JP2014133957A - Image forming method, image forming system and sheet material for forming image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming method by which an image can be formed on a surface of a fabric in a reduced time compared to a conventional textile printing method without degradation in the texture of the fabric, while a process of removing an image forming substance other than coloring material can be omitted.SOLUTION: A fabric dyeing device 100 is provided as an image forming system for forming an image on a fabric 20 by using a dye, and the device includes: an image forming unit 1 for forming an image on a surface of a water-soluble transfer body 10 that is an image support, by using a toner as an image forming substance comprising a dye; an overlapping unit 3 for overlapping a fabric on the water-soluble transfer body 10 where the image is formed; a steamer 4 as a steam imparting unit for applying steam to the water-soluble transfer body 10 overlapped with the fabric so as to transfer the dye in the toner on the water-soluble transfer body 10 onto the fabric 20; and a reduction cleaning unit 5 and a water washing unit 6 as image support removing units for removing the water-soluble transfer body 10 from the fabric where the dye is transferred.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming method, an image forming system, and an image forming sheet material for forming an image on the surface of a cloth.

  Conventionally, as a method for forming an image on the surface of a cloth, there are printing methods such as a screen printing method, a roller printing method, and a rotary screen printing method. Patent Documents 1 and 2 propose a method of directly forming an image on a cloth using an electrophotographic image forming apparatus.

  The image formation by textile printing takes time for producing a screen for creating a new pattern, and requires roller engraving and adjustment of color paste. The print after printing is dyed by means such as steaming or dry heat treatment, and thereafter, there are various processes such as washing and drying. Since a long period of time is spent from design to printing fabric, and normal processing is forced to make predictions and prospective production, there are difficulties such as making and storing stock and bad stock. In particular, when fashion is diversified or individualized as in recent years, there are problems such as difficulty in handling from the viewpoint of delivery, and difficulty in processing small quantities of various products.

  Such a problem can be solved by the image forming methods described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2. In the methods described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, an image is formed on the surface of the cloth by transferring the toner image formed on the surface of the toner image carrier provided in the image forming apparatus to the surface of the cloth. For this reason, it is possible to shorten the time until the fabric on which an image is formed from the design is completed as compared with the textile printing method.

The toner used in the image forming method described in Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2 contains not only a dye for expressing a color but also a resin material for retaining the dye on a transfer target in the image forming apparatus. Yes. Since the transfer target of the image forming apparatus of the image forming method described in Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2 is a cloth, not only a dye but also a resin material adheres to the cloth on which an image is formed by this image forming method. Will do. If the resin material adheres to the cloth and remains, the texture of the cloth decreases. The image forming methods described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 include a resin removal step of removing the resin material attached to the cloth.
However, a resin removal step for removing the resin material is required. Further, the resin material of the toner image formed on the surface of the cloth by the image forming apparatus is subjected to a fixing process while being carried on the cloth. In the fixing process, the resin material is once melted and solidified. For this reason, the resin material is entangled with the fibers of the cloth by fixing, and it may be difficult to remove the resin in the resin removal step.

  In the above description, the problem of deterioration in the texture of the cloth due to the resin material contained in the toner remaining on the cloth has been described. Such a problem is not limited to the case where toner is used as an image forming substance for forming an image, and the same problem may occur even with ink jet ink. Further, the material expressing the color contained in the image forming substance is not limited to the dye, and the same problem may occur even when other color materials are used. That is, if the image forming substance contains a component other than a color material such as a dye, it is a possible problem that the texture of the fabric is lowered due to the component other than the color material remaining on the fabric.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to reduce the time compared to the conventional textile printing method, and the texture of the cloth is impaired without providing a process for removing an image forming substance other than a coloring material. It is an object to provide an image forming method capable of forming an image on the surface of a cloth without being damaged.

  In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 is an image forming method for forming an image on a cloth using a color material, wherein an image forming substance containing the color material is used to form a water-soluble image support. An image forming step of forming an image on the surface; a step of superimposing a cloth on the image support on which the image is formed; and applying water vapor to the image support on which the cloth is superposed to form the image on the image support. The method includes a step of moving the color material in the image forming substance to a cloth, and a step of removing the image support from the cloth to which the color material has been moved.

  In the present invention, by applying water vapor to the image support on which the cloth is overlaid, the colorant having the property of being water-soluble or dispersed in water can move to the cloth together with the water vapor. The solid component such as the resin material to be configured cannot move to the cloth. For this reason, when water vapor is applied to the image support on which the cloths are superimposed, the color material moves toward the cloth, but solid components such as resin materials remain on the image support. Then, by removing the image support from the cloth to which the color material has been moved, solid components such as a resin material can be removed together with the image support. For this reason, even if it does not provide the process of removing image forming substances other than coloring materials, such as resin, from the cloth, the texture of the cloth is not impaired.

  In addition, various image forming apparatuses can be used for image formation on an image support, and the image support is simply removed by overlaying it on a cloth and applying water vapor. The time for forming an image on the cloth can be shortened.

  According to the present invention, an image can be formed on the surface of a cloth without reducing the texture of the cloth without providing a process for removing an image forming substance other than a coloring material, which can shorten the time compared with a conventional textile printing method. There is an excellent effect of being able to.

The schematic diagram of the cloth dyeing | staining apparatus of this embodiment. FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic diagram illustrating a process from when a toner image is formed on a water-soluble transfer member until an image with a dye is formed on the surface of a cloth. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a wet image forming apparatus applicable to an image forming unit. FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a first example of a dry image forming apparatus applicable to an image forming unit. FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a second example of a dry image forming apparatus applicable to an image forming unit. FIG. 6 is an enlarged explanatory view of an image forming unit provided in the dry image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of an ink jet printer that can be applied to an image forming unit.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of an image forming system to which the present invention is applied will be described.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a cloth dyeing apparatus 100 as an image forming system of the present embodiment.
The cloth dyeing apparatus 100 includes a transfer body roll 11, an image forming unit 1, a cloth roll 21, an overlapping unit 3, a steamer 4, a reduction cleaning unit 5, a water washing unit 6, a drying unit 7, and the like.

  In the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1, an image is formed on the water-soluble transfer body 10 by the image forming unit 1 using an electrophotographic or inkjet image forming apparatus. Then, the water-soluble transfer body 10 that has passed through the image forming unit 1 is superposed on the cloth 20 and conveyed to the steamer 4. In the steamer 4, the dye as the color material in the image forming substance moves to the cloth 20, and other resin materials and the like remain on the water-soluble transfer body 10. The water-soluble transfer body 10 is dissolved in the steamer 4 and the washing process (reduction washing section 5 and water washing section 6), and the resin material remaining in the water-soluble transfer body 10 is dissolved in water by dissolving the water-soluble transfer body 10. scatter. The image made of the dye remains on the cloth 20, and the dye is moved using the steam of the steamer 4, so that a clear and high-density image can be obtained regardless of the unevenness of the cloth. Since it is possible to prevent resin substances other than dyes from being dispersed in water together with the water-soluble transfer body 10 and adhering to the cloth 20, it is possible to obtain a dyed cloth 20 having a good texture.

  In FIG. 2, a toner image A containing the dye A1 and the resin material A2 is formed on the surface of the water-soluble transfer member 10 composed of the water-soluble paper 101 and the water-soluble film 102, and an image of the dye A1 is formed on the surface of the cloth 20. It is an expansion schematic diagram explaining the process until it is done. 2A is an explanatory diagram of the water-soluble transfer body 10 before the image is formed, and FIG. 2B is an explanatory diagram of the water-soluble transfer body 10 on which the toner image A is formed. 2C is an explanatory diagram of a state in which the cloth 20 is superimposed on the water-soluble transfer body 10 on which the toner image A is formed, and FIG. 2D is a diagram illustrating the dye A1 included in the toner image A. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which moved to the cloth. Further, FIG. 2E is an explanatory diagram of a state in which the water-soluble transfer body 10 is removed from the state of FIG.

  The transfer body roll 11 shown in FIG. 1 is obtained by winding a water-soluble transfer body 10 in a roll shape, and the water-soluble transfer body 10 is fed out to the image forming unit 1 by rotating. At this time, the water-soluble transfer body 10 fed out toward the image forming unit 1 is in the state shown in FIG. Next, the image forming unit 1 forms an image on the surface of the water-soluble transfer body 10 by using an electrophotographic method using toner. The water-soluble transfer body 10 that has passed through the image forming unit 1 is in the state shown in FIG.

A cloth roll 21 shown in FIG. 1 is obtained by winding a belt-like cloth 20 in a roll shape, and the cloth 20 is fed out toward the overlapping portion 3 by rotating.
The water-soluble transfer body 10 that has passed through the image forming section 1 reaches the overlapping section 3 and is superimposed on the cloth 20 that is fed from the cloth roll 21. In the overlapping unit 3, the pair of pressure rollers is conveyed so as to maintain the state where the water-soluble transfer body 10 and the cloth 20 are overlapped. The superposition of the water-soluble transfer body 10 and the cloth 20 that has passed through the superposition part 3 is in the state shown in FIG.

The superposition of the water-soluble transfer body 10 and the cloth 20 that has passed through the superposition unit 3 reaches the steamer 4, and water vapor is imparted by the steamer 4.
The inventors conducted the following experiment. That is, a water-soluble transfer body using an image forming apparatus that creates a sheet-like water-soluble transfer body in which water-soluble paper and a water-soluble film (PVA) are integrated and forms an image with a toner composed of a dye and a resin material. A toner image was formed. Then, with the surface on which the toner image was formed facing upward, a sheet-like cloth (satin) was superposed thereon to give water vapor. In this experiment, it was confirmed that the dye contained in the toner that formed the toner image moved to the cloth and an image was formed on the cloth. Further, it was confirmed that the resin material contained in the toner hardly moved to the cloth even when the dye moved to the cloth. For this reason, it is considered that the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 that executes the same process can form an image made of the dye A1 on the cloth 20 without attaching the resin material A2 contained in the toner to the cloth 20. .

FIG. 2D shows a state where the dye A1 has moved to the cloth 20 side and the resin material A2 has remained on the water-soluble transfer body 10 side after the steamer 4 has applied water vapor. In FIG. 2D, for the sake of convenience, the water-soluble transfer body 10 and the cloth 20 are shown as being separated from each other. However, in actuality, the water-soluble transfer body 10 and the cloth 20 are transported while maintaining an overlapping state. The
In the steamer 4, the dye A <b> 1 moves to the cloth 20 and is fixed by applying water vapor. Hereinafter, the dye moving to the cloth 20 and being fixed is referred to as dyeing. In the steamer 4, depending on the type of the dye A1, there is a case where it is not dyed only with water vapor. In this case, components necessary for dyeing dye A1 are contained in water vapor, and dyeing of dye A1 is performed. Moreover, it is good not only as what is contained in water vapor | steam but it is good also as a structure with which the cloth 20 is equipped with a component required for dyeing | dyeing of dye A1, such as apply | coating the component required for dyeing | staining of dye A1 to the surface of cloth 20. Thereby, even if the dye A1 is a reactive dye that is not dyed only with water vapor, it can be dyed, and the range of applicable cloths and dyes can be widened.

  For example, when the dye A1 is a reactive dye, a component that adds alkalinity to the water vapor in the steamer 4 is included to cause the dye A1 to undergo a reduction reaction. At this time, if the reduced dye A1 has an affinity for the fiber molecules of the cloth 20, the dye A1 stays in the fiber and can be dyed.

  The superposition of the water-soluble transfer body 10 and the cloth 20 that has passed through the steamer 4 that causes the reduction reaction of the dye A1 reaches the reduction cleaning section 5. In the reduction cleaning unit 5, a reaction for oxidizing the reduced dye A <b> 1 that has been reduced by the steamer 4 is performed. By these steps, even if the fabric 20 is washed with water, the dye A1 does not fall off and the dyeing is completed.

In addition, in the steamer 4, when a reaction other than the reduction reaction of the dye A1 (for example, an oxidation reaction) is performed, another reaction necessary for the reaction (a reduction reaction in the case of the oxidation reaction by the steamer 4) is performed. The cleaning unit to be performed is arranged instead of the reduction cleaning unit 5.
Furthermore, in the steamer 4, when dyeing is performed only with water vapor, a cleaning unit such as the reduction cleaning unit 5 may not be provided on the upstream side of the water cleaning unit 6. In addition, when the same apparatus is used for a plurality of types of dyes A1, a cleaning unit such as the reduction cleaning unit 5 is provided, and the components contained in the cleaning liquid in the cleaning unit are changed as necessary, or the cleaning unit is not used. It may be set as follows.
Even when a disperse dye is used, reduction cleaning may be performed to remove excess dye A1 adhering to the cloth 20.

The superposition of the water-soluble transfer body 10 and the cloth 20 that has passed through the steamer 4 and passed through the cleaning section such as the reduction cleaning section 5 as necessary reaches the water washing section 6. In the water washing section 6, when water is supplied, the water-soluble paper 101 and the water-soluble film 102 constituting the water-soluble transfer body 10 are dissolved, and the water-soluble transfer body 10 is removed. At this time, since the dye A1 that has moved to the cloth 20 side is dyed on the cloth, the dye A1 does not flow down from the cloth 20 even when washed with water, and the state where an image is formed on the cloth 20 can be maintained.
On the other hand, the resin material A2 remaining on the water-soluble transfer member 10 side is not retained by the dissolution of the water-soluble transfer member 10, and is dispersed in the water of the water washing section 6.

  The cloth 20 that has passed through the washing section 6 is in a state as shown in FIG. 2 (e), moisture is removed by the drying process in the drying section 7, and it is conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow B in FIG. It is conveyed to the illustrated finishing process. By such a process, an image can be formed on the surface of the cloth 20. In the cloth dyeing apparatus 100, by supplying water to dissolve the water-soluble transfer member 10, the water-soluble transfer member 10 as an image support can be easily removed. Further, since it is water-soluble, it is possible to realize a configuration in which the image support is removed with a safe and inexpensive predetermined liquid called water.

  In the cloth dyeing apparatus 100, various image forming apparatuses can be used as the image forming unit 1 that performs image formation on the water-soluble transfer body 10. Only the transferable material 10 is removed. For this reason, time can be shortened compared with the conventional textile printing method which uses a color paste or requires a resin removal process.

  The image forming apparatus used in the image forming unit 1 is not limited to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus that develops a latent image on a photoreceptor using toner, but an ink jet that sprays ink onto a water-soluble transfer body 10 that is a recording medium. The image forming apparatus may be of a type.

Next, the cloth 20 will be described.
As a cloth used as the cloth 20 of the present embodiment, any cloth structure can be used regardless of a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, a non-woven fabric, a braid or the like, and a woven fabric is particularly preferable. Synthetic fibers, regenerated fibers, cellulosic fibers, animal fibers, and the like can be used as materials constituting the fabric and the like, and these may be blended or woven. Examples of synthetic fibers include various polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate and polybutylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, vinylon, acrylic, nylon, acetate, and the like. In addition, examples of the regenerated fiber include rayon, examples of the cellulosic fiber include cotton and hemp, and examples of the animal fiber include silk and wool.

Next, the water-soluble transfer body 10 will be described.
The water-soluble transfer body 10 according to the present embodiment is not limited to one in which the water-soluble paper and the water-soluble film are integrated. Also good. Examples of the water-soluble film include those made of polyamide or PVA.
Specific examples of the water-soluble paper include water-soluble paper 30MDP, 60MDP, 30CD-2 and 60CD-2 made by Mishima Paper. Examples of the integral water-soluble paper and water-soluble film include Mishima Paper's heat seal type A3030, A3015, and A6015. All of these water-soluble papers and water-soluble papers and water-soluble films are dissolved in water in 35 to 60 seconds.
In addition, Nippon Paper Papier Co., Ltd. water-soluble paper has the same effect. Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) produced from chemical pulp is mixed with chemical pulp and produced by alkali treatment.

Image formation can be performed even with a single water-soluble paper, but image quality can be improved by attaching a water-soluble film to form an image.
In addition, an image can be formed even with a single water-soluble film. However, if a single water-soluble film is allowed to pass through the image forming section 1, the behavior of the water-soluble film is not stable, and a desired image can be formed. The image quality may be deteriorated due to the absence. On the other hand, by sticking water-soluble paper to the water-soluble film, the behavior of the water-soluble film at the time of image formation can be stabilized and image quality can be maintained.

  Further, since not only the water-soluble film 102 but also the paper holding the same is the water-soluble paper 101, there is no remaining object other than the cloth 20 that is the object of final image formation. Can be omitted.

Next, image formation on a conventional cloth will be described.
Conventionally, as a method for forming an image on the surface of a cloth, there are printing methods such as a screen printing method, a roller printing method, a rotary screen printing method, and a thermal transfer printing method. These textile printing methods have the following problems. The screen printing method has problems such as that it takes time to manufacture the screen, takes a place for storing the screen, and the work is an intermittent process, so that the production speed of the printing is slow. On the other hand, the roller printing method has a high production speed, but the process of engraving the pattern on the metal roll is complicated, and furthermore, the handling is difficult because the roller is heavy. The rotary screen printing method has the characteristics of the roller printing method and the screen printing method, and the rotary screen is lightweight and can be easily replaced.

  However, each printing method takes time to produce a screen for creating a new pattern, and requires roller engraving and adjustment of color paste. The print after printing is dyed by means such as steaming or dry heat treatment, and thereafter, there are various processes such as washing and drying. Since a long period of time is spent from design to printing fabric, and normal processing is forced to predict and produce prospectively, there are difficulties such as making and storing and having bad stock. In particular, when fashion is diversified or individualized as in recent years, there are problems such as difficulty in handling from the viewpoint of delivery, and difficulty in processing small quantities of various products.

  Under these circumstances, the following can be considered as printing methods with improved design of screens after design, roller engraving, adjustment of color paste, cleaning after printing, and drying process. . That is, this is a thermal transfer printing method in which a sheet-like material printed with a sublimation dye is adhered to a fabric or the like, heated to sublimate the dye and dyed onto the fabric or the like, and the above-mentioned problems and difficulties have been considerably improved. However, the fibers that can be printed by this method are limited to a pre-treated fabric that can be dyed with polyester fibers or sublimation dyes, and the design change is limited to the transfer master paper supplied by the printing manufacturer. Although it is suitable for mass production, it has inefficiency, transfer paper is uneconomical, and the processing process has the same difficulties as described above.

  In recent years, in the textile printing industry, there is an increasing demand for shortening the delivery time in addition to high-mix low-volume production. Under such circumstances, printing using an ink-jet printer that is linked to a computer and omits the engraving plate making process, which is the biggest problem among the above-described printing methods, has been proposed. This textile printing method does not require engraving rolls and screens, can be produced immediately after receiving an order, can easily change designs and colors, and can be stored and taken out easily. It became high. However, there remain problems such as fine line reproducibility due to blurring and the need for cloth pretreatment.

On the other hand, there is a method of drawing a pattern using an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. That is, in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, an original image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum as an electrostatic latent image, and a toner containing a colorant and a resin is scattered by an electrostatic force to form a toner image. A method of printing a copied image by transferring this toner image onto a cloth or the like at a transfer portion and then heat-melting and fixing the toner onto the cloth or the like at a fixing portion has been developed and publicly known in recent years.
As a configuration using an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a direct development printing method for a cloth by an electrophotographic method is dyed by steaming, and then washed and de-resined by trichlene. As an electrostatic printing method, a dye is dyed on a cloth or the like by steam heat fixing, and then the binder resin in the toner is washed and removed with a solvent or the like.

  Solvents used in these deresining steps are substances such as trichlene, methyl ethyl ketone, toluene, xylene, acetone, butyl acetate. These correspond to volatile organic compounds (VOC, abbreviation of volatile organic compounds), and are considered to be one of air pollution related to suspended particulate matter and photochemical oxidants. Moreover, since these substances have volatility, they give off an unpleasant feeling by emitting odor. Apart from the approach of removing the resin as described above, an attempt has been made to maintain the flexibility of the fabric even when the resin is attached.

  However, in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the toner does not adhere to the concave portions on the surface of the cloth, and the image is lost, which may lead to a decrease in image quality.

In response to these problems, the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment uses a water-soluble transfer body 10 in which a transfer body used as transfer means in an image forming process is bonded to a water-soluble support with a water-soluble film or the like. Yes. Then, after forming an image on the water-soluble transfer body 10, the image surface of the water-soluble transfer body 10 is overlapped with the cloth 20. By applying water vapor to the superposition of the water-soluble transfer member 10 and the cloth 20, the dye A1 contained in the toner image A on the water-soluble transfer member 10 moves to the cloth 20 and is fixed.
It becomes possible.

  Conventionally, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 describe a configuration in which an electrophotographic image forming apparatus is directly transferred to a cloth, but the surface of the cloth has irregularities formed by cloth fibers. The toner adheres to the convex portion that is the apex of the toner. However, toner cannot adhere to the recesses on the cloth surface, and the image quality varies depending on the size of the recesses and the size of the gaps between the fibers. A relatively good image quality can be obtained with a dense cloth having a small concave portion and a small gap between fibers, but the image quality is deteriorated with a cloth having a large concave portion and density between fibers.

  In order to solve such a problem, in the image forming method of the present embodiment, the water-soluble transfer body 10 on which the toner image A is formed is superposed on the cloth 20, and water vapor is applied to the dye A1 contained in the toner. Move to cloth with. For this reason, it can cope with many kinds of cloths with excellent image quality. In addition, the above-described problem can be solved by using only water-soluble paper as the water-soluble transfer member 10. However, as with the water-soluble transfer body 10 of the present embodiment, the image creation surface of the water-soluble transfer body 10 can be made a water-soluble film, so that even better image quality can be obtained, and more stable image quality can be obtained. can get.

  Further, even if the image support is not water-soluble, the dye contained in the toner can be moved to the cloth by water vapor. However, when the present inventors performed image formation using an image support made of a water-insoluble material and a water-soluble material, the image support is preferably a water-soluble material. It was confirmed that an image was obtained. This is thought to be due to the following reasons. That is, since the image support is a water-soluble material, the surface of the image support is dissolved by applying water vapor, and the adhesion between the dye attached to the surface and the surface of the image support is reduced. As described above, the dye having a reduced adhesion to the image support easily moves with water vapor, and the transfer rate of the dye from the image support to the cloth is higher than when the image support is not dissolved. it is conceivable that. Thus, a better image can be obtained by making the image support water-soluble.

  Since the water vapor moves from the lower side to the upper side in the air, it is desirable that the water vapor is applied to the water-soluble transfer body 10 in a state where the cloth 20 is located on the upper side in the steamer 4. The dye A1 on the water-soluble transfer member 10 located below rises with water vapor and can adhere to the cloth 20. Moreover, since the cloth 20 is on the upper side, the resin material A2 on the water-soluble transfer body 10 can be more reliably prevented from adhering to the cloth 20.

  In the cloth dyeing apparatus 100, in the image forming process of the image forming unit 1, the toner image A is formed on the water-soluble transfer member 10 as a recording medium. Thereafter, the cloth 20 is overlapped, and the dye A1 is moved and dyed on the cloth 20 in the dyeing process. In the image forming process, the toner image carrier having a belt-like or roller-like surface having high surface smoothness is transferred to the water-soluble transfer member 10. Since the water-soluble transfer body 10 having a higher surface smoothness than the cloth is more likely to be in close contact with the toner image carrier than the cloth, a high-quality toner image A can be formed on the water-soluble transfer body 10. When the dye A1 in the toner image A is moved to the surface of the cloth 20 by heat and water vapor in the dyeing process by the steamer 4, the influence of the unevenness on the surface of the cloth 20 is small. For this reason, the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 of this embodiment has a higher resolution than a conventional apparatus that directly transfers to an uneven cloth in the image forming apparatus, and a high-density image can be obtained.

  Furthermore, since the dyeing is performed with the dye A1 included in the toner image A corresponding to the image, the cloth can be dyed with a minimum amount of dye as in the conventional textile printing, and the load on the environment is reduced. Can be reduced. Moreover, a dye can be moved by water vapor, and depending on the type of dye, a component necessary for dyeing can be contained in water vapor, thereby providing high-quality designs for many types of fabrics. Further, since the recording medium carrying the toner image A corresponding to the image to be transferred to the cloth is the water-soluble water-soluble transfer body 10, the dye A1 attached to the recording medium can easily move to the cloth 20 together with the water vapor. The transfer efficiency from the recording medium to the cloth 20 is improved. Thereby, further improvement in image quality can be achieved. Furthermore, since the removal of the resin material A2 can be achieved by removing the water-soluble transfer body 10 with water vapor and water, it is possible to realize dyeing on a fabric excellent in environmental performance.

In addition, depending on the type of dye, there is a dye that can be dyed on a cloth without using water vapor or heat alone, but contained in a toner image formed on a transfer body. However, by using water vapor, the fibers of the cloth open and it becomes easy to dye, so even if it is a dye that can be dyed only with heat, by applying water vapor, it is more than dyeing with heat alone Can also be satisfactorily dyed.
In the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, since the water-soluble transfer body 10 that is an image support is a water-soluble material, the surface of the water-soluble transfer body 10 is dissolved and adhered to the surface when water vapor is applied. Adhesive force between the dye A1 and the water-soluble transfer member 10 is reduced. As described above, the dye A1 having a reduced adhesive force with the water-soluble transfer member 10 is easily moved with water vapor, and the transfer rate of the dye from the image support to the cloth is higher than when the image support is not dissolved. It becomes high and dyeing property improves. By making the image support water-soluble like the water-soluble transfer member 10, the dyeing property to the cloth 20 is improved, and a better image can be obtained.

  Next, an example of an image forming apparatus that can be applied as the image forming unit 1 of the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a wet image forming apparatus 410 applicable to the image forming unit 1.

  The outline of the image forming unit around the photoreceptor 301 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, there is a uniform charging device 121 directly above the photoconductor 301 to charge the surface of the photoconductor 301. Charges in portions other than the image portion are erased by partial lighting of the erase lamp 122. The exposure light L based on the image information of the original is imaged on the surface of the photosensitive member 301 by an exposure device (not shown). As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoreceptor 301.

  The wet developing device 302 includes two developing rollers, a first developing roller 109 and a second developing roller 110, and a reverse roller 111. A liquid developer 131 is contained in the developing tank 129, and the liquid developer 131 is conveyed to the wet developing device 302 and the cleaning device 116 by the pump 130. The liquid developer 131 sent to the wet developing device 302 is poured into two developing rollers, a first developing roller 109 and a second developing roller 110. The two developing rollers are rotated, and the liquid developer 131 is supplied to the electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor 301 by this rotation. Therefore, the toner in the liquid developer 131 adheres onto the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoreceptor 301 by electrophotographic electrophoresis.

  Next, the reverse roller 111, which is set closer to the photosensitive member 301 than the developing rollers (109, 110), removes excess carrier liquid and undeveloped toner from the liquid developer 131 adhering to the surface of the photosensitive member 301. Thereafter, the developer image formed on the photosensitive member 301 is transferred to the water-soluble transfer member 10 by the transfer device 113 to form a toner image A. The residual liquid developer 131 that has not been transferred is sucked by the foam roller 118 in the cleaning device 116, further squeezed from the foam roller 118 by the squeezing roller 117, and returned to the developing tank 129. Further, the remaining liquid developer 131 is scraped off by a cleaning blade 119 for cleaning the surface of the photoreceptor 301 cleanly. The liquid developer 131 scraped off is also sucked by the foam roller 118.

Next, the operation of the wet image forming apparatus 410 shown in FIG. 3 will be described.
In the case where the water-soluble transfer body 10 is not in the form of a roll as shown in FIG. 1 but in the form of a sheet that can be handled individually, the sheet-like water-soluble transfer body 10 contains a sheet (not shown). The sheet passes through a conveyance guide (not shown) and hits the registration roller pair 49. Here, the timing is controlled so that the image on the photosensitive member 301 is aligned with a predetermined position of the sheet-like water-soluble transfer member 10 conveyed to the registration roller pair 49. Specifically, the water-soluble transfer body 10 is transported by rotating the registration roller pair 49 by transmitting driving at a predetermined timing by an electromagnetic clutch (not shown) from a driving source (not shown) that drives the registration roller pair 49.

Thereafter, the water-soluble transfer body 10 that has passed through the nip portion of the registration roller pair 49 faces the photoconductor 301, and the photoconductor 301 and the water-soluble transfer body 10 move together. When the toner image reaches just above the transfer device 113, the toner image formed on the photoconductor 301 as described above is transferred by the transfer potential of the transfer device 113. Thereafter, the water-soluble transfer member 10 is separated from the photosensitive member 301, fixed by a wet developing and fixing drying device (not shown), and conveyed to a steamer 4 having a function as a dyeing device by a conveying device (not shown). The
When a wet image forming apparatus such as the wet image forming apparatus 410 is used as the image forming unit 1, the water-soluble transfer body 10 that has passed through the image forming unit 1 is dissolved in water before being transported to the overlapping unit 3. It is desirable to provide a drying step for drying the conductive transfer body 10.

In the above description, the case where the sheet-like water-soluble transfer body 10 is used has been described. However, the wet-type image forming apparatus 410 shown in FIG. The present invention is also applicable to the case where the body 10 is rolled.
When the band-shaped water-soluble transfer body 10 is used, image formation is performed in a state where the water-soluble transfer body 10 exists in the conveyance path from the registration roller pair 49 to the discharge belt 115 through a conveyance guide (not shown). At this time, the conveyance of the water-soluble transfer body 10 in the registration roller pair 49 is not stopped, the continuous conveyance speed by each conveyance roller including the registration roller pair 49 is made constant, and continuous paper passing is performed. The image is continuously formed on the transfer body 10.

Next, a first example of the dry image forming apparatus 210 that can be applied to the image forming unit 1 of the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a first example of the dry image forming apparatus 210.
A dry image forming apparatus 210 shown in FIG. 4 includes a photosensitive member 301, a charging roller 220 as a charging unit, and an exposure device (not shown) as an exposure unit. Further, a developing device 45 (black developing device 45K, yellow developing device 45Y, magenta developing device 45M, cyan developing device 45C) as developing means and an intermediate transfer belt 50 as an intermediate transfer member are provided. Furthermore, it has the cleaning apparatus 116 which has a cleaning blade as a cleaning means, and the static elimination lamp 70 as a static elimination means.

The intermediate transfer belt 50 is an endless belt, and is stretched by three stretching rollers 251 disposed on the inner side thereof, and can move on the surface in the arrow direction in FIG. A part of the three stretching rollers 251 also functions as a transfer bias roller that can apply a predetermined transfer bias (primary transfer bias) to the intermediate transfer belt 50. A belt cleaning device 17 having a cleaning blade is disposed in the vicinity of the intermediate transfer belt 50. Further, a secondary transfer roller 280 as a transfer unit capable of applying a transfer bias for transferring (secondary transfer) the toner image to the water-soluble transfer body 10 is disposed to face the intermediate transfer belt 50. Yes.
Around the intermediate transfer belt 50, a corona charger 252 for applying a charge to the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 50 is provided from the contact portion between the photosensitive member 301 and the intermediate transfer belt 50. And the contact portion between the water-soluble transfer member 10 and the water-soluble transfer member 10.

  The dry image forming apparatus 210 includes developing units 45 for each color (a black developing unit 45K, a yellow developing unit 45Y, a magenta developing unit 45M, and a cyan developing unit 45C). Each color developing device 45 includes a developer container 46 (46K, 46Y, 46M, and 46C). Further, a developer supply roller 43 (43K, 43Y, 43M, and 43C) and a development roller 44 (44K, 44Y, 44M, and 44C) are provided.

  In the dry image forming apparatus 210, after the photosensitive member 301 is uniformly charged by the charging roller 220, the exposure light L is irradiated onto the photosensitive member 301 by an exposure device (not shown), and the surface of the photosensitive member 301 is electrostatically charged. A latent image is formed. Next, the developer from the developing unit 45 (black developing unit 45K, yellow developing unit 45Y, magenta developing unit 45M, cyan developing unit 45C) is applied to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member 301. To develop a toner image.

Thereafter, the toner image is transferred (primary transfer) onto the intermediate transfer belt 50 by the potential difference between the transfer bias applied from a part of the three stretching rollers 251 and the surface potential of the photosensitive member 301. Further, the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 50 is charged by the corona charger 252 and then transferred onto the water-soluble transfer body 10 by the potential difference between the secondary transfer roller 280 and the intermediate transfer belt 50 (secondary transfer). ) The toner image transferred onto the water-soluble transfer member 10 is fixed to the water-soluble transfer member 10 by the fixing device 25.
The toner remaining on the photosensitive member 301 is removed by the cleaning device 116, and the photosensitive member 301 is once discharged by the discharging lamp 70.

Next, a second example of the dry image forming apparatus 210 that can be applied to the image forming unit 1 of the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a second example of the dry image forming apparatus 210.
A dry image forming apparatus 210 shown in FIG. 5 is a copying machine of a tandem color image forming apparatus, and includes a copying machine main body 150, a paper feed table 200, a scanner 300, and an automatic document feeder (ADF) 400. The copying machine main body 150 is provided with an intermediate transfer belt 50, which is an endless belt-like intermediate transfer member, at the center. The intermediate transfer belt 50 is stretched around support rollers (14, 15 and 16) and can rotate in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

  A belt cleaning device 17 for removing the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 50 is disposed in the vicinity of the second support roller 15. Further, a tandem type image forming unit 320 is disposed so as to face the stretched surface stretched by the first support roller 14 and the second support roller 15 in the intermediate transfer belt 50. In the tandem type image forming unit 320, four image forming units 18 of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black are juxtaposed in opposition to the stretching surface along the surface movement direction of the facing stretching surface.

  FIG. 6 is an enlarged explanatory view of one of the four image forming units 18 provided in the dry image forming apparatus 210 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, each color image forming unit 18 includes a photosensitive member 301, a charging roller 220, a developing device 45, a transfer roller 62, a cleaning device 116, and a charge eliminating lamp 70. The charging roller 220 uniformly charges the photosensitive member 301, and the developing unit 45 converts the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member 301 into yellow (Y), cyan (C), and magenta (M). And a black (K) color developer to form a toner image. The transfer roller 62 transfers the toner images of the respective colors on the photoreceptor 301 onto the intermediate transfer belt 50.

  An exposure device 221 is disposed in the vicinity of the tandem image forming unit 320. The exposure device 221 irradiates the exposure light L onto the photosensitive member 301 (the black photosensitive member 301K, the yellow photosensitive member 301Y, the magenta photosensitive member 301M, and the cyan photosensitive member 301C) to form an electrostatic latent image.

  Further, a secondary transfer device 322 is disposed on the side (upper side) opposite to the side (upper side) on which the tandem image forming unit 320 is disposed of the intermediate transfer belt 50. The secondary transfer device 322 includes a secondary transfer belt 24 that is an endless belt stretched between a pair of secondary transfer stretch rollers 23, and is a recording medium (water-soluble transfer) that is conveyed on the secondary transfer belt 24. The body 10) and the intermediate transfer belt 50 can contact each other. On the left side in FIG. 5 near the secondary transfer device 322, a fixing device 25 is arranged. The fixing device 25 includes a fixing belt 26 that is an endless belt, and a pressure roller 27 that is arranged to be pressed against the fixing belt 26.

Next, full color image formation in the dry image forming apparatus 210 shown in FIG. 5 will be described.
When copying an image formed on a recording medium such as paper, the document is set on the document table 430 of the automatic document feeder 400 or the automatic document feeder 400 is opened and the contact glass 332 of the scanner 300 is opened. A document is set on the document and the automatic document feeder 400 is closed.

  Next, when a start switch (not shown) is pressed, when the document is set on the automatic document feeder 400, the scanner 300 is driven after the document is transported and moved onto the contact glass 332. When the document is set on the contact glass 332, the scanner 300 is immediately driven. Then, the first traveling body 333 and the second traveling body 334 travel. At this time, light from the light source is emitted from the first traveling body 333 and reflected light from the document surface is reflected by the mirror in the second traveling body 334 and received by the reading sensor 36 through the imaging lens 35. . Thus, a color original (color image) is read, and image information of each color of black, yellow, magenta, and cyan is obtained.

  In addition, when an image is formed based on image information input from an external device such as a personal computer, rather than copying an image formed on a recording medium, the image information is transmitted from the external device to a control unit (not shown). Is input, image information of each color is obtained.

  Next, after an electrostatic latent image of each color is formed on the photoreceptor 301 based on the obtained image information of each color by the exposure device 221, the electrostatic latent image of each color is supplied from the developing device 45 of each color. The developed developer is used to form a toner image of each color. The formed toner images of the respective colors are sequentially transferred (primary transfer) on the intermediate transfer belt 50 that is rotated and moved by the support rollers (14, 15, and 16), and a composite color toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 50. It is formed.

  When the water-soluble transfer body 10 is not in the form of a roll as shown in FIG. 1 but in the form of a sheet that can be handled individually, the sheet-like water-soluble transfer body 10 is placed in the paper feed table 200. Can be stored. When an image is formed on the water-soluble transfer body 10 in the paper feed table 200, one of the paper feed rollers 142 is selectively rotated, and the water-soluble transfer is performed from one of the paper feed cassettes 144 provided in multiple stages in the paper bank 143. The body 10 is extended. Then, the sheet is separated one by one by the separation roller 145 and sent to the sheet feeding path 146, conveyed by the conveying roller 147, guided to the sheet feeding path 148 in the copying machine main body 150, and abutted against the registration roller pair 49 and stopped. Let

Further, in the case of the sheet-like water-soluble transfer member 10, an image can be formed by disposing the water-soluble transfer member 10 on the external transfer member tray 54. In this case, the external paper feed roller 51 is rotated to feed out the water-soluble transfer body 10 from the external transfer body tray 54 and separated one by one by the external separation roller 52 to the external paper feed path 53 in the copying machine main body 150. Guide and stop against the registration roller pair 49.
The registration roller pair 49 is generally used while being grounded, but may be used in a state where a bias is applied in order to remove the paper dust of the water-soluble transfer body 10.

  After the water-soluble transfer body 10 is stopped by the registration roller pair 49, the registration roller pair 49 is rotated in time with the synthesized color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 50. As a result, the water-soluble transfer member 10 is sent between the intermediate transfer belt 50 and the secondary transfer device 322, and the composite color toner image is transferred onto the water-soluble transfer member 10 (secondary transfer). The water-soluble transfer body 10 to which the composite color toner image has been transferred is conveyed by the secondary transfer device 322 and sent out to the fixing device 25. In the fixing device 25, the composite color toner image is fixed on the water-soluble transfer body 10 by being heated and pressed by the fixing belt 26 and the pressure roller 27. Thereafter, the water-soluble transfer body 10 is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 57 by the discharge roller 56 and is conveyed to the overlapping portion 3.

The toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 50 after the composite color toner image is transferred is removed by the belt cleaning device 17.
In the above description, the case where the sheet-like water-soluble transfer body 10 is used has been described. However, the dry-type image forming apparatus 210 shown in FIG. The present invention is also applicable to the case where the body 10 is rolled.
When the band-shaped water-soluble transfer body 10 is used, the water-soluble transfer body 10 exists in the conveyance path from the external paper feed roller 51 to the discharge roller 56 by drawing the tip of the water-soluble transfer body 10 from the external paper feed roller 51. In this state, image formation is performed. At this time, the conveyance of the water-soluble transfer body 10 in the registration roller pair 49 is not stopped, the continuous conveyance speed is maintained by the conveyance members including the registration roller pair 49, and continuous water-soluble is performed. The image is continuously formed on the transfer body 10.

  In the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1, an integrated apparatus in which the image forming unit 1 to the drying unit 7 are continuous is formed. However, the image forming method having the characteristic configuration of the present embodiment is not limited to this. Specifically, the water-soluble transfer body 10 may be stored in a state where an image is formed, and the water-soluble transfer body 10 stored as needed may be stacked on the cloth 20 to apply water vapor. In such a configuration, the water-soluble transfer body 10 on which an image is formed is moved, and the image made of the dye A1 is moved to the cloth 20 at a place different from the place where the image is formed. Also good.

Next, an example of an ink jet printer 310 that is an ink jet image forming apparatus applicable to the image forming unit 1 of the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 7 is a schematic top view of an example of the inkjet printer 310.
The ink jet printer 310 shown in FIG. 7 forms an image by ejecting, for example, four colors (black, yellow, cyan, magenta) of ink onto the water-soluble transfer member 10.

  The inkjet printer 310 includes four inkjet heads 311 that eject ink of each color, and a carriage 312 on which the four inkjet heads 311 are mounted. Further, a guide rod 313 is provided for guiding the moving direction when the carriage 312 moves in the main scanning direction (left-right direction in the figure) by drive transmission from a driving system (not shown). In addition, a paper transport mechanism 314 that transports the water-soluble transfer member 10 in the sub-scanning direction (vertical direction in the figure) is provided. The paper transport mechanism 314 includes a transport belt stretching roller 315 that is rotated by drive transmission from a drive system (not shown), a tension roller 316, and a transport belt 317 that is stretched between them.

Each ink jet head 311 includes a piezoelectric actuator made of a piezoelectric element. Of course, another actuator for discharging ink, for example, a thermal actuator, a shape memory alloy actuator, or an electrostatic actuator may be provided.
The ink jet printer 310 includes four ink cartridges 318 that store ink of each color, and four sub tanks 319 that are mounted on the carriage 312 and are connected to the ink jet heads 311. Furthermore, an ink supply tube (not shown) that communicates each ink cartridge 318 and each sub tank 319 is provided. Each color ink stored in each ink cartridge 318 is supplied to each inkjet head 311 via each sub tank 319.

  That is, a liquid flow path of the ink jet printer 310 is configured by the ink supply tube (not shown), the sub tank 319 and the flow path in the head of the ink jet head 311. The ink supply tube is provided with an ink supply pump (not shown) for supplying the ink in the ink cartridge 318 to the sub tank 319.

Next, the steamer 4 which is a dyeing apparatus will be described.
The water-soluble transfer body 10 on which an image is formed by the image forming unit 1 is dyed (fixed) by the steamer 4. As the steamer 4, when the cloth 20 is polyester or the like, HT steaming, HP steaming, or the like can be used. HT steaming is a process using heated steam obtained by heating steam. For example, wet steaming is performed at about 175 [° C.] for 8 minutes. The HP steaming uses high-temperature and high-pressure steam, for example, wet heat treatment at about 130 [° C.] for 30 [minutes]. An appropriate dyeing means is selected according to the type of the cloth 20.

The steamer 4 moves the dye A <b> 1 in the toner image A placed on the water-soluble transfer body 10 to the cloth 20.
In the conventional cloth dyeing method using toner, the toner placed on the cloth or the like is fixed to the cloth or the like by the dyeing means, and the dye in the toner moves to the cloth or the like. At this time, since the resin in the toner is softened by heat, it is difficult to remove it by binding to a fiber such as a cloth, and it remains on the printed cloth. Since the resin remaining without being removed in this manner is harder than the fibers constituting the cloth, the texture is damaged, so that the softening liquid is applied and removed in the resin removing device (resin removing step).
In the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, since the resin material in the toner does not adhere to the cloth 20, the resin removal step that is necessary in the cloth dyeing method using the conventional toner becomes unnecessary.

  The superposition of the water-soluble transfer member 10 that has passed through the steamer 4 and the cloth 20 is subjected to a washing step by the reduction washing unit 5 and the water washing unit 6. The process in this step is slightly different depending on the type of cloth 20.

  As an example, if the cloth 20 is polyester, the dyed cloth 20 can be obtained through reduction washing (soaping), hot water washing, water washing, and drying treatment steps, and the water-soluble transfer body 10 and the resin material A2 are used in these steps. With this, the cloth 20 is detached. For example, reducing cleaning is performed by using 2 [mL] for 38 [°] Baume caustic soda (caustic soda having a Baume degree of 38 [°], which is a unit corresponding to specific gravity) of 70 to 80 [° C.], and 2 [hydrosulfite] g] and a cleaning agent in a mixture of 1 [g / L] for 1 to 5 [minutes]. Thereafter, it is washed with hot water at 50 to 60 [deg.] C., washed with water and dried.

When the cloth 20 is a cotton cloth or the like, the dyeing process is preferably performed by a pad-steam method with an alkali concentration of 0.1 [%] or more and 10 [%] or less. As an alkali component contained in the steam of the steamer 4, hydroxides such as sodium, calcium and barium, sodium carbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate, ammonium carbonate, sodium phosphate and the like have a concentration of 0.1 [%] or more and 10 [% The following aqueous solution is used. Any of these materials can provide the effect, but sodium bicarbonate (sodium bicarbonate) (NaHCO ₃ ) is particularly preferable.

  The alkaline aqueous solution concentration is 0.1 [%] or more and 10 [%] or less, preferably 0.5 [%] or more and 5 [%] or less, more preferably 0.5 [%] or more and 2 [%]. It is as follows. When the alkali concentration is lower than 0.1 [%], the reactivity is lowered, and when the alkali concentration is higher than 10 [%], the reactive group of the dye itself is hydrolyzed before the reaction with cotton (cellulose). , It may collapse.

  The treatment temperature in the steamer 4 is 80 [° C.] or higher and 140 [° C.] or lower, preferably 95 [° C.] or higher and 110 [° C.] or lower. When the treatment temperature is lower than 80 [° C.], the resin and dye are not sufficiently dissolved, and the reactivity is lowered. When the treatment temperature is higher than 140 [° C.], the dye reactive group may be crushed before the reaction with the cloth. Moreover, it is necessary to carry out not only the temperature but also the steaming method using heating steam. Further, as the final product, for example, a finishing agent such as an antistatic agent, a water repellent, or a functional agent may be added.

Next, the image forming substance will be described.
As an example of the image forming substance, first, an example of toner used for the liquid developer is shown. The liquid developer is composed of toner and carrier liquid.
Examples of the dye contained in the toner that can be used in the exemplary embodiment include a direct dye, an acid dye, and a basic dye (cationic dye) reactive dye.

For example, direct dyes include direct fast yellow R, direct fast yellow GC, direct fast orange, direct sky blue 5B, direct splat red 3B, coplantin green G, direct fast black D, and the like. Examples of the acid dye include Acid Brilliant Scarlet 3R, Acid Violet 5B, Alizarin Direct Blue A2G, Acid Syanine 6B, Acid Syanine Green G, and Acid First Black VLG. Examples of the cationic dye include cationic yellow 3G, cationic golden yellow GL, cationic orange R, cationic brilliant red 4G, and cationic blue 5G. Examples of reactive dyes include Reactive Orange 2R, Reactive Red 3B, Reactive Blue 3G, Reactive Brilliant Blue R, Reactive Black B, and the like.
80% by weight or more of these dyes are present in the carrier liquid in a dispersed state.

  When these dyes are used, they are excellent in the reflection on the back surface of the fabric 20 and the fastness to washing. Depending on the material of the cloth 20, the dyeability and the fastness to washing are better when a dye is selected. For example, when the cloth 20 is a cloth made of synthetic fibers such as polyester, acetate, polyethylene, polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, and vinylon, a disperse dye is desirable. When the cloth 20 is acrylic, a basic dye is desirable, and when the cloth 20 is a cellulose-based cloth such as cotton or hemp, a reactive dye or a direct dye is desirable. When the cloth 20 is a cloth such as nylon or rayon, a direct dye is desirable, and when the cloth 20 is a cloth such as silk or wool, an acid dye is desirable.

  Commercially available powder dyes have a dye purity of about 50 [%] and contain a large amount of salt and sodium sulfate, which adversely affects the resistance and chargeability of the solution. It is better to use a small amount of dye. As what is used in this embodiment, it is desirable that the dye purity is 80% or more.

  As the carrier liquid used in the liquid developer that can be used in the exemplary embodiment, a high resistance and low dielectric constant is preferable, and isoparaffin hydrocarbon, silicone oil, and the like are preferable. Isoparaffin hydrocarbons include Isopar C, Isopar E, Isopar G, Isopar H, Isopar L, Isopar M, and Isopar V (Exxon Chemical). Examples of the silicone oil include 1 to 10,000 mPas of KF96 (Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.), SH200, SH344 (Toray Dow Corning Co., Ltd.), TSF451 (GE Toshiba Silicone), and the like. Among these, saturated hydrocarbons having a boiling point of 130 [° C.] or more are favorable in terms of toner odor and safety. These solvents can be evaporated at the stage of heating and steaming in the subsequent process.

  Examples of the dispersing resin contained in the toner used in the liquid developer that can be used in the exemplary embodiment include the following. Examples of the copolymer include a vinyl monomer represented by the general formula “Chemical Formula 1”, a vinyl monomer represented by the general formula “Chemical Formula 2”, and the other third component, and a graft copolymer. The third component is at least one monomer selected from the group consisting of vinylpyridine, vinylpyrrolidone, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, styrene, divinylbenzene, and vinyltoluene.

In “Chemical Formula 1” and “Chemical Formula 2”, “R ¹ ” represents “H” or “CH ₃ ”, “R ² ” represents a C1-C4 alkyl group, and “n” represents an integer of 6-20. Represent.
The copolymerization ratio of the component represented by “Chemical Formula 1” and the component represented by “Chemical Formula 2” is “60 to 95:40 to 5”, desirably “70 to 90:30 to 10”. The third component is preferably 0 to 5% of the component represented by “Chemical Formula 1”.

  These dyes, resins, and carrier liquids are placed in a dispersing machine such as a ball mill, kitty mill, disk mill, pin mill, etc., dispersed and kneaded to prepare a concentrated toner, which is then dispersed in a carrier liquid for liquid development. An agent can be obtained.

  In addition, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus used for the image forming unit 1 may be configured to use a liquid developer or a dry developer, but the liquid developer is used. The wet electrophotographic method is more preferable. In general, a liquid developer is characterized in that since resin particles containing a colorant such as a dye in an insulating liquid are dispersed, the resin particles are not scattered and the particle size can be made finer than that of a dry toner. For this reason, since the layer thickness of the toner image transferred to the surface of the water-soluble transfer body 10 can be reduced, it adheres to the water-soluble transfer body 10 after dyeing as compared with a dry developer. The amount of resin can be reduced. Therefore, the amount of resin that dissolves in the water in the washing step together with the water-soluble transfer body 10 can be reduced, and the replacement frequency of the water used in the washing step can be reduced and the treatment load of the used water can be reduced. .

  As an example of the next image forming substance, a toner used for dry electrophotography will be described. Dry electrophotographic toners are mixed with dyes, resin materials, charge control agents and other additives, kneaded with a kneader such as Busconida, then coarsely pulverized and finely crushed, and cut to a predetermined particle size. Can be obtained. As the dye, the dyes described in the liquid developer described above can be used. The concentration of each component may be appropriately determined. Usually, the colorant dye is 5 to 25 [wt%], the resin material is 70 to 95 [wt%], and the charge control agent is 1 to 10 [wt%]. Degree.

As an example of the next image forming substance, an ink used in an ink jet image forming apparatus will be described. In the case of ink for ink jet, it can be obtained by dispersing or dissolving the dye described in the above liquid developer into fine particles in water to make an ink.
As the dispersant used for dispersing the dye, an anionic dispersant such as a formalin condensate of lignin sulfonate, a formalin condensate of creosote oil sulfonate, and a formalin condensate of β-naphthalene sulfonate can be used. .

Ink wetting agents include glycerin, diglycerin, polyglycerin, propylene glycol, 1,3 butanediol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,5-pentanediol, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, 1 , 3-pentanediol, 1,5-pentanediol, 2-pyrrolidone, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone and the like. These are preferably added in an amount of 10-40 [wt%] in the ink.
As the surface modifier of the ink, a polysiloxane / polydimethylsiloxane surfactant, and as the antiseptic / antifungal agent, sodium dehydroacetate, sodium benzoate, sodium pyridinethione-1-oxide, zinc pyridinethione-1- Oxides, 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one, amine salts of 1-benzisothiazolin-3-one, etc., pH adjusters include alkali hydroxides such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, lithium hydroxide, tri And tertiary amines such as ethanolamine, diethanolamine, dimethylethanolamine, and diethylethanolamine.
An ink-jet ink can be obtained by dispersing and dissolving a dye, a wetting agent, a surface preparation agent, an antifoaming agent, an antiseptic, a pH adjusting agent, and the like.

  When a liquid developer is used, the absolute value of the ζ potential is preferably 10 to 200 [mV]. Within this range, a high quality image can be obtained. When the zeta potential is lower than 10 [mV], the toner particles aggregate, electrophoretic properties are deteriorated, the background is soiled, and the density is decreased. On the other hand, when the ζ potential is higher than 200 [mV], the adhesion amount of the photosensitive member may be reduced and the density may be lowered. The weight average particle diameter of the liquid toner used in the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 of this embodiment is desirably 0.1 to 5 [μm]. Within this range, a high quality image can be obtained. If the thickness is less than 0.1 [μm], a sufficient density cannot be obtained or blurring tends to occur, and if it exceeds 5 [μm], the color and resolution may be deteriorated.

  When a dry developer is used, the volume average particle size of the toner is preferably 3 to 20 [μm], and dust is generated when it is less than 3 [μm], and when it exceeds 20 [μm], the color and resolution are deteriorated. The particle size of the dry toner used in the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 is determined by a Coulter counter method. This method is a method usually used for measuring the particle diameter of dry electrophotographic printing toner. That is, when the toner is dispersed in the electrolyte solution and a voltage is applied from both sides of the partition wall having small holes, the electrolyte solution for the volume of particles is eliminated from the small holes, so that the electrical resistance between the left and right electrodes is instantaneously reduced. This produces an increased voltage pulse. The particle size distribution is obtained from the number and size of the pulses.

  When the inkjet ink is used, the ink preferably has a viscosity at 25 [° C.] of 1 to 25 [mPa · s] and a surface tension of 20 to 50 [mN / m]. The viscosity is determined by an E-type viscometer, and the surface tension is determined by a surface tension meter.

  Next, examples of the present invention will be described below.

[Example 1]
Next, as Example 1, an example in which the image forming unit 1 of the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 is a wet electrophotographic image forming apparatus as described with reference to FIG. 3 will be described.
<Create toner>
The toner formulation is shown below.
-Disperse dye (Nippon Kayaku, Kalon Polyster Turq. Blue GL-S 200%) and epoxy resin (shell chemical epicoat 1001) kneaded and ground at a ratio of “1: 4”: 70 [parts by weight]
-Isopar H 20% solution of lauryl methacrylate / methyl methacrylate / methacrylic acid / glycidyl methacrylate (80/10/5/5) copolymer: 100 [parts by weight]
・ Isopar H: 250 [parts by weight]
Charge control agent: 5 [parts by weight]
These were put into a ball mill and dispersed for 24 [hours], and then 250 [parts by weight] of Isopar H was added and dispersed for 1 [hour].

<Image creation with cloth dyeing device>
Concentrated toner 1 was dispersed in 10 [g] in 1 [L] isoparaffinic hydrocarbon (trade name: Isopar H) to obtain a liquid developer. The electrostatic latent image developed using such a liquid developer is transferred to a water-soluble film (made by Mishima Paper), and this is overlaid on a polyester 100% cloth, and HT steaming (175 [° C.]). And 8 [minutes]). Thereafter, reduction cleaning (70 to 80 [° C.], 38 [°] Baume caustic soda 2 [mL], hydrosulfite 2 [g] and cleaning agent 1 [g / L] 1 to 5 [min], and then washed with hot water of 50 to 60 [° C.], washed with water and dried.

[Example 2]
Next, as an example 2, an example in which the image forming unit 1 of the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 is a dry electrophotographic image forming apparatus as described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 will be described.
<Create toner>
The toner formulation is shown below.
Polyester resin: 80 [parts by weight] (weight average molecular weight (MW): 68,200, glass transition temperature (Tg): 65.5 [° C.])
・ Microcrystalline wax: 5 [parts by weight]
-Reactive dye CibacronRed P-6B (Ciba Chemical) (purity 95% purified product): 20 [parts by weight]
Charge control agent (Spiron Black TR-H, manufactured by Hodogaya Chemical Co., Ltd.): 1 [parts by weight]

  The above formulations were mixed, kneaded at 120 [° C.] using a biaxial extruder (BCTA type, manufactured by Buehler), and then pulverized by an airflow pulverizer (jet mill, manufactured by Nisshin Engineering Co., Ltd.). Then, after classifying and making the mass average particle diameter 11.0 [μm], using a Henschel mixer (FM type, manufactured by Mitsui Miike Chemical Co., Ltd.), 2.2 [mass%] silica (R-972: Japan) Toner 1 was obtained by mixing. The obtained toner had a volume average particle diameter of 8 [μm].

<Image creation with cloth dyeing device>
As a carrier constituting the two-component developer together with the toner, a magnetite particle having an average particle diameter of 50 [μm] coated with a silicone resin (thickness 0.5 [μm]) is used and mixed with the toner 1 described above. A dry two-component developer having a toner concentration of 5.0 [mass%] was obtained.
Using this dry-type dry two-component developer, printing was performed on a water-soluble film (manufactured by Mishima Paper) with a dry printer Imagio made by Ricoh.
On the other hand, a cloth obtained by applying the following one dissolved in 100 [g] of warm water of 80 [° C.] to 200 broad cotton cloth having a thread thickness of 40 is used. That is, 1 [g] of sodium carbonate, 1 [g] of sodium sulfate, 3 [g] of urea and 1 [g] of sodium alginate were dissolved in 100 [g] of warm water of 80 [° C.].

  The printed water-soluble film and cloth are overlapped, treated with steam at 105 [° C.] and 0.1 [Mpa] atmospheric pressure for 20 [minutes], washed with water, and with 2 [g / L] anionic surfactant. A dyed cloth sample was prepared by performing a treatment at 80 [° C.] for 5 minutes.

Example 3
Next, as Example 3, an example in which the image forming unit 1 of the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 is an ink jet image forming apparatus as described with reference to FIG. 7 will be described.
<Creation of inkjet ink>
The prescription of the inkjet ink is shown below.
Disperse dye Disperse Blue 60 (Arimoto Chemical Co., Ltd.) (purified 98% purified product): 15 [parts by weight]
・ 1,5-pentanediol 25 [parts by weight]
・ Propylene glycol 10 [parts by weight]
・ Sodium benzoate 5 [parts by weight]
・ Surfactant (BYK-348) 1 [parts by weight]
・ Pure water 60 [parts by weight]

  The above-described components are subjected to a dispersion process for 24 hours with a sand mill using zirconia beads having a diameter of 0.5 [mm], and 100 parts by weight of ion-exchanged water is added after the dispersion process to obtain a dye concentration of 15. [%] Aqueous dispersion was prepared. Then, it filtered with the Millipore filter, the coarse particle was removed, and the aqueous dispersion liquid was obtained. The dye concentration of the aqueous dispersion is about 13%. The average particle size was 120 [nm], and the viscosity was 6.8 [mPa · s].

<Image creation with cloth dyeing device>
Using the above-described ink, printing was performed on a water-soluble film (made by Mishima Paper) using a Ricoh Ipsio inkjet printer. This was overlaid on a polyester 100% cloth and subjected to wet heat treatment of HT steaming (175 [° C.] for 8 minutes). Thereafter, reduction cleaning (70 to 80 [° C.], 1 to 5 to a mixture of 2 [mL] 38 [°] Baume caustic soda, 2 [g] hydrosulfite and 1 [g / L] cleaning agent. [Min] soak, and then washed with hot water of 50-60 [° C.], washed with water and dried.

  In any of Examples 1 to 3, a clear dyed pattern could be obtained, and a decrease in fabric texture (flexibility) due to the resin material remaining on the fabric was not observed.

  In the cloth dyeing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1, an integrated apparatus in which the image forming unit 1 to the drying unit 7 are continuous is formed. However, the image forming method having the characteristic configuration of the present embodiment is not limited to this. Specifically, the water-soluble transfer body 10 is stored in a state where an image is formed with an image forming substance containing the dye A1, and the water-soluble transfer body 10 stored as needed is stacked on the cloth 20 to apply water vapor. You may do it. In the case of such a configuration, the water-soluble transfer body 10 on which an image is formed may be moved and transferred to the cloth 20 at a place different from the place where the image is formed.

Further, a water-soluble transfer body on which an image is formed with an image forming substance containing a dye may be sold as a product. In this case, the purchaser of the product can apply the water vapor using a device that generates water vapor such as an iron by overlaying the product on the cloth, so that the dye can be dyed on the cloth. It becomes possible to form. The water-soluble transfer body on which such an image is formed is in the state of FIG. 2B, and the purchaser performs the steps from FIG. 2C to FIG. 2E.
In the above-described embodiment, the case where the color material is a dye has been described. However, the color material is not limited to the dye, and the color material moves from the water-soluble transfer body to the cloth by applying water vapor. Any other color material such as a pigment may be used.

What has been described above is merely an example, and the present invention has a specific effect for each of the following modes.
(Aspect A)
In an image forming method for forming an image on a cloth such as the cloth 20 using a color material such as the dye A1, a water-soluble transfer body 10 or the like is formed using an image forming substance such as a toner or an ink containing the color material. An image forming process of the image forming unit 1 and the like for forming an image on the surface of the image support, a process of superimposing a cloth on the image support on which the image is formed (superimposing unit 3 and the like), and an image in which the cloth is superimposed Applying water vapor to the support to move the color material in the image forming material on the image support to the cloth (dyeing process, etc.), and removing the image support from the cloth to which the color material has been moved Process (cleaning process, etc.).
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, the time can be shortened compared with the conventional textile printing method, and the texture of the cloth is impaired even without providing a step of removing image forming substances other than the color material such as the resin material A2. Thus, an image can be formed on the surface of the cloth.
(Aspect B)
In embodiment A, the image support is water soluble.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, the efficiency of moving the color material from the image support to the cloth is improved compared to the case where the image support is not water-soluble and the image is formed and dyed. Since the dyeing property is improved, a good image can be formed on the surface of the cloth.
(Aspect C)
In any of the aspects A and B, the image support is made of a water-soluble film material such as the water-soluble film 102, and in the image forming process of the image forming unit 1 or the like, the water-soluble paper 101 or the like holding the image support is used. An image is formed in the state of the water-soluble transfer body 10 or the like in which the image support is held on the support holding material.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, the behavior of the image support made of the film material at the time of image formation is stabilized, and the image quality can be maintained.
(Aspect D)
In aspect C, the support holding material such as the water-soluble paper 101 is water-soluble.
According to this, as described in the above-described embodiment, it is possible to dissolve things other than the cloth that is the object of final image formation, and it is possible to save the trouble of removing objects other than the cloth.
(Aspect E)
In any one of the aspects A to D, the coloring material such as the dye A1 is a reactive dye, and the water vapor contains components necessary for the dyeing of the reactive dye.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, even a reactive dye that is not dyed only with water vapor can be dyed, and the range of applicable cloths and dyes can be widened.
(Aspect F)
In any one of the aspects A to D, the coloring material such as the dye A1 is a reactive dye, and is applied to the cloth such as the cloth 20 by applying a component necessary for dyeing the reactive dye.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, even a reactive dye that is not dyed only with water vapor can be dyed, and the range of applicable cloths and dyes can be widened.
(Aspect G)
In any one of the aspects A to F, the water-soluble transfer body 10 is formed by an electrophotographic method in which an image is formed using a toner mainly composed of a coloring material such as the dye A1 and a binder resin such as the resin material A2 as the image forming substance. An image is formed on an image support such as
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, the electrostatic electrophotographic method using toner is flexible, and image formation using a color material for a cloth that can handle a wide variety of cloths is performed. It can be carried out. Note that the electrophotographic image forming apparatus can be applied to the wet type described with reference to FIG. 3 or the dry type described with reference to FIGS.
(Aspect H)
In the aspect G, the electrophotographic system is a dry electrophotographic system.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, it is possible to realize a configuration that forms a good image using a color material on a cloth using a dry electrophotographic method. Further, the dry toner contains a resin material, and if this resin material remains on the cloth, it leads to a decrease in the texture of the cloth. According to this aspect, the resin material is added to the cloth as described in the above embodiment. It can prevent adhesion. For this reason, the fall of the texture of the cloth resulting from a resin material adhering to cloth can be prevented.
(Aspect I)
In the aspect H, the electrophotographic system is a wet electrophotographic system.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, it is possible to realize a configuration that forms a good image using a color material on a cloth using a wet electrophotographic method.
(Aspect J)
In any one of the aspects A to F, an image is formed on an image support such as the water-soluble transfer body 10 by an ink jet method in which an image is formed using ink as an image forming substance.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, it is possible to realize a configuration that forms a good image using a color material on a cloth using an ink jet method.
(Aspect K)
In an image forming system such as a cloth dyeing apparatus 100 that forms an image on a cloth such as the cloth 20 using a color material such as the dye A1, a water-soluble transfer body using an image forming substance such as toner or ink containing the color material An image forming unit such as an image forming unit 1 that forms an image on the surface of an image support such as 10; an overlapping unit such as an overlapping unit 3 that overlaps a cloth on an image support on which an image is formed; A water vapor application portion such as a steamer 4 that moves the color material in the image forming material on the image support to the cloth by applying water vapor to the superimposed image support, and the image support from the cloth to which the color material has been moved. And an image support removing unit such as a reduction washing unit 5 and a water washing unit 6 to be removed.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, it is possible to shorten the time compared with the conventional textile printing method, and to form an image on the surface of the cloth without damaging the texture of the cloth without providing a resin removing step. A forming system can be realized.
(Aspect K)
In an image forming sheet material including an image support such as a water-soluble transfer body 10 on which an image to be transferred to an image transfer target such as a cloth 20 is formed, the image support is made of a water-soluble material. The image on the surface of the support is formed using an image forming substance such as toner or ink containing a coloring material such as Dye A1, and a cloth is placed on the image support on which the image is formed and water vapor is applied. By this, the color material in the image forming substance on the image support can be moved to the cloth.
According to this, as described in the above embodiment, it is possible to shorten the time compared with the conventional textile printing method, and to form an image on the surface of the cloth without impairing the texture of the cloth without providing a resin removing step. Can be performed away from the image forming unit. In addition, by applying water vapor to the water-soluble image support, the surface dissolves and the adhesion between the color material and the image support is reduced, so the efficiency of movement of the color material from the image support to the cloth is improved. It is possible to form a better image on the surface of the cloth than when the image support is not water-soluble.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming part 3 Superposition part 4 Steamer 5 Reduction washing part 6 Water washing part 7 Drying part 10 Water-soluble transfer body 11 Transfer body roll 14 First support roller 15 Second support roller 17 Belt cleaning apparatus 18 Image forming unit 20 Cloth 21 Cloth roll 23 Secondary transfer stretching roller 24 Secondary transfer belt 25 Fixing device 26 Fixing belt 27 Pressure roller 35 Imaging lens 36 Reading sensor 43 Developer supply roller 44 Developing roller 45Y Yellow developing unit 45C Cyan developing unit 45K Black developer 45M Magenta developer 45 Developer 46 Developer container 49 Registration roller pair 50 Intermediate transfer belt 51 External paper feed roller 52 External separation roller 53 External paper feed path 54 External transfer material tray 56 Discharge roller 57 Paper discharge Tray 62 Transfer roller 70 Static elimination lamp 100 Cloth dyeing apparatus 101 Water-soluble paper 102 Water-soluble film 109 First developing roller 110 Second developing roller 111 Reverse roller 113 Transfer device 115 Discharging belt 116 Cleaning device 117 Diaphragm roller 118 Foam roller 119 Cleaning blade 121 Uniform charging device 122 Erase lamp 129 Developing tank 130 Pump 131 Liquid developer 142 Paper feed roller 143 Paper bank 144 Paper feed cassette 145 Separating roller 146 Paper feed path 147 Transport roller 148 Main body paper feed path 150 Copier main body 200 Paper feed table 210 Dry image forming apparatus 220 Charging roller 221 Exposure apparatus 251 Tension roller 252 Corona charger 280 Secondary transfer roller 300 Scanner 301Y Yellow photosensitive member 301C Cyan photosensitive member 301K Black photosensitive member 301M Magenta photosensitive member 301 Photosensitive member 302 Wet developing device 310 Inkjet printer 311 Inkjet head 312 Carriage 313 Guide rod 314 Paper transport mechanism 315 Transport belt stretching roller 316 Tension roller 317 Ink cartridge 319 Sub tank 320 Tandem type image forming unit 322 Secondary transfer device 332 Contact glass 333 First traveling body 334 Second traveling body 400 Automatic document feeder 410 Wet image forming apparatus 430 Document table A Toner image A1 Dye A2 Resin material L Exposure light

JP 2008-101299 A JP 2008-102314 A

Claims (12)

In an image forming method for forming an image on a cloth using a color material,
An image forming step of forming an image on the surface of the image support using an image forming substance containing the colorant;
Superimposing a cloth on the image support on which an image is formed;
Moving the colorant in the imaging material on the image support to the fabric by applying water vapor to the image support on which the fabric is superimposed;
And a step of removing the image support from the cloth to which the color material has been moved. The image forming method according to claim 1.
An image forming method, wherein the image support is water-soluble. The image forming method according to claim 1 or 2,
The image support is made of a water-soluble film material, and in the image forming step, an image is formed in a state where the image support is held on a support holding material that holds the image support. Image forming method. The image forming method according to claim 5.
An image forming method, wherein the support holding material is water-soluble. The image forming method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The image forming method, wherein the coloring material is a reactive dye, and the water vapor contains a component necessary for dyeing the reactive dye. The image forming method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
An image forming method, wherein the colorant is a reactive dye, and a component necessary for dyeing the reactive dye is imparted to a cloth. The image forming method according to claim 1,
An image forming method, wherein an image is formed on the image support by an electrophotographic method in which an image is formed using a toner mainly composed of the colorant and a binder resin as the image forming substance. The image forming method according to claim 7.
The image forming method, wherein the electrophotographic system is a dry electrophotographic system. The image forming method according to claim 7.
An image forming method, wherein the electrophotographic system is a wet electrophotographic system. The image forming method according to claim 1,
An image forming method comprising forming an image on the image support by an ink jet method for forming an image using an ink as the image forming substance. In an image forming system for forming an image on a cloth using a color material,
An image forming unit that forms an image on the surface of the image support using an image forming substance containing the colorant;
An overlapping portion for overlapping a cloth on the image support on which an image is formed;
A water vapor imparting section for moving the color material in the image forming material on the image support to the cloth by applying water vapor to the image support on which the cloth is superposed;
An image forming system comprising: an image support removing unit that removes the image support from the cloth on which the color material has been moved. In an image forming sheet material comprising an image support on which an image to be transferred to an image transfer object is formed,
The image support is made of a water-soluble material,
The image on the surface of the image support is formed using an image forming substance containing a color material,
The color material in the image forming material on the image support can be moved to the cloth by overlaying a cloth on the image support on which an image is formed and applying water vapor to the image support. Sheet material.

Images