JPH03171050A - Image recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent occurrence of dropout phenomenon of picture elements by forming a nonadhesive thin film on the surfaces of microcapsules. CONSTITUTION:The image recording member comprises a base sheet 2, the microcapsules 3 each enclosing a dye precursor and a photosetting material and held on the surface of the base sheet 2, and the nonadhesive thin film layer 4. This microcapsule paper 1 of the image recording medium is exposed to form a latent image and it is overlaid on a color developing paper coated with a color developing agent S on its surface and both are passed between pressing rolls 130, 131, resulting in breaking unexposed and not photoset microcapsules 7 and allowing the enclosed dye precursor to flow out and to contact with the color developing agent S and to cause color development reaction, and at that time, the presence of the nonadhesive layer 4 prevent attachment of the agent S to the side of the paper 1, thus permitting a good image to be freed of dropout of picture elements.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image recording medium that develops and transfers a latent image formed by exposure to a support such as plain paper that supports a color developer.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in color copying machines, microcapsule paper, which is an image recording medium that contains microcapsules containing dye precursors, photopolymerization initiators, etc. and whose mechanical strength changes in response to light, is exposed through an original. The exposed microcapsule paper and color developer paper, which is an image forming medium with granular color developer adhered to the surface of a support such as plain paper, are sent into a pressure developing device and brought into close contact with each other, and are exposed to light during the exposure. The uncured microcapsules with low mechanical strength are destroyed by pressure, the dye precursor inside them flows out, and the developed color image is made to react with the developer. There is known a type in which the color image is transferred onto developer paper, and the developer paper after pressure development is sent to a heat fixing device to fix the color image on the developer paper.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, when the above-mentioned conventional image recording medium, microcapsule paper, and image forming medium, color developer paper, are brought into pressure contact and pressure development is performed, and this image is transferred onto the color developer paper, the color developer is transferred to the microcapsule paper side. There is a problem in that a phenomenon called "pixel dropout" occurs in which a part of the image to be transferred onto the color developer paper is missing due to the adhesion of the agent.

The present invention was made to solve this problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image recording medium having a property that a color developer does not adhere during pressure development.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, a first invention according to the present application includes a substrate, microcapsules containing a dye precursor and a photocurable substance and supported on the surface of the substrate, and a microcapsule containing a dye precursor and a photocurable substance. In a second aspect of the present invention, the image recording medium includes a non-adhesive layer formed in the form of a thin film on the surface of the image recording medium.

[Effect]

According to the present invention having the above configuration, the microcapsule paper on which a latent image has been formed by exposure to light and the color developer paper on which a color developer has been applied are overlapped and pressed together while passing between pressure rolls. At this time, the developer comes into contact with the inclusions that flow out due to the rupture of the microcapsules that were not exposed to light and were not photocured, and a color reaction occurs. In this case, since the non-adhesive layer is present, the color developer will not adhere to the microcapsule paper side. Therefore, the latent image formed on the microcapsule paper is developed into a color image and transferred onto the color developing paper without adhering to the microcapsule paper.

〔Example〕

Next, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of microcapsule paper, which is an embodiment of the image recording medium according to the present invention.

This microcapsule paper l has a base material 2 as a base,
Microcapsules 3 supported on the entire surface of the base material 2
and a non-adhesive layer 4 formed to cover the entire surface of the microcapsule 3 in the form of a thin film.

The base material 2 is PET (Pol7etbyle
The material is neTe+e-phthalale (polyethylene terephthalate) or the like.

The microcapsule 3 has a covering body 5 that covers the capsule, and an inner body 6 that is enclosed inside the capsule.

As the covering 5, plastic stick, wax, etc. are used. The inclusion body 6 reacts with an acrylic monomer that has the property of curing in response to light, a photosensitizer such as a cyanine dye that optimizes this photocuring reaction, and a color developer to develop a yellow color. It contains a leuco dye precursor, a leuco dye precursor that reacts with a developer to develop a magenta color, and a leuco dye precursor that reacts with a developer to develop a cyan color.

The non-adhesive layer 4 is made of a chemically stable fluorine-based polymer material that does not interfere with the above coloring reaction) and has a thickness of l.
It is less than μm.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the structure and operation of an image recording apparatus using microcapsule paper according to this embodiment.

This color image recording apparatus 100 has a casing 108, and inside the casing 108, an exposure device 101, a microcapsule paper conveying device 102, and a pressure developing device 10 are installed.
3, a developer coating device 104, a heat fixing device 105,
It includes a cutter 106 and an outlet 107.

The exposure device 101 has an optical system 110 and a document table 111, and the microcapsule paper conveying device 102 has a microcapsule paper roll 120, a take-up roll 121, and a guide roll 1.
22 and the microcapsule paper 1 running therebetween.
The microcapsule paper 1 is exposed to light by the original W, and the exposed microcapsule paper 1 passes through the guide roll 122 and heads toward the pressure developing device 03.

On the other hand, the color developer application device 104 has a color developer storage tank 140.
, developer supply roller 141 , and developer carrying roller 14
2, an electrode roller 143, a support roll 144, and an AC power supply 145. The developer S by the alternating electric field between
After being coated, the film heads to the pressure developing device 103.

The pressure developing device 1103 has pressure rolls 130 and 131, and the microcapsule paper 1 exposed by the exposure device 101 and the developer paper P whose surface is coated with the developer S by the developer coating device 104. The color image developed on the microcapsule paper 1 is transferred to the color developer paper P by overlapping the microcapsule paper 1 in close contact with each other. Developing paper P after this pressure development
is sent to a heat fixing device 105, and after the color image is fixed thereon, it is cut into appropriate dimensions by a cutter 106 and sent to a take-out port 10.
7 is discharged to the outside.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the pressure development/transfer process in the image recording apparatus using the microcapsule paper of this example.

Microcapsule paper 1, which has been exposed to light and has a latent image formed thereon, and developer paper P, whose surface is coated with developer S, pass between pressure rolls 130 and 131 while being overlapped and pressed together.

Microcapsules 3 are supported on the entire surface of the base material 2 constituting the microcapsule paper 1, and the entire surface of the microcapsules 3 is covered with a non-adhesive layer 4. Among the microcapsules 3, those exposed to light are hardened by photopolymerization and have increased mechanical strength, whereas those that have not been exposed to light maintain a low mechanical strength. Therefore, when subjected to the pressing action of the pressure rolls 130 and 131, the photocured microcapsules 8 do not collapse, but the non-photocured microcapsules 7 burst.

At this time, the non-adhesive layer 4 that covers the entire surface of the microcapsules also produces rupture holes and tear holes at various places, and the inclusions 6 flowing out through the rupture holes and the like contact and react with the color developer S, resulting in yellow and magenta colors. , cyan, etc. (in the figure, C1 to C3 indicate coloring parts). In this case, since the non-adhesive layer 4 is present, the color developer S will not adhere to the side of the microcapsule paper (2). Furthermore, since the material of the non-adhesive layer 4 is inherently chemically stable, it does not interfere with color development.

In this way, the latent image formed on the microcapsule paper 1 is developed into a color image and transferred onto the color developing paper P without adhering to the microcapsule paper 1.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the latent image formed on the microcapsule paper is developed and transferred onto the developing paper without adhering to the microcapsule paper. Compared to an image recording device using paper, it is possible to stably form a good image without missing pixels.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the image recording medium of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a color image recording apparatus using the image recording medium of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an image recording device of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the operation of an embodiment of a recording medium. ■...Microcapsule paper 2...Base material 3...Microcapsules 4...Non-adhesive layer 5...Coating 6...Inner body 100...Color image recording device 101... Exposure device 102...Photosensitive and pressure sensitive paper transport device 103...Pressure developing device 104...Developer coating device 105...Heat fixing device 106...Cutter 110...Optical systems 130, 131... ...Pressure roller P...Support S...Color developer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate, microcapsules containing a dye precursor and a photocurable substance and supported on the surface of the substrate, and a thin film formed on the surface of the microcapsule. 1. An image recording medium comprising a non-adhesive layer and mediating image formation by photosensitive and pressure sensitive action. 2. The image recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the non-adhesive layer comprises a fluorine-based polymer material.