JP2005274983A - Colored reflecting medium intermediate body, its manufacturing method and thermal transfer method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a colored reflecting medium intermediate body, capable of maintaining high reflective ability even when an incident angle is high, attaining light reflection of color tones with fine appearance, hardly changing the color tone, even in changing a viewing angle, and also, which can be thermally transferred to an adherend, such as clothes with ease and has fine end cut-off appearance. <P>SOLUTION: A transparent microball 3 having a refractive index of 1.6 to 2.5 and having a diameter of ≤500μm is embedded in a thermosoftening resin layer 2 of ≥10μ formed integrally with a support sheet 1 with a burying ratio of ≥20%; and a transparent color resin layer 4, having a thickness of ≤50μm and having a ratio of the maximum to the minimum (t<SB>max</SB>/t<SB>min</SB>) of 1.0 to 4.0, is formed on the surface side of the the transparent micro ball 3 in a non-embedded state including a gap between the transparent micro balls 3; further, a metal reflection layer 5 is formed on the resin layer 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to decorations such as one-point apparel such as clothing, bags and shoes, safety clothing such as flags for flags, banners, safety clothing and safety vests, sports clothing such as windbreakers, training wear and T-shirts. The present invention relates to a colored retroreflective medium intermediate that can be used for automobile signs such as safety signs, regulatory signs, road signs, automobiles, and moped bicycles, a manufacturing method thereof, and a thermal transfer method.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a light retroreflective medium provided with transparent microspheres in a single layer has been widely used for displaying traffic signs and the like in order to improve visibility at night, in particular. In recent years, in addition to traffic signs, it has been used for safety clothing such as safety clothes, safety vests, samurai, armbands, etc. from the viewpoint of ensuring the safety of people working at night such as police, firefighters, civil engineering personnel, marine equipment, etc. . Furthermore, sports apparel such as windbreakers, training wear, T-shirts, sports shoes, swimwear, and bags are also available as measures to prevent traffic accidents for pedestrians, joggers, elderly people, children, and the disabled at night from raising general safety awareness. It has also been widely used for applications that also serve as decoration for suitcases and the like.

In recent apparel applications, fashionability is also emphasized, and there is a demand for a product capable of obtaining colored reflected light without being satisfied with only the silver color obtained by aluminum deposition alone.
However, the conventional technology does not form a unique reflective layer, and there are some that use only transparent microspheres for one-point decoration, but light is reflected slightly only with transparent microspheres, Although effective for decoration, the retroreflective performance is low. As this advanced form, there is an example in which resin microspheres or those dyed with these are used as disclosed in Patent Document 1. Even in this case, the fashionability is excellent, but only those with low retroreflection brightness and limited visibility can be obtained.

  As an example that can be colored and reflected, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, high refractive index glass spheres having a diameter of 500 μm or less and a refractive index of 1.9 or more are buried in the fixed binder resin layer at a buried rate of 40 to 80%. The glass sphere is buried in the rear buried portion with a direct reflection layer, and concentric elliptical hemispherical shell with a thickness of 0.01 so as to cover the exposed surface on the front exposed surface side of the glass sphere. An optical retroreflector is proposed in which a film of ~ 5μ colorless or colored transparent resin is formed into a concave lens shape, but the initial color tone may be affected by friction and abrasion of the surface resin layer in use depending on the use site. There was something to be done.

  In addition, when a conventional reflector is used for one-point decoration, as disclosed in Patent Document 3, a part of micro glass spheres are buried in a thermosoftening resin supported by a support sheet. The metal glass is deposited on the spherical surface of the non-embedded portion of the micro glass sphere to form a laminate by forming a reflective layer, and the reflective layer surface of the laminate is composed of a coating part and a non-coating part with a thermocompression bonding adhesive. The pattern portion is bonded by thermocompression from above the adherend, and then the non-adhesive resin layer and the substrate are bonded from the micro glass sphere of the pattern portion to the thermocompression bonding type. A method has been proposed in which the retroreflecting part is attached to the adherend according to the design as it is peeled off together with the laminated body where the agent is not applied, but the adherent design is also reflected and non-reflective by this method. Restriction of continuous pattern with alternately arranged and colored reflection There was a limitation of such can not be.

When using a conventional reflective material for decoration purposes, the method of attaching to the adherend is to cut the retroreflective medium with a cutter and sew it onto the adherend with a thread, or with an adhesive. A method of pasting is used. According to these methods, it is possible to bond a retroreflective medium having a relatively simple shape. However, as a more advanced method, a complicated shape is cut together with the retroreflective medium and the adhesive by a computer, which is unnecessary. There is also a method in which the part is removed manually (debris removal) and attached to the adherend by thermal transfer. In the case of this method, since unnecessary parts are removed manually, there is a limit to removing unnecessary parts having fine and complicated shapes.
JP 2000-75116 A 4-11002 Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-99887

Although what is disclosed in Patent Document 1 is excellent in fashionability, there is a problem in that only retroreflective luminance is low and visibility is limited.
Moreover, the thing disclosed by patent document 2 had the problem that a color tone changes with incident angles, and the problem that a color changes with friction abrasion of a surface coloring resin layer depending on a use site | part.

Furthermore, what is disclosed in Patent Document 3 has limitations such as restrictions on a continuous pattern in which a reflective pattern and a non-reflective part are alternately arranged on a pattern to be applied, and colored reflection is not possible.
The object of the present invention is to achieve these problems, further exceeding the above-mentioned limitations, maintaining high retroreflection performance even when the incident angle is high, and realizing light reflection with a nice color tone. . In addition, it enables a method in which the colored reflecting material portion can be transferred to the target material very easily according to the adhesive pattern. According to the present invention, the color retroreflective performance is not only high on the average regardless of the incident angle, but is also important for clothing applications. Can provide. In addition, although the coloration performance and the like seemed to change in color depending on the incident angle, this phenomenon is also minimized. Further, the cut off property when the unnecessary part is peeled off from the adherend is extremely thin with the colored transparent resin layer being 50 μm or less, and a marked improvement can be realized compared to the conventional one. That is, conventionally, since the colored transparent resin layer is directly applied to the transparent microsphere side, the coating liquid falls into the gap existing between the transparent microsphere and the transparent microsphere, and the film thickness of this portion is the average film thickness. However, in the present invention, since the film having a uniform thickness is formed in the present invention, compared with the conventional method in which the reflective material is colored by the coating method. , Good end cutting property and easy coloring. Therefore, it is suitable for the production of a small variety of products. The present invention solves the problems of the conventional reflectors as described above, and maintains open-type colored retroreflective performance as high as possible, and realizes light reflection with an attractive color tone, and changes the viewing angle. However, it is an object of the present invention to provide a colored retroreflective medium intermediate that hardly changes in color tone and can be easily thermally transferred to an adherend such as clothing, a method for producing the same, and a thermal transfer method.

The colored retroreflective medium intermediate according to claim 1 of the present invention is a transparent resin having a refractive index of 1.6 to 2.5 and a diameter of 500 μm or less on a thermosoftening resin layer of 10 μm or more integrated with a support sheet. Microspheres are embedded at a burying rate of 20% or more, and the maximum and minimum ratio (t _max / t _min ) is 1 at a thickness of 50 μm or less including the space between transparent microspheres on the surface of the transparent microsphere on the non-embedding side. A transparent colored resin layer having a thickness of 0.0 to 4.0 is provided, and a metal reflective layer is further provided on the outside thereof.

The colored retroreflective medium intermediate according to claim 2 is provided with a primer layer having a thickness of 1 μm or less on the surface side of the transparent microsphere on the non-embedded side, and the total thickness of the primer layer and the transparent colored resin layer is 50 μm or less. The maximum and minimum ratio (t _max / t _min ) is 1.0 to 4.0.

  When the transparent colored resin layer is provided on the surface of the transparent microsphere, the method for producing the colored retroreflective medium intermediate according to claim 3 has a refractive index of 1 .mu.m on the thermosoftening resin layer of 10 .mu.m or more integrated with the support sheet. A transparent microsphere having a diameter of 6 to 2.5 and a diameter of 500 μm or less is embedded at a burying rate of 20% or more to form a sheet A, and a transparent colored resin layer is laminated on a support sheet different from the support sheet to form a sheet B The transparent colored resin layer of the sheet B is transferred to the transparent microsphere side of the sheet A.

  The method for thermal transfer of the colored retroreflective medium intermediate according to claim 4, wherein a thermal transfer adhesive made of a resin is laminated on the metal reflective layer side with a thickness of 20 to 100 μm, heated and pressurized at the same time, and solidified by cooling after completion of the adhesion. The support sheet and the heat-softening resin layer portion are peeled off from the adherend.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the open-type colored retroreflective performance is maintained as high as possible, and light reflection with a good-looking color tone is realized. It is possible to provide a colored retroreflective medium intermediate capable of easily transferring a complicated and fine pattern that has been impossible and easily transferred, a manufacturing method thereof, and a thermal transfer method.

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 shows a state during the formation of the colored retroreflective medium intermediate for thermal transfer of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a thermosoftening resin layer 2 is laminated on a support sheet 1. A transparent microsphere 3 is provided in a partially buried form in the heat softening resin layer 2. As shown in FIG. 2, a transparent colored resin layer 4 having a softening temperature higher than that of the thermosoftening resin layer 2 or made of a crosslinked resin that does not show a clear thermosoftening property is provided on the transparent microspheres 3. It is done. The transparent colored resin layer 4 is laminated on a sheet similar to that in which the transparent microspheres 3 are embedded, and is thermocompression bonded to the transparent microsphere 3 side of the film shown in FIG. 1 as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, 1a is a support sheet similar to the support sheet 1, and 2a is a thermosoftening resin layer. At this time, there is a case where a treatment for enhancing the adhesion with the transparent microspheres 3 or the adhesion with the metal reflective layer 5 which is the next laminate is sometimes performed. That is, in order to adhere to the transparent microspheres 3, the primer layer 4 a is formed on the transparent microsphere 3 side by a primer treatment or a coupling agent treatment, and then the transparent colored resin layer 4 is laminated. As shown in FIG. 3, the metal reflective layer 5 is provided outside the transparent colored resin layer 4. On such a colored retroreflective medium intermediate, a thermal transfer adhesive layer 6 is printed on a desired pattern by screen printing, gravure printing, etc. as shown in FIG. 4, and a hot roll, hot press, iron, etc., as shown in FIG. Then, the substrate is cooled and solidified, and the support sheet 1 and the thermosoftening resin layer 2 are peeled off from the adherend 7 and thermally transferred as shown in FIG.

  Here, when the transparent microspheres 3 are embedded, the support sheet 1 is required to be a sheet that maintains sufficient stability even when the thermosoftening resin layer 2 is at a temperature equal to or higher than the softening temperature. As such, polyester films such as polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene naphthalate, paper, and the like are preferably used. Its thickness is 30 μm or more, preferably 50 μm or more. If the thickness is thin, when the thermosoftening resin layer 2 is softened, the form retainability of the laminate is lost, which is not preferable.

  As the heat softening resin layer 2 for embedding and holding the transparent microspheres 3, a resin having a softening temperature lower than that of the support sheet 1 is required, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, polyvinyl alcohol, and acrylic. Resins, polyurethane resins, polyester resins and the like are preferably used. Of these, polyethylene and polypropylene are preferable. Its thickness is 10 μm or more, preferably 20 μm or more.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the support sheet 1 and the thermosoftening resin layer 2 are firmly bonded with or without an adhesive layer. If the adhesion between the two is weak, the thermosoftening resin layer 2 is softened and peeling occurs when the transparent microspheres 3 are embedded, so that the transparent microspheres 3 are imperfectly embedded.

  The transparent microsphere 3 used in the present invention has a refractive index of 1.6 to 2.5, preferably 1.9 to 2.3. The average particle size of the transparent microspheres 3 is 20 to 200 μm. When the average particle diameter exceeds 500 μm, the decorative body after transfer is not flexible and lacks versatility as an apparel-related application. The material of the transparent microsphere 3 is not particularly limited as long as the refractive index falls within the above range, but the glass microsphere is preferable because it is excellent in transparency, chemical resistance, washing resistance, and weather resistance.

  The embedding rate of the transparent microspheres 3 in the heat softening resin layer 2 is preferably 20 to 60% of the diameter of the transparent microspheres 3. In particular, about 35 to 50% is preferable from the viewpoint of retention and transferability of the transparent microspheres 3. If the embedding rate is less than 20%, the fixing of the transparent microspheres 3 by the thermosoftening resin layer 2 is poor, and the transparent microspheres 3 drop off in the metal reflective layer forming process such as a vapor deposition process. On the other hand, if the embedding rate exceeds 60%, it remains in the heat-softening resin layer at the time of thermal transfer, resulting in poor transferability.

  The transparent colored resin layer 4 provided on the transparent microsphere 3 of the present invention has a softening temperature higher than that of the thermal transfer adhesive layer 6 provided later. Preferably, it does not soften at the temperature for thermal transfer and does not flow. Further, it is needless to say that the transparent microspheres 3 or those having excellent adhesion to the primer layer 4a on the surface are preferable. Examples of the resin used here include urethane resins, ester resins, acrylic resins, epoxy resins, ethylene-vinyl acetate resins, and resins mainly composed of one or more of them can be used. . Two or more kinds of these copolymers are also preferably used. Particularly preferred are urethane resins, ester resins, and ethylene-vinyl acetate resins. More preferably, by blending an appropriate amount of a crosslinking agent such as an isocyanate compound, a melamine compound, an epoxy compound, or a silane compound, and curing by crosslinking, a clear softening temperature is not exhibited, and thermal transfer at high temperatures can be supported. Further, the adhesion with the transparent microsphere 3 is improved, and a highly durable product is obtained. As this colorant, a cyanine pigment or the like is used. Moreover, the primer layer 4a can be comprised using resin similar to the said transparent coloring resin layer 4, a coupling agent, etc.

  The total thickness of the transparent colored resin layer 4 and the primer layer 4a is 50 μm or less. When the total thickness of the transparent colored resin layer 4 and the primer layer 4a exceeds 50 μm, when the part such as a pattern or pattern for which the colored retroreflective medium is desired is finally peeled off on the adherend 7 side, the sharpness is poor. Therefore, a clear pattern cannot be formed on the adherend 7. This is because when the transparent colored resin layer 4 is torn at the boundary between the bonded portion and the non-bonded portion, the strength required for peeling from the adherend 7 is lower than the tear strength of the transparent colored resin layer 4, so It is assumed that the tearing separation between the landing parts is not successful. In the present invention, the primer layer 4a is not necessarily provided, but a transparent primer layer 4a having a thickness of 1.0 μm or less is provided on the adhesive surface of the transparent microsphere 3 as in the embodiment shown in the drawings. Is preferred. Further, the lower limit of the total thickness of the transparent colored resin layer 4 and / or the primer layer 4a is practically 0.3 μm. If the thickness is less than this thickness, a coloring phenomenon due to light interference becomes remarkable, or a colorant is used when forming a colored layer. If the amount is not increased, the desired color will not be obtained, and if it is carried out with this thickness, the colored layer becomes brittle and cannot be used.

  The method of providing the transparent colored resin layer 4 having a uniform thickness on the surface of the transparent microsphere 3 is a method of transferring the transparent microsphere 3 directly to the transparent microsphere 3 after being laminated on a support sheet as shown in the drawing. It is possible to employ a method of melt extrusion. Here, the method of laminating the transparent colored resin layer on the support sheet is superior in handling workability when the transparent colored resin layer is made thin and pasted. In particular, the method can be carried out very easily in the case of improving the cutting ability.

  A thermal transfer adhesive having a thermal transfer temperature of 200 ° C. or lower is printed on the colored retroreflective medium intermediate or adherend 7 of the present invention by screen printing or gravure printing, and the two layers are superposed and heated at a temperature of 200 ° C. or lower and simultaneously applied. Press. After cooling, the excess retroreflective material is peeled off from the adherend 7 so that a desired pattern is thermally transferred to the adherend 7.

  The adhesive layer 6 for thermal transfer of the present invention is preferably melted at as low a temperature as possible and adhered to an adherend 7 such as clothing. However, the temperature depends on the storage conditions of the reflective material until thermal transfer, durability during use, washing Limited by durability. As a material for the thermal transfer adhesive layer 6, a hot-melt adhesive having a thermal transfer temperature of 200 ° C. or lower is usually used. More preferably, a hot-melt adhesive at 100 ° C. to 150 ° C. is used. When the thermal transfer temperature is less than 100 ° C., the durability during use is poor, and when it exceeds 160 ° C., the thermocompression bonding temperature is high, and thus the flow of the thermosoftening resin 2 occurs and the adherend 7 is adversely affected by elution. Moreover, since the adherend 7 has a high temperature, it has an adverse effect of yellowing or scorching, or melting if the adherend 7 has a low melting point.

  The thermal transfer adhesive layer 6 has a thickness of 20 to 100 μm, preferably 20 to 70 μm. When the thickness of the adhesive layer 6 for thermal transfer is 20 μm or less, particularly when the adherend 7 is a woven fabric or the like, the adhesive force is likely to be insufficient. On the other hand, if the thickness of the thermal transfer adhesive layer 6 exceeds 100 μm, the thickness of the adhesive layer becomes too large and the texture becomes worse. As the resin of the heat transfer adhesive layer 6 of the present invention, an acrylic resin, vinyl resin, urethane resin, ester resin, epoxy resin, amide resin, or rubber resin can be used as a main component. Moreover, the mixture of 2 or more types of those may be sufficient. In addition, a material that has high adhesion and adhesion between the metal reflective layer 5 and the adherend 7 and can withstand attacks such as stagnation, friction, and chemicals during use is used. In some cases, the selection is made in consideration of flexibility and the like. Various additives can be added to the thermal transfer adhesive layer 6 to increase the apparent softening temperature, improve the fluidity under the pressure of thermal transfer, and improve weather resistance and oxidation resistance. .

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by way of examples.
Reflection luminance measurement method & chromaticity coordinate measurement; measured according to JISZ9117 (1984) Examples 1, 2, 3, 4 and Comparative Example 1
A 75 μm thick polyethylene film is bonded as a temporary embedding layer to a support sheet made of a 75 μm thick polyethylene terephthalate film, and the polyethylene film is heated and melted at 120 ° C. for 3 minutes. The average particle diameter of the polyethylene film is 140 μm, Transparent microspheres having a refractive index of 1.92 are scattered on almost one surface, and the transparent microspheres are embedded as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the exposed surface side of the transparent microspheres was coated with an ethylene-vinyl acetate resin with an average thickness of 0.6 μm (sheet A).

  On the other hand, a polyethylene film was joined to a sheet similar to the above support sheet, and a 49 μm thick coat film was provided on the polyethylene film side using an ink composed of an ester urethane resin and a cyanine blue pigment (sheet B). .

  Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the ethylene-vinyl acetate resin layer of the sheet A and the blue ink resin layer of the sheet B are thermocompression bonded with a heat roll at 165 ° C., 175 ° C., and 185 ° C. (Example 1, Example 3). Example 4). Next, the film other than the blue ink resin layer of the sheet B is peeled to form a sheet C.

An 800-mm metal reflective layer is formed on the blue ink resin layer side of the sheet C by aluminum vapor deposition as shown in FIG. Next, a U logo pattern was screen-printed at a thickness of 90 μm using a saturated ester resin having a softening temperature of 120 ° C. to obtain a retroreflective medium for thermal transfer. Thereafter, this medium was thermally transferred at 150 ° C. to a polyester-cotton taffeta (weight per unit area: 200 g / m ² ) using a hot press. Table 1 shows the reflection luminance and the cut-off property together with Examples 1, 2, 3, 4 and Comparative Example 1. When the total thickness of the transparent colored resin layer and the primer layer was observed with a scanning electron microscope and the ratio between the maximum thickness and the minimum thickness was determined, Example 1, Example 2, Example 3, Example 4, The comparative example 1 was 1.1, 1.2, 3.5, 4.0, and 6.6, respectively.

Here, in Example 2, the sheet A was prepared without coating the ethylene-vinyl acetate resin on the exposed surface of the transparent microspheres in Example 1, and in Comparative Example 1, a transparent colored resin layer having a thickness of 50 μm was formed on the sheet B. In the same process as in Example 1, an 800 mm metal reflective layer is formed on the transparent colored resin layer by aluminum vapor deposition. Next, a U logo pattern was screen-printed at a thickness of 90 μm using a saturated ester resin having a softening temperature of 120 ° C. to obtain a retroreflective medium for thermal transfer. Thereafter, this medium was thermally transferred at 150 ° C. to a polyester-cotton taffeta (weight per unit area: 200 g / m ² ) using a hot press.

反射輝度はＪＩＳＺ９１１７（１９８４）に準じて測定した。ここでの反射輝度は再帰反射で、それぞれの入射角に対する反射角から１２分ずれた観測角での値、また入射角度は反射輝度測定法；ＪＩＳ９１７７（１９８４）に定めてあるように、被測定材表面中心に法線を引き、光源と被測定材中心とを結ぶ線（照射軸）と法線とのなす角をいう。実施例１，２，３，４、比較例１とともに反射輝度は高い。また、実施例１，２，３，４は比較例１に比べて端切れ性も良い。比較例１は端切れ性が悪く、カスが残存していた。

The reflection luminance was measured according to JISZ9117 (1984). The reflection luminance here is retroreflection, the value at the observation angle shifted from the reflection angle for each incident angle by 12 minutes, and the incident angle is measured as described in the reflection luminance measurement method; JIS 9177 (1984). A normal line is drawn at the center of the surface of the material, and an angle formed by a line (irradiation axis) connecting the light source and the center of the material to be measured and the normal line. The reflection brightness is high together with Examples 1, 2, 3, 4 and Comparative Example 1. In addition, Examples 1, 2, 3, and 4 have better end cutting properties than Comparative Example 1. In Comparative Example 1, the end cutting property was poor and the residue remained.

On the other hand, the changes in brightness and color after washing at 40 ° C. at home washing 30 were almost the same in Examples 1, 2, 3, 4 and Comparative Example 1 as compared with the values before washing.
Example 5
A polyethylene film having a thickness of 35 μm is bonded as a temporary embedding layer to a support sheet made of a polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of 75 μm, and the polyethylene film is heated and melted at 120 ° C. for 3 minutes. The average particle diameter of the polyethylene film is 50 μm, Transparent microspheres having a refractive index of 1.92 are scattered on almost one surface, and the transparent microspheres are embedded as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the exposed surface side of the transparent microspheres was coated with an ethylene-vinyl acetate resin with an average thickness of 0.6 μm (sheet A).

  On the other hand, a polyethylene film was bonded to the same sheet as the above support sheet, and a 1 μm thick coat film was provided on the polyethylene film side using an ink made of an ester urethane resin and a cyanine blue pigment (sheet B).

  Next, the ethylene-vinyl acetate resin layer of sheet A and the blue ink resin layer of sheet B are thermocompression bonded with a 165 ° C. hot roll. Next, the film other than the colored ink resin layer of the sheet B is peeled to obtain a sheet C.

An 800 mm metal reflective layer is formed on the colored ink resin layer side of the sheet C by aluminum vapor deposition. Next, a U logo pattern was screen-printed with a thickness of 40 μm using a saturated ester resin having a softening temperature of 120 ° C. to obtain a retroreflective medium for thermal transfer. Thereafter, this medium was thermally transferred to a polyester-cotton taffeta (100 g / m ² basis weight) at 150 ° C. using a hot press. Table 2 shows the reflected luminance and reflected color performance (angle characteristics).

反射輝度、反射色ともにＪＩＳＺ９１１７（１９８４）に準じて測定した。実施例５は入射角度５０度まで高いレベルの反射輝度を示し、かつ反射材にほとんど水平に入射する光にまでその色調をキープする。入射角５〜５０度で実施例５は２３％の変化（（５６−４３）／５６）をしている。

Both the reflection luminance and the reflection color were measured according to JISZ9117 (1984). Example 5 shows a high level of reflection luminance up to an incident angle of 50 degrees, and keeps its color tone to light that is incident almost horizontally on the reflector. Example 5 changes 23% ((56-43) / 56) at an incident angle of 5 to 50 degrees.

As is apparent from the color coordinate value of the reflected color, Example 5 reflects blue up to an incident angle of 5 to 60 degrees.
In addition, the cut-off property of Example 5 was very good, and there was almost no change in reflection luminance and hue after 30 washings at 40 ° C. at home.

  Further, as in Examples 1, 2, 3, and 4, the total thickness of the transparent colored resin layer and the primer layer was observed with a scanning electron microscope, and the ratio of the maximum thickness to the minimum thickness was determined. 1

It is an expanded sectional view which shows the state in the middle of formation of the colored retroreflection medium intermediate body in embodiment of this invention. It is an expanded sectional view which shows the state which advanced further in the middle of formation of the colored retroreflection medium intermediate body. It is an expanded sectional view which shows the completion state of the colored retroreflection medium intermediate body. It is an expanded sectional view which shows the state printed on the desired design with the adhesive layer for thermal transfer to the colored retroreflection medium intermediate body. It is an expanded sectional view which shows the state which heat-pressed the same colored retroreflection medium intermediate body to an adherend. It is an expanded sectional view which shows the state which peeled off the support sheet and the thermosoftening resin layer part from the to-be-adhered body, and was heat-transferred.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Support sheet 1a Support sheet 2 Thermosoftening resin layer 2a Thermosoftening resin layer 3 Transparent microsphere 4 Transparent colored resin layer 4a Primer layer 5 Metal reflective layer 6 Adhesive layer for thermal transfer 7 Adhering body

Claims (4)

A transparent microsphere having a refractive index of 1.6 to 2.5 and a diameter of 500 μm or less is embedded in a thermosoftening resin layer of 10 μm or more integrated with a support sheet at a burying rate of 20% or more. A transparent colored resin layer having a thickness of 50 μm or less and a maximum-minimum ratio (t _max / t _min ) of 1.0 to 4.0 is provided on the transparent microsphere surface side, including the space between the transparent microspheres. A colored retroreflective medium intermediate comprising a metal reflective layer on the outside. A primer layer having a thickness of 1 μm or less is provided on the surface side of the transparent microspheres on the non-embedding side, the total thickness of the primer layer and the transparent colored resin layer is 50 μm or less, and the maximum-minimum ratio (t _max / t _min ) is 1. The colored retroreflective medium intermediate according to claim 1, wherein the colored retroreflective medium intermediate is 0 to 4.0. The method for producing a colored retroreflective medium intermediate according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the transparent colored resin layer is provided on the surface side of the transparent microsphere, the thermosoftening resin layer of 10 µm or more integrated with the support sheet is formed. Transparent microspheres having a refractive index of 1.6 to 2.5 and a diameter of 500 μm or less are embedded at a burying ratio of 20% or more to form a sheet A, and a transparent colored resin layer is laminated on a support sheet different from the support sheet. And a transparent colored resin layer of the sheet B is transferred to the transparent microsphere side of the sheet A. The colored retroreflective medium intermediate according to claim 1 or 2 is laminated with a thermal transfer adhesive made of resin on the metal reflective layer side in a thickness of 20 to 100 μm, heated and pressurized at the same time, and solidified by cooling after completion of the adhesion. A method for thermally transferring a colored retroreflective medium intermediate, wherein the support sheet and the thermosoftening resin layer are peeled off from the adherend.

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