JPH03159784A - Thermal transfer recording method and ink sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the surface of a hot-melt ink transferred onto a recording paper from having a gloss to make a transferred image easy to see by blowing aqueous vapor upon the surface of the transferred image on the recording paper immediately after a transfer to the recording paper. CONSTITUTION:A thermal transfer ink sheet 20 and recording paper 13 are pressed upon a platen roller 14 while the ink layer 22 side of the ink sheet is laid upon the recording paper 13 in the manner of facing the recording paper, and a plurality of heat generators on a thermal head 15 are selectively caused to generate heat on the basis of print information. Then, a resin constituting the shell of a microcapsule in an ink layer melts so that the destruction of the shell occurs and the ink component of the microcapsule is transferred to the recording paper 13. Immediately after the transfer, water vapor 16 is blown upon the transferred ink component.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] This invention relates to a thermal transfer recording method applied to a thermal transfer recording printer, facsimile, etc. using a thermal head, and a thermal transfer ink sheet used to carry out the method. Even when transfer recording is performed by heating the head, the surface of the heat-melting ink transferred to the recording paper does not have gloss, and the transferred image is easy to see. A thermal transfer ink sheet provided with a heat-melting ink layer is placed on the recording paper with the ink layer side facing the recording paper, and a thermal head is applied from the sheet base side of the ink sheet, and the thermal head is In a thermal transfer recording method that heats and melts ink in an ink layer and transfers it to recording paper by selectively generating heat in a heat-generating section based on printed information, water vapor appears on the transfer image surface of the recording paper immediately after being transferred to the recording paper. The present invention provides a thermal transfer recording method characterized by spraying. Further, a thermal transfer ink layer composed of microcapsules containing a coloring material and a hydrophilic vehicle in a heat-melting resin on a sheet-like substrate is particularly suitable for use in carrying out the above-mentioned thermal transfer recording method. An ink sheet is constructed.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording method applied to a thermal transfer recording printer, facsimile, etc. using a thermal head, and a thermal transfer ink sheet used to carry out the method.

One of the recording methods for thermal printers and facsimiles is thermal transfer recording using a thermal head.

This is done by pressing a thermal head through a thermal transfer ink sheet with a heat-melting ink layer on a recording paper such as plain paper, such as commonly used high-quality paper, guided by a platen, etc., and printing the thermal head in this state. A plurality of heat generating parts are selectively made to generate heat based on print information, and molten ink is transferred onto recording paper to perform recording. In such thermal transfer recording, the transferred image obtained on the recording paper is required to be calm and easy to see.

[Conventional technology]

An example of a conventional thermal transfer recording method is shown in FIG.

For example, a thermal transfer ink sheet 10 having a structure in which an ink layer 12 made of a coloring material and wax is coated on a sheet base material 11 made of a plastic material such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is placed on a recording paper 13 with a heat-melting ink layer 12.
are pressed against the platen roller 14 in a state in which they are overlapped in a corresponding manner, and the thermal head 5 is pressed against the sheet base material 11 surface of the ink sheet 10, and the heating element of the thermal head 15 (
By selectively heating the heat-melting ink layer l2 using a heat-melting ink layer 12 (not shown), a portion of the ink melted on the surface of the ink layer 12 is transferred and recorded onto the recording paper 13.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, according to the conventional thermal transfer recording method as described above, since transfer recording is performed by heating the thermal head 5 with exothermic energy, the surface of the transferred image on the recording paper 13 is smooth and has a high light reflectance. Therefore, the surface of the heat-melting ink transferred onto the recording paper 13 was glossy, making the transferred image difficult to see.

Therefore, the present invention provides a thermal transfer recording method in which the surface of the heat-melting ink transferred onto the recording paper does not have gloss even when transfer recording is performed by heating a thermal head with exothermic energy, and the transferred image is easily visible. Another object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer ink sheet suitable for use in this thermal transfer recording method.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention, as shown in FIG.
A thermal transfer ink sheet 20 in which a heat-melting ink layer 22 is provided on a sheet-like base material 21 is superimposed on the recording paper with the ink layer side facing the recording paper 13, and a thermal transfer ink sheet 20 is placed on the recording paper with the ink layer side facing the recording paper 13. In a thermal transfer recording method in which ink in an ink layer is heated and melted by applying No. 15 and selectively generating heat based on print information in the heat generating part of the thermal head and transferred to recording paper, immediately after transfer to recording paper 13 A thermal transfer recording method is provided which is characterized in that water vapor is sprayed onto the transfer image surface on the recording paper 13.

Further, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, an ink layer 2 composed of microcapsules 23 containing a coloring material and a hydrophilic vehicle in a heat-melting resin is formed on a sheet-like base material 21.
There is provided a thermal transfer ink sheet having the following characteristics, which is particularly suitable for use in carrying out the above-described thermal transfer recording method.

[For production]

In the present invention, the thermal transfer ink sheet 20 and the recording paper 13 are stacked on the recording paper 13 with the ink layer 22 side of the ink sheet facing the recording paper, and pressed against the platen roller 14 to form a plurality of heat generating parts on the thermal head 15. When selectively generates heat based on printed information, the resin 31 that holds the shells of the microcapsules 23 in the ink layer melts, causing the shells to break, and the ink inside the microcapsules 23 to be heated. The image is transferred onto the recording paper 13. Immediately after this transfer, when water vapor is sprayed onto some of the transferred ink as shown in Figure 1, water enters the hydrophilic vehicle (for example, hydrophilic glycol) in the ink, and the coloring material The solubility of the resin containing in the vehicle decreases and precipitation of the resin occurs. The vehicle and water soak into the recording paper 13, and the precipitated resin fixes the coloring material.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Figure 2 shows a thermal transfer ink sheet 20 related to the present invention.
FIG. In the figure, 21 is a sheet base material made of polyethylene tereftate film (PET) with a thickness of, for example, 5 μm, and 22 is an ink layer with a thickness of, for example, 9 μm. The ink layer 22 is composed of microcapsules 23 as shown in FIG. 3, and the outer skin 31 is made of a heat-melting resin, such as a modified polyphenylene oxide resin (melting point 85 to 170°C), which melts when heated. Product 32 uses hydrophilic ethylene glycol as a solvent, and a coloring material such as Kayaset Black and vinyl acetate resin (melting point 60).
~70°C). The ratio of the mixture is, for example, coloring material/resin=3/10.

The thermal transfer ink sheet 20 having such a structure is mounted on the recording paper 13 disposed in a thermal printer as shown in FIG. Immediately after transfer recording is performed under the printing conditions of LOW/mm2 and a printing pulse width of 4 ms, water vapor is sprayed onto the transfer image surface of the recording paper 13. Spraying of water vapor can be performed using a well-known spray device or the like.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, since water vapor is sprayed onto the transferred ink portion, water enters the hydrophilic vehicle (for example, hydrophilic glycol) in the ink portion, and the resin containing the coloring material is absorbed. The solubility in the vehicle decreases and precipitation of the resin occurs, the vehicle and water seep into the recording paper l3, and the precipitated resin fixes the coloring material. Therefore, recording paper 1
The transferred image surface on No. 3 does not form a smooth continuous film, but a calm, easy-to-see transferred image with little gloss is obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the thermal transfer recording method according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of main parts for explaining the thermal transfer recording ink sheet of the book, and FIG. 3 is a detailed diagram of the microcapsules in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional thermal transfer recording method and an ink sheet applied thereto. 13... Recording paper, 14... Platen, 15... Thermal head, 16... Water vapor, 20... Ink sheet, 21... Sheet base material, 22... Ink layer, 23... ...Microcapsule, 31...Thermofusible resin, 32...Some ink (hydrophilic glycol + resin).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heat-melting ink layer (22) on a sheet-like base material (21).
) is placed on the recording paper so that the ink layer side faces the recording paper (13), and a thermal head (15) is applied from the sheet base material side of the ink sheet. In a thermal transfer recording method in which the heat-generating portion of the thermal head is selectively heated based on print information to heat and melt the ink in the ink layer and transfer it to the recording paper, the transferred image is transferred to the recording paper (13). A thermal transfer recording method characterized by spraying water vapor onto the transfer image surface on recording paper immediately after the transfer is performed. 2. An ink layer (22) composed of microcapsules (23) containing a coloring material and a hydrophilic vehicle (32) in a heat-melting resin (31) is provided on a sheet-like base material (21). Features thermal transfer ink sheet.