JPH02187356A - Discharge port plate for ink jet recording head, manufacture thereof, and ink jet recording head with same plate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a mass production with high yield by providing a liquid repellency coating layer on the upper surface of a plate member formed with a discharge port and an adhesive layer on the lower surface. CONSTITUTION:A discharge port plate is formed with a liquid repellency coating layer and an adhesive layer on a plate member of a state that a through hole for forming a discharge port is not provided. Thus, it can be formed by a method which does not require a specially advanced technique required in case of forming these layers after the through hole is formed with high yield and operability. After the liquid repellency coating layer is formed, the through hole for forming the discharge port is opened. Thus, a material for forming the liquid repellency coating layer is not invaded into the through hole, and the surface of the discharge port plate to become an outer wall in case of adhering to a recording head is easily coated uniformly with the material for forming the water repellency coating layer to obtain a desirable ink discharging state. The liquid repellency coating layer 3 may be a layer which has sufficient adhesive properties to a plate member 2 to repel aqueous ink used for recording and has repellency of the degree in which ink is adhered to the surface and not retained in a liquid manner.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an ejection plate used in the construction of an inkjet recording head, a method for manufacturing the same, and an inkjet recording head having the ejection port plate.

[Prior Art] Examples of inkjet recording heads using ejection port plates include those shown in FIGS. 2(A) to (C) and FIG. 3(A).
, (B) are known.

The recording head having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 is mounted on a substrate 5 made of glass or the like on which an ink ejection energy generator 6 such as a heating element or a piezoelectric element shown in FIG. 2(A) is disposed. As shown in (B), after providing the ink flow path wall 7 made of a cured film of photosensitive resin or the like and the outer frame 8 constituting the liquid chamber, etc., the cover 11 of the ink path having the ink supply hole 9 is installed. The downstream part of the flow path of the obtained bonded body (recording head main body part) is cut along the C-C line to adjust the flow path length, and then the flow path formed by the cutting is It has a configuration obtained by joining a discharge port plate 12 having a through hole for forming a discharge port in a predetermined positional relationship to the end surface of the channel opening, as shown in FIG. 2(C).

Further, the recording head having the configuration shown in FIG. 3 is arranged on a substrate 5 made of glass or the like on which an ink ejection energy generating body 6 such as a heating element or a piezoelectric element shown in FIG. 3(A) is disposed.
As shown in B), after forming the recording head main body portion including the ink flow path wall 7 and the outer frame 8 made of a cured film of photosensitive resin, for example, the ejection port plate 12 is placed in a predetermined positional relationship at the L portion thereof. It has a configuration obtained by joining.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The configuration of the ejection port plate used in the configuration of the inkjet recording head having the above-mentioned configuration and the characteristics with respect to the ink are related to the recording of the inkjet recording head, such as the ink ejection direction and the ejected ink liquid level 9. Since this has a large effect on the characteristics, various studies have been made regarding the materials used to form the discharge port plate and its structure.

Problems that should be improved regarding the characteristics of the discharge port plate in the prior art include, for example, the following problems.

a) When joining the ejection port plate and the recording head main body part, it is necessary to apply adhesive to the joint surface on the main body part side. It is difficult to apply the adhesive with good workability, and moreover, the adhesive tends to leak into the flow path, resulting in a low manufacturing yield and poor mass productivity.

Furthermore. If adhesive is applied to prevent the adhesive from flowing into the flow path, it will often not be possible to supply the adhesive to the area around the flow path, and if the adhesive is connected to the discharge port plate in this state, the A gap is created between the outlet plate and the main body portion, and ink tends to accumulate there, which may impede stable ink ejection.

b) Discharge l that becomes the outer wall surface when joined to the recording head
When a clear liquid (#11 ink property) coating layer is provided on the surface of the plate (the surface on which ink is ejected, hereinafter referred to as the "ejection port surface") in order to obtain a good ink ejection condition, it is necessary to It is difficult to uniformly apply the liquid-repellent coating layer forming material,
In addition, it is difficult to prevent the liquid-repellent coating layer forming material from entering the inner surface of the ejection port, which is required to be ink-philic, resulting in low manufacturing yields and poor mass productivity.

The present invention was made in view of the problems with recording heads using ejection orifice plates as described above, and includes a liquid-repellent coating layer provided only on the ejection orifice surface and a good connection with the main body of the inkjet recording head. It is an object of the present invention to provide a discharge port plate having an adhesive layer on the back side of the discharge port surface for easy bonding, and which can be mass-produced with high yield.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording head having the ejection port plate.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The ejection port plate of the present invention includes a plate member, a liquid-repellent coating layer provided on the upper surface of the plate member, an adhesive layer provided on the lower surface of the plate member, and an inkjet The through hole is configured to have a through hole for forming an ejection port of the recording head. This discharge port plate includes the steps of providing a liquid-repellent coating layer on the top surface of the plate member;
It can be formed by a method including a step of providing an adhesive layer on the lower surface of the plate member, and a step of drilling through holes for forming ejection ports of the inkjet recording head in the plate member provided with these layers.

Historically, the inkjet recording head of the present invention can be obtained by using the ejection port plate in the ejection port configuration.

In the discharge port plate of the present invention, the liquid-repellent coating layer and the adhesive layer are formed on the plate member without through holes for forming the discharge ports, so these layers are removed after the through holes are formed. It can be formed with high yield and good workability by a method that does not require particularly advanced technology.

Moreover, since the through-holes forming the discharge ports are drilled after the formation of the liquid-repellent coating layer, the material for forming the liquid-repellent coating layer does not enter into the through-holes, which eliminates the problem in the prior art as described above. The occurrence of point b) can be avoided.

Moreover, the discharge port plate obtained by the present invention has
Since the adhesive layer for bonding to the recording head main body portion is already provided, the ejection port plate can be easily bonded to the recording head main body portion using the adhesive layer. At that time, there is no need to apply adhesive to the bonding surface of the recording head main body, and since the adhesive layer is formed up to the edge of the discharge port opening, it is not necessary to apply adhesive to the bonding surface of the recording head main body. Technical problem a) does not occur.

An example of the present invention will be described in detail below.

In the method of the present invention, first, as shown in FIG. 1(B), a liquid-repellent (ink-repellent) coating layer 3 and an adhesive layer 4 are coated on one surface of a plate member 2 that can constitute a discharge port plate. establish.

The plate member 2 may be made of resin, metal, or the like.

In addition, in the case where a thermosetting resin is used for the adhesive layer 4, it is preferable to use a resin with high heat resistance that does not cause deformation when the adhesive layer 4 is thermoset, such as polyimide. , polyether sulfon, polysulfon, polyester, acrylic resin, phenol resin, area resin, melamine resin, epoxy resin, silicone resin, etc. can be used.

Further, the resin plate member may be one in which various additives and fillers are added to the resin to improve strength and other properties.

When using a metal plate member, for example,
Plate members made of stainless steel, nickel, gold, silver, platinum, etc. can be used.

In addition, the thickness of the plate member is required to suppress particles and residue to a level that does not adversely affect ink ejection when forming through holes for forming ejection ports (described later), or to perform continuous perforation with good workability. The liquid repellent coating layer 3 preferably has a thickness in the range of 5 to 100 μm, for example, from the viewpoint of strength, although it is convenient to be thin.The liquid repellent coating layer 3 has sufficient adhesive properties with the plate member 2. The layer may be formed from any material as long as it repels water-based ink used for recording and has a liquid repellency to the extent that the ink does not adhere to the surface and remain as a liquid.
For example, the material can be appropriately selected from materials known as ordinary liquid repellent agents. In addition, when forming the layer, the layer thickness and forming conditions may be appropriately set so as to obtain good liquid repellency on one surface.

Further, the adhesive layer 4 may be appropriately selected and used so as to provide a good bonding state between the ejection port plate and the main body of the recording head.
An epoxy adhesive that has been made into a B stage by heat treatment under conditions of 100 to 200 m can be used, and can be provided to a layer thickness of about 1 to 5 μm, for example.

The liquid-repellent coating layer 3 and adhesive layer 4 can be formed using methods such as dipping, coating, printing, spraying, and transferring a pre-formed liquid-repellent coating layer or adhesive layer to a predetermined portion. Or available.

Next, from the north, the liquid repellent coating layer 3 and the adhesive layer 4 are
A through-hole 1 is formed in a predetermined portion of the plate member 2 provided in the above-described manner to form a discharge port plate.

For forming the vI through hole 1, a press processing method, an electron beam processing method, a laser beam processing method, a liquid jet processing method, etc. can be used. By combining these methods with the plate member 2 having the configuration described above, highly accurate drilling can be performed quickly and easily.

For example, the discharge port plate formed as described above is
2 and 3 via the staging adhesive layer 4.
After positioning the flow path walls and the like having the structure shown in the figure at a predetermined part of the recording head body provided on the substrate and twisting the nails together to perform temporary bonding, heat at 150 to 200°C for 30 to 120 minutes. The recording head of the present invention can be obtained by processing to completely cure the B-staged adhesive layer 4 and bonding them together.

[Examples] Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples and Comparative Examples.

Example 1 An epoxy adhesive containing the following components F was applied to one side of a 30μ thick polyimide film (plate material) using a spin cord method under the various conditions listed below, and further 10
Heat treatment was performed at 0° C. to 120° C. for 30 to 60 minutes to dry and solidify the material to B stage, thereby obtaining a large number of plates with adhesive layers. Note that the layer thickness of the B-staged adhesive layer was 1 to 5 μm.

Adhesive layer composition 1 (1) Epikote 1004 (trade name, manufactured by the company)
and methyl ethyl ketone in a ratio of 2:1 (weight ratio)...100 mounds (2) Dicyandiamide and dimethylformamide in a ratio of 1 + 4 (
Mixture blended with ffi fluorescence ratio: 3 parts by weight (3) N-N dimethylbenzylamine: 0.2 parts by weight Spin code conditions: Number of revolutions: 500-1100 Orp Time: 5-10 Second, apply a fluorosilicone coating agent KP-801 (trade name, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. A solution prepared by adding 0.07 wt. A liquid-repellent coating layer of 1 u1 or less was formed.

Spin cord conditions; rotation speed 2500-3000 rpm time 20-30 seconds Next, 48 through holes (
A discharge port plate was obtained by forming holes with a diameter of 30±2 μs and a pitch of 70.6±2 u in a predetermined arrangement by a continuous drilling method using a press.

When we inspected the state of the liquid-repellent coating layer and adhesive layer on the obtained discharge port plate, we found that both were uniformly formed with a predetermined layer thickness only on the surface of the plate, and that there were no through holes for forming the discharge port. Inside, only the polyimide film was exposed.

The ejection port plate obtained in this manner is positioned on the substrate having the structure shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 via the adhesive layer at the predetermined positions shown in each of the recording head main body portions having channel walls, etc. , after temporary adhesion, 15 minutes in that state.
The adhesive layer of the ejection port plate was completely cured by heat treatment at 0° C. to 200° C. for 30 to 120 minutes, and a recording head was completed.

The recording head main body used in this example is as follows:
We used those commonly used in this field. Also,
The ink ejection energy generator, the electric system for applying an ejection signal to the ink ejection energy generator, etc. were formed using materials commonly used in this field.

Example 2 A discharge port plate was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1, except that a stainless steel plate with a thickness of 50 mm was used as the plate material, and the through holes were formed by continuous drilling using an electric r-heam.

The obtained discharge [1 plate had good quality as in Example 1.

After positioning and temporarily adhering these ejection port plates to the predetermined positions shown in the recording head main body portion having the configuration shown in FIG. 3 (formed using materials normally used in this field), The adhesive layer of one plate was completely cured to complete the recording head.

Comparative Example 1 Through-holes were formed in a polyimide film having a thickness of 30 μl using a continuous perforation method using a press to have the same size and arrangement as in Example 1.

On the other hand, two-component hot epoxy adhesive (product name: HP-2R/
2H, manufactured by Cannon Chemical) to methyl ethyl ketone.
．． A solution obtained by mixing at a ratio of 5% by weight was spin-coded uniformly on a silicone rubber having a thickness of 0.5 mm under the following conditions to form an adhesive layer.

Spin code conditions: Rotation speed: 500 to 1000 rpa + Time: 5 to 10 seconds Next, the bonding surface of each ejection port plate of the recording head main body portion (configured as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3) used in Example 1 was was pressed onto the two-component heated epoxy adhesive layer on the silicone rubber obtained by the procedure in F with a load of about 2 kg 7 cm2, and then the silicone rubber was peeled off and the adhesive layer was transferred to the recording head body. .

After positioning and temporarily adhering the previously obtained discharge port plate to the transfer adhesive layer obtained in this way, the transfer adhesive layer was heated at 60°C to 100°C for 30 minutes.
The adhesive was cured by heat treatment for 0 to 60 minutes.

Next, the fluorosilicone coating agent solution used in Example 1 was spin-coded uniformly onto a silicone rubber having a thickness of 0.5+n+++ under the following conditions.

Spin code conditions: Rotation speed: 2500-3000 rpm Time: 20-30 seconds The entire surface of the ejection port plate bonded to the recording head body obtained earlier was coated with about 2 kg/cm2 onto the fluorosilicone coating agent layer on the silicone rubber thus obtained. After pressing with a load, the silicone rubber was peeled off and the fluorosilicone coating agent layer was transferred to the ejection port plate surface of the recording head main body, and further hardened by heating at 80° C. to 120° C. to complete the recording head.

Comparative Example 2 A recording head was produced in the same manner as in Comparative Example 1, except that a 50-scale stainless steel plate was used as the plate material, and the same one as used in Example 2 was used as the recording head body.

Yields of the ejection port plate bonding process and the effluent treatment process in the recording head obtained in each of the above Examples and Comparative Examples;
Initial printing and long-term printing tests were conducted in a recording operation using the obtained recording head, and the results shown in Table 1 were obtained.

In each test, 50 recording heads manufactured on each side were used.

Table 1 [Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, a discharge port plate having a liquid-repellent coating layer and an adhesive layer can be obtained by a simple and efficient method. Moreover, the liquid-repellent coating layer and the adhesive layer of the obtained discharge port plate are each accurately placed in a predetermined position in a well-formed state, and intrusion of these layers into the discharge port plate is avoided.

Therefore, the print head using the ejection port plate of the present invention has an improved manufacturing yield, and also has an improved production yield due to the formation of ink pools at the ejection port surface and the joint between the plate and the main body of the print head. There is no occurrence of defects, good printing performance can be stably obtained, and the reliability is high.

Furthermore, by performing continuous perforation after forming an adhesive layer and a liquid-repellent coating layer on a large plate material, for example, the process for each head as in the prior art is eliminated, and the discharge length is reduced.
It becomes possible to significantly reduce the number of steps in one plate bonding process and reduce the cost of the recording head.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the discharge port plate of the present invention, FIG. 1(A) is a plan view thereof, and FIG.
It is a sectional view taken along the line A-A in A). Figure 2 (A) - (
C) and FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B) are diagrams showing the structure of an inkjet recording head using an ejection port plate. :Through hole:Plate member:@Liquid coating layer:Adhesive layer:Recording head main body part substrate:Energy generator 2 channel wall:Outer frame:Ink supply hole 0:Filter 1:Cover 2:Ejection port plate

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A plate member, a liquid-repellent coating layer provided on the upper surface of the plate member, an adhesive layer provided on the lower surface of the plate member, and for forming an ejection port of an inkjet recording head. An ejection port plate for an inkjet recording head, characterized in that it has a through hole. 2) The ejection port plate for an inkjet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the plate member is made of resin or metal. 3) A step of providing a liquid-repellent coating layer on the upper surface of the plate member, a step of providing an adhesive layer on the lower surface of the plate member, and a step of forming an ejection port of an inkjet recording head on the plate member provided with these layers. 1. A method of manufacturing an ejection opening splate for an inkjet recording head, the method comprising the step of drilling through holes. 4) The method for manufacturing an ejection port plate for an inkjet recording head according to claim 3, wherein the plate member is made of resin or metal. 5) An inkjet recording head comprising the ejection port plate according to claim 1 or 2.