Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
  • B41M5/50—Recording sheets characterised by the coating used to improve ink, dye or pigment receptivity, e.g. for ink-jet or thermal dye transfer recording
  • B41M5/52—Macromolecular coatings
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
  • B41M5/50—Recording sheets characterised by the coating used to improve ink, dye or pigment receptivity, e.g. for ink-jet or thermal dye transfer recording
  • B41M5/502—Recording sheets characterised by the coating used to improve ink, dye or pigment receptivity, e.g. for ink-jet or thermal dye transfer recording characterised by structural details, e.g. multilayer materials
  • B41M5/508—Supports
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
  • B41M5/50—Recording sheets characterised by the coating used to improve ink, dye or pigment receptivity, e.g. for ink-jet or thermal dye transfer recording
  • B41M5/52—Macromolecular coatings
  • B41M5/5218—Macromolecular coatings characterised by inorganic additives, e.g. pigments, clays
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
  • B41M5/50—Recording sheets characterised by the coating used to improve ink, dye or pigment receptivity, e.g. for ink-jet or thermal dye transfer recording
  • B41M5/52—Macromolecular coatings
  • B41M5/5227—Macromolecular coatings characterised by organic non-macromolecular additives, e.g. UV-absorbers, plasticisers, surfactants
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
  • B41M5/50—Recording sheets characterised by the coating used to improve ink, dye or pigment receptivity, e.g. for ink-jet or thermal dye transfer recording
  • B41M5/52—Macromolecular coatings
  • B41M5/5236—Macromolecular coatings characterised by the use of natural gums, of proteins, e.g. gelatins, or of macromolecular carbohydrates, e.g. cellulose
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
  • B41M5/50—Recording sheets characterised by the coating used to improve ink, dye or pigment receptivity, e.g. for ink-jet or thermal dye transfer recording
  • B41M5/52—Macromolecular coatings
  • B41M5/5245—Macromolecular coatings characterised by the use of polymers containing cationic or anionic groups, e.g. mordants
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
  • B41M5/50—Recording sheets characterised by the coating used to improve ink, dye or pigment receptivity, e.g. for ink-jet or thermal dye transfer recording
  • B41M5/52—Macromolecular coatings
  • B41M5/5254—Macromolecular coatings characterised by the use of polymers obtained by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds, e.g. vinyl polymers

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a porous ink jet recording element and printing method using the element.
• ink droplets are ejected from a nozzle at high speed towards a recording element or medium to produce an image on the medium.
• the ink droplets, or recording liquid generally comprise a recording agent, such as a dye or pigment, and a large amount of solvent.
• the solvent, or carrier liquid typically is made up of water and an organic material such as a monohydric alcohol, a polyhydric alcohol or mixtures thereof.
• An ink jet recording element typically comprises a support having on at least one surface thereof an ink-receiving or image-receiving layer, and includes those intended for reflection viewing, which have an opaque support, and those intended for viewing by transmitted light, which have a transparent support.
• porous recording elements have been developed which provide nearly instantaneous drying as long as they have sufficient thickness and pore volume to effectively contain the liquid ink.
• a porous recording element can be manufactured by cast coating, in which a particulate-containing coating is applied to a support and is dried in contact with a polished smooth surface.
• U.S. Patent 6,037,050 and EP 888,904 relate to an ink jet recording element wherein an ink absorption layer comprises inorganic particles such as silica and a poly(vinyl alcohol) binder that is crosslinked with a hardener.
• an ink absorption layer comprises inorganic particles such as silica and a poly(vinyl alcohol) binder that is crosslinked with a hardener.
• the poly(vinyl alcohol) binder should have a certain viscosity or that the inorganic particles comprise a fumed metallic oxide.
• an ink jet recording element comprising a support having thereon a porous image-receiving layer comprising particles and a poly(vinyl alcohol) binder, the particles comprising a fumed metallic oxide, and the binder having an average viscosity greater than 25 cp at 4% solids in an aqueous solution at 20°C.
• a porous ink jet recording element is obtained that exhibits good overall appearance without cracking and has an excellent dry time.
• Another embodiment of the invention relates to an ink jet printing method, comprising the steps of:
• any fumed metallic oxide particles may be used in the invention.
• fumed alumina, fumed silica or cationic fumed silica is employed. Fumed oxides are available in dry form or as dispersions.
• the fumed metallic oxide particles may be porous or nonporous.
• the fumed metallic oxide particles used in the invention may be in the form of primary particles or in the form of secondary aggregated particles.
• Preferred aggregates are comprised of smaller primary particles 7 to 40 nm in diameter and are aggregated up to 300 nm in diameter.
• the pores in a dried coating of such aggregates fall within the range necessary to ensure low optical scatter yet sufficient ink solvent uptake.
• Porosity of an image-receiving layer is necessary in order to obtain very fast ink drying.
• the pores formed between the particles must be sufficiently large and interconnected so that the printing ink passes quickly through the layer and away from the outer surface to give the impression of fast drying.
• the particles must be arranged in such a way so that the pores formed between them are sufficiently small that they do not scatter visible light.
• the poly(vinyl alcohols) useful in the invention have an average viscosity greater than 25 cp when employed in a 4% aqueous solids solution at 20°C.
• Specific examples of such poly(vinyl alcohols) which may be used in the invention include the following: Poly(vinyl alcohol) Average Viscosity @ 4% (cp) PVA-A Gohsenol® GH-17 30 PVA-B Gohsenol® GH-23 52 PVA-C Gohsenol® N300 27.5
• the amount of poly(vinyl alcohol) binder used should be sufficient to impart cohesive strength to the image-receiving layer, but as small as possible so that the interconnected pore structure formed by the aggregates is not filled in by the binder.
• the weight ratio of the binder to the particles is from 1:20 to 1:5.
• the image-receiving layer may also contain a mordant and/or a crosslinker for crosslinking the poly(vinyl alcohol).
• mordants which may be used include water-soluble cationic polymers, metal salts, water-insoluble cationic polymeric particles in the form of a latex, water dispersible polymer, beads, or core/shell particles wherein the core is organic or inorganic and the shell in either case is a cationic polymer.
• Such particles can be products of addition or condensation polymerization, or a combination of both. They can be linear, branched, hyper-branched, grafted, random, blocked, or can have other polymer microstructures well known to those in the art. They also can be partially crosslinked.
• Examples of core/shell particles useful in the invention are disclosed and claimed in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/772,097, of Lawrence et al., Ink Jet Printing Method, filed of even date herewith, Docket 81894HEC.
• Examples of water dispersible particles useful in the invention are disclosed and claimed in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/770,128, of Lawrence et al., Ink Jet Printing Method, filed of even date herewith, Docket 81815HEC; and U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/770,127, of Lawrence et al., Ink Jet Printing Method, filed of even date herewith, Docket 81817HEC.
• crosslinkers examples include carbodiimides, polyfunctional aziridines, aldehydes, isocyanates, epoxides, polyvalent metal cations, acetals, ketals, etc.
• the crosslinker is an aldehyde, an acetal or a ketal.
• the crosslinker is 2,3-dihydroxy-1,4-dioxane.
• the void volume must be sufficient to absorb all of the printing ink. For example, if a porous layer has 60 volume % open pores, in order to instantly absorb 32 cc/m 2 of ink, it must have a physical thickness of at least 54 ⁇ m.
• the support for the ink jet recording element used in the invention can be any of those usually used for ink jet receivers, such as resin-coated paper, paper, polyesters, or microporous materials such as polyethylene polymer-containing material sold by PPG Industries, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania under the trade name of Teslin ®, Tyvek ® synthetic paper (DuPont Corp.), and OPPalyte® films (Mobil Chemical Co.) and other composite films listed in U.S. Patent 5,244,861.
• Opaque supports include plain paper, coated paper, synthetic paper, photographic paper support, melt-extrusion-coated paper, and laminated paper, such as biaxially oriented support laminates. Biaxially oriented support laminates are described in U.S.
• biaxially oriented supports include a paper base and a biaxially oriented polyolefin sheet, typically polypropylene, laminated to one or both sides of the paper base.
• Transparent supports include glass, cellulose derivatives, e.g., a cellulose ester, cellulose triacetate, cellulose diacetate, cellulose acetate propionate, cellulose acetate butyrate; polyesters, such as poly(ethylene terephthalate), poly(ethylene naphthalate), poly(1,4-cyclohexanedimethylene terephthalate), poly(butylene terephthalate), and copolymers thereof; polyimides; polyamides; polycarbonates; polystyrene; polyolefins, such as polyethylene or polypropylene; polysulfones; polyacrylates; polyetherimides; and mixtures thereof.
• the papers listed above include a broad range of papers, from high end papers, such as photographic paper to low end papers, such as newsprint. In a preferred embodiment, polyethylene-coated paper is employed.
• the support used in the invention may have a thickness of from 50 to 500 ⁇ m, preferably from 75 to 300 ⁇ m.
• Antioxidants, antistatic agents, plasticizers and other known additives may be incorporated into the support, if desired.
• the surface of the support may be subjected to a corona-discharge treatment prior to applying the image-receiving layer.
• Coating compositions employed in the invention may be applied by any number of well known techniques, including dip-coating, wound-wire rod coating, doctor blade coating, gravure and reverse-roll coating, slide coating, bead coating, extrusion coating, curtain coating and the like.
• Known coating and drying methods are described in further detail in Research Disclosure no. 308119, published Dec. 1989, pages 1007 to 1008.
• Slide coating is preferred, in which the base layers and overcoat may be simultaneously applied. After coating, the layers are generally dried by simple evaporation, which may be accelerated by known techniques such as convection heating.
• UV absorbers may also be added to the image-receiving layer as is well known in the art.
• Other additives include pH modifiers, adhesion promoters, rheology modifiers, surfactants, biocides, lubricants, dyes, optical brighteners, matte agents, antistatic agents, etc.
• additives known to those familiar with such art such as surfactants, defoamers, alcohol and the like may be used.
• a common level for coating aids is 0.01 to 0.30% active coating aid based on the total solution weight. These coating aids can be nonionic, anionic, cationic or amphoteric.
• the coating composition can be coated either from water or organic solvents, however water is preferred.
• the total solids content should be selected to yield a useful coating thickness in the most economical way, and for particulate coating formulations, solids contents from 10-40% are typical.
• the ink jet inks used to image the recording elements of the present invention are well-known in the art.
• the ink compositions used in ink jet printing typically are liquid compositions comprising a solvent or carrier liquid, dyes or pigments, humectants, organic solvents, detergents, thickeners, preservatives, and the like.
• the solvent or carrier liquid can be solely water or can be water mixed with other water-miscible solvents such as polyhydric alcohols.
• Inks in which organic materials such as polyhydric alcohols are the predominant carrier or solvent liquid may also be used. Particularly useful are mixed solvents of water and polyhydric alcohols.
• the dyes used in such compositions are typically water-soluble direct or acid type dyes.
• Such liquid compositions have been described extensively in the prior art including, for example, U.S. Patents 4,381,946; 4,239,543 and 4,781,758.
• a coating solution was prepared by combining fumed alumina (Cab-O-Sperse® PG003, Cabot Corp.), PVA-A and crosslinker 2,3-dihydroxy-1,4-dioxane (Clariant Corp.) in a ratio of 86:12:2 to give an aqueous coating formulation of 30% solids by weight.
• the layer was bead-coated at 40°C on polyethylene-coated paper base which had been previously subjected to corona discharge treatment.
• the coating was then dried at 60°C by forced air to yield a recording element with a thickness of 40 ⁇ m.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that PVA-B was used instead of PVA-A.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that PVA-C was used instead of PVA-A.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 2 except that fumed silica, CEP10AK97001, aqueous dispersion, (Cabot Corp.) was used instead of fumed alumina.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 2 except that cationic fumed silica, CEP10AK97006, aqueous dispersion, (Cabot Corp.) was used instead of fumed alumina.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that C-1 was used instead of PVA-A.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that C-2 was used instead of PVA-A.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 4 except that C-3 was used instead of PVA-A.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 2 except that colloidal alumina, Dispal® 11N7-80, alumina powder, (Condea Vista Co.) was used instead of fumed alumina.

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• Ink Jet Recording Methods And Recording Media Thereof (AREA)
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• 2002
  • 2002-01-14 DE DE2002609852 patent/DE60209852T3/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-01-14 EP EP02075135A patent/EP1226965B2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-01-25 JP JP2002016389A patent/JP2002248855A/ja active Pending

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