JP3311876B2 - Method for reproducing image support and apparatus used for the method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of regenerating an image support from an image support on which an image formed of a heat-flexible ink has been formed, for example, a method of reproducing and reusing copy paper holding an image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent adoption of OA, printer paper and copy paper have been used in large quantities. As a result, the problem of deteriorating the global environment due to deforestation has been caused. Conventionally, the only solution to this problem has been to remove ink or the like on the used paper, dip it again, and recycle it into waste paper. However, recently, a method has been developed in which a character image on paper used once can be removed by cleaning and reused for copying or printing. For example, such a method is described in the following publication. (1) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-64472: A release agent such as a silicone sealant is applied to the surface of unused copy paper and dried to prepare a copy reproduction sheet, and then an image forming copy is formed on the release agent application surface. Do. The image forming body is adhered to a hot-melt resin (toner resin as an image forming component) to remove the image, thereby producing a copy / reproduction sheet. However, according to this method, since the image is formed on the release agent, the fixing property naturally deteriorates. It is adhered to the toner resin of the image forming component, and the image is mechanically peeled off in a heated state. Therefore, it is impossible to completely remove the toner resin of the image component penetrating into the eyes of the paper fiber. Therefore, the regeneration efficiency is considered to be very poor. From the viewpoint of resource recycling, double-sided copying, that is, front and back double-sided copying of one copy sheet is important, and will be the mainstream in the future. Under such circumstances, the method of applying a release agent on one side is very inefficient. Even if the release agent is applied and dried on both sides, the silicone sealant will penetrate into the copy paper, resulting in a translucent copy paper. Therefore, double-sided copying becomes impossible (it is hard to see). Erasable paper and plain paper must be copied separately, which is inefficient. It is difficult to copy erasable paper and plain paper in a mixed state in accordance with the actual situation. (2) JP-A-1-101576, JP-A-1-1015
No. 77: The image-formed support is immersed in an organic solvent for dissolving the image-forming toner resin on the image-formed support, and the image is removed from the image-formed support by ultrasonic treatment. . However, these methods have problems such as pollution, ignitability and toxicity due to the use of an organic solvent, and have difficulty in use in general offices and homes. (3) JP-A-1-297294: Using an image forming support made of plastic, metal, paper with poor liquid permeability or ceramics or the like, and thermally melting the image formed on the support. Cleaning method is described in which the image is peeled off from the support by heating with an intervening release body, but a special paper (erasable paper) whose surface has been subjected to a release treatment must be used. There is a disadvantage that it cannot be applied to general copying paper, printing paper, and the like that are used in large quantities.

[0003]

Generally, there are roughly two types of images carried on an image support. One of them is a so-called line drawing having a small printing area. For example, it is represented by a character, a Kay line, or the like. The other is a so-called solid image having a large print area, and is represented by a picture, a thick character, a thick line, and the like. Of course, the image called a line drawing with a small printing area is of course the adhesion between paper fiber and hot-melt ink.
Not only is the adhesive area between the paper fiber and the image small, but also there is no adhesion between the images, and it is weaker than the adhesiveness between the paper fiber and the hot-melt ink of a solid image having a large print area. On the other hand, when the image support holding the image including the line drawing and the solid image is subjected to image peeling by the method of the related art, the solid image has a large adhesion area between the solid image and the paper fiber, and the image And the adhesive strength is strong, so that when the solid image is peeled off at once, the paper fiber surface is also peeled off or the paper fiber is incompletely peeled off. An object of the present invention is to provide an image support that has solved the above-mentioned problems.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A first aspect of the present invention is to form a hydrophobic image composed of a heat-flexible ink on a paper layer at least partially composed of a cellulose layer containing cellulose fibers as a main component. Water, an aqueous solution containing a surfactant, an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer, and at least one kind of water or an aqueous solution selected from the group consisting of an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer and a surfactant. After holding
In the method for regenerating an image support, in which the hydrophobic image is peeled off from the paper layer by heating or pressure-bonding the hydrophobic image and the image peeling body, a part that adheres to the hydrophobic image and a part that does not adhere At least 2 having an adhesive surface and having a large or small area in a portion to be adhered to the hydrophobic image.
The image peeling is performed by adhering the image peeled bodies to the hydrophobic image in order from the image peeled body having the smaller area of the portion bonded to the image to the image peeled body having the larger area of the portion bonded to the image. The method of reproducing the image support.

A second aspect of the present invention is an image support reproducing apparatus used in the image support reproducing method. That is,
The apparatus comprises at least a paper layer mainly composed of cellulose fibers, and water, a surfactant, on an image holding support on which a hydrophobic image formed of a thermo-flexible ink is formed on the paper layer. Means (A) for holding at least one kind of water or an aqueous solution selected from the group consisting of an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer, an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer, and an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer and a surfactant; In an image support reproducing apparatus having at least an image peeling means (B) for peeling a hydrophobic image from a paper layer of an image holding support, an adhesive surface comprising a portion to be bonded to the hydrophobic image and a portion not to be bonded. And at least 2 having a large or small area in a portion to be adhered to the hydrophobic image.
The image peeling means has a plurality of image peeling means, and the image peeling means is arranged such that the area of the portion to be bonded to the hydrophobic image is small and the area of the portion to be bonded to the hydrophobic image is large in order from the image peeled body. And a reproducing apparatus for the image support.

[0006] The image support of the present invention is mainly a copy or printing paper, but is not limited to these, and any image support may be used as long as the image is held on the support. Further, it is not necessary for the support to be entirely composed of a paper layer, and it is sufficient that the layer for retaining the hydrophobic image by the heat-flexible ink (toner) is a paper layer mainly composed of cellulose fibers. Examples thereof include a laminate of a paper layer and a plastic layer.The image support further includes an aqueous solution containing a surfactant, an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer, and a water-soluble polymer and a surfactant before image holding. It may be impregnated with at least one aqueous solution selected from the group consisting of the contained aqueous solutions and dried. Heat-flexible ink toner removed in the present invention
Examples of the component resin include polystyrene, acrylic resin, methacrylic resin, styrene-butylacrylic copolymer, styrene-butadiene copolymer, polyester, and epoxy resin. Generally, when paper is moistened with water, the so-called waist becomes weak. At this time, the adhesiveness between the hydrophobic thermo-flexible ink (toner) held in the paper layer and the paper layer is very weak. That is, in the paper layer containing cellulose fibers as a main component, the surface of the paper layer is innumerably uneven due to the entanglement of the fibers, and there are also innumerable minute voids inside the paper. When a hydrophobic image is carried on the paper in such a state, the heat-flexible ink (toner) image fixed in the PPC copying process is larger than the irregularities and minute voids due to the entanglement of the cellulose fibers. There will be many spaces at the site of contact between the cellulose fibers and the image. When the image-holding paper carrying such a hydrophobic image is impregnated with the liquid containing at least water (stripping liquid) by applying, dipping, spraying, or the like, the liquid removes the cellulose fibers and the voids and spaces thereof. The release liquid penetrates by capillary action and penetrates to the contact portion between the thermo-flexible ink (toner) image and the cellulose fiber. As a result, when the action of lowering the adhesive force between the thermo-flexible ink (toner) image and the cellulose fiber and the cellulose fiber absorbs the release liquid, the cellulose fiber is deformed by the so-called swelling phenomenon and the thermo-flexible ink (toner) is deformed. ) The space of the contact portion with the image increases, the contact area between the cellulose fiber and the thermo-flexible ink (toner) image decreases, and the cellulose fiber and the thermo-flexible ink ( Toner) Adhesion with an image becomes very weak. Therefore,
In a state in which the paper layer containing the cellulose fibers of the image holding paper on which the image is formed is impregnated with the liquid containing water, particularly in a state where the liquid containing water is sufficiently impregnated with a surfactant. By employing the above-described peeling means, the image can be easily removed without damaging the paper layer and without leaving fine particles of the heat-flexible ink (toner). In addition, by holding the water-soluble polymer together with water on the image holding paper, a heat-flexible ink (toner) image in the concave portion of the paper layer that cannot be directly contacted with the image peeling member or a heat-flexible ink (toner) inside the cellulose fiber ) The water-soluble polymer adheres to the image, and the adhesive force of the water-soluble polymer enables the heat-flexible ink (toner) image to be peeled off without damaging the paper quality. Typical examples of such a water-soluble polymer include the polymers shown in Table 1, but are not limited thereto.

[0007]

[Table 1]

The concentration of the surfactant in the liquid containing water is preferably 0.01% to 20%, more preferably 0.01% to 5%. If the concentration of the surfactant is too high, conductivity is imparted to the paper, which is not preferable for re-copying. On the other hand, the concentration of the water-soluble polymer in the liquid containing water is preferably 0.1 to 20%, more preferably 0.5 to 1%.
0%. If the concentration of the water-soluble polymer is too high, the viscosity increases, and the permeation into the paper is undesirably slow. Incidentally, the surfactant and the water-soluble polymer used in the present invention are those used in paper sizing and the like in the papermaking industry, therefore, even if these are used, the surface of the paper is not damaged, Rather, it has the effect of improving the surface of the paper.

In order to moisten an image holding paper made of a heat-flexible ink (toner) with water in a sufficiently short time, the wettability between water and the image holding paper is important. Further, in order to remove the image from the image holding paper, it is necessary that water sufficiently penetrates the boundary between the thermo-flexible ink (toner) and the paper. Surfactants are known to promote capillary action and to promptly penetrate the liquid containing water into a support holding a hydrophobic image made of a heat-flexible ink (toner). Surfactants generally have a molecule composed of a combination of a lipophilic group and a hydrophilic group. Table 2 shows examples of the lipophilic group and Table 3 shows examples of the hydrophilic group. However, the lipophilic group and hydrophilic group of the surfactant are not limited to these. Numerous types of surfactants are disclosed, but in general, anionic (anionic) surfactants such as fatty acid derivative sulfate, sulfonic acid type, and phosphate type, quaternary ammonium salts, complex Examples include cationic (cationic) surfactants such as cyclic amines and amine derivatives, amphoteric surfactants, nonionic surfactants, and the like. Representative surfactants are shown in Tables 4 to 8, The surfactant used in the present invention is not limited to these.

[0010]

[Table 2]

[0011]

[Table 3]

[0012]

[Table 4]

[0013]

[Table 5] Cationic surfactant

[0014]

[Table 6] Amphoteric surfactant

[0015]

TABLE 7 Nonionic surfactants Ether type alkyl and alkyl allyl polyoxyethylene ethers alkyl allyl formaldehyde condensed polyoxyethylene ether polyoxypropylene lipophilic block polymer polyoxyethylene polyoxypropyl alkyl ether II. Ether ester type Polyoxyethylene ether of glycerin ester Polyoxyethylene ether of sorbitan ester Polyoxyethylene ether of sorbitol ester III. Ester type polyethylene glycol fatty acid ester glycerin ester polyglycerin ester sorbitan ester propylene glycol ester sucrose ester IV. Nitrogen-containing fatty acid alkanolamide Polyoxyethylene fatty acid amide Polyoxyethylene alkylamine Amine oxide

[0016]

[Table 8]

In the present invention, a plurality of image exfoliated bodies are used, and an image is first exfoliated by an image exfoliated body having an adhesive surface having a small area of a portion to be adhered to a hydrophobic image, and then the image exfoliated body is exfoliated. Without peeling the hydrophobic image remaining on the image support without using an image peeling body having a larger adhesive surface in order to adhere to the hydrophobic image, an image having a large area or a solid image is first formed. Since it is divided into small parts and peeled off sequentially, the cellulose fibers are not peeled off together with the image, and the image does not peel off and remains on the image support, making it possible to completely print large area images and solid images. Can be peeled off. That is,
In the present invention, as described above, using a plurality of image exfoliated bodies, the image exfoliated body having an adhesive surface having a small area of a portion that adheres to a hydrophobic image has an adhesive surface in which the area of the part to be sequentially adhered is large. By using an image peeling body,
Hydrophobic images, including large-area images and solid images, can be completely peeled off without damaging the surface of the paper layer, so using a single image support, image formation and peeling of images can be sufficiently performed. , And can be repeated quickly, so that the image support can be easily reused.

As described above, as the image peeling body used in the present invention, for example, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, a part 2 which adheres to a hydrophobic image and a part 3 which does not adhere An image exfoliated body having the following adhesive surface can be exemplified. That is, the portion of the image peeled body that adheres to the hydrophobic image or the portion that does not adhere to the hydrophobic image has a square shape as shown in FIG. 1 or a spiral continuous band shape as shown in FIG. However, the present invention is not limited to those shown in the drawings as long as the desired effects of the present invention can be obtained. The image exfoliated body as shown in each of the above-described figures is
Sheets, belts, drums, etc. made of materials that do not adhere to the hydrophobic image are coated with a material that adheres to the hydrophobic image in a pattern that adheres to the hydrophobic image as in each of the above drawings, or to the hydrophobic image. It can be made by forming a concave portion having a pattern as shown in the above figures on the surface of a sheet, belt, drum, or the like formed of a material that does not adhere, and embedding a material that adheres to the hydrophobic image in the concave portion. A sheet, a belt made of a material that adheres to the hydrophobic image,
A material that does not adhere to the hydrophobic image on the surface of the drum or the like is applied in a pattern as shown in each of the above figures, or a sheet, belt, drum, or the like made of a material that adheres to the hydrophobic image as shown in the figure. It can be made by forming recesses in the pattern and embedding in the recesses a material that does not adhere to the hydrophobic image. By such a method, it is possible to obtain an image exfoliated body having a portion that adheres to the hydrophobic image and a portion that does not adhere to the hydrophobic image substantially on the same plane. Further, by forming the adhesive surface of the image exfoliated body as the uneven surface of the pattern as shown in each of the above figures made of a material that adheres to the hydrophobic image, the convex portion is the portion that adheres to the hydrophobic image, and the concave portion is the adhesive portion. It is possible to obtain an image exfoliated body which is a portion not to be formed. Further, in one image exfoliated body composed of a portion that adheres to the hydrophobic image and a portion that does not adhere, the portion that adheres to the hydrophobic image and the portion that does not adhere have the shape and / or
Alternatively, the sizes may be the same or different. However, at least two image exfoliated bodies having a large area or a small area for adhering to a hydrophobic image are replaced with an image exfoliated body having a large area for an image adhering part from an image exfoliating body having a small area for adhering to an image. In the case of adhering to the hydrophobic image in the order of, as shown in FIG. 4, the area of each part adhered to the hydrophobic image of each image exfoliated body does not necessarily have to be the same, and it is composed of a combination of parts having different areas. It may be, but the largest area of the part of the former image peeling body adhered to the hydrophobic image is smaller than the minimum area of the part of the latter image peeling body adhered to the hydrophobic image. Preferably, there is.

The image exfoliated body used in the present invention may have at least two image exfoliated bodies having a large or small area in a portion to be adhered to a hydrophobic image. Preferably, the last image exfoliated body is a hydrophobic image. It is preferable to use an image exfoliated body having a solid adhesive surface having no portion that does not adhere to the non-conductive image. Furthermore, the image peeling body of the present invention is composed of the following materials. However, the plurality of peeling bodies need not be formed of the same material, and may be formed of different materials, for example, adhesive strength, affinity or peeling strength for an image. May be formed of different materials. Peeling is determined by the magnitude of the adhesive strength of the image itself and the adhesive strength of the image and paper fiber and the adhesive strength of the peeled body and the image, so that whether the image is peeled or not is determined. It is more efficient to select in consideration of each adhesive force.

Examples of the material constituting the portion that adheres to the hydrophobic image in the image exfoliated body of the present invention include polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene, polypropylene, acrylic resin, methacrylic resin, epoxy resin,
Polymer materials such as a styrene-butylacrylic copolymer and a styrene-butadiene copolymer are exemplified, and a toner component resin of a heat-flexible ink or a resin having an SP value similar to the resin is particularly preferable. Further, as a material constituting a portion to be adhered to the hydrophobic image, the following component resin of an adhesive can be used. However, the material is not limited to the above as long as it has adhesiveness to an image, and may be a water-soluble or water-insoluble material. Component resins for adhesives Glue, protein resins such as gelatin, albumin, casein, starch-based, cellulose fiber-based, carbohydrate-based resins such as complex polysaccharides (arabic gum, tragacanth rubber, etc.), vinyl acetate polymers and copolymers Coalescing, acrylic, ethylene copolymer, polyamide, polyester,
Thermoplastic resins such as polyurethane, rubber resins such as polychloroprene, nitrile rubber, recycled rubber, SBR, and natural rubber.

As described above, the resin forming the portion that adheres to the hydrophobic image of the image peeling body itself is in the form of a sheet, a belt, or a drum, and the surface to be adhered to the hydrophobic image is formed in an uneven shape. It may be used as it is, or may be used by being supported in a pattern on the surface of another sheet-like support such as a sheet, belt or tape. An image exfoliated body provided with a portion that adheres to a hydrophobic image on another sheet-like support as described above is a cellophane tape, a kraft paper tape, a polyvinyl chloride tape, an acetate tape,
It can be produced by providing an adhesive layer, for example, a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer such as a rubber type or an acrylic type on a support of the filament tape in a pattern. Further, an image exfoliated body can be produced by heat-fusing a heat-flexible ink (toner) or its component resin in a pattern on an OHP sheet.

[0022]

【Example】

Example 1 An ordinary PPC copier (Ricoh product IMAGIO 320)
After immersing the copied image in which an image including a line image and a solid image is formed with FPI (trade name) in water, an image exfoliated body having a small area of a portion to be adhered to the hydrophobic image is overlaid on the copied image surface. The sheet in which the copy image and the peeled body were integrated was heated and pressed by a heating roller to peel off the image. Next, the copied image peeled off by the image peeling body is further heated and pressed by an image peeling body having a portion that adheres to a hydrophobic image having a larger area than a portion that adheres to the hydrophobic image of the peeling body. To peel off the image. Finally, as a result of performing image peeling by heating and pressing using a solid peeling body having no portion that does not adhere to the hydrophobic image, both the line image and the solid image are cleanly peeled, and the plain image without damaging the paper surface, It became a reusable paper sheet. Perform the above operations for 10
This was repeated twice, but a copy image of the same quality as the copy paper which was not repeated (new copy paper) was obtained.

Comparative Example 1 The same procedure as in Example 1 was carried out except that one image peeled body having a portion which adheres to the hydrophobic image and a portion which did not adhere was used.
As a result, the line drawing was peeled off only partially in an insect state. In addition, the solid image was also in an insect-like state, and was difficult to reuse.

Comparative Example 2 The same procedure as in Example was carried out except that only the solid image peeled body was used. As a result, the line drawing was peeled off neatly, but the solid image was very difficult to reuse because the paper sheet was broken.

Comparative Example 3 An image was peeled off in the same manner as in Example 1 except that an image peeling member having a large area, a medium area and a small area was adhered to the hydrophobic image, and the images were sequentially peeled in this order. As a result, the peeling of the image was insufficient, the fibers of the paper sheet were also partially peeled, and there were still residual images, and the solid image was also in a bugy state, making it difficult to reuse.

[0026]

According to the present invention, even if an image is a line drawing having a large print area or an image support holding an image formed of a line drawing having a large print area and a line drawing having a small print area, the paper fiber of the image support is not required. The image support from which the image has been peeled from the image holding support can be reproduced without peeling the surface and without leaving the image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an example of a sheet-like image peeling body of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is another example of the image peeling body of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is another example of the image peeling body of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is another example of the image peeling body of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an example of a solid release body.

FIG. 6 is an example of a roller-shaped image peeling body of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view schematically showing a method of regenerating an image support of the present invention, which is performed using four peeling rollers.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Peeled body 2 Part which adheres to a hydrophobic image 3 Part which does not adhere to a hydrophobic image 4 Solid peeled body 5 Peeled body roller (gap: large) 6 Peeled body roller (gap: medium) 7 Peeled body roller (gap: small) 8 Solid peeling roller

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image holding support comprising at least a part of a paper layer containing cellulose fibers as a main component and forming a hydrophobic image of a thermo-flexible ink on the paper layer, water, After holding at least one type of water or an aqueous solution selected from the group consisting of an aqueous solution containing a surfactant, an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer, and an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer and a surfactant, the hydrophobic image and the image are retained. A method for regenerating an image support in which a hydrophobic image is peeled off from a paper layer by heat-bonding or pressure-bonding a peeled body, comprising an adhesive surface comprising a portion to be bonded to the hydrophobic image and a portion not to be bonded, In addition, at least two image exfoliated bodies having a large area and a small area which are adhered to a hydrophobic image are converted from an image exfoliated body having a small area adhered to an image to an image having a large area adhered to an image. A method for regenerating an image support, characterized in that image peeling is performed by adhering to a hydrophobic image in the order of the image peeling body. 2. The method for regenerating an image support according to claim 1, wherein an adhesive surface of the image peeling member to the hydrophobic image is formed on a substantially same plane with a portion that adheres to the hydrophobic image and a portion that does not adhere to the hydrophobic image. A method of reproducing an image support. 3. The method for regenerating an image support according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive surface of the image peeling member to the hydrophobic image has an uneven shape, and the convex surface is the surface that adheres to the hydrophobic image. Playback method. 4. The image support as claimed in claim 1, wherein the last image peeling is performed by an image peeling member having a solid adhesive surface having no portion that does not adhere to the hydrophobic image. How to play. 5. An image-bearing support comprising a paper layer containing at least cellulose fiber as a main component and forming a hydrophobic image comprising a heat-flexible ink on the paper layer.
Means (A) for holding at least one kind of water or an aqueous solution selected from the group consisting of water, an aqueous solution containing a surfactant, an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer, and an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer and a surfactant, and the water Alternatively, in a regenerating apparatus for an image support having at least an image peeling means (B) for peeling a hydrophobic image from a paper layer of an image holding support holding an aqueous solution, a part to be adhered to the hydrophobic image is adhered. An area of a portion that adheres to the hydrophobic image, and has at least two image peeling means having a large or small area, and an area of a portion where the image peeling means adheres to the hydrophobic image. An image support reproducing apparatus characterized in that the image peeling member is arranged so as to adhere in order from the image peeling member having the smaller area to the image having the larger area of the portion adhering to the hydrophobic image. 6. The image support reproduction apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image peeling member has an uneven surface on an adhesive surface for a hydrophobic image, and the convex surface has a surface for bonding to the hydrophobic image. Playback device. 7. The image support reproduction apparatus according to claim 5, wherein at least the last image peeling member of the image peeling member that adheres to the hydrophobic image does not have a portion that does not adhere to the hydrophobic image. An apparatus for reproducing an image support, which is an image-separated body having a surface. 8. The apparatus for regenerating an image support according to claim 5, wherein at least a portion of the image exfoliated body that adheres to the hydrophobic image is formed of a resin component of a thermo-flexible ink or a resin component of an adhesive. An apparatus for reproducing an image support.