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
  • B41M5/52—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
  • B41M5/5236—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

• This invention relates to an ink jet recording element and a printing method using the element. More particularly, this invention relates to an ink jet recording element containing encapsulated particles.
• 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, 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-forming 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.
• an ink jet recording element must:
• ink jet recording element that simultaneously provides an almost instantaneous ink dry time and good image quality is desirable.
• these requirements of ink jet recording media are difficult to achieve simultaneously.
• Ink jet recording elements are known that employ porous or non-porous single layer or multilayer coatings that act as suitable image receiving layers on one or both sides of a porous or non-porous support. Recording elements that use non-porous coatings typically have good image quality but exhibit poor ink dry time. Recording elements that use porous coatings typically contain colloidal particulates and have poorer image quality but exhibit superior dry times.
• porous image-recording elements for use with ink jet printing are known, there are many unsolved problems in the art and many deficiencies in the known products which have severely limited their commercial usefulness.
• a major challenge in the design of a porous image-recording layer is to be able to obtain good quality, crack-free coatings with as little non-particulate matter as possible. If too much non-particulate matter is present, the image-recording layer will not be porous and will exhibit poor ink dry times.
• EPA 813,978 A1 relates to an ink jet recording element wherein an ink absorption layer is used comprising fine particles, a hydrophilic binder and oil drops.
• an ink absorption layer comprising fine particles, a hydrophilic binder and oil drops.
• oil drops will migrate to the surface and cause changes in the appearance of the image.
• U.S. Patent 6,197,381 Bl relates to the production of a recording sheet from a coating composition comprising fine inorganic particles, a hydrophilic binder and a hydrophobic latex having a glass transition temperature of not more than 30 ° C.
• a coating composition comprising fine inorganic particles, a hydrophilic binder and a hydrophobic latex having a glass transition temperature of not more than 30 ° C.
• this recording sheet there is a problem with this recording sheet in that it exhibits poor ink dry times.
• microporous paper having an image-receiving layer comprising inorganic core/organic shell particles.
• the organic shells are cationic polymers. However, there is no reference to the properties or identities of the cationic polymers.
• Another object of the invention is to provide a printing method using the above-described element.
• an ink jet recording element comprising a substrate having thereon a porous image-receiving layer comprising
• the ink jet recording element of the invention has good coating and image quality when used in ink jet printing.
• Another embodiment of the invention relates to an ink jet printing method comprising the steps of:
• any inorganic particle may be used to prepare the (a) encapsulated particles of the invention, such as metal oxides, hydrated metal oxides, boehmite, clay, calcined clay, calcium carbonate, aluminosilicates, zeolites or barium sulfate.
• the inorganic particles are metal oxides such as silica, available commercially as Nalco® (Nalco Co.), Ludox® (DuPont Corp), Snowtex® (Nissan Chemical Co.), alumina, zirconia or titania.
• the particle size of the inorganic particles is from 5 nm to 1000 nm.
• the (a) encapsulated particles used in the invention may be prepared in a preferred embodiment by silane coupling chemistry wherein first the surface of the inorganic particles is modified with a silane-containing material, and then one or more monomers is polymerized in the presence of the modified particles.
• silane coupling chemistry Useful polymerization techniques can be found in "Emulsion Polymerization and Emulsion Polymers", edited by P.A. Lovell and M.S. E1-Aassar, John Wiley and Sons, 1997.
• Silane coupling agents useful for the modification of inorganic particles as described above include 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyldiethoxymethylsilane, 3-aminopropyldimethoxymethylsilane, 3-aminopropylethoxydimethylsilane, 3-aminopropylmethoxydimethylsilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl-trimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyl dimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane, 4-aminobutyltriethoxysilane, 4-aminobutyltrimethoxysi
• silane coupling agents for the modification of inorganic colloids used in the invention include 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyl-diethoxymethylsilane, 3-aminopropyldimethoxymethylsilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl-trimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane.
• Another embodiment of the invention relates to preparing the (a) encapsulated particles by polymerizing one or more monomers in the presence of the inorganic particles, without first modifying the surface. Another embodiment relates to preparing these encapsulated particles by adsorbing polymer onto the surface of the inorganic particles. Another embodiment relates to preparing these encapsulated particles by forming chemical bonds between the inorganic particles and the polymer either before or after it is formed from the monomer.
• the organic polymer used for encapsulation of the inorganic particles employed in the invention has a Tg of less than abot 100°C, preferably from -50°C to 65°C.
• Tg values of the organic polymers are described in "Introduction to Physical Polymer Science", 2nd Edition by L.H. Sperling, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992.
• the Tg value was calculated as the weighted sum of the Tg values for homopolymers derived from each of the individual monomers, i , that make up the polymer: where W is the weight percent of monomer i in the organic polymer, and X is the Tg value for the homopolymer derived from monomer i .
• Tg values for the homopolymers were taken from "Polymer Handbook", 2nd Edition by J. Brandrup and E.H. Immergut, Editors, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1975.
• monomers used to prepare the organic polymers of the (a) encapsulated particles include acrylate and styrene monomers which may have a cationic, anionic, or nonionic functionality such as quaternary ammonium, pyridinium, imidazolium, sulfonate, carboxylate or phosphonate groups.
• Examples of useful monomers include: n-butyl acrylate, n-ethylacrylate, 2-ethylhexylacrylate, methoxyethylacrylate, methoxyethoxy-ethylacrylate, ethoxyethylacrylate, ethoxyethoxyethylacrylate, 2-ethylhexyl-methacrylate, n-propylacrylate, hydroxyethylacrylate, etc.
• cationic monomers such as a salt of trimethylammoniumethyl acrylate and trimethylammoniumethyl methacrylate, a salt of triethylammoniumethyl acrylate and triethylammoniumethyl methacrylate, a salt of dimethylbenzyl-ammoniumethyl acrylate and dimethylbenzylammoniumethyl methacrylate, a salt of dimethylbutylammoniumethyl acrylate and dimethylbutylammoniumethyl methacrylate, a salt of dimethylhexylammoniumethyl acrylate and dimethylhexylammoniumethyl methacrylate, a salt of dimethyloctyl-ammoniumethyl acrylate and dimethyloctyl-ammoniumethyl methacrylate, a salt of dimethyldodeceylammoniumethyl acrylate and dimethyldocecyl-ammoniumethyl methacrylate, a salt of dimethyloctadecylammoniumethyl acrylate
• Examples of the organic polymers which can be used in the invention to prepare the a) encapsulated particles include poly(n-butylacrylate-co-vinylbenzyltrimethylammonium chloride), poly(n-butylacrylate-co-vinylbenzyltrimethylammonium bromide), poly(n-butylacrylate-co-vinylbenzyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride) and poly(n-butylacrylate-co-vinylbenzyldimethyloctadecylammonium chloride).
• the polymer can be poly(n-butyl acrylate), poly(2-ethylhexyl acrylate), poly(methoxyethylacrylate), poly(ethoxy-ethylacrylate), poly(n-butylacrylate-co-trimethylammoniumethyl acrylate methylsulfate), poly(n-butylacrylate-co-trimethylammoniumethyl methacrylate methylsulfate) or poly(n-butylacrylate-co-vinylbenzyltrimethylammonium chloride).
• any weight ratio of inorganic particle to organic polymer in the a) encapsulated particles may be used. In a preferred embodiment, the weight ratio is 0.2:1 to 20:1. In another preferred embodiment, the weight ratio is 1:1 to 10:1.
• inorganic particles encapsulated with an organic polymer which can be used in the invention: Encapsulated Particle Inorganic Particle, A Organic Polymer, B Tg of B (°C) Ratio of A/B 1 Nalco® 2329 Poly(n-butylacrylate-co-trimethylammoniumethyl methacrylate methylsulfate) (2:1) 1 5:1 2 Nalco® 2329 Poly(ethyl methacrylate-co-butyl methacrylate-co-trimethylammoniumethyl methacrylate methylsulfate) (1:1:1) 44 3.8:1 3 Nalco® 2329 Poly(ethyl methacrylate-co-trimethylammoniumethyl methacrylate methylsulfate) (2:1) 58 3.8:1 4 Nalco® 2329 Poly(n-butylacrylate-co-trimethylammoniumethyl methacrylate methylsulfate) (1:1) 12 1:1 5 Nalco® 2329 Poly(n-
• (b) particles which may be used include metal oxides or hydroxides, such as alumina, boehmite, hydrated aluminum oxide, titanium oxide or zirconium oxide; clay; calcium carbonate; calcined clay; inorganic silicates; barium sulfate; or organic particles such as polymeric beads.
• metal oxides or hydroxides such as alumina, boehmite, hydrated aluminum oxide, titanium oxide or zirconium oxide
• clay calcium carbonate; calcined clay; inorganic silicates; barium sulfate; or organic particles such as polymeric beads.
• organic particles useful in the invention are disclosed and claimed in U.S. Patent Application Serial Numbers: 09/458,401, filed Dec. 10, 1999; 09/608,969, filed June 30, 2000; 09/607,417, filed June 30, 2000; 09/608,466 filed June 30, 2000; 09/607,419, filed June 30, 2000; and 09/822,731, filed March 30, 2001.
• the (a) encapsulated inorganic particles comprise up to 50 wt. % of the image-receiving layer. In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the (b) particles comprise at least 50 wt. % of the image receiving layer.
• the image-receiving layer of the invention may also contain a polymeric binder in an amount insufficient to alter its porosity.
• the polymeric binder is a hydrophilic polymer, such as poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone), gelatin, cellulose ethers, poly(oxazolines), poly(vinylacetamides), partially hydrolyzed poly(vinyl acetate/vinyl alcohol), poly(acrylic acid), poly(acrylamide), poly(alkylene oxide), sulfonated or phosphated polyesters and polystyrenes, casein, zein, albumin, chitin, chitosan, dextran, pectin, collagen derivatives, collodian, agar-agar, arrowroot, guar, carrageenan, tragacanth, xanthan, rhamsan and the like; or a low Tg latex such as poly(styrene-co-but
• the amount of binder used should be sufficient to impart cohesive strength to the ink jet recording element, but should also be minimized 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 total amount of particles is from 1:20 to 1:5.
• the recording element may also contain a base layer, next to the support, the function of which is to absorb the solvent from the ink.
• Materials useful for this layer include inorganic particles and polymeric binder.
• the recording element may also contain a layer on top of the image-receiving layer, the function of which is to provide gloss.
• Materials useful for this layer include sub-micron inorganic particles and/or polymeric binder.
• 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.), impregnated paper such as Duraform®, 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. Patents 5,853,965; 5,866,282; 5,874,205; 5,888,643; 5,888,681; 5,888,683; and 5,888,714.
• These 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, Ektacolor paper made by Eastman Kodak Co. 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.
• the adhesion of the image-receiving layer to the support may also be improved by coating a subbing layer on the support.
• materials useful in a subbing layer include halogenated phenols and partially hydrolyzed vinyl chloride-co-vinylacetate polymer.
• 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 wt. % are typical.
• 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.
• the coating composition may be applied to one or both substrate surfaces through conventional pre-metered or post-metered coating methods such as blade, air knife, rod, roll coating, etc.
• pre-metered or post-metered coating methods such as blade, air knife, rod, roll coating, etc.
• the choice of coating process would be determined from the economics of the operation and in turn, would determine the formulation specifications such as coating solids, coating viscosity, and coating speed.
• the image-receiving layer thickness may range from 1 to 60 ⁇ m, preferably from 5 to 40 ⁇ m.
• the ink jet recording element may be subject to calendering or supercalendering to enhance surface smoothness.
• the ink jet recording element is subject to hot soft-nip calendering at a temperature of 65°C and a pressure of 14000 kg/m at a speed of from 0.15 m/s to 0.3 m/s.
• crosslinkers which act upon the binder discussed above may be added in small quantities. Such an additive improves the cohesive strength of the layer.
• Crosslinkers such as carbodiimides, polyfunctional aziridines, aldehydes, isocyanates, epoxides, polyvalent metal cations, and the like may all be used.
• 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 wt. % active coating aid based on the total solution weight.
• These coating aids can be nonionic, anionic, cationic or amphoteric. Specific examples are described in MCCUTCHEON's Volume 1: Emulsifiers and Detergents, 1995, North American Edition.
• 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 watersoluble 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 for a base layer was prepared by mixing 254 dry g of precipitated calcium carbonate Albagloss-s® (Specialty Minerals Inc.) as a 70% solution, 22 dry g of silica gel Gasil® 23F (Crosfield Ltd.), 2.6 dry g of poly(vinyl alcohol) Airvol® 125 (Air Products) as a 10% solution, 21 dry g of styrene-butadiene latex CP692NA® (Dow Chemical Co.) as a 50% solution and 0.8 g of Alcogum® L-229 (Alco Chemical Co.). The solids of the coating solution was adjusted to 35 wt. % by adding water.
• the base layer coating solution was bead-coated at 25°C on Ektacolor Edge Paper (Eastman Kodak Co.) and dried by forced air at 60°C.
• the thickness of the base layer was 25 ⁇ m or 27 g/m 2 .
• a coating solution for the image receiving layer was prepared by mixing 15.0 dry g of silica gel Nalco® 2329 (Nalco Co.) as a 40 wt. % solution, 3.8 dry g of Encapsulated Particles 1 as a 40 wt. % solution and water to total 125 g.
• the image-receiving layer coating solution was bead-coated at 25°C on top of the base layer described above.
• the recording element was then dried by forced air at 104°C for 5 minutes.
• the thickness of the image-receiving layer was 8 ⁇ m or 8.6 g/m 2 .
• This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that 4.0 dry g of Encapsulated Particles 2 as a 19.8 wt. % solution was used instead of Encapsulated Particles 1.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that 4.0 dry g of Encapsulated Particles 3 as a 19.9 wt. % solution was used instead of Encapsulated Particles 1.
• the Tg of these particles is 110°C. This value is obtained by adding 5°C to the Tg value of the homopolymer derived from methyl methacrylate in order to account for the presence of the small amount of ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate.
• the Tg of these particles is 110°C.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that 4.0 dry g of Comparative Encapsulated Particles 1 as a 19.9 wt. % solution was used instead of Encapsulated Particles 1.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that 3.9 dry g of Comparative Encapsulated Particles 2 as a 19.1 wt. % solution was used instead of Encapsulated Particles 1.
• This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that 0.6 dry g of poly(vinyl alcohol) Gohsenol® GH-17 (Nippon Gohsei Co. Ltd.) as a 10 wt. % solution was used instead of Encapsulated Particles 1.
• An Epson Stylus Color 740 printer for dye-based inks using Color Ink Cartridge S020191/IC3CL01 was used to print on the recording elements.
• the image consisted of adjacent patches of cyan, magenta, yellow, black, green, red and blue patches, each patch being in the form of a rectangle 0.4 cm in width and 1.0 cm in length. Bleed between adjacent color patches was qualitatively assessed.
• a second image was printed, and immediately after ejection from the printer, the image was wiped with a soft cloth.
• the dry time was rated as 1 if no ink and was smudged on the image.
• the dry time was rated as 2 if some ink smudged, and 3 if alot of ink smudged.
• the above table shows that the recording elements of the invention have good coating quality, image quality and instant dry time as compared to the comparative recording elements.

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