JPH05323594A - Photosensitive capsule - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To directly form a picture image on an ordinary paper sheet by providing a picture-image forming material agglomerate layer on the outermost side of a photosensitive capsule. CONSTITUTION:A photosensitive capsule 10 is made up of an outer wall part 11 and an internal part 12, and the internal part 12 is further phase-separated into a color material agglomerate layer 13 and a photosensitive part 14. As the coloring material constituting the coloring material agglomerate layer 13, a color precursor or the like that changes color when it reacts with color, pigment, developer, or the like may be used. The photosensitive part 14 is such a resin that reacts to light and denaturates such as photosoftening and photohardening resins. In a capsule in which the photosensitive part 14 is not softened, since the color material agglomerate layer 13 exists on the outermost side of the photosensitive capsule 10, in the case where a picture image is formed on an image-receiving paper sheet by breaking the capsule, the coloring material agglomerate layer 13 is preferentially transferred on the image-receiving paper sheet without transferring a large quantity of liquid photosensitive part 14 thereon, so that an image dense in density can be formed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photosensitive capsule, and more particularly to a photosensitive capsule used for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a photosensitive capsule in which an image forming material such as a dye precursor, a dye or a pigment is contained in an outer wall of a resin and the mechanical strength thereof is changed in response to light is disclosed in JP-A-63-63. Two
It is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 69146 and the like. Further, an image receiving paper is provided by a developing method in which a photosensitive capsule which contains the image recording material and changes mechanical strength in response to light is used, and after exposing the capsule, only the weak toner is destroyed by pressure or the like. An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-316038.

This image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus which forms an image on an image receiving paper by a developing method in which the capsule is exposed in accordance with image information, and only a weak toner is destroyed by pressure or the like.

[0004]

However, in the photosensitive capsules used in these image forming apparatuses,
Dye precursors, dyes, image forming materials such as pigments and photosensitive materials whose mechanical strength changes in response to light are contained in the capsule in a uniformly mixed or compatible state.
The following problems occurred.

The ratio of the image forming material in the inclusion is about 1 to 1.
It is 0% by weight, and since a large amount of the photosensitive material is present relative to the image forming material during image formation, when a small amount of the inclusions is transferred onto the image receiving paper, the image density becomes very low and the gradation Was difficult to express. When a large amount of inclusions are transferred onto the image receiving paper to increase the image density, special paper such as coated paper must be used because a large amount of liquid components must be absorbed, resulting in high image forming cost. I got it.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has a high color density, excellent gradation, and can form an image directly on plain paper without requiring special paper. It is an object of the present invention to provide a light-sensitive capsule having a low image forming cost.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, the photosensitive capsule of the present invention contains at least an image forming material such as a dye or a pigment and a photosensitive material whose mechanical strength is changed by irradiation of electromagnetic waves. In a photosensitive capsule containing a resin or the like in the outer wall portion, the inner inclusion is located adjacent to the inner side of the outer wall portion, and the image forming material is aggregated to form a thin image forming material aggregate of the photosensitive material. And a photosensitive portion located so as to be included in the image forming material aggregation layer and having a thin image forming material and a high concentration of the photosensitive material.

[0008]

In the photosensitive capsule of the present invention having the above-mentioned constitution, since the aggregating layer of the image forming material exists on the outermost side of the photosensitive capsule, it is destroyed when the image is formed on an image receiving paper or the like. The material is transferred preferentially onto the image receiving paper, and it is possible to form a high-density image without transferring a large amount of liquid photosensitive parts onto the image receiving paper, so it is possible to form an image directly on plain paper. In addition, since the color density is high even with minute dots, it is possible to form an image with excellent gradation.

[0009]

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

FIG. 1 shows a photosensitive capsule 10 embodying the present invention.
The schematic diagram which shows the structure of is shown.

The photosensitive capsule 10 is composed of an outer wall portion 11 and an inner enclosure 12, which is further phase-separated into a coloring material aggregation layer 13 and a photosensitive portion 14. The outer diameter of the photosensitive capsule 10 is preferably about several μm to several tens of μm.
However, it is not limited to this.

As the color material forming the color material agglomerating layer 13, a dye precursor or the like which changes color by reacting with a dye, a pigment, a color developer or the like can be used. As the dye, xanthene-based, coumarin-based, merocyanine-based, thiazine-based, azine-based, methine-based, oxazine-based, phenylmethane-based, cyanine-based,
Azo-based, anthraquinone-based, pyrazoline-based, stilbene-based, quinoline-based, phthalocyanine-based, leuco dyes and the like can be mentioned, and examples of the pigment include carbon black, yellow lead, red iron oxide, titanium oxide, molybdenum red and other inorganic pigments and organic pigments Be done.

As the dye precursor, diphenylmethane type compounds, triphenylmethane type compounds, bisphenylmethane type compounds, xanthene type compounds, thiazine type compounds, fluorane type compounds, spiropyran type compounds and the like and mixtures thereof can be used. .. When the dye precursor is used as the image forming material, it is necessary to use the color developer as the absorbing layer.

The color material concentration in the color material aggregation layer 13 may be uniform or may be distributed in the thickness direction of the layer.

The photosensitive portion 14 is a resin that is sensitive to light and is modified, and includes a photosoftening resin and a photocurable resin. The photocurable resin is usually used by mixing a photoinitiator and a polymerizable substance. The photoinitiator is one which is sensitive to light and initiates the polymerization of the resin, for example, benzophenone, benzoyl alkyl ethers such as benzoyl isopropyl ether, Michler's ketone, metal arene compound,
2,4-diethylthioxanthone and the like can be mentioned.

Examples of the polymerizable substance include N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone, bisphenol A diacrylate and methacrylate, tripropylene glycol diacrylate and methacrylate, polyethylene glycol diacrylate and methacrylate, pentaerythritol triacrylate and methacrylate,
Examples include dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate and methacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate and methacrylate, oligoester acrylate and methacrylate and the like. In addition, these polymerizable compounds may be used alone or as a mixture of two or more kinds.

The photosensitive capsule 10 having the above-mentioned structure can be manufactured by a method which has already been known in the art. For example, US Pat. No. 2,800,457.
No. 2,800,458 and the like, a method for phase separation from an aqueous solution, JP-B-38-1974, and JP-A-4
No. 2-446, No. 42-771, etc., interfacial polymerization method, Japanese Patent Publication No. 36-9168, JP-A-51.
I by polymerization of monomers shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 9079
n-situ method, British Patent Nos. 952807 and 96
Although there is a melt dispersion cooling method and the like shown in the specification of No. 5074, it is not limited to this.

Generally, an oil phase in which a coloring material and a photosensitive substance are uniformly mixed is emulsified in a water phase, and a substance to be a material for the outer wall portion 11 is added to the water phase to precipitate it. Thus, the outer wall portion 11 is formed so as to cover the oil phase. In this process, in the oil phase, the coloring material agglomerates toward the oil phase / water phase interface, whereby the photosensitive capsule 10 having the structure shown in FIG. 1 can be formed.

Materials for forming the outer wall 11 include gelatin, gum arabic, starch, sodium alginate, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene, polyamide, polyester, polyurethane, polyurea, polyurethane, polystyrene, nitrocellulose, ethylcellulose, methylcellulose, melamine-formaldehyde resin. , Urea-formaldehyde resin and the like are used, but the outer wall portion 1
As far as No. 1 is concerned, it is more preferable to use a material capable of sufficiently transmitting light.

The features of forming an image using the photosensitive capsule 10 having the above-described structure will be described below.

In the photosensitive capsule 10 in which the photosensitive portion 14 is hardened, the photosensitive capsule 14 has a hard core, so that it may be erroneously broken to release the coloring material and generate image noise. It is possible to obtain sufficient strength that does not exist.

In the capsule in which the photosensitive portion 14 is not cured, the coloring material aggregation layer 13 exists on the outermost side of the photosensitive capsule 10. Therefore, when the image is formed on an image receiving paper by destroying the coloring material aggregation layer 13, The material aggregation layer 13 is preferentially transferred onto the image receiving paper, and it is possible to form a high density image without transferring a large amount of the liquid photosensitive portions 14 onto the image receiving paper, and to obtain high color density even with minute dots. Therefore, it is possible to form an image having excellent gradation.

Further, in the photosensitive capsule having the above-mentioned structure, when the light is irradiated in accordance with the recorded image, the photoreaction of the coloring material agglomeration layer 13 can be achieved by appropriately selecting the photosensitive wavelength of the photosensitive portion 14. It is possible to proceed without being hindered by unnecessary absorption and prevent the sensitivity of the photosensitive portion 14 from being lowered.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the photosensitive capsule of the present invention, the aggregating layer of the image forming material exists on the outermost side of the photosensitive capsule, so that it is destroyed to form an image on an image receiving paper or the like. When forming, the image forming material is preferentially transferred onto the image receiving paper, and it is possible to form a high density image without transferring a large amount of liquid photosensitive parts onto the image receiving paper. It is also possible to form an image, and since even a minute dot has a high color density, it is possible to form an image with excellent gradation.

Further, with the above-mentioned constitution, the core of the photosensitive portion is formed inside the photosensitive capsule, so that the strength of the cured photosensitive capsule is increased and the image forming material is It is possible to provide a photosensitive capsule capable of preventing an erroneous destruction of a cured photosensitive capsule that should not be originally discharged during an image forming process and forming an image with excellent contrast.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a photosensitive capsule of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Photosensitive Capsule 11 Outer Wall 13 Coloring Material Aggregation Layer 14 Photosensitive Part

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A photosensitive capsule containing at least an image forming material such as a dye or a pigment and a photosensitive material whose mechanical strength is changed by irradiation of electromagnetic waves as an inclusion in an outer wall portion such as a resin. The object is positioned adjacent to the inside of the outer wall portion, and the image forming material is located so as to be encapsulated in the image forming material aggregating layer that is agglutinated by the image forming material and the photosensitive material, A photosensitive capsule characterized in that the image forming material is thin and has a photosensitive portion having a high concentration of the photosensitive material.