JPH0592675A - Image-receiving medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ensure that a dye receptive layer which hardly becomes curled and has a uniform quality when a paper is used instead of a synthetic paper or a plastic film, as a base for an image-receiving medium used in a thermally sublimable transfer system. CONSTITUTION:A resin coated layer 2 is formed between a paper base and a dye-receptive layer in an image-receiving medium consisting of the paper base 1 and the dye-receptive layer. A resin-coated layer be formed on the surface of the paper base 1 on the dye-receptive layer 3 side and its opposite side. The resin-coated layer should preferably be formed using a material having a specific heat coefficient of 0.1 or lower. In addition, it is possible to use a material consisting of 30 to 70wt.% of chemical pulp and 70 to 30wt.% of mechanical pulp as a preferred paper base.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image receptor for recording on a thermal transfer recording medium having an ink layer containing a heat sublimable dye or a heat melt transfer dye.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method for recording a color image, an inkjet recording method, an electrostatic toner recording method, a thermal transfer recording method, etc. have been used in addition to a printing method such as offset printing. Of these, the thermal transfer recording method is widely used because the apparatus used can be downsized and the maintenance is simple, and among them, the method using a heat sublimation dye or a heat melting transferable dye. The sublimation transfer method (hereinafter referred to as the sublimation transfer method) is particularly suitable for full-color recording because the obtained image has excellent gradation.

In such a sublimation transfer system, for example, a heat resistant slipping layer, a substrate film, and a recording medium in which a heat sublimable dye or a heat melt transferable dye and a dye ink layer made of a binder resin are laminated, An image receptor coated with a layer that can accept such dyes is pressed between the thermal head and the platen roll during recording, and the transferred image is received by applying heat according to the image signal from the thermal head. Form on the body.

As such an image receptor, for example, a synthetic paper made of polypropylene, a heat-resistant plastic film such as a polyethylene terephthalate film, or a base material such as high-quality paper, and a dye receiving layer made of a dyeable resin such as polyvinyl acetate. Laminates are used.

[0005]

However, when the base material of the image receptor is synthetic paper, it lacks heat resistance and easily undergoes heat shrinkage, so that curl deformation easily occurs, and the cutting property is poor. However, there is a problem in that the texture of the photographic paper is lacking, the writing on the back surface is not good, and it is difficult to reduce the manufacturing cost.

When a heat-resistant plastic film is used as the base material of the image receptor, the heat resistance is good, but the heat-retaining property is poor, so the image-receiving sensitivity is low, and the film is also lacking in texture. , Writing on the back is not good,
Further, there is a problem that show-through occurs when the image receivers are overlapped and stored after the transfer.

Therefore, it has been desired to use paper as the base material of the image receptor in order to solve the above-mentioned problems in the synthetic paper and the plastic film. However, when a paper such as high-quality paper is used as the base material, the resin composition for forming the dye image-receiving layer penetrates into the paper when the dye image-receiving layer is formed on the paper. However, there was a problem that the transferred image could not be made clear.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. In the thermal sublimation transfer system, paper is used as the base material instead of synthetic paper or plastic film, and it is difficult to curl. Moreover, it is an object to provide an image receptor having a uniform dye receiving layer.

[0009]

The present inventor has found that the above object can be solved by providing a resin coat layer between a paper base material and a dye receiving layer, and completed the present invention. ..

That is, according to the present invention, in an image receptor comprising a paper base material and a dye receiving layer formed thereon, a resin coat layer is formed between the paper base material and the dye receiving layer. A featured image receptor is provided.

The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the image receptor of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the image receptor of the present invention comprises a paper substrate 1, a resin coat layer 2 and a dye receiving layer 3. As described above, in the present invention, by providing the resin coat layer between the paper substrate 1 and the dye receiving layer 3,
Even if the liquid composition for forming the dye receiving layer 3 is applied onto the resin coat layer 2, it does not soak into the inside of the image receptor.

The resin coat layer 2 is formed of a material that prevents the liquid composition for forming the dye receiving layer 3 from penetrating into the image receptor. Among them,
For heat retention, it is preferable to use a material having a specific heat coefficient of 0.1 or less. As such a material, for example, polyester resin, urethane resin, acrylic resin, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer or the like can be used. Among these resins, a crosslinkable resin having a hydroxyl group in the molecule is preferable in consideration of the bond with the hydroxyl group of cellulose contained in the paper substrate 1. Among these resins, a polyester resin having a specific heat coefficient of 0.08, a glass transition point of 40 to 45 ° C., and an average molecular weight of 16000 can be particularly preferably used. The thickness of the resin coat layer 2 varies depending on the purpose of use, but is generally 5 to 15 μm.

In addition to the resin coat layer 2, a resin coat layer may be further provided on the surface of the paper base 1 opposite to the dye receiving layer 3. As a result, the resin coat layer is present on both surfaces of the paper base material 1, and it becomes more difficult to curl.

As shown, paper is used as the substrate in the present invention. As a result, thermal deformation before and after printing can be prevented, high dimensional stability can be realized, and the manufacturing cost can be suppressed to about 1/3 that of synthetic paper. Furthermore, the cuttability can be improved. As such a paper base material 1, for example, synthetic paper, high-quality paper, art paper, coated paper, cast coated paper, etc. which are generally used as a base material of an image receptor are appropriately selected and used. be able to. Above all, in order to highly prevent the image receptor from curling, 30 to 70% by weight of chemical pulp and 70 to 3% by weight are used.
A paper base consisting of 0% by weight mechanical pulp is used. The thickness of the paper substrate 1 is not particularly limited, but generally 10
A thickness of ˜300 μm is preferred.

The dye receiving layer 3 is formed of a resin having a property of receiving a heat sublimation dye or a heat melt transfer dye.
Examples of the resin having such dye receptivity 3 include polyolefin resins such as polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride,
Halogenated polymers such as polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl acetate, vinyl polymers such as polyacrylic ester, polyester resins such as polyethylene terephthalate and polybutylene terephthalate, polystyrene resins, polyamide resins, olefins such as ethylene and propylene, and other A copolymer resin with a vinyl monomer, an ionomer, a cellulose resin such as cellulose diacetate, a polycarbonate resin, or the like can be used.

The thickness of the dye receiving layer 3 is not particularly limited, but a thickness of 1 to 50 μm is generally preferable.
The dye receiving layer 3 is preferably a continuous film, but it may be a discontinuous layer using a resin emulsion or resin suspension. If necessary, various additives such as a pigment of titanium oxide for increasing the whiteness of the dye receiving layer and silicone oil for improving the releasability from the thermal transfer recording medium are added to the dye receiving layer 3. Agents can be added.

The image receptor of the present invention can be manufactured by a conventional method. For example, the resin coating layer 2 may be provided on the surface of the paper base material 1 by post-weighing system coating, and the dye receiving layer 3 may be further laminated by pre-weighing system coating. Even when the resin coat layer 2 and the dye receiving layer 3 are formed of the same type of resin, these layers are formed separately. Further, the resin coat layer 2 needs to be provided so as to cover all the surface irregularities of the paper base material in order to prevent the components thereof from seeping into the paper base material 1 when the dye receiving layer is formed.

[0019]

In the image receptor of the present invention, since the resin coat layer is provided between the paper base material and the dye receiving layer, the dye receiving layer does not penetrate into the paper base material when the dye receiving layer is formed. As a result, it becomes possible to form a uniform dye receiving layer. Further, since paper is used as the base material, it is difficult to curl, and even if curled, it can be easily returned to its original state.

[0020]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below in greater detail by giving Examples.

Example 1 A polyester resin (XA4041, manufactured by Unitika Ltd.) was dried to a thickness of 5 μm on high quality paper having a thickness of 170 μm as a base material.
The gravure diagonal plate coating was applied so that the thickness became m, and the resin coat layer was formed by smoothing with a Meyer bar.

On the resin coat layer, 100 parts of polyester resin (Vylon 200, manufactured by Toyobo), silicone oil (KP301, Shin-Etsu Silicone Co., Ltd.) 20
Parts and a curing agent (Coronate HL, manufactured by Nippon Polyurethane Industry Co., Ltd.) 5 parts by weight to a thickness of 9 μm using a roll coater, followed by curing treatment to form a dye-receiving layer. Was manufactured.

In this image receptor, the dye receiving layer was formed uniformly without penetrating the paper substrate. When thermal transfer recording was carried out on a sublimable thermal transfer recording medium (manufactured by Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.) using the image receiving layer, curling was hardly caused, and a clear image (1.5-2 ．
0) was obtained.

Example 2 An image receptor was manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the resin coat layer was provided on both surfaces of the high-quality paper as the base material. The image receptor thus obtained had the same excellent properties as the image receptor of Example 1. In particular, the curl was less likely to curl than the image receptor of Example 1.

Example 3 Example 1 was repeated except that the following materials were used as the substrate.
An image receptor was manufactured in the same manner as in.

Pulp blending ratio Chemical pulp 70% Mechanical pulp 30% Basis weight 190 g / m ² Thickness 210 μm Smoothness 40 seconds or more Whiteness 90% or more Size degree 600 seconds The image receptor obtained is the same as the image receptor of Example 1. It had excellent properties. In particular, the curl was harder to curl than the image receptor of Example 1.

[0027]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image receptor which is hard to curl and has a uniform dye receiving layer. Therefore, a high quality image can be formed by using this image receptor.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an image receptor of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Paper substrate 2 Resin coat layer 3 Dye receiving layer

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image receptor comprising a paper substrate and a dye receiving layer formed thereon, wherein a resin coat layer is formed between the paper substrate and the dye receiving layer. body. 2. The image receptor according to claim 1, further comprising a resin coat layer formed on the surface of the paper substrate opposite to the dye receiving layer side. 3. The image receptor according to claim 1, wherein the resin coat layer has a specific heat coefficient of 0.1 or less. 4. The image receptor according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the paper substrate comprises 30 to 70% by weight of chemical pulp and 70 to 30% by weight of mechanical pulp.