JPH04249250A - Photosensitive microencapsulated toner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a photosensitive microencapsulated toner for recording an image with a simple device at a reduced copying cost without causing color slippage while efficient using expendable supplies not requiring a large storage space. CONSTITUTION:This photosensitive microencapsulated toner contains a photosetting compsn. based on a compd. contg. a radical polymerizable unsatd. group, a metal arene compd. as a photopolymn. initiator and a sensitizing dye as the core material. The metal arene compd. has a structure represented by the formula.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to toner used in electrophotographic color copying machines, etc., and relates to a photosensitive microcapsule type toner that hardens when exposed to light of a specific wavelength.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the methods of color copying machines can be roughly divided into electrophotographic methods and transfer and development methods.

[0003] In the electrophotographic method, US Pat. No. 37889
No. 94, Specification No. 4016099, Special Publication No. 1987-3
No. 5867, No. 8104 of 1982, JP-A-51-13
No. 32838, No. 119138, No. 119138, No. 57-
No. 202547, No. 58-153947, No. 153947, No. 58
No. -176643, No. 170857, No. 170857, No. 6 of the same year
No. 0-57859, No. 60-227161, No. 6
A microcapsule type toner in which ink components are encapsulated is used, as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3-32560 and Japanese Publication No. 63-177145.

[0004] In color copying machines, yellow, magenta,
Four toner colors, cyan and black, are used to create images of each color on the photoreceptor. Transfer the image-formed toner onto a transfer object. The toner is fixed to the transferred object by heating or applying pressure to the transferred object.

On the other hand, in the transfer development method, US Pat.
No. 48366, No. 4399209, No. 44169
No. 66, Specification No. 4576891, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 48-6
No. 5011, No. 95420 of 1972, No. 51 of 1971
No. 807, No. 124343, No. 57-17, No. 57-17
No. 9836, 1975-197538, 1975-8
No. 8739, No. 58-88740, No. 60-25 of the same year
No. 9490, No. 61-130945, No. 130945, No. 62-1
No. 62147, No. 174195, No. 174195, No. 62-
A photosensitive resin and a dye component are microencapsulated and used as shown in Japanese Patent No. 209444 and No. 62-209531.

[0006] In color copying machines, yellow, magenta,
Contains three cyan dye precursors or dyes and pigments,
Three types of microcapsules are used. The characteristics of each microcapsule are as follows. The microcapsules containing the cyan chromogen are solidified by exposure to a wavelength around 650 nm (red). The microcapsules containing the magenta chromogen are solidified by exposure to light with a wavelength around 550 nm (green). Exposure to light with a wavelength around 450 nm (blue) solidifies the microcapsules containing the yellow chromogen.

[0007] These microcapsules uniformly coated on a support are irradiated with red, green, and blue light either all at once or color-separated. A latent image is thus formed. The uncured microcapsules are destroyed by pressure or heat, and the contents are transferred to an object coated with a color developer.

[0008]

However, in the case of electrophotographic microcapsule type toner, since four colors of toner are used, four toner tanks are required, making the apparatus expensive.

[0009]Furthermore, since four transfer steps are applied to the transferred object, there are drawbacks such as color misregistration and the like.

[0010] On the other hand, since the transfer and development method allows analog exposure, it has the advantage of requiring fewer steps than the electrophotographic method. However, since a sheet coated with photosensitive microcapsules and a transfer material coated with a color developer are required, there are too many consumables, which is reflected in the copying cost. Furthermore, since the photosensitive microcapsule-coated sheet must be stored in a cool and dark place, securing a storage space becomes a burden for the user. Furthermore, similar to one-time ribbons such as thermal transfer ribbons, there is a disadvantage that there is an unused portion of the photosensitive microcapsule coated sheet, resulting in considerable waste in some cases.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and uses an inexpensive device, eliminates color misregistration, lowers copying costs, saves storage space for consumables, and reduces consumables. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive microcapsule type toner for recording images that eliminates product waste.

0012

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to achieve this object, the photosensitive microcapsule toner of the present invention comprises a radically polymerizable unsaturated group-containing compound, a metal arene compound as a photopolymerization initiator, and a sensitized The core material is a photocurable composition containing a pigment as a main component.

[0013] The radically polymerizable unsaturated group-containing compound is N
- Vinyl-2-pyrrolidone, bisphenol A diacrylate and methacrylate, tripropylene glycol diacrylate and methacrylate, polyethylene glycol diacrylate and methacrylate, pentaerythritol triacrylate and methacrylate, dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate and methacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate and Examples include methacrylate, oligoester acrylate, and methacrylate. Further, these radically polymerizable unsaturated group-containing compounds may be used alone or in combination of two or more.

The metal arene compound used as a photopolymerization initiator has the following structure.

[0015]

[Chemical formula 1]

Sensitizing dyes include xanthene dyes, coumarin dyes, merocyanine dyes, thiazine dyes, azine dyes, methine dyes, oxazine dyes, phenylmethane dyes, cyanine dyes, azo dyes, and anthraquinones. dyes such as pyrazoline dyes, stilbene dyes, and quinoline dyes. Particularly effective are xanthene dyes, coumarin dyes, merocyanine dyes, thiazine dyes, azine dyes, methine dyes, and oxazine dyes.

In addition, heat polymerization inhibitors, sensitizers, surfactants, solvents, microcapsule wall forming agents, dyes and pigments may be added to the photosensitive composition, if necessary. It must not interfere with the photosensitive properties of the object.

The photosensitive microcapsule toner of the present invention can be produced by a method known in the art. For example, US Pat.
No. 7154, No. 3418250, No. 355134
No. 6, No. 3576660, No. 3578605,
Same No. 3660304, Same No. 3726803, Same No. 3
No. 755190, No. 3773695, No. 3793
No. 268, No. 3796669, No. 3803046
No. 3816331, No. 4001140, No. 4025455, No. 4087376, No. 40
British Patent No. 89802, British Patent No. 927807, British Patent No. 930422, British Patent No. 965074, British Patent No. 99044
Specification No. 3, Canadian Patent No. 879043, Japanese Patent Publication No. 36-9168, Japanese Patent Publication No. 38-19574, Canadian Patent No. 4
No. 2-446, No. 771 of 1972, No. 403 of 1972
No. 47, No. 49-24159, No. 2858-1973
This is the method described in No. 9, Publication No. 12150/1980, etc. However, it is not limited to these. Further, it is preferable that the outer wall forming material has a property of sufficiently transmitting light.

[0019]

[Operation] The photosensitive microcapsule type toner of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure is cured at specific wavelengths by yellow, magenta and cyan sensitizing dyes. Sunahachi, 650
Microcapsules containing a cyan sensitizing dye harden by exposure to light with a wavelength around nm (red). 550n
Microcapsules containing a magenta sensitizing dye harden by exposure to light with a wavelength around m (green). 450
Microcapsules containing a yellow sensitizing dye harden by exposure to light with a wavelength around nm (blue). Then, the uncured microcapsules are destroyed and transferred to the transfer object, thereby recording an image.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of the photosensitive microcapsule type toner of the present invention. The photosensitive microcapsule type toner 1 has a structure in which a photosensitive composition 3 is contained inside an outer shell 2.

Polyethylene glycol diacrylate (
10 parts by weight of a 3:4 mixture of M240 (manufactured by Toagosei Co., Ltd.) and dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate (M400 manufactured by Toagosei Co., Ltd.), 1.5 parts by weight of an iron arene compound represented by chemical formula 2, and 3 A photosensitive composition is obtained by ultrasonically dispersing a mixture of -thenoyl-7-dimethylaminocoumarin and 0.1 part by weight for 5 minutes and heating at 100°C for 10 minutes.

[0023]

[Case 2]

A core material is prepared by dissolving 0.2% of adipic acid in this composition.

[0025] Polyoxyethylene sorbitan tristearate (Rheodol TW- manufactured by Kao Soap Co., Ltd.) was added to 100 g of water.
S320) 30%, hexamethylene diamine 0.2
% dissolve.

[0026] To 100 g of this aqueous solution, add 50 g of the core material.
is emulsified and dispersed, and a wall material is polymerized and formed at the interface between the core material and the aqueous solution to obtain microcapsules. A photosensitive yellow microcapsule type toner is obtained by drying and removing the microcapsules.

Similarly, a photosensitive magenta microcapsule type toner is prepared by using 0.5 parts by weight of eosin Y instead of 3-thenoyl-7-dimethylaminocoumarin. Furthermore, a product in which 0.5 parts by weight of methylene blue was used instead of 3-thenoyl-7-dimethylaminocoumarin,
This is a photosensitive cyan microcapsule type toner.

Next, with reference to FIG. 2, which is a schematic sectional view of an example of an image forming apparatus using the photosensitive microcapsule type toner of the present invention, image formation using the photosensitive microcapsule type toner of the present invention will be described. explain.

A rotatable charging roller 13 is provided in a toner tank 12 in which the photosensitive microcapsule type toner 11 of this embodiment is enclosed. The photosensitive microcapsule type toner 11 in the toner tank 12 includes three types of toner: a photosensitive yellow microcapsule toner, a photosensitive magenta microcapsule toner, and a photosensitive cyan microcapsule toner, each of which is uniformly distributed. are mixed in equal amounts. Further, as the charging roller 13 rotates, the photosensitive microcapsule type toner 11 rubs against each other and becomes charged. The charged photosensitive microcapsule toner 11 is carried out from the toner tank 12 by a carrier roller 14 rotatably installed at the tip of the toner tank 12 .

Polyethylene terephthalate (hereinafter referred to as PET)
) PET sheet 1 unwound from sheet roll 15
Reference numeral 6 indicates a supporting roller 14 and an opposing roller 17 located symmetrically to the supporting roller 14 with the PET sheet 16 in between.
In between, the photosensitive microcapsule toner 11 is electrostatically applied to the supporting roller 14 side by electrodes 18 attached to the supporting roller 14 and the opposing roller 17.

Next, the light irradiated onto the original 20 by the light source 19 exposes the coated surface of the PET sheet 16 coated with the photosensitive microcapsule type toner 11 as reflected light 21 . At this time, by exposure with a wavelength of 670 nm,
The photosensitive cyan microcapsule toner hardens. 54
Exposure to light at a wavelength of 0 nm solidifies the photosensitive magenta microcapsule toner. Exposure to light at a wavelength around 470 nm solidifies the photosensitive yellow microcapsule toner. In this way, a latent image is formed on the PET sheet 16.

Next, the coated surface of the exposed PET sheet 16 is brought into close contact with the recording medium 23 carried out from the paper feed cassette 22. In this closely attached state, the PET sheet 16
and the recording medium 23 are nipped by a pressure roller 24. At this time, the unreacted photosensitive microcapsule toner 11 is destroyed by the nip pressure from the pressure roller 24. This destroyed photosensitive microcapsule type toner 1
An image is transferred onto the recording medium 23 by adhering the core material No. 1 to the recording medium 23 . Thereafter, the PET sheet 16 is wound onto a winding roll 25. or,
The image transferred to the recording medium 23 is fixed on the recording medium 23 by a non-contact heat fixing device 26 . The recording medium 23 on which the image has been recorded in this manner is carried out to the outside of the apparatus.

In this way, the entire recording process using the photosensitive microcapsule type toner of the present invention is completed.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and the structure and operation can be changed without departing from the scope of the claims. For example, the microcapsule wall layer may have two or more layers. Various additional functions may be provided on the outer shell of the microcapsule. Various additions may be made to the outside of the microcapsule shell. The radically polymerizable unsaturated group-containing compound may be solid, or may be heated and melted during photoreaction.

[0035]

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above explanation, according to the photosensitive microcapsule toner of the present invention, a metal arene compound as a photopolymerization initiator, which is the main component of the core material, and a sensitized Due to the synergistic effect with the dye, the photocuring wavelength is in visible light, so the latent image forming process and transfer process only need to be done once. Furthermore, since the sensitizing dye directly serves as a forming body for image recording, an image can be recorded on any recording medium. Furthermore, the cost of the image forming apparatus and the cost required for image formation can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a photosensitive microcapsule type toner.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of one embodiment of an image forming apparatus using photosensitive microcapsule type toner.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Photosensitive microcapsule toner 2. Outer shell 3 Photosensitive composition

Claims (1)

[Claims] [Claim 1] A photosensitive material comprising, as a core material, a photocurable composition containing a radically polymerizable unsaturated group-containing compound, a metal arene compound as a photopolymerization initiator, and a sensitizing dye as a core material. Microcapsule type toner.