JPH01257082A - Thermal transfer ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To print characters or figures having a metallic luster by sequentially providing a release layer, a thin film layer comprising a metal and/or a metallic oxide and a heatfusible adhesive layer on one side of a support base comprising a high molecular weight material. CONSTITUTION:A release layer 2 consisting of an organic or inorganic material layer is provided on one side of a support base 1 comprising a high molecular weight material. Next, a thin film layer 3 comprising a metal and/or a metallic oxide is provided on the release layer 2 by vacuum deposition or the like, and a heat-fusible adhesive layer 4 is provided thereon as an uppermost layer. A back coat layer 5 is provided on the other side of the base 1. A thermal transfer ribbon thus obtained is placed on an image-receiving substrate 6 so that the adhesive layer 4 of the ribbon makes contact with the substrate 6, and thermal transfer printing is conducted by a thermal head 7 from the side of the support base 1, whereby the thin film layer 3 comprising the metal and/or the metallic oxide appears on the printed surface, and a metallic luster is obtained. Where the release layer 2 is separated from the support base 1 to be located on the printed surface, it is possible to make the metallic luster of the thin film layer 3 seen through the release layer 2 by preliminarily rendering the release layer 2 transparent.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer ribbon used in a thermal transfer recording method using a thermal head.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, with the development of the information industry and advances in semiconductors, many printers have come into use as output devices for personal computers, word processors, and other devices. The method of recording characters and figures using a thermal head has the advantage that the device is relatively lightweight,
It is widely used because it produces less noise during recording. To print on the transfer substrate using a thermal head,
A thermal transfer ribbon is inserted between the thermal head and the transfer target substrate, a thermal signal from the thermal head is transmitted to the thermal transfer ribbon, and the transfer layer of the thermal transfer ribbon is transferred onto the transfer target substrate to print. Conventionally, printing by a printer using a thermal head uses a thermal transfer ribbon, which is formed by forming a thermal transfer layer 12 in which a colored paint is dispersed in a heat-melting binder on one side of a polymer substrate 11, as shown in FIG. There is. With such a configuration, the color of printed characters and figures can be arbitrarily set by changing the colored paint.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with such conventional thermal transfer ribbons, gloss on the printed surface cannot be obtained, and it is particularly difficult to obtain metallic luster.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer ribbon that can print characters and figures whose printing surface has a metallic luster when printed with a thermal transfer ribbon for a thermal head. It is something to do.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention involves forming an organic or inorganic layer on one side of a base substrate made of a polymer material in order from the substrate surface, and then: A thin film layer containing a metal, a metal oxide, or a metal and a metal oxide is formed by a vacuum evaporation method, and a heat-fusible adhesive layer is laminated on top.

Effect With the above configuration, when the thermal transfer ribbon is placed on the transfer substrate so that its heat-melting adhesive layer side faces, and the thermal head is used to thermally transfer and print from the base substrate side,
A thin film layer containing a metal, a metal oxide, or a metal and a metal oxide appears on the print surface, giving it a metallic luster. Further, when the release layer is located on the surface away from the base substrate, by making the release layer transparent, the metallic luster of the thin film layer can be obtained through the release layer.

Example The present invention will be explained below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a thermal transfer ribbon according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 1, the thickness is 4μm, the width is 6001rlO
Using a long polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as a base substrate 1, a release layer 2 made of fatty acid ester is formed on one side of the base substrate 1 to a thickness of 50 OA so that it can be peeled off from the base substrate 1, and then A thin film layer 3 of aluminum (AI) was formed on the layer 2 to a thickness of 400A. Aluminum can be formed by methods such as nubatter or ion blating, but in this example, a semi-continuous winding vacuum method was used. Aluminum vapor is continuously sprayed toward the base substrate 1 while the base substrate 1 is sufficiently cooled in a vacuum chamber whose pressure is reduced to below to Pa by a vapor deposition method, and the aluminum thin film layer 3 is formed while the base substrate 1 is continuously running. Further, on the surface of the thin film layer 30, an adhesive layer 4 made of a heat-melting resin was formed to a thickness of 2 μm.In addition, silicon was coated on the other side of the base substrate 1 to obtain running properties of the thermal transfer ribbon during printing. Back coat M5 as main component
was applied to a thickness of 0.5 μm.

FIG. 2 shows the printing state. The first
The thermal transfer ribbon shown in the figure is placed. The structure of the thermal transfer ribbon for the transfer target substrate 6 includes the adhesive layer 4, the thin film M3, the mold release M2, the paste substrate 11, and the back coat layer 5 in this order from the transfer target substrate 6 side. The thermal head 7 is in close contact with the back coat M5 during printing. 8 is the transfer target substrate 6
It is the reception of. When a predetermined signal is input to the thermal head 7 while moving the W&W transfer ribbon and the thermal head 7 in the above-described state, the temperature of the thermal head 7 increases, and the back coat layer 5, paste substrate t1, release layer 2, Thin film N
Heat is transferred to the adhesive layer 4 via J3. The adhesive layer 4 is made of a hot-melt resin as described above, and is heated at 60°C.
When the temperature rises above this level, it becomes molten and adheres to the transfer target substrate 6. Furthermore, when the adhesive layer 4 is melted and bonded to the transferred substrate 6, the signal input to the thermal head 7 is stopped.The transfer of heat from the thermal head 7 is stopped, and the adhesive layer 4 is cured. Then, the adhesive layer 4', the thin film layer 3', and the release layer 2 remain on the transfer substrate 6, and printing is completed.

The surface of the printed image transferred here is a release layer 2', and since this release layer 2' is almost transparent, the printed color is the aluminum thin film layer 3'. In this case, since the surface of the thin film layer 3' has the metallic luster of aluminum, the printed surface also has the metallic luster of aluminum.

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view of a thermal transfer ribbon according to another embodiment.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the release layer 2' was transferred to the transfer target substrate 6 after printing, but in this embodiment, the release layer 9 is also coated with silicon material 4' and aluminum. The thin film layer 3' of is transferred. The printing surface is an aluminum thin film layer 3', which provides a metallic luster and an electrically conductive surface.

In addition, although specific materials and shapes and dimensions have been described in detail in the examples, the present invention is not limited to these. That is, the parting material may be an organic or inorganic layer, and the thin film layer is limited to aluminum, gold, silver, copper, titanium, chromium, nickel, 8, etc., and all metals and metal oxides obtained by vacuum deposition. Thin film layers containing metals or metals and metal oxides are possible; the metal may be a single metal or an alloy of two or more, and the metal oxide may be an oxide of this metal.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when printing using a thermal head and a heat-sensitive transfer ribbon, it is possible to obtain a print with a metallic luster on the print surface, which is unprecedented, and a print whose print surface is an electrical conductor. It will be done.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

1) Printing with a beautiful metallic luster can be easily obtained on the printing surface.

2) Metallic gloss printing in various colors can be easily obtained depending on the material of the thin film layer.

3) Since the surface can be printed with an electrically conductive material, patterns such as electrical circuits can be formed extremely easily using a thermal head printer.

4) The structure for obtaining metallic luster is simple, industrial productivity is high, and it can be provided at low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a thermal transfer ribbon according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the printing condition of one embodiment of the thermal transfer ribbon, FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating the printing condition of another embodiment of the same thermal transfer ribbon, and FIG. It is a sectional view of the ribbon. 1...Pace substrate, 2.z...Release layer, 3, 3'.
... Thin film layer, 4.4'... Adhesive layer, 5... Back coat layer, 6... Transfer target substrate, 7... Thermal head, 9... Release layer. Agent Yoshihiro Morimoto 1st figure 1, base leg 4 prongs 2-''Kamese layer 2nd figure 4'Ikoma l Z&transition substrate 7 Su-Marhesod. Figure 3: Day Vinegar” Multilayer Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A thermal transfer ribbon used for thermal heads and printers, which includes a release layer made of an organic or inorganic layer formed on one side of a base substrate made of a polymeric material sequentially from the substrate surface, and then , a thermal transfer ribbon comprising a thin film layer containing a metal, a metal oxide, or a metal and a metal oxide formed by a vacuum evaporation method, and a heat-melting adhesive layer laminated on top.