JP2008238710A - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inkjet recording device which can set an image formed on a recording medium in a short time and can prepare high image quality and high-quality printed matter at high speeds. <P>SOLUTION: The inkjet recording device has a carrying means 12, an undercoating liquid application means 13 applying an active energy line setting undercoat liquid to a recording medium P, inkjet heads 48W to 48K arranged downstream of the undercoat liquid application means in the carrying direction of the recording medium and forming an image on the recording medium to which the undercoating liquid is applied by discharging active energy line setting ink, an image forming means 16 having an active energy line irradiation section 54a irradiating the recording medium with active light and setting the ink and the undercoat liquid on the recording medium, and a setting promotion means 19 arranged at the same position as the active energy line irradiation section or on the downstream side of the active energy line irradiation section and promoting the setting of the ink and the undercoat liquid on the recording medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus that ejects ink droplets from an inkjet head and records an image on a recording medium.

As a method of forming an image on a recording medium, there is a method of forming an image by ejecting ink droplets from an inkjet head.
As an image recording apparatus using an inkjet head, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses an ink having two or more colors in an inkjet recording method in which an ink having a compound curable by actinic rays is printed on a recording medium by an inkjet method and cured. Describes an ink jet recording apparatus that uses an ink jet recording method in which image formation is performed and all the ink necessary for image formation is ejected and then irradiated with the actinic rays within 10 seconds.
Patent Document 1 also describes an ink jet recording apparatus that irradiates actinic rays at a downstream portion in the transport direction within 10 seconds after ink is ejected for each color by a line head.

Further, in Patent Document 2, an inkjet head that discharges ink curable by irradiation with actinic rays to a recording medium and white ink curable by irradiation with actinic rays are applied onto the recording medium by a method other than inkjet. An ink jet printer is provided that includes a means for applying the ink and continuously performs the application of the white ink and the printing by the ink jet head.
A first irradiating means for irradiating actinic light for curing the white ink after applying the white ink; and a second irradiating means for irradiating the actinic light for curing the ink after the ink is ejected. Inkjet printers are also described.
Further, as a method for applying white ink, it is described that application is performed using spray coating, roll coating, gravure coating, air knife coating, extrusion coating, curtain coating, wire bar coating, or felt coating.

  Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a transport mechanism for transporting a recording medium to a recording area of a recording head from upstream to downstream in the transport direction of the recording medium, and ink for discharging ink to the recording medium. An image recording apparatus comprising: a recording head provided with ejection openings; a light source that emits light for curing ink ejected by the recording head; and a heating and pressurizing unit for heating and pressurizing a recording medium are described. Has been.

JP 2003-11341 A JP 2004-42525 A JP 2004-306589 A

As described in the cited document 1, a color image can be formed by forming an image with a multicolor ink jet head.
Further, as described in the cited document 2, a white ink is applied to the surface of the recording medium, that is, a surface layer is previously formed on the surface of the recording medium, and then the ink is applied to the recording medium on which the surface layer is formed. By ejecting the ink, an image having good visibility can be formed even on a light-transmitting recording medium, a recording medium with low brightness, and a metal surface.
Moreover, as described in the cited document 2, a surface layer in which scanning stripes are not noticeable in a shorter time than when an ink jet head is used by applying white ink by a method other than a method using an ink jet head. Can be formed.

  In this way, by forming a surface layer in advance with a white ink or the like on a recording medium, an image having good visibility even on a translucent recording medium, a recording medium with low brightness, and a metal surface. Can be formed.

Here, when an image is formed on a recording medium by a plurality of ink jet heads as in the ink jet recording apparatuses described in Cited Document 1 and Cited Document 2, when the image is cured by irradiation with actinic rays, Since the amount of light reaching the ink layer on the recording medium side is reduced, there is a problem that it is difficult to cure the laminated ink layer.
In particular, as shown in Cited Document 2, when a white ink layer is formed as a base and an image is formed on the white ink layer, the amount of light reaching the white ink layer during curing is reduced, and the white ink layer There is a problem that the portion of the white ink layer on the recording medium side is difficult to be cured due to the fact that it itself scatters light and has low light transmittance.
On the other hand, as in the ink jet recording apparatus described in the cited document 1, it is possible to cure the laminated image by irradiating an active ray and curing the ink layer every time an image of each color is formed. it can.
However, when a color image is formed by directly forming an image on a recording medium and curing for each color, there are a portion where the image is directly formed on the recording medium and a portion where the image is formed on the cured color ink. There is a problem that a high-quality image cannot be formed because the image formation state is different and image unevenness and image disturbance occur. In particular, when various types of recording media are used, the image forming state changes depending on the type of recording media, which is a serious problem.

  Further, in Cited Document 3, when an active energy ray-curable ink containing a solvent system, particularly water, is used, a recording medium on which an image is formed is heated and pressed to evaporate water in the ink, and for a short time. Although it is described that productivity is improved by drying with, there is no description about promoting the curing of the formed image portion.

The object of the present invention is to solve the problems based on the above prior art, to cure an image formed on a recording medium in a short time, and to produce a high-quality and high-quality printed matter at high speed. An ink jet recording apparatus is provided.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of forming a high-quality image on a recording medium regardless of the type of recording medium in addition to the above object.

In order to solve the above-described problem, a first aspect of the present invention includes a conveying unit that conveys a recording medium;
Undercoat liquid applying means for applying an undercoat liquid that cures when irradiated with active energy rays to the recording medium transported by the transport means;
In the transport direction of the recording medium, the undercoat liquid is applied by ejecting ink that is disposed downstream of the undercoat liquid application unit, includes at least a coloring material, and is cured by irradiation with active energy rays. An inkjet head that forms an image on a recording medium; and an image forming unit that includes an active energy ray irradiation unit that irradiates active light on the recording medium and cures ink and undercoat liquid on the recording medium;
A curing accelerating unit that is disposed at the same position as the active energy ray irradiating unit or downstream of the active energy ray irradiating unit in the transport direction and accelerates the curing of the ink and the undercoat liquid on the recording medium; An inkjet recording apparatus is provided.

Here, the recording medium is preferably transparent.
The curing accelerating unit preferably heats the ink and undercoat liquid on the recording medium from a surface opposite to the surface on which the image of the recording medium is formed.
Further, it is preferable that the curing accelerating means heats the ink and the undercoat liquid on the recording medium without contacting the recording medium.
Further, the undercoat applied on the recording medium by irradiating the undercoat liquid applied to the recording medium with an active energy ray, disposed downstream of the undercoat liquid applying means in the transport direction of the recording medium. It is preferable to have an undercoat liquid semi-curing means for semi-curing the liquid.

The image forming unit preferably includes a plurality of ink jet heads that eject inks containing different colorants, and at least one of the ink jet heads ejects white ink.
Further, the image forming unit includes at least two inkjet heads that eject inks containing different colorants, and is disposed between the inkjet heads, and the inkjet head on the upstream side in the transport direction of the recording medium It is preferable to have ink semi-curing means for semi-curing the ink constituting the image formed by the above.
Moreover, it is preferable that the said undercoat liquid contains a radically polymerizable composition.

Here, the undercoat liquid applying unit includes an application roller for applying an undercoat liquid to the recording medium, and a drive unit that rotates the application roller in a direction opposite to a direction in which the recording medium is conveyed. Is preferred.
The drive unit sets the transport speed of the recording medium when passing the position facing the undercoat liquid applying unit to V [mm / s], and sets the peripheral speed of the coating roller to W [mm / s]. In this case, it is preferable that the application roller is rotated under a condition satisfying 0.5 ≦ W / V ≦ 5.0.
Moreover, it is preferable that the said coating roller has a recessed part holding an undercoat liquid on the surface.
Further, the recording medium is disposed on a surface opposite to the surface to which the undercoat liquid is applied of at least one of the recording media upstream or downstream of the application roller, and the recording medium is applied to the surface to which the undercoat liquid is applied. Preferably has positioning means for supporting from the opposite surface.

According to the present invention, a plurality of color ink layers stacked on the surface of a recording medium, and further, an undercoat layer can be cured in a short time, and a printed matter on which a high-quality image is recorded is produced at high speed. An ink jet recording apparatus capable of performing the above can be provided.
Furthermore, even if a low-intensity active energy ray irradiation unit is used, the ink layer and the undercoat layer can be cured well, and an inexpensive active energy ray irradiation unit can be used. Thereby, the inkjet recording apparatus can be made inexpensive.

  Further, by irradiating the undercoat liquid with active energy rays and semi-curing the undercoat liquid applied on the recording medium, it becomes possible to form a higher quality image on the recording medium.

  An ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of an example of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration around the coating roll 60 and positioning portion 68 of the undercoat portion 13 of the inkjet recording apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2 is a top view showing a recording head unit 46 and an ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 of the inkjet recording apparatus 10 shown in FIG.
In each of the following embodiments, actinic rays that use ultraviolet curable ink among actinic ray curable inks (also referred to as actinic energy ray curable inks) that are cured by irradiation with actinic rays (also referred to as actinic energy rays). A curable ink jet recording apparatus will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to an ink jet recording apparatus using various actinic ray curable inks.
Similarly, the undercoat liquid will be described by taking an ink jet recording apparatus using an ultraviolet curable ink among the actinic ray curable undercoat liquid as an example.

As shown in FIG. 1, the inkjet recording apparatus 10 includes a transport unit 12 that transports a recording medium P, an undercoat unit 13 that applies an undercoat liquid to the recording medium P, and an undercoat liquid that is applied to the recording medium P. An undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14 for semi-curing the substrate, a support unit 15 disposed opposite to the transport path of the recording medium P transported by the transport unit 12, and the recording medium P supported by the support unit 15 An image recording unit 16 that records an image on the recording medium, an image fixing unit 18 that fixes the image supported on the recording medium P supported by the support unit 15, and an undercoat liquid on the recording medium P on which the image is recorded. The image forming apparatus includes a curing acceleration unit 19 that accelerates image curing, and a control unit 20 that controls ejection of ink droplets from the image recording unit 16.
An input device 22 is connected to the control unit 20 of the ink jet recording apparatus 10. As the input device 22, various devices that transmit image data such as an image reading device such as a scanner and an image processing device such as a personal computer can be used. Moreover, the connection method of the input device 22 and the control part 20 can use various connection methods regardless of a wire and a radio | wireless.

The transport unit 12 includes a supply roll 30, a transport roll 32, a transport roll pair 34, and a collection roll 36. The transport unit 12 supplies, transports, and collects the recording medium P.
The supply roll 30 has a continuous paper-like recording medium P wound in a roll shape, and supplies the recording medium P.
The transport roll 32 is disposed on the downstream side of the supply roll 30 in the transport direction of the recording medium P, and transports the recording medium P sent out from the supply roll 30 to the downstream side in the transport direction.
The transport roll pair 34 is a pair of rolls, and is disposed on the downstream side of the transport roll 32 in the transport path of the recording medium P, and sandwiches the recording medium P that has passed through the transport roll 32 and is downstream in the transport direction. To the side.
The collection roll 36 is disposed on the most downstream side of the conveyance path of the recording medium P. The recovery roll 36 is supplied from a supply roll 30 and further conveyed by a conveyance roll 32 and a conveyance roll pair 34, and will be described later with an undercoat unit 13, an undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14, an image recording unit 16, an image fixing unit 18, and curing acceleration. The recording medium P that has passed the position facing the portion 19 is taken up.
Here, the conveyance roll 32, the conveyance roll pair 34, and the collection | recovery roll 36 are connected with the drive part which is not shown in figure, and are rotated by a drive part.

Here, the transport roll 32 is disposed above the supply roll 30 in the vertical direction and at a position farther from the collection roll 36 than the supply roll 30 in the horizontal direction. Moreover, the conveyance roll 32, the conveyance roll pair 34, and the collection | recovery roll 36 are linearly arrange | positioned in the direction parallel to a horizontal direction.
That is, the transport unit 12 transports the recording medium P upward, that is, obliquely upward while tilting the recording medium P by a predetermined angle toward the side away from the collection roll 36 with respect to the vertical direction, and then changes the transport direction with the transport roll 32. Then, after passing through the transport roll 32, it is transported toward the collection roll 36 in the horizontal direction. In other words, after the recording medium P is pulled out from the supply roll 30, the recording medium P is moved obliquely upward with the image recording side facing downward, and after passing through the transport roll 32, the image is recorded. It is moved horizontally with its surface facing upward.

The undercoat unit 13 is arranged between the supply roll 30 and the transport roll 32, that is, on the downstream side of the supply roll 30 in the transport direction of the recording medium P, in other words, on the upstream side of the transport roll 32.
The undercoat unit 13 adheres to the application roll 60 that applies the undercoat liquid to the recording medium P, the drive unit 62 that rotates the application roll 60, the storage tray 64 that supplies the undercoat liquid to the application roll 60, and the application roll 60. A blade 66 that adjusts the amount of the undercoat liquid to be applied, and a positioning unit 68 that supports the recording medium P so that the recording medium P is positioned at a predetermined position with respect to the coating roll 60.

The application roll 60 is disposed in contact with the surface of the recording medium P between the supply roller 30 and the transport roll 32 where the image is formed. That is, the application roll 60 is in contact with the surface of the recording medium P that is being conveyed from the supply roller 30 toward the conveyance roll 32 and facing the lower side.
The application roll 60 is a roll longer than the width of the recording medium P, and is a so-called gravure roller in which concave portions are uniformly formed on the surface (outer peripheral surface) at regular intervals.
Here, the shape of the recess formed in the coating roll 60 is not particularly limited, and may be various shapes such as a circle, a rectangle, a polygon, and a star. Moreover, you may form a recessed part in groove shape in the perimeter of an application | coating roll.

As shown in FIG. 2, the drive unit 62 includes a motor 76 and gears 78 a and 78 b that transmit the rotation of the motor 76 to the application roll 60.
As shown in FIG. 2, a gear 78 a is attached to the shaft 60 a of the application roll 60, and a gear 78 b is attached to the shaft (rotary shaft) 76 a of the motor 76. That is, each gear rotates with each shaft. Moreover, the gear 78a and the gear 78b are arrange | positioned in the position where a mutual tooth | gear meshes | engages.

With such a configuration, the drive unit 62 rotates the motor 76 to rotate the gear 78b attached to the shaft 76a, the rotation is transmitted to the gear 78a, and the gear 78a rotates to rotate the gear 78a. The mounted shaft 60a and the coating roll 60 are rotated.
The drive unit 62 rotates the application roll 60 in this way.
The drive unit 62 is not limited to the present embodiment, and various drive mechanisms that rotate the coating roll 60 such as pulley drive, belt drive, and direct drive can be used.
Further, as shown by an arrow in FIG. 1, the driving unit 62 rotates the coating roll 60 in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P (clockwise in FIG. 1). This point will be described later.

  The storage tray 64 has a dish shape with an open upper surface, and the undercoat liquid is stored inside. The storage tray 64 is disposed on the lower side of the application roll 60 in the vicinity of the application roll 60, and a part of the application roll 60 is immersed in the undercoat liquid. In addition, the reservoir 64 is supplied with an undercoat liquid from a supply tank (not shown) as necessary.

The blade 66 is disposed in contact with the surface of the application roll 60. More specifically, the blade 66 is disposed on the downstream side of the storage tray 64 and on the upstream side of the recording medium P in the rotation direction of the application roll 60.
That is, the blade 66 comes into contact with a portion of the coating roll 60 after being immersed in the storage tray 64 and before being in contact with the recording medium P.
The blade 66 immerses the coating roll 60 in the storage tray 64 to scrape off the undercoating liquid adhering more than necessary from among the adhering undercoating liquid, thereby making the amount of the undercoating liquid adhering to the coating roll 60 constant. . Specifically, the blade 66 scrapes off the undercoat liquid adhering to other parts of the application roll 60 except for the undercoat liquid held in the recesses formed on the surface of the application roll 60. That is, the blade 66 scrapes off the undercoat liquid (that is, excess liquid) adhering to the part other than the concave portion of the coating roll 60.
As a result, the undercoat liquid held in the portion of the coating roll 60 that contacts the recording medium P can be made only the undercoat liquid substantially held in the recess. That is, the amount of the undercoat liquid that comes into contact with the recording medium P can be made constant.

The positioning unit 68 includes positioning rolls 70 and 72, and supports the recording medium P so that the recording medium P at a position in contact with the application roll 60 is at a predetermined position. That is, the positioning unit 68 sets the transport path of the recording medium P at a position where the coating roll 60 and the recording medium P are in contact with each other to a predetermined position.
The positioning roll 70 is on the surface opposite to the surface on which the image of the recording medium P is formed (that is, the surface on which the undercoat liquid is applied) and in the transport direction of the recording medium P, the supply roll 30. And the applicator roll 60.
The positioning roll 72 is disposed between the coating roll 60 and the transport roll 32 on the surface opposite to the surface on which the image of the recording medium P is formed and in the transport direction of the recording medium P. Yes.
That is, the positioning rolls 70 and 72 are sandwiched between the coating roll 60 in the conveyance direction of the recording medium P on the opposite side to the coating roll 60 via the recording medium P, that is, upstream of the coating roll 60. Are arranged on the downstream side.
The positioning rolls 70 and 72 support the recording medium P from the surface opposite to the surface on which the image of the recording medium P is formed.

Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the undercoat portion 13 of the present embodiment further includes a bearing 74 a that supports the application roll 60 (more precisely, the shaft 60 a of the application roll 60), and a positioning roll 70 (more accurately. Is in contact with a bearing 74b that supports a positioning roll 70 (shaft), and a bearing 74a is in contact with a bearing 74c that supports the positioning roll 72 (more precisely, the shaft of the positioning roll 72).
In this way, when the bearings 74a, 74b, and 74c that support the coating roll 60 and the positioning rolls 70 and 72 are brought into contact with each other, the positional relationship between the coating roll 60 and the positioning rolls 70 and 72 is shifted. Can be prevented.
In addition, even when any one or all of the coating roll 60 and the positioning rolls 70 and 72 are in a movable state, the coating roll is configured to fix the positional relationship by bringing the bearings into contact with each other. 60 and the positioning rolls 70 and 72 can be prevented from being displaced.
In the present embodiment, the bearings are brought into contact with each other. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any member that supports the application roll 60 and the positioning rolls 70 and 72 may be used. You may make it contact the fixing members which fix a bearing.

The undercoat unit 13 is configured as described above, and the drive unit 62 rotates the application roll 60 in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P. The surface of the rotating application roll 60 is sequentially immersed in the undercoat liquid stored in the storage tray 64. Further, when the coating roll 60 is rotated, the portion immersed in the undercoat liquid of the application roll 60 is then brought into contact with the blade 66 and adhered to the surface, that is, the amount of the undercoat liquid retained on the surface is constant. After that, the undercoat liquid is applied onto the recording medium P by contacting the recording medium P. In this way, by applying the undercoat liquid to the recording medium P by rotating the coating roll 60 in the reverse direction to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P, the coating roll 60 is smoothed and has a good coating surface shape without unevenness. A layer of undercoat liquid (hereinafter also referred to as “undercoat layer”) can be formed on the recording medium P. This point will be described in detail later.
The coating roll 60 in contact with the recording medium P further rotates and is immersed again in the storage tray 64.
In this way, the undercoat unit 13 rotates the application roll 60 to apply the undercoat liquid to the surface of the recording medium P, thereby forming an undercoat layer on the surface of the recording medium P.

Next, the undercoat liquid semi-cured portion 14 will be described.
The undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14 includes a UV lamp and is disposed to face the conveyance path of the recording medium P. Here, the UV lamp is a light source that emits ultraviolet light, and various ultraviolet light sources such as a metal halide lamp and a high-pressure mercury lamp can be used.
The undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14 irradiates the entire area in the width direction of the recording medium P passing through the facing position with ultraviolet rays.

  The undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14 irradiates the recording medium P on which the undercoat liquid is applied to the surface passing through the opposite position with ultraviolet rays, and puts the undercoat liquid applied on the surface of the recording medium P into a semi-cured state. . That is, the undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14 sets the undercoat liquid applied on the recording medium P to a semi-cured state.

  In the present invention, “semi-cured” means partially cured (partially cured) and refers to a state where the undercoat liquid is partially cured but not completely cured. When the undercoat liquid applied on the recording medium (base material) P is semi-cured, the degree of curing may be uneven, and the undercoat liquid has been cured in the depth direction. Is preferred. Here, in this embodiment, the undercoat liquid to be semi-cured is an undercoat liquid forming an undercoat layer.

  For example, when a radical polymerizable undercoat liquid is cured in air or air partially substituted with an inert gas, radical polymerization is inhibited on the surface of the undercoat liquid due to the action of suppressing radical polymerization of oxygen. Tend. As a result, the semi-curing becomes non-uniform, the curing progresses more inside the undercoat liquid, and the surface curing tends to be delayed.

  In the present invention, by using a radical photopolymerizable undercoating liquid in the presence of radical polymerization-inhibiting oxygen and partially photocuring, the degree of curing of the undercoating liquid is higher in the interior than in the outside. can do.

In addition, when curing a cationically polymerizable undercoat liquid in humid air, there is a tendency for moisture to inhibit cationic polymerization, so that the curing progresses more inside the undercoat liquid and the surface tends to be delayed. It becomes.
Even if this cationically polymerizable undercoat liquid is partially photocured using humidity conditions that have a cationic polymerization inhibiting effect, the degree of cure of the undercoat liquid may be higher in the interior than in the exterior. it can.

  As described above, when the undercoat liquid is semi-cured and the ink liquid is ejected onto the semi-cured undercoat liquid, a technical effect favorable to the quality of the obtained printed matter can be obtained. Moreover, the action mechanism can be confirmed by observing the cross section of the printed matter.

Hereinafter, the semi-curing of the undercoat liquid (that is, the undercoat layer formed on the recording medium with the undercoat liquid) will be described in detail. In the following, when about 12 pL of ink liquid (that is, ink droplets) is deposited on the semi-cured undercoat liquid having a thickness of about 5 μm provided on the recording medium P. A high density portion will be described as an example.
FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a recording medium in which an ink liquid is ejected onto a semi-cured undercoat liquid. FIGS. 6A and 6B are uncured undercoat liquids, respectively. FIG. 6C is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a recording medium on which ink liquid has been deposited. FIG. 6C is a diagram of a recording medium on which ink liquid has been deposited on an undercoat liquid that has been completely cured. It is a typical sectional view showing an example.

According to the present invention, the undercoat liquid is semi-cured, so that the degree of cure on the recording medium P side becomes higher than the degree of cure of the surface layer. In this case, three features are observed. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when the ink liquid d is ejected onto the semi-cured undercoat liquid U, (1) a part of the ink liquid d comes out on the surface of the undercoat liquid U. (2) Ink liquid A part of d is embedded in the undercoat liquid U, and (3) the undercoat liquid exists between the lower side of the ink liquid d and the recording medium P.
As described above, when the undercoat liquid and the ink liquid satisfy the above conditions (1), (2), and (3) when the ink liquid is ejected onto the undercoat liquid, the undercoat liquid is in a semi-cured state. It can be said that there is.
By semi-curing the undercoat liquid, that is, by curing the undercoat liquid so as to satisfy the above (1), (2), and (3), droplets of ink liquid that has been ejected at high density (that is, Ink droplets) are connected to each other to form an ink liquid film layer (that is, an ink liquid film or an ink layer), which gives a uniform and high color density.

On the other hand, when the ink liquid is ejected onto the uncured undercoat liquid, all of the ink liquid d enters the undercoat liquid U as shown in FIG. 6 (A) and / or FIG. As shown in B), the undercoat liquid U does not exist below the ink liquid d.
In this case, even when the ink liquid is applied at a high density, the droplets are independent of each other, which causes a decrease in color density.

Further, when the ink liquid is ejected onto the completely hardened undercoat liquid, the ink liquid d does not enter the undercoat liquid U as shown in FIG.
In this case, droplet ejection interference occurs, a uniform ink liquid film layer cannot be formed, and color reproducibility cannot be increased (that is, color reproducibility is reduced).

Here, when droplets of ink liquid are applied at high density, the droplets do not become independent, from the viewpoint of forming a uniform ink liquid film layer, and from the viewpoint of suppressing the occurrence of droplet ejection interference, The amount of the uncured portion of the undercoat liquid (that is, the undercoat layer) per unit area is preferably smaller than the maximum droplet amount of the ink liquid applied per unit area, and more preferably sufficiently small. That is, the weight M _u (also referred to as M (undercoat liquid)) per unit area of the uncured portion of the undercoat liquid layer and the maximum weight m _i (m (ink liquid)) of the ink liquid ejected per unit area. ) Preferably satisfies (m _i / 30) <M _u <m _i , more preferably satisfies (m _i / 20) <M _u <(m _i / 3), and (m _i / 10) It is particularly preferable that <M _u <(m _i / 5). Here, the maximum weight of the ink liquid ejected per unit area is the maximum weight per color.
By setting (m _i / 30) <M _u , the occurrence of droplet ejection interference can be prevented, and the dot size reproducibility can be increased. In addition, by setting M _u <m _i , the liquid layer of the ink liquid can be formed uniformly, and the decrease in density can be prevented.

Here, the weight of the uncured portion of the undercoat liquid per unit area is determined by a transfer test. Specifically, after completion of the semi-curing process (for example, after irradiation with active energy rays) and before ink droplets are ejected, a penetrating medium such as plain paper is pressed against the semi-cured undercoat liquid. Then, the amount of the undercoat liquid transferred to the permeation medium is measured by weight measurement, and the measured value is defined as the weight of the uncured portion of the undercoat liquid.
For example, the maximum amount of the second ink, in droplet deposition density of 600 × 600 dpi, is set to 12 picoliters per pixel, the maximum weight m _i of the ink ejected per unit area, and 0.04 g / cm ² (Note that the density of the ink liquid is about 1.1 g / cm ³ ). Therefore, in this case, the weight M _u uncured portions per unit area of the undercoat liquid is preferably to 0.0013 g / cm ² greater than 0.04 g / cm less than ^2, from 0.002 g / cm ² greater more preferably to less than 0.013 g / cm ^2, it is particularly preferable to increase the 0.008 g / cm ² than 0.004 g / cm ^2.

Next, the support unit 15, the image recording unit 16, and the image fixing unit 18 will be described.
The support unit 15 includes a main body platen 38 and a head platen 40 and supports the image recording unit 16 and the image fixing unit 18.
The main body surface plate 38 is a plate-like member, and is disposed between the transport roll 32 and the transport roll pair 34 so as to be spaced apart from the transport path of the recording medium P by a predetermined distance. In other words, the main body surface plate 38 is disposed at a position facing a surface (hereinafter also referred to as “image recording surface”) on which an image of the recording medium P conveyed by the conveying unit 12 is recorded.
The main body surface plate 38 has openings 38a at positions opposed to recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K of the image recording unit 16 to be described later, and to the ultraviolet irradiation units 54 and 54a of the image fixing unit 18 to be described later. An opening 38b is formed at the opposed position.

The head surface plate 40 includes a plate portion 40a and a foot portion 40b, is disposed on the opposite side of the main body surface plate 38 from the recording medium P side, and is connected to the main body surface plate 38.
The plate portion 40a is disposed on the opposite side of the main body surface plate 38 from the recording medium P side and spaced apart by a predetermined distance, and holds recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, 48K of the image recording portion 16 described later. Yes. Further, the foot portions 40b are disposed at the four corners of the plate portion 40a and are connected to the main body surface plate 38.

The image recording unit 16 includes a recording head unit 46 and an ink tank 50.
The recording head unit 46 includes recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K.
The recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K are arranged in the order of the recording head 48W, the recording head 48C, the recording head 48M, the recording head 48Y, and the recording head 48K from the upstream to the downstream in the conveyance direction of the recording medium P. Has been. The recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K are held by the head surface plate 40, and the leading ends of the respective ink discharge portions are opposed to the conveyance path of the recording medium P, that is, the conveyance unit 12 is. Is arranged opposite to the recording medium P conveyed on the conveying path (hereinafter also simply referred to as “opposing to the recording medium P”).

The recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K have a large number of ejection openings (nozzles, inks) at regular intervals in the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P, that is, in the entire width direction of the recording medium P. This is a full-line type and piezo-type ink jet head in which a discharge unit is disposed, and is connected to a control unit 20 and an ink tank 50 described later. In the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K, the control unit 20 controls the ejection amount and ejection timing of the ink droplets.
While the recording medium P is being transported by the transporting unit 12, white (W), cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) from each recording head 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, 48K. A color image can be formed on the recording medium P by ejecting the respective color inks toward the recording medium P.

In the present embodiment, the recording head is a piezo element (piezoelectric element) type, but is not limited to this, and instead of the piezo type, ink is heated by a heating element such as a heater to generate bubbles, and the pressure is Various types of recording heads such as a thermal jet method for ejecting ink droplets can also be used.
The ink ejected from the recording head of this embodiment is an ultraviolet curable ink.

  The ink tank 50 is provided corresponding to the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K. Each ink tank 50 stores ink of each color corresponding to the recording head, and supplies the stored ink to the corresponding recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K.

In addition, a plate-like platen 56 is disposed at a position facing the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, 48K on the surface side where the image of the recording medium is not formed.
The platen 56 moves the recording medium P conveyed to a position facing each recording head to the surface side where the image is not formed, that is, the side opposite to the surface where the recording head unit 46 of the recording medium P is disposed. Support from the surface. Thereby, the distance between the recording medium P and each recording head can be made constant, and a high-quality image can be formed on the recording medium P.
The shape of the platen 56 is not limited to a flat plate, and may be a curved surface convex toward the recording head. In this case, the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K are arranged so that the distance from the platen is constant.

  The image fixing unit 18 includes a plurality of ultraviolet irradiation units 52 and a final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a. The image fixing unit 18 irradiates an image formed on the recording medium P by the recording head unit 46 with ultraviolet rays. The ink is semi-cured or cured to fix the image.

  In the present invention, “semi-curing of ink (that is, ink liquid)” is the same as in the case of the undercoat liquid, meaning partially cured (partially cured), and ink liquid (that is, colored liquid). Is partially cured but not completely cured. In addition, when the ink liquid discharged on the undercoat liquid is semi-cured, the degree of curing may be uneven, and the ink liquid is preferably cured in the depth direction. Here, in the present embodiment, the semi-cured ink liquid is ink droplets that land on the undercoat layer or the recording medium to form an ink layer.

  When the ink liquid is semi-cured and an ink liquid having a different hue is ejected onto the semi-cured ink liquid, a technical effect favorable to the quality of the obtained printed matter can be obtained. Moreover, the action mechanism can be confirmed by observing the cross section of the printed matter.

Hereinafter, the semi-curing of the ink liquid (that is, the ink droplet landed on the recording medium or the undercoat layer or the ink layer formed by the landed ink droplet) will be described.
Figure 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view on the semi-cured first ink d _a shown a recording medium where ink droplets have been deposited d _b, FIG. 8 (A) and (B) is in an uncured state, respectively is a schematic sectional view showing an example of a recording medium having ink d _b is deposited as droplets onto the first ink d _a, FIG. 8 (C) hitting the ink on the ink liquid while being fully cured It is a typical sectional view showing an example of a recording medium dropped.
The ink d _a after ejected, when forming a secondary color by ink d _b is deposited as droplets onto the first ink d _a is the ink d _b onto the first ink d _a semi-cured It is preferable to give.
Here, the semi-cured state of the first ink d _a, the same as the semi-cured state of the undercoating liquid described above, as shown in FIG. 7, when the second ink d _b is deposited as droplets onto the first ink d _a , (1) a portion of the second ink d _b emerges at the surface of the first ink d _a, (2) a portion of the second ink d _b lies within the first ink d _a, and (3) ink d _b the lower is a condition where there is an ink d _a.
By thus semi-curing the ink, can be suitably superimposed cured film of the ink d _a a (colored film A) and an ink liquid d _b cured film (colored film B), good color reproduction Is possible.

In contrast, when ink d _b is deposited as droplets onto the first ink d _a uncured, or all of the ink d _b as shown in FIG. 8 (A) sinks into ink d _a, and / or in a state where there is no ink d _a is the lower layer of the ink d _b as shown in FIG. 8 (B). In this case, even if high density imparts ink d _b droplets, since the droplets are independent of each other, causing the color saturation of the secondary color to decrease.

Also, if ink d _b is deposited _as droplets completely cured ink on d _a, ink d _b as shown in FIG. 8 (C) does not sink into ink d _a. In this case, it may cause droplet ejection interference, and a uniform ink liquid film layer cannot be formed, resulting in a decrease in color reproducibility.

Here, the droplets are not independent of each other when applying droplets of a high density ink d _b, the viewpoint of forming a uniform film of the second ink d _b, and suppress the occurrence of fired droplet interference from the viewpoint of the amount of the uncured portion of the ink d _a per unit area is preferably less than the maximum droplet amount of the ink d _b applied per unit area, and more preferably substantially smaller. That is, (also referred to as M (ink liquid A).) Weight M _da per unit surface area of uncured regions of the first ink d _a layer and the maximum weight of the ink ejected per unit area m _db (m (ink liquid B It is preferable that (m _db / 30) <M _da <m _db is satisfied, and that (m _(db / 20) <M _da <(m _db / 3) is further satisfied. It is particularly preferable that (m _db / 10) <M _da <(m _db / 5) is satisfied.
By setting (m _db / 30) <M _da , it is possible to prevent the occurrence of droplet ejection interference and to further improve the dot size reproducibility. In addition, by setting M _da <m _db, can uniformly form a film of the first ink d _a, a decrease in density can be prevented.

Here, the weight of the uncured regions of the first ink d _a per unit area, as in the case of the undercoating liquid described above, is determined by a transfer test. Specifically, after completion of the semi-curing step (e.g. after irradiating with actinic radiation) before deposition of the droplets of the second ink d _b a, a permeable medium such as plain paper in a semi-cured state ink is pressed against the liquid d _a layer, the amount of _the first ink d _a that transfers to the permeable medium is determined by weight measurement. the measured value is defined as the weight of the uncured regions of the first ink.
For example, the maximum amount of the second ink d _b, in droplet deposition density of 600 × 600 dpi, is set to 12 picoliters per pixel, the maximum weight m _db of the second ink d _b ejected per unit surface area, 0.04 g / cm ² and becomes (assuming the density of the second ink d _b is about 1.1g / cm ^3.). Therefore, in this case, the weight M _da uncured portions per unit area of the first ink d _a layer is preferably set to 0.0013 g / cm ² greater than 0.04 g / cm less than ^2, 0.002 g / more preferably greater 0.013 g / cm less than ² than cm ^2, and particularly preferably a large 0.008 g / cm less than ² than 0.004 g / cm ^2.

  The plurality of ultraviolet irradiation units 52 are disposed on the surface of the main body platen 38 opposite to the recording medium P, and are respectively downstream of the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, and 48Y in the conveyance path of the recording medium P. Has been placed. Further, the final exposure ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a is disposed on the surface of the main body plate 38 opposite to the recording medium P, and is disposed downstream of the recording head 48K in the conveyance path of the recording medium P. . That is, the final exposure ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a is arranged on the downstream side of the recording head arranged on the most downstream side in the conveyance path of the recording medium P.

  That is, each recording head, each ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, and the final exposure ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a are, as shown in FIG. 4, from the upstream to the downstream of the transport path, the recording head 48W, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, and the recording head. 48C, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, the recording head 48M, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, the recording head 48Y, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, the recording head 48K, and the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a.

Here, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 and the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a differ only in the size of the apparatus and the target to be irradiated with the ultraviolet rays. Specifically, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 is formed by each recording head. The ink layer of each color of the printed image (that is, the image formed on each color ink) is semi-cured, and the final exposure ultraviolet unit 52a irradiates light having a stronger intensity than the other ultraviolet irradiation units. Since the configuration of the apparatus is the same as that of the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 except that the image of the undercoat layer and each ink layer applied on P is reliably cured, the description will be made using the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 as a representative. To do.
Since each ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 has the same configuration, only one ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 will be described below.
The ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 has two ultraviolet irradiation units 54, and the ultraviolet irradiation units 54 are arranged in series on a straight line in the width direction of the recording medium P. The ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 irradiates the entire area in the width direction of the recording medium P with the two ultraviolet irradiation units 54.

The ultraviolet irradiation unit 54 includes a UV lamp, and is disposed on the surface of the main body surface plate 38 opposite to the recording medium P side so as to face the conveyance path of the recording medium P.
The UV lamp is a light source that emits ultraviolet light, and irradiates the ultraviolet light toward the recording medium P side. As the UV lamp, various ultraviolet light sources such as a metal halide lamp and a high-pressure mercury lamp can be used.
Further, an opening 38b is formed in the main body surface plate 38 at a position facing the UV lamp. Thereby, the ultraviolet rays emitted from the UV lamp 56 pass through the opening 38b and reach the recording medium P.

The curing accelerating unit 19 is disposed at a position facing the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a with the recording medium P interposed therebetween. In other words, the curing accelerating unit 19 is disposed opposite to the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a on the surface side opposite to the surface on which the image of the recording medium P is formed, in other words, on the back surface side of the recording medium P. ing. The curing accelerating unit 19 is a means for heating the recording medium, and heats the recording medium P at the opposite position, the undercoat layer and the ink layer formed on the recording medium P.
As the curing accelerating unit 19, a heating unit that heats the recording medium in a non-contact manner such as an infrared LED, an infrared LD, a hot air heater, a heating unit that contacts and heats the recording medium such as a panel heater, Various heating means can be used.
Here, in the case of using a heating unit that heats the recording medium while being in contact as the curing accelerator, the curing accelerator may be used as a platen.
In the present embodiment, an example in which a heating unit that heats the recording medium P, the undercoat layer, and the ink layer is used as the curing accelerating portion will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and Various means for accelerating the curing of the liquid film and the ink layer can be used. For example, the final curing exposure unit 52a can be filled with nitrogen in the area where the recording medium is exposed to reduce the oxygen concentration. It is possible to use means for

  The control unit 20 is connected to the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K of the recording head unit 46, and uses the image data sent from the input device 22 as a drawing signal, and the recording heads 48W, 48C. , 48M, 48Y and 48K are controlled to form an image on the recording medium P.

Next, the operation of the ink jet recording apparatus 10, that is, the recording operation on the recording medium P will be described to describe the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention in more detail.
9A to 9D are process diagrams schematically showing a process of forming an image on a recording medium.

  First, the recording medium P sent out from the supply roll 30 is conveyed in a predetermined direction (Y direction in FIG. 1) by the rotation of the conveyance roll 32 and the conveyance roll pair 34. Here, as described above, the recording medium P of the present embodiment is a continuous paper having a certain length or more, and the recording medium P is conveyed without breaks.

As shown in FIG. 9A, the recording medium P drawn from the supply roll 30 comes into contact with the application roll 60 of the undercoat portion 13, and the undercoat liquid is applied to the surface, so that the undercoat layer U is formed.
Here, the application roll 60 is rotated in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P by the drive unit 62. That is, the drive unit 62 is immersed in the storage tray 64 on the surface of the application roller 60 and then comes into contact with the blade 66 so that a portion to which a certain amount of undercoat liquid is applied is upstream in the conveyance direction of the recording medium P. The application roll 60 is rotated in the direction of contact from the side. That is, the drive unit 62 moves the coating roll 60 in a direction in which the moving direction of the surface of the coating roll 60 and the moving direction of the recording medium P are opposite to each other at the contact position between the coating roll 60 and the recording medium P. It is rotating.

The recording medium P on which the undercoat liquid is applied and the undercoat layer U is formed is further transported by the transport roll 32 and the transport roll pair 34 of the transport section 12 and passes through a position facing the undercoat liquid semi-curing section 14.
As shown in FIG. 9B, the undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14 irradiates the recording medium P coated with the undercoat liquid that passes through the opposing position, and irradiates the undercoat layer U on the recording medium P. Semi-cured.

The recording medium P in which the undercoat liquid is semi-cured is further transported by the transport roll 32 and the transport roll pair 34 of the transport unit 12 and passes through a position facing the recording head 48W.
The recording head 48 </ b> W discharges ink droplets from the discharge ports, and forms an image on the recording medium P that is transported by the transport unit 12 and passes through an opposing position.
Specifically, the recording head 48W discharges the first ink droplet d1 on the recording medium P. The first ink droplet d1 ejected from the recording head 48W lands on the surface of the undercoat layer U as shown in FIG. Here, since the undercoat layer U is in a semi-cured state and the surface is not cured, it is easy to become familiar with the ink droplet d1.
Further, as shown in FIG. 9D, the second ink droplet d2 is ejected in the vicinity of the landing position of the first ink droplet d1 ejected previously. Also at this time, the undercoat layer U is in a semi-cured state, and the surface is not cured, so that it is easily compatible with the ink droplet d2.

In this way, when the ink droplet d1 and the ink droplet d2 are landed in the vicinity of the recording medium P, a force that tries to unite the ink droplet d1 and the ink droplet d2 works. Since the undercoat layer U is semi-cured and has a high viscosity, interference between the ink droplets that have landed on the recording medium P is suppressed by providing resistance to the coalescence between the ink droplets.
In this manner, an image is formed by ejecting a plurality of ink droplets from the recording head 48 </ b> W and landing on the recording medium P in accordance with control by the control unit 20.

The recording medium P on which an image is formed by the recording head 48W is further transported by the transport unit 12, and passes through a position facing the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 disposed downstream of the recording head 48W.
The ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 irradiates the recording medium P passing through the opposing position with ultraviolet rays, and semi-cures an image formed on the recording medium P by the recording head 48W, that is, ink that has landed on the recording medium. Only the inside of the droplet is cured.

  Thereafter, the recording medium P is further transported and passes through the positions facing the recording head 48C, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, the recording head 48M, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, the recording head 48Y, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, and the recording head 48K in this order. . Each time the recording medium P passes through a position facing the recording head and the ultraviolet irradiation unit of each color, an image is formed in the same manner as when passing through a position facing the recording head 48W and the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52. The formed image is semi-cured.

The recording medium P passes through a position facing the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a after an image is formed by the recording head 48K.
The final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a irradiates the recording medium P with ultraviolet light having a stronger intensity than the other ultraviolet irradiation units, and the recording medium P formed by various heads including an image recorded by the recording head 48K. The top image and undercoat liquid are cured.
The curing accelerating unit 19 includes a recording medium P passing through a position facing the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a and an image on the recording medium P, that is, an ink layer and an undercoat unit 13 formed by each recording head. The formed undercoat layer is heated to promote curing.
In this way, a color image is formed on the recording medium P.

The recording medium P on which the color image is formed is further transported by the transport roll 32 and the transport roll pair 34 and is taken up by the collection roll 36.
The ink jet recording apparatus 10 forms an image on the recording medium P in this way.

As described above, the ink jet recording apparatus 10 heats the ink layer and the undercoat layer on the recording medium P irradiated with the ultraviolet rays from the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a by the curing accelerating unit 19 and accelerates the curing. An image in which a semi-cured undercoat layer and white and CMYK ink layers are laminated can be suitably cured. In other words, among the image portions in which a plurality of ink layers are laminated by heating at the curing promoting portion, a layer on the recording medium side that is hard to reach ultraviolet rays and hard to cure, in this embodiment, an undercoat layer and a white ink layer Etc. can be cured well. That is, by heating, it is possible to promote curing of the undercoat layer and the ink layer that have been cured by being irradiated with ultraviolet rays.
Further, the image can be cured without irradiating the ultraviolet ray having high intensity on the image (that is, the undercoat layer and the ink layer) formed on the recording medium. As a result, the ink layer on the surface of the image (that is, the black (K) ink layer in the present embodiment) can be prevented from shrinking, and the image can be prevented from cracking and being disturbed during curing. Moreover, an inexpensive ultraviolet irradiation apparatus can be used as the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit.
Moreover, by using a heating means as the curing accelerator and heating, the undercoat layer and the ink layer can be cured in a short time, and the transport path can be shortened. Thereby, a printed matter can be created at a higher speed, and the apparatus can be made compact.
Since the undercoat layer and the ink layer can be reliably cured in this way, the recording medium in a state where the undercoat layer and the ink layer are not completely cured is wound, and the image portion is in contact with the recording medium in contact. Transfer and adhesion to the back surface can be prevented, and a printed matter on which a high-quality image is formed can be suitably produced.

  In addition, as in this embodiment, even when an image is formed without completely curing the undercoat layer and each color ink in a semi-cured state, curing is accelerated when the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a is irradiated with ultraviolet rays. By heating the undercoat layer and the ink layer at the part, curing of the semi-cured undercoat layer and each color ink layer can be promoted, and the undercoat layer and each color ink layer can be reliably cured. As will be described later, a high-quality image can be formed by semi-curing the undercoat layer and the ink layer.

Even when white ink is used as in this embodiment, the white ink layer and the layer formed on the recording medium side with respect to the white ink layer by heating, the undercoat layer in this embodiment are suitably cured. Can do.
That is, according to the present invention, even when a plurality of ink layers and / or undercoat layers including a white ink layer are formed, the image formed on the recording medium can be suitably and reliably cured, A high-quality printed matter can be produced.

Further, it is preferable that the curing accelerating portion is disposed to face the back side of the recording medium as in the present embodiment. By heating from the back side of the recording medium, it is possible to efficiently heat the image area on the recording medium side, that is, the part where ultraviolet rays are difficult to reach. Thereby, the undercoat layer and the ink layer formed on the recording medium can be suitably cured.
As described above, it is preferable that the curing accelerating portion is disposed so as to face the back side of the recording medium, but it is disposed so as to face the surface side, that is, the surface on which the image of the recording medium is formed. May be. When the curing promoting part is arranged on the surface side of the recording medium, use a heating means for heating the recording medium, the undercoat layer, and the ink layer such as an infrared LED, an infrared LD, and a hot air heater in a non-contact manner. Is preferred. By using a non-contact type heating means as the curing accelerator, the recording medium, the ink layer, and the undercoat layer are heated without causing disturbance, streaks, unevenness, etc. in the image formed on the recording medium, Curing of the recording medium and the ink layer can be promoted.

Here, when a heating means is used as the curing accelerator, the curing accelerator preferably heats the recording medium from 40 degrees to 100 degrees, and more preferably heats from 50 degrees to 90 degrees.
By heating the recording medium to 40 degrees or more, more preferably 50 degrees or more by the curing promoting portion, curing of the ink layer and the undercoat layer can be promoted and cured more reliably. Further, by heating the recording medium to 100 degrees or less, preferably 90 degrees or less by the curing accelerator, it is possible to prevent the moisture of the recording medium from being excessively evaporated, and the recording medium is bent and wavy. Can be prevented.

In this embodiment, the curing accelerating portion is disposed at a position facing the final exposure ultraviolet irradiation unit, and the recording medium at a position irradiated with ultraviolet rays for completely curing the undercoat layer and the ink layer is heated. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the curing accelerating portion may be disposed downstream of the final exposure ultraviolet irradiation unit in the recording medium conveyance direction. That is, the image recording apparatus may be configured such that the recording medium, the undercoat layer, and the ink layer are heated by the curing accelerating unit after the ultraviolet ray for completely curing the undercoat layer and the ink layer is irradiated.
As described above, the undercoat layer and the ink layer on the recording medium side can be cured also by heating the undercoat layer and the ink layer after being irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the final exposure ultraviolet irradiation unit. .

Here, it is preferable to use a transparent member as the recording medium. By using a transparent recording medium, the undercoat layer and / or the ink layer can be suitably heated from the back surface.
The recording head 48W preferably forms an ink layer over the entire image recording area of the recording medium. By forming the ink layer of white ink over the entire image recording area, an image with high visibility can be formed even when a transparent member, metal, or the like is used as a recording medium.

  Further, the ink jet recording apparatus 10 can prevent the ink droplets that have landed on the recording medium from entering the recording medium and causing the image to bleed by forming an undercoat layer on the recording medium. An image with high image quality can be formed. It is also possible to use a recording medium that has low adhesion to ink droplets, that is, repels the landed ink droplets. In other words, it is possible to record images on various recording media.

Further, by using the coating roll 60 and further rotating the coating roll 60 in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P to apply the undercoat liquid onto the recording medium P, the surface of the recording medium P is coated. An undercoat layer U having an improved shape can be formed. That is, when the coating roll 60 is separated from the recording medium P after the coating roll 60 has applied the undercoat liquid to the recording medium P by rotating the coating roll 60 in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P. The surface of the undercoat liquid applied onto the recording medium P can be prevented from being disturbed, and the undercoat layer U having a smooth surface, that is, a small surface roughness can be formed on the recording medium P.
Thus, by making the surface of the undercoat layer smooth, the visibility of the surface of the recording medium, more precisely the surface of the undercoat layer, changes depending on the position. Even when it is used, it is possible to prevent the color from being recognized as changing depending on the position of the recording medium, and it is possible to prevent the recording medium from being recognized as cloudy. Thus, it is possible to prevent high-quality and high-quality printed matter by preventing the occurrence of color unevenness and turbidity on the recording medium.
Also, by applying the undercoat liquid with the application roll 60, the undercoat liquid can be applied at a high speed, the productivity can be increased, and the apparatus configuration can be made simple and inexpensive.

  Further, even when a transparent liquid is used as the undercoat liquid and a transparent recording medium is used as the recording medium, the undercoat layer U having a smooth surface, that is, a small surface roughness is formed on the recording medium P. As a result, the transparency of the recording medium P and the undercoat liquid can be maintained. That is, the recording medium on which the undercoat layer is formed can be prevented from being visually recognized as being cloudy, and a recording medium on which a highly transparent undercoat layer is formed can be obtained.

Further, a liquid having a high viscosity can be used as the undercoat liquid.
Here, when a liquid having a high viscosity is used as the undercoat liquid, for example, in a method of discharging from an ink jet head, it is difficult to discharge as a droplet, and the discharge port is likely to be clogged. It is difficult to apply uniformly on the top. Further, since the viscosity is high, the undercoat liquid applied to the recording medium has a small surface roughness due to aging or the like, that is, it is difficult to flatten after application due to its own weight or the like. For this reason, it has been difficult to use a high-viscosity liquid as the undercoat liquid, particularly to form a high-quality image using a high-viscosity liquid.

On the other hand, as described above, by applying the undercoat liquid onto the recording medium P by rotating the coating roll in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the recording medium, the undercoat liquid having a high viscosity is used. However, it is possible to uniformly apply the undercoat liquid on the recording medium, that is, to form an undercoat layer having a small surface roughness and to apply using a roll, so that it can be applied at a high speed.
Further, by using a liquid having a high viscosity as the undercoat liquid, the selectivity of the recording medium can be further increased. That is, a recording medium formed of a material having various surface energies can be used as the recording medium.
As described above, according to the present invention, even when a liquid having a high viscosity is used as the undercoat liquid, it is possible to form an undercoat layer having a small surface roughness and to form high-quality images on various recording media. Can do. Further, since the undercoat layer can be formed on the recording medium at a high speed, a printed matter can be produced at a higher speed.

Here, the undercoat liquid preferably has a viscosity of 10 mPa · s to 500 mPa · s, and more preferably 50 mPa · s to 300 mPa · s.
By setting the viscosity of the undercoat liquid to 10 mPa · s or more, more preferably 50 mPa · s or more, as described above, the undercoat liquid can be applied to a recording medium to which the liquid is difficult to adhere as described above. It becomes possible.
Further, by setting the viscosity of the undercoat liquid to 500 mPa · s or less, more preferably 300 mPa · s or less, the surface roughness of the undercoat layer formed on the recording medium P can be more reliably reduced.

Further, the drive unit 62 conveys the recording medium P between the supply roll 30 and the conveyance roll 32, that is, the conveyance speed (movement speed) of the recording medium P when passing through the position in contact with the application roll 60. When the speed is V [mm / s] and the peripheral speed of the coating roll 30 is W [mm / s], the coating roll 60 can be rotated under conditions that satisfy 0.5 ≦ W / V ≦ 5.0. preferable. Here, the circumferential speed W is a speed in the tangential direction of the outer peripheral surface of the coating roll 30, and when the rotational speed of the coating roll 30 is N [number of revolutions / second] and the radius is r [mm], = 2πrN.
By setting the above-mentioned W / V to 0.5 or more, a predetermined amount or more of the undercoat liquid can be supplied to the recording medium P and is held by the coating roll 60 at a position in contact with the recording medium P. It is possible to prevent the undercoat liquid from being insufficient and the undercoat layer formed on the recording medium P to be non-uniform, that is, the occurrence of uneven application of the undercoat liquid.
Further, by setting W / V to 5.0 or less, the amount of the undercoat liquid supplied to the recording medium P becomes excessive, and the undercoat layer formed on the recording medium P becomes non-uniform. That is, it is possible to prevent uneven application of the undercoat liquid.
Further, the undercoat liquid can be efficiently applied.
Further, in order to obtain the above effect more suitably and reliably, W / V is more preferably 1.0 ≦ W / V ≦ 3.0.

  Here, the conveyance speed of the recording medium P by the conveyance unit 12 is preferably 200 mm / s or more and 600 mm / s or less. Thereby, a high-quality image can be efficiently formed on the recording medium. In addition, printed matter can be created at high speed. That is, a large amount of recording media can be printed in a short time.

Further, the coating roll has a shape in which concave portions are formed at regular intervals on the surface, that is, by using a gravure roller for the coating roll, the undercoat liquid that is held on the surface of the coating roll in contact with the recording medium P The amount of the undercoat liquid applied to the recording medium can be made constant, and the undercoat layer can be more uniformly formed on the recording medium.
Further, by providing the blade, the amount of the undercoat liquid applied to the recording medium can be more reliably made constant, and the undercoat layer can be more uniformly formed on the recording medium.
As described above, since the undercoat layer can be more uniformly formed on the recording medium, an image formed on the recording medium can have higher image quality.
In addition, since the amount of the undercoat liquid can be made constant, it is preferable that the coating roll has a shape in which concave portions are formed at regular intervals on the surface. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the roll has no concave portions. Can also be used.
A blade is also preferably provided, but it is not always necessary to arrange the blade.

  Further, by providing the positioning portion 68, that is, the positioning rolls 70 and 72, it is possible to prevent the recording medium P at the position in contact with the coating roll 60 from being displaced. That is, the transport path of the recording medium P can be prevented from changing, the positional relationship between the application roll 60 and the recording medium P can be stabilized, and the undercoat liquid applied from the application roll 60 to the recording medium P can be obtained. It can be made more uniform.

In addition, as in the present embodiment, the undercoat layer is semi-cured by the undercoat solution semi-cured portion, so that even if the ink droplets overlap each other and land on the recording medium, the undercoat solution and the ink solution Due to the interaction of the droplets, coalescence between these adjacent ink droplets can be suppressed.
That is, by forming a semi-cured undercoat liquid layer on the recording medium, when the ink droplets ejected from the recording head land on the recording medium, for example, a single color ink droplet The ink droplets can be prevented from moving even when the ink droplets land on the recording medium with overlapping portions or when the ink droplets of different colors land on the recording medium with overlapping portions.
As a result, it is possible to effectively prevent the occurrence of blurring of the image, non-uniformity of the line width such as fine lines in the image and color unevenness of the colored surface, and sharp lines can be formed with a uniform width. For example, it is possible to record an inkjet image having a high droplet ejection density such as a fine line with good reproducibility. That is, a high-quality image can be formed on the recording medium.

In addition, an ultraviolet irradiation unit is disposed between the recording heads, and ink droplets that have landed on the recording medium by each recording head, that is, images are semi-cured, so that ink liquids of different colors landed at close positions It is possible to prevent the droplets from overlapping and the landing ink droplets from moving.
The ultraviolet irradiation unit irradiates ultraviolet rays for several hundred milliseconds to five seconds after the ink droplets have landed on the recording medium by the recording head, so that the ink droplets that have landed on the recording medium are half cut. It is preferable to cure.
By semi-curing the ink droplets within a few hundred milliseconds to 5 seconds after the ink droplets have landed, the shape of the ink droplets on the recording medium can be prevented from collapsing, and high-quality images can be formed. can do.

  Here, when the semi-cured state of the undercoat liquid and / or the ink liquid is realized by a polymerization reaction of a polymerizable compound that is initiated by irradiation with active energy rays, the non-polymerization rate (that is, from the viewpoint of improving the scratching property of the printed matter) A (after polymerization) / A (before polymerization) is preferably from 0.2 to 0.9, more preferably from 0.3 to 0.9, and from 0.5 to 0.00. Particularly preferably, it is 9 or less.

A (before polymerization) is the absorbance of the infrared absorption peak due to the polymerizable group before the polymerization reaction, and A (after polymerization) is the absorbance of the infrared absorption peak due to the polymerizable group after the polymerization reaction.
For example, when the polymerizable compound contained in the undercoat liquid and / or the ink liquid is an acrylate monomer or a methacrylate monomer, an absorption peak based on a polymerizable group (acrylate group, methacrylate group) can be observed in the vicinity of 810 cm ^−1. The polymerization rate is preferably defined by peak absorbance. When the polymerizable compound is an oxetane compound, an absorption peak based on a polymerizable group (oxetane ring) can be observed in the vicinity of 986 cm ⁻¹ , and the polymerization rate is preferably defined by the absorption light intensity of the peak. When the polymerizable compound is an epoxy compound, an absorption peak based on a polymerizable group (epoxy group) can be observed in the vicinity of 750 cm ⁻¹ , and the polymerization rate is preferably defined by the absorbance of the peak.

  In addition, as a means for measuring the infrared absorption spectrum, a commercially available infrared spectrophotometer can be used, which may be either a transmission type or a reflection type, and is preferably selected as appropriate in the form of a sample. For example, it can be measured using an infrared spectrophotometer FTS-6000 manufactured by BIO-RODO.

  In the case of a curing reaction based on an ethylenically unsaturated compound or a cyclic ether, the unpolymerization rate can be quantitatively measured by the reaction rate of the ethylenically unsaturated group or the cyclic ether group.

  In the present invention, the undercoat liquid and / or the ink liquid is subjected to a curing reaction by applying an active energy ray to semi-cure the undercoat liquid and / or the ink liquid. Here, the method of giving an active energy ray to cause a semi-curing reaction is a method of insufficiently carrying out the polymerization reaction of the polymerizable compound on the surface of the undercoat liquid and / or ink liquid applied to the recording medium. . On the surface of the undercoat liquid and / or ink liquid, the polymerization reaction is more likely to be inhibited by the influence of oxygen in the air than in the interior thereof. Therefore, the semi-curing reaction of the undercoat liquid and / or the ink liquid can be caused by controlling the application condition of the active energy ray.

The amount of energy required for semi-curing the undercoat liquid and / or ink liquid varies depending on the type and content of the polymerization initiator, but generally 1 to 500 mJ / cm ² when energy is applied by active energy rays. The degree is preferred.

The application of active energy rays such as actinic light and heating promotes the generation of active species due to the decomposition of the polymerization initiator, and the increase in active species and the temperature rise cause the polymerization of the polymerizable or crosslinkable material resulting from the active species. Curing reaction by polymerization or crosslinking is accelerated.
Moreover, thickening (viscosity increase) can also be suitably performed by irradiation of actinic light or heating.

Here, the viscosity (25 ° C.) of the semi-cured undercoat layer and / or the inner layer of the ink droplet is preferably 5000 mPa · s or more.
Further, the viscosity (25 ° C.) of the semi-cured undercoat layer and / or the surface layer of the ink droplet is preferably 100 mPa · s or more and 5000 mPa · s or less.
Further, the viscosity (25 ° C.) of the semi-cured undercoat layer and / or the inner layer of the ink droplet is 1.5 times or more of the viscosity (25 ° C.) of the semi-cured and / or ink droplet surface layer. Preferably, it is more preferably 2 times or more, and further preferably 3 times or more.
By setting it as the said range, an undercoat and / or an ink droplet can be semi-hardened suitably.

The degree of polymerization of the polymerizable compound on the surface of the semi-cured undercoat liquid (that is, undercoat layer) and / or ink droplets is preferably 1% or more and 70% or less, and is preferably 5% or more and 60% or less. It is more preferable to set it to 10% or more and 50% or less. Here, the degree of polymerization can be measured by IR or the like.
By setting it as the said range, an undercoat can be semi-hardened suitably.

In addition, as in the present embodiment, the ultraviolet irradiation unit is configured by a plurality of ultraviolet irradiation units arranged in a straight line, that is, the plurality of ultraviolet irradiation units irradiate the entire area in the width direction of the recording medium with ultraviolet rays. With this configuration, the ultraviolet irradiation region of each ultraviolet irradiation unit can be reduced, an inexpensive light source can be used as the UV lamp, and an inexpensive driving mechanism can be used as the driving mechanism. Thereby, apparatus cost can be reduced. In addition, although an apparatus cost becomes high, of course, you may comprise an ultraviolet irradiation unit with one ultraviolet irradiation part.
In this embodiment, the ultraviolet irradiation unit is arranged in a straight line on a straight line orthogonal to the recording medium conveyance direction, but the ultraviolet irradiation unit is different in the recording medium conveyance direction, that is, orthogonal to the conveyance direction. You may arrange in a zigzag pattern on a plurality of straight lines parallel to the direction.
Moreover, you may use the ultraviolet irradiation device similar to an ultraviolet irradiation part also for undercoat liquid semi-hardened part.

  Further, in this embodiment, the UV lamps of the ultraviolet irradiation unit are arranged in a straight line on a straight line orthogonal to the recording medium conveyance direction, but the UV lamps are located at different positions in the recording medium conveyance direction, that is, conveyance. You may arrange | position in zigzag form on the some straight line parallel to the direction orthogonal to a direction.

  In addition, the ultraviolet irradiation unit corresponding to the recording head disposed on the most downstream side in the transport path of the recording medium is used as a final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit, and ultraviolet rays having a stronger intensity than other ultraviolet irradiation units are emitted. The image formed on the recording medium can be reliably cured.

The undercoat liquid semi-cured portion and / or the ultraviolet irradiation unit may be provided with an openable / closable shutter capable of blocking the ultraviolet rays irradiated to the recording medium P side.
By providing a shutter and blocking the irradiated ultraviolet light, it is possible to prevent the ultraviolet light from leaking more than necessary to the recording medium P side, and the recording head is irradiated with the ultraviolet light reflected by the recording medium P, and the recording head Ink can be prevented from being cured. Further, by providing a shutter, irradiation / non-irradiation of ultraviolet rays can be switched without turning on / off a light source such as a UV lamp.

  In addition, it is preferable to perform a light reflection preventing treatment (for example, a matte black treatment) on each part in the vicinity of the ultraviolet irradiation unit 54.

Here, in the ink jet recording apparatus 10, since the undercoat portion can have a simpler configuration, the portion of the recording medium P that comes into contact with the coating roll of the undercoat portion is directed in a direction in which the surface on which the image is formed faces downward. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, as shown in FIG. 10, an ink jet recording apparatus 80 in which the transport path of the recording medium P is linear can also be used suitably.
The undercoat portion 82 of the ink jet recording apparatus 80 abuts the blade 86 on the surface of the application roller 84 on the collection roller side (that is, the upstream side in the conveyance direction of the recording medium P), so that the application roller 84 and the blade 86 contact each other. This is a configuration in which the undercoat liquid is stored in a space (hereinafter referred to as “storage section 88”) formed in the upper part of the contact section (contact section).
The driving unit 62 rotates the application roll 84 in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P. The reservoir 88 is supplied with an undercoat liquid from a supply tank (not shown) as necessary.
The application roll 84 of the undercoat part 82 passes through the storage part 88, holds a predetermined amount of undercoat liquid on the surface, contacts the surface of the recording medium P, and applies the undercoat liquid to the surface of the recording medium P. .

The ink jet recording apparatus 80 can also form the undercoat layer U having an improved surface shape on the recording medium P by rotating the coating roll 84 in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P. That is, an undercoat layer having a small surface roughness can be formed on the recording medium P, thereby forming a high-quality image.
In addition, when the undercoat liquid reservoir 88 is provided on the upper part of the application roller as in this embodiment, the undercoat liquid leaks from the reservoir 88 due to the blade 86 being brought into contact with the application roll 84, and is recorded. It is possible to prevent the undercoat liquid from being applied on the medium P more than necessary.

Further, in this embodiment, as described above, since different color inks can be prevented from being mixed and a higher quality image can be formed, an ultraviolet irradiation unit is disposed between the recording heads of the respective colors, Although the image portion on the recording medium is semi-cured each time an image is recorded, the present invention is not limited to this, and one ultraviolet irradiation unit may be arranged for a plurality of recording heads.
For example, as shown in FIG. 11, an ink jet recording apparatus 90 in which the image fixing unit 91 includes only the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a can be suitably used.
The ink jet recording apparatus 90 applies the undercoat liquid onto the recording medium P by the undercoat portion 13, and irradiates the recording medium P with ultraviolet rays by the undercoat liquid semi-curing portion 14 to semi-harden the undercoat layer, and then performs recording. An image is formed on the recording medium P by the heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K, and then the recording medium P is irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a to form each ink layer and undercoat layer. Harden. As described above, an image can be suitably recorded on the recording medium P even with a configuration in which no ultraviolet irradiation unit is arranged corresponding to each recording head.
Also, when curing an image (that is, a plurality of ink layers) and an undercoat layer formed by a plurality of recording heads by irradiation with ultraviolet rays from one ultraviolet irradiation unit, the curing is promoted by heating by the curing accelerator. Thus, the ink layer and the undercoat layer on the recording medium side can be reliably cured.

In the present embodiment, the recording head unit has five colors of white (W) and CMYK. However, the recording head unit has various configurations such as four colors of CMYK and six or more colors having heads of other special colors. It can also be a combined head. Further, the arrangement order of the recording heads of the respective colors is not particularly limited, and can be an arbitrary order.
Furthermore, the present invention is an apparatus capable of suitably curing an image even when an image is formed by a plurality of ink layers and / or undercoat layers. However, the present invention is not limited to the arrangement of a plurality of recording heads. An ink jet recording apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium using a recording head and then irradiates ultraviolet rays to form a monochrome image may be used.
In the case of forming a monochromatic image as described above, the image can be suitably cured by heating by the curing accelerating portion at the time of irradiation with ultraviolet rays or after irradiation with ultraviolet rays to promote curing.

Next, a digital label printing apparatus using the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 12 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of an example of a digital label printing apparatus using the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a control unit that controls the digital label printing apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 14 is a longitudinal sectional view of the recording medium P for label printing used in the digital label printing apparatus shown in FIG.

The digital label printing apparatus of the present embodiment records an image on a continuous paper-like recording medium P for label printing by a drawing unit, then cuts a label shape by a die cutter of a post-processing unit, and further adheres an unnecessary portion to an adhesive. This is an embodiment in which a scrap removing operation for peeling and removing a sheet from a mount (release paper) is performed as a post-process.
In each of the following embodiments, an actinic ray curable digital label printing apparatus using an ultraviolet ray curable ink among actinic ray curable inks cured by actinic ray irradiation will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In other words, the present invention can be applied to a digital label printing apparatus using various actinic ray curable inks, and any other type of digital label printing apparatus.
Further, as shown in FIG. 14, the recording medium P of the present embodiment has a two-sheet structure in which an adhesive sheet 180 having a back surface coated with an adhesive 180a is superposed on a release paper 182 as a mount.

As illustrated in FIG. 12, the digital label printing apparatus 100 includes a transport unit 110, an undercoat unit 13, an undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14, a support unit 15, an image recording unit 16, an image fixing unit 18, and a curing promoting unit 19. A drawing unit 112, a post-processing unit 114, and a control unit 116 are provided.
Here, the transport unit 110 transports a continuous paper-like recording medium P for label printing (hereinafter referred to as “recording medium P”) in a certain direction (from left to right in FIG. 12). The drawing unit 112 and the post-processing unit 114 are arranged in the order of the transport direction of the recording medium P, that is, upstream to downstream, in order of the undercoat unit 13, the undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14, the drawing unit 112, and the post-processing unit 114. Yes. In addition, although a part of the illustration is omitted in FIG. 12, the control unit 116 is connected to the undercoat unit 13, the undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14, the transport unit 110, the drawing unit 112, and the post-processing unit 114. And controls the operation of each part.

The conveyance unit 110 includes a supply roll 30, a conveyance roll 32, conveyance roll pairs 126, 128, 130, and 132, a product winding unit 134, and conveyance motors 128a and 134a.
A continuous paper-like recording medium P for label printing is wound around the supply roll 30 in a roll shape.
The transport roll 32 and the transport roll pairs 126, 128, 130, and 132 are arranged in this order from the upstream side to the downstream side of the transport path of the recording medium P. The transport roll 32 and the transport roll pairs 126, 128, 130, and 132 feed the recording medium P from the supply roll 30 and transport the recording medium P in a predetermined direction (in this embodiment, from left to right in FIG. 12). To do.
Further, the conveyance path of the recording medium P is changed by the conveyance roll 32 in the same manner as the ink jet recording apparatus 10 described above, and the conveyance direction is changed from the diagonally upward direction to the horizontal direction.
The product winding unit 134 is disposed on the transport path of the recording medium P, that is, the most downstream in the transport direction, and is transported on the transport path by the transport roll 32 and the transport roll pairs 126, 128, 130, 132. The recording medium P that has passed through the undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14, the drawing unit 112, and the post-processing unit 114 is wound up.
The conveyance motors 128a and 134a are connected to the conveyance roll pair 128 and the product winding unit 134, respectively, and rotate the conveyance roll pair 128 and the product winding unit 134.

In other words, in the present embodiment, the pair of transport rolls 128 connected to the transport motors 128a and 134a and the product take-up unit 134 are rotationally driven to serve as drive rollers for transporting the recording medium P. The roll pairs 126, 130, and 132 are driven rollers that rotate in accordance with the movement of the recording medium P and regulate the recording medium P on the transport path.
The transport unit 110 drives the transport motors 128 a and 134 a to rotate the transport roll pair 128 and the product winding unit 134. As a result, the recording medium P is fed from the supply roll 30, passes through the undercoat unit 13, the undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14, the drawing unit 112, and the post-processing unit 114, and is taken up by the product take-up unit 134.

In the present embodiment, a transport buffer is provided between the drawing unit 112 and the post-processing unit 114.
By providing the transport buffer, it is possible to absorb the slack of the continuous paper-like recording medium P for label printing caused by the difference in transport speed between the drawing unit 112 and the post-processing unit 114, and efficiently manufacture labels. Can do.

Further, the conveyance motors 128a and 134a are connected to a conveyance motor control unit 195 described later to control the rotation speed, and the conveyance speed of the recording medium P for continuous paper-like label printing by the conveyance unit 110 is controlled. .
In addition, the conveyance roll pair used as a drive roll pair is not specifically limited, For example, a conveyance motor may be provided in all the conveyance roll pairs, and all the conveyance roll pairs are good also as a drive roll pair.

As described above, the undercoat unit 13 includes the application roll 60, the drive unit 62, the storage tray 64, the blade 66, and the positioning unit 68. Since the configuration and function of each part of the undercoat part 13 are the same as those of the undercoat part 13 of the inkjet recording apparatus 10 described above, detailed description thereof is omitted.
The application roll 60 of the undercoat unit 13 contacts the recording medium P while being rotated in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction on the recording medium P, and applies the undercoat liquid to the surface of the recording medium P.
As a result, an undercoat layer is formed on the surface of the recording medium P.

The undercoat liquid semi-curing portion 14 is disposed on the downstream side of the undercoat portion 13 in the transport direction of the recording medium P. Since the configuration and function of the undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14 are the same as those of the undercoat liquid semi-cured part 14 of the inkjet recording apparatus 10 described above, detailed description thereof is omitted.
The undercoat liquid semi-cured by the undercoat liquid semi-curing section 14 and the transport section 110 is applied, and the recording medium P on which the undercoat layer is formed is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, so that the undercoat layer is semi-cured.

The drawing unit 112 includes a support unit 15, an image recording unit 16, an image fixing unit 18, and a curing promoting unit 19.
Various configurations of the support unit 15, the image recording unit 16, the image fixing unit 18, and the curing accelerating unit 19 are the same as the support unit 15, the image recording unit 16, and the image fixing unit of the inkjet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 18 and the same as the curing accelerating portion 19, and detailed description thereof is omitted.
The drawing unit 112 also has a recording head 48W of the recording head unit 46 of the image recording unit 16 on the head surface plate 40 supported by the main body surface plate 38 of the support 15 arranged opposite to the conveyance path of the recording medium P. 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K are arranged, and on the main body surface plate 38, ultraviolet irradiation units 54 and 54a of an ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 and a final exposure ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a that are individually supported by the illumination unit support 42 are provided. Has been placed.
Also, the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, 48K and the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 are arranged from the upstream side to the downstream side of the transport path from the recording head 48W, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, the recording head 48Y, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, and the recording head. Similarly, the arrangement 48M, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, the recording head 48C, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, the recording head 48K, and the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a are arranged in this order.
Further, the curing accelerating unit 19 is disposed at a position facing the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a on the back surface side of the recording medium P.
The drawing unit 112 ejects ink droplets from each recording head, and then irradiates ultraviolet rays from each ultraviolet irradiation unit 52 to semi-cure each ink layer on the recording medium P. Further, the drawing unit 112 irradiates ultraviolet rays from the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a, and heats the undercoat layer and the ink layer on the recording medium P by the curing acceleration unit 19, so that the undercoat layer on the recording medium P is heated. And the ink layer is cured. In this way, an image is formed on the recording medium P.

The post-processing unit 114 is disposed on the downstream side of the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a corresponding to the recording head 48K in the conveyance direction of the recording medium P, and is actinic ray curable transparent liquid (in this embodiment, ultraviolet curable transparent). A varnish coater 162 and an ultraviolet irradiation unit 164 for improving the gloss by applying a liquid) to the image surface, a die cutter 166 for making a label-shaped cut in the continuous paper-like recording medium P, and a waste as an unnecessary part peeling part. And a take-up portion 172.
A transport buffer is provided between the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a corresponding to the recording head 48K and the varnish coater 162 as described above.

The varnish coater 162 supplies a transparent actinic ray (ultraviolet ray in this embodiment) curable liquid (hereinafter also referred to as “active light curable transparent liquid” or simply “transparent liquid”) to the surface of the recording medium P. It is a supply means and is arranged downstream of the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a corresponding to the recording head 48K in the transport direction of the recording medium P.
The varnish coater 162 has a pair of application rolls with UV-curing transparent liquid adhered (impregnated) on the surface thereof, and supports the movement of the recording medium P (synchronously) while sandwiching the recording medium P. By rotating, the ultraviolet curable transparent liquid is applied to the surface (the surface on which the image is formed) of the recording medium P pressed with foil.

  Here, the transparent liquid applied by the varnish coater 162 is an actinic ray curable transparent liquid that can be cured by ultraviolet irradiation, and contains at least a polymerizable compound and a photoinitiator as main components, for example, a cationic polymerization composition. , Radical polymerization compositions, aqueous compositions and the like. Details will be described later.

The ultraviolet irradiation unit 164 is disposed on the downstream side of the varnish coater 162 in the conveyance direction of the recording medium P. The ultraviolet irradiation unit 164 irradiates the recording medium P with actinic rays (ultraviolet in the present embodiment) to cure the ultraviolet curable transparent liquid applied to the surface of the recording medium P. In addition, the ultraviolet irradiation part 164 can also be set as the structure which arrange | positioned the several ultraviolet irradiation part similarly to the above-mentioned ultraviolet irradiation unit. Further, as the ultraviolet irradiation unit 164, various configurations shown in the ultraviolet irradiation unit 54 described above can be used.
By applying and curing an ultraviolet curable transparent liquid on the surface of the recording medium P, the image surface of the recording medium P can be given gloss, and the image quality can be improved.

As shown in FIG. 14, the die cutter 166 is provided with a desired label-shaped cut 180 b only in the adhesive sheet 180 of the printed continuous-paper label recording medium P. A cylinder cutter 168 disposed on the downstream side of the ultraviolet irradiation unit 164 in the transport direction and disposed on the image surface side of the recording medium P, and a receiver disposed on the opposite side of the cylinder cutter 168 across the recording medium P. And a roller 170.
The cylinder cutter 168 includes a cylindrical cylinder 168a and a plurality of cutting blades 168b wound around the cylindrical surface of the cylinder 168a and formed in a label shape.

  The die cutter 166 oscillates and rotates intermittently in synchronization with the conveyance speed of the recording medium P while the recording medium P is sandwiched between the cylinder cutter 168 and the receiving roller 170, so that the cutting blade 168 b is rotated. A label-shaped cut is made only in the P adhesive sheet 180 (see FIG. 14).

  Here, as shown in FIG. 15, when the circumferential length CL of the cylindrical surface of the cylinder 168a is not an integral multiple of the length LL of the label L, in other words, the circumferential direction of the cylindrical surface of the cylinder 168a. When the length CL and the length CL1 of the cutting blade 168b do not match, a blank portion B where the cutting blade 168b is not provided is generated on the cylindrical surface of the cylinder 168a.

  In this case, when the die cutter 166 is continuously rotated and a label-shaped cut 180b is made, the space between the label group LB containing the previous cut 180b and the label group LA containing the current cut 180b corresponds to the blank portion B. A large unnecessary portion P1 is formed, and the continuous paper-like recording medium P for label printing is wasted.

  On the other hand, in this embodiment, the die cutter 166 is intermittently swung in order to eliminate the formation of useless unnecessary portions P1. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 16, the next cut 180b can be made continuously with the rear end of the label group LB having the previous cut 180b. Thus, even when the circumferential length CL of the cylinder surface of the cylinder 168a and the length LL of the label L are not an integral multiple, the generation of the unnecessary portion P1 between the label L groups LB and LA is eliminated, and the continuous paper The label-printed recording medium P can be used efficiently.

The scrap removing part 172 peels off an unnecessary part (peripheral part of the label L) of the adhesive sheet 180 that does not become the label (product) L from the release paper 182 and winds it up.
The recording medium P in which the unnecessary portion is wound, that is, the recording medium P in which only the label L is attached to the release paper 182 is wound around the product winding unit 134 to become a product.

Next, the control unit 116 that controls the transport unit 110, the drawing unit 112, and the post-processing unit 114 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 13, the control unit 116 includes a memory 191 for storing recording image data for ink ejection by the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K of the recording head unit 46, and recording image data. Based on the head drive control unit 192 that drives and controls the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K of the recording head unit 46, and image data analysis that analyzes the shape of the label L based on the image data stored in the memory 191. A section 193, a transport speed changing section 194 that changes the transport speed of the recording medium P for continuous label printing based on the shape of the label L analyzed by the image data analyzing section 193, and a transport speed changing section 194. A transport motor controller 195 that controls the rotational speeds of the transport motors 128a and 134a based on the changed transport speed; And a die cutter controller 196 for controlling the rotational speed of the die cutter 166 based on the transport speed transport speed changer 194 has changed.

An input unit 199 such as a computer is connected to the memory 191 of the control unit 116. The memory 191 stores recording image data input from the input unit 199.
Further, the head drive control unit 192 selects and discharges ejection ports for ejecting ink droplets of the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K of the recording head unit 46 based on the image data stored in the memory 191. The amount of ink droplets to be discharged, the ejection timing, and the like are calculated, and the recording head unit 46 is controlled based on the calculation result. As an example, in the case of a piezo-type inkjet head as in the present embodiment, a piezoelectric element to which a voltage is applied and a voltage value to be applied among a plurality of ejection portions (ejection ports) according to image data. The application time, application timing, and the like are calculated, and an ejection signal is sent to the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K based on the calculation results.

The image data analysis unit 193 analyzes the shape of the label L from the label edge data of the image data stored in the memory 191, and sends the analysis result to the conveyance speed change unit 194.
The conveyance speed changing unit 194 stores in advance a conveyance speed that is optimal for post-processing for each shape of the label L, and is analyzed by the image data analysis unit 193 and calculated from the label edge data that has been sent. The optimum transport speed of the recording medium P is calculated from the shape and the stored transport speed, and the calculation result is sent to the transport motor control unit 195 and the die cutter control unit 196.
The transport motor control unit 195 controls the rotation speeds of the transport motors 128a and 134a based on the optimal transport speed calculated by the transport speed changing unit 194. Thereby, the continuous paper-like recording medium P for label printing is transported at an optimum speed.

The die cutter control unit 196 controls the rotational speed of the die cutter 166 based on the optimum transport speed calculated by the transport speed changing unit 194. Specifically, the rotational speed of the die cutter 166 is controlled such that the conveyance speed of the recording medium P and the peripheral speed of the cutting blade 168b of the die cutter 166 are the same.
As described above, the control unit 116 changes or adjusts the conveyance speed of the recording medium P conveyed through the post-processing unit 114 based on the label shape data calculated from the label edge data.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that the transport speed changing unit 194 controls the transport speed of the recording medium P to be slowed at the label portion position that is weak against unnecessary part peeling based on the shape data of the label L. As a result, it is possible to prevent tearing and breakage during scrap removal, and to reliably remove unnecessary portions other than the label portion.

  Specifically, as conditions where tearing and breakage are likely to occur due to unnecessary part peeling, depending on the material of the adhesive paper, if the width of the unnecessary part is 5 mm or less, if there is an acute angle part of 30 degrees or less, The optimum peeling speed preliminarily determined by a test under each condition is set in the conveyance speed changing unit 194, and the optimum peeling speed of the recording medium P is further increased in consideration of these optimum peeling speeds. It is preferable to calculate.

Next, a method for creating a label by the digital label printing apparatus 100 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 12, the recording medium P sent out from the supply roll 30 wound in a roll shape is transported by the transport unit 110, and the undercoat liquid is applied by the application roll 60 of the undercoat part 13. After the undercoat layer is semi-cured by the curing unit 14, it is conveyed to the drawing unit 112.

  The recording medium P transported to the drawing unit 112 passes through positions that face the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K.

The recording heads 48 </ b> W, 48 </ b> C, 48 </ b> M, 48 </ b> Y, and 48 </ b> K discharge ink droplets of ultraviolet curable ink to the recording medium P that passes through the opposing positions based on control by the control unit 116. The recording medium P on which the ink has been ejected is further conveyed, passes through a position facing the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, and the ink is semi-cured.
That is, when the recording medium P passes through the positions facing the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, 48K, ink droplets are directed from the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, 48K toward the recording medium P. Discharged. The recording medium that has passed through the positions facing the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, and 48Y is irradiated with ultraviolet rays from the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, and each ink layer formed on the recording medium is semi-cured. Further, the recording medium on which an image is formed by the recording head 48K is irradiated with ultraviolet rays from the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a, and further heated by the curing accelerating unit 19, whereby each ink layer and undercoat layer on the recording medium. Is reliably cured. As a result, an image is formed on the surface of the recording medium P.

The recording medium P on which the image is formed is conveyed to the post-processing unit 114 via the conveyance buffer, and the ultraviolet curable transparent liquid is applied to the surface of the recording medium P by the varnish coater 162, and then the ultraviolet irradiation unit. 164 is cured.
The recording medium P coated with the ultraviolet curable transparent liquid is conveyed to the die cutter 166, and the cut 180b is formed in the shape of the label L only on the adhesive sheet 180 by the cylinder cutter 168 and the receiving roller 170.
At this time, as described above, since the die cutter 166 makes the cut 180b having the shape of the label L while swinging intermittently, the cut 180b can be continuously formed, and the recording medium P is wasted. The part never occurs.

Thereafter, unnecessary portions other than the label L of the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 180 of the recording medium P are peeled off from the release paper 182 and taken up by the residue removing portion 172. The recording medium P in a state where only the label L is stuck on the release paper 182 is wound around the product winding unit 134 to become a product.
A label is created as described above.

As described above, the digital label printing apparatus 100 also heats the recording medium P irradiated with the ultraviolet rays by the final curing ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a by the curing accelerating unit 19, so that the ink layer and the undercoat layer on the recording medium. Can be suitably cured, and a high-quality and high-quality label can be produced.
Further, an undercoat layer having a small surface roughness is formed by applying an undercoat liquid onto the recording medium P while rotating the coating roll 60 of the undercoat section 13 in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction of the recording medium P. be able to. Thereby, an image without image unevenness can be formed on a recording medium, and a high-quality and high-quality label can be manufactured.

  Further, according to the digital label printing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, the conveyance speed changing unit 194 reduces the conveyance speed of the recording medium P at a label portion position that is weak against unnecessary portion separation based on the label shape data. By doing so, the label L can be prevented from being broken or damaged during post-processing (at the time of scrap removal), and unnecessary portions other than the label portion can be reliably removed. As a result, it is possible to improve productivity by eliminating an apparatus stop caused by tearing or breakage of the label L, and to provide the label L at low cost.

Next, another example of the digital label printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.
Here, FIG. 17 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of another example of a digital label printing apparatus using the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 18 is a control for controlling the digital label printing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows a part.
The digital label printing apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 17 has the same configuration as the digital label printing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 12 except for the post-processing unit 214. Therefore, the same reference numerals are given to the same constituent elements in both, and the detailed description thereof will be omitted, and the following will focus on the points peculiar to the digital label printing apparatus 200.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the post-processing unit 214 of the digital label printing apparatus 200 includes a varnish coater 162, an ultraviolet irradiation unit 164, a laser cutter 220, and a residue removing unit 172. Since the varnish coater 162, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 164, and the residue removing unit 172 are the same as the varnish coater 162, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 164, and the residue removing unit 172 of the post-processing unit 114 shown in the digital label printing apparatus 100 of FIG. Description is omitted.

The laser cutter 220 is provided with a desired label-shaped cut 180b only on the adhesive sheet 180 of the recording medium P for continuous label printing that is printed in the same manner as the die cutter 166 of the digital label printing apparatus 100 of FIG. It is arranged between the ultraviolet irradiation part 164 and the residue removing part 172.
The laser cutter 220 irradiates the continuous paper-like recording medium P for label printing to be conveyed with laser, and puts a label-shaped cut 180 b only on the adhesive sheet 180.

  The control unit 216 includes a memory 191 that stores recording image data for ink ejection by the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K of the recording head unit 46, and the recording image data to the recording head of the recording head unit 46. Based on the shape of the label L analyzed by the image data analysis unit 193, the head drive control unit 192 for sending to 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, 48K, the image data analysis unit 193 for analyzing the shape of the label L A conveyance speed changing unit 194 that changes the conveyance speed of the recording medium P for paper-like label printing, and a conveyance motor control that controls the rotation speeds of the conveyance motors 128a and 134a based on the conveyance speed changed by the conveyance speed changing unit 194. Part 195. That is, the control unit 216 of the present embodiment has the same configuration as the control unit 116 shown in FIG. 14 except that the die cutter control unit 196 is not provided.

The image data analysis unit 193 analyzes the image density at the label edge from the image data stored in the memory 191, and sends the analysis result to the conveyance speed change unit 194.
The conveyance speed changing unit 194 of the control unit 216 according to the present embodiment calculates the conveyance speed of the recording medium P according to the density of the image density data at the label edge cut by the laser cutter 220.
In other words, the conveyance speed changing unit 194 stores in advance an optimum post-processing conveyance speed corresponding to the image density, and the image density of the label edge analyzed and sent by the image data analysis unit 193 is stored. The optimum transport speed is calculated from the transport speed that has been set, and the calculation result is sent to the transport motor control unit 195.
Specifically, control is performed so that the conveyance speed of the recording medium P is decreased at a position where the image density at the label edge is high. As a result, a portion having a high image density, that is, a portion where the label L is thick and difficult to cut out by the laser is irradiated with a large amount of energy by slowing the conveying speed, and a label-shaped cut 180b is made in the adhesive sheet 180. .

  Here, in the transport speed changing unit, the condition for determining the transport speed is not limited to the image density, that is, the thickness of the ink film thickness, and is, for example, each condition such as a material that absorbs laser light of the ink. The optimum conveyance speed is determined in advance according to various conditions by a test, and can be set in the conveyance speed changing unit 194.

  The transport motor control unit 195 controls the rotation speeds of the transport motors 128a and 134a based on the transport speed changed by the transport speed changing unit 194. Thereby, the continuous paper-like recording medium P for label printing is transported at an optimum speed.

Next, a method for creating a label by the digital label printing apparatus 200 will be described.
Forming an image on the recording medium P by the drawing unit 112 on the recording medium P fed out from the supply roll 30 is the same as in the digital label printing apparatus 100 described above.

The recording medium P on which the image is formed is conveyed to the post-processing unit 214 via the conveyance buffer, and the ultraviolet curable transparent liquid is applied to the surface of the recording medium P by the varnish coater 162, and then the ultraviolet irradiation unit. 164 is cured.
The recording medium P coated with the ultraviolet curable transparent liquid is conveyed to the laser cutter 220 and irradiated with a laser, and a cut 180b is formed in the shape of the label L only on the adhesive sheet 180.

Thereafter, unnecessary portions other than the label L of the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 180 of the recording medium P are peeled off from the release paper 182 and taken up by the residue removing portion 172. The recording medium P in a state where only the label L is stuck on the release paper 182 is wound around the product winding unit 134 to become a product.
A label is created as described above.

Here, in the laser processing, it is necessary to apply energy according to the thickness of the label L, and the larger the thickness of the label L, the more energy is required.
In addition, when an actinic ray curable ink is used as the ink, the cured ink is formed so as to rise on the adhesive sheet 180. The raised height of the cured ink is, for example, about 12 μm, and the color printing portion to which a plurality of (W, C, M, Y, K) inks are stacked and attached becomes even higher. When an actinic ray curable ink is used, a recording medium P having no ink absorptivity is often used, and this raised height increases as it is. In addition, since a large amount of ink adheres to a portion where the image density is high, the height of the rise increases and the portion becomes thicker. Further, in the case of the thinnest thickness of the recording medium P for label printing, it is about 12 μm, which is thinner than the ink thickness, and the influence is further increased.

On the other hand, the digital label printing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment is configured so that, in the conveyance speed changing unit 194 in the post-processing step, according to the density of the image density data at the label edge, specifically, the dark portion is processed with a laser. When cutting, the conveyance speed of the recording medium P is adjusted to be slow, and the portion where the image density is high and the ink thickness is thick, such as actinic ray curable ink, is surely cut by the laser cutter 220 at a low speed. In addition, it is possible to cut only the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet, and it is possible to prevent partial cutouts from occurring.
Further, it is possible to efficiently create a label without creating a blank portion on the recording medium.

Next, another example of the digital label printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.
Here, FIG. 19 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of another example of a digital label printing apparatus using the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.
The digital label printing apparatus 500 shown in FIG. 19 is different from each other except that the undercoat unit 13, the undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14, the drawing unit 112, and the post-processing unit 214 are independent individual devices. The configuration is basically the same as that of the digital label printing apparatus 200 shown in FIG. Therefore, the same reference numerals are given to the same components in both, and the detailed description thereof will be omitted, and the following will focus on the points peculiar to the digital label printing apparatus 500.

  As shown in FIG. 19, the digital label printing apparatus 500 includes an undercoat unit 13, an undercoat liquid semi-curing unit 14, a pre-processing device (inkjet recording device) 501 having a drawing unit 112, and a post-processing unit 214. And a processing device 502.

Next, a characteristic part of the digital label printing apparatus 500 will be described together with a method for creating a label by the digital label printing apparatus 500.
The recording medium P is installed on the first supply roll 30 of the pre-processing device 501, conveyed by the conveying rolls 32, 126, etc., coated with the undercoat liquid by the undercoat section 13, and formed by the undercoat liquid semi-cured section 14. After the undercoat layer is semi-cured, it is further conveyed to the drawing unit 112. An image is formed on the surface of the recording medium P conveyed to the drawing unit 112 by the recording heads 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, and 48K, the ultraviolet irradiation unit 52, the final exposure ultraviolet irradiation unit 52a, and the curing accelerating unit 19. The The recording medium P on which the image is formed is wound around the collecting roll 512. Here, in the present embodiment, the recovery roll 512 is provided with a drive motor 512a, and the recovery roll 512 is used as a drive roller.

  The recording medium P on which the image is formed, that is, the recording medium P wound up by the collecting roll 512 is installed on the second supply roll 514 of the post-processing device 502. The recording medium P installed on the second supply roll 514 is transported to the post-processing unit 214 by the transport rolls 130 and 132.

The recording medium P on which the image is formed is coated with an ultraviolet curable transparent liquid by the varnish coater 162, and then the ultraviolet curable transparent liquid applied by being irradiated with ultraviolet rays from the ultraviolet irradiation unit 164 is cured.
Thereafter, the recording medium P is cut only on the adhesive sheet by the laser cutter 220 corresponding to the shape of the label L, and further, an unnecessary portion of the adhesive sheet of the recording medium P is removed from the release paper by the residue removing portion 172. It is peeled off and wound up. On the other hand, the recording medium P, in which unnecessary portions are wound and only the label portion of the adhesive sheet and the release paper are wound, is wound around the product winding portion 134 to become a product.

  Also in this embodiment, the conveyance speed changing unit 194 calculates the optimum conveyance speed based on the image density of the label edge analyzed by the image data analysis unit 193. The transport motor control unit 195 transports the recording medium P by controlling the rotational speed of the transport motor 134a so that the calculated optimal transport speed is obtained. Specifically, when the portion having a high image density at the label edge is cut by the laser cutter 220, the conveyance speed of the recording medium P is controlled to be slow.

In this way, the digital label printing device is a separate device as a pre-processing device and a post-treatment device, so that the pre-processing step of label L printing and image surface smoothing, foil stamping, transparent liquid application (glossy surface) The post-processing steps such as formation), scoring, and scrap removal can be performed as separate operations, and post-processing of various types of labels L can be performed collectively.
In general, the time required for printing is often slower than the time required for post-processing such as scrap removal, and one post-processing device 502 can handle a plurality of pre-processing devices 501. Efficient processing is possible.

  Even when the apparatus is separated in this way, only the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet can be accurately cut by controlling the conveyance speed according to the value calculated based on the image data.

  Hereinafter, a recording medium, an undercoat liquid and an ink that can be suitably used in the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention will be described.

(Physical properties of ink and undercoat liquid)
Here, the physical properties of the ink (droplet) ejected onto the recording medium vary depending on the apparatus, but generally the viscosity at 25 ° C. is preferably 5 to 100 mPa · s, and 10 to 80 mPa · s. It is more preferable that Moreover, it is preferable that it is 10-500 mPa * s, and, as for the viscosity (25 degreeC) before semi-hardening of undercoat liquid, it is more preferable that it is less than 50-300 mPa * s.

In the present invention, from the viewpoint of forming dots of a desired size on the recording medium, the undercoat liquid preferably contains a surfactant, and the following conditions (A), (B) and (C) It is more preferable to satisfy all of the above.
(A) The surface tension of the undercoat liquid is smaller than the surface tension of any ink ejected onto the recording medium.
(B) At least one of the surfactants contained in the undercoat liquid is
γs (0) −γs (saturation)> 0 (mN / m)
Satisfy the relationship.
(C) The surface tension of the undercoat liquid is
γs <(γs (0) + γs (saturation) ^max ) / 2
Satisfy the relationship.

Here, γs is the value of the surface tension of the undercoat liquid. γs (0) is the value of the surface tension of the liquid excluding all surfactants in the composition of the undercoat liquid. γs (saturation) is obtained when one surfactant among the surfactants contained in the undercoat liquid is added to the “liquid excluding all surfactants” and the concentration of the surfactant is increased. The surface tension value of the liquid with the surface tension saturated. γs (saturation) ^max is the maximum value of γs (saturation) determined for all surfactants satisfying the condition (B) among the surfactants contained in the undercoat liquid.

<Condition (A)>
In the present invention, as described above, in order to form an ink dot of a desired size on a recording medium, it is preferable to make the surface tension γs of the undercoat liquid smaller than the surface tension γk of any ink. .
Further, from the viewpoint of more effectively preventing the expansion of ink dots from landing to exposure, it is more preferable that γs <γk-3 (mN / m), and γs <γk-5 (mN / m). It is particularly preferred that
In the case of forming (printing or drawing) a full-color image, from the viewpoint of improving the sharpness of the image, the surface tension γs of the undercoat liquid is at least higher than the surface tension of the ink containing a colorant having high visibility. It is preferable to make it smaller, and it is more preferred to make it smaller than the surface tension of all inks. Examples of the colorant with high visibility include colorants exhibiting magenta, black, and cyan colors.
Further, from the viewpoint of proper discharge, the surface tension γk of the ink and the surface tension γs of the undercoat liquid satisfy the above-described relationship between the surface tension γk of the ink and the surface tension γs of the undercoat liquid, and each 15 mN / m. It is preferably in the range of 50 mN / m or less, more preferably in the range of 18 mN / m or more and 40 mN / m or less, and particularly preferably in the range of 20 mN / m or more and 38 mN / m or less.
By setting both values to 15 mN / m or more, it is possible to suitably form droplets at the time of droplet ejection by the inkjet head, and it is possible to prevent non-ejection. That is, ink droplets can be suitably discharged. Moreover, by setting it as 50 mN / m or less, wettability with an inkjet head can be made high and an ink droplet can be discharged suitably. That is, it is possible to prevent non-ejection of droplets. By setting both values within the range of 18 mN / m or more and 40 mN / m or less, and further within the range of 20 mN / m or more and 38 mN / m or less, the above effects can be obtained more suitably, and ink droplets can be obtained. Can be reliably discharged.
Here, in the present embodiment, the surface tension is measured by a Wilhelmy method using a commonly used surface tension meter (for example, Kyowa Interface Science Co., Ltd., surface tension meter CBVP-Z). The value measured at 60% RH.

<Condition (B) and Condition (C)>
In the present invention, the undercoat liquid preferably contains at least one kind of surfactant. By containing at least one type of surfactant in the undercoat liquid, it is possible to more reliably form ink dots of a desired size on the recording medium. In this case, at least one of the surfactants contained in the undercoat liquid preferably satisfies the following condition (B).
γs (0) −γs (saturation)> 0 (mN / m) Condition (B)
Furthermore, the surface tension of the undercoat liquid preferably satisfies the relationship of the following condition (C).
γs <(γs (0) + γs (saturation) ^max ) / 2 ... condition (C)

As described above, γs is the value of the surface tension of the undercoat liquid. Γs (0) is the value of the surface tension of the liquid excluding all the surfactants in the composition of the undercoat liquid. γs (saturation) is obtained when one surfactant among the surfactants contained in the undercoat liquid is added to the “liquid excluding all surfactants” and the concentration of the surfactant is increased. The surface tension value of the liquid with the surface tension saturated. γs (saturation) ^max is the maximum value of γs (saturation) obtained for all surfactants satisfying the condition (B) among the surfactants contained in the undercoat liquid.

  The γs (0) is obtained by measuring the surface tension value of the liquid excluding all surfactants in the composition of the undercoat liquid. The γs (saturation) is obtained by adding one surfactant among the surfactants contained in the undercoat liquid to the “liquid excluding all the surfactants”, and adjusting the concentration of the surfactant. It can be obtained by measuring the surface tension of the liquid when the change amount of the surface tension with respect to the change of the surfactant concentration becomes 0.01 mN / m or less when it is increased by 0.01% by mass.

Hereinafter, the γs (0), γs (saturated), and γs (saturated) ^max will be specifically described.
For example, the components constituting the undercoat liquid (Example 1) are a high boiling point solvent (diethyl phthalate, manufactured by Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.), a polymerizable material (dipropylene glycol diacrylate, manufactured by Akcros), a polymerization initiator. (TPO, the following initiator-1), fluorosurfactant (Megafac F475, manufactured by Dainippon Ink & Chemicals, Inc.), hydrocarbon surfactant (di-2-ethylhexyl sodium sulfosuccinate) Γs (0), γs (saturated) ¹ (when a fluorosurfactant is added), γs (saturated) ² (when a hydrocarbon surfactant is added), γs (saturated), and γs (Saturation) ^max is as follows.

That is, γs (0) is the surface tension value of the liquid of the undercoat liquid excluding all the surfactants, and is 36.7 mN / m. Further, when the saturation value of the surface tension of the liquid when the concentration is increased by adding the fluorosurfactant to the liquid is γs (saturation) ¹ , the value is 20.2 mN / m. . Furthermore, when the hydrocarbon surfactant is added to the liquid and the concentration of the surface tension of the liquid is γs (saturated) ² when the concentration is increased, the value is 30.5 mN / m.

Since the undercoat liquid (Example 1) contains two types of surfactants that satisfy the condition (B), γs (saturated) is carbonized when a fluorosurfactant is added (γs (saturated) ¹ ). Two values (γs (saturated) ² ) can be taken when the hydrogen-based surfactant is added. Here, γs (saturation) ^max is the maximum value of γs (saturation) ¹ and γs (saturation) ² , and is a value of γs (saturation) ² .
From the above, they are summarized as follows.
γs (0) = 36.7 mN / m
γs (saturated) ¹ = 20.2 mN / m (when a fluorosurfactant is added)
γs (saturated) ² = 30.5 mN / m (when a hydrocarbon-based surfactant is added)
γs (saturation) ^max = 30.5 mN / m

From the above results, the surface tension γs of the undercoat liquid in the above specific example is
γs <(γs (0) + γs (saturation) ^max ) /2=33.6 mN / m
It is preferable to satisfy the relationship.
As for the condition (C), from the viewpoint of more effectively preventing expansion of ink droplets from landing to exposure, as the surface tension of the undercoat liquid,
γs <γs (0) −3 × {γs (0) −γs (saturation) ^max } / 4
It is more preferable to satisfy the relationship
γs ≦ γs (saturation) ^max
It is particularly preferable to satisfy this relationship.

  The composition of the ink and the undercoat liquid may be selected so as to obtain a desired surface tension, but these liquids preferably contain a surfactant. As described above, in order to form ink dots of a desired size on the recording medium, the undercoat liquid preferably contains at least one surfactant. The surfactant will be described below.

(Surfactant)
In the present invention, as the surfactant, hexane, cyclohexane, p-xylene, toluene, ethyl acetate, methyl ethyl ketone, butyl carbitol, cyclohexanone, triethylene glycol monobutyl ether, 1,2-hexanediol, propylene glycol monomethyl ether, isopropanol, Substance having strong surface activity against at least one solvent among methanol, water, isobornyl acrylate, 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate, polyethylene glycol diacrylate, preferably hexane, toluene, propylene glycol monomethyl ether , Isobornyl acrylate, 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate, polyethylene glycol diacrylate More preferably, it has a strong surface activity against at least one solvent among propylene glycol monomethyl ether, isobornyl acrylate, 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate, and polyethylene glycol diacrylate. It is preferable to use a substance having a strong surface activity with respect to at least one kind of solvent among the substances having, particularly preferably isobonyl acrylate, 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate, and polyethylene glycol diacrylate.

Whether or not a certain compound has a strong surface activity with respect to the solvents listed above can be determined by the following procedure.
(procedure)
One solvent is selected from the solvents listed above, and the surface tension γ solvent (0) of the solvent is measured. The compound is added to the same solution as the solvent for obtaining the γ solvent (0), and the concentration of the compound is increased by 0.01% by mass. Measure the surface tension γ solvent (saturation) of the solution when: The relationship between the γ solvent (0) and the γ solvent (saturated) is
γ solvent (0) −γ solvent (saturated)> 1 (mN / m)
If so, it can be determined that the compound is a substance having a strong surface activity with respect to the solvent.

  Specific examples of the surfactant contained in the undercoat liquid include anionic surfactants such as dialkylsulfosuccinates, alkylnaphthalenesulfonates, fatty acid salts, polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers, polyoxyethylene alkyl allyl ethers, Nonionic surfactants such as acetylene glycols and polyoxyethylene / polyoxypropylene block copolymers, cationic surfactants such as alkylamine salts and quaternary ammonium salts, and fluorosurfactants. In addition, examples of the surfactant include those described in JP-A Nos. 62-173463 and 62-183457.

(Curing sensitivity of ink and undercoat liquid)
In the present invention, the curing sensitivity of the ink is preferably equal to or higher than the curing sensitivity of the undercoat liquid. The curing sensitivity of the ink is more preferably set to be equal to or higher than the curing sensitivity of the undercoat liquid and 4 times or less of the curing sensitivity of the undercoat liquid, and is set to be equal to or higher than the curing sensitivity of the undercoat liquid and not more than twice the curing sensitivity of the undercoat liquid. Is more preferable.
Here, the curing sensitivity is the amount of energy required for complete curing when the ink and / or undercoat liquid is cured using a mercury lamp (ultrahigh pressure, high pressure, medium pressure, etc., preferably an ultrahigh pressure mercury lamp). The smaller the amount of energy, the higher the sensitivity. Therefore, a curing sensitivity of 2 means that the amount of energy required for complete curing is ½.
Further, the phrase “curing sensitivity is equivalent” means that the difference in curing sensitivity between the two compared is 2 times or less, more preferably 1.5 times or less.

(Recording medium)
In the ink jet recording apparatus of this embodiment, any of a permeable recording medium, a non-permeable recording medium, and a slowly permeable recording medium can be used as the recording medium. In particular, when a non-permeable or slowly permeable recording medium is used as the recording medium, the effects of the present invention can be obtained more remarkably. Here, the permeable recording medium is a recording medium in which, for example, when a 10 pL (picoliter) droplet is dropped on the recording medium, the time until the entire liquid amount permeates is 100 ms or less. Say. Further, the non-permeable recording medium refers to a recording medium in which liquid droplets do not substantially permeate. “Substantially does not penetrate” means, for example, that the penetration rate of a droplet after 1 minute is 5% or less. Further, the slow-penetrating recording medium refers to a recording medium in which when a 10 pL droplet is dropped on the recording medium, the time until the entire liquid amount permeates is 100 ms or more.

Examples of the permeable recording medium include plain paper, porous paper, and other recording media that can absorb liquid.
Examples of the non-permeable or slowly permeable recording medium include art paper, synthetic resin, rubber, resin-coated paper, glass, metal, earthenware, and wood. In the present invention, a recording medium obtained by combining a plurality of these materials can be used for the purpose of adding functions.

  As the recording medium of the synthetic resin, any synthetic resin can be used. For example, polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate and polybutadiene terephthalate, polyolefins such as polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polyethylene, polyurethane, and polypropylene, acrylic resins, polycarbonates, Examples include acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, diacetate, triacetate, polyimide, cellophane, celluloid and the like. The thickness and shape of the recording medium when using a synthetic resin are not particularly limited, and may be any of a film shape, a card shape, and a block shape, and may be transparent or opaque. Good.

  As the recording medium of this synthetic resin, it is also preferable to use various non-absorbing plastics in the form of films used for so-called soft packaging and films thereof. Examples of the plastic film include a PET film, an OPS film, an OPP film, a PNy film, a PVC film, a PE film, a TAC film, and a PP film. Other plastics that can be used include polycarbonate, acrylic resin, ABS, polyacetal, PVA, and rubbers.

  Examples of the recording medium for resin-coated paper include a transparent polyester film, an opaque polyester film, an opaque polyolefin resin film, and a paper support in which both sides of paper are laminated with a polyolefin resin. In particular, it is preferable to use a paper support in which both sides of paper are laminated with a polyolefin resin.

  The metal recording medium is not particularly limited, and for example, aluminum, iron, gold, silver, copper, nickel, titanium, chromium, molybdenum, silicon, lead, zinc, etc. and stainless steel, and composite materials thereof are suitable. Can be used.

  Furthermore, as a recording medium, a read-only optical disk such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, a write-once optical disk such as a CD-R or DVD-R, a rewritable optical disk, or the like can be used. In this case, it is preferable to record an image on the so-called label surface side.

(Ink and undercoat liquid)
Hereinafter, the ink and the undercoat liquid that can be suitably used in the present invention will be described in detail.

The ink has a composition that forms at least an image, includes at least one polymerizable or crosslinkable material, and uses a polymerization initiator, a lipophilic solvent, a colorant, and other components as necessary. Composed.
The undercoat liquid preferably contains at least one polymerizable or crosslinkable material, and is composed of a polymerization initiator, a lipophilic solvent, a colorant and other components as necessary. Further, the undercoat liquid is preferably configured to have a composition different from that of the ink.

The polymerization initiator is preferably capable of initiating a polymerization reaction or a crosslinking reaction by active energy rays. As a result, the undercoat liquid applied to the recording medium can be cured by irradiation with active energy rays.
Moreover, it is preferable that undercoat liquid and / or ink contain a radically polymerizable composition. In the present invention, the radical polymerizable composition is a composition containing at least one radical polymerizable material and at least one radical polymerization initiator. When the undercoat liquid and / or the ink contains the radical polymerizable composition, the curing reaction of the undercoat liquid and / or the ink can be performed with high sensitivity in a short time.
The ink preferably contains a colorant. In addition, the undercoat liquid used in combination with this ink is either a composition containing no colorant or having a colorant content of less than 1% by mass, or a composition in which the undercoat liquid contains a white pigment as a colorant. Preferably there is.
Hereinafter, each component constituting the ink and / or the undercoat liquid will be described in detail.

(Polymerizable or crosslinkable material)
The polymerizable or crosslinkable material has a function of causing a polymerization or crosslinking reaction by an initiating species such as a radical generated from a polymerization initiator described later, and curing a composition containing these.

As the polymerizable or crosslinkable material, a polymerizable or crosslinkable material that causes a known polymerization or crosslinking reaction such as radical polymerization reaction or dimerization reaction can be applied. For example, an addition polymerizable compound having at least one ethylenically unsaturated double bond, a polymer compound having a maleimide group in the side chain, a cinnamyl group having a photodimerizable unsaturated double bond adjacent to the aromatic nucleus, Examples thereof include a polymer compound having a cinnamylidene group or a chalcone group in the side chain. Among these, an addition polymerizable compound having at least one ethylenically unsaturated double bond is more preferable, and from a compound (monofunctional or polyfunctional compound) having at least one terminal ethylenically unsaturated bond, more preferably two or more. It is particularly preferred that it is selected. Specifically, it can be appropriately selected from those widely known in the industrial field according to the present invention. For example, monomers, prepolymers (that is, dimers, trimers, and oligomers) and mixtures thereof, and those Those having a chemical form such as a copolymer of
A polymeric or crosslinkable material may be used individually by 1 type, and may be used in combination of 2 or more type.

As the polymerizable or crosslinkable material in the present invention, it is particularly preferable to use various known radically polymerizable monomers that cause a polymerization reaction with an initiating species generated from a radical initiator.
Examples of the radical polymerizable monomer include (meth) acrylates, (meth) acrylamides, aromatic vinyls, vinyl ethers, and compounds having an internal double bond (such as maleic acid). Here, “(meth) acrylate” refers to both and / or “acrylate” and “methacrylate”, and “(meth) acryl” refers to both and / or “acryl” and “methacryl”.

Examples of (meth) acrylates include the following.
Specific examples of monofunctional (meth) acrylates include hexyl (meth) acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl (meth) acrylate, tert-octyl (meth) acrylate, isoamyl (meth) acrylate, decyl (meth) acrylate, isodecyl ( (Meth) acrylate, stearyl (meth) acrylate, isostearyl (meth) acrylate, cyclohexyl (meth) acrylate, 4-n-butylcyclohexyl (meth) acrylate, bornyl (meth) acrylate, isobornyl (meth) acrylate, benzyl (meth) Acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl diglycol (meth) acrylate, butoxyethyl (meth) acrylate, 2-chloroethyl (meth) acrylate, 4-bromobutyl (meth) acrylate, shear Ethyl (meth) acrylate, benzyl (meth) acrylate, butoxymethyl (meth) acrylate, 3-methoxybutyl (meth) acrylate, alkoxymethyl (meth) acrylate, alkoxyethyl (meth) acrylate, 2- (2-methoxyethoxy) ethyl (Meth) acrylate, 2- (2-butoxyethoxy) ethyl (meth) acrylate, 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl (meth) acrylate, 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecyl (meth) acrylate, 4 -Butylphenyl (meth) acrylate, phenyl (meth) acrylate, 2,4,5-tetramethylphenyl (meth) acrylate, 4-chlorophenyl (meth) acrylate, phenoxymethyl (meth) acrylate, phenoxyethyl (meth) Acrylate, glycidyl (meth) acrylate, glycidyloxybutyl (meth) acrylate, glycidyloxyethyl (meth) acrylate, glycidyloxypropyl (meth) acrylate, tetrahydrofurfuryl (meth) acrylate, hydroxyalkyl (meth) acrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl (meth) acrylate, 3-hydroxypropyl (meth) acrylate,

2-hydroxypropyl (meth) acrylate, 2-hydroxybutyl (meth) acrylate, 4-hydroxybutyl (meth) acrylate, dimethylaminoethyl (meth) acrylate, diethylaminoethyl (meth) acrylate, dimethylaminopropyl (meth) acrylate, Diethylaminopropyl (meth) acrylate, trimethoxysilylpropyl (meth) acrylate, trimethylsilylpropyl (meth) acrylate, polyethylene oxide monomethyl ether (meth) acrylate, oligoethylene oxide monomethyl ether (meth) acrylate, polyethylene oxide (meth) acrylate, oligoethylene oxide (Meth) acrylate, oligoethylene oxide monoalkyl ether (meth) acrylate, Reethylene oxide monoalkyl ether (meth) acrylate, dipropylene glycol (meth) acrylate, polypropylene oxide monoalkyl ether (meth) acrylate, oligopropylene oxide monoalkyl ether (meth) acrylate, 2-methacryloyloxytyl succinic acid, 2- Methacryloyloxyhexahydrophthalic acid, 2-methacryloyloxyethyl-2-hydroxypropyl phthalate, butoxydiethylene glycol (meth) acrylate, trifluoroethyl (meth) acrylate, perfluorooctylethyl (meth) acrylate, 2-hydroxy-3 -Phenoxypropyl (meth) acrylate, EO modified phenol (meth) acrylate, EO modified cresol (meth) acrylate, EO modified noni Phenol (meth) acrylate, PO-modified nonylphenol (meth) acrylate, EO-modified 2-ethylhexyl (meth) acrylate and the like.

  Specific examples of the bifunctional (meth) acrylate include 1,6-hexanediol di (meth) acrylate, 1,10-decanediol di (meth) acrylate, neopentyl glycol di (meth) acrylate, 2,4- Dimethyl-1,5-pentanediol di (meth) acrylate, butylethylpropanediol (meth) acrylate, ethoxylated cyclohexanemethanol di (meth) acrylate, polyethylene glycol di (meth) acrylate, oligoethylene glycol di (meth) acrylate , Ethylene glycol di (meth) acrylate, 2-ethyl-2-butyl-butanediol di (meth) acrylate, hydroxypivalic acid neopentyl glycol di (meth) acrylate, EO-modified bisphenol A di (meth) acrylate Bisphenol F polyethoxydi (meth) acrylate, polypropylene glycol di (meth) acrylate, oligopropylene glycol di (meth) acrylate, 1,4-butanediol di (meth) acrylate, 2-ethyl-2-butylpropanediol di (Meth) acrylate, 1,9-nonane di (meth) acrylate, propoxylated ethoxylated bisphenol A di (meth) acrylate, tricyclodecane di (meth) acrylate and the like.

  Specific examples of trifunctional (meth) acrylates include trimethylolpropane tri (meth) acrylate, trimethylolethane tri (meth) acrylate, trimethylolpropane alkylene oxide modified tri (meth) acrylate, pentaerythritol tri (meth) Acrylate, dipentaerythritol tri (meth) acrylate, trimethylolpropane tris ((meth) acryloyloxypropyl) ether, isocyanuric acid alkylene oxide modified tri (meth) acrylate, dipentaerythritol tri (meth) acrylate propionate, tris (( (Meth) acryloyloxyethyl) isocyanurate, hydroxypivalaldehyde-modified dimethylolpropane tri (meth) acrylate, sorbitol tri (meta) Acrylate, propoxylated trimethylolpropane tri (meth) acrylate, and the like ethoxylated glycerol triacrylate.

  Specific examples of tetrafunctional (meth) acrylates include pentaerythritol tetra (meth) acrylate, sorbitol tetra (meth) acrylate, ditrimethylolpropane tetra (meth) acrylate, dipentaerythritol tetra (meth) acrylate propionate, ethoxylation Examples include pentaerythritol tetra (meth) acrylate.

  Specific examples of the pentafunctional (meth) acrylate include sorbitol penta (meth) acrylate and dipentaerythritol penta (meth) acrylate.

  Specific examples of hexafunctional (meth) acrylates include dipentaerythritol hexa (meth) acrylate, sorbitol hexa (meth) acrylate, phosphazene alkylene oxide modified hexa (meth) acrylate, captolactone modified dipentaerythritol hexa (meth) An acrylate etc. are mentioned.

  Examples of (meth) acrylamides include (meth) acrylamide, N-methyl (meth) acrylamide, N-ethyl (meth) acrylamide, N-propyl (meth) acrylamide, and Nn-butyl (meth) acrylamide. N-t-butyl (meth) acrylamide, N-butoxymethyl (meth) acrylamide, N-isopropyl (meth) acrylamide, N-methylol (meth) acrylamide, N, N-dimethyl (meth) acrylamide, N, N- Examples include diethyl (meth) acrylamide, (meth) acryloylmorpholine, and the like.

  Specific examples of aromatic vinyls include styrene, methyl styrene, dimethyl styrene, trimethyl styrene, ethyl styrene, isopropyl styrene, chloromethyl styrene, methoxy styrene, acetoxy styrene, chloro styrene, dichloro styrene, bromo styrene, vinyl benzoic acid. Methyl ester, 3-methylstyrene, 4-methylstyrene, 3-ethylstyrene, 4-ethylstyrene, 3-propylstyrene, 4-propylstyrene, 3-butylstyrene, 4-butylstyrene, 3-hexylstyrene, 4- Hexyl styrene, 3-octyl styrene, 4-octyl styrene, 3- (2-ethylhexyl) styrene, 4- (2-ethylhexyl) styrene, allyl styrene, isopropenyl styrene, butenyl styrene, octenyl Styrene, 4-t-butoxycarbonyl styrene, 4-methoxystyrene, and a 4-t-butoxystyrene.

  Specific examples of vinyl ethers include, as examples of monofunctional vinyl ethers, methyl vinyl ether, ethyl vinyl ether, propyl vinyl ether, n-butyl vinyl ether, t-butyl vinyl ether, 2-ethylhexyl vinyl ether, n-nonyl vinyl ether, lauryl vinyl ether, cyclohexyl vinyl ether, Cyclohexylmethyl vinyl ether, 4-methylcyclohexyl methyl vinyl ether, benzyl vinyl ether, dicyclopentenyl vinyl ether, 2-dicyclopentenoxyethyl vinyl ether, methoxyethyl vinyl ether, ethoxyethyl vinyl ether, butoxyethyl vinyl ether, methoxyethoxyethyl vinyl ether, ethoxyethoxyethyl vinyl ether , Methoxypolye Lenglycol vinyl ether, tetrahydrofurfuryl vinyl ether, 2-hydroxyethyl vinyl ether, 2-hydroxypropyl vinyl ether, 4-hydroxybutyl vinyl ether, 4-hydroxymethylcyclohexyl methyl vinyl ether, diethylene glycol monovinyl ether, polyethylene glycol vinyl ether, chloroethyl vinyl ether, chlorobutyl vinyl ether Chloroethoxyethyl vinyl ether, phenylethyl vinyl ether, phenoxypolyethylene glycol vinyl ether, and the like.

Examples of polyfunctional vinyl ethers include ethylene glycol divinyl ether, diethylene glycol divinyl ether, polyethylene glycol divinyl ether, propylene glycol divinyl ether, butylene glycol divinyl ether, hexanediol divinyl ether, bisphenol A alkylene oxide divinyl ether, bisphenol F alkylene oxide. Divinyl ethers such as divinyl ether; trimethylolethane trivinyl ether, trimethylolpropane trivinyl ether, ditrimethylolpropane tetravinyl ether, glycerin trivinyl ether, pentaerythritol tetravinyl ether, dipentaerythritol pentavinyl ether, dipentaerythritol hexa Nyl ether, ethylene oxide-added trimethylolpropane trivinyl ether, propylene oxide-added trimethylolpropane trivinyl ether, ethylene oxide-added ditrimethylolpropane tetravinyl ether, propylene oxide-added ditrimethylolpropane tetravinyl ether, ethylene oxide-added pentaerythritol tetravinyl ether, propylene oxide-added pentane And polyfunctional vinyl ethers such as erythritol tetravinyl ether, ethylene oxide-added dipentaerythritol hexavinyl ether, and propylene oxide-added dipentaerythritol hexavinyl ether.
The vinyl ether compound is preferably a di- or trivinyl ether compound, and more preferably a divinyl ether compound, particularly from the viewpoints of curability, adhesion to a recording medium, and surface hardness of the formed image. .

  In addition to the above, the radical polymerizable monomer further includes vinyl esters [vinyl acetate, vinyl propionate, vinyl versatate, etc.], allyl esters [allyl acetate, etc.], halogen-containing monomers [vinylidene chloride, Vinyl chloride etc.], vinyl cyanide [(meth) acrylonitrile etc.], olefins [ethylene, propylene etc.] and the like.

  Among the above, as the radical polymerizable monomer, it is preferable to use (meth) acrylates and (meth) acrylamides from the viewpoint of curing speed, and particularly from the viewpoint of curing speed, tetrafunctional or higher functional (meth) acrylate is preferably used. It is preferable to use it. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of the viscosity of the ink composition, it is preferable to use a polyfunctional (meth) acrylate in combination with a monofunctional or bifunctional (meth) acrylate or (meth) acrylamide.

The content of the polymerizable or crosslinkable material in the ink and undercoat liquid is preferably in the range of 50 to 99.6% by mass with respect to the total solid content (mass) of each droplet, and is preferably 70 to 99. It is more preferable to set it as the range of 0.0 mass%, and it is further more preferable to set it as the range of 80-99.0 mass%.
Moreover, as content in a droplet, it is preferable to set it as the range of 20-98 mass% with respect to the total mass of each droplet, The range of 40-95 mass% is more preferable, 50-90 mass% It is particularly preferable to set the range.

(Polymerization initiator)
Moreover, it is preferable that at least the undercoat liquid, or the ink and the undercoat liquid contain at least one polymerization initiator. This polymerization initiator generates radicals and other starting species by applying actinic light, heat, or both, and initiates, accelerates and cures the polymerization or crosslinking reaction of the polymerizable or crosslinkable material described above. A compound.

In the polymerizable embodiment, it preferably contains a polymerization initiator that causes radical polymerization, and more preferably a photopolymerization initiator.
A photopolymerization initiator is a compound that generates a chemical change by the action of light and interaction with the electronically excited state of a sensitizing dye to generate at least one of a radical, an acid, and a base. From the viewpoint that polymerization can be initiated by such simple means, a photo radical generator is preferred.

  As the photopolymerization initiator in the present invention, irradiated actinic rays, for example, ultraviolet rays of 400 to 200 nm, deep ultraviolet rays, g rays, h rays, i rays, KrF excimer laser rays, ArF excimer laser rays, electron rays, X Those having sensitivity to a beam, molecular beam, ion beam, or the like can be appropriately selected and used.

  Specific photopolymerization initiators known among those skilled in the art can be used without limitation. For example, Bruce M. et al. Monroe et al., Chemical Review, 93, 435 (1993). R. S. By Davidson, Journal of Photochemistry and biologic A: Chemistry, 73.81 (1993). J. P. Faussier “Photoinitiated Polymerization—Theory and Applications”: Rapra Review vol. 9, Report, Rapra Technology (1998). M. Tsunooka et al. , Prog. Polym. Sci. , 21, 1 (1996). Many are described. Further, F.I. D. Saeva, Topics in Current Chemistry, 156, 59 (1990). G. G. Maslak, Topics in Current Chemistry, 168, 1 (1993). H., et al. B. Shuster et al, JACS, 112, 6329 (1990). , I. D. F. Eaton et al, JACS, 102, 3298 (1980). A compound group that undergoes oxidative or reductive bond cleavage through interaction with the electronically excited state of the sensitizing dye described in the above can also be used.

  Preferred photopolymerization initiators include (a) aromatic ketones, (b) aromatic onium salt compounds, (c) organic peroxides, (d) hexaarylbiimidazole compounds, (e) ketoxime ester compounds, (F) borate compounds, (g) azinium compounds, (h) metallocene compounds, (i) active ester compounds, (j) compounds having a carbon halogen bond, and the like.

  Preferable examples of the (a) aromatic ketones include “RADIATION CURING IN POLYMER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY” P. FOUASSIER J.M. F. Examples include compounds having a benzophenone skeleton or a thioxanthone skeleton described in RABEK (1993), p77-117. More preferable examples of (a) aromatic ketones include α-thiobenzophenone compounds described in JP-B-47-6416, benzoin ether compounds described in JP-B-47-3981, and JP-B-47-22326. Α-substituted benzoin compounds, benzoin derivatives described in JP-B-47-23664, aroylphosphonic acid esters described in JP-A-57-30704, dialkoxybenzophenones described in JP-B-60-26483, Benzoin ethers described in JP-A-60-26403, JP-A-62-81345, JP-B-1-34242, US Pat. No. 4,318,791, and α-aminobenzophenones described in European Patent 0284561A1, P-di (dimethyla) described in JP-A-2-211452 Nobenzoyl) benzene, thio-substituted aromatic ketone described in JP-A-61-194062, acylphosphine sulfide described in JP-B-2-9597, acylphosphine described in JP-B-2-9596, JP-B-63- Examples thereof include thioxanthones described in Japanese Patent No. 61950, and coumarins described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-42864.

  Here, as the (b) aromatic onium salt compound, elements of Group V, VI and VII of the periodic table, specifically N, P, As, Sb, Bi, O, S, Se, Te, Or an aromatic onium salt of I. For example, iodonium salts described in European Patent No. 104143, US Pat. No. 4,837,124, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-150848, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-96514, European Patent Nos. 370693, 233567, and 297443 are disclosed. , 294442, 279210, and 422570, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,902,144, 4,933,377, 4,760013, 4,734,344, and 2,833,827, sulfonium salts and diazonium salts (Such as benzenediazonium which may have a substituent), diazonium salt resins (formaldehyde resin of diazodiphenylamine, etc.), N-alkoxypyridinium salts, etc. (for example, US Pat. No. 4,743,528, JP 63-138345 JP-A-63-142345, JP-A-63-142346, and JP-B-46-42363, specifically 1-methoxy-4-phenylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate, etc. In addition, compounds described in JP-B Nos. 52-147277, 52-14278, and 52-14279 can be preferably used. Generates radicals and acids as active species.

  Further, (c) “organic peroxide” includes almost all organic compounds having one or more oxygen-oxygen bonds in the molecule. For example, 3,3 ′, 4,4′-tetrakis ( t-butylperoxycarbonyl) benzophenone, 3,3′4,4′-tetrakis (t-amylperoxycarbonyl) benzophenone, 3,3′4,4′-tetrakis (t-hexylperoxycarbonyl) benzophenone, 3 , 3'4,4'-tetrakis (t-octylperoxycarbonyl) benzophenone, 3,3'4,4'-tetrakis (cumylperoxycarbonyl) benzophenone, 3,3'4,4'-tetrakis (p- Peroxyesters such as isopropylcumylperoxycarbonyl) benzophenone and di-t-butyldiperoxyisophthalate It is preferably used.

  Examples of (d) hexaarylbiimidazole include lophine dimers described in JP-B Nos. 45-37377 and 44-86516, such as 2,2′-bis (o-chlorophenyl) -4,4 ′. , 5,5'-tetraphenylbiimidazole, 2,2'-bis (o-bromophenyl) -4,4 ', 5,5'-tetraphenylbiimidazole, 2,2'-bis (o, p- Dichlorophenyl) -4,4 ′, 5,5′-tetraphenylbiimidazole, 2,2′-bis (o-chlorophenyl) -4,4 ′, 5,5′-tetrakis (m-methoxyphenyl) biimidazole, 2,2′-bis (o, o′-dichlorophenyl) -4,4 ′, 5,5′-tetraphenylbiimidazole, 2,2′-bis (o-nitrophenyl) -4,4 ′, 5 '-Tetraphenylbiimidazole, 2,2'-bis (o-methylphenyl) -4,4', 5,5'-tetraphenylbiimidazole, 2,2'-bis (o-trifluorophenyl) -4 , 4 ′, 5,5′-tetraphenylbiimidazole and the like.

  Examples of the (e) ketoxime ester include 3-benzoyloxyiminobutane-2-one, 3-acetoxyiminobutan-2-one, 3-propionyloxyiminobutan-2-one, and 2-acetoxyimino. Pentan-3-one, 2-acetoxyimino-1-phenylpropan-1-one, 2-benzoyloxyimino-1-phenylpropan-1-one, 3-p-toluenesulfonyloxyiminobutan-2-one, And 2-ethoxycarbonyloxyimino-1-phenylpropan-1-one.

Examples of the (f) borate compound include compounds described in US Pat. Nos. 3,567,453, 4,343,891, European Patents 109,772, and 109,773. .
Examples of (g) azinium salt compounds include JP-A-63-138345, JP-A-63-142345, JP-A-63-142346, JP-A-63-143537, and JP-B-46- The compound group which has NO bond as described in each gazette of 42363 is raised.

  Examples of (h) metallocene compounds include JP-A-59-152396, JP-A-61-151197, JP-A-63-41484, JP-A-2-249, and JP-A-2-4705. Examples thereof include titanocene compounds described in the publication, and iron-arene complexes described in JP-A-1-304453 and JP-A-1-152109.

  Specific examples of the titanocene compound include di-cyclopentadienyl-Ti-di-chloride, di-cyclopentadienyl-Ti-bis-phenyl, and di-cyclopentadienyl-Ti-bis-2,3,4. , 5,6-pentafluorophen-1-yl, di-cyclopentadienyl-Ti-bis-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophen-1-yl, di-cyclopentadienyl-Ti-bis -2,4,6-trifluorophen-1-yl, di-cyclopentadienyl-Ti-2,6-difluorophen-1-yl, di-cyclopentadienyl-Ti-bis-2,4- Difluorophen-1-yl, di-methylcyclopentadienyl-Ti-bis-2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorophen-1-yl, di-methylcyclopentadienyl-Ti-bis 2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophen-1-yl, di-methylcyclopentadienyl-Ti-bis-2,4-difluorophen-1-yl, bis (cyclopentadienyl) -bis (2 , 6-Difluoro-3- (pyridin-1-yl) phenyl) titanium, bis (cyclopentadienyl) bis [2,6-difluoro-3- (methylsulfonamido) phenyl] titanium, bis (cyclopentadienyl) ) Bis [2,6-difluoro-3- (N-butylbialoyl-amino) phenyl] titanium and the like.

  Examples of (i) active ester compounds include European Patent Nos. 0290750, 046083, 156153, 271851, and 0388343, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,901,710, and 4,181,531. Nitrobenzyl ester compounds described in JP-A-60-198538 and JP-A-53-133022, European Patent Nos. 099672, 84515, 199672, 0441115, and 0101122, respectively. Specifications, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,618,564, 4,371,605, and 4,431,774, JP-A 64-18143, JP-A-2-245756, and JP-A-4-365048, respectively. JP-B 62-6223, JP-B 63-14 No. 40, and compounds, and the like described in the JP-A-59-174831.

  Moreover, (j) As a preferable example of the compound which has a carbon halogen bond, Wakabayashi et al., Bull. Chem. Soc. Examples include compounds described in Japan, 42, 2924 (1969), compounds described in British Patent 1388492, compounds described in JP-A-53-133428, compounds described in German Patent 3333724, and the like.

  F.F. C. J. Schaefer et al. Org. Chem. 29, 1527 (1964), compounds described in JP-A-62-258241, compounds described in JP-A-5-281728, and the like. Further, a compound as described in German Patent No. 2641100, a compound described in German Patent No. 3333450, a compound group described in German Patent No. 3021590, or a compound group described in German Patent No. 3021599 , Etc.

  As a photoinitiator in this invention, although the compound illustrated below can be mentioned, for example, It is not limited to these.

  In addition, as a polymerization initiator, what is excellent in a sensitivity is preferable, However, From a viewpoint of storage stability, it is preferable to use the polymerization initiator which does not raise | generate thermal decomposition at the temperature to 80 degreeC.

  A polymerization initiator can be used 1 type or in combination of 2 or more types. Moreover, a well-known sensitizer can also be used together for the purpose of a sensitivity improvement in the range which does not impair the effect of this invention.

  As content in the undercoat liquid of a polymerization initiator, it shall be in the range of 0.5-20 mass% with respect to the polymeric material in undercoat liquid from a viewpoint of temporal stability, sclerosis | hardenability, and a cure rate. Is preferable, it is more preferable to set it as 1-15 mass%, and it is especially preferable to set it as 3-10 mass%. By setting the content within the above range, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of precipitation or separation over time, or the deterioration of performance such as the strength and rubbing resistance of the ink after curing.

  The polymerization initiator may be contained in the ink as well as in the undercoat liquid. In this case, the polymerization initiator may be appropriately selected and contained within a range in which the storage stability of the ink can be maintained at a desired level. In this case, the content in the ink droplet is preferably 0.5 to 20% by mass and more preferably 1 to 15% by mass with respect to the polymerizable or crosslinkable compound in the ink. .

(Sensitizing dye)
In addition, a sensitizing dye is preferably added to the ink and / or undercoat liquid for the purpose of improving the sensitivity of the photopolymerization initiator. Examples of preferred sensitizing dyes include those belonging to the following compounds and having an absorption wavelength in the 350 nm to 450 nm region.

  Specifically, polynuclear aromatics (eg, pyrene, perylene, triphenylene), xanthenes (eg, fluorescein, eosin, erythrosine, rhodamine B, rose bengal), cyanines (eg, thiacarbocyanine, oxacarbocyanine) ), Merocyanines (eg merocyanine, carbomerocyanine), thiazines (eg thionine, methylene blue, toluidine blue), acridines (eg acridine orange, chloroflavin, acriflavine), anthraquinones (eg anthraquinone), squalium (For example, squalium) and coumarins (for example, 7-diethylamino-4-methylcoumarin).

  Examples of more preferable sensitizing dyes include compounds represented by the following general formulas (IX) to (XIII).

In the formula (IX), A ¹ represents a sulfur atom or —NR ⁵⁰ —, R ⁵⁰ represents an alkyl group or an aryl group, and L ² represents a basic nucleus of the dye in combination with the adjacent A ¹ and the adjacent carbon atom. R ⁵¹ and R ⁵² each independently represents a hydrogen atom or a monovalent nonmetallic atomic group, and R ⁵¹ and R ⁵² are bonded to each other to form an acidic nucleus of the dye. May be. W represents an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom.
In formula (X), Ar ¹ and Ar ² each independently represent an aryl group and are linked via a bond with —L ³ —. Here, L ³ represents —O— or —S—. W is synonymous with that shown in the general formula (IX).
In the formula (XI), A ² represents a sulfur atom or —NR ⁵⁹ —, L ⁴ represents a nonmetallic atomic group that forms a basic nucleus of the dye together with the adjacent A ² and carbon atom, and R ⁵³ , R ⁵⁴ , R ⁵⁵ , R ⁵⁶ , R ⁵⁷ and R ⁵⁸ each independently represents a monovalent nonmetallic atomic group, and R ⁵⁹ represents an alkyl group or an aryl group.

In formula (XII), A ³ and A ⁴ each independently represent —S— or —NR ⁶² — or —NR ⁶³ —, wherein R ⁶² and R ⁶³ each independently represent a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group, substituted or represents an unsubstituted aryl group, L to ^5, L ⁶ are each independently, together with the adjacent a ^3, a ⁴ and adjacent carbon atoms represents a nonmetallic atom group necessary for forming a basic nucleus of a dye, R ⁶⁰ , R ⁶¹ each independently represents a hydrogen atom or a monovalent non-metallic atomic group, or may be bonded to each other to form an aliphatic or aromatic ring.
In formula (XIII), R ⁶⁶ represents an aromatic ring or a hetero ring which may have a substituent, and A ⁵ represents an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom or —NR ⁶⁷ —. R ⁶⁴ , R ⁶⁵ and R ⁶⁷ each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a monovalent non-metallic atomic group; R ⁶⁷ and R ⁶⁴ , and R ⁶⁵ and R ⁶⁷ each represent an aliphatic or aromatic ring. Can be combined to form.

  Specific examples of the compounds represented by the general formulas (IX) to (XIII) include the exemplified compounds (A-1) to (A-20) shown below.

(Co-sensitizer)
Furthermore, it is preferable to add a known compound as a co-sensitizer to the ink and / or undercoat liquid that has a function of further improving sensitivity or suppressing polymerization inhibition by oxygen.
Examples of co-sensitizers include amines such as M.I. R. Sander et al., “Journal of Polymer Society”, Vol. 10, 3173 (1972), Japanese Patent Publication No. 44-20189, Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-82102, Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-134692, Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-138205. No. 60-84305, JP-A 62-18537, JP-A 64-33104, Research Disclosure 33825, and the like. Specific examples include triethanolamine. P-dimethylaminobenzoic acid ethyl ester, p-formyldimethylaniline, p-methylthiodimethylaniline and the like.

Other examples include thiols and sulfides, for example, thiol compounds described in JP-A-53-702, JP-B-55-500806, JP-A-5-142772, and JP-A-56-75643. Specific examples include 2-mercaptobenzothiazole, 2-mercaptobenzoxazole, 2-mercaptobenzimidazole, 2-mercapto-4- (3H) -quinazoline, β-mercaptonaphthalene, and the like. It is done.
Other examples include amino acid compounds (eg, N-phenylglycine), organometallic compounds described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-42965 (eg, tributyltin acetate), and hydrogen described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-34414. Donors, sulfur compounds described in JP-A-6-308727 (eg, trithiane), phosphorus compounds described in JP-A-6-250387 (diethylphosphite, etc.), Si-- described in JP-A-8-65779 H, Ge-H compound, etc. are mentioned.

(Coloring agent)
At least the ink or the ink and the undercoat liquid contain at least one colorant. In addition to the ink, the colorant may be contained in an undercoat liquid or other liquid.

  The colorant is not particularly limited, and can be appropriately selected from known water-soluble dyes, oil-soluble dyes, pigments, and the like. In particular, when the ink and the undercoat liquid are composed of a water-insoluble organic solvent system that can suitably obtain the effects of the present invention, the colorant is an oil-soluble material that is easily dispersed and dissolved in a water-insoluble medium. It is preferable to use dyes and pigments.

  The content of the colorant in the ink is preferably 1 to 30% by mass, more preferably 1.5 to 25% by mass, and particularly preferably 2 to 15% by mass. When the undercoat liquid contains a white pigment as the colorant, the content of the colorant in the undercoat liquid is preferably 2 to 45% by mass, and more preferably 4 to 35% by mass.

Hereinafter, the pigment suitable for the present invention will be mainly described.
<Pigment>
An embodiment using a pigment as the colorant is preferred.
As the pigment, either an organic pigment or an inorganic pigment can be used, and as the black pigment, a carbon black pigment or the like is preferable. In general, pigments of three primary colors of black and cyan, magenta, and yellow are used, but other hues such as pigments having hues such as red, green, blue, brown, white, gold, silver, etc. Metal luster pigments, colorless or light extender pigments, and the like can also be used depending on the purpose.

  The organic pigment is not limited in hue, and includes, for example, perylene, perinone, quinacridone, quinacridonequinone, anthraquinone, anthanthrone, benzimidazolone, disazo condensation, disazo, azo, indanthrone, phthalocyanine, triaryl carbo Examples thereof include nium, dioxazine, aminoanthraquinone, diketopyrrolopyrrole, thioindigo, isoindoline, isoindolinone, pyranthrone, isoviolanthrone pigment, and mixtures thereof.

  More specifically, for example, C.I. I. Pigment red 190 (C.I. No. 71140), C.I. I. Pigment red 224 (C.I. No. 71127), C.I. I. Perylene pigments such as CI Pigment Violet 29 (C.I. No. 71129); I. Pigment orange 43 (C.I. No. 71105) or C.I. I. Perinone pigments such as CI Pigment Red 194 (C.I. No. 71100); I. Pigment violet 19 (C.I. No. 73900), C.I. I. Pigment violet 42, C.I. I. Pigment red 122 (C.I. No. 73915), C.I. I. Pigment red 192, C.I. I. Pigment red 202 (C.I. No. 73907), C.I. I. Pigment red 207 (C.I. No. 73900, 73906), or C.I. I. Pigment Red 209 (C.I. No. 73905), a quinacridone pigment, C.I. I. Pigment red 206 (C.I. No. 73900/73920), C.I. I. Pigment orange 48 (C.I. No. 73900/73920), or C.I. I. Quinacridone quinone pigments such as CI Pigment Orange 49 (C.I. No. 73900/73920); I. Anthraquinone pigments such as C.I. Pigment Yellow 147 (C.I. No. 60645); I. Anthanthrone pigments such as CI Pigment Red 168 (C.I. No. 59300); I. Pigment brown 25 (C.I. No. 12510), C.I. I. Pigment violet 32 (C.I. No. 12517), C.I. I. Pigment yellow 180 (C.I. No. 21290), C.I. I. Pigment yellow 181 (C.I. No. 11777), C.I. I. Pigment orange 62 (C.I. No. 11775), or C.I. I. Benzimidazolone pigments such as CI Pigment Red 185 (C.I. No. 12516); I. Pigment yellow 93 (C.I. No. 20710), C.I. I. Pigment yellow 94 (C.I. No. 20038), C.I. I. Pigment yellow 95 (C.I. No. 20034), C.I. I. Pigment yellow 128 (C.I. No. 20037), C.I. I. Pigment yellow 166 (C.I. No. 20003), C.I. I. Pigment orange 34 (C.I. No. 21115), C.I. I. Pigment orange 13 (C.I. No. 21110), C.I. I. Pigment orange 31 (C.I. No. 20050), C.I. I. Pigment red 144 (C.I. No. 20735), C.I. I. Pigment red 166 (C.I. No. 20730), C.I. I. Pigment red 220 (C.I. No. 20055), C.I. I. Pigment red 221 (C.I. No. 20065), C.I. I. Pigment red 242 (C.I. No. 20067), C.I. I. Pigment red 248M. I. Pigment red 262, or C.I. I. Disazo condensation pigments such as CI Pigment Brown 23 (C.I. No. 20060),

C. I. Pigment yellow 13 (C.I. No. 21100), C.I. I. Pigment yellow 83 (C.I. No. 21108), or C.I. I. Disazo pigments such as CI Pigment Yellow 188 (C.I. No. 21094); I. Pigment red 187 (C.I. No. 12486), C.I. I. Pigment red 170 (C.I. No. 12475), C.I. I. Pigment yellow 74 (C.I. No. 11714), C.I. I. Pigment yellow 150 (C.I. No. 48545), C.I. I. Pigment red 48 (C.I. No. 15865), C.I. I. Pigment red 53 (C.I. No. 15585), C.I. I. Pigment orange 64 (C.I. No. 12760), or C.I. I. Azo pigments such as C.I. Pigment Red 247 (C.I. No. 15915), C.I. I. Indanthrone pigments such as CI Pigment Blue 60 (C.I. No. 69800); I. Pigment green 7 (C.I. No. 74260), C.I. I. Pigment Green 36 (C.I. No. 74265), Pigment Green 37 (C.I. No. 74255), Pigment Blue 16 (C.I. No. 74100), C.I. I. Phthalocyanine pigments such as CI Pigment Blue 75 (C.I. No. 74160: 2) or 15 (C.I. No. 74160); I. Pigment blue 56 (C.I. No. 42800) or C.I. I. Triarylcarbonium pigments such as C.I. Pigment Blue 61 (C.I. No. 42765: 1); I. Pigment violet 23 (C.I. No. 51319) or C.I. I. Dioxazine pigments such as CI Pigment Violet 37 (C.I. No. 51345); I. Aminoanthraquinone pigments such as C.I. Pigment Red 177 (C.I. No. 65300); I. Pigment red 254 (C.I. No. 56110), C.I. I. Pigment Red 255 (C.I. No. 561050), C.I. I. Pigment red 264, C.I. I. Pigment red 272 (C.I. No. 561150), C.I. I. Pigment orange 71, or C.I. I. Diketopyrrolopyrrole pigments such as C.I. Pigment Orange 73; I. Thioindigo pigments such as CI Pigment Red 88 (C.I. No. 7313), CI Pigment Yellow 139 (C.I. No. 56298), C.I. I. Pigment Orange 66 (C.I. No. 48210) and the like, isoindoline pigments such as C.I. I. Pigment yellow 109 (C.I. No. 56284), or C.I. Pigment Orange 61 (C.I. No. 11295) and the like, isoindolinone pigments such as C.I. I. Pigment Orange 40 (C.I. No. 59700), or C.I. I. Pyranthrone pigments such as CI Pigment Red 216 (C.I. No. 59710), or C.I. I. And isoviolanthrone pigments such as CI Pigment Violet 31 (60010).
As the colorant, two or more kinds of organic pigments or solid solutions of organic pigments can be used in combination.

  In addition, particles having silica, alumina, resin, or the like as a core material and having a dye or pigment fixed on the surface, an insoluble raked product of a dye, a colored emulsion, a colored latex, or the like can also be used as a pigment. Furthermore, resin-coated pigments can also be used. This is called a microcapsule pigment, and commercially available products such as those manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals and Toyo Ink are available.

  The volume average particle diameter of the pigment particles contained in the liquid is preferably in the range of 10 to 250 nm, more preferably 50 to 200 nm, from the viewpoint of balance between optical density and storage stability. Here, the volume average particle diameter of the pigment particles can be measured by a particle size distribution measuring device such as LB-500 (manufactured by HORIBA).

  The colorant may be used alone or in combination of two or more. Different colorants may be used for each droplet and liquid to be ejected, or the same colorant may be used.

(Other ingredients)
In addition to the above-described components, known additives and the like can be used in combination with the ink and / or undercoat liquid depending on the purpose.

<Storage stabilizer>
A storage stabilizer is preferably added to the ink and the undercoat liquid (particularly ink) for the purpose of suppressing undesired polymerization during storage. The storage stabilizer is preferably used in combination with a polymerizable or crosslinkable material, and it is preferable to use a storage stabilizer that is soluble in the contained droplets or liquid or other coexisting components.

  Storage stabilizers include quaternary ammonium salts, hydroxylamines, cyclic amides, nitriles, substituted ureas, heterocyclic compounds, organic acids, hydroquinones, hydroquinone monoethers, organic phosphines, copper compounds, and the like. Specific examples include benzyltrimethylammonium chloride, diethylhydroxylamine, benzothiazole, 4-amino-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine, citric acid, hydroquinone monomethyl ether, hydroquinone monobutyl ether, and copper naphthenate. It is done.

  The amount of storage stabilizer added is preferably adjusted as appropriate based on the activity of the polymerization initiator, the polymerizability of the polymerisable or crosslinkable material, and the type of storage stabilizer, but the balance of storage stability and curability is balanced. In terms of solids content in the liquid, it is preferably 0.005 to 1% by mass, more preferably 0.01 to 0.5% by mass, and 0.01 to 0.2% by mass. More preferably.

<Conductive salts>
Conductive salts are solid compounds that improve conductivity. In the present invention, it is preferable not to use it substantially because there is a great concern of precipitation during storage, but it is possible to increase the solubility of conductive salts or use a highly soluble liquid component. If it is good, an appropriate amount may be added.
Examples of the conductive salts include potassium thiocyanate, lithium nitrate, ammonium thiocyanate, dimethylamine hydrochloride and the like.

<solvent>
In the present invention, a known solvent can be used as necessary. The solvent can be used for the purpose of improving the polarity and viscosity of liquid (ink), surface tension, solubility and dispersibility of coloring materials, adjusting conductivity, and adjusting printing performance.
Since the solvent is a water-insoluble liquid and does not contain an aqueous solvent, it is preferable in terms of recording a high-quality image with quick drying and uniform line width. It is desirable to do.
As the high-boiling organic solvent, those having a property excellent in compatibility with the constituent materials, particularly with the monomers are preferable.
Specifically, tripropylene glycol monomethyl ether, dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether, propylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether, triethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylene glycol monobenzyl ether, diethylene glycol monobenzyl ether should be used. Is preferred.

  Known solvents include low boiling point organic solvents that are organic solvents at 100 ° C. or lower, but there is a concern of affecting the curability, and it is desirable not to use low boiling point organic solvents in consideration of environmental pollution. . When used, it is preferable to use a highly safe solvent, and a highly safe solvent is a solvent having a high management concentration (an index indicated by the work environment evaluation criteria), preferably 100 ppm or more, More preferably, it is 200 ppm or more. Specific examples include alcohols, ketones, esters, ethers, hydrocarbons, and the like, and specific examples include methanol, 2-butanol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, ethyl acetate, and tetrahydrofuran.

  Solvents can be used in combination other than one type alone, but when water and / or a low boiling point organic solvent is used, the amount of both used should be 0 to 20% by mass in each liquid. It is more preferable to set it as 0-10 mass%, and it is especially preferable not to contain substantially. The ink and undercoat liquid according to the present invention contain substantially no water, thereby improving the stability over time such as non-uniformity over time, turbidity of the liquid due to precipitation of dyes, etc. The drying property when using a slow-penetrating recording medium can also be improved. In addition, it does not contain substantially means accepting presence of an inevitable impurity.

<Other additives>
Furthermore, known additives such as polymers, surface tension adjusters, ultraviolet absorbers, antioxidants, anti-fading agents and pH adjusters can be used in combination.
Regarding the surface tension adjusting agent, ultraviolet absorber, antioxidant, anti-fading agent, and pH adjusting agent, known compounds may be appropriately selected and used. For example, JP-A-2001-181549 discloses a specific example. The additives described can be used.

In addition to the above, a set of compounds that react by mixing to generate aggregates or thicken can be separately contained in the ink and the undercoat liquid according to the present invention. The set of compounds has a feature of rapidly forming aggregates or rapidly thickening the liquid, thereby more effectively suppressing coalescence between adjacent droplets. Can do.
Here, examples of reaction of a set of compounds include acid / base reaction, hydrogen bond reaction by carboxylic acid / amide group-containing compound, cross-linking reaction represented by boronic acid / diol, and electrostatic interaction by cation / anion. And the like.

  Although the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various improvements and modifications are made without departing from the gist of the present invention. Also good.

  For example, as described above, since the image formed on the recording medium can have higher image quality, it is preferable to semi-cure the undercoat liquid. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the coating was performed on the recording medium. After the undercoat liquid is completely cured, ink droplets may be ejected onto the recording medium (more precisely, the undercoat layer) to form an image, or the undercoat liquid applied onto the recording medium may be Without curing, ink droplets are ejected onto the recording medium (more precisely, the undercoat layer) to form an image, and then irradiated with actinic rays, so that the image area on the recording medium and the undercoat layer are simultaneously applied. It may be cured.

  Further, since a higher quality image can be formed, in each of the above embodiments, an undercoat layer is provided on the recording medium. An image may be directly formed on the recording medium.

1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of an example of an ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the application | coating roller and drive part of the inkjet recording device shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows schematic structure of the positioning part periphery part of the inkjet recording device shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a top view showing a recording head unit and an ultraviolet irradiation unit of the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a recording medium in which an ink liquid is ejected onto a semi-cured undercoat liquid. (A) and (B) are schematic cross-sectional views showing an example of a recording medium in which an ink liquid is deposited on an uncured undercoat liquid, and (C) is a completely cured state. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a recording medium in which an ink liquid is ejected onto an undercoat liquid. FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a recording medium in which an ink liquid is ejected onto a semi-cured ink liquid. (A) and (B) are schematic cross-sectional views showing an example of a recording medium in which an ink liquid is ejected onto an uncured ink liquid, respectively, and (C) is a completely cured state. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a recording medium on which ink liquid is ejected onto the ink liquid. (A)-(D) are process drawings which show typically the process of forming an image on a recording medium. It is a front view which shows schematic structure of the other example of the inkjet recording device of this invention. It is a front view which shows schematic structure of the other example of the inkjet recording device of this invention. It is a front view which shows schematic structure of an example of the digital label printing apparatus using the inkjet recording device of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the control part which controls the digital label printing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the recording medium for label printing used for the digital label printing apparatus shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the die cutter by which the cutting blade was arrange | positioned on the cylindrical surface, and a perspective view which shows the state of the cut | interruption of the adhesive sheet by which this die cutter was rotated continuously and the cut | interruption was made. It is a perspective view which shows the state of the cut of the adhesive sheet in which the cut was put by the die cutter. It is a front view which shows schematic structure of the other example of the digital label printing apparatus using the inkjet recording device of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the control part which controls the digital label printing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a front view which shows schematic structure of the other example of the digital label printing apparatus using the inkjet recording device of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10, 80, 90 Inkjet recording device 12 Conveyance part 13, 82 Undercoat part 14 Undercoat liquid semi-hardening part 15 Support part 16 Image recording part 18, 91 Image fixing part 19 Curing promotion part 20 Control part 22 Input device 30 Supply roll 32 Conveyance Roll 34 Conveying roll pair 36 Collection roll 38 Main body surface plate 38a, 38b, 42c Opening 40 Head surface plate 40a, 42a Plate part 40b, 42b Foot part 42 Irradiation part support body 44 Buffer member 46 Recording head unit 48W, 48C, 48M, 48Y, 48K recording head 50 ink tank 52 ultraviolet irradiation unit 54 ultraviolet irradiation unit 56 platen 60, 84 coating roller 62 driving unit 64 storage tray 66, 86 blade 68 positioning unit 70, 72 positioning roller 74a, 74b, 74c bearing 88 storage unit 100 labe Printing press

Claims (8)

Conveying means for conveying a recording medium;
Undercoat liquid applying means for applying an undercoat liquid that cures when irradiated with active energy rays to the recording medium transported by the transport means;
In the transport direction of the recording medium, the undercoat liquid is applied by ejecting ink that is disposed downstream of the undercoat liquid application unit, includes at least a coloring material, and is cured by irradiation with an active energy ray. An inkjet head that forms an image on a recording medium, and an image forming unit that includes an active energy ray irradiation unit that irradiates the recording medium with active light and cures ink and undercoat liquid on the recording medium;
A curing accelerating unit that is disposed at the same position as the active energy ray irradiating unit or downstream of the active energy ray irradiating unit in the transport direction and accelerates the curing of the ink and the undercoat liquid on the recording medium; Inkjet recording apparatus.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is transparent.   3. The ink jet recording according to claim 1, wherein the curing accelerating unit heats the ink and undercoat liquid on the recording medium from a surface opposite to a surface on which the image of the recording medium is formed. apparatus.   The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the curing accelerating unit heats the ink and undercoat liquid on the recording medium without contacting the recording medium.   The undercoat liquid applied on the recording medium is irradiated with an active energy ray to the undercoat liquid disposed on the downstream side of the undercoat liquid applying means in the transport direction of the recording medium and applied to the recording medium. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an undercoat liquid semi-curing means for semi-curing. The image forming unit includes a plurality of inkjet heads that eject inks containing different colorants.
The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the inkjet heads discharges white ink. The image forming unit includes at least two inkjet heads that eject inks containing different colorants.
7. An ink semi-curing unit disposed between the ink-jet heads and semi-curing the ink constituting the image formed by the ink-jet head on the upstream side in the transport direction of the recording medium. 2. An ink jet recording apparatus according to 1.   The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the undercoat liquid contains a radically polymerizable composition.

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