JP2012116168A - Decorative film - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a decorative film which is produced as printed matter by being combined with another printing system with regard to a color which can not be expressed by an ink jet system.SOLUTION: In the decorative film 10 which is printed by an ink jet printer with the use of a UV ink to a thin film-shaped base material 11, a UV ink layer 12 printed by the ink jet printer, an upper part printing layer 16 which is printed by gravure printing or screen printing above the UV ink layer 12 to be laid over the UV ink layer 12, and a protective layer 14 which intervenes between the UV ink layer 12 and the upper part printing layer 16 are formed on the base material 11.

Description

  The present invention relates to a decorative film that is printed by combining a plurality of printing methods.

As a method for creating a printed matter, a method disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known.
In this method, an ink layer is formed on the paper, and a transparent resin layer is formed on the ink layer.
The transparent resin layer is formed by silk screen printing using a solid plate. The transparent resin layer is cured by being irradiated with ultraviolet rays using ultraviolet curable ink.

  Next, based on the density of the pattern drawn by the ink layer, ultraviolet curable ink is printed so as to further thicken the transparent resin layer. That is, the transparent resin layer is thick in the portion where the pattern density is high, and the transparent resin layer is thin in the portion where the density is low. By doing so, it is possible to faithfully reproduce the uneven touch of the original original picture as a relief painting or the like.

JP-A-6-320855

  In patent document 1 mentioned above, a transparent resin layer will be performed by silk screen printing on the upper surface of the ink layer printed by some printing system. In addition, the ink layer printing method of Patent Document 1 is not specified in particular as to what method is adopted, but there is a description that halftone printing is performed. An offset printing method is conceivable.

Incidentally, printing by an ink jet printer is currently performed in various fields. Printing by an ink jet printer has the advantage of being capable of printing in a small amount and a variety of products, and having the advantage of being able to print on various scales.
However, there are still colors that cannot be produced with ink used in inkjet printers. This is due to the nature of the ink used in the ink jet printer. For example, colors such as piano black and pearl colors cannot be reproduced by the ink jet printer. Since these colors occupy an important position as a color that enhances product value in product development, development of products using these colors is expected to increase in various fields in the future. There is a problem that the product using the can not enjoy the merit produced by the inkjet printer.

When the present inventor examined how to create a printed matter using colors such as piano black and pearl using an inkjet printer, the inkjet method combined printing with another printing method. Therefore, I thought that it would be possible to create printed materials using colors such as piano black and pearl.
However, as a case where different printing methods are combined, there is no disclosure in the past documents such as Patent Document 1 regarding the combination of the inkjet method and other printing methods, and there is no reference past technology. It was.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a decorative film created as a printed matter by combining with other printing methods for colors that cannot be produced by the inkjet method. .

According to the decorative film according to the present invention, the UV ink printed by the inkjet printer on the base material in the decorative film printed on the thin film base material by the ink jet printer using the UV ink. A layer, an upper printed layer printed on the UV ink layer by gravure printing or screen printing, and a protective layer interposed between the UV ink layer and the upper printed layer. It is characterized by.
By adopting this configuration, even a color that cannot be expressed by an ink jet printer can be printed by combining it with gravure printing or screen printing. And as a decorative film, the production merit by an inkjet printer can be enjoyed, expressing various colors.

Further, the protective layer is a transparent ultraviolet curable resin, and is superposed on the UV ink ejected by the ink jet printer and landed on the base material, ejected by the ink jet printer, and cured by the ultraviolet light together with the UV ink. This may be a feature.
According to this configuration, since the protective layer can be formed by inkjet together with the UV ink, the protective layer forming process can be simplified. Also, the amount of ink used can be reduced.

  The protective layer is a transparent ultraviolet curable resin, and is formed by gravure printing or screen printing on the UV ink ejected by the ink jet printer and landed on the substrate, and is cured by the ultraviolet light together with the UV ink. It may be characterized by being made.

Further, the protective layer is a transparent thermosetting resin, and may be formed by gravure printing or screen printing on a UV ink discharged by an ink jet printer and landed on a substrate. .
According to this configuration, the protective layer can be stopped in a semi-cured state. By stopping the protective layer in a semi-cured state, for example, even when the decorative film is fixed to a resin molded product by in-mold molding (IMD), a crack occurs in the protective layer. Can be prevented. That is, when trying to fix a decorative film with a protective layer already cured to an injection-molded product by IMD, the load on the film is large and the protective layer cracks as the film stretches. is there. Therefore, if the protective layer can be kept in a semi-cured state as described above, cracking of the protective layer can be prevented even when it is fixed to an injection molded product by IMD.
In addition, in the technique called IMD, there are cases where it is said that the letters and patterns printed on the film are thermally transferred to the molded product in the mold, but in the present invention, the molded product and the film are It will be described as a technique that is integrally molded in the mold.

  According to the decorative film of the present invention, colors that cannot be produced by an ink jet printer can be expressed as a printed matter in combination with other printing methods.

It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the decorating film of 1st Embodiment. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the decorating film of 2nd Embodiment. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the decorating film of 3rd Embodiment. It is a top view which shows the implementation aspect of 3rd Embodiment. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the decorating film of 4th Embodiment.

(First embodiment)
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The decorative film 10 of the present embodiment includes a UV ink layer 12 formed on the substrate 11 by an ink jet printer, an upper printing layer 16 printed by another printing method formed above the UV ink layer 12, The protective layer 14 is formed between the UV ink layer 12 and the upper printing layer 16.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a portion where the UV ink layer 12, the protective layer 14, and the upper printing layer 16 are formed with a substantially constant thickness. As described above, the portion where the UV ink layer 12 and the upper printing layer 16 are superposed may not actually have a configuration, but the structure portion thus simplified is illustrated for explanation. .

  As a raw material of the base material 11 of the decorative film 10, resins such as PP (polypropylene), PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PC (polycarbonate), and acrylic resin can be employed. Examples of the acrylic resin include PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate resin).

The UV ink layer 12 formed on the surface (upper surface) of the substrate 11 is a layer formed by curing UV ink landed from a printer head by an ink jet printer (not shown).
The UV ink is a type of ink that undergoes a polymerization reaction and cures when irradiated with ultraviolet rays. More specifically, the low-molecular monomer constituting the ink is bonded by receiving ultraviolet rays (polymerization reaction), changes to a high-molecular polymer, becomes resinous, and is fixed on the object as a printed state. To do.
In addition, the UV ink used in the ink jet printer cannot produce piano black and pearl colors. Both piano black and pearl are highly glossy colors.
On the other hand, with regard to piano black and pearl colors, these colors can be produced with gravure ink and screen ink described later.

A protective layer 14 is formed on the upper surface of the UV ink layer 12. The protective layer 14 in the present embodiment uses a cured coating that is a colorless and transparent ultraviolet curable resin. This ultraviolet curable resin is ejected onto the ink droplets forming the UV ink layer 12 ejected on the upper surface of the substrate 11 by an inkjet printer.
Then, both the UV ink layer 12 and the protective layer 14 are cured by the irradiated ultraviolet rays by the ultraviolet irradiation means provided on the carriage of the inkjet printer. In this way, the UV ink layer 12 and the protective layer 14 are ejected in an overlapping manner by the ink jet printer and are simultaneously cured by the ultraviolet irradiation means, so that the process of forming the protective layer 14 can be simplified, and the use of the ink The amount can also be reduced.

An upper printed layer 16 is formed on the protective layer 14.
The upper printing layer 16 is formed by gravure printing or screen printing.
Gravure printing is a type of intaglio printing, and is a printing method in which a concave portion is formed in a portion to be printed on a plate cylinder and printing is performed on a base paper with ink filled in the concave portion. According to such gravure printing, it is possible to print a photograph or the like with high accuracy.
Screen printing is a printing method in which holes are formed in a portion to be printed on a screen, and ink is rubbed off from the holes with a squeegee. According to such screen printing, it is possible to print on an object such as a curved surface.

Next, a gravure ink used for gravure printing will be described.
There are various types of gravure inks depending on the application. Contains vinyl chloride / vinyl acetate copolymer, rubber chloride, blue acryl resin, polyamide resin or polyurethane resin, solvent such as toluene, xylene, ethyl acetate or butyl acetate, and pigment as colorant. It is common to have. The resin material and the solvent are appropriately selected depending on the material to be printed.

Next, screen ink used for screen printing will be described.
As with the gravure ink, the screen ink contains a resin, a solvent, and a colorant. The resin and the solvent are appropriately selected depending on the material to be printed. As the resin, a copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, chlorinated rubber, blue acryl resin, polyamide resin, polyurethane resin, or the like can be used. As the solvent, toluene, xylene, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate or the like can be used. A pigment is used as a colorant for the screen ink.
Screen inks are characterized by higher viscosity than gravure inks and higher transfer rates than gravure inks due to the characteristics of printing methods.

  As described above, by providing the protective layer 14 between the UV ink layer 12 and the upper printing layer 16, an ink attack in which the solvent of the upper printing layer 16 flows into the UV ink layer 12 and adversely affects the UV ink layer 12. Can be prevented.

In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the ultraviolet curable resin that is the protective layer 14 is formed by being ejected onto the UV ink layer 12 by the ink jet printer has been described.
However, the ultraviolet curable resin may be formed on the UV ink layer 12 by gravure printing or screen printing.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, 2nd Embodiment of the decorating film of this invention is described based on FIG. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected about the component same as embodiment mentioned above, and description may be abbreviate | omitted.
In the present embodiment, unlike FIG. 1, the UV ink layer 12 does not have a constant thickness, and there are places where the UV ink has not landed.
On the other hand, a protective layer 14 having a certain thickness is formed across the upper part of the spot where the UV ink has landed and the spot where the UV ink has not landed. Since the protective layer 14 is formed on the upper part of both the spot where the UV ink has landed and the spot where the UV ink has not landed, the convex part protrudes upward at the upper part of the spot where the UV ink has landed. It is formed as a concave portion 14b that is recessed downward in the upper portion of the portion where the UV ink is not landed.

As described above, the upper printed layer 16 is formed in the concave portion 14 b of the protective layer 14 that is formed to be uneven according to the unevenness of the UV ink layer 12. That is, the upper printing layer 16 by gravure printing or screen printing exists in a portion where the UV ink layer 12 does not exist, and a printed matter combining a printing method by an inkjet printer and a method by gravure printing or screen printing is realized. ing.
Even in such an embodiment, since the protective layer 14 is formed between the UV ink layer 12 and the upper printing layer 16, the solvent of the upper printing layer 16 flows into the UV ink layer 12 and the UV ink layer. 12 can be prevented.

(Third embodiment)
Next, 3rd Embodiment of the decorating film of this invention is described based on FIG. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected about the component same as embodiment mentioned above, and description may be abbreviate | omitted.
The present embodiment is the same as the second embodiment in that the UV ink layer 12 is not of a constant thickness and there are places where the UV ink has not landed.
However, in the present embodiment, the protective layer 14 is not formed with a constant thickness, and the protective layer 14 is not formed in a place where the UV ink layer 12 is not formed, and the thickness direction of the UV ink layer 12 is not formed. A concave portion 17 having an inner wall formed by a side surface is provided. The base material 11 is exposed at the bottom surface of the recess 17.

On the inner wall surface of the recess 17 (side surface in the thickness direction of the UV ink layer 12), a side surface protection layer 18 using a cured coating material made of an ultraviolet curable resin is formed.
Thus, the upper printed layer 16 is formed in the concave portion 17 in which the side surface protective layer 18 is formed. As the upper printing layer 16, gravure ink by gravure printing or screen ink by screen printing can be used as in the above-described two embodiments.

  Even in such an embodiment, since the side surface protection layer 18 is formed between the UV ink layer 12 and the upper printing layer 16, the solvent of the upper printing layer 16 flows into the UV ink layer 12 and the UV ink. Ink attacks that adversely affect the layer 12 can be prevented.

In FIG. 4, the part A printed only by the inkjet printing method and the part B printed only by gravure printing or screen printing are not formed in one piece in the decorative film 10. , The case where each part is independently formed at a slightly separated position in a plane is shown.
In such a case, the part B by gravure printing or screen printing and the part C that is a gap between the parts are parts where there is no concern about ink attack. If such a part B and part C are also formed on the entire surface as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 2, a useless protective layer 14 will be formed.

  Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 4, it is preferable to adopt the configuration of the present embodiment (see FIG. 3). That is, in the example of FIG. 4, the protective layer 14 is formed only on the part A by the ink jet printing method, the side surface protective layer 18 is formed on the side surface of the part A, and the part B and the part C are formed as the recesses 17. Thus, by suitably adopting the present embodiment, it is possible to eliminate the use of the cured paint wastefully and contribute to shortening the printing time and cost.

(Fourth embodiment)
In each of the embodiments described above, the case where the upper printing layer 16 has only one layer has been illustrated.
However, in the present invention, the upper printing layer 16 is not limited to one layer, and a plurality of layers may be formed by gravure printing or screen printing. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, two layers of a first upper printed layer 16 a and a second upper printed layer 16 b may be formed on the protective layer 14.

Thus, there is an advantage that light shielding is reliably performed by making the upper printed layer 16 into two layers.
Further, in FIG. 5, as in FIG. 1, each layer is represented by simple solid printing, but actually, the portions where the first upper printed layer 16 a and the second upper printed layer 16 b are not formed are alternately formed. It may be. With such a configuration, it is possible to express, for example, a woodgrain tone clearly.

(Other embodiments)
In each of the embodiments described above, an example in which an ultraviolet curable resin is used as the protective layer 14 has been described.
However, as the protective layer 14, a cured paint that is an unemployed transparent thermosetting resin may be used. When forming a thermosetting resin as the protective layer 14, the thermosetting resin can be formed by gravure printing or screen printing. The ultraviolet curable resin is cured when irradiated with ultraviolet rays, but the thermosetting resin has an advantage that it can be stopped in a semi-cured state.

If the protective layer 14 is in a semi-cured state, the decorative film 10 of the present invention can be fixed to an injection molded product by IMD. IMD is a molding method in which the decorative film 10 is placed in an injection mold, the injection resin material is extruded, and the film is brought into close contact with the injection resin material at the same time to be molded into a predetermined shape. When the protective layer 14 is present, a large load is applied to the decorative film 10. For this reason, there is a risk that the protective layer will crack.
However, by placing the protective layer 14 in a semi-cured state, even if the decorative film 10 is placed in the mold and injection molding is performed, the load on the decorative film 10 is reduced, and cracks in the protective layer 14 occur. Can be prevented.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Decorative film 11 Base material 12 UV ink layer 14 Protective layer 14a Convex part 14b Concave part 16 Upper printed layer 16a First upper printed layer 16b Second upper printed layer 17 Concave part 18 Side surface protective layer

Claims (4)

In a decorative film printed by an inkjet printer using UV ink on a thin film substrate,
The base material includes a UV ink layer printed by the ink jet printer, an upper print layer printed on the UV ink layer by gravure printing or screen printing on the UV ink layer, and the UV ink layer. A decorative film comprising a protective layer interposed between the upper printed layers.   The protective layer is a transparent ultraviolet curable resin, is superimposed on the UV ink discharged by the ink jet printer and landed on the base material, is discharged by the ink jet printer, and is cured by the ultraviolet light together with the UV ink. The decorative film according to claim 1.   The protective layer is a transparent ultraviolet curable resin, and is formed by gravure printing or screen printing on a UV ink ejected by an ink jet printer and landed on a substrate, and is cured by ultraviolet light together with the UV ink. The decorative film according to claim 1.   The protective layer is a transparent thermosetting resin, and is formed by gravure printing or screen printing on a UV ink ejected by an ink jet printer and landed on a substrate. The decorative film described.