JP2023128413A - Method of producing printed material - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a method of producing a printed material that makes it possible to form unevenness with desired height in a shape on demand.SOLUTION: The method of producing a printed material comprises the steps of: transferring to a thermal head an image-receiving sheet in which an effervescent particle-containing layer containing foamed effervescent particles is disposed on a substrate; using the thermal head to heat the effervescent particle-containing layer in a predetermined pattern so as to reduce the thickness of a portion corresponding to the heated area of the effervescent particle-containing layer, thereby forming an uneven pattern on the effervescent particle-containing layer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present disclosure relates to a method of manufacturing a print.

Conventionally, various thermal transfer methods using dyes and pigments have been proposed. The uses of prints produced by thermal transfer methods are wide-ranging, and are used, for example, in cards with facial photographs such as ID cards and credit cards, composite photographs in amusement facilities, trading cards, and the like.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of printed products in which a card containing expanded particles is heated in an arbitrary pattern to form an expanded portion, thereby realizing a simple three-dimensional shape with unevenness. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a method in which foamed capsules that foam due to heat are applied to the surface of a recording medium and heated with a thermal head to form a three-dimensional image.

However, in the conventional method, the contact area between the thermal head and the foam material is small, making it difficult to heat the material at a predetermined temperature and for a predetermined time to obtain a desired amount of foam. A method of foaming by heating using a heat roller is also considered, but with a heat roller, the uneven pattern is fixed and cannot be formed on demand.

Patent No. 6126731

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method for manufacturing a print that can form unevenness with a desired height in an on-demand shape.

The method for manufacturing a printed matter of the present disclosure includes the steps of: conveying an image receiving sheet, on which a foamed particle-containing layer containing foamed foamed particles is provided on a base material, to a thermal head; The method includes a step of heating in a predetermined pattern to reduce the thickness of a portion of the foamed particle-containing layer corresponding to the heated region, and forming an uneven pattern on the foamed particle-containing layer.

According to the present disclosure, unevenness having a desired height can be formed in an on-demand shape.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an image receiving sheet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an image-receiving sheet. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an image-receiving sheet. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating recess formation processing in a thermal transfer printer. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a printed matter. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a printed matter.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below based on the drawings. Note that in order to make the explanation clearer, the drawings may schematically represent the width, thickness, etc. of each part compared to the actual aspect, but this is only an example and does not limit the interpretation of the present disclosure. It's not a thing. In addition, in the specification of the present application and each figure, the same elements as those described above with respect to the existing figures are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed explanations thereof may be omitted as appropriate.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an image-receiving sheet S used in the method for manufacturing a print according to this embodiment. The image-receiving sheet S includes a base material 1 and a foamed particle-containing layer 2 provided on one surface of the base material 1.

The foamed particle-containing layer 2 contains foamed particles. The foamed particles have an outer shell made of a thermoplastic resin and a foaming agent that is encapsulated in the outer shell and vaporizes when heated. Therefore, the expanded particles expand upon heating.

As shown in FIG. 2, a primer layer 3 may be provided between the base material 1 and the expanded particle-containing layer 2. For the primer layer 3, a conventionally known resin that has the role of adhering the base material 1 and the expanded particle-containing layer 2 well can be used.

This image-receiving sheet S is heated using a heating device such as a heat roller (not shown) to foam and expand the foamed particles in the foamed particle-containing layer 2, as shown in FIG. By using a heat roller, the foamed particles can be sufficiently expanded. Furthermore, since a heat roller is used, the foamed particles expand over the entire image receiving sheet S (the entire area in contact with the roller).

Next, the image receiving sheet S containing expanded foamed particles is set in a known thermal transfer printer. As shown in FIG. 4, the thermal transfer printer includes a thermal head 11 and a platen roller 12. The thermal transfer printer also includes a feeding section that feeds out the heating release sheet 13 and a winding section (both not shown) that winds up the heating release sheet 13.

The heating release sheet 13 has a heating release layer formed by applying a heat-resistant, high release material to one side of the base sheet.

The thermal transfer printer stacks a heating release sheet 13 and an image-receiving sheet S so that the heating release layer and the foamed particle-containing layer 2 face each other, and transports them between a thermal head 11 and a platen roller 12. At the same time, the foamed particle-containing layer 20 is heated by the thermal head 11 via the heating release sheet 13.

The thermal head 11 performs heating in a pattern shape based on a control signal from a control section (not shown) of the thermal transfer printer.

Further, the control unit increases the voltage applied to the thermal head 11 and applies high thermal energy to the foamed particle-containing layer 2 . For example, the voltage applied to the thermal head 11 is preferably 18V or more. Further, the printing speed (conveying speed of the image receiving sheet) is preferably 6 ms/Line or more.

When high thermal energy is applied to the foamed particle-containing layer 2, the foaming gas escapes from inside the foamed particles due to overheating, the particles are destroyed, and the thickness of the foamed particle-containing layer 2 is reduced.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the foamed particle-containing layer 2, the region where the foamed particles are destroyed by overheating becomes a concave portion 20a, and the region not heated by the thermal head 11 becomes a relatively convex portion 20b.

Thereby, as shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to produce a print in which an image formed by unevenness is formed on the image-receiving sheet S.

When the image-receiving sheet 2 is in the form of a sheet, it is discharged as is from the thermal transfer printer. If the image-receiving sheet 2 is in the form of a long strip and is wound into a roll and set in the thermal transfer printer, after the recesses are formed by the thermal head 11, the image-receiving sheet 2 is cut into a predetermined size by the cutter of the thermal transfer printer. and cut out the print.

The convex portion 20b is an area in which foamed particles are sufficiently expanded using a heat roller or the like in advance. The recess 20a can be formed on demand by the thermal head 11 of a thermal transfer printer. In this manner, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to form unevenness having a desired height in an on-demand shape and express an image using an uneven pattern.

After the recesses are formed by the thermal head 11, a coloring material may be transferred onto the expanded particle-containing layer 2 to form a color image, thereby producing a printed matter having an uneven color image. The coloring material to be transferred is, for example, a hot-melt ink that is transferred with less energy than the applied energy that would cause overheating.

Alternatively, the dye may be transferred to the receiving layer of the intermediate transfer medium to form a color image, and after the transfer layer including the receiving layer on which the color image is formed is transferred from the intermediate transfer medium onto the foamed particle-containing layer 2, the thermal head It is also possible to apply overheating to form irregularities, thereby producing a printed matter having a color image with irregularities. When applying overheating to form irregularities in the expanded particle-containing layer 2 before transferring the transfer layer from the intermediate transfer medium or at the same time as transferring the transfer layer, it becomes difficult for the intermediate transfer medium to come into contact with the concave portions, and the color image is Transfer becomes difficult. Therefore, as described above, after the transfer layer is transferred from the intermediate transfer medium onto the expanded particle-containing layer 2, it is preferable to apply overheating with a thermal head to form irregularities. A color image may be formed by transferring the coloring material onto the foamed particle-containing layer 2 using energy that does not destroy the foamed particles, and then overheating may be applied to form irregularities.

A heating device such as a heat roller that expands the foamed particles of the foamed particle-containing layer 2 may be installed in a thermal transfer printer having a thermal head 11.

Next, the structure of each layer of the image receiving sheet S will be explained.

(Base material)
Examples of the base material 1 of the image-receiving sheet S include condenser paper, glassine paper, parchment paper, synthetic paper, high-quality paper, art paper, coated paper, non-coated paper, cast coated paper, wallpaper, cellulose fiber paper, and synthetic resin additives. Paper base materials such as paper, lined paper and impregnated paper (synthetic resin impregnated paper, emulsion impregnated paper, synthetic rubber latex impregnated paper) and polyolefins such as polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene and polymethylpentene. , vinyl resins such as polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate, and vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers, (meth)acrylic resins such as polyacrylate, polymethacrylate, and polymethylmethacrylate, styrene resins such as polystyrene, polycarbonates, and Examples include films made of ionomer resin and the like.

The thickness of the base material is preferably 50 μm or more and 500 μm or less from the viewpoint of mechanical strength.

(Foamed particle containing layer)
The foamed particle-containing layer 2 contains foamed particles and a binder resin. Expanded particles are thermally expandable microspheres that are composed of an outer shell made of thermoplastic resin and a foaming agent (core) encapsulated therein. The foamed particles have a core-shell structure, and the entire microsphere exhibits thermal expandability (the property that the entire microsphere expands when heated). Thermoplastic resins are polymers of polymerizable components.

The polymerizable component refers to a monomer having at least one polymerizable group in its molecule, and is a component that becomes a thermoplastic resin that forms the outer shell of the expanded particles by polymerization. The polymerizable component includes a non-crosslinkable monomer having one reactive carbon-carbon double bond (hereinafter simply referred to as a non-crosslinkable monomer), and a non-crosslinkable monomer having two or more reactive carbon-carbon double bonds. (hereinafter simply referred to as a crosslinkable monomer). Crosslinkable monomers can introduce a crosslinked structure into the polymer. The reactive carbon-carbon double bond referred to here means a carbon-carbon double bond that exhibits radical reactivity, and is not a carbon-carbon double bond in an aromatic ring such as a benzene ring or naphthalene ring. Examples include carbon-carbon double bonds contained in a group such as a (meth)acryloyl group, an allyl group, a vinylene group, and the like. Here, the (meth)acryloyl group means an acryloyl group or a methacryloyl group.

A blowing agent is a component that vaporizes when heated. Foaming agents include, but are not particularly limited to, methane, ethane, propane, (iso)butane, (iso)pentane, (iso)hexane, (iso)heptane, (iso)octane, (iso)nonane, (iso) ) Hydrocarbons having 3 to 13 carbon atoms such as decane, (iso)undecane, (iso)dodecane, and (iso)tridecane; hydrocarbons having more than 13 carbon atoms and 20 or less carbon atoms such as (iso)hexadecane and (iso)eicosane; Pseudocumene, petroleum ether, hydrocarbons such as petroleum fractions such as normal paraffins and isoparaffins with an initial boiling point of 150°C or more and 260°C or less and/or a distillation range of 70°C or more and 360°C or less, methyl chloride, methylene chloride, chloroform, Halides of hydrocarbons with 1 to 12 carbon atoms such as carbon tetrachloride, fluorine-containing compounds such as hydrofluoroether, carbon atoms 1 to 1 such as tetramethylsilane, trimethylethylsilane, trimethylisopropylsilane, trimethyl-n-propylsilane, etc. Compounds that thermally decompose and generate gas by heating, such as silanes having an alkyl group of Can be mentioned.

The blowing agent may be composed of one type of compound or a mixture of two or more types of compounds. The blowing agent may be linear, branched, or alicyclic, and is preferably aliphatic.

The encapsulation rate of the foaming agent in the foamed particles is defined as the percentage of the weight of the encapsulated foaming agent to the weight of the foamed particles. The inclusion rate of the foaming agent is not particularly limited, but is preferably 2% by weight or more and 50% by weight or less based on the weight of the foamed particles.

The expansion start temperature of the expanded particles is not particularly limited, but is preferably 70° C. or higher. The average particle diameter (D50) of the expanded particles is 5 μm or more and 30 μm or less.

Examples of the binder resin contained in the expanded particle-containing layer include cellulose resin, vinyl resin, acrylic resin, and polyester.

The thickness of the foamed particle-containing layer before the foamed particles expand is preferably 5 μm or more and 50 μm or less. The thickness of the foamed particle-containing layer after the foamed particles have expanded is preferably 250 μm or more and 600 μm or less. The thickness of the foamed particle-containing layer after the expanded foamed particles are destroyed is preferably 0.1 μm or more and 50 μm or less.

(Primer layer)
Examples of the resin constituting the primer layer 3 for improving the adhesion between the base material 1 and the expanded particle-containing layer 2 include polyurethane, acrylic resin, polyethylene, polypropylene, and epoxy resin. The thickness of the primer layer is preferably 0.1 μm or more and 2.0 μm or less.

Next, the material of the heating release sheet 13 interposed between the thermal head 11 and the image-receiving sheet 2 when the image-receiving sheet S is heated by the thermal head 11 of the thermal transfer printer will be described. The thermal transfer sheet 13 includes a base sheet and a heating release layer provided on one surface of the base sheet.

(Base sheet)
There are no limitations on the base sheet, and any conventionally known base sheet in the field of thermal transfer sheets can be appropriately selected and used. Examples include polyesters with high heat resistance such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polyphenylene sulfide, polyetherketone or polyethersulfone, polypropylene, polycarbonate, cellulose acetate, polyethylene derivatives, polyvinyl chloride, and polychloride. Stretched or unstretched films of plastics such as vinylidene, polystyrene, polyamide, polyimide, polymethylpentene or ionomers may be mentioned. Moreover, a composite film made by laminating two or more of these materials can also be used.

(Release layer for heating)
Heat-resistant and highly mold-releasing materials constituting the heating mold-releasing layer include waxes, silicone waxes, silicone resins, silicone-modified resins, fluororesins, fluorine-modified resins, polyvinyl alcohol, acrylic resins, thermally crosslinkable epoxy-amino resins, and Examples include thermally crosslinkable alkyd-amino resins. The thickness of the heating release layer is about 0.5 μm or more and 5 μm or less.

Although the present disclosure has been described in detail using specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

1 Base material 2 Foamed particle-containing layer 3 Primer layer 11 Thermal head 12 Platen roller 13 Thermal transfer sheet 20a Concave portion 20b Convex portion S Image receiving sheet

Claims (4)

a step of conveying an image receiving sheet having a foamed particle-containing layer on a base material to a thermal head;
heating the foamed particle-containing layer in a predetermined pattern with the thermal head, reducing the thickness of a portion of the foamed particle-containing layer corresponding to the heated region, and forming an uneven pattern on the foamed particle-containing layer;
A method for manufacturing a printed matter, comprising: The method for producing a printed matter according to claim 1, further comprising the step of transferring a coloring material onto the expanded particle-containing layer on which the uneven pattern is formed to form a color image. 2. The method for manufacturing a printed matter according to claim 1, further comprising the step of forming a color image on the foamed particle-containing layer before forming the uneven pattern on the foamed particle-containing layer. further comprising the step of heating an image-receiving sheet, in which a foamed particle-containing layer containing foamed particles is provided on a base material, with a heat roller to foam the foamed particles;
4. The method for manufacturing a printed matter according to claim 1, wherein the image receiving sheet heated by the heat roller is conveyed to the thermal head.

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