JP2002172770A - Imaging method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an imaging method in which an image having excellent hue reproducibility can be formed by improving the drawbacks of thermal transfer system, i.e., damage of a support and unevenness of image due to heat, and an existing inkjet printer system can be utilized effectively. SOLUTION: The imaging method comprises a step for forming a latent image by imparting a transfer acceleration material, filling a cartridge and lowering the transfer temperature of a transfer recording layer, imagewise to the surface of transfer recording layer of a transfer sheet 5 or the image receiving surface of an image receiving sheet 11; and a step for heating the transfer sheet 5 and the image receiving sheet 11 while applying the surface of transfer recording layer of the transfer sheet 5 tightly to the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet 11, and transferring a part of the transfer recording layer corresponding to a latent image onto the image receiving sheet 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming method to which a thermal transfer system is applied.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A thermal transfer method is one of the methods for forming an image on a transfer member such as paper or film. This thermal transfer method
A transfer body (transfer sheet) having a transfer layer made of a pigment-based dye, which is a transfer material, formed on the surface of a support is superimposed on an image receiver (image receiving sheet) such as paper or film, and thermal transfer is performed from the back side of the support of the transfer sheet. Heat is applied imagewise with a head, a laser head, or the like, and the dye is transferred to the image receiving sheet to form an image on the image receiving sheet. As another mode of such a thermal transfer method, there is a method in which a dye placed on a transfer body is sublimated by heating and transferred to an image receiving sheet.

In the thermal transfer method using a thermal head for imagewise heating, the temperature distribution tends to be non-uniform due to variations in the head resistance value, and as a result, the formed image becomes uneven. There was a problem. In addition, since local high-temperature heating is performed only on the image portion, the support of the heated portion is deformed, and there is a problem that wrinkles are easily generated. In addition, as a means for improving the uniformity of the image, there is a method using laser light for heating in the thermal transfer method, but the apparatus cost is expensive, and furthermore, materials such as dyes are decomposed by local high-temperature instantaneous heating, There is a problem that unevenness is likely to occur in the finally formed image.

In contrast to these image forming methods, as a non-contact image forming method which does not affect an image receiving sheet or a coloring material for forming an image, there is an ink jet system in which ink is ejected as droplets to form an image. There are various types of ink jet systems, such as piezo type, thermal type, and Hertz type. These are described in “Journal of Science and Technology”, Vol. 42, No. 1 (1996, USA)
In detail. Here, the piezo type will be described. In the piezo type, a plurality of nozzle holes in which ink heads are arranged side by side, an independent discharge chamber communicating with the nozzle holes, and a part of a wall serving as a diaphragm, and a piezoelectric element mounted on the diaphragm, A common ink cavity that supplies ink to the ejection chamber is formed. By applying a pulse voltage based on image information to the piezoelectric element, an ink droplet is ejected from a nozzle hole to form an image on an image receiving sheet. Is what you do.

In this ink jet system, although there is no problem of the deformation of the support and the deterioration of the color material due to the heat at the time of recording as described above, clogging of ink nozzles is prevented, and a uniform ink drop is formed stably. For this reason, there are many restrictions on the image forming material due to the physical properties of the liquid, and the image forming material cannot be freely selected. Even when forming a color image, it is necessary to select a dye or a specific pigment in order to prevent nozzle clogging, and there is a limit to the hue reproducibility in the image, for example, to reproduce the same hue as the printing ink pigment. However, it cannot be applied to a high-precision printer for printing proof which requires a high accuracy. Further, when the limited image forming material is not used for a long period of time, there is a problem of nozzle clogging. Further, there is also a problem that the light resistance and water resistance of the formed image are low, and the dye tends to blur on the image receiving sheet.

As an image forming method to which the ink-jet method is applied, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-70633 discloses a method in which a cross-linking agent droplet is applied imagewise to a recording layer made of a cross-linkable material by an ink-jet apparatus. A method is disclosed in which an image is formed by crosslinking and curing the crosslinked portion and removing the material of the non-crosslinked portion by washing. In this method, a so-called screen printing plate is formed by using an ink jet, and then an image is formed by using a colored ink. This is completely different from the transfer method of the present invention, and has two steps of plate making and printing. In addition, since the plate making requires a developing step, there is a problem of cleaning waste liquid treatment and the like, and a complicated step is required. In addition, there is a so-called transfer type ink jet system in which an image formed of a recording liquid containing a liquid and a colorant is formed on an image carrier by an ink jet recording system, and the image is transferred onto a transfer target (for example, a special type of ink jet system). Kaihei 5-42755). This method is a normal ink jet recording method, for example, in which an image containing a dye is once recorded on an image carrier on a drum, and an image is transferred to a transfer target again. However, problems such as limitations on color materials and nozzle clogging remain. In addition, only an image having a low resolution is easily obtained.

Further, as an ink-jet recording method using a transfer medium, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-145576 discloses that an ink-jet ink is imagewise landed on a transfer medium having a liquid-reactive resin layer on the uppermost layer by an ink-jet recording apparatus. This is brought into close contact with an image support (such as a cloth), and heated and pressed to transfer an image portion.
An image forming method capable of printing on a fabric is described.
For example, when the ink is an aqueous ink, the liquid-reactive resin layer is made of a water-soluble resin, and when an ink droplet lands, that portion dissolves and becomes tacky (adhesive). Since only the landing portion is transferred, a high-definition image can be formed on the fabric using the inkjet method. However, this method is particularly intended for a cloth as an image support, and uses ink-jet ink to the last. Therefore, similar to general ink-jet recording, there are problems such as limitations on color materials and nozzle clogging. There is a problem that the toner remains as it is, and the transfer cannot be performed uniformly, causing unevenness.

In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-117782 discloses a method in which a solvent is applied imagewise to the surface of an image carrier using an ink jet discharge method, and then an ink layer is brought into contact with the image carrier. An image forming method is described in which only a portion of an ink layer that is in contact with an imagewise solvent is formed on an image carrier. However, this method requires a solvent having an appropriate cohesive force and adhesive force as described in the upper right column of page 4 of the above publication, line 7 to 16, so that it is difficult to select a solvent. Further, although a synthetic resin film is shown as an image carrier, since it is not solvent-acceptable like a binder coating layer, it is very difficult to stably achieve good transferability. Further, the above method does not sufficiently reproduce fine dots, and in particular, cannot obtain a multi-color transfer image with high resolution. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-276780 is an improvement of the image forming method of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-117782. As a method of applying a solvent imagewise to a recording medium, a porous material impregnated with a solvent is used. A method in which thermal energy is applied to a substrate in accordance with image information and an impregnating liquid is released as mist (microdroplets) or vapor onto a recording medium, and there is no clogging because an inkjet discharge method is not used. And the like. However, this method is the same as that of JP-A-62-117782 except that mist or vapor is applied to the recording medium, and thus the same problem as described above remains.

[0009]

The present inventor is not known as an image forming method for solving the above-mentioned problems, but the image forming method using a transfer sheet having a transfer recording layer on a support and an image receiving sheet is not known. In the method, a latent image is formed by applying a transferability-enhancing material capable of lowering the transfer temperature of the transfer recording layer imagewise to either the surface of the transfer recording layer of the transfer sheet or the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet. An image forming step, and a transferring step of heating the transfer recording layer surface of the transfer sheet in close contact with the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet to transfer a portion corresponding to the latent image of the transfer recording layer onto the image receiving sheet. An image forming method was proposed.

In this image forming method, it is desired to effectively use an ink jet printer system. For this purpose, a solution of a transfer promoting material is replaced in a cartridge filled with ink for ink jet recording in the ink jet printer system. There is a need.
However, inks used for inkjet include, for example, "Progress and Trends in Ink-jet Printing
Technology, Journalof Imaging Science and Tech
nology 1988, vol 42, pp. 49-62 ", there are various types such as water-based, oil-based, solvent-based, hot-melt, UV-curable, and reactive types. For this reason, when the ink for inkjet recording in the inkjet printer system is simply replaced with the solution of the transferability-promoting material, the ejection of the droplets from the inkjet nozzle may be incomplete, and the nozzle may be clogged. Also, even if the inside of the cartridge is completely cleaned,
When a solution of the transferability promoting material is packed in a cartridge and ejected, it comes into contact with a small amount of the original liquid (ink) remaining at the tip and path of the ejection nozzle, and aggregates are generated, and stable ejection cannot be performed. In addition, the wettability with the nozzle and the channel wall surface is different from that of the original ink, and an ejection failure is likely to occur.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming method that can effectively utilize the image forming method using the above-described transferability promoting material in an ink jet printer system.

[0012]

The above object is achieved by the following invention. (1) In an image forming method using a transfer sheet having a transfer recording layer on a support and an image receiving sheet, either the surface of the transfer recording layer of the transfer sheet or the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet is filled in a cartridge. A latent image forming step of forming a latent image by applying a transferability-enhancing material capable of lowering the transfer temperature of the transfer recording layer in an imagewise manner, and closely contacting the transfer recording layer surface of the transfer sheet with the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet; And transferring the portion corresponding to the latent image of the transfer recording layer onto the image receiving sheet. (2) In the latent image forming step, the liquid filled in the cartridge is replaced with a transferability promoting material that dissolves in the liquid under the use environment conditions, and the transferability promotion material in the cartridge is replaced with the transfer sheet. The image forming method according to the above (1), wherein the latent image is formed by imagewise applying to either the surface of the transfer recording layer or the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet. (3) The transfer sheet according to (1) or (2), wherein the transfer sheet contains a ceramic or glass baking pigment, and the transferred image is finally transferred to the ceramic or glass and baked. Image forming method.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail. In the image forming method according to the present invention, first, a transfer material sheet in which a transfer recording layer made of a thermal transfer material is provided on a support and an image receiving sheet having an image receiving layer containing a binder resin are prepared. A liquid material for improving the transfer sensitivity, in other words, a liquid droplet of a liquid transferability promoting material capable of lowering the transfer temperature of the thermal transfer material filled in the cartridge, on either the recording surface or the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet. Is discharged imagewise to form a latent image, and the transfer recording layer of the image transfer material and the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet are brought into close contact with each other with the formed latent image interposed therebetween. After passing a pressure roller heated to a temperature lower than the temperature at which the non-formation portion of the image is transferred and the latent image formation portion of the material for improving the transfer sensitivity can be transferred,
The transfer image is formed on the image receiving member by peeling the transfer member from the image receiving member. In this image forming method, the cartridge filled with the transfer promoting material may be loaded into the ink jet printer system, or the ink in the cartridge already loaded into the ink jet printer system may be replaced with the transfer promoting material. May be. Therefore, in the image forming method of the present invention, the transfer material is separated from the support only at the portion where the latent image is formed using the transferability-promoting material by effectively utilizing the ink jet printer system, and transferred to the image receiving surface by transferring. Form an image. Further, in the present invention, the transfer sheet contains a pigment for baking ceramics or glass, and the transferred image is finally transferred to ceramics or glass and baked, whereby a painted ceramic, a painted glass, or the like can be manufactured. .

Examples of the liquid transferability-promoting material capable of lowering the transfer temperature of the thermal transfer material in the present invention include, for example,
Examples include water, organic solvents, and surfactants.
Among them, organic solvents freely miscible with water at room temperature, surfactants miscible with water, and mixtures thereof are desirable. In addition, the transferability-promoting material does not contain a solid pigment or a compound that precipitates with time from the viewpoint of stability over time and no fear of clogging of the nozzle, and further uses a coloring material for the transfer recording layer. When it does, from the viewpoint that it does not affect the color tone, it is a material that does not chemically act on the coloring material and does not cause a coloring reaction or the like even by applying energy such as heating, and is itself colorless or Light color is desirable.

The organic solvents freely miscible with water include:
Specifically, methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, n
-Propyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, n-
Butyl alcohol, sec-butyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, thiodiethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol,
Butylene glycol, 1,2,6-hexanetriol, hexylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, monohydric or polyhydric alcohols such as glycerin, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether,
Diethylene glycol monomethyl ether, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, ethylene glycol diethyl ether, propylene glycol monomethyl ether, propylene glycol monoethyl ether, propylene glycol monobutyl ether, triethylene glycol monoethyl ether, triethylene glycol monobutyl ether, tripropylene glycol monomethyl ether, etc. Examples thereof include ethers, keto alcohols such as diacetone alcohol, and nitrogen-containing solvents such as N-methyl 2-pyrrolidone and 2-pyrrolidone.

In terms of safety and impact on the environment,
Water, a mixture of water and an organic solvent are preferred. When water and an organic solvent are used in combination, the organic solvent used is preferably water-soluble. These organic solvents are contained in the solution in an amount of 1 to 90% by mass. When the content exceeds 90% by mass, the ejection stability at the time of forming a latent image increases, but the drying property of the transferred image tends to decrease. On the other hand, if the amount is less than 1% by mass, it becomes difficult to improve ejection stability and transferability of fine dots. The optimum amount is determined by the need for drying the transfer member and the drying capacity of the apparatus.

Further, the transferability-promoting material preferably contains a compound soluble in the above-mentioned organic solvent and represented by the following general formula (1). In the general formula (1), R
₁ represents hydrogen or the following structure, and R ₂ represents an alkyl group.

[0018]

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[0019]

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R ₃ represents an alkyl group. R ₂ and R
₃ is preferably an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms. Specifically, methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, sec-butyl, tert-butyl, n-pentyl, isopentyl, neopentyl, tert- And a pentyl group.

The compound represented by the general formula (1) includes
The following can be exemplified.

[0022]

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[0023]

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These may be used alone or in combination of two or more. The content of the compound represented by the general formula (1) in the transferability promoting material (latent image forming solution) is 0.1 to 2
It is preferably 0% by mass, more preferably 0.1 to 15% by mass. When the content is less than 0.1% by mass, a clear latent image is not formed, and when the content is more than 20% by mass, secondary color fog tends to occur, and the resolution tends to decrease.

As the water-miscible surfactants, any of anionic, cationic, nonionic, and amphoteric surfactants can be arbitrarily selected according to the characteristics of the thermal transfer material to be used. It can be used at a concentration within a range that can be dissolved in a mixture of water and an organic solvent. Specifically, fatty acid salts, alkyl sulfate salts, polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfate salts, alkyl benzene sulfonates, alkyl naphthalene sulfonates, alkyl sulfosuccinates, alkyl diphenyl ether disulfonates, alkyl phosphates, naphthalenes Sulfonic acid formalin condensate, polyoxyethylene alkyl ether, polyoxyethylene alkylene alkyl ether, polyoxyethylene fatty acid ester, polyoxyethylene alkylamine, alkylalkanolamine,
Alkylamine salts, alkylbetaines and the like can be mentioned.

In the image forming method of the present invention, when a solution containing a nonionic surfactant and water is used as the transferability-promoting material, the effect of lowering the transfer temperature is large,
Further, since the transferability of fine points is good, a transfer image with high resolution can be obtained. The reason for this is not always clear, but since the wettability and permeability to the transfer layer or image receiving layer are good, it is necessary to sharply form a latent image of fine dots. Highly effective as a plasticizer for resins used in
As a result, it is considered that the adhesiveness of the latent image forming portion due to heat is developed, and the transfer effect is obtained. Further, the permeated nonionic surfactant may be oriented at the interface between the support of the transfer layer and the coating layer to promote peel transfer. Water is 5-95 in solution
% By mass. Also, as a nonionic surfactant, it was found that the use of a nonionic compound to which an ethylene oxide group was added as a hydrophilic group was particularly effective in lowering the transfer temperature of the latent image forming portion and that high resolution was obtained. . Examples of the nonionic compound include compounds represented by the following general formulas 2 to 5.

[0027]

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In the above general formula 2, R represents an alkyl group or an alkylene group, and n represents 2 to 30, preferably 2
Represents an integer of 20 to 20, and in the general formula 3, R represents an alkyl group; n represents an integer of 2 to 30, preferably 2 to 20;
In the general formula 4, R represents an alkyl group, n and l each represent an integer of 2 to 30, preferably 2 to 20, and in the general formula 5, R ₁ and R _{2 each} represent hydrogen or an alkyl group; Represents an integer of 2 to 30, preferably 2 to 20. In the above general formulas 2 to 5, the number of additions of ethylene oxide is preferably 2 to 30, and particularly preferably 2 to 20. Specific examples of the compounds represented by the general formulas 2 to 5 include polyoxyethylene (4) lauryl ether, polyoxyethylene (7) cetyl ether, polyoxyethylene (13) stearyl ether, polyoxyethylene (5) oleyl ether, and polyoxyethylene (5) oleyl ether. Oxyethylene (10)
Nonylphenyl ether, ethylene oxide-propylene oxide copolymer (n = 10, l = 7), ethylene oxide adduct of acetylene glycol (n + m = 10), and the like are not limited to these.

The nonionic surfactant is added in an amount of 0.1 to 20% by mass, preferably about 0.1 to 10% by mass, in the transferability accelerating material (ejection liquid). When the amount added is 2
If it exceeds 0% by mass, the resolution tends to decrease. On the other hand, when the amount is less than 0.1% by mass, it is difficult to obtain a transferability promoting effect. In addition, in addition to the nonionic surfactant,
A water-soluble organic solvent can be added. As the water-soluble organic solvent, the above-mentioned organic solvents that are freely miscible with water can be used. The content of the water-soluble organic solvent is suitably about 0 to 90% by mass in the solution. In particular, when the content of the solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or more is large, the ejection stability at the time of forming the latent image is increased, but the drying property of the transferred image is reduced. The optimum solvent type and the amount used are determined by the necessity of drying the transfer body and the drying capacity of the apparatus. Furthermore, in order to impart ejection suitability and storage stability of the liquid, a surface tension adjuster, a fungicide, a viscosity adjuster such as a polymer, a pH adjuster, an antifoaming agent and the like can be used in combination.

Further, in the image forming method of the present invention,
Water and a boiling point of 1 under normal temperature and normal pressure
By using a solution containing an organic solvent having a temperature of 00 ° C. or higher and having compatibility with water, the ejection stability of the solution is improved, so that the non-ejection phenomenon at the time of forming a latent image and restarting after standby can be prevented. In addition, since the transferability of fine dots is improved, a high-resolution transfer body can be obtained.

Examples of the organic solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher at normal temperature and normal pressure and having compatibility with water include ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, thiodiethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, glycerin and the like. Monohydric or polyhydric alcohols, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether,
Ethers such as diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, ethylene glycol diethyl ether, propylene glycol monomethyl ether, propylene glycol monoethyl ether, propylene glycol monobutyl ether, triethylene glycol monoethyl ether, triethylene glycol monobutyl ether, and tripropylene glycol monomethyl ether; Examples include keto alcohols such as acetone alcohol and nitrogen-containing solvents such as N-methyl 2-pyrrolidone and 2-pyrrolidone.

The transferability-enhancing material is used for the purpose of improving the transferability of an arbitrary portion of the transfer recording layer made of a thermal transfer material, so that the transfer can be easily and completely performed at a lower transfer temperature. It is. The transferability promoting material is
The transfer recording layer or the image receiving layer at least partially penetrates and facilitates peeling of the transfer recording layer from the support. The transferability-promoting material preferably has a surface tension of 20 to 60 mN /
m, viscosity 50 mPa. It is a liquid having the following physical properties.
It is desirable that the amount of the transferability-promoting material applied to the transfer recording layer or the image receiving layer be kept within a range that does not reduce the resolution of the transferred image. If the amount is too large, penetration of the transferability-promoting material at the interface between the image area and the non-image area and the dissolution and flow of the transfer recording layer may occur, and the sharpness of the image interface may be reduced.

Next, in performing an image forming method using the transferability promoting material of the present invention, a cartridge filled with the transferability promotion material is used, and the transferability promotion material in the cartridge is transferred to the transfer sheet through a nozzle. It is applied imagewise to either the transfer recording layer surface or the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet.

The cartridge may be 1) pre-filled with a transfer promoting material, or 2) used by replacing the ink loaded in an existing inkjet printer system and filling the cartridge with the transfer promoting material. You may. The case 1) is effective when the inkjet printer system is first applied to the image forming method of the present invention. In the case of 2), when the ink for ink jet recording filled in the cartridge is replaced with the solution of the transferability promoting material, the ejection of the droplets from the ink jet nozzle becomes incomplete, and in order to avoid a situation where the nozzle is clogged, Alternatively, in order to prevent a situation in which the original liquid (ink) slightly remaining at the tip and the path of the discharge nozzle comes into contact with the transferability promoting material, agglomerates are generated, and stable discharge cannot be performed. In order to avoid the fact that the wettability of the facilitating material and the ink jet recording ink filled in the cartridge with the nozzles and the flow path wall surface is different from that of the original ink jet recording ink, the ink jet recording ink previously filled in the cartridge is avoided. After confirming that the ink for transfer and the transferability-promoting material of the present invention freely dissolve in the use environment, this free dissolution It is necessary to use a transfer-promoting material fit.

In the present invention, as a method for confirming that the ink for ink jet recording pre-filled in the cartridge and the transferability promoting material of the present invention freely dissolve in the use environment, there is a method for confirming that the ink filled in the cartridge is free. The ink corresponding to the recording ink and the transferability-enhancing material are mixed at an arbitrary ratio at room temperature (under the use environment), and it is visually confirmed that no aggregates or liquid separation occur at any mixing ratio. Is preferably used. Then, the image forming method is performed by replacing the transferability promoting material confirmed to be freely dissolved by the above method with the ink for ink jet recording. In this case, the cartridge filled with the ink for ink jet recording After sufficiently washing, is preferably filled with a transferability promoting material. As a method for washing the cartridge, it is preferable to use distilled water, methanol, acetone, ethanol, propanol, or the like. After washing, it is preferable to remove these washing solvents by drying.

The transferability-promoting material of the present invention has a function of lowering the transfer temperature. As a guide for lowering the transfer temperature, the transferability-promoting material is added to the original transfer temperature of the transfer recording layer. It is preferable that the transfer temperature be lowered by 3 ° C. or more. It is considered that the function of the transfer promoting material is that the binder resin contained in the transfer recording layer or the image receiving layer is plasticized or swelled. This transfer temperature can be measured by the following method. As shown in FIG. 1, a thermocouple is provided between a transfer material and an image receiving sheet with an apparatus having a pair of heating nip rollers having a temperature-variable heating roller, and the temperature is measured by the thermocouple while passing through the heating nip roller. The measurement is performed while changing the heating temperature, and the lowest temperature at which transfer occurs is defined as the transfer temperature.

Here, the image transfer material and the image receiving sheet used in the method of the present invention will be described. The image transfer material of the present invention is obtained by providing a transfer recording layer made of a thermal transfer material on a support. Hereinafter, the support constituting the image transfer material, the transfer recording layer, and other layers provided as desired will be described in detail.

[Support] The material of the support of the image transfer material is not particularly limited, and various support materials can be used according to the purpose. Preferred examples of the support material include:
Polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene-2,6-
Examples include synthetic resin materials such as naphthalate, polycarbonate, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polystyrene, and styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer. Among them, biaxially stretched polyethylene terephthalate is preferable in consideration of mechanical strength and dimensional stability against heat.

The support may be subjected to a surface roughening treatment and / or the provision of one or more undercoat layers in order to improve the adhesion to the transfer recording layer provided thereon. preferable. Examples of the surface roughening treatment include a glow discharge treatment and a corona discharge treatment. The material of the undercoat layer preferably has high adhesiveness to both surfaces of the support and the transfer recording layer, low thermal conductivity, and excellent heat resistance. Examples of such a material for the undercoat layer include styrene, styrene-butadiene copolymer, and gelatin. The thickness of the entire undercoat layer is usually 0.01 to 2 μm. Further, on the surface of the thermal transfer sheet opposite to the side on which the transfer recording layer is provided, various functional layers such as a release layer or a surface treatment can be provided as necessary.

[Transfer Recording Layer] The transfer recording layer, when forming a colored image, contains at least a pigment which is transferred to an image receiving sheet to form a colored image, and a binder for forming a layer. Contains resin and, if desired, other components. In the present invention, the transfer recording layer is not necessarily limited to a colored recording layer. For example, when used for forming a lithographic printing plate, a colorless resin layer may be used. It is necessary that the accelerating material has a property of improving transferability. Pigments are generally classified into organic pigments and inorganic pigments.The former has properties such as excellent transparency of the coating film, and the latter generally has properties such as excellent concealing properties, and can be appropriately selected according to the application. I just need. When the image transfer material according to the present invention is used as a color proof for printing color proofing, organic pigments that match yellow, magenta, cyan, and black commonly used in printing inks or have a similar color tone are preferably used. used. In addition, a metal powder, a fluorescent pigment, or the like may be used. Examples of preferably used pigments include azo pigments, phthalocyanine pigments, anthraquinone pigments, dioxazine pigments, quinacridone pigments, isoindolinone pigments, and nitro pigments. The pigment used for the transfer recording layer is divided by hue,
These are listed below, but are not limited thereto.

1) Yellow pigments Hansa Yellow G, Hansa Yellow 5G, Hansa Yellow 10G, Hansa Yellow A, Pigment Yellow L,
Permanent Yellow NCG, Permanent Yellow F
GL, permanent yellow HR. 2) red pigment permanent red 4R, permanent red F2R,
Permanent Red FRL, Lake Red C, Lake Red D, Pigment Scarlet 3B, Bordeaux 5B,
Alizarin Lake, Rhodamine Lake B. 3) Blue pigments Phthalocyanine blue, Victoria blue lake, Fast sky blue. 4) Black pigment carbon black.

When forming a painted ceramic, a painted glass, or the like, as the inorganic pigment contained in the transfer recording layer, an upper paint and a lower paint usually used for pottery can be used. A metal oxide such as cobalt having a crystal structure of spinel, spherine, pichlois, rutile, priderite, phosphite, phenasite, perryclays, olivine, badderite, borate, corundum, zircon; sulfides such as cadmium yellow; And cadmium selenide compounds such as selenium red. Further, an inorganic pigment which is a fluorescent pigment or a phosphorescent pigment may be used. The transfer layer may contain a glass component together with the inorganic pigment. It is preferable to use a glass component in combination, since the fusion property of the inorganic pigment to the surface of the ceramic body can be improved in the sintering step. Examples of the glass component include alkali metal compounds such as lithium carbonate, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, lead oxide, and bismuth oxide; alkaline earth metal compounds such as barium carbonate, strontium carbonate, calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, and zinc oxide; aluminum oxide And neutral components such as aluminum hydroxide; acidic components such as silicon oxide, boric acid, zirconium oxide and titanium oxide; Also,
Complex components such as borax, feldspar and kaolin can also be used. The glass component can be used as a so-called frit by dissolving one kind alone or a mixture of two or more kinds.

In the transfer layer, the content of the inorganic pigment is 10% by mass to 8%.
The content is preferably 0% by mass, more preferably 20% by mass to 70% by mass. When a glass component is used in combination, the preferred amount of the glass component used differs depending on the inorganic pigment used in combination. However, the mixture of the glass component and the inorganic pigment is contained in the transfer layer in an amount of 15% by mass to 70% by mass. Is preferably 30% by mass to 80% by mass.
More preferably, it is contained.

As the binder resin for the transfer recording layer, an amorphous organic high molecular polymer having a softening point of 40 ° C. to 150 ° C. is preferable. Examples of the amorphous organic high-molecular polymer include butyral resin, polyamide resin, polyethyleneimine resin, sulfonamide resin, polyester polyol resin, petroleum resin, styrene, vinyltoluene, α-methylstyrene, 2-methylstyrene, and chloroform. Styrene such as styrene, vinylbenzoic acid, sodium vinylbenzenesulfonate and aminostyrene and derivatives thereof, homopolymers and copolymers of substituted products, methacrylates such as methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate, and hydroxyethyl methacrylate And acrylates such as methacrylic acid, methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, butyl acrylate and α-ethylhexyl acrylate; and dienes such as acrylic acid, butadiene and isoprene; Use of vinyl monomers such as lonitrile, vinyl ethers, maleic acid and maleic acid esters, maleic anhydride, cinnamic acid, vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, or copolymers with other monomers Can be. These resins can be used as a mixture of two or more kinds.

When a multicolor image is produced by repeatedly superimposing a large number of image layers (transfer recording layers on which images are formed) on the same image receiving sheet, transfer is performed to enhance the adhesion between the images. The recording layer preferably contains a plasticizer. Examples of such plasticizers include dibutyl phthalate, di-n-octyl phthalate, di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate,
Phthalic acid esters such as dinonyl phthalate, dilauryl phthalate, butyl lauryl phthalate, and butyl benzyl phthalate; aliphatic dibasic acid esters such as di (2-ethylhexyl) adipate and di (2-ethylhexyl) sebacate; Examples include phosphoric acid triesters such as tricresyl phosphate and tri (2-ethylhexyl) phosphate, polyol polyesters such as polyethylene glycol ester, and epoxy compounds such as epoxy fatty acid ester. In addition to the general plasticizers described above, polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate, 1,2,4-butanetriol trimethacrylate, trimethylolethane triacrylate, pentaerythritol triacrylate, pentaerythritol tetraacrylate, dipentaerythritol Acrylic esters such as polyacrylates are also preferably used in combination depending on the type of binder used. Incidentally, two or more plasticizers may be used in combination.

In the transfer recording layer, the mass ratio of the total amount of the pigment and the resin to the plasticizer is generally 1%.
00: 1 to 100: 3, preferably 100: 1.5 to 1
00: 2. A surfactant, a thickener, and the like are further added to the transfer recording layer as needed.

It is preferable that the transfer layer contains a wax component in order to improve the resolution and resolution of a transferred image (dot). It is preferable to include a wax component in both the method using a transfer promoting material and the method using a thermal transfer printer, but this is particularly important when an image is formed by the latter method.

Examples of the wax component include paraffin wax, microcrystalline wax, carnauba wax, candelilla wax, rice wax, Fischer-Tropsch wax, beeswax, wood wax, spermaceti, Ibota wax, wool wax, shellac wax, betrolactam, polyester Wax, lanolin, low molecular weight polyethylene wax, amide wax, ester wax, oxidized polyethylene wax, rosin, rosin methylolated amide, ester gum, higher fatty acid, higher fatty acid ester, higher alcohol and the like.

The transfer recording layer further includes an image receiving sheet,
In the case of printing a large number of times (monochrome and color images of two or more colors) in order to improve the adhesion to the transfer sheet and improve the glue of the transfer layer (material) in the second transfer, a relatively low melting point heat Plastic resins, for example, low molecular weight petroleum resin, polyvinyl butyral resin, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-acrylate copolymer, styrene-acrylate copolymer, styrene-maleic acid-acrylate copolymer It is preferable to add a polymer or the like.

The transfer recording layer is provided by preparing a coating solution in which a pigment and the binder resin or the like are dissolved or dispersed, applying the coating solution on a support (on the support, on the undercoat layer) and drying. be able to. Examples of the solvent used for preparing the coating liquid include n-propyl alcohol, methyl ethyl ketone, propylene glycol monomethyl ether (MFG), and methanol. Coating and drying can be performed by using ordinary coating and drying methods. Incidentally, the layer thickness (dry layer thickness) of the transfer recording layer is 0.1-5.
0 μm, preferably 0.3 to 3.0 μm.

A transfer-promoting material is applied imagewise to the surface of a transfer recording layer of an image transfer material having a structure in which a transfer recording layer is laminated on a support in this order, or to the surface of an image receiving sheet described later. When an image is formed, of the thermal transfer material constituting the transfer recording layer, the transfer promoting material permeates the transfer recording layer only in the portion of the latent image to which the transfer promoting material has adhered, and the binding of the binder constituting the layer is loosened. At the same time, the bonding force between the support and the image forming layer is reduced, the transferability to the image receiving sheet is improved, and the transfer can be performed at a lower temperature.

[Image-Receiving Sheet] The image-receiving sheet that can be used in the method of the present invention is usually provided with a support and thereon an image-receiving layer containing at least one binder resin. Cushion layer, release layer, between layers
And a structure in which one or two or more intermediate layers are provided. However, if the affinity with the above-mentioned transfer recording layer is good, polyethylene terephthalate (P
A resin sheet such as ET), plain paper, coated paper, glass epoxy sheet, and metal plate can also be used. In the case of an image receiving sheet having an image receiving layer provided on a support, a back layer for improving transportability is preferably provided on the surface of the support opposite to the image receiving layer.

Examples of the support include ordinary sheet-like base materials such as plastic sheets, metal sheets, glass sheets, and paper. Examples of the plastic sheet include a polyethylene terephthalate sheet, a polycarbonate sheet, a polyethylene sheet, a polyvinyl chloride sheet, a polyvinylidene chloride sheet, a polystyrene sheet, a styrene-acrylonitrile sheet, and a polyester sheet. In addition, printing paper, coated paper, or the like can be used as the paper support.

It is preferable that the support has minute voids (voids) because curling can be prevented and image quality can be improved. Such a support is, for example, a thermoplastic resin, a mixed melt obtained by mixing an inorganic pigment or a filler made of an incompatible polymer with the thermoplastic resin, a single-layer or multi-layer by a melt extruder. It can be produced by forming a film and stretching it uniaxially or biaxially.
In this case, the porosity is determined by the selection of the resin and the filler, the mixing ratio, the stretching conditions, and the like.

As the thermoplastic resin, a polyolefin resin such as polypropylene and a polyethylene terephthalate resin are preferable because of good crystallinity, good stretchability and easy void formation. It is preferable to use the above-mentioned polyolefin resin or polyethylene terephthalate resin as a main component, and appropriately use a small amount of another thermoplastic resin in combination. As the inorganic pigment used as the filler, those having an average particle size of 1 μm or more and 20 μm or less are preferable, and calcium carbonate, clay, diatomaceous earth, titanium oxide, aluminum hydroxide, silica and the like can be used. When polypropylene is used as the thermoplastic resin as the incompatible resin used as the filler, it is preferable to combine polyethylene terephthalate as the filler. The content of the filler such as an inorganic pigment in the support is generally about 2 to 30% by volume.

The thickness of the support of the image receiving sheet is usually from 10 to
It is 400 μm, preferably 25 to 200 μm. Further, the surface of the support is subjected to a surface treatment such as a corona discharge treatment or a glow discharge treatment in order to enhance the adhesion with the image receiving layer (or the cushion layer) or the adhesion with the image forming layer of the thermal transfer sheet. May be.

In order to transfer the image forming layer on the surface of the image receiving sheet and fix it, it is preferable to provide one or more image receiving layers on the support. The image receiving layer is preferably a layer formed mainly of a binder resin composed of an organic polymer. The binder resin is preferably a thermoplastic resin, for example, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, acrylic acid ester, homopolymers of acrylic monomers such as methacrylic acid esters and copolymers thereof,
Methylcellulose, ethylcellulose, cellulosic polymers such as cellulose acetate, polystyrene,
Homopolymers and copolymers of vinyl monomers such as polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinylbutyral, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl chloride and the like, condensation polymers such as polyester and polyamide, and rubbers such as butadiene-styrene copolymer System polymer. The binder of the image receiving layer is provided with a glass transition temperature (Tg) in order to obtain a proper adhesive strength with the image forming layer.
Is preferably a polymer having a temperature lower than 90 ° C. For this purpose, it is also possible to add a plasticizer to the image receiving layer.
Further, the binder polymer preferably has a Tg of 30 ° C. or higher in order to prevent blocking between sheets. As the binder polymer of the image receiving layer, a polymer that is the same as or similar to the binder polymer of the image forming layer may be used in terms of improving adhesion to the image forming layer during transfer recording and improving sensitivity and image strength. Particularly preferred.

It is preferable that the image receiving sheet can be adhered to the surface of the ceramic body because the operation becomes easy even when a ceramic body having a curved surface such as a dish or a bottle is used. As the image receiving sheet, a layer composed of a water-soluble polymer (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as a “water-soluble polymer layer”) and an image receiving layer composed of a hydrophobic polymer (hereinafter, referred to as a “hydrophobic polymer layer”) are formed on a support. (Hereinafter, may be referred to as an “adhesive image-receiving sheet”). As the support, a paper support having excellent smoothness is preferably used.

When the support is a paper support, when the image-receiving sheet is immersed in water, a part of the water-soluble polymer is dissolved and the hydrophobic polymer layer can be peeled off from the paper support. At the same time, it is preferable that the peeled hydrophobic polymer layer can be bonded to the surface of a ceramic body such as a ceramic plate. As such a water-soluble polymer, for example, polymers used for painting ceramics, such as dextrin and gum arabic, polyvinyl alcohol, carboxymethylcellulose, methylcellulose, hydroxyethylcellulose, and gelatin are preferable. Examples of the hydrophobic polymer include polyvinyl butyral resin, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-acrylate copolymer, styrene-acrylate copolymer, and styrene-maleic acid-acrylate copolymer. Thermoplastic resins such as polymers, polyamides, polystyrenes, polyesters, polyvinyl acetate resins, cellulose derivatives, polystyrene methacrylic resins, polyvinyl ether resins, polyurethane resins, polycarbonate resins, and rosin resins. Further, a resin used as an overprint lacquer for overcoating a ceramic body such as a ceramic body is preferably used, and examples thereof include an acrylic resin and a urethane resin.

As described above, the image receiving layer may be formed on the surface of the ceramic body. When the image receiving layer is formed on the surface of the ceramic body, the transferability promoting material is applied imagewise to at least one of the transfer layer surface of the transfer sheet and the image receiving layer surface of the ceramic body. The components in the image receiving layer when the image receiving layer is formed on the surface of the ceramic body are as described above.

The image-receiving layer is a layer formed by applying an organic solvent solution or an aqueous solution (aqueous solution, aqueous dispersion) containing a binder resin on a support, and therefore differs from a support such as a plastic sheet. Has a receptivity to a thermal transfer promoting material. Receptivity means that the image receiving layer is plasticized or swelled by the thermal transfer promoting material, for example.
This plasticizing or swelling action can lower the transfer temperature of the thermal transfer material. According to the method of the present invention, an image can be once formed on an image receiving layer and then retransferred to a printing paper or the like.

When the image receiving layer is not formed on the ceramic body, after the latent image forming step and the transferring step, the image formed of the transfer material formed on the image receiving sheet is disposed on the surface of the ceramic body. I do. When the image-receiving layer is a sheet whose image-receiving layer contains a thermoplastic resin as a binder, the image-receiving layer of the image-receiving sheet is heat-pressed to the surface of the ceramic body to form an image formed of a transfer material on the surface of the ceramic body. Can be arranged together with the image receiving sheet. At the time of thermocompression bonding, the image made of the transfer material may be arranged so as to face the surface of the ceramic body, or the image receiving layer may be arranged so as to be sandwiched between the ceramic body and the image made of the transfer material. When the images made of the transfer material are arranged to face each other, a reverse image of the desired image is formed on the image receiving sheet.

When an adhesive image receiving sheet having a paper support is used, after the latent image forming step and the transferring step,
Part of the adhesive image-receiving sheet is immersed in water to partially dissolve the polymer of the water-soluble polymer layer, and peel off the hydrophobic polymer layer from the paper support, and place the peeled hydrophobic polymer layer on the surface of the ceramic body. The image formed of the transfer material and the transfer material can be attached to the surface of the ceramic body together with the image receiving layer.

When the image formed of the transfer material formed on the adhesive image-receiving sheet is arranged on the surface of the ceramic body, the image may be inverted. That is, after forming a reversal image on the image receiving layer in advance, the image portion may be arranged on the surface of the ceramic body by facing the surface of the ceramic body (reversing the image again). In this case, since the hydrophobic polymer layer is not interposed between the image and the surface of the ceramic body, the sintering of the inorganic pigment and the ceramic body proceeds more stably in the subsequent sintering step, which is preferable. Since the surface of the hydrophobic polymer layer (the surface on which the image formed of the transfer material is formed) does not have adhesiveness, when the ink image is arranged so that the image faces the ceramic body surface as described above, it is necessary to use the ceramic material. It is preferred to apply an adhesive water-soluble polymer to the body surface.

Further, after an image formed of a transfer material formed on an image receiving layer (a layer made of a thermoplastic resin or the like) of the image receiving sheet having no adhesiveness is transferred to an image receiving layer of the adhesive image receiving sheet, As described above, after partially immersing the adhesive image-receiving sheet (adhesive sheet having a paper support) in water, the paper support is peeled off, and an image formed of a transfer material together with a hydrophobic polymer layer on the surface of the ceramic body. Can also be arranged.

In the sintering step, the ceramic body on which the image of the transfer material is formed is heated, and the inorganic pigment contained in the transfer material is sintered on the surface of the ceramic body. The inorganic pigment is sintered on the surface of the ceramic body, and components other than the inorganic pigment in the transfer material and components such as an image receiving layer disposed on the surface of the ceramic body together with the image are evaporated or incinerated. The heating of the ceramic body is preferably performed using, for example, an electric kiln from the viewpoint of temperature control, color development, and the like. The heating conditions can be appropriately set according to the selected material, the volume of the ceramic body, the size of the image, and the like. Heating may be performed by gradually increasing the temperature to the firing temperature, or after heating at a constant temperature of 300 ° C. to 500 ° C. for a certain time,
Preferably, the temperature is gradually increased to the firing temperature. In the case of using an overpaint as an inorganic pigment, the firing temperature is usually 650 ° C to 900 ° C, preferably 750 ° C to 850 ° C.
C., and the firing time at this temperature is preferably 1 to 8 hours. When an undercolor is used as the inorganic pigment, the baking temperature is set at 1000 ° C. to 1300 ° C., preferably 1 ° C.
It is preferable that the firing is performed at 100 ° C. to 1250 ° C. and the firing time is 1 to 8 hours.

In the sintering step, components other than the inorganic pigment in the transfer material and components such as the image receiving layer disposed on the surface of the ceramic body together with the image are evaporated or incinerated. Therefore, the materials (the components in the transfer layer and the components in the image receiving layer) disposed on the surface of the ceramic body together with the inorganic pigment during the sintering step contain atoms or compounds that are not lost by evaporation or combustion in the sintering step. It is preferable not to contain an atom or a compound which changes color by reacting with an inorganic pigment.

When a painted ceramic body is produced by the manufacturing method of the present invention, for example, by selecting various shapes and formed images of the ceramic body to be painted, it can be used for, for example, ceramic photo applications (portraits, funeral remains, pet pets). Photographs, commemorative photos for permanent storage, etc.), amusement and accessory uses (including mugs, liquor bottles, crests, fish cultivation, etc.), building materials (bathrooms, entrances,
Art tiles, signs, signboards, room accessories, interior goods, etc. used on the walls of living rooms, lobbies, guest rooms, etc.)
And so on.

Next, the image forming method according to the present invention will be described step by step. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. The image forming apparatus 1 is connected to a cartridge loaded with an ink jet printer system and filled with a transferability promoting material, and is provided with a discharge head 13 for applying a droplet-like transferability promotion material to the image transfer material 5.
And a pair of pressure rollers including a support drum 3 for transferring the image transfer material 5 and the image receiving sheet 11 and performing transfer, and a pinch roller 7 having heating means.
An image transfer material (transfer sheet) 5 having a transfer recording layer formed on a support is supported on the support drum 3 so as to be wound around a part of the outer periphery. The transfer recording layer formed on the support contains materials such as pigment-based dyes and metal particles, and a binder resin and the like. In this embodiment, a case where the transfer material is a pigment-based dye will be described as an example.

The image transfer material 5 has a support drum 3 on the support side.
, And is supported by the support drum 3 such that the transfer recording layer side becomes the surface. In the image forming apparatus 1, a pinch roller 7 in the same axial direction as the support drum 3 is disposed to face.
A heater whose temperature can be controlled is built in the pinch roller 7. An image receiving sheet 11 is inserted between the support drum 3 and the pinch roller 7. Between the support drum 3 and the pinch roller 7, an image transfer material 5 and an image receiving body 1 are provided.
1 are laminated so that the transfer recording layer and the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet 11 are in close contact with each other, inserted between the pressure rollers, and heated while rotating the support drum 3 and the pinch roller 7 in the right direction in the figure. To move to.
In this embodiment, an example in which the image receiving sheet uses a PET film as a support will be described.

The transfer temperature of the part where the latent image is formed by the transferability promoting material is lower than that of the peripheral part of the transfer recording layer. Therefore, the heating condition of the pinch roller 7 at this time is such that the temperature of the contact portion between the latent image forming portion and the image receiving layer is lower than the original transfer temperature of the transfer recording layer and higher than the transfer temperature of the latent image portion. If the temperature range is set in the range, the latent image forming part and the non-forming part (part where the transferability promoting material does not adhere)
Image transfer with clear on / off of the image can be performed. The heating temperature is lower than the transfer temperature of the transfer recording layer, and
The temperature is preferably in a range exceeding the transfer temperature of the latent image portion.

The image forming apparatus 1 is provided with a droplet discharge head 13 facing the support drum 3. Droplet discharge head 1
Numeral 3 is disposed so as to be freely movable in the width direction of the image transfer material via a moving rail or the like (not shown). The moving direction of the droplet discharge head 13 is the main scanning direction for forming an image. The droplet discharge head 13 discharges a droplet made of a liquid transferability-promoting material in an image-like manner, and forms a latent image on the surface of the image transfer layer of the image transfer material 5 supported by the support drum 3.

When a multicolor image is formed using this apparatus, black (K), cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) are used as color materials contained in the transfer recording layer of the image transfer material. An image is formed with an image transfer material using each color of ()). A droplet of the transferability promoting material is ejected imagewise from the droplet ejection head 13 onto the K color image transfer material 5 to form a latent image on the transfer recording layer of the image transfer material 5. This step is a latent image forming step.

Next, the transfer recording layer of the image transfer material 5 on which the latent image is formed and the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet 11 are laminated so as to be in close contact with each other, and are pressed by the support drum 3 and the pinch roller 7. At this time, by controlling the heating means inside the pinch roller 7 and heating the entire surface of the image receiving sheet 11 and the image transfer material 5 under predetermined conditions, only the latent image portion on which the transferability promoting material adheres like an image is formed. The image is transferred imagewise onto the transfer sheet 11 surface. That is, a transfer step. Then, the image transfer material 5
The image transfer material 5 is peeled from the image receiving sheet 11 by being wound along the supporting drum 3 in the circumferential direction and conveyed, and a black image is formed on the surface of the image receiving sheet 11. Hereinafter, the transfer recording layer for each color is sequentially transferred and fixed on the same image receiving sheet 11 based on the image information using the image transfer materials 5 of C, M, and Y colors in the same procedure. To form a full-color image in which four colors are superimposed.

As described above, according to the image forming method using the above-described image forming apparatus 1, the entire surface of the image transfer material 5 and the image receiving sheet 11 is heated so that the latent image to which the transferability promoting material adheres is obtained. Only the latent image portion is selectively transferred and fixed to the transfer sheet 11 because the transferability of only the portion is improved. Therefore, the ink jet printer system is effectively used to reduce the resistance of the thermal head as in the conventional peeling transfer method. A uniform image can be formed without unevenness in heat conduction due to unevenness in value, unevenness in contact, and unevenness in thickness of the support.

Further, since pigment-based dyes can be used for the transfer recording layer, there is no need to select pigments or dyes due to physical property limitations as in the case of ink jet recording inks, and a wide range of pigment-based dyes can be used. Can be selected, desired hue can be selected and excellent hue reproducibility, and pigments excellent in light resistance, metal pigments, functional pigments and the like can be arbitrarily selected, so that an image having good durability and a desired image can be obtained. An image having a hue and a function can be formed. Therefore, the present invention can be suitably applied to a color proof or the like in which hue reproducibility is important.

Next, another embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 shows a second configuration of the image forming apparatus that performs the image forming method according to the present invention. The image forming apparatus 20 is mounted on an ink jet printer system, is connected to a cartridge filled with a transferability promoting material, and provides a discharge head 21 for applying a droplet-like transferability promotion material to the surface of the image receiving sheet 11, and an image transfer material. 5 and a pair of pressure rollers comprising a support drum 3 for transferring and a pinch roller 7 provided with a heating means, for bringing the image transfer sheet 5 into close contact with the image receiving sheet 11, Peeling bar 23 for peeling off image receiving sheet 11
And

In the image forming apparatus 20 according to this embodiment, the image transfer material 5 is provided downstream of the support drum 3 in the transport direction.
Bar (peeling bar) that presses the sheet toward the image receiving sheet 11 side
23 are provided. Further, between the peeling bar 23 and the winding means 25 of the image transfer material 5, the image transfer material 5 is wound with a predetermined tension. Further, the image transfer material 5 after passing through the peeling bar 23 is peeled at an angle close to a right angle with respect to the image receiving sheet 11. According to the image forming apparatus 20 configured as described above,
Since the support of the image transfer material 5 is bent at an angle close to a right angle with the separation bar 23 as a boundary, the separation between the support and the transfer material is promoted by the difference in bending radius, and the surface of the image receiving sheet 11 is Of the transfer recording layer can be improved.

The image forming apparatus 20 has a droplet discharge head 21 facing the support drum 3. The droplet discharge head 21 is connected to a cartridge filled with a transferability promoting material, and is configured to be freely movable in the width direction of the image receiving sheet 11. In this embodiment, except that the discharge head 21 discharges liquid droplets in the direction of the image receiving sheet 11 and that a release bar 23 for stably separating the image transfer material 5 and the image receiving sheet 11 is provided. Image forming apparatus 1
Has the same configuration as The droplet discharge head 21 discharges droplets of the transferability promoting material imagewise onto the surface of the image receiving sheet 11 to form a latent image, and the image receiving sheet 11 is supported by the image transfer material supported by the support drum 3. 5 has a function of improving the transferability of the transfer recording layer at the portion where the latent image is formed, in close contact with the transfer recording layer surface.

In this embodiment, since the transferability-promoting material is discharged onto the image receiving sheet 11 instead of the transfer recording layer, a decrease in the positional accuracy of the latent image due to the discharge factor can be suppressed even when a thin transfer recording material is used. Can be. As described above, in the image forming method of the present invention, an image-like latent image is formed with the transferability-promoting material, and the transfer recording layer itself in that portion is transferred and fixed to the image receiving sheet 11 to form an image. As compared with an image formed by discharging ink, there is no fear of ink bleeding, and an image excellent in resolution and hue reproducibility can be formed. Further, as described above, the same effect is obtained when the latent image formed of the transferability promoting material is formed on the surface of the transfer recording layer of the image transfer material 5 or on the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet.

Hereinafter, a modified example of the image forming apparatus that performs the image forming method of the present invention will be described. In the image forming apparatus 30, as shown in FIG. 3, the ejection direction of the droplet ejection head is set so that the droplet ejection direction can be any direction of the image transfer material 5 and the image receiving sheet 11. Are provided so as to be switchable so that the ejection direction can be appropriately changed according to the material and the transfer conditions.
As the direction switching structure of the droplet discharge head 31, a droplet discharge head 31 having a single or a plurality of discharge holes is provided in a rotatable manner (shown in FIG. 3), or in advance in each direction. It is conceivable that a discharge hole is provided and one of the discharge holes is opened and closed as required. According to the image forming apparatus 30, the image transfer material 5 used
Alternatively, a latent image can be formed by switching the droplet discharge direction of the droplet discharge head 31 on any suitable image forming surface based on the suitability of the image receiving sheet 11 and the droplet.

In the image forming method of the present invention, it is preferable to add a step of heating and drying the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet after the transfer step. This drying step evaporates the residual solution for forming the latent image. As a result, when an image transfer material of another color is further transferred and transferred onto the image receiving sheet, there is no secondary color fog and high image quality is obtained. Can be produced. As an image forming apparatus for performing the above method, there is an image forming apparatus provided with the heating / drying apparatus shown in FIGS. Image forming apparatus 4 shown in FIG.
In the image forming apparatus 50 shown in FIG. 5, a heating / drying device 27 is further provided downstream of the transfer position in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and in the image forming apparatus 50 shown in FIG. In the image forming apparatus indicated by
The heating and drying device 27 is provided on the downstream side.
Although not shown, it is preferable to heat-dry the applied surface after transferring the transferability-promoting material to the image transfer material or the image receiving sheet before transferring the image so as not to lower the resolution. .

As an application of the image forming method of the present invention, an image transfer material 5 having a lipophilic resin layer formed on a support is used. By using the cylinder and performing image formation in the same procedure, a desired fine image can be formed on a curved surface, such as the outer peripheral surface of the plate cylinder, with a small number of manufacturing steps.
It is possible to form a plate cylinder in which a plate is implanted.

As a modified example of the discharge head, any one applicable to an ink jet printer system may be used.
For example, instead of a recording droplet discharge type, a liquid transferability improving material that can discharge droplets in a planar or linear manner is used,
The same effect can be obtained by using a mode in which a mask having image-formed holes is provided between the droplet discharge head and the image transfer material or the image receiving sheet. As a means for discharging droplets in a plane, for example, a means for providing a plurality of discharge holes or a means for providing a diffusion nozzle may be mentioned. And the like, in which the ejection holes arranged in the sub-scanning direction are moved in the sub-scanning direction. According to this image forming apparatus, droplets are ejected in a plane, so that a high-speed image can be formed.

[0085]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In this example, unless otherwise specified.
“Parts” indicates “parts by mass”, and “%” indicates “% by mass”. Example 1 <Preparation of image transfer material> Preparation of transfer recording layer coating solution Butyral resin 12.0 parts (Esrec FPD-1 manufactured by Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.) Magenta pigment 12.0 parts (Toyo Ink Co., Ltd. Rio) Nourlet LX-235) n-propyl alcohol 110.4 parts Dispersing aid 0.8 part (Solsperse S-20000 manufactured by ICI Corporation)

To 10 parts of a dispersion obtained by sufficiently dispersing the above coating liquid with a disperser, 0.24 part of stearamide and n-
60 parts of propyl alcohol was added to prepare a diluting solution, which was applied on a 5 μm-thick polyester film support having a release treatment on the back surface so as to have a dry film thickness of 0.38 μm to form a transfer recording layer. The material was obtained.

<Preparation of Image Receiving Sheet> “Coating Solution for First Layer” Vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer 160 parts (Solvain CL2 manufactured by Nissin Chemical Co., Ltd.) Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer 61 parts (Mitsui Di) 28 parts of sebacic acid polyester (FN-G25 manufactured by Nippon Soda Co., Ltd.) 4 parts of perfluoroalkyl group-containing oligomer (Mega Fac F-178K manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc.) Ethyl ketone 630 parts Toluene 210 parts Dimethylformamide 30 parts

“Coating Solution for Second Layer” Polyvinyl butyral resin 16 parts (Denka Butyral # 2000-L, manufactured by Denki Kagaku Kogyo KK) N, N-dimethylacrylamide-butyl acrylate copolymer 4 parts Perfluoroalkyl group-containing Oligomer 0.5 part (Mega Fac F-177 manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc.) 200 parts of n-propyl alcohol

The above-mentioned coating solution for the first layer was applied on a PET film support having a thickness of 130 μm using a spin coating machine.
The film thickness after drying at 100 ° C. was adjusted to 20 μm. Using a spin coater, apply the second layer coating solution on the first layer coating layer, and dry at 100 ° C. to adjust the thickness of the second layer to 2 μm. Produced.

<Preparation of Transferability Promoting Material Liquid 1> 90 parts of distilled water and 10 parts of n-propanol were uniformly stirred at room temperature to obtain a solution of the transferability promoting material. This solution was uniformly stirred at room temperature with the ink of the cartridge for the printer BJF850 manufactured by Canon Inc., and after the generation of aggregates and the absence of liquid separation were confirmed, the cartridge for the printer BJF850 manufactured by Canon Inc. was washed.
The solution was loaded into a cassette, filled with the solution of the transfer promoting material, and a latent image was formed on the transfer sheet using a printer BJ F850 manufactured by Canon Inc. on the transfer sheet. Next, the image receiving sheet was superimposed on the latent image forming surface of the transfer sheet, and passed through a heating roller nip having a roll surface temperature set at 75 ° C. to obtain a uniform magenta transfer image. In this image forming method, there was no obstacle to the ejection of the droplet from the ejection nozzle at the time of forming the latent image, and the image was stable.

Example 2 <Preparation of Transferability Promoting Material Solution 1> 3,5-Dimethyl-1-hexyn-3-ol 5 parts Distilled water 50 parts n-propyl alcohol 45 parts After uniformly stirring the above components, The solution was filtered through a 0.45 μm microfilter to obtain a transferability promoting material solution 1.

<Preparation of Transfer Sheet> (1) Preparation of Yellow Transfer Sheet (Preparation of Inorganic Pigment Dispersion Y) 100 parts of yellow pigment (Celdec; 13651) Dispersant 4 parts (Shin-Etsu Chemical; Surfynol CT) -324) Water 60 parts The above components were dispersed in an automatic mortar for 3 hours to obtain an inorganic pigment dispersion liquid Y.

(Preparation of coating liquid) Pigment dispersion Y 41 parts Polyoxythylene (n = 10) nonylphenol ether 0.5 parts (20% by mass aqueous solution) Carbana wax dispersion (31% by mass) 20 parts (Chukyo Yushi Co., Ltd.) Manufactured by K-332) Butyral resin dispersion (25% by mass) 60 parts (manufactured by Chukyo Yushi Co., Ltd .; Resem J667) Water 100 parts The above components were sufficiently stirred to prepare a coating solution for a transfer layer.

The transfer layer coating solution was applied to a polyester film having a thickness of 5 μm so as to have a dry film thickness of 1.2 μm to form a transfer layer, thereby producing a yellow transfer sheet.

(2) Preparation of Magenta, Cyan and Black Transfer Sheet In the preparation of the above yellow transfer sheet, a magenta pigment (manufactured by Celdec; 7757) was used instead of the yellow pigment.
1), a magenta transfer sheet, a cyan transfer sheet and a black transfer sheet were prepared in the same manner as the yellow transfer sheet, except that a cyan pigment (manufactured by Celdec; 121522) and a black pigment (manufactured by Celdec; 14209) were used. did.

(3) Preparation of Image Receiving Sheet A coating solution for the first layer and a coating solution for the second layer having the following compositions were prepared. [Composition of the coating solution for the first layer (cushion layer)] Vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer 160 parts (Nissin Chemical Co., Ltd .; Solvain CL2) Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer 61 parts (Mitsui DuPont Chemical ( Elvaroy 742) Sebacic polyester 28 parts (Nippon Soda Co., Ltd .; FN-G25) Perfluoroalkyl group-containing oligomer 4 parts (Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Ltd .; Megafac F-178K) Methyl ethyl ketone 630 parts Toluene 210 parts Dimethylformamide 30 parts

[Composition of the coating solution for the second layer (image receiving layer)] Polyvinyl butyral resin 16 parts (manufactured by Denki Kagaku Kogyo KK; Denka butyral # 2000-L) N, N-dimethylacrylamide-butyl acrylate copolymer 4 parts oligomer containing perfluoroalkyl group 0.5 part (manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc .; Megafac F-177) 200 parts of n-propyl alcohol

The first layer coating solution was applied on a PET film support having a thickness of 130 μm and dried at 100 ° C. to form a first layer having a dry thickness of 20 μm. Next, the second layer coating solution is applied on the first layer,
After drying at 0 ° C., a second layer (image receiving layer) having a thickness of 2 μm upon drying was formed to obtain an image receiving sheet.

(4) Preparation of Adhesive Image-Receiving Sheet On a transfer paper for ceramics (SK-G) manufactured by Nitto Paper Works, Ltd. (SK-G), a cover coat resin solution: LO-2 manufactured by Reactive Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.
01) Coating and drying were performed with a coating bar so that the dry thickness became 10 μm, to prepare an adhesive image-receiving sheet. (5) Preparation of a painted porcelain plate The solution of the transferability promoting material was applied to a printer P manufactured by Epson Corporation.
After uniformly stirring at room temperature with the ink of the M770 ink cartridge and confirming that there is no generation of aggregates and no separation of the liquid, the ink cartridge of the Epson printer PM770 was washed, and the transferability to the ink cartridge was checked. The solution of the accelerating material was filled and set in the printer. Set the produced image receiving sheet in a printer,
First, a transferability-promoting solution was discharged according to the yellow color separation data to form a yellow latent image. The transfer surface of the yellow transfer sheet was overlapped on this surface, and a yellow transfer image was formed on the surface of the image receiving sheet through a transfer machine in which the temperature of the nip was set at 75 ° C. Next, the image receiving sheet was returned to the printer, and a magenta latent image was formed and transferred in the same manner to form a superimposed magenta image. Further, cyan and black transfer images were superimposed to obtain a full-color transfer image (normal image) on the image receiving sheet.

The image forming surface of the image receiving sheet on which the image is formed and the surface of the adhesive image receiving sheet are overlapped with each other.
A full-color transfer image was obtained on the adhesive image-receiving sheet by passing between heat rollers at 20 ° C. The coated resin layer on which the image of the adhesive image-receiving sheet was recorded was peeled off in a water tank, and retransferred onto a ceramic plate. Then at 400 ° C. for 1 hour, 85
Firing at 0 ° C. for 2 hours, sintering the inorganic pigment on the ceramic plate,
A painted ceramic plate was prepared. In the production of this painted porcelain plate, there was no discharge failure at the time of discharging the solution of the transferability promoting material from the discharge head of the Epson printer PM770,
It was stable.

[0101]

As described above, according to the image forming method of the present invention, a transferability promoting material is applied imagewise to an image transfer recording material to form a latent image, and only the latent image forming portion is formed. Since the transfer body can be peeled and transferred to the image receiving sheet surface, the selection range of the image transfer material can be greatly expanded, images with good hue reproducibility can be formed, and images can be formed with light-resistant pigments, functional inorganic materials, etc. Can adapt. Further, unlike the conventional transfer method, there is no influence of the temperature distribution caused by the thickness unevenness of the support, the unevenness of contact with the thermal head, and the unevenness of heat diffusion, so that it is possible to form an image that is uniform and has no color unevenness. . further,
The image forming method of the present invention has an effect that the transfer temperature is lowered and the support of the image receiving sheet is less damaged. Further, even when the existing inkjet printer system is effectively used, it is possible to form an image stably without a discharge failure of the droplet from the nozzle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing one embodiment of a sex image forming apparatus for performing an image forming method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an aspect in which an ejection head of an image forming apparatus for performing an image forming method according to the present invention is arranged in a direction of an image receiving sheet.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a mode in which the direction of a discharge head of an image forming apparatus for performing an image forming method according to the present invention is switchably arranged.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating one embodiment of an image forming apparatus in which a heating and drying device is provided in the image forming apparatus of FIG.

5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating one embodiment of an image forming apparatus in which a heating and drying device is provided in the image forming apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 20, 30, 40, 50 Image forming apparatus 3 Support drum 5 Image transfer material 7 Pinch roller 11 Image receiving sheet 13, 21, 31 Droplet discharge head 23 Peeling member (peeling bar) 27 Heat drying device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) B44C 1/17 B41M 5/26 A F term (Reference) 2C056 EA06 EA13 FC06 FD13 FD20 HA46 2H086 BA02 BA52 BA53 BA54 BA59 2H111 AA05 AA14 AA26 AA32 BA03 BA35 CA28 3B005 EA01 EB05 EC00 FA02 FA03 FA04

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image forming method using a transfer sheet having a transfer recording layer on a support and an image receiving sheet, wherein a cartridge is filled into either the transfer recording layer surface of the transfer sheet or the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet. A latent image forming step of forming a latent image by imagewise applying a transferability promoting material capable of lowering the transfer temperature of the transferred transfer recording layer, and a transfer recording layer surface of the transfer sheet and an image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet. And transferring the portion corresponding to the latent image of the transfer recording layer onto the image receiving sheet. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the latent image forming step replaces the liquid filled in the cartridge with a transfer promoting material that dissolves in the liquid under the use environment conditions, and transfers the transfer promoting material in the cartridge to the transfer. 2. The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the latent image is formed by imagewise applying to either the transfer recording layer surface of the sheet or the image receiving surface of the image receiving sheet. 3. The transfer sheet according to claim 1, wherein the transfer sheet contains a ceramic or glass baking pigment, and the transferred image is finally transferred to the ceramic or glass and baked. Image forming method.