JPH02265794A - Thermal transfer recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily transfer a monochromatic image or a color image of two or more colors with excellent quality regardless of the kind of a material to be recorded by bonding an image receiving sheet having a heat applied image to the material to be recorded. CONSTITUTION:A thermal transfer recording medium 1 and an image receiving layer 4 are closely adhered by superposing a heat-diffusible dye layer 3 and an adhesive layer 7 and heat is imagewise applied to both of them by a heating mean to transfer the heat-diffusible dye in the heat-diffusible dye layer to the adhesive layer having mordancy or a transparent layer 6 to form an image 8 to the adhesive layer and/or transparent layer. Subsequently, the closely adhered thermal transfer recording medium and image receiving sheet are released at the boundary of the heat-diffusible dye layer and the adhesive layer and the exposed adhesive layer is adhered to a material to be recorded to transfer the image to the material to be recorded. At this time, since the image is adhered by the adhesive layer, the image is transferred even to plain paper with good fixability regardless of the kind of the material to be recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording method.

[Prior Art and Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Conventionally, as a method of forming a full-color image by thermal transfer recording on plain paper, etc., for example,
There is a technique described in Publication No. 1.

The thermal transfer recording method described in this publication is a method for performing thermal transfer recording on a transfer material using an ink sheet provided with a transfer layer, in which a receiving layer capable of receiving the transfer layer is partially formed on the surface of the transfer material. This thermal transfer recording method is characterized by further comprising a step of thermally transferring the transfer layer of the ink sheet onto the receiving layer after the step of adhering the ink sheet to the receiving layer.

However, in such a thermal transfer recording method, it is necessary to first attach a receptor layer to a transfer material, and the degree of freedom of the thermal transfer recording method is limited.

The above-mentioned publication only discloses an ink sheet in which a transfer layer of color ink or the like is coated on blocks for each color, and it is not possible to form monochromatic or two-color images arbitrarily with such an ink sheet. I can't.

Furthermore, JP-A-64-72893 discloses a thermal transfer sheet in which a heat-transferable dye layer is formed on one surface of a base film, in which a resin layer capable of thermal transfer and dye dyeing is formed on the same surface. A thermal transfer sheet has been proposed.

With this thermal transfer sheet, it is possible to arbitrarily form single-color or two or more color images on plain paper, etc., but a heat-transferable dye layer and a dye-dyeable resin layer are formed on the same surface of the base film. The manufacturing process is complicated because the two parts must be painted separately.

Also, in this thermal transfer sheet, a dye-dyeable resin layer is first transferred to a recording medium such as plain paper, and then this resin layer and a heat-transferable dye layer are brought into close contact, and the dye is transferred to the resin by heat. Regarding the transition to layers, see the above-mentioned JP-A-64
This technique is similar to the technique described in Japanese Patent No. 16671, and as mentioned above, the degree of freedom of the thermal transfer two-noodle method is limited.

Furthermore, in the thermal transfer method described above, an image is formed on the image-receiving layer after the image-receiving layer is transferred to the recording medium, so if dyeing of the image-receiving layer fails, for example, This is important because it does not stain the surface of the recording medium.

It is necessary to carry out sufficient test printing. Furthermore, even when forming a full-color image, if one color fails to overlap, the recording medium will be wasted as described above.

This invention has been made based on the above circumstances.

That is, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to easily transfer a single color or two or more color images with excellent quality through a simple process regardless of the type of recording medium. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording method that can be used.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel method in which it is not necessary to first transfer a dye-stainable resin layer to a recording medium, and an image can be formed and then transferred to a recording medium. An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording method.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a heat-sensitive transfer recording medium having a heat-diffusible dye layer on a support.

It has at least an adhesive layer and a transparent layer.

An image receiving sheet in which at least one of the adhesive layer and the transparent layer has mordantic properties is brought into close contact with the image receiving sheet so that the heat diffusible dye layer and the adhesive layer overlap, and the dye is applied to the image quiz using a heating means. This thermal transfer recording method is characterized in that after the image is transferred to an image-receiving sheet, the thermal transfer recording medium and the image-receiving sheet are separated, and the image-receiving sheet having an image is adhered to the recording medium.

[Function] According to the thermal transfer recording method of the present invention, an image is transferred to a recording medium in the following manner.

The heat-sensitive transfer recording medium and the image-receiving sheet are brought into close contact by overlapping the heat-diffusible dye layer and the adhesive layer, and the heat-diffusible dye in the heat-diffusible dye layer is heated by applying heat to the image wire using a heating means. is transferred to the adhesive layer or transparent layer. Since at least one of the adhesive layer and the transparent layer has mordantic properties, the adhesive layer and/or the transparent layer are dyed by the diffused dye, and an image is formed on the adhesive layer and/or the transparent layer. In this case, since the heat-diffusible dye layer and the adhesive layer are in close contact with each other, an image is formed with high sensitivity by thermal diffusion of the heat-diffusible dye.

Next, the heat-sensitive transfer recording medium and the image-receiving sheet, which were in close contact with each other, are separated by the heat-diffusive dye layer and the adhesive layer.

Then, the adhesive layer of the image-receiving sheet having the image is exposed. By applying this exposed adhesive layer to a recording medium, an image is transferred to the recording medium. At this time, since the image is adhered with an adhesive layer, there is no selectivity regarding the type of recording medium, and the image is transferred with good fixing properties even on 91 sheets of paper.

Further, in the method of the present invention, an image is first formed, and then,
Since the image is attached to the recording medium, the failure of the image transfer, which often occurs when the image-receiving layer is transferred to the recording medium and then dyed as in the conventional method, can result in damage to the recording medium. Eliminates pollution and waste.

Furthermore, a thermal transfer recording medium having magenta in the heat diffusible dye layer, a thermal transfer recording medium having cyan in the heat diffusible dye layer, and a thermal transfer recording medium having yellow in the heat diffusible dye layer are prepared, A full-color image is formed by sequentially bringing the three types of heat-sensitive transfer recording media into close contact with an image-receiving sheet and transferring the dyes of each color to perform color overlapping.

Embodiment 1 A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a heat-sensitive transfer recording medium 1 as a specific example used in the method of the present invention has a heat-diffusible dye layer 3 on a support z.

It is desirable that this support has good heat-resistant strength and high dimensional stability.

The materials include, for example, papers such as plain paper, capacitor paper, laminated paper, and coated paper; resin films such as polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene, polypropylene, and polyimide; composites of paper and resin films; and aluminum foil. All metal sheets such as the above are preferably used.

The thickness of the support is usually 30 ILm or less, preferably 2
~10 gm. Support thickness is 30ILm
Exceeding this may result in deterioration of thermal conductivity and deterioration of print quality.

In this thermal transfer recording medium, the structure on the back side of the support may be arbitrary, and for example, a backing layer such as an anti-sticking layer may be provided.

The heat diffusible dye layer contains a binder and a heat diffusible dye.

Examples of the binder include heat-fusible substances and thermo-OT plastic resins.

Specific examples of the heat-melting substances include vegetable waxes such as carnauba wax, wood wax, auriculie wax, and Nispar wax; animal waxes such as beeswax, insect wax, shellac wax, and spermaceti wax; paraffin wax, microcrystalline wax, and polyethylene wax. , petroleum waxes such as ester waxes and acid waxes; and waxes such as mineral waxes such as montan wax, osikerite and ceresin; furthermore, in addition to these waxes, valmitic acid, stearic acid, mal Higher fatty acids such as phosphoric acid and behenic acid: Higher alcohols such as balmityl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, behenyl alcohol, marganyl alcohol, myricyl alcohol and eicosanol; Higher fatty acid esters; amides such as acetamide, propionic acid amide, valmitic acid amide, stearic acid amide and amide wax; and higher amines such as stearylamine, behenylamine and palmitylamine.

The thermoplastic resins include ethylene copolymers, polyamide resins, polyester resins, polyurethane resins, polyolefin resins, acrylic resins, vinyl chloride resins, cellulose resins, rosin resins, ionomer resins, and petroleum resins. Resins such as natural rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber, imprene rubber, gloloprene rubber, and diene copolymers: Rosin derivatives such as ester gum, rosin maleic resin, rosin phenol resin, and hydrogenated rosin; and phenol Polymer compounds having a softening point of 50 to 150°C such as resins, terpene resins, cyclopentadiene resins, and aromatic hydrocarbon resins can be used. The main component of the binder is preferably a thermoplastic resin.

Furthermore, silicone oil, silicone resin, etc. can be added to the heat-diffusible dye layer as necessary.

The heat-diffusible dye is not particularly limited as long as it is a dye that is diffused by 8, changed to diffusivity by heat, or sublimated or vaporized.

However, since the diffusibility of dye molecules changes depending on their molecular weight, the molecular weight of dyes suitable for this invention is usually in the range of 80 to 4,000, and particularly preferably in the range of 100 to 1,000. Within range.

When the molecular weight of the dye is within the range of 80 to 4.000, the dye has particularly good diffusibility.

No matter which molecular weight dye you choose, 1. When looking at the heating means installed in OA equipment, which is preferably a dye that easily melts, sublimes or vaporizes by the heat applied by the heating means, it is within the range of 40 to 300°C, particularly in the range of 80 to 250°C. Thermodiffusible dyes having a melting point or sublimation temperature or vaporization temperature within a range are preferred.

In any case, specific examples of the dye include 1
．． Leuco dyes (soluble vat dyes), direct dyes, acid dyes, basic dyes, acidic mordant dyes, metal complex dyes, sulfur dyes, vat dyes, azoic dyes, 5 dispersive dyes, 1 reactive dye, oxidation dyes, oil-soluble dyes, etc. can be mentioned.

The heat-diffusible dye layer may contain one of the various dyes described above, or may contain two or more thereof.

When using two or more types of dyes, if two or more types of dyes with different color tones, molecular weights, melting points, sublimation temperatures, vaporization temperatures, etc. and different diffusivities are used, five images may be generated due to the difference in the amount of heat energy supplied. The color tone and shading can be changed. Therefore, for example, by varying the amount of thermal energy supplied by the thermal head, it is possible to print characters, figures, symbols, etc. in multiple colors or with different shadings on the recording medium.

The content of the dye in the heat-diffusible dye layer is usually 5 to 80% by weight, preferably 10 to 50% by weight, based on the entire dye supply layer.

However, the type and amount of the binder and the heat-diffusible dye in this heat-diffusible dye layer may be any conventionally known composition, and may be appropriately selected and formed based on the required physical properties. can.

The heat-diffusible dye layer can be formed on the support by, for example, a coating method using a solvent, a hot-melt coating method, or the like.

The thickness of the heat-diffusible dye layer thus formed is usually within the range of 0.5 to 10 gah, preferably 1 gah.
~5 gm.

Further, this thermal transfer recording medium is used in the form of a tape or a sheet, for example. .

As shown in FIG. 2, the image-receiving sheet 4 used in the method of the present invention is formed by laminating, for example, a transparent layer 6 and an adhesive layer 7 on the surface of a support 5 in this order.

However, if the transparent layer has self-supporting properties, it is not necessary to use a support.

In this image-receiving sheet, the transparent layer and/or the adhesive layer are required to have mordantic properties.

Mordanity refers to the property of being first attached by the heat-diffusible dye.

Since the support is the same as the support in the thermal transfer recording medium, detailed explanation thereof will be omitted. Note that this support can be omitted if the transparent layer and/or the adhesive layer are self-supporting.

The transparent layer can be made of the above-mentioned thermofusible substance and/or thermoplastic substance as long as it has the above-mentioned mordancy.

The thermoplastic material and the thermofusible material are as described above.

Incidentally, since the transparent layer is later peeled off from the support, it is preferable to include a silicone resin or silicone oil in the transparent layer in order to facilitate the peeling.

As the silicone resin, for example, the following formula [however,
Organopolysiloxane, modified polysiloxane resin, silicone-modified acrylic resin, silicone-modified urethane resin, silicone-modified urea resin, silicone-modified epoxy represented by: Silicone modified resins such as resins can be suitably used. These silicone-modified resins are, for example, acrylic resins, urethane resins, urea resins, epoxy resins, etc. modified with polysiloxane.

In the various silicone-modified resins mentioned above, the content of the silicone portion is usually in the range of 1 to 90% by weight, preferably in the range of 5 to 50% by weight.

These silicone resins may be used alone or
Two or more types may be used in combination.

Among the various silicone resins described above, the various silicone-modified resins described above are preferred.

The silicone resin is preferably cured using a crosslinking agent.

The crosslinking agent is not particularly limited, and examples include incyanates, aziridines, and epoxies.

The content of the silicone resin in the transparent layer is usually 1,
Within the range of 1 to 100% by weight, preferably 10 to 8%
It is within the range of 0% by weight.

The silicone resin can be added in the form of a resin and can be contained uniformly in the transparent layer, or can be contained in the transparent layer in the form of a fine powder.

The adhesive layer is not particularly limited as long as it has the above-mentioned mordancy, and may be, for example, an ethylene copolymer such as diethylene-vinyl acetate or ethylene-ethyl acrylate; polyamide resin; polyester resin; polyurethane resin; acrylic resin; It can be formed by mixing a resin with a low softening point selected from resins such as vinyl chloride 4#, a tackifier, and the above-mentioned heat-melting substance and/or thermoplastic substance. Moreover, the adhesive layer can also be formed by applying an adhesive composition to the surface of the resin layer made of the heat-melting substance and/or thermoplastic substance.

Examples of the tackifier include rosin tackifier,
Unmodified or modified rosin-based tackifiers, such as water-added rosin-based tackifiers, rosin-maleic acid-based tackifiers, polymerized rosin-based tackifiers, and rosin-phenolic tackifiers, terpene-based tackifiers, and petroleum resin-based tackifiers. Examples include tackifiers and modified tackifiers thereof.

The heat-melting substance that can be contained in the adhesive layer is
This is similar to the heat-fusible substance that can be contained in the heat-diffusible dye layer.

The transparent layer and the adhesive layer can be formed on the coloring material layer by, for example, a coating method using a solvent, a hot melt coating method, or the like.

The thickness of the transparent layer formed in this way is usually 2 to 1.
Within the range of 100 ILm, preferably 2 to 50 ILm
is within the range of Also, the thickness of the adhesive layer is 1. Usually 1~
Within the range of 100 #Lm, preferably 2 to 50 μm
is within the range of

The image receiving sheet having such a structure is used in the form of a tape or a sheet, for example.

In the method of the present invention, the heat-sensitive transfer recording medium and the image-receiving sheet are used in the following manner.

The image is transferred to the recording medium.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, the thermal transfer recording medium 1 and the image-receiving sheet 4 are placed one on top of the other so that the heat-diffusible dye layer 3 and the adhesive layer 7 are in close contact with each other.

Then, heat is applied to the image wire by a heating means from the support side of the thermal transfer recording medium, or from the support side or the transparent layer side of the image receiving sheet.

Here, examples of the heating means include a heating roll, a hot stamp, and a thermal head.

When heat is applied, the heat-diffusible dye in the heat-diffusible dye layer moves to the adhesive layer or the transparent layer, and an image is formed on the image-receiving layer by dyeing either or both layers with mordantic properties. be done.

Next, by peeling off the adhesive layer and the heat-diffusible dye layer, the image-receiving sheet 4 forming one image 8 is separated as shown in FIG.

Finally, when the adhesive layer of the image-receiving sheet having the image is applied to the recording medium and the support is peeled off, the image is transferred to the surface of the recording medium.

When the heat-diffusible dye in the heat-sensitive transfer recording medium is, for example, magenta, a magenta image is formed on the image-receiving layer that is peeled off from the heat-sensitive transfer recording medium after heat application. Therefore, this image-receiving layer having a magenta image was brought into close contact with a thermal transfer recording medium having a cyan heat-diffusible dye, and heat was applied in the same way as before to create an adhesive with a magenta image. When the layers are overlaid with cyan, a two-color image is formed on the adhesive layer. Then, by applying this adhesive layer to a recording medium and peeling off the support, a two-color image is transferred.

(Example 1) A thermal transfer recording medium was prepared by forming a heat-diffusible dye layer with a thickness of 2.5 μm and having the following composition on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with a thickness of 6 μm and 6 μm as a support. I got it.

<Composition of thermally diffusible dye layer> Dye (MS, cyanVP, manufactured by Mitsui Toatsu) 4
0% by weight Polyvinyl butyral 80% by weight Ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer 10% by weight (M I -20g/
10 minutes, Co content 28%) large area support (PET,
6gm) and a transparent layer (thickness 20pm) having the following composition:
, area 10 x 6 cm), and an adhesive layer having the following composition (thickness 2 m, area 1 x 8 cm)
An image receiving sheet was obtained by forming.

(Composition of transparent layer) Polyester (Vylon 200) 98.9111
i1% silicone oil (KF393. Manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical) 0
．． 1% by weight (Composition of adhesive layer) Composition Acrylic resin 80% by weight (7g
°C, M w = 40,000) Ethyl vinyl acetate copolymer 10% by weight polyester (Tg-2O °C)
30% by weight silicone oil (KF393, manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical ■) 0.1% by weight The thermal transfer recording medium having the above structure and the image-receiving sheet were carefully brought into close contact with each other to avoid air bubbles. 8 dots/max * 0.85!Ill
j/dot). Thereafter, the image-receiving sheet was peeled off, the exposed adhesive layer was adhered to plain paper, and the support on the image-receiving sheet was peeled off, thereby making it possible to transfer a 1 gm and high-density image.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, (1) The thermal transfer recording medium and the image receiving sheet are brought into close contact with each other, and by applying heat, the image is transferred to the image receiving sheet, and the image is further transferred to the recording medium. It is possible to confirm that the image has been reliably transferred to the image-receiving sheet, thus eliminating the risk of transferring an incomplete image to the recording medium. (2) Transferring the image to the recording medium via the adhesive layer Since the image is transferred to a surface, it has excellent fixing properties, and since the image is protected by a transparent layer, the image has excellent scratch resistance.

(3) Clear images can be transferred to any recording medium, such as paper, film, or sheets. (4) Also, thermal transfer recording media of five different colors can be layered over and over again on an image-receiving sheet. Colors can be superimposed by applying heat, thereby forming a full-color image.

A thermal transfer recording medium method having the following advantages can be provided.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a thermal transfer recording medium as an example used in the method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing an image receiving sheet as an example used in the method of the present invention,
FIG. 3 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a state in which a thermal transfer recording medium and an image-receiving sheet are brought into close contact with each other, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory perspective cross-sectional view showing an image-receiving sheet having an image. 1-φe thermal transfer recording medium, 2・ψ・support, 3・m-
Heat-diffusible dye layer, 4. Image-receiving sheet, 566. Support, 6. 11th transparent layer, 7. Adhesive layer, 8. Reference image. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 and 1 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A heat-sensitive transfer recording medium having a heat-diffusible dye layer on a support; and an image-receiving sheet having at least an adhesive layer and a transparent layer, and at least one of the adhesive layer and the transparent layer having mordantic properties; The heat-diffusible dye layer and the adhesive layer are brought into close contact with each other so as to overlap, and the dye is transferred to the image-receiving sheet by applying heat to the image wire with a heating means, and then the thermal transfer recording medium and the image-receiving sheet are peeled off. . A thermal transfer recording method characterized by adhering an image-receiving sheet having an image to a recording medium.