 mJ/dot).

After printing the maximum density dye image, the dye-receiving element was separated from the dye-donor element. Status A green transfer density from the magenta dye donor element and Status A red transfer density from the cyan dye donor element were measured before and after dye transfer. It can be seen that when the change in transfer density is large, the amount of dye transferred to the receiving element is large and the transfer efficiency is high.

[0062]
Table 3

magenta dye concentration
Concentration of cyan dye Support
Before transcription After transcription Change
Before transcription Before transcription Change C-1
1.7 1.1 0.6
2.0 1.4 0.6
C-2 1.7 0.9 0.
8 2.0 1.2
0.8C-3 1.7 0.7
1.0 2.0 1.0
1.0E-1 1.7 0.7
1.0 2.0 0.8
1.2E-2 1.7
0.7 1.0 2.0
0.9 1.1E-3 1.7
0.6 1.1 2.0
0.7 1.3E-4 1.7
0.6 1.1 2
．． 0 0.6 1.4E-5
1.7 0.6 1.1
2.0 0.6 1.4 The above results indicate that the use of the receiving element for thermal dye transfer of the present invention allows more dye to be transferred from the dye donor element used in combination, which is efficient. It is shown that.

[0063]

Effects of the Invention By coating a combination of crosslinked microbeads and a lubricant, a support having a relatively large number of microbeads can be prepared. Such a film is particularly effective when used for thermal dye transfer because of its excellent heat insulating effect, which increases dye transfer efficiency.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A dye-receiving element used for thermal dye transfer, comprising a support having a dye image-receiving layer on its surface, the support having at least a part of it in contact with voids and coated with a slip agent. A dye-receiving element consisting of a continuous layer of an oriented polymer matrix in which microbeads of cross-linked polymer are dispersed.