JPH08290683A - Heat-sensitive transfer recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To materialize a heat-sensitive transfer recording method that is available for making quick judgement on the state of images while keeping transparency in a transfer ink layer by a method wherein heat-sensitive transfer images are formed on an image receiving sheet having a heat-bonded layer with a thermal head pressed against the reverse side of a heat-sensitive transfer recording material having a specified heat-sensitive ink layer. CONSTITUTION: In the case of forming high quality images, an image-receiving sheet having a heat-bonded layer is used, and a thermal head is pressed against the reverse side of a heat-sensitive transfer recording material having a heat- sensitive ink layer containing 30-70wt.pts. of pigments and 25-60wt.pts. of organic high polymer in 40-150 deg.C of softening point and in film thickness of 0.2-1.0μm and in which more than 70% of pigments are in particle size of 1.0μm or below, and the ink layer is transferred by heat-sensitive transfer onto the image- receiving sheet, and thereby heat-sensitive transfer images are formed, or the heat-sensitive transfer images formed on the image-receiving sheet are laid on a main printing paper and pressure is applied, and heating is applied as occasion demands. Then, the heat-sensitive transfer images are transferred onto the main printing paper and images are formed therewith.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention uses a thermal head printer or laser light to thermally transfer a heat-sensitive ink layer containing a pigment onto an image-receiving sheet to obtain a high-quality multi-tone color image with only area gradation. And a method of forming
The present invention relates to a method of forming a printing proof by transferring an image formed on the image receiving sheet material onto a printing actual paper. More specifically, by using one type of image-receiving sheet, an image can be formed on the image-receiving sheet and the image can be confirmed quickly, and by transferring the image on the image-receiving sheet onto the printing original paper, if necessary. The present invention also relates to a method that can more accurately determine the finish of printing. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording method which is applicable not only to color proof in the printing field but also to cards, outdoor displays, meter displays and general color copying.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a thermal transfer recording system for forming a color image by using a thermal head printer or a laser beam, a sublimation dye transfer system and a thermal fusion transfer system are known. In the sublimation dye transfer method, a transfer sheet having a transfer layer consisting of a sublimation dye and a binder provided on a support is superposed on an image receiving sheet, and heat is applied imagewise by a thermal head from the back side of the transfer sheet support. , A sublimation dye is sublimated and transferred to an image receiving sheet to form an image on the image receiving sheet. It is also possible to form a color image by using a transfer sheet composed of yellow, magenta and cyan.

However, the sublimation dye method has the following drawbacks. 1. The gradation representation of an image mainly uses density gradation (controls the kind or amount of dye) and is suitable for some purposes for consumer who prefer gradation similar to photographs, but It is not suitable for color proof, which is used in the printing field where gradation is expressed only by gradation. 2. Since the image formation uses dye sublimation, the edge sharpness of the finished image is unsatisfactory, and the solid density of thin lines is lighter than that of thick lines. These are serious drawbacks regarding the quality of character images. 3. Since the durability of images is inferior, development in fields requiring heat resistance and light resistance is limited. 4. Since the thermal recording sensitivity is lower than that of the thermal fusion transfer method,
It is not suitable as a high-speed recording material using a high resolution thermal head, which is expected in the future. 5. The sensitive material is more expensive than the heat-melt transfer material. 6. A dedicated image receiving sheet is required, and images cannot be formed on the actual paper used for printing. For this reason, it is not suitable as a proof for printing because it is not possible to see the effect of the delicate color and texture of the paper on the image when printed on the paper.

On the other hand, in the heat-melt transfer method, a transfer sheet having a heat-melt transfer layer made of a coloring material such as pigment or dye and a binder such as wax is provided on a support, is superposed on an image receiving sheet,
This is a method in which heat is applied imagewise from the back side of the support of the transfer sheet by a thermal head to melt the transfer layer and fuse it to the image of the image-receiving sheet to form an image. Compared to the sublimation dye transfer method, the heat-melt transfer method has 1. High heat sensitivity,
2. The material is inexpensive, 3. 3. The image has excellent light resistance. It can be transferred to plain paper. However, it has the following drawbacks. One of the biggest drawbacks of the thermal fusion transfer system is that the quality of the color image is inferior to that of the sublimation dye transfer system. This is because this method is not binary reproduction by density gradation, but binary recording. Needless to say, various proposals have been made for an ink transfer layer for improving the binary recording property and achieving density gradation for the purpose of forming a multi-gradation color image in the thermal fusion transfer method. However, the basis of these ideas is
As the thermal head heats the binder in the ink layer to lower the viscosity, the adhesive strength to the image receiving sheet increases and transfer is performed, and the temperature rise of the thermal head is controlled to agglomerate inside the ink layer. It is intended to control destruction and soften the gamma characteristic of thermal transfer recording. Therefore, the thermal fusion transfer method is inferior in terms of multi-gradation to the sublimation dye transfer method. Further, in general, the reproducibility of the image density of fine lines and the like will be inferior. In particular, although there is an advantage of being able to record on plain paper, even plain plain paper has the above-mentioned drawbacks regarding image quality, and it is difficult to perform high-quality printing on various papers used for printing.

In the heat-melt transfer method, since a crystalline wax having a low melting point is usually used as a binder for the ink layer, the resolution may be lowered or the transfer-fixed image may not be formed due to blurring during thermal printing on the recording material. It has problems such as weak strength. Furthermore, the crystalline waxes have the drawback that it is difficult to obtain a transparent image due to the light scattering of the crystalline phase. This is a big drawback when forming color images as overlapping of yellow, magenta, cyan, and the like.
Further, as a factor that deteriorates the transparency, there is also a relation with the pigment ratio with respect to the total amount of the ink layer.
As described in Japanese Patent No. 9, the colorant is usually used in an amount of 20 parts by weight or less based on the total amount of the ink layer, and when it is used in an amount larger than this, the transparency is lowered.

Various proposals have been made in order to improve the color reproduction of a heat-melt transfer type color image. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-244592 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-13072), in order to improve the transparency, the strength of a fixed image and the like while maintaining continuous gradation, at least 50 wt. A thermal ink layer composed of a crystalline polymer, a releasing material and a coloring agent (dye or pigment) has been proposed. In this publication, firstly, regarding the transparency, the amorphous polymer is 50
When the content is less than 10% by weight, the transparency of the thermal ink material is significantly deteriorated and good color reproducibility cannot be obtained. It is stated that 70% by weight is necessary to show particularly good transparency. The thickness of the thermal ink layer is 0.5 μm to 5 μm.
It is stated that 0 μm, usually 1 μm to 20 μm is preferred. However, from the viewpoint of proof use, cyan, magenta, and yellow require a reflection density of about 1.4 for image formation, and about 1.7 for black, in spite of the fact that they are required in the specification. Does not describe how much density can be obtained while maintaining transparency at an ink layer thickness of pigment diameter of 1 μm or less. Further, also in the examples, the film thickness of the ink layer is about 3 μm, which is almost the same as the usual wax type. That is, in the specification, after maintaining the transparency of the ink layer,
No technical disclosure is made for making the optical reflection density 1.0 or more at a film thickness of 1.0 μm or less. Further, there is no disclosure of a technique for forming a high quality image on various papers.

On the other hand, the technical progress of thermal head printers is remarkable. As a printing method which enables multi-gradation recording only with area gradation as well as high resolution of the thermal head itself, JP-A-4-19163, JP-A-5-155
The sub-scanning division method described in the specification No. 057 and the heat concentration type method described in "Annual Meeting of the Electrophotographic Society 1992/7/6 Proceedings" have been proposed.

[0008]

When making a printing proof using a thermal transfer method, it is necessary to solve the following problems. 1. While maintaining the transparency of the transfer ink layer, each color should have a predetermined image density. 2. Printing Images transferred to this magazine should have good approximation of printed matter such as texture and image gloss. 3. To be able to quickly determine the finished state of an image.

However, as described above, it is difficult to form an image on the actual printing paper as long as the conventional thermal fusion transfer method is used, and the transparency of the transfer ink layer is maintained to achieve a predetermined image density. However, it is difficult to obtain a high quality image. On the other hand, in the various conventional methods of forming an image on the actual printing paper, the image forming process takes time, and it is not possible to quickly determine the finished state of the image. The aim of the invention is to propose exactly this solution.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems As a result of intensive studies by the present inventors, a high-quality image suitable for a printing proof, which could not be realized by a conventional sublimation dye thermal transfer method or melt transfer method, was obtained. We have found a method of thermal transfer recording that can be quickly obtained, and that an image can be formed on the actual printing paper as needed, and the subtle color tone and paper texture derived from the actual printing paper can be judged. In addition, it is possible to quickly judge the finished state of the image by omitting the time and labor of heating or pressure transfer normally required to form the image on the printing main sheet, and transfer the required image to the printing main sheet as necessary. I've found a way to do it.

That is, an object of the present invention is to use an image-receiving sheet having a heat-adhesive layer on a white support and to use 30 to 70 parts by weight of a pigment and 25 to 60 parts by weight of an organic compound having a softening point of 40 to 150 ° C. Including high-molecular polymer, film thickness 0.2μm ~ 1.0μ
m has a heat-sensitive ink layer, 70% or more of the pigments in the heat-sensitive ink layer have a particle size of 1.0 μm or less, and the transferred image has an optical reflection density of 1.0 on a white support. A first method of forming a heat-sensitive transfer image by heat-transferring an ink layer from the back surface of the heat-sensitive transfer recording material to the image-receiving sheet with a thermal head, and printing the heat-sensitive transfer image formed on the image-receiving sheet as a main sheet. Achieved by a heat-sensitive transfer recording method characterized by selecting at least one of the second method of forming an image by transferring the heat-sensitive transfer image onto a printing actual paper by superposing at least pressure and heating if necessary. Was done.

The present invention will be described in detail below. The pigment contained in the ink layer of the heat-sensitive transfer recording material of the present invention,
Various known pigments can be used, and examples thereof include carbon black, azo pigments, phthalocyanine pigments, quinacridone pigments, thioindigo pigments, anthraquinone pigments and isoindolinone pigments. These may be used in combination of two or more, and a known dye may be added for adjusting the hue.

Examples of the amorphous organic polymer binder having a softening point of 40 ° C. to 150 ° C. contained in the ink layer of the thermal transfer recording material of the present invention include butyral resin, polyamide resin, polyethyleneimine resin, sulfonamide resin. , Polyester polyol resin, petroleum resin, styrene, α-methylstyrene, 2-methylstyrene, chlorostyrene, vinylbenzoic acid, sodium vinylbenzene sulfonate, styrene and its derivatives such as aminostyrene, homopolymers and copolymers of substitution products, methyl Methacrylic acid esters such as methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, hydroxyethyl methacrylate, and acrylic acid esters such as methacrylic acid, methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, α-ethylhexyl acrylate, and acrylic acid Dienes such as tadiene, isodiene and isoprene, acrylonitrile, vinyl ethers, maleic acid and maleic acid esters, maleic anhydride, cinnamic acid, vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate and other vinyl monomers, alone or in other amounts A copolymer such as a body can be used. Two or more kinds of these resins may be mixed and used.

Of these, butyral resin and styrene / maleic acid half ester resin are preferred. The softening point of these resins should be selected in the range of 40 ° C to 150 ° C. If the temperature exceeds 150 ° C, the thermal recording sensitivity will be low, while the other 4
If the temperature is lower than 0 ° C, the ink layer has poor adhesion resistance.

From the viewpoint of improving the releasability of the ink layer from the support and the thermal sensitivity at the time of thermal printing, various releasing agents and softening agents are added to these ink layers in an amount of from 1% by weight to the total amount of the ink layer. It is also possible to add in the range of 20% by weight. Specifically, for example, higher fatty acids such as palmitic acid and stearic acid, fatty acid metal salts such as zinc stearate, fatty acid esters or partial saponification products thereof, fatty acid derivatives such as fatty acid amides, higher alcohols, and polyhydric alcohols. Waxes such as ether derivatives, paraffin wax, carnauba wax, montan wax, beeswax, wood wax, candelilla wax, etc., viscosity average molecular weight of about 1,
000 to 10,000 low molecular weight polyethylene,
Polyolefins such as polypropylene and polybutylene,
Or low molecular weight copolymers of olefins, α-olefins and organic acids such as maleic anhydride, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, etc., low molecular weight copolymers, low molecular weight oxidized polyolefins, halogenated polyolefins, lauryl methacrylate, stearyl methacrylate, etc. Methacrylic acid ester having alkyl side chain, copolymer of methacrylic acid ester alone or copolymer with vinyl monomer such as styrene, low molecular weight silicone resin such as polydimethylsiloxane and polydiphenylsiloxane, and silicone modified organic substance And one or more of them can be selected and used.

The optical densities of these thermal ink layers must have a reflection density of 1.0 or more when transferred onto a white support for the reasons described above. The film thickness is 0.2μ
The range of m to 1.0 μm is preferable. In the case of a thick ink layer having a thickness of more than 1.0 μm, in the area gradation reproducibility, the shadow part is easily crushed and the highlight part is easily skipped, resulting in poor gradation reproducibility. On the other hand, if the film thickness is less than 0.2 μm, it is difficult to obtain a predetermined concentration.

In order to obtain a predetermined concentration with these thin films, the pigment in the ink layer is 30 to 70 parts by weight,
It is preferable that the amount of the amorphous organic polymer conjugate is 25 to 60 parts by weight, and the total amount of the releasing agent and the film softener added as necessary is 1 to 15 parts by weight. If the pigment ratio is less than this, it is difficult to obtain the density with the above-mentioned predetermined film thickness.
Further, regarding the particle size of the pigment, 70% or more of the pigment needs to be 1.0 μm or less. When the particle size is large, the transparency of the overlapping portions of the respective colors during color reproducibility is impaired, and it becomes difficult to satisfy both the relationship between the film thickness and the density.

Regarding the dispersion of these pigments in the amorphous organic polymer binder, various dispersion methods used in the field of coating, such as ball mill and dyno mill, can be applied by adding an appropriate solvent.

The heat-adhesive layer of the present invention has an organic polymer binder as a main component, and examples of the organic polymer binder include butyral resin, polyamide resin, polyethyleneimine resin,
Sulfonamide resin, polyester polyol resin, petroleum resin, styrene, α-methylstyrene, 2-methylstyrene, chlorostyrene, vinyl benzoic acid, sodium vinylbenzene sulfonate, aminostyrene and other styrenes and their derivatives, homopolymers and copolymers of substitution products Methacrylates such as coalesce, methylmethacrylate, ethylmethacrylate, hydroxyethylmethacrylate and acrylates such as methacrylic acid, methylacrylate, ethylacrylate, butylacrylate, α-ethylhexylacrylate and acrylic acid, butadiene, isodiene, isoprene, etc. Dienes, acrylonitrile, vinyl ethers, maleic acid and maleic acid esters, maleic anhydride, cinnamic acid, vinyl chloride,
A vinyl monomer such as vinyl acetate may be used alone, or a copolymer of other monomers may be used. Two or more kinds of these resins may be mixed and used.

Of these, butyral resin and styrene / maleic acid half ester resin are preferred. The softening point of these resins should be selected in the range of 40 ° C to 150 ° C. If the temperature exceeds 150 ° C, the thermal recording sensitivity will be low, while the other 4
If it is less than 0 ° C, the adhesion resistance is poor.

The thickness of the heat-bonding layer is 0.1 μm to 20 μm.
m is preferable, and if it is thinner than 0.1 μm, the ink receptivity is poor, and if it is thicker than 20 μm, the drying load of the solvent increases when the thermal adhesive layer is applied and dried.

As the support for the image-receiving sheet provided with the heat-and-heat adhesive layer, various synthetic papers can be preferably used, and synthetic papers filled with various pigments, synthetic papers obtained by foaming plastics or synthetics obtained by foaming plastics. Various synthetic papers known in the industry such as synthetic paper having a layer filled with pigment on the paper can be used, and various plastic films such as polyester synthetic paper, polyethylene synthetic paper and polypropylene synthetic paper can be used as materials. Can be used. As the polyester synthetic paper, white polyester; for example, K1
553 (manufactured by Toyobo Co., Ltd.), E20, E68L (manufactured by Toray Co., Ltd.), W900 (manufactured by Diafoil Co., Ltd.), Melinex-470 (manufactured by ICI Co., Ltd.), Car.
Ifil (manufactured by Shell Co., Ltd.), peach coat (manufactured by Nisshinbo Industries Co., Ltd.) or the like can be preferably used, and as the polypropylene-based synthetic paper, P4256 (manufactured by Toyobo Co., Ltd.) or YUPO (manufactured by Oji Yuka Synthetic Paper Co., Ltd.). Peach coat (manufactured by Nisshinbo Industries, Inc.) and the like can be preferably used, and TYVEK (D
Upton Co., Ltd.) and the like can be preferably used. Among these synthetic papers, polyester-based synthetic paper can be particularly preferably used from the viewpoint of heat resistance, and among the polyester-based synthetic papers, uniform contact with the thermal head and strong resistance to dust and the like are required. Particularly preferred is foamed polyester synthetic paper; for example, E-68L (manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc.).

In the present invention, each layer such as the ink layer and the heat adhesive layer may contain a surfactant, and various surfactants known in the art can be used as the surfactant. For example, fatty acid salts, higher alcohol sulfate ester salts,
Such as aliphatic amine or aliphatic amide sulfates, aliphatic alcohol phosphate ester salts, dibasic fatty acid ester sulfonates, aliphatic amide sulfonates, alkylallyl sulfonates, formalin-condensed naphthalene sulfonates, etc. Cationic surfactants such as anionic surfactants, aliphatic amine salts, quaternary ammonium salts, alkylpyridinium salts, polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers, polyoxyethylene alkylphenol ethers, polyoxyethylene alkyl esters, sorbitan Examples thereof include nonionic surfactants such as alkyl esters and polyoxyethylene sorbitan alkyl esters, and amphoteric surfactants such as carboxylic acid derivatives and imidazoline derivatives.

Further, in the present invention, it is preferable to use a fluorochemical surfactant, for example, perfluoroalkylcarboxylic acids, fluoroaliphatic group-containing acrylate or fluoroaliphatic group-containing methacrylate and polyoxyalkylene acrylate or polyoxyalkylene acrylate or polyoxyalkylene acrylate or polyoxyalkylene acrylate. Examples thereof include copolymers with oxyalkylene methacrylate and perfluoroalkyl sulfonamides. Among these, a copolymer of fluoroaliphatic group-containing acrylate or fluoroaliphatic group-containing methacrylate and polyoxyalkylene acrylate or polyoxyalkylene methacrylate is more preferable.

The amount of the surfactant added is 0.001 to 10% by weight, and more preferably 0.01 to 5% by weight, based on the material of each layer. If it exceeds 10% by weight, the dot shape may be remarkably deteriorated and the reproduction gradation may be deteriorated. Further, if the addition amount is less than 0.001% by weight, the coated surface state deteriorates and the temperature-humidity dependency during storage also deteriorates.

As the support for the heat-sensitive transfer recording material of the present invention, various supports known as conventional melt transfer or sublimation transfer supports are used. A polyester film having a back surface of about 5 μm and subjected to a release treatment is particularly preferable.

Various additives can be added to the recording material of the present invention, if necessary, including the additives described above. For example, UV absorbers, plasticizers, optical brighteners,
Typical examples of matting agents, coating aids, curing agents, antistatic agents and slipperiness improving agents are Research Disclosure.
e, Vol. 176, December 1978, Item 17
643, and Vol. 187, 1979 11
Mon, Item 18716.

The coating material for each layer of the recording material of the present invention is applied onto a desired support and dried to obtain the recording material of the present invention. In that case, as the solvent used,
Water, alcohol: for example, methanol, ethanol, n-
Propanol, isopropanol, n-butanol, s
ec-butanol, methyl cellosolve, 1-methoxy-
2-Propanol; Halogen-based solvent: for example, methylene chloride, ethylene chloride; Ketone: for example, acetone, cyclohexanone, methyl ethyl ketone; Ester: for example, methyl cellosolve acetate, ethyl acetate, methyl acetate; toluene, xylene and the like alone and two of them.
A mixture of more than one species can be mentioned as an example.

To apply the coating liquid for each layer onto the support, a blade coater, a rod coater, a knife coater, a roll doctor coater, a reverse roll coater, a transfer roll coater, a gravure coater, a kiss roll coater, a curtain coater, an ext. A rouge coater or the like can be used. As a coating method, Research Disclosure, V
ol. 200, December 1980, Item 2003
You can refer to Section 6 XV. The coating may be carried out by any of single layer coating, sequential multilayer coating and simultaneous multilayer coating. The appropriate thickness of each recording layer is 0.1 μm to 50 μm.

As a thermal printer for performing thermal transfer, a thermal printer equipped with a thermal head such as various sublimation transfer printers and melt transfer printers known in the industry, and a heat mode laser printer such as Approval (produced by Eastman Kodak Co., Ltd.) can be used. A thermal transfer image is formed on the image-receiving sheet with a thermal head. The laminator can be used as a device for transferring the heat-sensitive transfer image onto the main printing paper by superposing and heating the heat-sensitive transfer image on the main printing paper. Is preferably from 60 ° C to 200 ° C, particularly preferably from 80 ° C to 180 ° C. The linear pressure for pressing is not particularly limited, but is 1 g / cm ² to 1000 kg /
Pressures in the cm ² range are preferred, 100 g / cm ² to 1
0 kg / cm ² is particularly preferred. Further, when the image on the image receiving sheet is used, it is preferable to print a normal image, and when the image is transferred onto the actual printing paper to use the image, it is preferable to print a left-right reversed image with a printer.

Examples of the present invention will be shown below, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0032]

【Example】

Example 1 (Preparation of heat-sensitive transfer material) Three types of ink layer coating solutions having the following compositions were prepared. 1. Preparation of Yellow Ink Sheet The following composition was dispersed by a ball mill to prepare an ink layer coating solution so that the area-based average particle diameter (by LA700 manufactured by Horiba Ltd.) was 0.23 μm. -Polyvinyl butyral 12 parts by weight (Denka Butyral # 2000-L, manufactured by Denki Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd.)-Yellow pigment (CI.PY.14) 12 parts by weight-Dispersion aid 0.8 parts by weight (Solspers S- 20000, manufactured by ICI Japan Co., Ltd.-Solvent n-propyl alcohol 110 parts by weight

0.2 parts of N-hydroxyethyl-12-hydroxystearic acid amide was added to 10 parts by weight of the above liquid.
4 parts by weight, 0.01 parts by weight of a surfactant (MegaFac F-177, manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc.) and 60 parts by weight of n-propyl alcohol were added to form a coating solution, and the thickness was 5 μm.
A polyester film (manufactured by Teijin Ltd.) having a release treatment on its back surface was coated with a spin coater (Wheeler) to a dry film thickness of 0.36 μm to obtain a yellow ink sheet.

2. Preparation of Magenta Ink Sheet A magenta ink sheet having a dry film thickness of 0.38 μm was obtained by performing the same operation as that of the yellow ink sheet except that the pigment was changed to a magenta pigment (C.I.PR. 57: 1).

3. Preparation of Cyan Ink Sheet A cyan ink sheet having a transmissive dry film thickness of 0.42 μm was obtained by performing the same operation as that of the yellow ink sheet except that the pigment was changed to a cyan pigment (CI.PB.15: 4).

4. Preparation of black sheet The same operation as the yellow ink sheet is performed except that the pigment is changed to carbon black (CIPB7) and the amount is 16 parts by weight, and the dry film thickness is 0.44 μm. As applied.

(Preparation of Image Receiving Sheet) A coating solution for the image receiving first layer and the heat-adhesive layer having the following composition was prepared. <Coating liquid for first layer of image receiving> 25 parts by weight of vinyl chloride / vinyl acetate copolymer (MPR-TSL, manufactured by Nissin Chemical Co., Ltd.) 12 parts by weight of dioctyl phthalate (DOP, manufactured by Daihachi Chemical Co., Ltd.)・ Surfactant 4 parts by weight (MegaFac F-177, manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc.) ・ Solvent Methyl ethyl ketone 75 parts by weight

<Coating Liquid for Thermal Adhesive Layer> 16 parts by weight of polyvinyl butyral (Denka Butyral # 2000-L, manufactured by Denki Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd.) 4 parts by weight of N, N-dimethylacrylamide / butyl acrylate copolymer Surfactant 0.5 parts by weight (MegaFac F-177, Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc.)-Solvent n-propyl alcohol 200 parts by weight

A white polyester support (E-68L; manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc.) having a thickness of 135 μm was coated with the coating solution for the first image-receiving layer using a spin coater, and the coating solution was placed in an oven at 100 ° C. for 2 minutes. Dry for minutes. The thickness of the obtained first image receiving layer was 20 μm. Further, the coating solution for heat-adhesive layer was applied onto the first image receiving layer using a spin coater, and dried in an oven at 100 ° C. for 2 minutes. The film thickness of the obtained thermal adhesive layer was 2 μm.

First, the heat-sensitive transfer material for cyan and the image-receiving sheet were superposed on each other, and the right and left reverse images were printed by the thermal head recording device by the sub-scanning division method. This principle is 75μm × 50μm
This is a method of performing multi-step modulation only for area gradation by turning on and off the head in the direction of 50 μm in a minute feed at a pitch of 3 μm. The polyester film of the cyan heat-sensitive transfer material was peeled off to form an image consisting of only area gradation on the image receiving sheet. Next, a magenta heat-sensitive transfer material is superposed on an image-receiving sheet on which a cyan image is formed, aligned and printed in the same manner, and the polyester film of the transfer material is peeled off to form a magenta image on the image-receiving sheet, and then the same. Then, a yellow image and a black image were formed, and a color image consisting only of area gradation was formed on the image receiving sheet. This color image was very close to the chemical proof (Color Art, manufactured by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.) made from the lith original, and the color image was very close to each other. The reflection densities of the respective monochromatic colors at this time are as follows. The density of 4P characters was measured with a microdensitometer, and it was the same as the density of solid areas. Further, the gradation reproducibility was 5 to 95%, and there was no defect due to dust and no dot shape defect due to bleeding, which was good.

This printing took about 10 minutes, and an image was quickly obtained. However, the density and hue of the image itself was similar to that of printing, but the printing paper is slightly yellowish, but the background is white, and the surface gloss is small in printing, but this image surface is very smooth, The appearance was slightly different from the printed image.

Example 2 (Transfer to actual printing paper) Next, the image-receiving sheet on which this color image was formed was superposed on art paper, and a heat roller was applied at a pressure of 4.5 Kg / cm ² , 130 ° C. and a speed of 4 m / sec. After passing through the sheet, the white polyester support of the image receiving sheet was peeled off, and the thermal adhesive layer bearing the ink image was transferred onto art paper to form a color image. This color image was very close to the chemical proof (Color Art, manufactured by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.) made from the lith original, and the color image was very close to each other. Furthermore, the surface was matted following the irregularities of the paper, and the surface gloss and touch were very similar to those of printed matter. It took about 1 minute to transfer to the actual paper.

Comparative Example 1 The same electronic image as in Example 1 was printed using a commercially available sublimation transfer recording device, a toner sheet for sublimation transfer recording, and a dedicated paper for sublimation transfer recording. The printing time was about 10 minutes as in Example 1, but the surface of the image was smooth and the background was whiter than the actual printing paper, and the appearance was significantly different from the printing.

[0044]

According to the present invention, it is possible to quickly obtain a high-quality image suitable for a printing proof, which could not be realized by the conventional sublimation dye thermal transfer method or melt transfer method, and further, on the actual printing paper. Since an image can be formed, it was possible to judge the subtle color tone and paper texture derived from the actual printing paper. The dot shape including the edge sharpness of the obtained image was good, the gradation reproducibility was excellent, and the printed matter approximation was excellent.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image receiving sheet having a heat-adhesive layer on a white support, comprising 30 to 70 parts by weight of a pigment and 25 to 60 parts by weight of an organic polymer having a softening point of 40 ° C. to 150 ° C. A heat-sensitive ink layer having a film thickness in the range of 0.2 μm to 1.0 μm, 70% or more of the pigments in the heat-sensitive ink layer have a particle size of 1.0 μm or less, and the optical reflection of a transferred image A first method of forming a heat-sensitive transfer image by heat-transferring an ink layer from the back surface of a heat-sensitive transfer recording material having a density of 1.0 or more on a white support to the image-receiving sheet with a thermal head, and the heat-sensitive transfer image. A method of heat-sensitive transfer recording, which comprises selecting one of the second methods of forming an image by transferring the heat-sensitive transfer image onto the printing main paper by superposing it on the printing main paper and at least applying pressure.