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
  • B41M5/5227—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
  • B41M5/5254—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 a porous ink jet recording element containing porous polymeric 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 exhibit superior dry times, but typically have poorer image quality and are prone to cracking.
• a problem with known ink jet recording elements that employ a porous single layer or multilayer coatings that act as suitable image-receiving layer(s) is dye stability during storage.
• dyes printed onto an ink jet receiver element tend to fade due to exposure to ozone which is present in the atmosphere.
• ink jet recording elements that employ a porous single layer or multilayer coatings that act as suitable image-receiving layer(s0) is image stability under high humidity storage conditions.
• dyes tend to migrate through the image receiving layer during storage since the dye image receiving layer is hydrophilic and tends to absorb water from the atmosphere.
• Japanese Kokai 2000-203154 relates to an ink jet recording sheet containing cationic porous particles in an ink recording layer.
• this element there is a problem with this element in that it the inks printed thereon have poor stability in the presence of ozone.
• an ink jet recording element comprising a support having thereon an image-receiving layer comprising porous polymeric particles in a polymeric binder, the porous polymeric particles being prepared in the presence of an anionic or cationic dispersant, and the image-receiving layer containing a surfactant having a charge opposite to that of the dispersant used to make the porous polymeric particles, the surfactant being present in an amount from 0.04 parts to 0.30 parts by weight of the dispersant.
• a preferred embodiment of the invention relates to an ink jet printing method comprising the steps of:
• the support used in the ink jet recording element of the invention may be opaque, translucent, or transparent.
• the support is paper or a voided plastic material.
• the thickness of the support employed in the invention can be from 12 to 500 ⁇ m, preferably from 75 to 300 ⁇ m.
• porous polymeric particles which are used in the invention are in the form of porous beads, porous irregularly shaped particles, or are aggregates of emulsion particles.
• Suitable porous polymeric particles used in the invention comprise, for example, acrylic resins, styrenic resins, or cellulose derivatives, such as cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose propionate, cellulose acetate propionate, and ethyl cellulose; polyvinyl resins such as polyvinyl chloride, copolymers of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate and polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl acetal, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers, and ethylene-allyl copolymers such as ethylene-allyl alcohol copolymers, ethylene-allyl acetone copolymers, ethylene-allyl benzene copolymers, ethylene-allyl ether copolymers, ethylene acrylic copolymers and polyoxy-methylene; polycondensation polymers, such as, polyesters, including polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthal
• the porous polymeric particles are made from a styrenic or an acrylic monomer. Any suitable ethylenically unsaturated monomer or mixture of monomers may be used in making such styrenic or acrylic polymer.
• styrenic compounds such as styrene, vinyl toluene, p-chlorostyrene, vinylbenzylchloride or vinyl naphthalene
• acrylic compounds such as methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, n-butyl acrylate, n-octyl acrylate, 2-chloroethyl acrylate, phenyl acrylate, methyl- ⁇ -chloroacrylate, methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate; and mixtures thereof.
• methyl methacrylate or ethylene glycol dimethacrylate is used.
• the porous polymeric particles are crosslinked. They may have a degree of crosslinking of 27 mole % or greater, preferably 50 mole %, and most preferably 100 mole %. The degree of crosslinking is determined by the mole % of multifunctional crosslinking monomer which is incorporated into the porous polymeric particles.
• Typical crosslinking monomers which may be used in making the porous polymeric particles employed in the invention are aromatic divinyl compounds such as divinylbenzene, divinylnaphthalene or derivatives thereof; diethylene carboxylate esters and amides such as ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, diethylene glycol diacrylate, and other divinyl compounds such as divinyl sulfide or divinyl sulfone compounds. Divinylbenzene and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate are especially preferred.
• the porous polymeric particles used in this invention can be prepared, for example, by pulverizing and classification of porous organic compounds, by emulsion, suspension, and dispersion polymerization of organic monomers, by spray drying of a solution containing organic compounds, or by a polymer suspension technique which consists of dissolving an organic material in a water immiscible solvent, dispersing the solution as fine liquid droplets in aqueous solution, and removing the solvent by evaporation or other suitable techniques.
• the bulk, emulsion, dispersion, and suspension polymerization procedures are well known to those skilled in the polymer art and are taught in such textbooks as G. Odian in "Principles of Polymerization", 2nd Ed. Wiley (1981), and W.P. Sorenson and T.W. Campbell in “Preparation Method of Polymer Chemistry", 2nd Ed, Wiley (1968).
• porous polymer particles are taught, for example, in U.S. Patents 5,840,293; 5,993,805; 5,403,870; and 5,599,889, and Japanese Kokai Hei 5[1993]-222108.
• an inert fluid or porogen may be mixed with the monomers used in making the porous polymer particles.
• the resulting polymeric particles are, at this point, substantially porous because the polymer has formed around the porogen thereby forming the pore network.
• This technique is described more fully in U.S. Patent 5,840,293 referred to above.
• the porosity of the porous polymeric particles is achieved by mixing a porogen with the monomers used to make the polymeric particles, dispersing the resultant mixture in water, and polymerizing the monomers to form the porous polymeric particles.
• a preferred method of preparing the porous polymeric particles used in this invention includes forming a suspension or dispersion of ethylenically unsaturated monomer droplets containing the crosslinking monomer and a porogen in an aqueous medium, polymerizing the monomer to form solid, porous polymeric particles, and optionally removing the porogen by vacuum stripping.
• the particles thus prepared have a porosity as measured by a specific surface area of 35 m 2 /g or greater, preferably 100 m 2 /g or greater. The surface area is usually measured by B.E.T. nitrogen analysis known to those skilled in the art.
• the porous polymeric particles may be covered with a layer of colloidal inorganic particles as described in U.S. Patents 5,288,598; 5,378,577; 5,563,226 and 5,750,378.
• the porous polymeric particles may also be covered with a layer of colloidal polymer latex particles as described in U.S. Patent 5,279,934.
• the porous polymeric particles used in this invention have a median diameter less than 10 ⁇ m, preferably less than 1 ⁇ m, and most preferably less than 0.6 ⁇ m.
• Median diameter is defined as the statistical average of the measured particle size distribution on a volume basis. For further details concerning median diameter measurement, see T. Allen, "Particle Size Measurement", 4th Ed., Chapman and Hall, (1990).
• the polymeric particles used in the invention are porous.
• porous is meant particles which either have voids or are permeable to liquids. These particles can have either a smooth or a rough surface.
• Suitable dispersants include anionic dispersants such as aliphatic carboxylic acid salts, including lithium, sodium, potassium, and ammonium salts, abietic acid salts, hydroxyalkane-sulfonic acid salts, alkanesulfonic acid salts (Triton X-200®), alpha -olefin sulfonates (Rhodacal A246®), dialkylsulfosuccinic acid salts such as the sodium salt of dioctyl 2-sulfosuccinic acid (Aerosol OT®), straight-chained alkylbenzenesulfonic acid salts and branched alkylbenzenesulfonic acid salts such as dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid sodium salt (SDBS), alkylnaphthalene sulfonic acid salts (Alkanol XC®),
• anionic dispersants such as aliphatic carboxylic acid salts, including
• the anionic dispersant is sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, sodium dodecylsulfate, the sodium salt of N-oleyl-N-methyltaurine, or the dioctyl ester of sodium sulfosuccinic acid.
• the counter ions of all these anionic salts can be lithium, sodium, potassium, ammonium, or other positively charged ions.
• Cationic dispersants may also be used in this invention and include, for example, alkylamine salts, the counter ions of which can be halides, sulfonates, phosphates, sulfates, etc., alkyl and benzyl quaternary ammonium salts, such as N-Alkyl(C12-C16)-N,N-dimethyl-N-benzyl ammonium chloride [where Alkyl (C12-C16) means a mixture of alkyl groups having from 12 to 16 carbon atoms] and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride, polyoxyethylenealkylamine salts, polyethylenealkylquaternary ammonium salts, polyethylenepolyamine derivatives, alkyl pyridinium salts, such as hexadecylpyridinium chloride; alkyl imidazolium salts, and other alkyl substituted aromatic cyclic amine salts, alkyl and aromatic phosphonium salts.
• the image-receiving layer contains a surfactant.
• Any known anionic or cationic surfactant can be employed, such as those same materials listed above as the anionic or cationic dispersant, provided it has a charge opposite to that of the dispersant used to make the porous polymeric particles and is employed in the amount as stated above.
• the polymeric binder used in the invention may comprise a poly(vinyl alcohol), a gelatin, a cellulose ether, polyvinylpyrrolidone, poly(ethylene oxide), etc.
• the image-receiving layer may also contain additives such as pH-modifiers like nitric acid, cross-linkers, rheology modifiers, surfactants, UV-absorbers, biocides, lubricants, water-dispersible latexes, mordants, dyes, optical brighteners etc.
• the image-receiving layer 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, slot die, curtain, slide, etc.
• 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 5 to 100 ⁇ m, preferably from 10 to 50 ⁇ m.
• the coating thickness required is determined through the need for the coating to act as a sump for absorption of ink solvent.
• the image-receiving layer of this invention contains from 0.20 to 10.0 g/m 2 of polymeric binder, preferably from 0.40 to 5.0 g/m 2 , and 1.5 to 60 g/m 2 of porous polymeric particles, preferably from 3.0 to 30 g/m 2 .
• 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.
• Pen plotters operate by writing directly on the surface of a recording medium using a pen consisting of a bundle of capillary tubes in contact with an ink reservoir.
• This preparation was prepared the same as Preparation 1 except that a mixture of 12 g sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) in 1200 g distilled water was added to the monomer mixture, and the Barquat MB-50® was omitted. The final dispersion was found to be 22.1% solids.
• the porous polymeric particles were measured by a particle size analyzer, Horiba LA-920®, and found to be 0.16 ⁇ m in median diameter.
• a dried portion of the dispersion, analyzed by B.E.T. Multipoint using a Quantachrome Corp., NOVA 1000® analyzer had a specific surface area of 224 m 2 /g.
• This preparation was prepared the same as Preparation 2 except that a mixture of 21.6 g sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS),, instead of the SDBS, in 1200 g distilled water was added to the monomer mixture. The final dispersion was found to be 23.7% solids.
• the porous polymeric particles were measured by a particle size analyzer, Horiba LA-920®, and found to be 0.16 ⁇ m in median diameter.
• This preparation was prepared the same as Preparation 2 except that a mixture of 21.6 g sodium salt of N-oleyl-N-methyltaurine (OMT), instead of the SDBS, in 1200 g distilled water was added to the monomer mixture. The final dispersion was found to be 25.5% solids.
• the porous polymeric particles were measured by a particle size analyzer, Horiba LA-920®, and found to be 0.18 ⁇ m in median diameter.
• This preparation was prepared the same as Preparation 2 except that 21.6 g dioctyl ester of sodium sulfosuccinic acid (Aerosol OT-100) was added to the monomer and the SDBS was omitted.
• the crude emulsion was passed twice through Gaulin homogenizer 225 kg/cm 2 instead of a Crepaco® homogenizer at 420 kg/cm 2 .
• the porous polymeric particles were measured by a particle size analyzer, Horiba LA-920®, and found to be 0.14 ⁇ m in median diameter.
• a dried portion of the dispersion, analyzed by B.E.T. Multipoint using a Quantachrome Corp., NOVA 1000® analyzer had a specific surface area of 187 m 2 /g.
• Coating solutions CS-1 through CS-35 were prepared by mixing together the porous polymeric particles of Preparations 1 to 5 with a binder of poly(vinyl alcohol) using Gohsenol AH-22® (Gohsen Nippon of Japan) and the surfactants listed in Table 1 below.
• the amount of surfactant listed in Table 1 is parts per weight (ppw) relative to the dispersant used in Preparations 1-5.
• the resulting coating solution were 15% solids and 85% water, with the solids being 85% porous polymeric particles and 15% poly(vinyl alcohol).
• the solutions were stirred at 40°C for approximately 30 minutes before coating.
• the coating solutions were visually evaluated for agglomeration. Agglomerated solutions were uncoatable.
• Elements 1-28 were made using the acceptable coating solutions listed in Table 1. They were coated, using a metered blade, on corona discharge-treated, photographic grade, polyethylene-coated paper, that was pre-coated with a 350 mg/ft 2 dry total lay down of a polyester (AQ29® from Eastman Chemical Company) and Borax at a 50:50 ratio, to a wet lay down of 120 ⁇ m, and oven dried for 30 minutes at 40°C. These elements were coated to a dry thickness of 18 ⁇ m.
• a series of cyan density patches of a high-humectant Direct Blue 199 ink formulation were printed with a Hewlett Packard Desk Jet 695C printer. Status A red densities of each cyan patch were read using an X-RITE 338 reflection densitometer. The elements were then exposed to an atmosphere containing approximately 60 parts per billion of ozone under ambient fluorescent lighting (about 0.1 Klux) for four weeks. Ozone levels were maintained with a KLEEN AIR King II Model 1004 ultraviolet ozone generator. The red densities were reread and fade percentages were calculated, with less than 5% being acceptable. The results are listed in Table 3.
• Element Coating Solution Ozone Fade Test (%) High Humidity Keeping Test Element 1 (Comparison) CS-1 9.8 1 Element 2 (Comparison) CS-2 7.2 1 Element 3 (Invention) CS-3 2.7 1 Element 4 (Invention) CS-4 2.1 1 Element 5 (Comparison) CS-6 9.8 1 Element 6 (Comparison) CS-7 6.4 1 Element 7 (Invention) CS-8 2.1 1 Element 8 (Invention) CS-9 1.9 1 Element 9 (Comparison) CS-11 9.8 1 Element 10 (Comparison) CS-12 6.7 1 Element 11 (Invention) CS-13 2.6 1 Element 12 (Invention) CS-14 2.1 1 Element 13 (Comparison) CS-16 0.7 4 Element 14 (Comparison) CS-17 0.9 3 Element 15 (Invention) CS-18 1.9 2 Element 16 (Invention) CS-19 2.1 2 Element 17 (Comparison) CS
• ink jet receivers made with a surfactant having a charge opposite to that of the dispersant used to make the porous polymeric particles and in an amount from 0.04 to 0.30 parts by weight of the dispersant present during preparation of the porous polymeric particles have both acceptable high humidity keeping and acceptable ozone fade.

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  • 2002-11-21 EP EP02079855A patent/EP1318023A3/fr not_active Withdrawn
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