JPH05318948A - Image receiving material for thermal transfer ink - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image receiving material for thermal transfer ink used in a tape printer generating no levitation of a release material even during preservation under a high temp. and high humidity condition or during printing under low temp. environment. CONSTITUTION:In an image receiving material for thermal transfer ink constituted by providing an image receiving layer on the single surface of a base film and providing a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer on the other surface thereof and bonding a release material to the surface of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, as the release material, paper with a density of 1.0g/cm<3> or less is used or a polyester film or a polyolefin film is used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image receptor for thermal transfer ink. More specifically, it relates to an image receptor for thermal transfer ink which is preferably used for a so-called tape printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The tape printer has a built-in simple word processor function and printer function and forms an image while rewinding a pancake-shaped tape-shaped image receptor. It is configured to cut a portion on which an image is formed and to attach the cut pieces to an object, and a heading tape, a tape with a name, and the like can be easily created.

A thermal transfer printer is usually used in the printer section of the tape printer because it can be easily miniaturized. Therefore, the ink ribbon used is also a thermal transfer ink ribbon.

As a tape-shaped image receptor used in such a tape printer, an image-receiving layer made of a polyester resin or the like having a good fixing property of thermal transfer ink is provided on one surface of a substrate film such as a polyester film, and the other surface is pressure-sensitive. It is known that a release material is laminated on the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer side of a main body provided with an adhesive layer. This image-receiving body forms an image on the image-receiving layer, peels off the release material, and then adheres to the object on the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer side.

As the mold release material in the conventional image receptor, a glassine paper provided with a mold release layer made of a silicone resin on one surface is generally used.

However, in the image receptor using the release agent having glassine paper as a base material, when the release agent is stored under high temperature and high humidity conditions, the release agent is partially lifted from the main body of the image receptor. When the image receptor having such floating is used in a tape printer, there are problems such as poor running of the image receptor and in extreme cases, the printed image receptor does not come out from the tape printer. These phenomena will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a floating image formed on an image receiving body. Reference numeral 10 denotes an image receptor, and a mold release material 12
Is partially lifted, resulting in a float 13. In the worst case, the height of the float 13 (the height H from the general surface of the release material, the same applies hereinafter) reaches 1 to 2 mm. There are cases in which 10 or more such floatings occur in the length direction of the tape-shaped image receptor per 1 m.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing the running state of the image receiving body in the tape printer. 20 is a drive roller, and 21 is a thermal head. The image receiver 10 and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 22 wound in a pancake shape are respectively rewound and supplied between the driving roller 20 and the thermal head 21, and the image receiver 10 separated from the ink ribbon 22 after printing is a tape printer. The image-receiving body outlet 24 provided in the case 23 is adapted to come out.

However, if the float 13 is terrible, there is a problem in that it is caught in the exit 24 and does not come out.

Even if the floating 13 generated during storage is not so bad as described above, the following problems occur when printing is performed in a low temperature environment. As shown in FIG. 2, since the image receiver 10 is adapted to move by the rotation of the drive roll 20, a considerable pressure is applied by the rotation of the drive roll 20.

Therefore, there is a possibility that a slight float is moved and merges with other floats to become a big float. This is because the peel strength is set to a low level (for example, about 5 g / 20 mm) in order to make it easy for the release material to peel off on the image receptor.
It is estimated that when the temperature is low, it is further lowered, and thus a small float is moved by the pressure of the drive roll and is combined with other floats to become a large float.

There is a possibility that such a phenomenon can be prevented by increasing the set value of the peel strength or increasing the rigidity of the release material so that the float does not move. It is not preferable to raise it because it makes the peeling operation of the release material difficult. If the thickness of the glassine paper is increased in order to increase the rigidity of the release material, the length of the image receiver that can be accommodated in the tape printer (hereinafter referred to as the winding length) becomes short, which is not preferable.

In view of the above points, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image receptor in which the release material does not float even when stored in a high temperature and high humidity environment or printed in a low temperature environment. ..

[0014]

According to the present invention, an image receiving layer is provided on one surface of a substrate film, a pressure sensitive adhesive layer is provided on the other surface, and a release material is laminated on the surface of the pressure sensitive adhesive layer. An image receptor for thermal transfer ink (hereinafter referred to as a first invention), characterized in that the release material uses paper having a density of 1.0 g / cm ³ or less as a base material. To do.

Further, the present invention is for a thermal transfer ink comprising an image receiving layer provided on one surface of a substrate film, a pressure sensitive adhesive layer provided on the other surface, and a release material attached to the surface of the pressure sensitive adhesive layer. In the image receptor, there is provided an image receptor for thermal transfer ink (hereinafter, referred to as a second invention), characterized in that the release material uses a polyester film or a polyolefin film as a substrate.

[0016]

FUNCTION AND EXAMPLE The release material used in the first invention uses paper having a density of 1.0 g / cm ³ or less as the base material.

As described above, the image receptor using the release material having a paper of low density as a base material does not cause the release material to float even when stored under high temperature and high humidity conditions. It is presumed that the reason is that, as described above, the paper having a low density is not densely packed with fibers, and therefore absorbs elongation due to moisture absorption by itself. Since the density of glassine paper is as high as 1.1 to 1.2 g / cm ³ , it is not possible to absorb elongation by itself, and it is presumed that floating occurs.

Also, since a small float does not occur, even when printing is performed in a low temperature environment, there is no problem that a small float moves and coalesces with other floats to cause a large float as in the conventional example.

Since the base material of the release material used in the second invention is a polyester film or a polyolefin film, no lift occurs.

First, the release material used in the first invention will be described.

In the first invention, a paper having a density of 1.0 g / cm ³ or less is used as the base material of the release agent. Since the workability is poor, the density is preferably 0.7 g / cm ³ or more. The types of paper include high-quality paper, kraft paper, elephant paper, copy paper, and Indian paper, and synthetic paper can also be used. The thickness of the base material is preferably in the range of 40 to 90 μm. If the thickness of the base material is larger than the above range, the winding length will be short, while if it is smaller than the above range, the rigidity will not be increased and the peeling workability will be deteriorated.

The release material of the first invention is not particularly limited in other constitution except that the specific paper is used as a base material, but the surface of the paper base material is a polyolefin resin, a polystyrene resin or a polyester resin. Particularly preferably used is a structure in which a laminate layer made of at least one resin selected from the group consisting of polyurethane resins is provided, and a release layer is provided on the laminate layer (hereinafter referred to as the first embodiment). Be done.

In the release material of the first embodiment, the presence of the resin laminate layer suppresses the expansion of the paper base material, so that the occurrence of floating is more completely prevented.

As the polyolefin resin for the laminate layer, polyethylene resin, polypropylene resin, ethylene
-Vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-ethyl acrylate copolymer, ethylene-methyl methacrylate copolymer,
Examples thereof include ethylene-acrylic acid copolymers and ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers. The thickness of the resin laminate layer is preferably in the range of 5 to 25 μm. When the thickness of the laminate layer is less than the above range, it is difficult to sufficiently suppress the elongation of the paper base material, while when it exceeds the above range, the winding length of the image receptor becomes short, which is not preferable. As a laminating method, any known method can be adopted, but an extrusion laminating method is usually adopted.

The release agent for the release layer is not particularly limited, and a silicone resin type, an olefin resin type, a long chain alkyl group-containing polymer type, a fluororesin type or the like can be used, but usually a silicone resin type. Those of are preferably used. The thickness of the release layer is usually about 0.1 to 2 μm.

The mold release material in the first invention has a constitution in which a resin coat layer is provided on the surface of the paper base material and a mold release layer is provided on the resin coat layer (hereinafter referred to as the second embodiment). Is also preferably used.

Also in the second embodiment, the presence of the resin coating layer suppresses the elongation of the paper base material.

As the resin for the resin coat layer, any resin that is non-hygroscopic or does not extend even when it absorbs moisture can be used without particular limitation. For example, polyacrylic acid alkyl ester, polymethacrylic acid alkyl ester, polyacrylamide, polystyrene are used. , Polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polyurethane, polyester, carboxymethyl cellulose, urea resin, melamine resin and the like are used alone or in combination. The thickness of the resin coat layer is 0.5 to 25
μm is suitable. If the thickness of the resin coat layer is less than the above range, the elongation of the paper base material cannot be sufficiently suppressed, and if it exceeds the above range, the winding length of the image receptor becomes short, which is not preferable.

The release layer in the second embodiment is the first
The same as the embodiment is used.

Next, the release material used in the second invention will be described. The release material in the second invention uses a polyester film or a polyolefin film as a base material.

Examples of the polyester film include polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate and polyethylene naphthalate films, and examples of the polyolefin film include polyethylene and polypropylene films. These may be unstretched films or uniaxially or biaxially stretched films. A suitable thickness of the film substrate is about 15 to 100 μm. When the thickness of the film substrate is less than the above range, the peeling workability is deteriorated, while when it exceeds the above range, the winding length becomes short, which is not preferable.

In the second invention, a release layer is directly formed on one surface of the film substrate. As the release layer, the same one as in the first invention is used.

In both the first invention and the second invention, the thickness of the mold release material is preferably 50 to 100 μm from the viewpoint of increasing the winding length and improving the peeling work. The peeling strength of the release material from the main body of the image receptor is 2 to 10 g / 20 mm (peeling speed 0.15 m in order to improve the peeling workability).
/ Min) is preferable.

The image receiving body in the first and second inventions will be described. As the image receiving body, an image receiving layer made of a resin having a good fixing property of the thermal transfer ink is provided on one surface of the base film, and the other surface is provided with the image receiving layer. Any pressure-adhesive layer can be used without particular limitation.

For example, a polyester film such as a polyethylene terephthalate film is preferably used as the base film of the main body of the image receptor because of its strength and good adhesion to the image receiving layer. In addition, a polyvinyl chloride film, a polycarbonate film, a triacetyl cellulose film, a polyamide film, a polyimide film, an aramid film, etc. can be used. The thickness of the base material is preferably about 20 to 60 μm from the viewpoint of handleability at the time of sticking to an object.

Polyester resin is preferably used as the resin for the image receiving layer, but other resins can be used depending on the compatibility with the vehicle of the thermal transfer ink. A small amount of an extender pigment such as silica or titanium oxide may be added to the image receiving layer. The coating amount of the image receiving layer is usually about 0.08 to ² g / m ² . If the coating amount is more than the above range, the blocking resistance becomes poor. When the coating amount is less than the above range, the fixability of the printed image becomes poor.

If desired, a color coat layer may be provided on the surface of the substrate opposite to the image receiving layer. Instead of providing the color coat layer, a colored substrate may be used.

A pressure sensitive adhesive layer is formed on the surface of the substrate opposite to the image receiving layer. As the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, conventional ones can be used without particular limitation, and examples thereof include acrylic resin pressure-sensitive adhesives. The release material is laminated on the surface of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer. It is preferable that the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of the image receiving body and the release layer of the release material are appropriately selected so that the peel strength is within the above range.

In the present invention, the thermal transfer ink ribbon used for forming an image on the image receptor is not particularly limited, and any ordinary ribbon can be used.

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to Examples and Comparative Examples.

Examples 1 to 4 and Comparative Example A polyester resin (UE-321 manufactured by Unitika Ltd.) was placed on a polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of 38 μm.
0, glass transition point 45 ° C., molecular weight 20000) dissolved in toluene-methyl ethyl ketone mixed solvent (2: 3 weight ratio) to prepare a 5% by weight solution, which was dried and then coated at a coating amount of 0.2 g / m ² and dried. An image receiving layer was formed, and an acrylic resin pressure-sensitive adhesive layer having a thickness of 15 μm was formed on the surface opposite to the image receiving layer to obtain an image receiving body.

On the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer side of the main body of the image receptor, the following release material was attached so that the release layer was in contact with the adhesive layer to obtain an image receptor.

(Release material of Example 1) Polyethylene coated on one side of a high quality paper (density 0.85 g / cm ³ ) having a thickness of 60 μm and thickness of 15 μm
m, extruded and laminated on m, and a 0.5 μm thick silicone resin release layer formed on it.

(Release material of Example 2) Kraft paper (density 0.8 g / cm ³ ) having a thickness of 70 μm was used in place of the wood free paper.

(Release material of Example 3) A high-quality paper (density 0.85 g / cm ³ ) having a thickness of 60 μm was coated with a methyl acrylate resin coating layer having a thickness of 8 μm on one side thereof, and a thickness of 0.5 μm was formed thereon.
A silicone resin release layer of m.

(Release material of Example 4) A silicone resin release layer having a thickness of 0.7 μm formed on one side of a biaxially oriented polypropylene film having a thickness of 50 μm.

(Release material of Comparative Example) Glassine paper having a thickness of 65 μm (density 1.15 g / cm ³ ) with a silicone resin release layer having a thickness of 0.5 μm formed on one side.

Each of the image receivers obtained above was wound on a core while slitting a width of 18 mm to prepare a pancake-shaped image receptor sample (winding length 8 m).

Each sample was placed in an atmosphere of 60 ° C. and 90% RH for 96 hours.
After leaving it for a while, it was rewound and examined for floating.

Further, after leaving the sample in an atmosphere of 25 ° C. and 50% RH for 24 hours (at this stage, the occurrence of floating was not observed by visual observation in each sample), it was mounted on a commercially available tape printer, A printing test was conducted in an atmosphere of -5 ° C to examine the running state of the image receptor.

The test results are shown in Table 1.

[0052]

[Table 1]

[0053]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION The image receptor of the present invention does not cause the release material to float even when stored under high temperature and high humidity conditions or printed in a low temperature environment, and has good running properties.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing floating of a release material on an image receiver.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a running state of an image receiver in the tape printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Image receptor 11 Image receptor body 12 Release material 13 Floating 20 Drive roll 21 Thermal head 24 Image receptor exit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tomoaki Yamanaka 4-4-14 Minejima, Nishiyodogawa-ku, Osaka Fujico-Pian Technology Center

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image receptor for thermal transfer ink, comprising an image receiving layer provided on one surface of a substrate film, a pressure sensitive adhesive layer provided on the other surface, and a release material attached to the surface of the pressure sensitive adhesive layer. An image receptor for thermal transfer ink, wherein the release material uses paper having a density of 1.0 g / cm ³ or less as a base material. 2. The release material is provided on the surface of the paper base material with a laminate layer made of at least one resin selected from the group consisting of a polyolefin resin, a polystyrene resin, a polyester resin, and a polyurethane resin. The image receptor for thermal transfer ink according to claim 1, wherein a release layer is provided on the laminate layer. 3. The image receptor for thermal transfer ink according to claim 1, wherein the release material has a resin coating layer provided on the surface of the paper substrate and a release layer provided on the resin coating layer. 4. The image receptor for thermal transfer ink according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the thickness of the release material is 50 to 100 μm. 5. An image receptor for thermal transfer ink comprising an image-receiving layer provided on one surface of a substrate film, a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer provided on the other surface, and a release material attached to the surface of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer. An image receptor for thermal transfer ink, wherein the release material uses a polyester film or a polyolefin film as a base material. 6. The image receptor for thermal transfer ink according to claim 5, wherein the release material has a thickness of 15 to 100 μm.