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
  • B41M5/502—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
  • B41M5/506—Intermediate layers

Definitions

• This invention relates to an ink jet recording element and a printing method using the element. More particularly, this invention relates to a subbing layer for an ink jet recording 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, 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.
• U.S. Patent 4,877,686 relates to a recording sheet for ink jet printing wherein boric acid or its derivative is used to cause gelling in a polymeric binder containing hydroxyl groups and a filler comprising particles.
• boric acid or its derivative is used to cause gelling in a polymeric binder containing hydroxyl groups and a filler comprising particles.
• the amount of boric acid used does not provide an element which, when printed with an ink jet printer, will have a fast dry time without cracking.
• an ink jet recording element comprising a substrate having thereon:
• the ink jet recording element of the invention has good coating and image quality and a fast dry time when printed in an ink jet printer.
• Another embodiment of the invention relates to an ink jet printing method comprising the steps of:
• the polymeric binder in the subbing layer employed in the invention is preferably a water soluble or water dispersible polymer such as poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone), gelatin, a cellulose ether, a poly(oxazoline), a poly(vinylacetamide), partially hydrolyzed poly(vinyl acetate/vinyl alcohol), poly(acrylic acid), poly(acrylamide), poly(alkylene oxide), a sulfonated or phosphated polyester or polystyrene, casein, zein, albumin, chitin, chitosan, dextran, pectin, a collagen derivative, collodian, agar-agar, arrowroot, guar, carrageenan, tragacanth, xanthan, rhamsan and the like; a latex such as poly(styrene-co-butadiene), a polyurethane latex, a polyester latex, or
• the polymeric binder for the subbing layer is preferably used in an amount of from 1 to 50 g/m 2 , preferably from 1 to 20 g/m 2 .
• the borate or borate derivative employed in the subbing layer of the ink jet recording element of the invention may be, for example, borax, sodium tetraborate, boric acid, phenyl boronic acid, or butyl boronic acid.
• the borate or borate derivative is used in an amount of from 3 to 50 g/m 2 , preferably from 3 to 10 g/m 2 . It is believed that upon coating, the borate or borate derivative in the subbing layer diffuses into the image-receiving layer to crosslink the cross-linkable binder in the image-receiving layer.
• the particles employed in the image-receiving layer of the invention may be either inorganic or organic.
• Inorganic particles which may be used include, for example, comprise metal oxides, hydrated metal oxides, boehmite, clay, calcined clay, calcium carbonate, aluminosilicates, zeolites or barium sulfate.
• the metal oxide is silica, alumina, zirconia or titania.
• Organic particles which may be used in the invention include polymeric particles such as, for example, particles made from 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, polybut
• 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 mean particle size of the particles is up to 5 ⁇ m.
• the particles are present in said image-receiving layer in an amount of from 50 to 350 g/m 2 .
• the cross-linkable polymer containing hydroxyl groups employed in the image-receiving layer may be, for example, poly(vinyl alcohol), partially hydrolyzed poly(vinyl acetate/vinyl alcohol), copolymers containing hydroxyethylmethacrylate, copolymers containing hydroxyethylacrylate, copolymers containing hydroxypropylmethacrylate, hydroxy cellulose ethers such as hydroxyethylcellulose, etc.
• the cross-linkable polymer containing hydroxyl groups is poly(vinyl alcohol) or partially hydrolyzed poly(vinyl acetate/vinyl alcohol).
• An additional polymeric binder such as any of the polymeric binders listed above for the subbing layer, may also be added to the image-receiving layer along with the cross-linkable polymer, if desired.
• the amount of binder used in the image-receiving layer 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 particles is not filled in by the binder.
• the recording element of the invention 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 submicron 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.
• 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 subbing 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.
• 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 further act upon the cross-linkable 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 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.
• Control Element C-1 Low amount of borax
• Control Element C-2 Low amount of borax and binder
• This element was prepared the same as C-1 except that the dry lay-down of the borax was 1.0 g/m 2 and the dry lay-down of the polyester binder was 0.5 g/m 2 .
• Control Element C-3 Low amount of borax and binder
• This element was prepared the same as C-1 except that the dry lay-down of the borax was 1.0 g/m 2 and the dry lay-down of the polyester binder was 1.0 g/m 2 .
• This element was prepared the same as C-1 except that the dry lay-down of the borax was 12.0 g/m 2 and the dry lay-down of the polyester binder was 12.0 g/m 2 .
• This element was prepared the same as C-1 except that the dry lay-down of the borax was 10.0 g/m 2 and the dry lay-down of the polyester binder was 25.0 g/m 2 .
• This element was prepared the same as C-1 except that the dry lay-down of the borax was 5.0 g/m 2 and the dry lay-down of the polyester binder was 1.0 g/m 2 .
• This element was prepared the same as C-1 except that the dry lay-down of the borax was 5.0 g/m 2 and the dry lay-down of the polyester binder was 5.0 g/m 2 .
• This element was prepared the same as C-1 except that the dry lay-down of the borax was 7.0 g/m 2 and the dry lay-down of the polyester binder was 7.0 g/m 2 .
• This element was prepared the same as C-1 except that the dry lay-down of the borax was 10.0 g/m 2 and the dry lay-down of the polyester binder was 10.0 g/m 2 .
• This element was prepared the same as C-1 except that the dry lay-down of the borax was 10.0 g/m 2 and the dry lay-down of the polyester binder was 20.0 g/m 2 .
• the above elements with the subbing layers described were then overcoated with an image-receiving layer using a blade coater and an 18% by weight solution of porous polymeric particles, poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate), 0.18 ⁇ m and a poly(vinyl alcohol) binder, AH22 from Nippon Gohsei, with the ratio of particles to poly(vinyl alcohol) being 80:20, at a dry lay-down of about 43 g/m 2 .
• a coating surfactant Olin 10G® was also used at about 0.1% of the total solution weight. The coatings were dried in a oven at 40°C for 20 min.
• the dry time test is a smudge test where immediately after printing, a color patch of cyan, magenta, yellow, red, green, blue, and black are rubbed with a latex glove and the amount of smudge recorded according to the scale in Table 1. Rating Dry Time Observations 1 Instant dry, no smudging 2 Very slight smudging in red, green or blue, none in cyan, magenta, yellow, black 3 Some smudging in red, green or blue, only slight smudging in cyan, magenta, yellow, black. No puddling of ink 4 Smudging in all colors and slight puddling 5 Heavy smudging in all colors and heavy puddling

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• 2002
  • 2002-11-22 EP EP02079884A patent/EP1318026A3/fr not_active Withdrawn
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