JP3147417B2 - Thermal transfer recording medium - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording medium provided with a layer for matting an image formed by transferring the dye from a thermal transfer recording medium having a dye which migrates by receiving thermal energy. Regarding the medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A thermal transfer recording system using a so-called sublimation type thermal transfer recording medium having a dye which transfers upon receipt of thermal energy is a density gradation system for arbitrarily controlling the image density. Tonality and color reproducibility,
In recent years, it has attracted attention as a method for easily realizing high-quality full-color images close to silver halide photographs. However, since an image-receiving paper used for printing uses a substrate having a high smoothness and a transparent dye-receiving layer coated uniformly and smoothly, only a printed matter having a high gloss was obtained.

[0003]

By the way, it is well known that there are gloss and silk in the finish of silver halide photographic prints which are generally widely used, and both are freely selected according to preference. Recently, there has been a demand for a printed material having a low glossiness in addition to a printed material having a high gloss so that the above-mentioned printed materials can be selected according to taste. In addition, not only for reasons of taste, but also for prints with high gloss, for example, when non-glossy fibers are displayed as prints, the texture felt from the print and the texture seen directly from the real thing are far apart. For these reasons, there has been a demand for glossy prints.

To reduce the glossiness of the image on the image receiving paper, if the image receiving layer contains fine particles protruding from the reference surface of the image receiving layer, the glossiness of the image is reduced, but a heat transfer dye is applied. Since the adhesion between the dye layer of the thermal transfer recording medium and the dye receiving layer of the image receiving paper is reduced, there is a problem that voids are generated in the image and the image quality is reduced. Further, heat and pressure are applied to the conventional image receiving paper by printing, and after printing, the glossiness of the image receiving paper itself increases. Also,
Even if the image receiving layer is blended with dye-dyeing fine particles to reduce the gloss of the image receiving layer surface to lower the gloss of the image of the printed matter, heat and pressure are applied by printing, Even if the glossiness before printing is low, the glossiness of the surface of the image after printing increases, and the glossiness cannot be reduced.

According to the present invention, a void-free high gradation and color reproducibility obtained by transferring a dye to an image receiving paper or the like by receiving thermal energy from a thermal transfer recording medium having a dye which transfers upon receiving thermal energy. Transfer recording medium having a layer for matting an image, which is used for post-processing a high-quality full-color image similar to a silver halide photograph having good lithography to obtain a print of the matte image Is to provide.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a thermal transfer recording medium is provided on an image formed by transferring a dye by receiving thermal energy from a thermal transfer recording medium onto a base material. A translucent matting layer made of a resin made of two or more kinds of incompatible materials not containing a coloring material, which is transferred to matte the gloss of the image to 40 or less, is provided on the substrate.

[0007] A thermal transfer recording medium having a layer for matting the image to a gloss of 40 or less (hereinafter simply referred to as matte layer) is formed on the image of the print, and is provided by thermal transfer. I can do it. Further, by forming a thermal transfer recording medium in which the layer portion and the dye-containing layer portion are provided face-to-face on a base material, the image can be more easily formed without changing the thermal transfer recording medium. A matte layer can be provided on top.

A feature of the present invention is that, in a thermal transfer recording system using a thermal transfer recording medium having a dye transferred upon receiving thermal energy, a matte layer is provided on an image having high smoothness of the obtained printed matter. Thus, the light incident on the image is irregularly reflected by the matte layer, thereby reducing the glossiness, so that the image is in a matte state.

In order to make the image matte, the image is formed as a translucent layer of a resin made of two or more incompatible materials not containing a coloring material on the image of the print, and the image is made matte. To If a matting layer is formed by mixing incompatible fine particles into the resin layer, the surface of the layer becomes rough, and the glossiness of the image can be further reduced. When heat-expandable fine particles are used as the fine particles, the heat-applied particles expand the fine particles, so that the unevenness on the surface of the matte layer becomes larger and rougher, and the glossiness can be further reduced. By appropriately selecting the expansion temperature of the thermally expandable fine particles, it is possible to thermally expand the fine particles simultaneously with the transfer when the matte layer is thermally transferred. In order to make the surface of the transferred matte layer uneven, a non-transfer layer having minute unevenness may be provided on the base material, and a transfer layer for matting may be provided thereon. The glossiness of the printed matter after the matte layer is provided on the image, as a result of intensive studies by the present inventors, is a high-quality image close to the obtained silver halide photograph with high gradation and color reproducibility. It has been found that a value of 40 or less is preferable in order to obtain a matte print having a relatively small difference between the texture felt from the print and the texture directly observed by the naked eye without damaging the full-color image. The matte layer preferably does not contain a coloring material in order to maintain the hue of the image output from the color ribbon faithfully. Further, the matting layer may appropriately contain an ultraviolet absorber, an antioxidant and the like.

The resin which forms a matte layer on an image of a printed material by thermal transfer includes polyester resin, polyacrylate resin, polycarbonate resin, styrene acrylate resin, polyvinyl acetate resin, vinyl toluene acrylate resin, polyurethane Resin, polyamide resin, urea resin, polycaprolactone resin, styrene-maleic anhydride resin, polyvinyl chloride resin, polyacrylone tolyl resin, polystyrene resin, styrene copolymer resin, polyvinyl alcohol resin, cellulose resin, rubber Resin, polyvinyl butyral resin, polyvinyl acetal resin, ionomer resin, polyolefin resin, petroleum resin, polyethylene resin, nylon resin, phenol resin, polyvinylidene chloride resin, terpene resin, etc. That is, the present invention is not limited to this. In order to make the image matte as a translucent layer made of two or more incompatible materials described above, an appropriate combination is selected from the above resins and the like.

To form a matte layer on the image after transferring the dye from the thermal transfer recording medium to form an image on an image receiving paper or the like, it is necessary to use a resin which does not contain a coloring material which is transferred by receiving thermal energy. Matting layer, forming a second matte layer only thermal transfer recording medium, first, after receiving thermal energy from the thermal transfer recording medium on the substrate to transfer the dye to form an image, A method in which the thermal transfer recording medium is changed to a second thermal transfer recording medium, a matte layer is provided on the image by applying thermal energy to the matte layer, and a resin containing no color material to be transferred by receiving the thermal energy is provided. A matte layer was provided on the dye-containing thermal transfer recording medium in a surface-sequential manner with the dye-containing layer. First, the thermal transfer recording medium received thermal energy on the substrate to transfer the dye to form an image. After, the dyeing of the thermal transfer recording medium There is a method in which the matting layer is moved to the position of the thermal head by transferring a layer containing, and a matte layer is provided on the image by applying thermal energy to the matte layer, but the matte layer is provided. Forming a thermal transfer recording medium,
This can be easily performed by providing the thermal transfer.

[0012]

A translucent gloss formed of a resin made of two or more types of incompatible materials in a printed matter in which an image is formed on a receiving paper or the like using a thermal transfer recording medium which transfers a dye upon receiving thermal energy. Since the matting layer is provided, light incident on the image is irregularly reflected by the matte layer, and its glossiness is reduced, so that the image is in a matte state.

Since the matte layer is provided as a thermal transfer recording medium, the matte layer can be easily applied to the image of a printed material by thermal transfer from the thermal transfer recording medium.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A thermal transfer recording medium provided with a matte layer according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same materials or parts are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Example 1 First, a coating solution A having the following composition was applied to a 6 μm-thick polyethylene terephthalate film (hereinafter simply referred to as PET film) 2 having a heat-resistant lubricating treatment 1 applied to the back surface using a Meyer bar. The solvent was removed by blowing hot air of about 90 ° C. with a drier to produce a thermal transfer recording medium 4 provided with a matte layer 3 having a coating amount of about 5 g per square meter as shown in FIG. Coating liquid A Cellulose acetate (trade name: L-20, manufactured by Daicel Industries, Ltd.) 2.5 parts by weight Acrylic resin (trade name: BR-85, manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.) 2.5 parts by weight Acetone 48.0 Parts by weight toluene 33.0 parts by weight methyl ethyl ketone 14.0 parts by weight

Next, a printer manufactured by Sharp Corporation (product number: GZ-P11, not shown), a genuine ribbon (not shown) used for the printer, and a receiving paper (a glossiness of 49 before printing). 5), cyan solid printing was performed to obtain a print having an image 7 formed on the image receiving layer 6. The glossiness of the surface of the image 7 of this print is determined by a gloss checker (product number: IG-310) manufactured by Horiba, Ltd.
Was 83, and the gloss was 83.

The matte layer 3 having the structure shown in FIG. 2 of the present invention is provided by transferring the matte layer 3 from the thermal transfer recording medium 4 to the entire surface of the print using the printer. A print 8 was obtained. The gloss of the surface of the image 7 of the print 8 was measured by the gloss checker, and it was 24. There were no voids.

Example 2 First, a coating solution B having the following composition and having acrylic fine powder 9 sufficiently dispersed therein was applied to a PET film 2 similar to that of Example 1 with a Meyer bar, and then dried with a drier. After removing the solvent by blowing hot air at 90 ° C., the solution was stored in a constant temperature room at about 50 ° C. for 3 days, and an anchor treatment layer 10 having a coating amount of about 1.5 g per square meter was provided. Coating liquid B Cellulose acetate (trade name: L-20, manufactured by Daicel Industries, Ltd.) 5.0 parts by weight Acrylic fine powder (trade name: MBX-5, manufactured by Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.) 1.5 parts by weight Isocyanate ( (Trade name: D-110N, manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) 1.5 parts by weight acetone 92.0 parts by weight Next, PET film 2 provided with anchor treatment layer 10
Then, a coating solution A is applied with a Meyer bar, and hot air of about 90 ° C. is applied with a dryer to remove the solvent, and as shown in FIG.
Matting layer 13 'with a coating amount of about 5g per square meter
Was manufactured.

Next, the matte layer 13 'was transferred from the thermal transfer recording medium 14' to the print having a gloss of 83 obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 using the printer described above. Matting layer 13 'of the present invention having a structure as shown in FIG.
To obtain a print 18 ′ provided with. The gloss of the surface of the image 7 of the print 18 'was measured by the above-mentioned gloss checker, and was found to be 20. There were no voids.

Example 3 First, instead of the coating solution A, a coating solution D having the following composition was applied to the PET film 2 provided with the anchor treatment layer 10 in the same manner as in Example 2. Fig. 5
Thermal transfer recording medium 24 provided with matte layer 23 as shown in FIG.
Was manufactured.

Coating liquid D Cellulose acetate (trade name: L-20, manufactured by Daicel Industries, Ltd.) 2.5 parts by weight Acrylic resin (trade name: BR-85, manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.) 2.5 parts by weight Heat Expandable hollow microspheres (trade name: Expancel, manufactured by Kemanode) 0.1 part by weight Acetone 48.0 parts by weight Toluene 33.0 parts by weight Methyl ethyl ketone 14.0 parts by weight

Next, the matte layer 23 was transferred from the thermal transfer recording medium 24 by using the printer described above onto a print having a gloss of 83 obtained in the same manner as in Example 1, and The print 28 provided with the matte layer 23 as shown in FIG. 6 was obtained. The gloss of the surface of the image 7 of the print 28 was measured by the above-mentioned gloss checker. There were no voids.

Example 4 First, a 6 μm-thick PET film having a heat-resistant lubrication treatment on the back surface was coated with yellow Y, magenta M, and cyan C inks having the following compositions and a coating solution A used in Example 1. Using a gravure printing machine, the matting layer 3 made of is coated in a sequential manner so that the thickness of the ink layer of each color is 1.5 μm and the thickness of the matting layer 3 is 5 μm. A thermal transfer recording medium 4 'having a configuration as shown in FIG. 7 was manufactured. Yellow ink Yellow dye (trade name: Foron Brilliant Yellow S-6GL Sando) 3.5 parts by weight Ethyl cellulose resin 4.3 parts by weight Toluene 74.0 parts by weight Isopropyl alcohol 18.2 parts by weight Magenta ink Magenta dye (Trade name: Red 3005, manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.) 2.4 parts by weight Violet dye (trade name: Macrolex Red Violet R, manufactured by Bayer AG) 1.1 parts by weight Ethyl cellulose resin 4.3 parts by weight Toluene 74 3.0 parts by weight isopropyl alcohol 18.2 parts by weight Cyan ink Cyan dye (trade name: Ceres Blue GN, manufactured by Bayer) 3.5 parts by weight Ethyl cellulose resin 4.3 parts by weight Toluene 74.0 parts by weight isopropyl alcohol 18 .2 parts by weight

Next, using the above-described printer, printing was performed in that order on the genuine image receiving paper 5 in the order of yellow, magenta, and cyan inks, and an image 7 was formed on the image receiving layer 6 having a glossiness of 83. I got something. On the obtained image 7, furthermore, the entire surface of the matting layer 3 made of the coating liquid A was solid-printed continuously to print the matting layer 3 having the structure shown in FIG. 2 according to the present invention. The product 8 'was obtained. Image 7 of this print 8 '
The gloss of the surface was measured with the above-mentioned gloss checker, and it was 24. There were no voids.

Comparative Example 1 A coating solution for an image receiving layer having the following composition was applied to Yupo FPG # 200 (manufactured by Oji Yuka Synthetic Paper Co., Ltd.) having a thickness of 200 μm using an applicator, and dried at about 90 ° C. with a drier. The solvent was removed by blowing hot air to obtain an image receiving paper having a coating amount of about 5 g per square meter. When the glossiness of the surface of the image receiving paper was measured by the above-mentioned gloss checker, the glossiness was 6. Image receiving layer coating solution Unsaturated polyester resin (trade name: Byron # 200, manufactured by Toyobo Co., Ltd.) 16.0 parts by weight Amino-modified silicone (trade name: KF-393, manufactured by Shin-Etsu Silicone Co., Ltd.) 0.8 parts by weight Acrylic fine powder (trade name: MBX-5, manufactured by Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.) 3.2 parts by weight Toluene 40.0 parts by weight Methyl ethyl ketone 40.0 parts by weight

Next, using the printer described above and the genuine ribbon used for the printer, solid printing of cyan was performed on the image receiving paper to obtain a print. When the glossiness of the surface of the image of the printed matter was measured by the above-mentioned gloss checker, the glossiness was 70 and voids were generated.

[0027]

The present invention achieves high gradation and color reproducibility, and provides a high-quality, full-color image similar to a silver halide photograph, but has no voids and a low glossiness and a low gloss print. A thermal transfer recording medium that can be provided.

Further, by providing a matte layer for matting an image of a printed matter on the thermal transfer recording medium, the matte layer can be easily transferred onto the image without requiring a new device. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a thermal transfer recording medium according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a print having a matte layer in Examples 1 and 4.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a thermal transfer recording medium according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a print having a matte layer according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a thermal transfer recording medium according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a print having a matte layer according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which yellow, magenta, and cyan ink layers and a matting layer are provided in a plane-sequential manner in Example 4.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 3 matte layer 4 thermal transfer recording medium 4 'thermal transfer recording medium 5 image receiving paper 6 image receiving layer 7 image 8 print 8' print 13 'matte layer 14' heat transfer recording medium 18 'print 23 matte layer 24 heat transfer recording medium 28 prints

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-208193 (JP, A) JP-A-3-45389 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model 63-194765 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model 61-1988 71428 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41M 5/38-5/40

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A color material, which is transferred to an image formed by transferring a dye by receiving thermal energy from a thermal transfer recording medium onto a base material and transferring the dye to matte the image to a gloss of 40 or less, and does not include a coloring material.
Translucent gloss with resin made of two or more incompatible materials
A thermal transfer recording medium having an eraser layer provided on a substrate. 2. A material which is incompatible with the matting layer made of the resin.
2. Fine particles of high quality are mixed.
3. The thermal transfer recording medium according to 1. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the fine particles are thermally expandable fine particles.
The thermal transfer recording medium according to claim 2, wherein: 4. A thermal transfer recording medium, formed by providing the glossiness of the image on the surface sequentially to 40 below matte layers portion and the dye based on the portion of the layer containing a material transfer according to claim 1 Or 3
3. The thermal transfer recording medium according to 1.