JPS62148269A - Printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a non-impact printing device, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a non-impact printing device, and more specifically, it transfers thermoplastic magnetic ink to a transfer medium by the action of heat and magnetism, and prints characters and characters. It concerns a printing method for obtaining an image.

[Conventional technology]

Many compact, low-cost, non-impact printing methods using magnetic ink have been proposed.

For example, a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 52-96541 uses magnetic ink as the ink of the fusion thermal transfer method, and uses a magnetic attraction means provided separately from the heat supply means to apply a magnetic attraction force to the ink corresponding to the thermal image. It acts and transfers. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the thermal head 31-
The ink medium 32 - transfer paper 35 - magnet 36 are installed in this order, and the thermoplastic magnetic ink 34 of the ink medium is brought into contact with the transfer paper when heat is applied from the surface of the base film 33 by a thermal head (directly below the head), and is melted. After adhering the ink to the transfer paper, the ink medium is pulled off from the transfer paper and the ink is transferred. Furthermore, the magnetic attraction force increases the probability of molten ink contacting the transfer paper, and increases the transfer rate to the paper when the ink medium is peeled off. was invented to print high-quality text and images.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, when the ink medium is peeled off, the ink in the recording area to be transferred comes into contact with the base film and the ink in the non-recording area.
A force acts to peel off the ink in the recording area that has been fused and adhered to the transfer paper together with the base film, causing transfer defects.

That is, in general thermal transfer recording including the above-mentioned conventional technology, as shown in FIG. FB, IFA>FO between Fll (ink cohesive force) and Fll (ink cohesive force), FC (ink-base film adhesion force), and FD (recorded area inter-non-recorded area ink bonding force) ,F
If the relationship D always holds, transcription is complete.

In the figure, 41 is a base film, 42 is ink in the recording area, 43 is ink in the non-recording area, and 44 is the transfer paper.

In addition, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, when the ink melts, the ink in the recording section is attracted toward the transfer paper by magnetic attraction, so the probability of contact with the transfer paper increases. Increasing 'A had the effect of increasing transcription efficiency to some extent. However, as usual, when the ink medium is peeled off, the base film and the interprinted paper are still adhered, so in Figure 3, FC and FD
exists. Therefore, especially when transferring to paper with very poor surface smoothness, FA<FC or FA<F
Case D occurs, resulting in a problem of poor transfer.

Furthermore, in the conventional technology, when thermal energy is applied to the ink in the recording section to melt the ink, the ink and the transfer paper are in contact with each other, so heat escapes from the ink to the transfer paper, that is, heat conduction occurs. This method has the disadvantage of slow printing speed due to large heat loss and the large amount of energy required to melt the ink.

Therefore, the present invention was made to solve these problems, and its purpose is to transfer paper that has a very poor surface smoothness or a film that does not have a very high affinity with ink. Another object of the present invention is to provide a printing method that can print extremely high-quality characters and images and use less printing energy than conventional printing methods.

[Means for solving problems]

The printing method of the present invention includes means 1 for applying thermal energy to a recording portion 13 of thermoplastic magnetic ink, as shown in FIG.
1, and a means 15 for generating a magnetic attraction force to the ink, and the recording portion of the ink is transferred to the transfer medium 14 by the magnetic attraction force by controlling the application of thermal energy, and the ink is It is characterized in that the transfer medium does not come into contact with the ink non-recording portion 12 (FM is a magnetic attraction vector), and the means for generating magnetic attraction force is a permanent magnet.

[For production]

According to the above configuration of the present invention, the thermoplastic magnetic ink and the transfer medium are not in contact with each other in the non-recording portion of the ink. Therefore, ink transfer is performed by deforming or flying the ink recording portion due to the magnetic attraction force when the ink is activated by heat. That is, the application of thermal energy to the ink and the printing onto the receiving paper are completed at the same time, and the process of peeling off the ink medium in the prior art is unnecessary.
It becomes necessary. In other words, in FIG. 3 described above, since the pa and FD that hindered the transfer at the time of peeling off the ink medium do not exist, the transfer is completed completely.

Furthermore, since the ink and the transfer paper are not in contact with each other, there is no loss of heat due to heat conduction from the ink to the transfer paper, and the energy applied to melt the ink can be greatly reduced. Furthermore, since a permanent magnet is used as the magnetic attraction means, it is possible to create an energy-saving printing device.

〔Example〕

Main cross-sectional views of the permanent magnet head in this example are shown in FIGS. 2(b) and 2(c).

27 is a permanent magnet, and a magnet with a large maximum energy product is desirable. A permanent magnet such as an Arnif magnet, a Ba-ferrite magnet, or a rare earth magnet, with a maximum energy product (hereinafter abbreviated as (BH) max) of 10 MGOe or more is desirable.

The yokes 29 and 29' have a tapered tip 29'. The material of the yokes is a high magnetic permeability material, that is, F.
E, Fe-8i, Pe-Ni, Mn-Zn7 elite, Ni-Zn7 elite, etc. are suitable. Furthermore, it is more effective to use a high saturation magnetic flux density material such as F6-Oo at the tip of the core.

Also, the gap at the tip (B in the figure) is 100μ ν1.
000 μm is desirable.

The magnetic ink 28 to be sucked needs to be installed at a position where the magnetic field gradient due to leakage of magnetic flux from the tip of the permanent magnet head is large.

That is, it is desirable that the distance (A) between the permanent magnet head and the magnetic ink is 1000 μm or less.

In the permanent magnet head shown in FIG. 2(6), magnetic ink is attracted in a direction transverse to the magnetic flux, and as shown in FIG. 2(c).
In the permanent magnet head shown in , magnetic flux is attracted in the same direction as the magnetic flux.

Example 1) A permanent magnet head shown in No. 21J(b) was used as the magnetic attraction means. The yoke is permendur (Oo50
), and the permanent magnet is (B )i ) max = 2
0 Sam magnet was used. The gap at the tip (B) is 2
00 μm.

A thin film thermal head with a resolution of 180 DP was used as a heat application means.

The ink medium used was a 4 μm thick PET (polyethylene terephthalate) film coated with a magnetic ink having the following composition by a hot melt method so that the ink thickness was 4 μm.

[Magnetic ink composition]

1. Magnetite fine particles 50 wt%2.
Carnauba wax 60 wt%3, paraffin wax 30 wt%4, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer S wt%5, dispersant
1wt%6, dye
4 vt% A block diagram of the printing method used in this implementation is shown in FIG. 2 (α). 21 is a thermal head, 2
2 is the ink medium, 23 is the transfer paper (Peck smoothness 2 seconds)
, 24 are permanent magnet heads. The ink medium is PET
It is composed of a film 25 and magnetic ink 26.

Ink transfer was performed using the above elements and configuration. Table 1 shows the printing conditions and the evaluation results of transfer efficiency.

The evaluation result of the transfer efficiency was expressed as a percentage of the amount of ink transferred to the transfer paper with respect to the amount of ink (thermal element area x ink thickness) corresponding to the area of the thermal element of the thermal head.

Example 2) Ink transfer was performed using the same elements and configuration as in Example 1) but with different printing conditions.

Example 3) In Example 1), (BH)maX of the permanent magnet head
However, ink transfer was performed using 30 inks and changing the printing conditions.

Example 4) In Example 1), the tip gap of the electromagnet head (
Comparative Example 1) Using the same elements as in Example 1), the magnetic ink and the transfer paper were When thermal energy was applied, the ink was transferred under the same conditions as in Example 1), ie, directly under the thermal head, so that they were in contact with each other.

Comparative Example 2) In the same configuration as Comparative Example 1), ink transfer was performed under the same printing conditions as in Example 2).

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention includes a means for applying thermal energy to a recording portion of thermoplastic magnetic ink and a means for generating a magnetic attraction force to the ink, and by controlling the application of thermal energy, In a printing method in which a recorded portion of ink is transferred to a transfer medium using magnetic attraction force, the ink and the transfer medium are configured so that they do not come into contact with each other in the non-recorded portion of the ink. This eliminates the need for the process of peeling off the ink, and it is possible to greatly increase ink transfer efficiency. Therefore, it is possible to form high-quality characters and images even on paper with extremely poor surface smoothness, film with poor affinity with ink, and the like. Furthermore, by reducing thermal energy,
It is possible to increase the printing speed.

Furthermore, by using a permanent magnet head as the magnetic g & pull means, it is possible to make an energy-saving printing device. This is effective for all printing methods in which a recorded portion of thermoplastic magnetic ink is transferred to a transfer medium by magnetic attraction.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of the printing method of the present invention. FIG. 2(α) is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2(b) and FIG. 2(c) are diagrams showing an embodiment of a permanent magnet head according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating various forces acting on the ink when the ink medium is peeled off in the thermal transfer method of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the principle of a conventional printing method. Applicant Seiko Epson Co., Ltd. Figure 1 (b) (C) Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] It has a means for applying thermal energy to a recorded portion of thermoplastic magnetic ink and a means for generating a magnetic attraction force to the ink, and by controlling the application of thermal energy, the recorded portion of the ink is transferred to a transfer medium by the magnetic attraction force. is non-contact in the non-recorded portion of the ink, and the means for generating the magnetic attraction force is a permanent magnet.