JPS61154997A - Thermal transfer material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a thermal transfer material enabled in high speed printing, obtained by providing a metal layer on a film base material and further providing a heat-meltable ink layer on said metal layer. CONSTITUTION:A thermal transfer material 1 is formed by forming a metal layer 3 on a film like support 2 and further providing a heat-meltable ink layer 4 on said metal layer 3. The metal layer 3 is constituted of a metal, metal oxide or a combination of both of them and can be formed to the film like support by a vacuum vapor deposition method or a sputtering method. As the material quality of said metal layer 3, not only Al but also various ones, for example, Cu, Ni, Cr, Ag, Mo, Si, Zr and graphite or oxide thereof and At or Pt can be used without special limitation. The thickness of the metal layer is 5mum or less, especially pref., 0.7mum or less.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a thermal transfer material that enables high-speed printing and provides clear printing.

In recent years, with the rapid development of the information industry, various information processing systems have been developed, and recording methods and devices suitable for each information processing system have also been developed and adopted. As one of such recording methods, the thermal recording method has recently been widely used because the apparatus used is lightweight, compact, noiseless, and has excellent operability and maintainability.

However, among the recording papers used in thermal recording methods, ordinary thermal recording paper is a color-forming processed paper containing a color former and a color developer, so it is expensive, and records can be tampered with. The paper has disadvantages in that it has poor storage stability, such as the paper easily developing color due to heat or organic solvents, and the recorded image fading in a relatively short period of time.

A thermal transfer recording method has recently been attracting particular attention as a method that maintains the advantages of the thermal recording method described above and compensates for the drawbacks associated with the use of thermal recording paper.

This heat-sensitive transfer recording method generally uses a heat-sensitive transfer material made by melt-coating a heat-transferable ink made of a heat-melting binder with a colorant dispersed on a sheet-like support. The thermally transferable ink layer is superimposed on the recording medium so as to be in contact with the recording medium, and heat is supplied from the support side of the thermal transfer material by a thermal head to transfer the melted ink layer onto the recording medium. A transfer ink image is formed according to the shape of heat supply. According to this method, it is possible to maintain the above-mentioned advantages of the heat-sensitive recording method, use plain paper as a recording medium, and eliminate the disadvantages associated with the use of heat-sensitive recording paper described above.

However, conventional thermal transfer recording methods are not without drawbacks.

BACKGROUND ART As the highly information-oriented society continues to advance, the amount of information that must be processed is increasing dramatically. Printers, which are information recording means, are also required to record at high speed.

In the thermal transfer recording method, heat is applied to the support provided with the heat-melting ink from the opposite side of the ink layer using means such as a thermal head. However, in conventional thermal transfer materials, due to the low thermal conductivity of the support, in order to provide the necessary amount of heat to the heat-melting ink, it is necessary to either increase the surface temperature of the heating resistor or increase the heat application time. It didn't happen. However, if the surface temperature of the heating resistor is raised, the ink will melt in a short time, but if the support is a plastic film support, the melting temperature will be exceeded, causing sticking or tape breakage due to fusion between the thermal head and the support. With supports such as paper,

There is a problem in that the thermal protection layer of the thermal head accelerates deterioration. On the other hand, when heat is applied for a long time, the thermal transfer recording method becomes less effective than other wire tod or inkjet recording methods.
There was a problem in that the recording speed was slow and the printer could not meet the need for faster printers.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer material capable of high-speed printing.

The present inventors conducted extensive research on thermal transfer materials capable of high-speed printing, and found that a metal layer was provided on a film-like base material, and
By providing a heat-sensitive transfer material having a structure in which a heat-melting ink layer is provided thereon.

Can print at higher speeds than conventional thermal transfer materials.

In addition, since heat-melting ink is provided on the metal layer,
Good ink releasability when heat is applied.

It was discovered that clear printing can be obtained, leading to the present invention.

Hereinafter, the invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings as necessary. In the following descriptions, "%" is used to express quantitative ratio.
” and “parts” are based on weight unless otherwise specified.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic sectional view in the thickness direction of a thermal transfer material in the most basic embodiment of the present invention.

That is, the heat-sensitive transfer material 1 has a metal layer 3 provided on a sheet-like support 2, and further has a heat-melting ink layer 4 formed thereon.

As the support 2, conventionally known films and papers can be used as they are, for example, films of relatively heat-resistant plastics such as polyester, polycarbonate, polyamide, triacetyl cellulose, polyimide, etc.
Cellophane, parchment paper, condenser paper, etc. can be suitably used. The thickness 5 of the support is preferably about 1 to 15 microns when considering a thermal head as a heat source during thermal transfer, but it is preferable to use a heat source such as a laser beam that can selectively heat the thermal transferable ink layer. There are no particular restrictions on the use, and when using a thermal head, silicone resin, fluororesin, polyimide resin, epoxy resin, phenol resin, melamine resin, nitrocellulose may be used on the surface of the support that comes into contact with the thermal head. The heat resistance of the support can be improved by providing a heat-resistant protective layer made of the like, or it is also possible to use a support material that could not be used conventionally.

The metal layer 3 is composed of a metal, a metal oxide, or both a metal and a metal oxide. The metal layer 3 can be formed on the film support l by a vacuum evaporation method, sputtering, ion blating, plating method, a method of adhering a metal thin film, etc., and the material thereof is A, for example, C.
u, Ni, Cr, Ag, Mo, Si, Zr.

Graphite or oxides thereof, as well as various kinds such as At and PT can be used, and there is no particular limitation.The thickness of the metal layer 3 is preferably 5 pm or less, particularly 0.74 m or less. A layer thickness of 571 m or more is not preferable because when thermal energy is applied, heat escapes in the lateral direction of the metal layer and does not contribute to the melting of the heat-fusible layer.

The hot-melt ink 4 has a hot-melt binder such as wax or resin, and a colorant such as a pigment or dye as essential components, and additives such as a filler and a dispersant, and is melt-kneaded using a dispersion device such as an attritor. Alternatively, it is kneaded with a solvent to form ink.

Examples of the heat-melting binder constituting the heat-melting ink 4 include natural waxes such as spermaceti wax, beeswax, lanolin, carnauba wax, candelilla wax, and montan wax, paraffin wax, and microurethane wax.

Oxidized waxes, ester waxes, synthetic waxes such as low molecular weight polyethylene, and lauric acid.

Higher fatty acids such as myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, fromenic acid, and behenin, higher alcohols such as stearyl alcohol and behenyl alcohol, and fatty acid esters of sucrose.

Esters such as fatty acid ester of sorbitan, amides such as stearinamide and oleinamide, polyamide resins, and polyester resins.

Epoxy resin, polyurethane resin, acrylic resin, vinyl chloride resin, cellulose resin, polyvinyl resin, petroleum resin, phenolic resin, styrene resin, natural rubber, styrene phtadiene rubber, imprene rubber, chloroprene rubber Elastomers such as can be used.

As the colorant, various dyes and pigments widely used in the fields of printing and recording can be used.

The heat-melting property here refers to the fact that when thermal energy is applied from the support 2 side using a means such as a thermal head, the ink layer becomes molten or softens and has adhesive strength to a recording medium such as paper. It is.

Further, the heat-melting ink layer 4 may be a single layer or multiple layers,
It is not particularly limited.

This heat-melting ink layer 4 is applied onto the film-like support 2 provided with the metal layer 3 by a method such as an applicator, a Meyer bar, or a doctor blade.

Can be formed by hot melt coating or solvent coating.

The planar shape of the thermal transfer material of the present invention is not particularly limited, but it is generally used in the form of a typewriter ribbon or a wide tape used in line printers.

Further, for color recording, it is also possible to use a heat-sensitive transfer material in which heat-melting inks of several different tones are applied in stripes or blocks.

Although the thermal transfer recording method using the above-mentioned thermal transfer material is not particularly different from a normal thermal transfer recording method, the case where the most typical thermal head is used as the heat source will be described for the sake of caution.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view in the thickness direction of a thermal transfer material showing its outline. That is, the recording medium 5 is brought into close contact with the heat-melting ink layer 4 of the heat-sensitive transfer material 1, and if necessary, the recording medium is further supported from the back side by a platen 6 and a thermal head 7 applies a heat pulse to the ink layer 4. Local heating is applied depending on the desired printing or transfer pattern. The heated portion of the ink layer 4 rises in temperature, rapidly melts or softens, and is transferred to the recording medium, leaving a recorded image 4a.

Although an example in which a thermal head is used as a heat source for thermal transfer recording has been described above, it is easy to understand that the present invention can be implemented similarly when using other heat sources such as a laser.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples.

Example 1 An aluminum vapor-deposited film was deposited on a polyethylene terephthalate film (hereinafter abbreviated as PET film) with a thickness of 3.5 JL m to a thickness of 0.5 g m by a vacuum evaporation method. I).

On the A1 layer of this support (I), a heat-melting ink obtained according to the following formulation was provided in a thickness of 4 μm to produce a thermal transfer material (A) of the present invention.

(Formulation of hot melt ink) While heating each component in the above treatment to 100'0.

Carbon black was dispersed by stirring with Santo Mill for 30 minutes to prepare a heat-melting ink (A).

The melting point (DSC method) of the heat-melting ink (A) was 72°C.

Comparative Example 1 A heat-sensitive transfer material (B) was prepared by applying the same heat-melting ink as in Example 1 to a thickness of 41 Lm on a PET film having a film thickness of 4 μm.

Comparative Example 2 PET on the side opposite to the A1 layer of support (I) as described in the example
4pm of the same heat-melting ink as in Example 1 was applied to the film surface.
A thermal transfer material (C) was prepared with a thickness of .

Thermal transfer material (A) obtained as described above.

Thermal transfer recording of (B) and (C) was performed under the heat application conditions shown in Table 1.

Table 1 (*) OD value of solid printing area In Table 1, the printing evaluation is as follows.

0 -----1 Print density is high and the recorded image is clear.

Δ--The printing density is high, but the recorded image is partially interrupted.

X--Print density is low, and the recorded image is partially discontinuous.

As is clear from Table 1, when thermal transfer recording was performed under the same conditions as in Example 1 using the thermal transfer material (C) in which the metal layer (AfL layer) was provided on the opposite side to the heat-melting ink, the thermal efficiency was Although the printing density was increased due to the higher printing density, the releasability of the ink was slightly inferior, and the printing was poor in clarity and quality (Comparative Example 2).

In addition, the thermal transfer material without the metal layer had a low print density, and the recorded image was partially discontinuous, resulting in poor quality (Comparative Example 1).

On the other hand, when thermal transfer recording was carried out using the thermal transfer material (A) of the present invention, clear and high-quality prints with high print density were obtained.

As described above, the thermal transfer material of the present invention is suitable for high-speed printing, provides high-quality printing, and has an extremely wide range of applications.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view in the thickness direction of the thermal transfer material of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining a thermal transfer recording method using the thermal transfer material of the present invention. 1-1111 Thermal transfer material 2-----1 Support 3-----1 Metal layer 4--1--Thermofusible ink 5------1 Recording medium 6- --------Platen 7------Thermal head procedural correction blind motion) May 17, 1985 Director General of the Patent Office Manabu Shiga 1985 Patent Application No. 276990 2 Name of the invention Thermal transfer material 3. Relationship with the case of the person making the amendment Patent applicant address 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Name (100
) Canon Co., Ltd. Representative: Kazuhiro Kaku 3-4, Agent Address: 3-30-25 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo 14111
, Date of amendment order (shipment date) April 30, 1985 6. Specifications subject to amendment 7. Contents of amendment As shown in the engraving of the specification originally attached to the application (no change in content)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A heat-sensitive transfer material, characterized in that a metal layer is provided on a film-like base material, and a heat-melting ink layer is further provided on the metal layer. (2) The thermal transfer material according to claim 1, wherein the metal layer has a thickness of 5 μm or less.