JP2019171645A - Method for production of liquid storage container, and production method for ink cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a production method for a liquid storage container capable of more easily recycling a liquid while suppressing strength degradation, and to provide a method for production of an ink cartridge.SOLUTION: There is provided a production method for a liquid storage container formed by a material including resins and capable of storing a liquid. The method is characterized by adding to the resin, any one or more among a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, metallocene catalyst and dehydration-condensation agent in a process of melting the resin. There is also provided a method for producing the liquid storage container using a used resin as a raw material. The method is characterized by adding to the used resin, any one or more among the above catalysts and agent.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid storage container made of a resin material and a method for manufacturing an ink cartridge, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a liquid storage container suitable for recycling and a method for manufacturing an ink cartridge. Is.

  The liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting head and ejects (discharges) various liquids from the liquid ejecting head. As this liquid ejecting apparatus, for example, there is an image recording apparatus such as an ink jet printer or an ink jet plotter, but recently, various types of manufacturing have been made by taking advantage of the ability to accurately land a very small amount of liquid on a predetermined position. It is also applied to devices. For example, a display manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, an electrode forming apparatus for forming an electrode such as an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display or FED (surface emitting display), a chip for manufacturing a biochip (biochemical element) Applied to manufacturing equipment. The recording head for the image recording apparatus ejects liquid ink, and the color material ejecting head for the display manufacturing apparatus ejects solutions of R (Red), G (Green), and B (Blue) color materials. The electrode material ejecting head for the electrode forming apparatus ejects a liquid electrode material, and the bioorganic matter ejecting head for the chip manufacturing apparatus ejects a bioorganic solution.

  In the liquid ejecting apparatus, a liquid storage container storing liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head is used. For example, in an ink jet printer, an ink cartridge storing ink is detachably mounted, and ink from the ink cartridge is ejected from an ink jet recording head which is a kind of liquid ejecting head. As a material of the liquid storage container, a synthetic resin material such as polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE) is used. In recent years, an attempt to recycle using a used liquid storage container has been made due to an increase in environmental awareness (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the recycling method disclosed in Patent Document 1, problems such as a decrease in strength of the remolded product are suppressed by adding a raw material monomer and a catalyst at the time of recycling.

JP 2003-277495 A

  However, the above recycling method may require raw material monomers that are difficult to obtain compared to polymers, or may require a step of polycondensation reaction between the resin in the used liquid storage container and the raw material monomers. There was a problem that the feasibility was difficult.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a method for manufacturing a liquid storage container and a method for manufacturing an ink cartridge that can be more easily recycled while suppressing a decrease in strength. There is.

The method for producing a liquid storage container of the present invention is proposed for achieving the above object, and is a method for producing a liquid storage container formed of a resin-containing material and capable of storing liquid,
In the step of melting the resin, any one or more of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, a metallocene catalyst, and a dehydrating condensing agent is added to the resin (Application Example 1).

  According to the present invention, in the process of melting the resin, the liquid storage produced by the present production method by adding any one or more of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, a metallocene catalyst, and a dehydrating condensation agent to the resin. When the liquid storage container is remanufactured, that is, recycled, using the resin of the container, it is possible to suppress a decrease in strength and physical properties of the remanufactured liquid storage container. Further, it is possible to perform recycling more easily and more feasibly without requiring a raw material monomer.

Further, the liquid storage container manufacturing method of the present invention is a liquid storage container manufacturing method using a used resin as a material,
In the step of melting the used resin, any one or more of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, a metallocene catalyst, and a dehydration condensation agent are added to the used resin (Application Example 2).

  According to the present invention, the liquid storage container manufactured by adding any one or more of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, a metallocene catalyst, and a dehydrating condensing agent to the resin in the step of melting the used resin. It is possible to suppress a decrease in strength and physical properties. Further, it is possible to perform recycling more easily and more feasibly without requiring a raw material monomer.

  In each of the above manufacturing methods, in the step of melting the used resin, a virgin material of the same type as the resin contained in the material of the liquid storage container manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 1 is added to the used resin. It is desirable (application example 3).

  According to the manufacturing method, it is possible to further suppress a decrease in strength and physical properties of the manufactured liquid storage container.

  Moreover, the manufacturing method of the liquid storage container of this invention is described in the said application example 2 or the application example 3 from the material containing the used resin of the liquid storage container manufactured with the manufacturing method of the liquid storage container of the application example 1. It is manufactured by the manufacturing method of the liquid storage container of (Application Example 4).

  According to the present invention, a liquid manufactured from a material containing a used resin in a liquid storage container manufactured by adding any one or more of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, a metallocene catalyst, and a dehydrating condensing agent to a resin. It becomes possible to more effectively suppress the strength and physical properties of the storage container.

  In addition, the ink cartridge manufacturing method of the present invention includes an injection molding method using a resin manufactured by the liquid storage container manufacturing method according to any one of Application Example 1 to Application Example 4 as a raw material. (Application Example 5)

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a printer. It is a figure explaining the structure of one form of the ink cartridge which is 1 type of a liquid storage container. It is process drawing which concerns on the manufacturing method of the ink cartridge which is 1 type of a liquid storage container. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the content rate of the catalyst added to a resin material about Example 1 to Example 3, and the tensile strength of a molded article. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the content rate of the virgin material added to a resin material about Example 4 to Example 6, and the tensile strength of a molded article.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the embodiments described below, various limitations are made as preferred specific examples of the present invention. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following description unless otherwise specified. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. In the following description, a configuration in the case where the present invention is applied to an ink cartridge used in an ink jet recording apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a printer) will be exemplified.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the internal configuration of the printer 1. The printer 1 in this embodiment includes a paper feed mechanism 2, a carriage moving mechanism 3, a carriage 4, an ink cartridge 6, and a recording head 5. The carriage moving mechanism 3 includes a drive motor (not shown) (for example, a DC motor) that moves the carriage 4 via a timing belt or the like, and performs a main scan along the guide rod 7 with the recording head 5 mounted on the carriage 4. Move in the direction. The paper feed mechanism 2 includes a paper feed motor, a paper feed roller, and the like, and sequentially feeds the medium S such as recording paper onto the platen to perform sub-scanning.

  An ink cartridge 6 (a kind of liquid storage container according to the present invention and a kind of ink cartridge according to the present invention) storing various inks is detachably mounted on the carriage 4. The ink stored in the ink cartridge 6 is introduced into the flow path inside the recording head 5. In the printer 1 configured as described above, the medium S is sequentially conveyed by the paper feeding mechanism 2 and the ink introduced from the ink cartridge 6 is moved while the recording head 5 is relatively moved with respect to the medium S in the main scanning direction. By ejecting the ink from the recording head 5 and landing the ink on the medium S, dots are formed, and an image or the like is recorded by the arrangement of the dots. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the ink cartridge 6 is disposed on the main body side of the printer and the ink of the ink cartridge 6 is sent to the recording head 5 side through a supply tube.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating one embodiment of the ink cartridge 6. The ink cartridge 6 in the present embodiment is a member that includes a hollow box-like case 9 and a lid member 10 that closes an upper opening of the case 9. The inside of the case 9 is partitioned by the partition wall 11 into two spaces of the first storage part 12 and the second storage part 13. Each of the storage portions 12 and 13 is a portion that functions as a space for storing ink, but one of the second storage portions 13 contains a porous member 14 that absorbs ink. In addition, a communication port 15 is formed at the lower end of the partition wall 11, and the ink in the first storage unit 12 is absorbed by the porous member 14 when it moves to the second storage unit 13 side through the communication port 15. To be held.

  An ink lead-out portion 16 that communicates the inside of the ink cartridge 6 and the outside of the ink cartridge 6 is provided on the bottom surface side of the case 9. The case 9 is a box-shaped member whose upper surface is open, and the lid member 10 is a plate-shaped member that closes the open upper surface of the case 9. The case 9 and the lid member 10 are members made of thermoplastic resin such as polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE), for example, and are integrated in a liquid-tight state by welding or adhesion. Has been. The ink outlet 16 is provided in a portion corresponding to the bottom of the second reservoir 13, and is a portion into which an ink introduction member such as an ink supply needle (not shown) on the recording head 5 side is inserted. In the ink lead-out portion 16, a packing 18 made of an elastic material such as an elastomer is disposed. The packing 18 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the inserted ink introducing member on the recording head side to ensure a liquid-tight state. A filter 19 that filters out foreign matter in the ink is disposed at the end of the ink outlet 16 on the second reservoir 13 side. For this reason, the ink in the second storage part 13 is led out from the ink lead-out part 16 after being filtered by the filter 19.

  Next, a method for manufacturing the ink cartridge 6, particularly a recycling method for newly remanufacturing the ink cartridge 6 from the material containing the resin of the used ink cartridge 6 will be described. When collecting used ink cartridges 6 (hereinafter referred to as waste cartridges as appropriate) and recycling ink cartridges 6 again, when waste cartridges are melted and pelletized, or before injection molding When the resin is melted by heating, carboxylic acid is generated in the resin of the waste cartridge (that is, the resin derived from the waste cartridge and corresponding to the used resin in the present invention, hereinafter referred to as a recycled resin as appropriate). By promoting the decomposition, or by cleaving the bond chain by reducing the hydrogen content by heating, the molecular weight is lowered and the remanufactured part, in other words, the recycled part (i.e. In this embodiment, the strength of the case 9 and the lid member 10) of the ink cartridge 6 is lower than that of the new ink cartridge 6. Or, there is a problem that the or coloring. For example, it has been found that the tensile strength of a molded product recycled from recycled resin without any measures against the tensile strength of a new molded product decreases to about 38%, which is half or less. For such a problem, in the manufacturing method according to the present invention, in addition to the resin of the waste cartridge (more specifically, the resin pellet), an unused resin of the same type as the resin used for manufacturing a new ink cartridge 6 That is, the strength reduction of the recycled ink cartridge 6 is suppressed by using the virgin material pellets and the catalyst. This virgin material is a polymer (for example, polypropylene resin) obtained by polymerizing a raw material monomer (for example, a gaseous monomer of propylene) in the presence of a catalyst.

  FIG. 3 is a process chart relating to a method of manufacturing the ink cartridge 6 which is a liquid storage container according to the present invention, and the processes performed at the time of manufacturing a new product and at the time of recycling are indicated by “◯”. The figure shows a total of six steps from Example 1 to Example 6 in which the presence or absence and timing of addition of the catalyst or virgin material are different. The virgin material used at the time of manufacture of a new product, which is a process in which a new ink cartridge 6 is manufactured, is subjected to a raw material refining process, a polymerization process, a post-processing process, and a granulation process (that is, pelletization). Produced. The virgin material is melted and injection molding is performed, whereby a new ink cartridge 6 is manufactured. The raw material purification step is a step of removing impurities from a raw material monomer such as propylene or a solvent raw material. The polymerization step is a step of polymerizing a heated and melted resin (that is, a raw material monomer) and a catalyst having polymerization activity. The post-treatment step is a step of removing catalyst residues and the like from the polymer resin particles obtained in the polymerization step. The granulation step is a step of pelletizing the post-treated polymer resin particles by melting and kneading other materials such as additives and fillers. In this way, the virgin material is obtained. Then, after an injection molding process (that corresponds to a resin melting process, hereinafter referred to as a first injection molding process) in which a virgin material melted by heating is injected into a mold, a molded product, that is, in the present embodiment, The case 9 and the lid member 10 of the ink cartridge 6 are obtained. When the new product is manufactured, the catalyst is added in the first injection molding step.

  In addition, the catalyst said here means a Ziegler-Natta catalyst in this embodiment. This Ziegler-Natta catalyst is a mixture of a certain organometallic compound and titanium tetrachloride or titanium trichloride. For example, a combination of triethylaluminum and titanium tetrachloride is typical. By adding this Ziegler-Natta catalyst, it becomes possible to synthesize a stereoregular polymer from a resin, and to suppress deterioration of physical properties such as a decrease in strength of a molded product produced through a process involving a thermal history. It becomes possible.

  When the collected waste cartridge is recycled, a portion other than the resin (for example, the porous member 14 and the filter 19) is removed from the waste cartridge, and after the removed waste cartridge is washed, the waste cartridge is pulverized. This corresponds to a pulverizing step for pulverizing, a pelletizing step for pelletizing the pulverized resin to obtain a recycled resin, and an injection molding step for injecting the recycled resin melted by heating into a mold (that is, a step for melting the resin). Hereinafter, the ink cartridge 6 is remanufactured through a second injection molding process. When the catalyst and the virgin material are added at the time of recycling, the recycled resin is kneaded with the recycled resin in the second injection molding process when heated and melted and put into an injection molding machine.

  In Example 1, a catalyst (that is, a Ziegler-Natta catalyst in the present embodiment, the same applies hereinafter) is added to the resin (that is, the virgin material) in the first injection molding step that involves melting the resin by heating at the time of manufacturing a new product. Is done. For example, the catalyst is added in a range of 0% to 0.03% by weight with respect to the virgin material. In Example 1, no catalyst and virgin material are added during recycling. In Example 2, the catalyst is not added at the time of manufacturing a new product, while the catalyst is added in a range of 0% to 0.03% by weight with respect to the resin (that is, recycled resin) at the time of recycling. In Example 3, 0.03% of the catalyst is added to the virgin material at the time of manufacturing a new product, and the catalyst is added in a range of 0% to 0.03% by weight with respect to the recycled resin at the time of recycling. . In Example 4, 0.03% of the catalyst is added to the virgin material at the time of manufacturing a new product, and the virgin material is added in the range of 0% to 10% by weight with respect to the recycled resin at the time of recycling. In Example 5, the catalyst is not added at the time of manufacturing a new product, while the catalyst having a weight ratio of 0.03% is added to the recycled resin at the time of recycling, and the weight ratio is in the range of 0% to 10%. The virgin material is added to the recycled resin. In Example 6, 0.03% of the catalyst was added to the virgin material at the time of manufacture of a new product, 0.03% of the catalyst was added to the recycled resin at the time of recycling, and further, the weight ratio was 0%. The virgin material is added to the recycled resin in the range of 10% or less.

  FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the content [%] of the catalyst added to the resin and the tensile strength [Mpa] of the molded product in Examples 1 to 3. In the figure, the average value of the change in the tensile strength of the molded product when the content ratio of the catalyst is changed in the range of 0% to 0.03% by weight is shown. As shown in the figure, in any of Examples 1 to 3, the tensile strength increases as the catalyst content increases. In addition, when Example 1 is compared with Example 2, in Example 1, a catalyst is added at the time of manufacturing a new product, whereas in Example 2, a catalyst is not added at the time of manufacturing a new product. By adding a catalyst at the time of recycling, the tensile strength is higher than that of Example 1. And in Example 1-3 in which a catalyst is added both at the time of new article manufacture and at the time of recycling among Examples 1-3, the tensile strength of a molded article is the highest. Specifically, in Example 3, the average value of the catalyst content of 0.03% is 1.16 times that of Example 1.

  In this way, by adding the Ziegler-Natta catalyst in the step of melting the resin at the time of manufacturing a new product (that is, the first injection molding step), the ink cartridge 6 is made using the regenerated resin of the ink cartridge 6 manufactured thereby. When remanufactured, that is, recycled, the strength and physical properties of the remanufactured ink cartridge 6 can be suppressed. In addition, the effect of improving the tensile strength is greater when the catalyst is added in the process of melting the recycled resin during recycling (that is, the second injection molding process) than when manufacturing a new article. And the effect of the improvement of tensile strength becomes the largest by adding a catalyst in both the resin melting process at the time of new article manufacture and the resin melting process at the time of recycling, respectively. That is, it is possible to suppress a decrease in strength and physical properties of the recycled ink cartridge 6.

  FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the content ratio [%] of the virgin material added to the recycled resin and the tensile strength [Mpa] of the molded product in Examples 4 to 6. FIG. 5 shows an average value of changes in the tensile strength of the molded product when the content ratio of the virgin material is changed in a range of 0% to 10% by weight. As shown in the figure, in any of Examples 4 to 6, the tensile strength increases as the content of the virgin material increases. Further, when Example 4 is compared with Example 5, in Example 4, a catalyst is added at the time of manufacturing a new product, whereas in Example 5, a catalyst is not added at the time of manufacturing a new product, so no virgin material is added. In the case (virgin material content 0%), the tensile strength is higher in Example 4. However, in Example 4, only the virgin material is added at the time of recycling, whereas in Example 5, both the catalyst and the virgin material are added at the time of recycling, so that the tensile strength is compared with Example 4. It is high. In Example 6 in which the catalyst is added both during the manufacture of a new product and during recycling, and the virgin material is added during recycling, the tensile strength of the molded product is the highest. That is, in Example 6, compared with Example 4, it becomes 1.2 times by the average value of virgin material content rate 10%. In addition, the tensile strength of the molded product can be further increased by adding a virgin material as compared with Example 3 in which the catalyst is added both at the time of manufacturing a new product and at the time of recycling. That is, it is possible to further suppress a decrease in strength and physical properties of the recycled ink cartridge 6.

  As described above, according to the method for manufacturing a liquid storage container according to the present invention, that is, suppression of a decrease in strength and a decrease in physical properties such as coloring of the ink cartridge 6 which is a recycled molded product in any embodiment. Is possible. In particular, as in Example 6, in which the catalyst is added both at the time of manufacturing a new product and at the time of recycling and the virgin material is added at the time of recycling, the ink cartridge 6 has physical properties such as a decrease in strength and coloring. It becomes possible to suppress a fall more effectively. For example, the tensile strength can be improved by a maximum of about 2.4 times compared to the case where the manufacturing method of the present invention is not applied. And according to the manufacturing method which concerns on this invention, a raw material monomer is not required and recycling with higher feasibility is attained more easily.

  In the said embodiment, the metallocene catalyst which has higher polymerization activity can be used for a catalyst instead of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst or with a Ziegler-Natta catalyst. The timing of adding the metallocene catalyst is the same as that in the embodiment using the Ziegler-Natta catalyst. By adding this metallocene catalyst, the strength reduction of the recycled molded product can be further suppressed.

  Moreover, you may add a dehydration condensing agent instead of each said catalyst or with each said catalyst. The timing of adding the metallocene catalyst is the same as that in the embodiment using the Ziegler-Natta catalyst. By adding this dehydrating condensing agent, hydrolysis when the resin is melted by heating is suppressed, so that strength reduction of the recycled molded product can be suppressed. Examples of the dehydrating condensing agent include 2-methyl-6-nitrobenzoic anhydride and 4- (4,6-dimethoxy-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl) -4-methylmorpholinium chloride. Can be used. In short, in the step of melting the resin, by adding any one or more of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, a metallocene catalyst, and a dehydrating condensing agent to the resin, the same effect as the above embodiment, or A higher effect is obtained by the synergistic action.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. In the above embodiment, the aspect applied to the ink cartridge 6 has been described as the liquid storage container according to the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is similarly applied to a liquid storage container that stores various liquids. Can do. For example, the present invention can also be applied to a liquid storage container that stores a solution of each color material in a display manufacturing apparatus, a liquid storage container that stores a liquid electrode material in an electrode forming apparatus, and the like.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer, 2 ... Paper feed mechanism, 3 ... Carriage moving mechanism, 4 ... Carriage, 5 ... Recording head, 6 ... Ink cartridge, 7 ... Guide rod, 9 ... Case, 10 ... Cover member, 11 ... Partition wall, 12 1st reservoir, 13 2nd reservoir, 14 porous member, 15 communication port, 16 ink outlet, 18 packing, 19 filter.

Claims (5)

A method of manufacturing a liquid storage container that is formed of a resin-containing material and can store liquid,
A method for producing a liquid storage container, wherein at least one of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, a metallocene catalyst, and a dehydrating condensation agent is added to the resin in the step of melting the resin. A method for manufacturing a liquid storage container using a used resin as a material,
A method for producing a liquid storage container, wherein at least one of a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, a metallocene catalyst, and a dehydrating condensation agent is added to the used resin in the step of melting the used resin.   In the step of melting the used resin, a virgin material of the same type as the resin contained in the material of the liquid storage container manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 1 is added to the used resin. Item 3. A method for producing a liquid storage container according to Item 2.   It manufactures with the manufacturing method of the liquid storage container of Claim 2 or Claim 3 from the material containing the used resin of the liquid storage container manufactured with the manufacturing method of the liquid storage container of Claim 1. A method for manufacturing a liquid storage container.   An ink cartridge manufacturing method comprising: an injection molding method using a resin manufactured by the method for manufacturing a liquid storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 4 as a raw material.

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