JPS6381078A - Production of transfer recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable high-quality images to be transferred onto an ordinary paper having a low surface smoothness and enable high-speed recording, recording of intermediate gradations and multicolor recording, by providing a binder on a base, then placing an excess of image-forming elements thereon, and removing the image-forming elements which are not in contact with the binder by adhering those elements to an adhesion member. CONSTITUTION:A binder 1b is applied to a base 1a, and microcapsules 1c are sprinkled from a hopper 5 onto the binder, thereby binding the microcapsules 1c to the binder 1b. Of the microcapsules, only those being in contact with the binder are bound, and the other ones are removed from base 1a by adhering to the surface of a roller 2. The base 1a is heated while being fed through a drying furnace 7, whereby the binding force for the microcapsules is enhanced, binding is completed, and a transfer recording medium is obtained. Since the microcapsules which are not in contact with the binder 1b are removed, a single layer of the microcapsules is uniformly provided on the base 1a. A material for an adhesion member of the roller 2 may be a rubber such as silicone rubber and fluoro rubber, a resin or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a transfer recording medium that can be used in printers, copying machines, facsimile machines, and the like.

(Prior Art) In recent years, with the rapid development of the information industry, various information processing systems have been developed, and recording methods suitable for each information processing system have been developed.

One such recording method is the thermal recording method, which has been widely used recently because the device used in this method is lightweight, compact, noiseless, and has excellent operability and maintainability.

Among these thermal recording methods, a thermal transfer recording method has recently attracted particular attention. This recording method is generally
A heat-sensitive transfer medium is used, in which a heat-transferable ink formed by dispersing a colorant in a heat-melting binder is coated on a sheet-like support 1-, and the heat-transferable ink layer of the heat-sensitive transfer medium is applied to a transfer medium. superimpose it on the transfer medium so as to touch it,
By supplying heat with a thermal head or the like from the support side of the thermal transfer medium and transferring the melted ink layer to the transfer medium, a transferred recorded image corresponding to the heat supply pattern is formed on the transfer medium. . According to this method, plain paper can be used as the transfer medium.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, such conventional thermal transfer recording methods are not without drawbacks. The reason is that in conventional thermal transfer recording methods, the transfer recording performance, that is, the image quality, is greatly affected by the surface smoothness of the transfer medium, and while it is possible to print well on highly smooth transfer media, it is possible to print well on transfer media with low smoothness. The print quality on the transfer medium is significantly degraded. Moreover, paper, which is the most common transfer medium, is rather special because it has a high level of smoothness, and ordinary paper has various degrees of unevenness due to entangled fibers. Therefore, in the case of paper with large surface irregularities, the hot-melted ink cannot penetrate into the fibers of the paper during printing and only adheres to the convexities on the surface or the vicinity thereof, resulting in sharp edges of the printed image. The image may not be printed properly, or part of the image may be missing, resulting in poor print quality.

In addition, in conventional thermal transfer recording methods, the ink layer is transferred to the transfer medium only by heat from the thermal head, but there is generally a limit to the amount of heat that can be supplied from the thermal head. In order to convert and supply a large amount of recording signals as heat pulses within a certain amount of time, there is a time lag in cooling the thermal head to a predetermined temperature between heat pulses during recording,
Furthermore, it has been theoretically difficult to increase the amount of heat supplied from the thermal head in order to prevent thermal stroke between the heat generating segments that constitute the thermal head surface. Therefore, high-speed recording is difficult with conventional thermal recording methods.

In addition, thermal conduction has a slower response than electricity or light, so when recording with a thermal head, it is generally difficult to control heat pulses to the extent that halftones can be reproduced. The heat-sensitive transfer ink layer did not have transfer characteristics capable of expressing gradation, so it was not possible to form a half-tone recorded image.

Therefore, the applicant used a photothermally sensitive polymer material, and when thermal energy and light energy were applied, the reaction of the polymer rapidly progressed and the transfer material changed irreversibly.
An image forming method and a transfer recording medium have been proposed in which an image is formed based on the difference in characteristics according to an image signal, and the image is transferred to a recording medium.

The present invention is a method for manufacturing a new transfer recording medium that solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, that is, it is possible to form a high-quality transfer image on plain paper, which is most commonly used because of its low surface smoothness, and also enables high-speed recording. The present invention also provides a method for manufacturing a transfer recording medium that allows halftone recording and multicolor recording.

[Means for solving problems]

That is, the present invention is a method for manufacturing a transfer recording medium in which an image forming element is provided on a base material, which includes a step of providing a binding material on the base material for binding the base material and the image forming element. a step of disposing an excess image forming element on the binder after providing the binder on the base material; This is a method for manufacturing a transfer recording medium, which includes a step of attaching the image forming element to an adhering member provided in contact with the image forming element and removing it.

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of an apparatus for carrying out the manufacturing method of the present invention.

In this device, 1a is the base material of the transfer recording medium, 1b is the binding material, IC is the microcapsule (image forming element), and l
d is a base material roll that sends out the base material 1a at a constant speed;
3 is a roller which is an adhesion member for adhering and removing microcapsules; 3 is a binder application container that can store the binder 1b and apply the binder 1b onto the base material 1a; a blade for uniformly applying the binding material to a desired thickness; 5 a hopper for holding the microcapsules and feeding the microcapsules little by little onto the applied binding material 1b; 6 a hopper for holding the microcapsules; 7 is a drying oven, 8 is a transfer recording medium collection roll, 9 is a blade for scraping off microcapsules attached to roller 2, and 10 is a collection container for microcapsules. .

A transfer recording medium is manufactured using the above-mentioned apparatus, for example, in the following manner.

That is, first, the binder 1b is applied to the H of the base material 1a while the base material 1a is fed out at a constant speed by the base material roll d. Microcapsules 1c are sprinkled from a hopper 5 onto this layer of binding material 1b to bind the microcapsules to the binding material. At this time, only the microcapsules that are in contact with the binding material are bound, and the others adhere to the surface of the roller 2 in the subsequent process as shown in Figure 1. It is removed from the base material 1aj2. The microcapsules adhering to the roller 2 are scraped off by a blade 9 and collected into a collection container 10. The base material 1a on which the unidirectional image forming element has been bound is passed through a drying oven 8 and heated, thereby improving the binding force of the microcapsules and completing the binding, thereby obtaining a transfer recording medium. The above steps are performed continuously at a constant speed.

FIG. 2(a) is a cross-sectional view of the state in which microcapsules are sprinkled onto the binder in the above-mentioned process;
Figure (b) is a cross-sectional view after removing excess microcapsules. In this way, the microcapsules not in contact with the binding material 1b are removed, so that the microcapsules are more uniformly provided on the base material 1a1.

As described above, in the method for manufacturing a transfer recording medium of the present invention, an image forming element (microcapsule) is placed on a binding material after a binding hole is provided on a base material. It is possible to obtain a transfer recording medium to which no binding material is attached,
In addition, in order to remove the image forming elements that are not in contact with the binding material among the image forming elements placed on the binding material, the image forming element is transferred so that the image forming elements are more uniformly arranged on the binding material. A recording medium can be obtained.

In the above embodiment example, an example is shown in which the image forming element is conveyed by contacting the image forming element only once, but if the image forming element that is not attached to the binding material cannot be removed in just one time, multiple rollers are used. May be used separately. Furthermore, if the roller is rotated faster than the conveyance speed of the transfer recording medium, or if the roller is rotated in reverse, the image forming element can be more reliably attached to the roller.

Furthermore, although a silicone rubber roll has been described as an example of the adhesion member, it is not limited to the roll, but may be a rotating belt or the like. Alternatively, if it is allowed to be periodically replaced, a rotary member made of, for example, a porous material may be used, which has a high ability to hold the attached image forming element. The material for the attachment portion is not limited to silicone rubber, and other materials such as rubbers such as fluororubber or resins may be used. Alternatively, tapes with weak adhesiveness may be used.

In the present invention, the means for providing the binder on the base material include applying the binder using a blade or applicator as described above, spraying the binder, gravure printing, etc. A method can be used.

In addition, the method of placing the image forming element on the binder is not only the method of simply sprinkling it, but also the method of overlaying the binder on a separately prepared support, or placing the image forming element on the binder in advance. A method such as contacting and conveying a base material provided with a binding material onto a container containing the material may also be used.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the image forming element was placed on the binder and then dried in a drying oven, but the drying step may be performed after or before the process of attaching and removing the excess image forming element. . In addition, drying is not limited to using a drying oven, and natural drying may be used. Furthermore, if a fast-drying binding material is used, the drying step is not necessary.

Further, the image forming element is not limited to a microcapsule-like one, but may be a granular one that does not have a wall material and is simply agglomerated with a coloring material or the like.

As the binder used in the production method of the present invention, epoxy adhesives, urethane adhesives, acrylic adhesives, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyacrylamide, etc. are preferably used. Also, the base material is PE.
T film, polyamide film, polyimide film, condenser paper, etc. can be used.

The present invention will be explained in more detail below using specific examples.

〔Example〕

A thermal transfer recording medium capable of forming a multicolor image was manufactured as follows.

Production of microcapsules An image forming element was manufactured in the form of a microcapsule.

In other words, 10 g of the core material components shown in Tables 1 and 2 are first mixed with 20 parts by weight of methylene chloride, and then mixed with a surfactant such as a cationic or nonionic surfactant having an HLB value of at least 10 or more. Mix 1 g of gelatin with 200 ml of water,
8000~loo0 with a homomixer heated at 60℃
The mixture was emulsified by stirring at 0 rpm to obtain oil droplets with an average particle size of 26.

Stirring was continued for 30 minutes at 60 DEG C., and the methylene chloride was distilled off to reduce the average particle size to about 10. To this, add 20ml of water in which 1g of gum arabic was dissolved, and add NH40)1 (ammonia) water while cooling slowly to obtain a microcapsule thriller, and add 1.0ml of a 20% glutaraldehyde aqueous solution. Add slowly to harden the capsule walls.

After that, solid-liquid separation was carried out using a Nutsche filter, and 35
C. for 10 hours to obtain a microcapsule-shaped image forming element. This image-forming element was a microcapsule in which the core materials shown in Tables 1 and 2 were covered with a wall material, and had a particle size of 7 to 15 μm and an average particle size of 10 μm.

The core materials used here shown in Tables 1 and 2 have the property of forming an image when thermal energy and light energy are applied thereto. That is, by applying thermal energy and light energy, a reaction is initiated, and the physical properties governing the transfer characteristics change. In other words, the transfer temperature of the image forming element in which the reaction has progressed is higher than that of the image forming element in which the reaction has not progressed. Specifically, when the photoinitiator in the core material shown in Table 1 is heated to 100°C or higher and absorbs light in the band around the peak of curve A in the absorption characteristic graph shown in Figure 4, it generates radicals. It starts a reaction and polymerizes, and due to the reaction, the transfer temperature of the core material increases from 60 to 70°C to 150°C or higher.

This core material exhibits a magenta color when transferred to form an image. On the other hand, the photoinitiator in the core material shown in Table 2 starts a radical reaction when it absorbs light in the band around the peak of curve B in the absorption characteristic graph shown in Figure 4 while being heated to 100°C or higher. The reaction causes the transfer temperature of the core material to rise from 60 to 70°C to 150°C. This core material exhibits a blue color when transferred to form an image.

<Manufacture of transfer recording medium according to the present invention> Using the apparatus shown in FIG. A transfer recording medium was manufactured.

First, the profiteer 1a is moved at a constant speed by the base material roll 2] mn+
/min, the binder 1b is supplied from the binder coating container 3 onto the base material 1a, and after drying with the blade 4, the layer thickness is approximately 0.3. The binder 1b was applied so that All of the following steps were carried out in accordance with this constant speed of substrate delivery.

The binder used here is a two-component epoxy adhesive manufactured by Kanebo N.C. Co., Ltd., which is a mixture of Evolution Li, 1, and Evolution EBI in a ratio of 1=1. did. This binding material does not lose its adhesive properties for several hours even if left at room temperature.

Next, a microcapsule-shaped image forming element formed using the core material components shown in Tables 1 and 2 above is placed on the layer of the adhesive binder using a mixer 6 at a ratio of 1:1. A certain amount (5g) of IC mixed uniformly with hopper 5
/min).

A cross-sectional view of the laminate formed by sprinkling the image forming elements on the substrate at this point is shown in FIG. 2(a).

Next, the side of this laminate where the image forming element is placed is
As shown in the enlarged view in FIG. 3, it was conveyed in contact with freely rotating rollers 2. In this process, all the image forming elements that have not come into contact with the binder adhere to the roller 2 and are removed, and the image forming elements that adhere to the roller 2 are scraped off by the blade 9 and collected in the collection container 10. Ta.

After the roller 2 and the image forming element come into contact, the laminate is
Image forming elements were arranged in one layer as shown in Figure (b).

The roller 2 used here is a metal roller with a diameter of 40 mm, and a silicone sponge with a hardness of 20 degrees is coated on the surface of a metal roller with a thickness of 4 m.
rrl, and then on top of the silicone sponge with a hardness of 406.
It is made of silicone rubber with a thickness of mm.

Next, the laminate as shown in Figure 2(b) was heated to 100°C.
A transfer recording medium was obtained by passing through a drying path 7 maintained at a constant temperature for 15 minutes to dry the laminate to a desired degree. This transfer recording medium was wound up on a transfer recording medium recovery roll 9.

<Experimental Example> Using the transfer recording medium obtained by the method 1- below, a transfer experiment as described below was conducted.

That is, the PET surface of the transfer recording medium was brought into close contact with a hot plate heated to 120° C., and from a distance of about 25 mm from the surface of the transfer recording layer, a Toshiba film having the spectral characteristics shown as C and D in FIG. 20W fluorescent lamp FL20SE manufactured by Toshiba Corporation and 20W fluorescent lamp Fl, l manufactured by Toshiba Corporation.
0A70E was irradiated to each desired position over a period of about 50 m5 ec. The transfer recording medium after heat irradiation was passed between two rollers that were pressed against each other and overlapped with the recording paper so that the transfer recording layer of the transfer recording medium was in contact with the recording paper whose surface smoothness was about 10 to 20 seconds. .

The pressure between the rollers is set at approximately 25 kg/m2, and the surface temperature of the roller in contact with the transfer recording medium is set to 90 to 1
It was heated to 00°C. After passing between the rollers, the transfer recording medium and the recording paper were peeled off and the recording paper appeared.
Second, high quality images consisting of blue and magenta colors were obtained.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a transfer recording medium in which an image forming element is coated more uniformly on a substrate, and in which a binder is not attached to the upper surface of the image forming element. By using the transfer recording medium obtained according to the present invention, a good transfer image with high image quality can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a manufacturing apparatus used in the manufacturing method of the present invention, and FIG. Figure (b) is a cross-sectional view showing the state after removing unnecessary image forming elements from the state shown in Figure 2 (a), and Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing the state in which a roller is used as an adhesion member. FIG. 4 is a graph showing the absorption characteristics of a photoinitiator in microcapsules, and FIG. 5 is a graph showing the spectral characteristics of a fluorescent lamp. 1: Transfer recording medium 1a: Base material 1b: Binder 1c Two microcapsules (image forming element) 1d: Base material roll 2: Roller (adhering member) 3: Binder coating container 4 Two blades 5: Hopper 6: Mixer 7: Drying oven 8: Transfer recording medium collection roll 9 Blade 10: Collection container A, B: Absorption characteristics of core material C, D: Spectral characteristics of fluorescent lamp

Claims (1)

[Claims] A method for manufacturing a transfer recording medium comprising an image forming element provided on a base material, comprising: providing a binding material on the base material for binding the base material and the image forming element; a step of disposing an excess image forming element on the binder after providing a binder, and a step of placing an excess of the image forming element on the binder; 1. A method for manufacturing a transfer recording medium, comprising the steps of: adhering to an adhesion member provided so as to be in contact with the adhesion member; and removing the adhesion member.