JPH02216158A - Image recording method and image recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sharply and inexpensively record picture information by forming electrostatically chargeable photocured parts or uncured parts corresponding to the picture information on a photosetting resin layer and electrostatically sticking a toner thereto. CONSTITUTION:A latent image input material 4 is formed with the photosetting resin 2 contg. a photopolymerizable monomer on a base 1. The layer 2 is irradiated with laser light or the like to form the cured parts 2a or uncured parts 2b corresponding to the picture information. A positive charge E is then applied to the cured parts 2a by executing the charge application by corona discharge, friction, electrode contact, etc., at need. The toner 6 which is electrostatically charged negative is in succession stuck to the cured parts 2a and is fixed to form the images. The toner 6 which is electrostatically charged positive is applied and stuck to the uncured parts 2b and is fixed to form the images. The transfer of the stuck toner is possible as well.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to an image recording method and an image recording medium.

More specifically, the present invention relates to an image recording method and an image recording medium that can record recorded information as a clear image at low cost.

[Prior Art and Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In recent years, various image recording methods for recording record information as images have been developed, in which images are formed on recording paper using various printer devices and various recording materials. Various image recording methods are known.

For example, an image recording method using a laser printer,
Examples include a recording method using a wire tod printer and an image recording method using a thermal printer (using a thermal head).

In the image recording method using the laser printer described above, it is possible to form a clear image, but there are problems in that the laser printer itself is expensive and the running cost is also high.

In the image recording method using the wire tod printer described above, although the wire tod printer itself is not very expensive, there are problems such as the resulting image is thin and not clear, and the printing sound is loud when forming one image. Has a point.

In the image recording method using the thermal printer described above, a clear image can be formed, and although the thermal printer itself is not very expensive, it does not use an expensive thermal image recording medium (so-called ink ribbon). Running costs are high due to the I/X required, and there is no guarantee that images can be formed on any paper quality recording medium; usually highly smooth paper must be used; If an image is to be formed on low-smooth paper, there are problems such as the need to use a specially prepared thermal image recording medium.

This invention has been made based on the above circumstances.

That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an image recording method and an image recording medium that can record image information clearly and inexpensively.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The invention according to claim 1 for solving the problems described above provides a method for obtaining image information from a photocurable resin layer formed on a support and containing a photopolymerizable monomer. A chargeable photocured portion or uncured portion is formed according to the chargeable photocured portion or uncured portion, toner is electrostatically adhered to the chargeable cured portion or uncured portion, and the attached toner is fixed to form an image. In this case, the toner adhering to the chargeable cured area or uncured area may be melted by heat and fixed to the cured area or uncured area to form an image. Item 2), the image may be formed by thermally transferring the toner adhering to the chargeable cured portion or uncured portion to another recording medium (Claim 3); An image may be formed by transferring the toner adhering to the area to another recording medium by electrostatic transfer, and then fixing the electrostatically transferred toner with heat (claim 4), the invention according to claim 5. is formed on a support and is formed by curing a photocurable resin layer containing a photopolymerizable monomer, and by fixing toner adhering to a chargeable cured area or an uncured area to form an image. This is an image recording medium characterized by the following.

[Function] In the present invention, a layer formed on a support,
When light energy is applied to the photopolymerizable photocurable resin layer containing - in accordance with image information, a latent image is formed by a chargeable photocured portion or an uncured portion.

Next, corona discharge, J9! Charge imparting steps such as rubbing and electrode contact are performed as necessary.

For example, when a toner having a charge sign opposite to that of the chargeable photocurable portion is applied to the formed latent image, the toner adheres to the chargeable photocurable portion. Additionally, the latent image may include, for example.

When a toner having the same charge sign as that of the chargeable photocurable portion is applied, the toner adheres to the uncured portion. The reason why toner adheres to the uncured area is that when toner having the same charge sign as the chargeable photocured area approaches the uncured area, the uncured area is electrostatically induced, and the toner adheres to the uncured area. It is thought that a charge having a sign opposite to that of the toner is induced, and the toner is electrostatically attracted by this induced charge. Note that if the amount of charge generated by this electrostatic induction is insufficient for toner adhesion, a charge sign opposite to that of the toner is formed on the side opposite to the toner supply side of the uncured portion. Place the electrodes and
It is preferable to promote adsorption of toner to uncured areas.

Next, an image is formed by fixing the toner adhering to the chargeable photocured area or the uncured area.

In this case, when the toner adhering to the chargeable photocured area or the uncured area is melted and solidified by application of thermal energy in that state, an image is fixed to the chargeable photocured area or the uncured area.

In addition, if the toner adhering to the photocurable or uncured areas is thermally transferred to another recording medium by applying heat or energy in that state, an image recording medium with an image fixed to the other recording medium can be created. can get.

Furthermore, when the toner adhering to the photocurable or uncured areas is transferred to another recording medium by electrostatic attraction and the transferred toner is fixed by heat, the image is fixed to the other recording medium, resulting in an image. A recording medium is obtained.

[Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, a latent image input material 4 is used in which a photocurable resin layer 2 containing at least one photopolymerizable monomer is formed on a support 1.

The support is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include resin sheets of polycarbonate, polyester, polysulfone, polyimide, polypropylene, etc., metal plates, and the like.

In the present invention, the composition of the photocurable resin layer is not particularly limited as long as it contains a photopolymerizable monomer, is cured by light energy, and the resulting photocured portion has chargeability.

In this example, the photocurable resin layer is prepared from a composition consisting of a photopolymerizable monomer, a dispersion medium, a photoinitiator, a chain transfer agent, and a solvent.

Examples of the photopolymerizable monomer include acrylate monomers such as trimethylolpropane triacrylate and 2-hydroxypropyl acrylate, and methacrylate thread mer 1N such as trimethylolpropane triacrylate and 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate.
Examples include monomers having a vinyl group such as -vinyl-2-pyrrolidone.

The dispersion medium has a relatively low molecular weight (for example, a number average molecular weight of 1,000 to IQ 0.000, preferably 3
．． 000 to 70,000), such as polymethyl acrylate, or relatively low molecular weight methacrylic polymers, such as methyl methacrylate.

Examples of photopolymerization initiators include 2,2'-bis-
(0-chlorophenyl)-4,4°, 5.5-tetraphenyl-3,3-bisimidazole, and the like.

Examples of the chain transfer agent include 2-mercaptobenzothiazole and the like.

Examples of the solvent include aromatic solvents such as benzene, toluene, and xylene.

The photocurable resin layer can be formed by coating the composition on a support and drying it.

The thickness of the photocurable resin layer is usually 0.3 to 50 m, preferably 1 to 30 m.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, for example, the photocurable resin layer on the support 1 is cured according to the image information by applying light energy, for example, by exposure as indicated by the arrow, and the cured portion 2a or the uncured portion is cured. A latent image consisting of portion 2b is formed.

Examples of methods for exposing the photocurable resin layer of the support-1 include laser light irradiation, electron beam irradiation, and ultraviolet ray irradiation. It is preferable to adopt a method that

Next, charge imparting steps such as corona discharge, friction, and electrode contact are performed as necessary.

In the present invention, it is important that the cured portion 2a has chargeability, as shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the hardened portion 2a has a positive charge E. The formation of such charges can be achieved by adding a cover film to the photocurable resin layer, such as polyolefin resins such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polybutene, cellulose resins such as cellulose acetate, acetyl cellulose, acetyl butyl cellulose, methyl cellulose, and ethyl cellulose. This can be easily achieved by covering with a film and peeling off the cover film after forming the hardened portion 2a.

Note that the method for charging the cured portion is not limited to the method described above.In the present invention, the charging method is not particularly limited as long as the cured portion can be charged.

In the present invention, in addition to the above-mentioned charging method, methods for charging the cured part include, for example, means for applying a charge by forming an electric field space (e.g., corona discharge), and applying a charge by bringing an electrode into contact. Examples include means for imparting a charge by corona discharge, means for imparting a charge by creating a charging atmosphere, and means for imparting a charge by rubbing with a cloth or the like.

In this embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, by applying negatively charged toner to the photocurable resin layer, toner 6 is selectively attached to the cured portion 2a by electrostatic attraction.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when a positively charged toner is applied to the photocurable resin layer, the toner 6 is repelled by the cured portion 2a, and when the toner 6 approaches the uncured portion 2b, The uncured portion 2b is negatively charged by electrostatic induction, and as a result, the toner 6 adheres to the uncured portion 2b.

Note that, as the toner, colored fine particles (toner) that are normally used in laser printers and copy machines can be used.

A color image can be formed by using a combination of several toners of different colors as the toner.

By heating the toner 6 adhering only to the cured area 2a as shown in FIG. 4, for example, as shown in FIG. It can be formed.

In this case 1, the image recording medium 8 is usually obtained by further curing the uncured portion 2b after fixing the toner 6.

Further, by heating the toner 6 adhering only to the uncured portion 2b as shown in FIG. 5, it is also possible to fix the toner only to the uncured portion and form an image. In this case as well, light energy such as an electron beam is irradiated from the image forming surface side.

Alternatively, if the support is made of a transparent material,
By irradiating visible light from the support side, the uncured part 2
It is preferable to harden b.

Examples of the heating method for fixing the adhered L/toner include conventionally known methods such as a method using a heat roll, a method of creating a high temperature atmosphere, and a method of heating only the toner that has adhered to +1. .

In the present invention, for example, the toner 6 attached to the transferred image recording medium 6 as shown in FIG. 4 or FIG.
By thermally transferring to another recording medium (transferred image recording medium), an image recording medium 11 formed by fixing toner 6 to a transferred recording medium 9 and forming an image 10 as shown in FIG. You can also get it.

In addition, in the present invention, for example, FIG.
The toner 6 adhering to the image recording medium 6 to be transferred as shown in the figure is electrostatically transferred to the image recording medium 9 to be transferred having a charge E3 as shown in FIG. 7, and the electrostatically transferred toner is By heating the toner 6, it is also possible to form an image recording medium 11 by fixing the toner 6 on the transfer recording medium 9 to form an image 1O, as shown in FIG. 8, for example.

An image recording medium 8 as shown in FIG. 6 obtained in this way. The image recording medium 11 as shown in FIG. 8 may be used as it is as an image recording medium on which an image is formed.

On the other hand, an image recording medium 8 as shown in FIG.
The image recording medium 11 as shown in the figure can also be used as a thermal transfer recording medium Q that can thermally transfer the image to another recording medium.

The image formed on the image recording medium obtained in this way has a shape formed by spreading the image information through exposure.
Since the image is a toner-fixed image, the image recording medium of the present invention can form a solid image.

[Effect of the invention] According to the invention.

(1) Since this is an image recording method in which toner is generously fixed to a shape formed according to image information, a clear image can be obtained; (2) It is possible to obtain a clear image;
Since there is no need to use a thermal image recording medium (so-called ink ribbon) used in the 11i image recording method, it is possible to record clear images at low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 are explanatory diagrams illustrating an example of the image recording method of the present invention. FIGS. 6 and 8 are explanatory diagrams illustrating an example of the image recording method of the present invention and an example of the image recording medium of the present invention. 1...Support body, 2-...Photocurable resin layer, 2a...-
Cured part, 2b...uncured part, 4φ skewer/latent image input material,
6-- toner, 7-- image, 8-- image recording medium, 9-- transfer recording medium, 10-- image, 11--
・Image recording media. Figure 1/4 Figure 4 Figure 2 Figure 5 Figure 3 Figure 1' ( 2b 2a

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) From a photocurable resin layer formed on a support and containing a photopolymerizable monomer, a chargeable photocured portion or an uncured portion is formed according to image information, and the chargeable cured portion or uncured portion is formed on the support. An image recording method characterized by electrostatically adhering toner to a hardened portion and fixing the adhered toner to form an image. (2) The image recording method according to claim 1, wherein the toner adhering to the chargeable cured portion or uncured portion is melted by heat and fixed to the cured portion or uncured portion to form an image. (3) The image recording method according to claim 1, wherein an image is formed by thermally transferring the toner adhering to the chargeable cured portion or uncured portion to another recording medium. (4) The toner adhering to the chargeable cured portion or uncured portion is transferred to another recording medium by electrostatic transfer, and then the electrostatically transferred toner is fixed by heat to form an image. Image recording method described. (5) Forming an image by fixing the toner adhering to the chargeable cured portion or uncured portion formed on the support and curing the photocurable resin layer containing a photopolymerizable monomer. An image recording medium characterized by: