JP2003248335A - Image recording medium and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image recording medium mainly composed of a fabric which can be copied and printed by a copying machine and a printer and a method of manufacturing the same. <P>SOLUTION: The image recording medium is formed by impregnating the fabric with a resin and has a required thickness. At least one surface of the image recording medium is preferably subjected to smoothing treatment. The method of manufacturing the image recording medium consists of a padding treatment process step of immersing the fabric 2 into a resin liquid 4 to impregnate the fabric with the resin and squeezing the fabric by squeeze rolls 5 and 6 and a drying process step of drying the fabric subjected to the padding treatment. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording medium which can be copied or printed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, and a manufacturing method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional copying machine or laser printer, a large number of rollers are used in the apparatus, and while the copy paper or printer paper is ejected after being copied or printed from the paper feed, the direction of travel is bent by the rollers. It is flipped several times. In this case, in order to prevent the copy paper from being caught in the roller, a device such as a blade is provided at the roller outlet.

Since copy paper and printer paper have the required hardness, it is possible to copy and print without being caught in the rollers. However, with a soft material such as cloth, the fray of the cloth edge causes the transfer roller and fixing to occur. It may get caught in the rollers and cause malfunctions such as clogging. For this reason, conventionally, it has not been assumed that a copy machine or printer will copy or print on cloth.

[0004]

However, if it is possible to copy or print on cloth, it will be more water resistant than paper, and it will be possible to use it for various applications that take advantage of the texture of cloth and the texture of cloth. Be beneficial. Therefore, the present invention can be copied and printed by a copier or printer,
An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording medium mainly composed of cloth and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, an image recording medium according to the present invention is characterized in that a cloth is impregnated with a resin and has a required hardness. Here, at least one surface of the image recording medium may be smoothed. Further, the resin may be one or more kinds of resins selected from the group consisting of vinyl acetate resin, acrylic resin, urethane resin and epoxy resin. Further, the method for producing an image recording medium according to the present invention comprises a padding treatment step of immersing the cloth in a resin liquid to impregnate the resin, and squeezing with a squeezing roll, and a drying step of drying the padded cloth. Is characterized by. Here, the drying step may be followed by a calendering step of applying pressure and friction to at least one side of the dried fabric. Further, the resin liquid may be a liquid containing at least one resin selected from the group consisting of vinyl acetate resin, acrylic resin, urethane resin and epoxy resin.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described more specifically below. In the present invention, the image recording medium is
A medium mainly composed of cloth for recording black-and-white or color images by a copier or printer, which replaces conventional copy paper or printer paper. Such an image recording medium is one in which a cloth is substantially uniformly impregnated with a resin and has a required hardness such that it can pass through a copying machine or a printer.

There are no particular restrictions on the copying machines and printers that can be used, but for example, copying machines and printers of the type whose outline is shown in FIG. 2 are preferable. In the copying machine shown in FIG. 2, an image is first transferred from a toner cartridge 11 containing three color toners and black toner 10 to a drum cartridge 12 and then to a belt intermediate transfer member 13. The image transferred to the belt intermediate transfer member 13 is transferred onto the image recording medium 15 by the pressing roller 14 and heated and pressed by the fixing rollers 16 and 17, so that the image is fixed on the image recording medium 15 and discharged. It During this period, the image recording medium 15 advances in a substantially straight line and is ejected. In the case of such a model, copying or printing is possible even with an image recording medium which is softer than conventional copy paper or printer paper, which is preferable.

As the cloth, a cloth made of natural fibers, chemical fibers, or a mixed fiber thereof is appropriately used. The thickness of the yarn used for the fabric can be appropriately selected according to the application from a fine count to a thick count, and the weaving density of the fabric can be a high density (fine) to a low density (coarse).

The resin is preferably one or more resins selected from the group consisting of vinyl acetate resins, acrylic resins, urethane resins and epoxy resins. The resin impregnated in the cloth acts as an adhesive, prevents the threads from being frayed, and also gives the cloth a required hardness. In order to obtain a medium having a desired hardness, these resins can be mixed and used at an appropriate ratio. Here, in order to uniformly impregnate the cloth with the resin, the cloth is padded as described later.

At least one surface of the image recording medium may be smoothed. This smoothing process is performed by calendering described later. By such smoothing treatment, the gloss and smoothness of the treated surface are increased, and the sharpness of copy or print is increased. In addition, when a low-density (coarse) cloth is used, the resin that has penetrated into the cloth is melted to narrow the gaps of the weave, which makes it easy to put the toner, which is particularly effective.

As an example of the use of the image recording medium according to the present invention, a thin and soft one is for a competition number, a thin and hard one is a photograph name tag, and a medium and soft one is for an event number. Medium-thick and hard ones are suitable for portraits, thick and soft ones are suitable for ski numbers, thick and hard ones are suitable for copying pictures and canvas for printing, but are not necessarily limited to these applications. Absent. Since the image recording medium according to the present invention is mainly made of cloth and has better water resistance than paper, it is also suitable for outdoor use. The image recording medium of the present invention can be used after being cut into a standard size such as A4 or B4, like ordinary copy paper or printer paper.

Next, in the method for producing an image recording medium according to the present invention, the cloth is dipped in the resin liquid to impregnate the cloth with the resin, and the excess resin liquid is squeezed with a squeezing roll. A drying step of drying the treated fabric.

In the padding process, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, the cloth 2 is immersed in the resin liquid 4 in the processing tank 3 by the feed roller 1 to uniformly impregnate the cloth 2 with the resin liquid 4.
This is performed by squeezing the excess resin liquid with a pair of squeezing rolls 5 and 6. It should be noted that what is shown in FIG. 1 is an example, and it is not limited to what is shown as long as the cloth is dipped in the resin liquid and the excess resin liquid is squeezed.

Examples of the resin liquid include liquids containing at least one resin selected from the group consisting of vinyl acetate resins, acrylic resins, urethane resins and epoxy resins. An image recording medium having a desired hardness can be obtained by appropriately selecting the type of resin used and mixing the resins at an appropriate ratio.

Although a method of coating instead of padding can be considered, it is possible to apply a thick and uniform coating, but it is difficult to apply a thin and uniform coating. If there is a non-uniform portion, it tends to travel obliquely when passing through an internal roller of a copying machine or the like, which easily causes clogging. On the other hand, the padding process can uniformly impregnate the inside of the cloth with the resin liquid.
Since the resin can be uniformly impregnated not only in the thickness direction of the cloth but also in the plane direction, it progresses straight when passing through the rollers inside the copier or printer, and does not cause a jam. Therefore, the padding process is essential in the present invention. Further, in the case of coating treatment, since the treatment liquid needs to have a certain degree of viscosity, it is necessary to increase the concentration of the treatment liquid to some extent. On the other hand, in the case of the padding process, the concentration of the treatment liquid can be low to high, and it is easy to uniformly impregnate a desired amount of resin by controlling the concentration and squeezing ratio of the treatment liquid. is there.

In the drying step, the padded fabric is heated and dried, and hot air drying is preferable. The heating temperature is appropriately changed depending on the type of cloth used, the resin, etc., but is, for example, about 100 to 180 ° C. and about 1 to 10 minutes.

The drying step may be followed by a calendering step of pressing and rubbing at least one side of the dried fabric. By such calendering, the gloss and smoothness of the treated surface are increased, and the sharpness of copy and print is increased. Further, the padding process melts the resin that has penetrated into the cloth, narrows the gaps of the weave, prevents the toner from falling, and makes it easier to put the toner on the cloth. This calendering is particularly effective for low density (coarse) fabrics.

The calendering treatment is carried out by passing the heat-dried fabric between a plurality of calender rolls, heating and pressing. Here, the calendering conditions can be appropriately changed depending on the type of cloth, the thickness and weaving density of the yarn used for the cloth, the kind of resin used, etc., but the calender total pressure is 1 to 3 GPa.
Temperature of about 150-200 ℃, cloth speed of 10-60
It is about m / min.

[0019]

The following is a more detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention. The invention is not limited in scope by these examples.

(Example 1) As a fabric, a warp yarn 40 count ×
Using a high-density broad cloth with 40 count weft yarn, colloidal silica / acrylic ester copolymer resin solution (resin concentration 44%) 50 g / l, vinyl acetate resin aqueous emulsion (resin concentration 50%) 150 g Immerse the fabric in the treatment liquid mixed at a ratio of 1 / l, and immediately squeeze it evenly with a mangle to a squeezing ratio (weight of impregnated resin liquid before drying / weight of fabric before impregnation) of 70%. , At 130 ℃ 2
Dry with hot air for ~ 3 minutes. Next, calender total pressure 1.9
Calendar processing was carried out under the conditions of 6 GPa, 160 ° C. and a cloth speed of 40 m / min to obtain an image recording medium having a smooth cloth surface and a slightly hard texture.

(Embodiment 2) As a fabric, a warp yarn 10th count ×
Using a low-density cotton cloth that uses 10-count weft yarn and thick-count yarn,
As a treatment liquid, colloidal silica / acrylic acid ester copolymer resin liquid (resin concentration 44%) 200 g / l, mangled squeezing ratio 85%, drying temperature 150 ° C., calendering treatment condition, total pressure 1.77 GPa, 180 ° C
Other than the above, the same processing as in Example 1 was carried out to obtain a smooth, glossy and slightly soft canvas image recording medium.

When a landscape photograph was copied using the image recording medium obtained in Example 1 by a copying machine of the system shown in FIG. 2, a clear copy image in which the texture of the cloth was utilized in the background was obtained. It was Further, when a picture of a painting was copied by the same copying machine using the image recording medium obtained in Example 2, a copy image as if a painting was drawn on a canvas was obtained.

[0023]

As described above, according to the image recording medium of the present invention, since the cloth is impregnated with the resin and has the required hardness, the copying machine or the printer (laser printer, ink jet printer, bubble jet ( It is possible to copy and print with a registered trademark) printer. Further, if at least one surface of the image recording medium is smoothed, copying and printing become clearer, and it is particularly effective in the case of an image recording medium made of low density cloth. If the resin is one or more resins selected from the group consisting of vinyl acetate resins, acrylic resins, urethane resins and epoxy resins, an image recording medium having a desired hardness is obtained. Further, according to the method for producing an image recording medium of the present invention, since the cloth is padded, the cloth can be uniformly impregnated with the resin, which causes clogging when passing through the inside of the copier or printer. It is possible to obtain a difficult image recording medium. If the cloth is subjected to a calendering treatment after the drying step, copying or printing on an image recording medium made of a cloth having a low density is particularly good. Also, as the resin liquid,
A liquid containing at least one resin selected from the group consisting of vinyl acetate-based resins, acrylic-based resins, urethane-based resins, and epoxy-based resins has a desired hardness from hard to soft depending on the application. An image recording medium can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a padding process.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a copy machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Feed roller 2 cloth 3 treatment tanks 4 resin liquid 5, 6 squeeze roll 10 toner 11 toner cartridge 12 drum cartridge 13 Intermediate transfer body 14 Pressing roller 15 Image recording medium 16,17 Fixing roller

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification Code FI Theme Coat (Reference) D06M 15/333 D06M 15/333 15/55 15/55 15/564 15/564 D06P 3/60 D06P 3 / 60 Z 5/00 104 5/00 104 (71) Applicant 502070163 Raizumi Tadashi Shoten Co., Ltd. Tennocho, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka 1990-1 (72) Inventor Reiji Murata 2-15-7 Wachiyama, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka (72) Inventor Motohito Hori 1 Hamamatsu Center Building, 9 Asahi-cho, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture Seiwa Daiichi Sangyo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshifumi Niki 26-1 Funakoshi-cho, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture In-house company (72) Inventor Kazuo Kurizumi 1990-1 Tennocho, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture F-term inside Kurizumichu Shoten Co., Ltd. (reference) 2H086 BA22 BA36 3B154 AA01 AA02 AA06 AB18 AB20 AB27 BA14 BA18 BA19 BA35 BB02 BB03 BB12 BB32 BB76 BC01 BC 22 BD18 BE07 DA24 DA30 4H057 AA01 AA02 CA13 CB08 CC01 DA01 DA24 FA16 FA17 GA04 HA01 HA02 JA10 JA14 JB01 4L033 AA01 AA04 AB04 CA18 CA21 CA28 CA50

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image recording medium comprising a cloth impregnated with a resin and having a required hardness. 2. The image recording medium according to claim 1, wherein at least one surface of the image recording medium is smoothed. 3. The image recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the resin is at least one resin selected from the group consisting of vinyl acetate resins, acrylic resins, urethane resins and epoxy resins. 4. A method for producing an image recording medium, comprising a padding treatment step of immersing a cloth in a resin liquid to impregnate the resin and squeezing with a squeezing roll, and a drying step of drying the padded cloth. Method. 5. The method for producing an image recording medium according to claim 4, further comprising a calendering step of pressurizing and rubbing at least one side of the dried cloth after the drying step. 6. The resin liquid according to claim 4, wherein the resin liquid is a liquid containing at least one resin selected from the group consisting of vinyl acetate resins, acrylic resins, urethane resins and epoxy resins. Image recording medium manufacturing method.