JPH05142967A - Image forming method to optical recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the method which does not require intricate process, is suitable not only for production of many kinds in small quantities and can deal with diversified requirements by acting an electric field on an optical recording medium to form the electrostatic charge image meeting designs directly on the optical recording medium and developing and fixing the image. CONSTITUTION:The electric field is acted on the optical recording medium having a conductive vapor deposited metallic layer and dielectric protective layer on a dielectric substrate to form the electrostatic charge image directly on the surface of the optical recording medium. The electrostatic charge image is developed by a developer contg. coloring agents and fixer, by which the developed image is fixed. Namely, the optical recording medium is placed on an electrode substrate and a multistylus electrode is brought into direct contact with the dielectric protective layer and a DC voltage is impressed between the two electrodes, by which the electrostatic charge image is obtd. The electrostatic charge developing powder or liquid developer electrified to the polarity opposite from the polarity of the electrostatic charge is used for developing the electrostatic charge image. The heating of the substrate or the drying of a solvent at ordinary temp. is merely necessitated to fix the developed image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming method on an optical recording medium such as a compact disc or an optical disc.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a screen printing method or a lithographic printing method has been used as an image forming method for a compact disc or an optical disc. However, the screen printing method and the lithographic printing method have a drawback that many steps are required to make a printing plate and they are not suitable for high-mix low-volume production. In addition, as in recent years, the life cycle of the product is short, and it is not possible to sufficiently meet the demand of the industry such that the desired design can be obtained quickly.

[0003]

The object of the present invention is to directly form an electrostatic charge image according to a design on the surface of an optical recording medium without developing complicated plate-making process or transfer process, and to develop and fix the image. An object of the present invention is to provide a novel image forming method on an optical recording medium capable of forming an image.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The inventors of the present invention have conducted extensive studies to solve the above problems. As a result, the optical recording medium has a conductive metal vapor deposition film between dielectric layers. Accumulation of electrostatic charge sufficient for development when applied,
The present invention was found to be retained, and the present invention was achieved.

That is, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention (1) applies an electric field to an optical recording medium having a conductive metal vapor deposition layer and a dielectric protective layer on a dielectric substrate to directly apply the light to the optical recording medium. Forming an electrostatic charge image on the surface of the recording medium, (2)
An image forming method comprising: a step of developing the electrostatic image with a developer containing a colorant and a fixing agent; and (3) fixing the developed image.

Next, the present invention will be described in detail.

The optical recording medium used in the present invention has a conductive metal vapor deposition layer and a dielectric protective layer on a dielectric substrate.
As the dielectric substrate, a transparent plastic substrate can be used without particular limitation. As the conductive metal layer provided on the dielectric substrate, a vapor deposition film of aluminum, gold or the like is used. The dielectric protective layer provided on the conductive metal layer can be used without particular limitation as long as it is a resin film having a thickness of 4 to 20 μm. The thickness of the dielectric protective layer is
When it is thinner than 4 μm, the role of the protective layer cannot be achieved, and when it is thicker than 20 μm, electrostatic charges tend to be hardly formed, which is not preferable.

Optical recording media such as commercially available compact discs and optical discs satisfy the above-mentioned characteristics, and any of them can be used in the present invention without particular limitation.

The developer used in the present invention may be a liquid or powder, as long as it contains a colorant and a fixing agent and is a developer for electrostatic charge development which is fixed at a temperature of less than 150.degree. However, if a developer that requires heat of 150 ° C or higher is used for fixing, the dielectric substrate will be deformed during the fixing process. A relatively low developer is preferably used. Specifically, a liquid developer used for electrostatic recording such as an electrostatic plotter or a facsimile, a liquid developer for ultraviolet curable electrostatic charge development, and one or two components used in printers, copiers, etc. Examples include powder toners of the system.

Specific examples of the colorant used in the developer in the present invention include carbon black; phthalocyanine pigments such as phthalocyanine copper; quinacridone pigments such as quinacridone magenta and quinacridone red; Hansa Yellow, Disazo Yellow, Permanent Yellow, Azo pigments such as permanent red and naphthol red; Nigrosine dyes such as Spirit Black SB, Nigrosine Base, and Oil Black BW.

Examples of the fixing agent used in the powder developer in the present invention include a styrene-vinyltoluene copolymer having a melting temperature of 150 ° C. or less, a styrene-propylene copolymer, and a styrene-ethyl acrylate copolymer. , Styrene-butyl acrylate copolymer, styrene-octyl acrylate copolymer, styrene-ethyl methacrylate copolymer, styrene-butyl methacrylate copolymer, styrene-butadiene copolymer, styrene-isoprene copolymer Styrene-based copolymers such as styrene-maleic acid copolymer and styrene-maleic acid ester copolymer; polyester resin, epoxy resin, rosin, modified rosin, aliphatic or alicyclic hydrocarbon resin, paraffin wax, etc. Used alone or as a mixture.

As the carrier used for the powder toner, those known in the art can be used, for example, iron,
Examples thereof include magnetic substances such as cobalt and nickel, their alloys and mixtures, and those whose surfaces are coated.

As the fixing agent used in the liquid developer of the present invention, all known fixing agents can be used.
For example, an acrylic copolymer soluble in an electrically insulating carrier liquid composed of methyl methacrylate and an acrylic acid ester or a long-chain acrylic acid ester of methacrylic acid described in JP-B-49-20996; 1225
No. 57, the first polymer chain composed of a vinyl polymer soluble in the electrically insulating carrier liquid and the second polymer chain composed of a vinyl polymer insoluble in the carrier liquid are bonded via a urethane bond. A non-gel-like graft polymer having a molecular structure bonded to each other and insoluble in the carrier liquid as a whole molecule; a cross-linking functional group described in JP-A-63-208866 is incorporated into the side chain of the molecule. An electrically insulative cross-linked polymer obtained by cross-linking a vinyl polymer with a cross-linked polymer, which is insoluble in a carrier liquid obtained by copolymerizing a vinyl monomer having a basic nitrogen atom or an amide group in the molecule with a vinyl acetate monomer. As the vinyl copolymer which is composed of the vinyl copolymer and is insoluble in the carrier liquid, a polymer which is captured by the cross-linked polymer and the like are particularly preferably used.

Examples of the fixing agent used in the ultraviolet-curable liquid developer in the present invention include a main chain such as a malein group-introduced polyester resin, an epoxy resin, or a silicone-modified, urethane-modified or acrylurethane-modified resin thereof. Prepolymers having unsaturated bonds in the ends; those having active groups at the ends or side chains of the backbone polymer, such as acrylic ester prepolymers having two or more acryloyl groups in one molecule, active unsaturated at the side chains or ends Examples thereof include a prepolymer having a group. Examples of the acrylic prepolymer include polyol acrylate, polyester acrylate, epoxy acrylate, urethane acrylate, polyether acrylate, acrylate alkyd, polyacetal acrylate, silicon acrylate, and melamine acrylate. Further, a reactive monomer capable of crosslinking and addition polymerization reaction can be used together with these prepolymers. Examples of the reactive monomer include cyclohexyl acrylate,
Benzyl acrylate, carbitol acrylate, 2
-Ethylhexyl acrylate, 2-hydroxyacrylate, 2-hydroxypropyl acrylate, vinyl acetate, N-vinylpyrrolidone, diethylene glycol diacrylate, neopentyl glycol diacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate and the like can be mentioned.

As the photopolymerization initiator used for the ultraviolet curable liquid developer for electrostatic charge development, a radical type and a hydrogen abstraction type can be generally used. Examples of such a photopolymerization initiator include benzoin ethyl isobutyl benzoin ether, benzoin ethyl ether, and benzoin methyl ether.

Examples of the electrically insulating carrier liquid used in the liquid developer include hexane, pentane, octane, nonane, decane, undecane, dodecane, and "Isopar G", "Isopar H", and "Isopar H" manufactured by Exxon Chemical Co., Ltd. It has a boiling point in the temperature range of 100 to 250 ° C, such as an organic solvent sold under the trade name of "ISOPAR L", "ISOPAR M", etc., and a volume resistivity of 10 ⁹ Ωcm or more and less than 3. Various aliphatic hydrocarbon solvents having a dielectric constant of can be used.

The liquid developer used in the present invention includes
If necessary, a charge control agent and a dispersion stabilizer may be added, and known materials such as copper naphthenate, cobalt naphthenate, zirconium octylate and cobalt octylate can be used without particular limitation.

In the present invention, in order to form an electrostatic charge image on the optical recording medium, the optical recording medium is placed on an electrode substrate,
A patterned electrode or a multi-needle electrode such as used for electrostatic recording is brought into direct contact with the dielectric protection layer, and 500 V is applied between both electrodes.
It is obtained by applying a DC voltage of several kV to several hundred milliseconds to several seconds. Also, a patterned electrode, or
As a method for obtaining an electrostatic charge image without bringing the multi-needle electrode into contact with the dielectric protective layer, a so-called ion flow method, in which a corona discharge current is controlled by a control electrode to obtain an electrostatic charge image on a dielectric, is also suitably used. . Although the mechanism of forming the electrostatic charge image is not clear, it is considered that since the conductive metal film exists between the dielectric layers, electrostatic charge sufficient for development is accumulated and held when a voltage is applied.

In the present invention, in order to develop an electrostatic charge image, a powder or liquid developer for electrostatic charge development having a polarity opposite to that of the electrostatic charge may be used and a developing operation may be carried out according to a conventional method.

Further, in the present invention, in order to fix a developed image, when a powder developer is used, the substrate is 90 to 1
It may be heated at a temperature of 40 ° C. When a liquid developer is used, it is achieved by drying the solvent at room temperature, but if necessary, the fixing can be accelerated by heating at a temperature of about 100 ° C. When an ultraviolet-curable liquid developer is used, the obtained image has 500
The image can be fixed by irradiating ultraviolet rays of mJ or less.

[0021]

EXAMPLES The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
In the following examples, "part" and "%" represent "part by weight" and "% by weight", respectively.

(Example 1) (Production of powder developer) "Carbon Black Elftex 8" (manufactured by Cabot) 5 parts "Epoxy resin Epicoat 1004" (manufactured by Shell Chemical Co.) 92 parts "Nigrosine Base EX" ( Orient Chemical Co., Ltd.) 3 parts

The above raw material was kneaded with three rolls and then ground with a jet mill to obtain a powder developer of 10 to 13 μm.

Next, the above powder developer was mixed and stirred with a commercially available iron oxide powder carrier to obtain a positively charged powder developer having a charge amount of +20 μC / g. The powder developer thus obtained is called developer A.

(Image forming) signal recorded thickness 1.2
70 mm on a polycarbonate substrate with a diameter of 120 mm
Aluminum was evaporated to a thickness of 0 Å.
UV curable coating "Dicure Clear SD-17" (manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals) was used on the aluminum vapor-deposited layer using a spin coater to rotate at 3000 rpm at 1.5.
It was applied under the condition of seconds and cured by a commercially available ultraviolet irradiation device to form a protective coating layer having a thickness of 7 to 8 μm. The substrate side of the optical recording medium thus obtained is placed on a grounded metal electrode, and on the protective coating layer,
A ring-shaped metal electrode having a diameter of 60 mm was placed, and a DC voltage of -1 kV was applied between both electrodes for 10 seconds. Next, the developer A held by using a magnet was brought into contact with the protective coating layer, development was performed, and heat fixing was carried out at 120 ° C. for 10 seconds. As a result, a clear black image similar to that of the ring-shaped electrode was obtained. Was given.

(Example 2) (Production of liquid developer) "Fastgen Blue GNPT" (phthalocyanine pigment manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc.) 15 parts of a copolymer consisting of 80% 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate and 20% methyl methacrylate. Isopar G dispersion liquid (solid content 30%) 100 parts Cobalt naphthenate 2.5 parts "Isopar G" (aliphatic hydrocarbon solvent manufactured by Exxon Chemical Co.) 100 parts

The above mixture was dispersed by a ball mill for 24 hours and then diluted with "ISOPAR G" so that the nonvolatile content was 12% to obtain a concentrated toner. Further, 100 parts of the concentrated toner was diluted with 2000 parts of "ISOPAR G" to obtain a positively charged liquid developer. The liquid developer thus obtained is called developer B.

Next, the plain optical recording medium prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 was brought into contact with the electrodes in the same manner as in Example 1, and a DC voltage of -1.3 kV was applied to both electrodes for 5 seconds. Next, the grounded stainless steel bat was filled with the developer B, and the optical recording medium was immersed in the developer B for development. After the development, the developing solution in the non-image area was washed away with "Isopar G", and then the solvent was evaporated at room temperature to fix the image. As a result, a clear blue image similar to that of the ring-shaped electrode was obtained.

[0029]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the method of the present invention, the complicated plate-making process and transfer process as in the prior art are not required, and not only is it suitable for high-mix low-volume production, but also various requests can be swiftly and promptly met. At the same time, an image can be formed on an optical recording medium such as a compact disc or an optical disc at low cost.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H04N 5/903 Z 7916-5C

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A step of applying an electric field to an optical recording medium having a conductive metal vapor deposition layer and a dielectric protective layer on a dielectric substrate to directly form an electrostatic charge image on the surface of the optical recording medium. And (3) a step of developing the electrostatic image with a developer containing a colorant and a fixing agent, and (3) fixing the developed image.