JP2008260299A - Inkjet recording element - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a porous inkjet recording element, which gives an excellent optical density and a favorable quality and has an excellent drying time when printing is performed in a dye system ink, and a printing method using the same. <P>SOLUTION: An ink jet recording element has a support having thereon a porous image-receiving layer having: (a) particles having a mean particle size of from greater than 0.04 μm to about 5 μm; and (b) water insoluble, cationic, polymeric particles having at least about 20 mole percent of a cationic mordant moiety. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a porous ink jet recording element and a printing method using the recording element.

  In a typical ink jet recording system or ink jet printing system, ink droplets are ejected from a nozzle at high speed toward a recording element or recording medium, producing an image on the medium. Ink droplets (or recording liquids) generally comprise a recording agent (eg, a dye or pigment) and a large amount of solvent. The solvent (or carrier liquid) is generally made from water and organic materials (eg, monohydric alcohols, polyhydric alcohols, or mixtures thereof).

  Ink jet recording elements generally comprise a support carrying an ink-receiving layer or an image-receiving layer on at least one surface, such elements having an opaque support for reflective viewing. Those intended and those intended for observation by transmitted light having a transparent support are included.

  An important property of inkjet recording elements is that they need to dry quickly after printing. To this end, porous recording elements have been developed that provide near instantaneous drying as long as they have sufficient thickness and pore volume to effectively contain liquid ink. For example, a porous recording element can be produced by a cast coating in which a particulate-containing coating is applied to a support and dried in contact with a polished smooth surface.

  When printing on a porous recording element with a dye-based ink, the dye molecules penetrate the coating layer. However, such porous recording elements are problematic in that the optical density of the image printed thereon is lower than preferred. This low optical density is believed to be due to optical scattering that occurs when dye molecules penetrate too deeply into the porous layer.

  EP 1,002,660 relates to a porous ink jet recording element comprising fine particles, a hydrophilic binder, and a water-soluble cationic polymer. However, this element is problematic in that the density of images printed on such elements using water-soluble cationic polymers is lower than preferred.

  US Pat. No. 6,089,704 relates to a non-porous ink jet recording element comprising a cationic polymeric vinyl latex and a hydrophilic polymer. However, this non-porous recording element is problematic in that the image printed thereon is too slow to dry.

  US Pat. No. 6,096,469 relates to an ink jet recording element comprising mesoporous particles dispersed in an organic binder. In column 8 of the patent specification, the organic binder may be a cationic latex polymer “having less than 10 mol% of a copolymerizable monomer having a tetraamino functional group or a quaternary ammonium functional group”. It is disclosed. However, this element is problematic in that the density of images printed on such elements using binders having less than 10 mol% cationic mordant moieties is lower than preferred.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a porous ink jet recording element that provides excellent optical density, good image quality, and excellent drying time when printed with dye-based inks.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a printing method using the above-mentioned elements.

These and other purposes are:
(A) particles having an average particle size of greater than 0.04 μm to 5 μm, and (b) water-insoluble cationic polymer particles having at least 20 mol% of a cationic mordant portion,
An inkjet recording element comprising a support carrying a porous image-receiving layer comprising
This is achieved by the present invention including:

  The use of the present invention provides a porous inkjet recording element that provides excellent optical density, good image quality, and excellent drying time when printed with dye-based inks.

Another aspect of the present invention is:
I) preparing an ink jet printer that responds to digital data signals;
II) A step of loading the above-described ink jet recording element into the printer,
III) loading the printer with an inkjet ink composition; and
IV) printing on the image receiving layer using the inkjet ink composition in response to the digital data signal;
The present invention relates to an inkjet printing method including:

  In a preferred embodiment, the particles (a) useful in the present invention include alumina, boehmite, aluminum oxide trihydrate, clay, calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide, calcined clay, aluminosilicate, silica, barium sulfate, or organic particles. (For example, polymer beads). Examples of organic particles useful in the present invention include US patent application Ser. Nos. 09 / 458,401 (filed Dec. 10, 1999), 09 / 608,969 (filed Jun. 30, 2000), and 09 / 607,417. (Filed 30 June 2000), 09 / 608,466 (filed 30 June 2000), 09 / 607,419 (filed 30 June 2000), and 09 / 822,731 (2001 3) Each of which is disclosed and claimed. These particles (a) may be porous or non-porous. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, these particles are inorganic oxides. In another preferred embodiment, these particles (a) have an average particle size of 0.05 μm to 1 μm.

  Many types of inorganic and organic particles are produced by various methods and are commercially available for image-receiving layers, and the porosity of the image-receiving layer is required to obtain very fast ink drying . The pores formed between these particles must be sufficiently large and continuous so that the printing ink can quickly pass through this layer and pass away from the outer surface, giving a quick-drying impression.

  Water-insoluble cationic polymer particles (b) comprising at least 20 mole% cationic mordant moiety useful in the present invention are latex, water-dispersible polymer, beads, or core / shell particles (the core is organic or It may be an inorganic substance and the shell may be in any case a cationic polymer). Such particles may be products of addition polymerization or condensation polymerization, or a combination of both. They may be linear, branched, hyperbranched, grafted, random, block, or have other polymer microstructures well known to those skilled in the art. They may also be partially crosslinked. Examples of core / shell particles useful in the present invention are disclosed in the specification of Lawrence et al. US patent application Ser. No. 09 / 772,097, “Ink Jet Printing Method”, filed Jan. 26, 2001, Be charged. Examples of water-dispersible particles useful in the present invention include Lawrence et al. US patent application Ser. No. 09 / 770,128, “Ink Jet Printing Method”, filed Jan. 26, 2001, and Jan. 26, 2001. US Patent Application Serial No. 09 / 770,127, Lawrence et al., "Ink Jet Printing Method", filed on the same day, is disclosed and claimed. In a preferred embodiment, the water-insoluble cationic polymer particle (b) comprises at least 50 mol% of a cationic mordant part.

  The water-insoluble cationic polymer particle (b) useful in the present invention can be derived from a nonionic monomer, an anionic monomer, or a cationic monomer. In a preferred embodiment, a combination of a nonionic monomer and a cationic monomer is used. Generally, the amount of cationic monomer used in this combination is at least 20 mol%.

  Nonionic, anionic, or cationic monomers that can be used include acrylic acid esters, methacrylic acid esters, vinyl imidazoles, vinyl pyridines, vinyl pyrrolidinones derived from styrene, α-alkyl styrenes, alcohols or phenols. , Acrylamide, methacrylamide, vinyl esters derived from linear and branched acids (eg vinyl acetate), vinyl ethers (eg vinyl methyl ether), vinyl nitriles, vinyl ketones, halogen containing monomers (eg vinyl chloride), And neutral, anionic, or cationic derivatives of addition polymerizable monomers such as olefins (eg, butadiene).

  Also, nonionic monomers, anionic monomers, or cationic monomers that can be used include condensation polymerizable monomers such as those used to prepare polyesters, polyethers, polycarbonates, polyureas, and polyurethanes. Also included are neutral, anionic or cationic derivatives.

  The water-insoluble cationic polymer particles (b) used in the present invention can be prepared using a conventional polymerization technique. Such conventional polymerization techniques include bulk polymerization, solution polymerization, and emulsion polymerization. Or suspension polymerization, but is not limited thereto.

  Although the amount of water-insoluble cationic polymer particles (b) used should be large enough so that the image printed on the recording element has a sufficiently high concentration, it is formed by the agglomerates. It should be small enough so that the continuous pore structure is not blocked. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mass ratio of water-insoluble cationic polymer particles (b) to particles (a) is 1: 2 to 1:10, preferably 1: 5.

  Examples of water-insoluble cationic polymer particles (b) that may be used in the present invention include those described in US Pat. No. 3,958,995. Specific examples of these polymers include the following polymers.

Polymer A
Copolymer of (vinylbenzyl) trimethylammonium chloride and divinylbenzene (molar ratio = 87: 13)

Polymer B
Terpolymer of styrene, (vinylbenzyl) dimethylbenzylamine, and divinylbenzene (molar ratio = 49.5: 49.5: 1.0)

Polymer C
Terpolymer of butyl acrylate, 2-aminoethyl methacrylate methacrylate, and hydroxyethyl methacrylate (molar ratio = 50: 20: 30)

  Polymer D Copolymer of styrene, dimethylacrylamide, vinylbenzylimidazole, and 1-vinylbenzyl-3-hydroxyethylimidazolium (molar ratio = 40: 30: 10: 20)

Polymer E
Copolymer of styrene, 4-vinylpyridine, and N- (2-hydroxyethyl) -4-vinylpyridinium chloride (molar ratio = 30: 38: 32)

Polymer F
Copolymer of styrene, (vinylbenzyl) dimethyloctylammonium chloride, isobutoxymethylacrylamide, and divinylbenzene (molar ratio = 40: 20: 34: 6)

  In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the image receiving layer also contains a polymer binder in an amount insufficient to change the porosity of the porous receiving layer. In another preferred embodiment, the polymeric binder comprises a hydrophilic polymer (eg, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, gelatin, cellulose ether, polyoxazoline, polyvinyl acetamide, partially hydrolyzed poly (vinyl acetate / vinyl alcohol). ), Polyacrylic acid, polyacrylamide, polyalkylene oxide, sulfonated or phosphorylated polyester and polystyrene), casein, zein, albumin, chitin, chitosan, dextran, pectin, collagen derivatives, collodian, agar, kuzukon Gar, carrageenan, tragacanth, xanthan, rhamsan and so on. In yet another preferred embodiment of the invention, the hydrophilic polymer is polyvinyl alcohol, hydroxypropylcellulose, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, gelatin, or polyalkylene oxide. In still another preferred embodiment, the hydrophilic binder is polyvinyl alcohol. The polymeric binder should be selected to be compatible with each of the aforementioned particles.

  The amount of binder used should be sufficient to provide a binding force to the inkjet recording element, but is minimal so that the continuous pore structure formed by the agglomerates is not blocked by the binder. There is something to be made. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mass ratio of the binder to the total amount of particles is 1:20 to 1: 5.

  In addition to the image receiving layer, the recording element may also contain a base layer next to the support. The function of this base layer is to absorb the solvent from the ink. Useful materials for this layer include particles (a), particles (b), polymeric binders, and / or crosslinkers.

Since the image receiving layer is a porous layer comprising particles, its porosity must be sufficient to absorb all of the printing ink. For example, if the porous layer has 60% by volume open pores, in order to immediately absorb 32 cm ³ / m ² (32 cc / m ² ) of ink, the porous layer must have a physical thickness of at least 54 μm. Must have.

  The support for the ink jet recording element used in the present invention is a resin-coated paper, paper, polyester, or microporous material (eg, under the trade name Teslin ™ by PPG Industries, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Polyethylene polymer-containing materials sold), Tyvek ™ synthetic paper (DuPont Corp.), and OPPalyte ™ film (Mobil Chemical Co.), and others listed in US Pat. No. 5,244,861 It can be any of those commonly used for inkjet receivers, such as composite films. Opaque supports include plain paper, coated paper, synthetic paper, photographic paper support, melt extruded coated paper, and laminated paper (eg, biaxially oriented support laminate). Biaxially oriented support laminates are described in US Pat. Nos. 5,853,965, 5,866,282, 5,874,205, 5,888,643, 5,888,681, 5,888,683, and 5,888,714. These biaxially oriented supports include paper bases and biaxially oriented polyolefin sheets (typically polypropylene) laminated to one or both sides of the paper base. Transparent supports include glass, cellulose derivatives (eg, cellulose esters, cellulose triacetate, cellulose diacetate, cellulose acetate propionate, cellulose acetate butyrate), polyesters (eg, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, poly-1,4 Cyclohexanedimethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, and copolymers thereof), polyimides, polyamides, polycarbonates, polystyrenes, polyolefins (eg, polyethylene or polypropylene), polysulfones, polyacrylates, polyetherimides, and mixtures thereof. The papers listed above include a wide range of papers from high quality paper (eg, photographic paper) to low quality paper (eg, newsprint). In a preferred embodiment, polyethylene coated paper is used.

  The support used in the present invention may have a thickness of 50 to 500 μm, preferably 75 to 300 μm. If desired, antioxidants, antistatic agents, plasticizers, and other known additives may be introduced into the support.

  In order to improve the adhesion of the ink receiving layer to the support, the surface of the support may be subjected to a corona discharge treatment prior to applying the image receiving layer.

  Coating compositions used in the present invention are well known, for example, dip coating, wire wound rod coating, doctor blade coating, rod coating, air knife coating, gravure and reverse roll coating, slide coating, bead coating, extrusion coating, curtain coating, etc. May be applied by some of the techniques. Known application and drying methods are described in further detail in Research Disclosure, 308119, issued December 1989, pages 1007-1008. Slide coating is preferred, in which case the base layer and overcoat can be applied simultaneously. After application, these layers are typically dried by simple evaporation, but drying may be accelerated by known techniques such as convection heating.

  In order to impart mechanical durability to the ink jet recording element, a small amount of a crosslinking agent acting on the binder discussed above may be added. Such additives improve the bond strength of the layer. For example, any cross-linking agent such as carbodiimide, polyfunctional aziridine, aldehyde, isocyanate, epoxide, polyvalent metal cation and the like can be used.

  In order to improve the color fading of the colorant, an ultraviolet absorber, a radical quencher, or an antioxidant well known in the art may be further added to the image receiving layer. Other additives include pH modifiers, adhesion promoters, rheology modifiers, surfactants, biocides, lubricants, pigments, optical brighteners, matting agents, antistatic agents, and the like. In order to obtain reasonable coatability, additives known to those skilled in the art, such as surfactants, defoamers, alcohols, etc. may be used. A common amount of coating aid is 0.01 to 0.30% active coating aid based on the total solution weight. These coating aids may be nonionic, anionic, cationic or amphoteric. Specific examples are described in MCCUTCHEON Volume 1, Emulsifiers and Detergents, 1995, North American Edition.

  The coating composition can be applied from either water or an organic solvent, but water is preferred. Total solids should be chosen to yield a coating thickness that is useful in the most economical manner, with 10-40% solids being typical in particulate coating formulations.

  Ink jet inks used to image the recording elements of the present invention are well known in the art. In general, ink compositions used in ink jet printing are liquid compositions comprising a solvent or carrier liquid, a dye or pigment, a wetting agent, an organic solvent, a detergent, a thickener, a preservative, and the like. The solvent or carrier liquid can be simply water, or it can be water mixed with other water-miscible solvents such as polyhydric alcohols. Further, an ink in which an organic material such as a polyhydric alcohol is a main carrier or solvent liquid may be used. Particularly useful is a mixed solvent of water and a polyhydric alcohol. The dyes used in such compositions are generally water-soluble direct or acid type dyes. Such liquid compositions are extensively described in the prior art such as, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,381,946, 4,239,543, and 4,781,758.

  The following examples are provided to illustrate the present invention.

The following water-soluble cationic polymers were used for comparison.
C-1 Polypropylene (vinylbenzyl) trimethylammonium chloride available as Chemistat ™ 6300H from Sanyo Chemical Industries C-2 Polypropylene oxide triamine available as Jeffamine ™ T-5000 from Huntsman

Element 1 of the present invention
Dry weight 100 g of precipitated calcium carbonate Albagloss-s ™ (Specialty Minerals Inc.) (70% solution) and dry weight 8.5 g of silica gel Gasil ™ 23F (Crosfield Ltd.), dry weight 0.5 g of polyvinyl alcohol Base by mixing with Gohsenol ™ GH-17 (Nippon Gohsei Co., Ltd.) (10% solution) and 5 g dry weight of styrene-butadiene latex CP692NA ™ (Dow Chemicals) (50% solution). A coating solution for the layer was prepared. The solid content of the coating solution was adjusted to 35% by adding water.

The base layer coating solution was applied onto a base paper (basis weight 185 g / m ² ) by bead coating at 25 ° C. and dried at 60 ° C. by forced air. The thickness of this base coating was 25 μm or 27 g / m ² .

  Alumina Dispal (TM) 14N4-80 (Condea Vista Co.), polyvinyl alcohol Gohsenol (TM) GH-17 (Nippon Gohsei Co.), and polymer A described above in a ratio of 86: 4: 10. A coating solution for the image-receiving layer was prepared by making an aqueous coating formulation with a solids content of 15% by weight. Surfactants Zonyl ™ FS-300 (DuPont Co.) and Silwet ™ L-7602 (Witco Corp.) were added in small amounts as coating aids.

The image receiving layer coating solution was applied over the base layer described above. Next, this recording element was dried by forced air at 60 ° C. to obtain a recording element having a two-layer structure. The thickness of this image receiving layer was 8 μm or 8.6 g / m ² .

Element 2 of the present invention
Element 2 was prepared the same as Element 1 except that polymer B was used instead of polymer A.

Element 3 of the present invention
Element 3 was prepared the same as Element 1 except that both Polymer A and Polymer B were used.

Comparative element 1 (cationic polymer particles not water-insoluble)
This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that instead of polymer A, water soluble polymer C-1 was used.

Comparative element 2 (cationic polymer particles that are not water-insoluble)
This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that instead of polymer A, water soluble polymer C-2 was used.

Comparative element 3 (without cationic polymer particles)
This element was prepared the same as Element 1 except that the image-receiving layer contained only alumina and polyvinyl alcohol in a 96: 4 ratio.

Concentration test
Test images of 100% ink laydown cyan, magenta, yellow, red, green, and blue patches were printed using a Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 970 printer and an ink cartridge with catalog number HP C6578D.

  After drying for 24 hours at ambient temperature and humidity, the Status A D-max concentration was measured using an X-Rite ™ 820 densitometer (for each of the red, green, and blue concentrations, 2 Component color densities were measured and averaged). The following results were obtained.

  The above results show that the D-max density of status A for the recording element of the present invention is higher in all colors compared to the comparative element.

  Other preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described in the context of the claims.

[1] A porous image-receiving layer comprising: (a) particles having an average particle size of greater than 0.04 μm to 5 μm; and (b) water-insoluble cationic polymer particles having a cationic mordant portion of at least 20 mol%. An ink jet recording element comprising a supporting substrate.

  [2] The recording element according to [1], wherein the mass ratio of the water-insoluble cationic polymer particles (b) to the particles (a) is 1: 2 to 1:10.

  [3] The recording element according to [1], wherein the porous image-receiving layer also contains a binder in an amount of 20% by mass or less.

  [4] The recording element according to [3], wherein the binder is a hydrophilic polymer.

  [5] The recording element according to [4], wherein the hydrophilic polymer is polyvinyl alcohol, hydroxypropylcellulose, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, gelatin, or polyalkylene oxide.

  [6] The recording element according to [1], wherein the particle (a) is an inorganic substance.

  [7] The recording element according to [6], wherein the particle (a) is an inorganic oxide.

  [8] The recording element according to [6], wherein the particles (a) are silica, alumina, boehmite, or aluminum oxide trihydrate.

  [9] The recording element according to [1], wherein the particles (a) are organic particles.

  [10] I) Step of preparing an ink jet printer that responds to a digital data signal, II) Step of loading the porous ink jet recording element according to [1] in the printer, III) Ink jet ink composition in the printer And IV) printing on the image receiving layer using the inkjet ink composition in response to the digital data signal.

Claims (1)

(A) particles having an average particle size of greater than 0.04 μm to 5 μm, and (b) water-insoluble cationic polymer particles having at least 20 mol% of a cationic mordant portion,
An inkjet recording element comprising a support carrying a porous image-receiving layer comprising: