JPH1076750A - Transfer sheet and method for forming image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a transfer sheet whereby an image outputted by using a hot-melt type ink jet recording apparatus can be formed simply and easily on an arbitrary member such as a wall or glass whereon the image can not be recorded directly. SOLUTION: A transfer sheet 3 having a property of receiving hot-melt solid ink. This sheet has a recording layer 2 which has the property of receiving the hot-melt solid ink and whereon a difference in a contact angle in the case when the ink comes to be in a state of liquid is preferably 5 degrees or more so that the adhesion between the hot-melt solid ink and the transfer sheet be lower than that between a member to be subjected to transfer and the hot-melt solid ink.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a transfer sheet having hot-melt solid ink receptivity and an image forming method using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in the field of full-color recording, an ink jet system using a water-soluble ink has rapidly spread due to its low cost and high definition. However, at present, it is still in view of ink bleeding and slow drying. There are issues left.

In order to solve such problems such as bleeding, ink jet devices using hot melt solid ink have appeared. This apparatus uses a method of printing while dissolving solid ink, and since the melted ink returns to a solid state immediately after recording, bleeding does not occur as compared with printing using a water-soluble ink.

Further, the recording material generally has an ink receiving layer for absorbing and retaining ink as a surface layer, but the conventional ink receiving layer has absorptivity and drying property for water-soluble ink. Was needed. However, in the case of a hot-melt solid ink, it is not necessary to absorb the ink in the ink receiving layer due to the nature of the ink. It is receiving attention as an output device.

[0005] By the way, the recent widespread use of computers has made it possible for anyone to easily obtain color images. There has been a demand for forming on various materials such as paper, film, glass, metal plate, leather and the like.

[0006]

However, using a commercially available output machine as described above, a material that is not a sheet (for example, a thick plate) is used.
It is not possible to record directly on such materials, and recording on such materials requires the development of individual dedicated equipment. Therefore, at present, in order to provide an ink jet recording image on a material other than the standardized thickness and size, a recording image can only be formed indirectly using an ink jet recording sheet having an adhesive layer. When a recording sheet having such an adhesive layer is used, the entire recording sheet after recording is stuck to a target member, so that there is a disadvantage that the texture of the target member itself is impaired.

On the other hand, a method of forming an image by transferring only an image provided by printing to a target member is known, but a technique of transferring only an image provided by ink jet recording does not exist conventionally.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above, and is intended to provide a hot-melt solid ink-receiving transfer sheet capable of easily recording an image on any member such as a wall or glass which cannot be directly recorded. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming method using the same.

[0009]

The hot-melt solid ink-receiving transfer sheet of the present invention is characterized in that the adhesive strength between the hot-melt solid ink and the transfer sheet is higher than the adhesive strength between an arbitrary member to be transferred and the ink. It is characterized by having a recording layer capable of receiving a hot melt solid ink as low as, preferably, a contact angle with a transfer sheet when the hot melt solid ink is melted into a liquid state, and a member to be transferred. The surface of the recording layer is adjusted so that the difference from the contact angle with the ink is 5 degrees or more.

Using such a material, an image is temporarily recorded and formed with a hot-melt solid ink using a hot-melt type ink-jet recording apparatus, and then the image portion is transferred to the member to be transferred and the image portion of the transfer sheet. By applying heat while facing and in contact with each other, the image portion on the transfer sheet is transferred to the member to be transferred, so that only the image portion can be transferred and formed without impairing the texture of the member.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The transfer sheet of the present invention can be made of any material, as long as it can receive a hot-melt solid ink and then can be thermally transferred to another target member.
It may have a configuration. Specifically, a recording medium having a recording layer capable of receiving a hot-melt solid ink on a support, a recording medium having a single layer of a resin capable of receiving a hot-melt solid ink described later, and the like can be considered.

The support is preferably made of paper, plastic film or the like in relation to the output device. However, a glass plate or the like may be used as long as it can be set on the output device and can withstand transfer by heat of about 30 to 300 ° C. May be used. However,
If the ink is easily permeated when the ink is melted, such as fibrous or porous, the ink will permeate into the ink receiving layer, making subsequent transfer difficult, and also causing partial image defects and after transfer. This is not preferable because the image density becomes too low. Therefore, when using a material that easily permeates the ink when the ink is melted, it is used as a support in the present invention by applying a coat layer for preventing permeation on the surface or laminating a separate film. It is possible to

As the support, in addition to paper, polyester,
Plastic films such as polycarbonate, cellulose acetate, polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene, and non-woven fabrics can be used, but it is preferable to use a plastic film made of polyester or polycarbonate from the viewpoint of handling properties and heat resistance during transfer.
In order to further improve the heat resistance of the support, a material having a multilayer structure in which both sides of the paper are sandwiched between polyester or the like may be used.

The thickness of the support is not particularly limited as long as it can be output by an output device. However, the thickness of the support is good when it is heated from the back surface during transfer.
It is preferably 00 μm.

The recording layer capable of receiving a hot-melt solid ink must have a function and function of forming an image with the hot-melt solid ink and easily detaching the image portion of the hot-melt solid ink during thermal transfer. Therefore, any material may be used as long as it has such a function / action. However, in order to exert the above function, it is necessary to adjust the adhesive strength between the hot melt solid ink and the recording layer at the time of thermal transfer to be lower than the adhesive strength of the hot melt solid ink on the member to be transferred. Therefore, the recording layer of the present invention which adjusts the adhesive force of the ink and the contact angle between the ink and the surface of the recording layer is required.

The recording layer is not particularly specified in terms of its material because the adhesive strength and release force vary depending on the composition of the hot melt solid ink to be used. It is preferable to use a release agent such as a long-chain copolymer such as a long-chain alkyl vinyl ester copolymer. The recording layer may be cured by adding a curing agent to prevent transfer of the release agent.

The recording layer is adjusted so that the contact angle when the ink is melted is 0 to 90 degrees, preferably 10 degrees or more. Further, if the contact angle between the member to be transferred and the ink is at least 5 degrees lower than that between the recording layer and the ink, image transfer becomes easier. adjust.

In such a recording layer, a pigment, a dispersant, a fluorescent dye, a pH adjuster, an antifoaming agent, a wetting agent,
Various additives such as preservatives, antioxidants and surfactants can be added within a range that does not impair the coating film performance.

When this recording layer is provided on a support,
Appropriately dissolving or dispersing the above-mentioned materials in a solvent, a method of forming a coating liquid by a roll coater, a wire bar coater, an air knife coater, a gravure coater method, or the like, or a method of vapor deposition can be used. Sheets can be manufactured.

The transfer sheet of the present invention may be provided on the surface opposite to the recording layer or, if the recording layer itself constitutes the transfer sheet of the present invention, on one surface thereof for improving heat resistance during thermal transfer. May be provided with a surface coat layer, a colored layer or a mat layer for discrimination between front and back.

The hot-melt solid ink used in the present invention comprises a heat-meltable compound which is solid at room temperature and which melts by thermal energy having a melting point of 30 to 250 ° C., preferably 60 to 180 ° C., and a coloring agent. The heat-fusible compound is not particularly limited as long as it has a viscosity capable of discharging ink at a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point.

Here, the reason why the melting point is set to 30 to 250 ° C. is that if the temperature is lower than 30 ° C., the ink may not be fixed on the recording medium at the time of recording because the liquid may liquefy at room temperature. Is not always obtained. on the other hand,
If the temperature exceeds 250 ° C., the support and the recording medium of the transfer sheet are considerably affected by heat at the time of heat transfer, and it is difficult to handle because it is extremely high temperature, and the energy due to heating is excessively applied. It is.
The reason why the temperature is preferably set to 60 to 180 ° C. is that if the temperature is within the above range, it is easy to solidify at room temperature, is stable, and the amount of heat at the time of transfer is not too large.

Examples of the heat-meltable compound include lower alkylamides such as acetamide, propionamide, n-butylamide and lactamide and derivatives thereof, urea derivatives such as 1,3-dimethylurea and ethylurea, methyl sulfone and phenyl sulfone. Carboxylic acids such as benzoic acid, imidazole derivatives such as imidazole, 2-ethylimidazole and 1,2,4-triazole, pyrazole, 3,
Pyrazole derivatives such as 5-dimethylpyrazole, biphenyl, p-tert-butylphenol, 2,6-te
phenol derivatives such as rt-butyl-p-cresol,
Examples thereof include alkylbenzenesulfonamides such as piperazine, o, p-toluenesulfonamide and ethylbenzenesulfonamide, lower sulfonamide derivatives such as methanesulfonamide, and imides such as succinimide and maleimide.

The transfer sheet of the present invention is constituted as described above. After recording using this transfer sheet with a hot melt type ink jet recording apparatus, the solid ink image surface of the transfer sheet is transferred to a member to be transferred, for example, , Clothing and paper (especially thin ones like Japanese paper and tissue),
Covers of notebooks and books, backing paper, door pages, etc., walls, desks, windows, etc., things that do not pass through printers such as cups, cups, cans, etc., things with curved surfaces, things that are difficult to print directly, or films, Glass, metal plate, wood board, leather, cloth, etc., fibers, ceramics, etc., facing or contacting materials, by heating the surface opposite to the image surface of the transfer sheet or the member to be transferred with an iron etc. An image can be formed on a member to be transferred. That is, an image or a character can be easily formed on a member that cannot directly form an image. Furthermore, if the transfer sheet of the present invention is used, it is possible to form only the image portion on the target member, so that the texture of the member is not impaired.

[0025]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following Examples, unless otherwise specified.
“%” And “parts” are all based on weight.

Example 1 A 100 μm thick polyester film (Lumilar T-60: Toray Industries, Inc.) was coated with a recording layer coating solution having the following composition using a wire bar.
After drying at 25 ° C. for 1 minute, curing was further performed at 25 ° C. for 72 hours to obtain a transfer sheet having a recording layer having a thickness of 1 μm.

<Coating solution for recording layer> Acrylic polyol (solid content 50%) 16 parts (Acrydic A801: Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc.) Isocyanate prepolymer (solid content 75%) 1.5 parts (Bernock D750) : Dainippon Ink & Chemicals, Inc.)-Silicon additive (solid content 10%) 3 parts (Paintad 53: Dow Corning)-Toluene 15 parts-Methyl ethyl ketone 6 parts

An image is recorded on this transfer sheet as a mirror image by a hot-melt type ink jet printer (JOLT: Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd.), then an image portion is overlaid on an aluminum plate, and a steam iron (HIS-671F: TOSHIBA) ) Using a medium temperature setting (surface temperature of about 140 to 160).
C), the transfer sheet was peeled off, and the recorded image was easily transferred to the aluminum plate.

The contact angle of the solid ink at the time of recording on the transfer sheet was measured using a contact angle measuring machine (G-1-1000: Elma) in a state where the ink was melted, and was about 60. The contact angle was measured in a state where the aluminum plate on the transfer side and the solid ink were melted, and it was about 20 degrees.

Example 2 A hot melt type ink jet printer (JOL) was placed on a support in which a paper having a basis weight of 60 g / m ² was sandwiched between polyester films having a thickness of 6 μm.
T: Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd.) After recording the image as a mirror image, general-purpose PPC
When the image portion was overlaid on the paper and the transfer sheet was peeled off from the back surface of the transfer sheet by heating in the same manner as in Example 1, the recorded image was transferred to the PPC paper.

As in Example 1, the contact angle of the ink to the transfer sheet was measured to be 30 degrees, and the contact angle for the aluminum plate was approximately 20 degrees.

[0032]

The transfer sheet of the present invention is constructed as described above. By using this transfer sheet, an image or a character can be easily formed on a member which cannot directly form an image. .

When an image is formed on a member to be transferred using the transfer sheet of the present invention, only the image portion can be formed, and the texture of the member to be transferred is not impaired.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of a transfer sheet of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing one embodiment in which an image is formed on a member to be transferred using the transfer sheet of the present invention. Is a state where the hot melt solid ink is recorded on the transfer sheet of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view when an image is transferred to a member to be transferred. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view when the transfer sheet is peeled off after image transfer. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view after an image is transferred to a transfer target member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Support body 2 ... Recording layer 3 ... Transfer sheet of this invention 4 ... Transfer receiving member 5 ... Hot melt ink (image part)

Claims (3)

[Claims] A hot-melt solid ink receptive transfer sheet, wherein the adhesive strength between the ink and the transfer sheet is lower than the adhesive strength between the member to be transferred and the ink. A transfer sheet comprising a recording layer having a recording property. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the difference between the contact angle with the transfer sheet when the hot melt solid ink is melted to be in a liquid state and the contact angle with the transfer target member and the ink is 5 degrees or more. The transfer sheet according to claim 1, wherein 3. An image portion is formed on the transfer sheet according to claim 1 by a hot-melt type ink jet recording apparatus, and then the image portion of the transfer sheet is opposed to the member to be transferred.
An image forming method, wherein an image portion on a transfer sheet is thermally transferred to a member to be transferred by applying heat in contact with the image.