JPH06102390B2 - Microvoided support for receiving elements used in thermal dye transfer - Google Patents

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 specifically, the present invention relates to a receiving element having a support with microvoids.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, thermal transfer systems have been developed for the purpose of printing electrically produced images with color video cameras. According to one of the developed methods,
First, the color of the electric image is divided by the color filter,
The image of each color is converted into an electric signal. After that, cyan, magenta, and yellow electrical signals are generated from these electrical signals and the electrical signals are sent to the thermal printer. Cyan, magenta and yellow dye-donor elements are superposed on the dye-receiving element for printing in a thermal printer. These two elements are inserted between the thermal print head and the 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 the cyan, magenta and yellow signals. Thus
A color hard copy corresponding to the image on the screen is obtained. This step and the apparatus for carrying out this step are described in US Pat.
No. 621,271 (November 4, 1986). Dye-receiving elements used in dye thermal 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. From the viewpoint of reflectivity, it is preferable that the support be white as much as possible. It has been attempted to process cellulose paper, synthetic paper, plastic film and the like so as to satisfy these conditions and use them as a support for a dye receiving element. Recently, it has been proposed to use a film having microvoids prepared by stretching a stretchable polymer made of an incompatible organic material or inorganic material in a dye receiving element. Ito et al. U.S. Pat.
No. 8,782 discloses a support which is prepared by stretching a semitransparent plastic film containing a particulate filler such as clay or mica to form a film having microvoids. The presence of such microvoids allows the film to be less dense and whiter and opaque. European Patent Application No. 0,322,771 discloses a support for a dye receiving element consisting of polypropylene and micro-dense cells formed in the film after stretching.

[0003]

However, such a conventional support manufacturing technique has a problem that it is difficult to manufacture a support having many microvoids. Increasing the number of microvoids is desirable in that the heat insulating property of the support can be enhanced, and thereby the dye transfer efficiency can be improved. For example, European Patent No. 0,32
Comparative test 4 of 2,771 shows that the presence of a large number of microvoids in a polyester / polypropylene stretched film reduces the specific gravity, lowers the mechanical strength, and makes it more susceptible to damage during stretching. There is. The lowest specific gravity support that can be used is described in Example 2 of the above patent and has a specific gravity of 0.71.

It has been desired to develop a dye image-receiving element for dye thermal transfer which comprises a manufacturable microvoid support which can increase the thermal transfer efficiency.

[0005]

The object is a dye-receiving element for use in thermal dye transfer, which comprises a support having a dye image-receiving layer on the surface thereof, the support being at least partly in contact with a void. , Colloidal silica, colloid
Selected from the group consisting of particulate alumina, tin oxide and titanium oxide.
It was achieved by the present invention to provide a dye-receiving element comprising a continuous layer of a stretched polymer matrix having microbeads of cross-linked organic polymer coated with an optional slip agent dispersed therein.

By coating the crosslinked microbeads and the slip agent in combination, a support having a relatively large number of microvoids can be produced. Crosslinking microbead polymers can provide resilience and elasticity. In addition, since the slip agent can improve the slippage between the microbeads and the matrix polymer, microvoids can be formed more effectively. Thus, a film having a high porosity can be prepared to obtain a material having a high heat insulating property. It has been revealed that such a film has a high heat insulating property and thus has a good dye transfer efficiency, and is effective when used for a thermal dye transfer.

The receiving element of the present invention employs a support consisting of a continuous layer of thermoplastic polymer, at least a portion of which is in contact with the voids and in which the polymeric microbeads 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 weight of the continuous layer polymer.
The voids are less than 60% of the volume of the support, preferably 30
Occupy ~ 60%. If larger beads are used, more voids will be formed by stretching the support, but the surface of the support will be rough. Conversely, if you use small beads,
The surface of the support becomes smooth, but the void volume becomes relatively small. The support may have two layers in order to obtain a support having a large void volume and a smooth surface. That is, first, a layer including relatively large beads is included in the support in order to increase the void volume. This layer is then made by coating with a smooth layer that consists of relatively small beads or contains no beads.

In one embodiment of the invention, cross-linked, substantially spherical polymeric microbeads are provided that have sufficient resilience and elasticity that the cross-linked polymer remains roughly spherical after stretching the matrix polymer. Included in matrix polymer. The support of the present invention to which no additives or colorants are added is pure white, is hard to avoid or wear, and is resistant to moisture and oil.

The support is preferably a sheet of paper such as sheet having a thickness of 50 to 300 microns. Further, the support is preferably manufactured by a biaxial stretching method well known to those skilled in the art.

The continuous layer polymer can use a variety of material-forming polymers such as polyester which can be cast into films or sheets. When polyester is used, the glass transition temperature is 50 to 1
The temperature is 50 ° C., preferably 60 to 100 ° C., is stretchable, and has an intrinsic viscosity of 0.5 or more, preferably 0.6 to 0.0.
It is preferred to use those which are 9. Preferred polyesters include those synthesized from aromatic or alicyclic dicarboxylic acid having 4 to 20 carbon atoms and aliphatic or alicyclic glycol 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, 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid. Acids, sodiosulfoisophthalic acid and mixtures thereof. Preferred glycols are ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butanediol, pentanediol, hexanediol,
Examples 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 by the well-known methods described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 2,465,319 and 2,901,466. A preferred continuous layer has a repeating unit composed of terephthalic acid or naphthalenedicarboxylic acid and one or more glycols of ethylene glycol, 1,4-butanediol or 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol. Among them, poly (ethylene terephthalate), which may be modified with a small amount of another monomer, is particularly preferable. Polypropylene is also useful. Other preferred polyesters include liquid crystal polyesters formed by including an appropriate amount of co-acid component such as stilbene carboxylic acid. An example of such a liquid crystal copolyester is US Pat. No. 4,420,
No. 607 and No. 4,459,402 and No. 4,468,510
No.

Suitable crosslinked polymers for use as microbeads are the following compounds: The structure below

[0012]

(Where Ar is a benzene-based aromatic hydrocarbon atomic group or aromatic halogenated hydrocarbon,
R is hydrogen or methyl) alkenyl aromatic compound;

[0014]

(Where R is hydrogen or 1 carbon atom)
~ 12 alkyl, R'is hydrogen or methyl) acrylate type monomers; copolymers of vinyl chloride and vinylidene chloride, acrylonitrile, vinyl chloride, vinyl bromide, structures below

[0016]

Vinyl ester having acrylic acid, wherein R is alkyl having 2 to 18 carbon atoms,
Methacrylic acid, itaconic acid, citraconic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid, oleic acid, vinylbenzoic acid, terephthalic acid and dialkylterephthalic acid or their ester-forming derivatives are converted into HO (CH ₂ ) nOH (here,
n is an integer of 2 to 10) and is obtained by reacting with a synthetic polyester resin having a reactive double bond in the molecule, or having a reactive double bond in the molecule, Comprising the above polyester copolymerized with less than 20% by weight of an acid of 2 or an ester thereof, and a crosslinking agent selected from the group consisting of divinylbenzene, diethylene glycol dimethacrylate, diallyl fumarate, diallyl phthalate and mixtures thereof. .

Typical monomers for synthesizing crosslinked polymers are styrene, butyl acrylate, acrylamide, acrylonitrile, methyl methacrylate, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, vinyl pyridine, vinyl acetate, methyl acrylate, vinylbenzyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, acrylic acid. , Divinylbenzene, arylamidomethylpropanesulfonic acid, vinyltoluene and the like. The crosslinked polymer is preferably polystyrene or poly (methylmethacrylate). Among them, it is most preferable to use polystyrene with the crosslinking agent divinylbenzene.

Conventional methods known to those skilled in the art result in non-uniform particles with a wide range of particle sizes. The resulting beads can be screened into beads with an initial particle size distribution. Suspension polymerization and ultimate aggregation (limi
ted coalescence) and other methods can directly give particles of fairly uniform size. Suitable as slip agents are colloidal silica, colloidal alumina and metal oxides such as tin oxide and aluminum oxide. Of these, colloidal silica and colloidal alumina are preferable, and colloidal silica is most preferable. Cross-linked polymers coated with slip agents can be prepared by methods well known to those skilled in the art. For example, a usual suspension polymerization method in which a slip agent is added during suspension is preferable. Colloidal silica is preferably used as the slip agent at this time.

The limited agglomeration method is preferably used to prepare the coated and crosslinked polymer microbeads. Details of this method are described in US Pat. No. 3,615,972. However, the coated microbeads used in the present invention are prepared without the blowing agent described in this patent.

An example of the method for preparing the crosslinked polymer microbeads coated with the slip agent will be described below. The polymer in this example is polystyrene crosslinked with divinylbenzene and the microbeads are silica coated. A droplet of the monomer containing the initiator is measured and heated to obtain solid polymer particles having the same size. The water phase is 7
1 liter of distilled water, 1.5 g of potassium dichromate (aqueous phase terminator), 250 g of polymethylaminoethanol adipate (promoter), and 350 g of L
Prepared by mixing UDOX ^™ (a colloidal suspension containing 50% DuPont silica). Monomer phase is 3317g styrene, 1421g
Divinylbenzene (55% active cross-linking agent and 45% ethyl vinylbenzene that forms part of the styrene polymer chain)
And 45% VAZO52 ^™ (DuPont's monomer soluble initiator). The mixture is passed through a homogenizer into 5 micron droplets. The suspension is heated to 52 ° C. overnight to yield 4.3 kg of nearly spherical microbeads (average particle size 5 microns with a narrow particle size distribution of 2-10 microns).
The molar ratio of styrene and ethylvinylbenzene to divinylbenzene is about 6.1%. Divinylbenzene concentration
Adjust the degree of cross-linking by the cross-linking agent is 2.5-50%
(Preferably 10 to 40%). Of course, mode other than styrene and divinylbenzene
Nomers can also 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. Further, slip agents other than silica can be used. For example, it is possible to various LUDOX ^TM colloidal silica DuPont, Degussa LEPANDIN ^TM colloidal alumina, NALCOAG ^TM Nalco, tin oxide, titanium oxide is also used.

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

In the present specification, the microbeads refer to those coated with a slip agent. By coating with a slip agent in this way, the friction on the microbead surface is considerably reduced. In practice, it is believed that the silica acts as small ball bearings on the microbead surface. The slip agent can also be coated on the surface of the microbeads during preparation by including them in the suspension polymerization mix.

Microbead size is prepared by varying the silica to monomer ratio. For example,
By changing the ratio, the results shown in the table below can be obtained.

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 is as follows. It can be manufactured by a method.

(A) A mixture of a melt continuous matrix polymer and a crosslinked polymer is prepared (wherein the crosslinked polymer is a number of microbeads which are non-uniformly dispersed in the matrix polymer, and the matrix polymer and the crosslinked polymer are those described above). (B) forming a molded body from the mixture by extrusion, injection molding or molding, (c) stretching the molded body by stretching, and microbeads of crosslinked polymer dispersed non-uniformly throughout the molded body, It can be manufactured through each step of forming a void in which at least a part of the surface of the microbead contacts in the direction of stretching.

The mixture can also be made by melting the matrix polymer and incorporating the crosslinked polymer therein. The cross-linked polymer can also be solid or semi-solid microbeads. The matrix polymer and the crosslinked polymer are incompatible with each other and do not agglomerate or stick between these materials.
Therefore, these materials are non-uniformly dispersed within the matrix polymer upon mixing.

When the microbeads are non-uniformly dispersed in the matrix polymer, the molded body is extruded and prepared by a method such as injection molding or molding. For example, a film or sheet can be formed by extrusion or injection molding, or it can be injected into a blow molding die by molding and reheated. Such a molding method is a technique well known to those skilled in the art. When forming a film or sheet by extrusion or pouring, it is important to stretch the molded body in at least one direction. Methods for forming unidirectionally or bidirectionally oriented sheets or films are well known to those skilled in the art. Basically, this method
After extrusion or injection molding 1.5 to 10 times the original,
At least consists of stretching the sheet or film in the machine direction or the machine direction. The sheet or film may be 1.5 to 10 times the original in the transverse direction or the longitudinal direction of the cloth (usually 3 to 4 times for polyester,
In the case of polypropylene, it can usually be stretched 6 to 10 times. The equipment and devices used for this operation are well known to those skilled in the art and are also described in US Pat. No. 3,903,234.

The voids, which are referred to herein as the spaces surrounding the microbeads in the continuous matrix polymer, increase at temperatures above the Tg of the matrix polymer. Crosslinked polymer microbeads are stiffer than continuous matrix polymers. Also, because the microbeads and matrix polymer are incompatible and immiscible with each other, the continuous matrix polymer slides over the microbeads as it expands. Therefore, a void is formed on the side of the stretching direction. Thus, the shape and size of the final void depends on the direction and degree of stretching. When stretched in only one direction, microvoids are formed on the side of the microbeads in the stretch direction. When stretched in two directions, the stretch has a vector component radially extending from a specific location, and a donut-shaped void surrounding each microvoid is formed.

The dye image receiving layer used in the dye receiving element of the present invention comprises, for example, polycarbonate, polyurethane, polyester, polyvinyl chloride, poly (styrene-coacrylonitrile), poly (caprolactone) or a mixture thereof. Good. The dye image-receiving layer may be used in any amount that can effectively achieve the intended purpose. In general, good results are obtained with a concentration of 1 to 5 g / m ² . In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the dye image receiving layer is polycarbonate. The term "polycarbonate" as used herein refers to a polyester of a carboxylic acid and a glycol or dihydric phenol. 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 Examples thereof include bis (4-oxyphenyl) cyclohexane and 2,2-bis (oxyphenyl) butane. In a preferred embodiment, bisphenol-A having an average molecular weight of 25,000 or more.
Use polycarbonate. Preferred polycarbonates include LEXAN ^™ polycarbonate resin from General Electric and MACROLON from Buyer AG.
5700 ^™ may be mentioned.

The dye-donor 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. The dye-donor element used in the invention can be any dye that is transferable to the dye-receiving element by heat. In particular, commonly used thermal transfer dyes such as the dyes described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,830 and the formulas

[0032]

Good results are obtained with sublimable dyes of the formula The above dyes may be used alone or in combination of two or more. The amount of dye used is 0.
It can be set to 05 to 1 g / m ² . It is also preferable to use a hydrophobic dye.

The dye in the dye-donor element is dispersed in the 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-acrylonitrile), poly (sulfone). And poly (phenylene oxide).
Binders can be used at 0.1 to 5 g / m ² .

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

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

As mentioned above, the dye-donor element and dye-receiving element used in the invention are used to form a dye image. The method of imaging comprises the steps of heating the dye-donor element into the image as described above and transferring the dye image to the dye-receiving element to transfer the dye image.

The dye-donor element can be used as a sheet, continuous roll or ribbon. In the case of 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 described in US Pat. No. 4,541,830. The dye may be applied to the repeating area. All such single color, two color, three color, four color (and higher color) devices are within the scope of this invention.

In a preferred embodiment, the dye-donor element comprises a poly (ethylene terephthalate) support coated with continuous repeating areas of cyan, magenta and yellow dyes. Then, the above steps are performed for each of the colors to form a dye transfer image of three colors on the auxiliary dye receiving element.

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

The dye thermal transfer assembly comprises a) a dye-donor element as described above and b) a dye-receiving element as described above.
The dye-receiving element is overlaid on the dye-donor element such that the dye-image-receiving layer is in contact with the dye-donor layer of the dye-donor element.

The above-mentioned dye thermal transfer assembly comprising these two elements may be integrated beforehand when a monochrome image is drawn. The integration can also be done by temporarily adhering the edges of the two elements. After transferring the image, the dye-donor element is peeled off to expose the dye image.

When a three-color image is to be drawn, the dye thermal transfer assembly is formed three times while heat is being supplied from the thermal print head. After the first dye transfer, the element is peeled off and the second dye-donor element (or different dye area of the same dye-donor element may be used).
Overlaid on the dye-receiving element to thermally transfer the dye. This operation is repeated once more to draw a three-color image.

The present invention will be further described below with reference to examples.

[0045]

EXAMPLES (1) Preparation of Support Having Microvoids 2
Extruder heated to 82 ℃ (Welders Engineering Tw
in Screw Compounding Extruder) using polystyrene microbeads (size,% cross-linking, lubricant coating shown in table below) and poly (ethylene terephthalate) (sold by Eastman Chemical under the name PET) Were mixed. Both ingredients were weighed and placed in the compounder. One pass was sufficient to disperse the beads in the PET matrix.

The above bead / PET infusion sheet with a smooth layer of poly (ethylene terephthalate) was manufactured by Ki
llion Sample Coextruder System (Uses a 1.5 inch Killion Extruder to create a bead / PET melt flow, 1 to create a smooth layer melt flow of PET
Inch (using a Killion Extruder). The two melt streams at 282 ° C were placed in a single 7 inch coat hanger mold and the dye was 282 ° C.
Heated to. When the extruded sheet emerges from the dye, 55
It was transferred onto a quenching roll at ℃. The final size of the continuous pour sheet was 18 cm wide and 1270 microns thick. The bead / PET layer thickness was 1016 microns and the smooth layer of PET was 254 microns.

The resulting sheet (18 cm x 18 cm) was
Initially in the X direction by a Model BIX7025 sample stretcher (Iwamoto) at 50 mm / s at 0 ° C.
The film was stretched 75 times 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 provided with microvoids having the composition shown below was prepared. The thickness of the smooth layer of PET on each support was about 20 microns after stretching.

[0049]Table 1 Bead cross-linking Lubricant bead size(% By weight) (%) Coating (micron) E-1 17 30 Silica 2 E-2 20 5 Alumina 2 E-3 5 30 Silica 5 E-4 20 30 Silica 10E-5 25 30 Silica 10 Table 2 Support thickness Support density Void ratio(Micron) (g / cm ³ ) (%) E-1 144 1.03 25 E-2 158 1.01 27 E-3 177 0.84 43 E-4 230 0.675 54E-5 297 0.59 59  The ratio of voids is about 1.4g / cm for PET concentration.³And then
Concentration of styrene is about 1g / cm³Was calculated as

The following three types of supports were also examined.

C-1: Eastman Radiographic Inte
nsifying 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 / cm ³ ) C-2: ICI MELINEX571 ^™ (microvoid) It has a thickness of 180 microns and a density of 1.
(Poly (ethylene terephthalate) support containing about 18% of 35 g / cm ³ barium sulfate) C-3: Oji-Okaka Synthetic Paper YUPO FPG150 ^™ (not equipped with microvoids, thickness 150 μm, density 0. (Polypropylene support containing about 18% of 78 g / cm ³ polypropylene) (2) Preparation of dye-donor element The smooth surface of the support provided with microvoids was converted from butanone to poly (acrylonitrile-vinylidene chloride-co-acrylic acid). Layer) (weight ratio 14: 80: 6). On top of this layer, Buyer AG's MAKRORON 5700
^TM (bisphenol A polycarbonate) (2.9 g /
m ² ), coated from methylene chloride with 3M FLUORAD FC-431 ^™ (fluorinated surfactant) (0.02 g / m ² ) and Dow Corning DC-510 ^™ silicone fluid (0.01 g / m ² ). . The control supports were each coated with the same dye receiving layer.

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

1) DuPont's TYZORBT ^™ titanium tetra-n-coated from 1-butanol.
Subbing layer 2 of butoxide (0.12 g / m ² ) 2) Cellulose acetate butyrate (17%) coated from cyclopentanone, toluene and methanol mixed solvent
Acetyl and 28% butyryl) binder (0.66 g /
The following structure in m ² )

[0054]

A cyan dye (0.42 g / m ² ), Shamrock Technology S-363 ^{T M} (micronized blend of hydrocarbon wax particles) (0.016 g / m ² ) magenta dye-donor element, Dye layers were prepared by sequentially coating a 6 μm thick poly (ethylene terephthalate) support.

1) Dupont TYZORTBT ^™ (0.12 g / m ² ) subbing layer coated from 1-butanol 2) Cellulose acetate butyrate (17% acetyl and 28% butyryl) binder (0.40 g / m ² ) with the following structure

[0057]

A magenta dye having a Shamrock Technology S-363 ^™ (micronized blend of hydrocarbon wax particles) (0.016 g / m ² ) dye-donor element was coated with the following layers.

1) A subbing layer of DuPont TYZORTBT ^™ (0.12 g / m ² ) coated from 1-butanol 2) Coated from a mixed solvent consisting of n-propyl acetate, toluene, 2-propanol and 1-butanol, Axon colloid EMRALON 329 ^™ polytetrafluoroethylene dry film lubricant (0.5
9 g / m ² ) Petrarch System PS-513 ^™ (amino-terminated polydimethylsiloxane) (0.005 g / m ² ), BY
K-Chemie's BYK-320 ^™ (polyoxyalkylene siloxane) (0.005 g / m ² ) and Shamrock Technology's S-232 ^™ (ultrafine milled blend of polyethylene and carbanax) (0.016 g / m 2). ² )
(4) Evaluation of dye transfer The dye image side of a cyan and magenta dye-donor element strip having an area of about 9 cm x 12 cm was contacted with the image-receiving layer of a dye-receiving element in the same area. The assembly was fixed to the jaws of a take-up device driven by a stepper motor and placed on a rubber roller having a diameter of 14 mm. TD
K thermal head L-133 (No. 6-2R16-
1) was pressed with a force of 3.6 kg from the donor element side toward the rubber roller using a spring.

The imaging electronics were activated and the assemblage between the printhead and roller was pulled at 3.1 mm / sec. At the same time, the resistive element of the thermal print head was pulsed for each pixel with a pulse width of 8 milliseconds to draw a maximum density image. The voltage supplied to the print head is about 2
About 5 W, about 1.6 W / dot (13 mJ / dot)
And

After printing the dye image of maximum density, the dye-receiving element was separated from the dye-donor element. Status A green transfer densities from the magenta dye-donor element and Status A red transfer densities from the cyan dye-donor element were measured before and after dye transfer. When the change in transfer density is large
Has a higher transfer efficiency large dye transfer amount to the receiving element
It shows that .

[0062]Table 3 Magenta dye concentration Cyan dye concentration Support Pre-transcription / Post-transcriptional change Pre-transcription / Pre-transcriptional change C-1 1.7 1.1 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.6 C-2 1.7 0.9 0.8 0.8 2.0 1.2 C-3 1.7 0.0. 7 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 E-1 1.7 0.7 1.0 2.0 0.8 0.8 1.2 E-2 1.7 0.7 1.0 2.0 2.0 .9 1.1 E-3 1.7 0.6 1.1 2.0 0.7 1.3 E-4 1.7 0.6 1.1 1.1 2.0 0.6 1.4E-5 1.7 0.6 1.1 2.0 2.0 0.6 1.4  The above results show the use of the thermal dye transfer receiving element of the present invention.
More dye from the dye-donor element used in combination.
Show that it can transfer dyes and is efficient
There is.

[0063]

By combining and coating the crosslinked microbeads and the 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 it has an excellent heat insulating effect and thus enhances dye transfer efficiency.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP 62-259848 (JP, A) JP 63-193836 (JP, A) JP 63-290790 (JP, A) JP 1- 280586 (JP, A) JP-A-2-225086 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A dye receiving element for use in thermal dye transfer, comprising a support having a dye image receiving layer on the surface thereof, wherein the support has at least a part thereof in contact with a void, and is a colloid.
Silica, colloidal alumina, tin oxide and titanium oxide
A dye-receiving element comprising a continuous layer of a stretched polymer matrix having microbeads of cross-linked organic polymer coated with a slip agent selected from the group consisting of tonnes dispersed therein.