JPH0561255A - Image fixing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an image having excellent washing resistance and friction resistance by forming the image on a recording carrier by dye carrier particles holding dyes and shifting the dyes to the recording carrier. CONSTITUTION:The image is formed on the recording carrier by an electrophotographic method, etc., using the dye carrier particles having electrostatic chargeability. The image is then heated to shift the dyes held by the dye carrier particles to the recording carrier and to dye the recording carrier. Dye carrier particles having such fine pores to allow the reversible holding and desorbing of the dyes or the particles having a property to reversibly adsorb the dyes on the surfaces are used as the dye carrier particles. Such dyes include, for example, zeolite, kaolin, SIRASU porous glass, etc., or polymer particles of a styrene system, acrylate system, methacrylate system, etc. The sublimatable dyes which are liable to shift to the recording carrier are used as the dyes. The recording carrier is preferably cloths made of natural fibers, synthetic fibers, etc., and polymer films made of polyester, etc.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image fixing method in various image forming methods such as electrophotography, electrostatic recording and magnetic recording using a cloth or a polymer film as a record carrier.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Currently, the most popular electrophotographic copying machines using toners use paper having a surface optimized for the use as a record carrier. The toner image formed on the paper is fixed by a heat roller.
This method is said to have excellent image strength because the image on the paper is softened and pressure-bonded by the heat roller.

However, in this method, the toner and the paper have not been fused to each other, and the image is fixed solely by the anchor effect, so that it is not always sufficient from the viewpoint of abrasion resistance of the image. It is hard to say that it has fixing strength.

Furthermore, when a cloth such as clothes which is repeatedly washed or a cloth used in an environment where it is subjected to friction is used as a record carrier, generally, an anchor effect and a fibrous polymer that constitutes the binder of the toner and the cloth are used. Its affinity with is weaker than that of paper with a surface optimized for electrophotography, so the image will peel off from the fabric each time it is washed or rubbed, and an image with wash resistance and abrasion resistance is obtained. It was extremely difficult.

The same applies to the transfer of an image onto a polymer film for an overhead projector or the like, and even electrophotography on a polymer film which has been subjected to a surface treatment to give a purposeful surface property has a resistance to abrasion. It was hard to say that it was excellent in sex.

On the other hand, as a dyeing method for providing an image on a cloth, there are a dyeing method and a textile printing method, which have excellent properties in washing resistance and abrasion resistance of the image. However, both of them are extremely inflexible in changing the image, and the fabric itself must be newly prepared in the former case and the original plate must be newly prepared in the latter case.

As a method for improving the flexibility as described above, there is a dyeing method using an ink jet printer using a dedicated ink. After dyeing, the cloth is washed with a chemical solution or water, and then further dried. It is necessary and has a serious drawback in that the number of steps is industrially considerably increased.

[0008]

As described above, when a cloth which is repeatedly washed, or a cloth or a polymer film which is used in an environment subject to friction is used as a record carrier, the washing resistance and the abrasion resistance are high. It was extremely difficult to form an excellent image. Further, in dyeing an image on a cloth, an excessive or undyed dye cannot be escaped from a time-consuming and troublesome process such as chemical washing, washing with water, and drying.

The present invention solves the problem of forming an image excellent in washing resistance and abrasion resistance in an image forming method such as an electrophotographic method using a cloth or a polymer film as a record carrier.

The present invention can be applied not only to the electrophotographic method as described above, but also to the electrostatic recording method and the magnetic recording method in the same manner as described above on the cloth or the polymer film against the washing resistance.
The problem to be solved is to form an image having excellent abrasion resistance.

Further, the present invention solves the problem that when a cloth is used as a record carrier, the time is overwhelmingly shortened as compared with the image fixing method by dyeing.

[0012]

Means for Solving the Problems The inventors of the present invention have made extensive studies to solve the above-mentioned problems, and particularly to impart washing resistance and abrasion resistance to an image using a cloth or the like as a record carrier. The present invention has arrived at a method of using a conventional toner as a dye carrier particle by retaining a dye in the particle, without using the toner as a final image forming body. The outline is as follows.

That is, the present invention is an image fixing method characterized in that an image is formed on a record carrier by dye carrier particles holding a dye and the dye is transferred to the record carrier.

[0014]

The present invention will be described in detail below.

Heretofore, proposals and examples of use of so-called toner have been published by many patent applications. However, conventionally, the toner is simply heat-fixed by a heat roller, and it is impossible to obtain an image excellent in abrasion resistance, washing resistance and the like. As a result of intensive investigations by the present inventors, the present inventors have reached the present invention.Unlike the conventional fixing method, the image fixing method of the present invention does not use toner particles in the same manner as conventional toner, When cloth or polymer film is used as a record carrier, toner particles are not used as a final image forming body but as dye carrier particles in order to obtain an image having abrasion resistance. It has features.

The dye carrier particles used in the present invention are characterized by having a property of retaining a dye, and the dye carrier particles have pores capable of reversibly retaining and releasing the dye. It is more preferable to use the one having the property of reversibly adsorbing the dye on the surface. For example, as the former, porous mineral particles such as zeolite and kaolin, or porous inorganic particles such as silus porous glass, or styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer-based porous fine particles, and as the latter, various styrene-based or acrylate-based, methacrylate-based, etc. But not limited thereto. The term "pores" as used herein refers to pores having a size equal to or larger than that of dye molecules, in other words, pores of a size capable of containing dye molecules, and porous means a plurality of pores. It refers to the state of having individual pieces.

When an image is formed by using the dye carrier particles of the present invention by, for example, an electrophotographic method, electrostatic interaction is used for the development in the electrophotographic method, and therefore at least the dye carrier particles contain the dye. It is preferably charged while being held, and preferably contains additives such as a charge control agent, a release agent, a fluidizing agent, a cleaning aid, and a magnetic material. The charge control agents are mainly nigrosine dyes, quaternary ammonium salt compounds, triphenylmethane dyes, etc., the release agents are mainly low molecular weight polypropylene and low molecular weight polyethylene, etc., and the fluidizing agents are mainly several tens of nm or less. Silica, alumina, titania, etc., cleaning aids mainly metal soaps, various ultrafine polymer particles and inorganic substances, and magnetic materials mainly iron (III) oxide iron (II) and γ-type iron oxide (III ) And the like, but the invention is not limited thereto. The composition is such that the charge control agent is 0 to 10% by weight, the release agent is 0 to 20% by weight, the fluidizing agent is 0 to 10% by weight, and the cleaning aid is 0 to 1%.
It is preferable that 0% by weight and 10 to 70% by weight of the magnetic substance are purposely included. Further, the charge control agent is 0 to 5% by weight, the release agent is 0 to 10% by weight, the fluidizing agent is 0 to 5% by weight, the cleaning aid is 0 to 5% by weight, and the magnetic material is 20 to 50% by weight. %, It is more preferable that each of them be included purposely.

The shape of the dye carrier particles in the present invention preferably has a substantially spherical shape from the viewpoint of the ease of detachment of the dye carrier particles after transfer of the dye record carrier, and the particle diameter is smaller. Is preferable from the viewpoint of image resolution, but if it becomes extremely small, it becomes difficult to disaggregate when it aggregates, so 1 to 50 μm is preferable, 2 to 30 μm is more preferable, and 5 to 20 μm is most preferable. The particle size distribution is preferably monodisperse, preferably the weight average particle diameter (Dw / Dn) relative to the number average particle diameter is 1.1 or less, more preferably Dw.
/ Dn is 1.05 or less, and more preferably Dw / Dn is 1.01 or less. Further, in order to increase the dye holding amount, the particles are preferably porous as in the above-mentioned examples, and it is also preferable that the particles have cavities inside.

When an image is formed by electrophotography using the dye carrier particles of the present invention as a one-component developer, the dye carrier particles should contain a magnetic substance as described above. The size of the magnetic material is preferably 0.001 μm or more and 2 μm or less, and more preferably 0.01 μm or more and 1 μm or less.

In the image fixing method of the present invention, an image is formed by the conventional electrophotographic method and other methods using the above dye carrier particles, and then the dye held by the dye carrier particles is used as a record carrier. The transfer is characterized in that the record carrier is dyed to form an image having washing resistance and abrasion resistance. Therefore, it is preferable to use, as the dye, a sublimable dye which is easily transferred to the record carrier, and more preferably a dye suitable for the record carrier.

The record carrier targeted by the present invention is preferably mainly a cloth and a polymer film, but may be any other suitable one. The material thereof is not particularly limited, but a material to which the dye is stably dyed even after transfer of the dye is preferable, further polyester or polyamide is preferable, and polyester is particularly preferable. Therefore, when a record carrier made of polyester and polyamide is used, it is preferable to use a disperse dye or an acid dye as the dye for each, as described above.

The cloth referred to in the present invention includes natural fibers such as silk and cotton, synthetic fibers such as polyester type, polyamide type and polyacrylonitrile type, regenerated fibers of cellulose type and protein type and semi-synthetic fiber. Textiles, knits, non-woven fabrics, etc. In particular, as the cloth, a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, a nonwoven fabric, a paper-like product or the like mainly composed of ultrafine fibers having a single fiber fineness of 0.0001 denier or more and 1 denier or less can be preferably used.

As a method for transferring the dye to the record carrier in the present invention, it is industrially preferable to apply heat and / or steam to the dye carrier particles holding the dye forming the image, There is also natural migration by leaving it for a long time, and the migration method is not limited to these. Further, when heat and / or steam is added, it is also preferable to add a shade to the fixed image by adjusting the amount and / or amount of the heat.

When forming an image on a cloth, it is preferable to apply a flat pressure to the cloth in advance, preferably a flat pressure while applying heat to form a smooth surface before the image formation. It is more preferable to obtain a clear image.

When an image is formed on a cloth, it is preferable to use a cloth mainly composed of ultrafine fibers having a single fiber fineness of 0.0001 denier or more and 1 denier or less, as described above, because the resolution and sharpness of the image are improved. The point is more preferable, and in particular, the fabric which is made of ultrafine fibers, and the ultrafine fibers are made of two kinds of fibers, that is, polyamide fiber and polyester fiber, and which is in a well-mixed state, has a dense surface, and thus is excellent in smoothness. It is preferable because it has a surface. It is also a preferred method to subject the surface of the fabric to a high-speed fluid flow treatment (water jet punch) to open and / or entangle the ultrafine fibers to densify the surface. By such treatment, the shape stability of the fabric is also significantly improved.

The present invention is mainly wash-resistant such as providing images such as characters, figures, patterns and optical reading marks to clothes, and providing images such as characters, figures, patterns and optical reading marks to polymer films. It is preferably used as a method for fixing an image on a record carrier to which an image required to have abrasion resistance and abrasion resistance is provided. The optical reading mark referred to here is a bar code or OCR (Optical Character Recognition).
ition) and the like, and the standard is not particularly limited as long as it can be optically read by a reading device corresponding thereto.

In the present invention, the record carrier does not necessarily have to be flat. For example, dye carrier particles
It is also preferable to temporarily fix the dye on the three-dimensional record carrier by jetting from a sprayer or the like, and fix the dye on the record carrier with water vapor or the like. For example, a resin record carrier or the like molded in various shapes and forms can also be used.

Further, in the present invention, it is not always necessary to form an image by the dye carrier particles of the present invention directly on a record carrier. For example, once an image is formed with the dye carrier particles on a temporary recording carrier such as a polymer film or paper, the recording carrier on which the image is finally fixed is brought into close contact with the temporary recording carrier, and the dye transfer method described above is used. It is also preferred to fix the image to the final record carrier described above. In the case of image fixing from such indirect image formation, one method is to make it difficult to detach the dye carrier particles from the temporary record carrier. In such a case, in order to make it difficult for the dye carrier particles to be detached from the temporary record carrier, the shape of the dye carrier particles is preferably uneven or non-spherical, for example, needle-shaped, snowball-shaped, Kinpei sugar, rice octopus, rock, etc. are also preferable. Also,
The temporary record carrier is porous, and once the dye is transferred to the temporary record carrier, the dye carrier particles are detached as described above, and then the final record carrier is adhered to the temporary record carrier. It is also preferable to transfer the dye from the temporary record carrier to the final record carrier again. In this case, since the dye carrier particles do not adhere to the final record carrier at all, it is extremely effective when the record carrier is made of a material such as cloth which is relatively easy to be entangled with the dye carrier particles and is not easily detached. is there. For this purpose, the temporary record carrier is preferably one in which the dye carrier particles are easily detached, and the surface of the temporary record carrier preferably has a property of not entwining the dye carrier particles, and the surface of the temporary record carrier is further preferable. Preferably have smooth and / or hard properties.

In the present invention, when the dye carrier particles are detached from the record carrier or the above-mentioned temporary record carrier after the image is fixed on the record carrier, mechanical vibration is applied, brushing off, or wind blow. It is preferable to blow it off by applying it, or to suction under reduced pressure, but it is not limited thereto. After such desorption, if the dye is still retained in the dye carrier particles,
It is also preferable to collect and reuse the dye carrier particles.

The above-mentioned series of image fixing methods of the present invention is preferably carried out not only in one step but in multiple steps. It is also preferable to combine dye carrier particles having different dyes in the image forming step with the dye carrier particles. This is because such an operation enables multicoloring. For example, it is extremely effective for colorizing an image. Further, for example, a dye that absorbs only infrared rays, a dye that absorbs only ultraviolet rays, and a combination of dye carrier particles that respectively hold a dye that absorbs only visible light, if a plurality of characters in the same range on the record carrier, It is possible to provide image information such as figures, patterns and optical reading marks.

[0031]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples. It should be noted that the scope of validity and rights of the present invention is not limited or restricted by this.

Example First, a high-density cloth made of 0.06 denier ultrafine polyester filament fibers was subjected to a water jet punch treatment and then subjected to a calendar treatment to obtain a record carrier having a smooth and dense surface.

Next, the sublimable dye was absorbed in the zeolite, and an image was formed on the above-mentioned cloth with the zeolite carrying the sublimable dye.

The dye having the image obtained by the above operation was transferred to the fabric by steaming heat treatment (which can be said to be a dry method in a substantial sense).

Finally, the zeolite was roughly brushed off from the cloth using a brush, and then the zeolite was completely sucked and desorbed from the cloth using a vacuum cleaner.

As a result of repeatedly washing the image-fixed cloth thus obtained, no deterioration of the image was observed, and the image was deteriorated even if it was rubbed with a nail or subjected to a friction test. It never happened.

For comparison, a polyester overhead fabric sheet as a recording carrier was temporarily adhered with a commercially available film sheet for an overhead projector, and the fabric lined with the film sheet was passed through a commercially available copying machine to obtain an image with toner. .. However, the image was easily peeled off just by rubbing it with a nail.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a cloth, a polymer film or the like is used as a record carrier, an image obtained by an electrophotographic method or another method is provided with washing resistance and abrasion resistance, An image having washing resistance and abrasion resistance can be fixed.

Further, since the present invention is a dry or semi-dry image fixing method, when a cloth is used as a recording carrier and coloring is applied to the cloth, the cloth is very much more dyed than the conventional wet or dyeing method. This simplifies the coloring process of and the industrial value is significantly increased.

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An image fixing method, which comprises forming an image on a record carrier with dye carrier particles holding a dye, and transferring the dye to the record carrier. 2. The dye carrier particles have pores, and the dye is distributed in the pores.
The image fixing method described. 3. The image fixing method according to claim 1, wherein the dye is adsorbed on the surface of the dye carrier particles. 4. The image fixing method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the dye is sublimable. 5. The image fixing method according to claim 1, wherein the dye carrier particles have a charging property in a state where at least the dye is held. 6. The image fixing method according to claim 1, wherein the dye carrier particles contain a magnetic material. 7. The dye is transferred to a record carrier by heating the image after the image is formed.
The image fixing method described in 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. 8. The record carrier is a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, a non-woven fabric or a paper mainly composed of ultrafine fibers having a single fiber fineness of 0.0001 denier or more and 1 denier or less. 5. The image fixing method described in 5, 6, or 7. 9. The record carrier is a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, a non-woven fabric, or a paper made of a single or a mixture of polyester or polyamide ultrafine fibers having a single fiber fineness of 0.0001 denier or more and 1 denier or less, 1. The image fixing method described in 2, 4, 5, 6 or 7. 10. The record carrier is a polymer film, as claimed in claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7.
The image fixing method described. 11. The dye carrier particles are detached from the record carrier by mechanical vibration, brush, air blowing or suction after transferring the dye to the record carrier. , 6, 7, 8,
9. The image fixing method described in 9 or 10.