DE1646007A1 - Image transmission apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

ti Ά » ( 'ti'Vi" / 4 ύ'Ι Cl ft _{ M 1975

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, Saint Paul,

Minnesota 55101, V.St.A.

Image transmission apparatus and method

The invention relates to a method for producing images on objects and in particular for applying images to objects at high temperatures. According to a specific embodiment, the invention relates to a novel pilm product which can be manufactured and shipped and processed for use in roll form and from which pre-formed images can be transferred to hot surfaces, for example ^{having a temperature of 260 σ} 0 or higher.

It is customary to place items made of glass, pottery, porcelain, Ceramics etc. (in the following for the sake of simplicity summarized under the Samuel term "glass objects") Images, such as decorative characters or patterns and goods

New sublQQs (Art. I ä I Abs. Λ ί Jr. 1 ojtz 3 ües Änüwunoage · '.

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designations to apply. When making such Objects, it is often desirable to apply the images at a time when the objects are hot are. This is the case, for example, "if the image is in an intermediate stage between two heating stages during the Manufacture of the article is applied, such as between the stage of initial formation of the object made of heated materials and a final stage in which the object provided with the picture is fired to permanently fuse the image with the object.

The temperatures at which such articles are molded and ultimately fired are generally above of about 260 ° Ό. The image application processes used for Time in industry are in use, however, are not applicable at these high temperatures. At the present The manufacturing process in use must therefore Object to be cooled before the image can be applied. If this is not cooling down in a controlled manner is made, the objects can break or be damaged in other ways, so that often additional Devices for gradual and "even cooling" are required.

1 0 9 B K> i 0 2 7 (I.

The previously known methods for applying printing ink patterns have proven effective at these high temperatures Proven useless for a number of reasons. One of the methods currently used in the industry is e.g. the screen printing process, in which a printing ink solution is generally applied to a surface through a kind of stencil is applied. At temperatures well above room temperature, however, the solvents in the printing ink solution evaporate with blistering. The usual decal process that does not involve solvents during the transfer stage can be used at slightly higher temperatures. The previously known transfer methods however, they cannot be used at the high temperatures at which the invention can be carried out.

As far as is known, nowhere has an imaging material and a method for its use been proposed with which one can provide surfaces with images at high temperatures above about 260 ° C. in a suitable manner could. In general, the preferred embodiment includes the image transfer materials of the present invention a heat-resistant carrier in the form of a release film, on one side of which an image is attached «At ambient temperatures the image is anchored on the film, so that the tape can be easily unrolled and handled without shifting or moving.

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Detachment of the picture is possible? while at the high Application temperatures detached the image from the film and is transferred to the hot surface to which it preferentially adheres without warping, bleeding or The image expires.

The device and its advantages will become more detailed in the following description in conjunction with the drawings explained in which

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a release film according to a preferred embodiment of the invention and

Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of a preferred method of transferring an image from the film according to Fig. 1 is on a heated surface.

1 shows that an ink image 8 is applied to one side of a release film 10. The "ink" that forming the image in this preferred embodiment contains a high temperature melting ceramic pigment and a thermoplastic polymeric binder. The binder is and will be a solid at room temperature plastic when heated. At higher temperatures and the application of light pressure, the image is transmitted as a whole and bound to a glass surface on which it is opposite the

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Carrier film preferably adheres. The binder is volatile and decomposes with further heating or "burns off", without running or otherwise distorting the image. After the binder has been removed, the pigment melts adheres to the glass at the high temperatures used and forms a permanent image.

The carrier film 10 is heat resistant. With regard to the properties of the "printing ink", its image-bearing side has properties which permit the image to be detached at higher temperatures, ie when the binder becomes plastic. At room temperatures, the ink in solid form is suitably anchored to the release surface and does not transfer easily, such as to the back of the carrier film when the film is wound into a roll 12.

The preferred method of image transmission, as shown in Fig.2 is explained, is that the image surface of the film on a heated surface 13 of a G-las or Ceramic object 14 applies with constant rolling movement, through the resilient, curved front of the transfer device 16 is generated. Immediately after the touch, the ink image is reduced to its plastic state heated and transferred from the film to the glass.

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16461) 07

The invention is further illustrated by the following examples which, however, should not be taken as a limitation.

example 1

An ink solution was made up of the following ingredients

manufactured:

Substance wt. -jo

Thermoplastic polyaryl ether aryl sulfone resin in the form of tablets with a diameter of 3 »17 mm and a density of
1 »24 g / ccm and a glass transition temperature (T) of 190 °" C (available under the trade name "Phenoxy T" from Unions

Garbide Corporation; the manufacturer announced that the trade name of the resin soon in "Polysulfone-T" will be changed) '

A fluorocarbon polymer made from trifluorochloroethylene (available in the form of a white powder under the trade name "KeI-F 800" from Minnesota Mining and

Manufacturing Company). 2.21

Methyl isobutyl ketone as solvent 4.43

Methyl ethyl ketone as a solvent 2.21

Cyclohexanone as solvent 57.81

Cobalt Oxide (pigment) 19.34

100.00

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These substances are placed in a ball mill and ground there for about 48 hours. The ball mill has a porcelain or an earthenware drum containing glass, steel or porcelain balls. When the drum is turned, grind it and the spheres pulverize the pigment to adequately disperse the pigment throughout the G-emic to ensure.

The ink dispersion is removed from the ball mill and applied by screen printing to a polytetrafluoroethylene PiIm (available under the trade name "Teflon" from DuPont & de Nemours Company), which has a thickness of 0.05 mm and a width of 5 cm. The film was placed on a flat surface and the screen was placed over the film. The ink was poured along a bank of the screen and a squeegee roller was moved across the screen to force the ink through the screen openings. The ink was thus deposited on the film to form an ink image corresponding to the pattern of the screen openings .

The ink dried within a few minutes at room temperature. To ensure complete evaporation the solvent, however, the film was heated in an oven at 107 ° C. for 10 minutes. - ■ / - ■ - · ..

ORIGINAL 1NSF £ CT «D

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The image bearing film was then placed on a transfer device attached from silicone rubber. This device is designed for easy hand application and resembled that in lig. 2 explained device. Like in the Drawing is shown, the transfer film is placed on the device in such a way that the image of the curved, resilient front of the device $ it help a rolling motion can be applied. The imaged transfer film was then against a 10 cm χ 10 cm sample heated ceramic material (such as e.g., "Pyrοceram" glass made by Gorning Glass Works Coa? Mpany in the manufacture of their "Corningware" - ceramic glass objects used), which had a temperature of 590 ^ o.

During application, the heat of the ceramic article melted the thermoplastic polymers of the printing ink binder and caused the printing ink to separate from the carrier film and adhere to the ceramic article, creating a black image on the ceramic surface. The imaged ceramic article was then fired in a kiln at a temperature of 1090 ^a G for 5 hours. After removing it from the kiln, it was found that the binder

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and the fluorocarbon polymer sublimates off the printing ink or burned off and the pigment with the ceramic material, forming a clear, blue imprint of the desired image was merged.

Example 2

A carrier film was produced by spraying a 0.025 mm thick aluminum foil with an aqueous latex dispersion of Teflon having a solids content of 60.696. The coated film was then ^{dried in a 70 0} G oven for about 10-20 minutes to remove the water. The discrete Teflon particles were then sintered or melted by placing the coated film directly on a 370 0 * 0 hot plate. The film was then cooled and the ink solution of Example 1 was applied to the coated surface in the same manner as in Example 1. The image was dried and then made using the method described in Pig. 2 is transferred from the film to a heated glass plate at a temperature of about 540 ^ O. The glass plate is available on the market under the trade designation "Pyrex 7740" and contains 81 36 silica, 2 i »alumina, 13 ί" boron oxide and small amounts of alkali oxides.

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• Example 3

The following ingredients became an ink solution manufactured:

Substance parts by weight

Fluorocarbon polymer

! Trifluorochloroethylene (available

in the form of a white powder under

the trade name ¹¹ KeI-P 800 "

from Minnesota Mining and Manu-

faätararing Company 50

Methyl isobutyl ketone as solvent 100 Methyl ethyl ketone as solvent 50

Cyclohexanone as a solvent 50

cobalt oxide (pigment) 44.3

294.3

I am silicone rubber with the trade name "EC 1663 B / A", available from Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company became a 1/3 cm pillow Thick potted. The silicone rubber was formulated from the following ingredients:

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Basic component (part B ) substance

Polysiloxane with terminal OH groups containing a small amount of tetraethylsilicate contains (available under the trade name "RTV-6O" from General Electric Company)

Inert polysiloxane fluid (available under the trade name "SP-eg" from the General Electric Company

Parts by weight

97.6

2.4

100.0

Accelerator (! Peil A) substance

Inert polysiloxane fluid (available under the trade designation "SF-96" from the General Electric Company)

Black iron oxide (Fe 0.) as a pigment (available under the trade name "Mapico Black" from Columbia Carbon Company

Catalyst containing diotyltin dilaurate (available under the trade designation "Thermolite 12" from Metal and Thermite Corporation)

Parts by weight

4.83

4.98

0.19

10.0

ORfGSNAL

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The base ingredient (Part B) and the accelerator (Part A) became the base ingredient in a ratio of 100 parts mixed to 10 parts accelerator to produce the desired silicone rubber.

The 1/3 cm thick silicone chewing pad was hardened on a glass plate and then peeled off. The above-described ink solution was applied to the pad by screen printing in the manner described for the carrier film of Example 1. The pad, with the ink image facing out, was attached to the transfer device of Example 1 with a silicone adhesive. The transfer device with the pad was placed in a 107 ^σ 0 oven for 5 minutes to dry the ink. The image was then transferred from the pad to a glass surface at a temperature of 425 ^σ 0. The image obtained on the glass in this way was crisp and clear.

In other examples, it was found that the carrier films of Examples, the ink image of Example 1 at various temperatures of 550 1 and 2-815 ⁰ O transferred to heated glass surfaces, and in Example 3 was successfully werdÄn worked at 205 ° C.

It should be noted that the three color dimensions of the examples 1 and 2 a combination of binders, i.e. the polyaryl

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ORIGINAL INSPECT »

1648007

etherarylsulfone resin and the trifluorochloroethylene polymer, contain, while the printing ink composition of Example 3 contains only the TrifluorohloräthylenpolymeriBat binder » The bolyaryl ether aryl sulfone resin is an advantageous binder at the higher temperatures used in the first examples and the addition of polytrifluorochloroethylene to the mass increases the wetting properties of the ink dispersion for the application of the Image onto film by screen printing.

Regardless of which binder is used or whether the properties of the pigment and the binder in one are combined with a single substance, the image that contains the color component is preferably permanent through heat colored state, e.g. by decomposition or sublimation of part of the transferred image mass Creation of an infusible image. Although the image material is practically solid and tack-free at ambient temperature is to allow bending and transfer of the film, it becomes sticky, plastic or semi-liquid when heated. There is then a much greater affinity between the hot glass or ceramic surface and the image material between the artwork and the carrier, during this stage, however, the artwork does not liquefy and does not expire, but persists and becomes preferential

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quickly absorbed on the hot glass or ceramic surface. As far as is known, nowhere has such an arrangement of components been found in a useful image transfer film has been proposed.

Other embodiments are also possible. The PiIm can, for example, have the shape of an endless belt, whereby the image from a printing ink dispersion can be applied to the belt by screen printing, heated to dry and remove the solvents and then applied to glass objects, whereby these process steps take place in a continuous sequence with constant repetition . The scope of the invention is therefore determined by the information in the above description and the
Examples not limited.

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Claims (2)

1648007 -15 claims 1 . A method for applying an image to a hot glass or ceramic surface which has a temperature above 260 & G , characterized in that an ink image is applied to a heat-resistant release surface, which is solid and non-sticky at ambient temperatures and, when heated, into a transferable substance with Adhesion to the hot surface is convertible, and that the image-bearing surface is pressed against the hot surface to heat the print to its transferable state and to transfer it to the hot surface. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that a polytetrafluoroethylene carrier is used as the heat-resistant release surface used with a smooth surface, the printing ink image from a ceramic pigment and a thermoplastic binder based on a polyaryl ether aryl sulfone resin consists. / Br β ftfge documents {Art. 7 § I Paragraph 2 No. I Satt 3 of the amendment ^ ··· ν. λ - 109842/0270 Blank page