JPH0761145A - Thermal transfer recording material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a thermal transfer recording material for recording images having high transfer density without deteriorating the image quality due to bleed or color migration when it is in preservation, in a system wherein thermal transfer recording is performed by using electronic image signal. CONSTITUTION:A dissociative coloring matter can become anion by migration of a heat migrating coloring matter to a coloring matter receiving layer so as to donate hydrogen atom to a coloring matter receiving material. A thermal transfer coloring matter donor contains a polyvinyl butyral as a binder resin of a coloring matter donor layer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording material for recording an image by a thermal transfer system in which a dye is transferred from a dye-donor layer to a dye-receiving layer by heating in accordance with image information to record the dye. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the rapid development of the information industry, various information processing systems have been developed, and recording methods and apparatuses suitable for the respective information processing systems have also been developed and adopted. As one of such recording methods, the thermal transfer recording method has been widely used recently because the apparatus used is light and compact, noise-free, excellent in operability and maintainability, and easy to colorize. . This thermal transfer recording method is roughly classified into two types, a heat melting type and a heat transfer type. In the latter method, a thermal transfer dye-donor material having a dye-donor layer containing a binder and a heat transferable dye on a support is superposed with a thermal transfer dye-image receiving material, and heat is applied from the support side of the dye-donor material, and heat is applied. In this method, a heat transferable dye is transferred in a pattern to a recording medium (heat transfer dye image receiving material) to obtain a transferred image. Here, the heat transferable dye means a dye which can be transferred from the thermal transfer dye-donor material to the thermal transfer dye image-receiving material by sublimation or diffusion in a medium. In such a thermal transfer recording method, color image information is set to yellow,
It is converted into magenta and cyan electric signals, transmitted to the thermal printer device, and recorded. To obtain the print, the dye-donor element is placed face-to-face with the image-receiving element and inserted between the thermal head and the platen roller. The thermal head is energized and heated according to the transmitted signal. The dye-donor element is heated from the back side by a thermal head. The dye in the dye-donor element migrates to the image-receiving element,
The image is recorded. In the case of a color image, this operation is followed by sequential heating with yellow, magenta, cyan and optionally black dye-donor elements to give a color hard copy corresponding to the original color image. In addition, the time required for thermal transfer has been shortened, and high-speed transfer properties of the dye-donor material and the image-receiving material used are required. Improvements in dye-donor materials are being made, and in particular, the transferability of transfer dyes for heat-developable color photosensitive materials is being improved.

[0003]

To improve the transferability of the heat transferable dye, it is effective to reduce the molecular weight of the dye.
However, when the molecular weight of the dye is promoted, there is a problem that the image after transfer causes image bleeding at the time of storage, and when the image surface and the image surface or the back surface of the image are superposed, color transfer occurs. Further, the dye having a low molecular weight has a problem that a problem easily occurs during the production of the dye-donor element, the production stability is impaired, and the storage stability of the dye-donor element is deteriorated. Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording material which does not cause blurring or color transfer of an image after transfer even if a high speed transfer property is given to a dye-donor material and an image-receiving material. A second object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording material which does not cause any problems during the production of the dye-donor element and improves the storage stability of the dye-donor element.

[0004]

The above-mentioned problems are caused by the thermal transfer dye-donating material having a dye-donating layer comprising at least a heat-migrating dye and a binder resin on a support, wherein the heat-migrating dye is incorporated into the dye-receiving layer. By a thermal transfer dye-donating material, which is a dissociative dye capable of donating a hydrogen atom to the dye-receptive substance to become an anion upon migration, and the binder resin of the dye-donating layer is polyvinyl butyral. Resolved

The contents of the image-receiving material for thermal transfer recording and the thermal transfer dye-donating material used in the present invention will be specifically described below.

The heat transferable dye used in the present invention is a dissociative dye capable of donating a hydrogen atom to the dye receiving substance to become an anion when the heat transferable dye moves to the dye receiving layer. As the dissociative substituent, the substituted dye preferably has a pka of 12 or less, and particularly preferably a pka of 7 or less. As the dissociative substituent, known substituents can be used as long as they have the above properties, and specifically, phenolic hydroxyl group, carboxylic acid group, sulfonic acid group, enolic hydroxyl group, sulfonylamino group, active methylene group. _{, -CONHCO -, - SO 2 NHCO} -, - S
And a heterocycle having a structure of O ₂ NHSO ₂ — or —NH—. Further, as conventionally known dissociative dyes, JP-A-3-90387, JP-A-3-114890, and JP-A-3-836 are known.
87, ibid. 3-83688, ibid. 3-83689, ibid. 3-9
The dyes of 2385 and 3-92386 can be used.

[0007]

[Chemical 1]

[0008]

[Chemical 2]

[0009]

[Chemical 3]

[0010]

[Chemical 4]

As a method for synthesizing the above-mentioned dyes used in the present invention, a conventional synthesizing method is used. For example, oxidative coupling (X ¹ is —N of a coupler compound and a p-hydroxyaniline compound for each dye is used. =)) Or a dehydration condensation reaction (when X is -CR ¹⁰⁰ =) between the coupler compound and p-hydroxyaryl aldehyde.

The binder resin used with the dye of the present invention, that is, polyvinyl butyral, will be described. Polyvinyl butyral is synthesized by saponifying polyvinyl acetate to give polyvinyl alcohol, which is reacted with butyraldehyde. As commercially available products, those manufactured by Denki Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd., Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd., etc. are known. The polyvinyl butyral used in the present invention preferably has a polyvinyl butyral content of 70% by weight or more and an average polymerization degree of 500 or more, and more preferably an average polymerization degree of 1000 or more. Denka Butyral 4000-2, 5000A, 6000C is excellent as a commercially available product. In the present invention, polyvinyl butyral is preferably used in a proportion of, for example, about 50 to 300 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the dye. Particularly preferably, 70 to 15
Used in a proportion of 0 parts by weight. In the present invention, a conventionally known ink solvent can be freely used as an ink solvent for dissolving or dispersing the above dye and binder resin.

The thermal transfer dye image receiving material of the present invention is provided with an image receiving layer. This image-receiving layer accepts the heat-transferable dye transferred from the heat-transfer dye-providing material at the time of printing, and the substance capable of receiving the heat-transferable dye having the function of dyeing the heat-transferable dye alone. Or a film having a thickness of about 0.5 to 50 μm, which is contained together with the binder substance.

The dye-receptive substance of the present invention will be described. The dye-receptive substance of the present invention accepts (or shares) a hydrogen atom from the dissociative dye, and preferably has a molecular weight of 2 × 10 ² to 1 × 10 ⁶ , particularly 5 ×.
It is preferably from 10 ^{2 to} 2 × 10 ⁵ . Coating amount is 0.2
~ 15 g / m ² is suitable, preferably 0.5-8 g
It is preferably used at / m ² . Typical examples of the dye-receptive substance of the present invention include JP-A-60-260060,
JP-A-60-260381, Japanese Patent Application No. 61-52995,
Those having a primary and / or secondary and / or tertiary amino group, those having a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic group disclosed in JP-A-1-188391, JP-A-3-83685, and Japanese Patent Application No. 5-137346. Preferred compounds include those having a primary cation group, inorganic or organic basic compounds, solid acids, activated clay and solid fine particles. Further, as a commercial product, Epomin manufactured by Nippon Shokubai Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. is also mentioned as a preferable compound. In addition to the above compounds and polymers, dimers, mixtures, copolymers and the like of these can also be used. In the present invention, the above-mentioned dye-receptive substance may constitute the receiving layer alone, or may be used by being dispersed or mixed in another binder. Those having a molecular weight of 1 × 10 ³ or less are preferably used by being dispersed or mixed in another binder.

As the binder to be used by dispersing or mixing the above-mentioned dye-receptive substance, various known synthetic resins and water-soluble binder resins can be used. As the synthetic resin, an ordinary synthetic resin can be used as long as it accepts the dye transferred from the transfer sheet. Specific examples of the synthetic resin used in the present invention together with the above-mentioned dye-receptive substance are shown below. (A) Those having an ester bond. Dicarboxylic acid components such as terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, and succinic acid (these dicarboxylic acid components include sulfonic acid groups,
Polyester resin obtained by condensation of ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, neopentyl glycol, bisphenol A, etc., which may be substituted with a carboxyl group), polymethyl methacrylate, polybutyl methacrylate, polymethyl acrylate, poly Polyacrylic acid ester resin or polymethacrylic acid ester resin such as butyl acrylate,
Polycarbonate resin, polyvinyl acetate resin, styrene acrylate resin, vinyl toluene acrylate resin, etc. Specifically, JP-A-59-101395 and 63-
7971, 63-7792, 63-7973
And No. 60-294862. As a commercially available product, Byron 2 manufactured by Toyobo
90, Byron 200, Byron 280, Byron 30
0, Byron 103, Byron GK-140, Byron GK-130, Kao ATR-2009, ATR-2
010, Unitika made Elitel UE3500, UE3
210, XA-8153, Polyester TP-220, R-188 manufactured by Nippon Synthetic Chemical Industry, and the like can be used. (B) Those having a urethane bond. Polyurethane resin etc. (C) Those having an amide bond. Polyamide resin, etc. (D) Those having a urea bond. Urea resin etc. (E) Those having a sulfone bond. Polysulfone resin, etc. (F) Others having a highly polar bond. Polycaprolactone resin, styrene-maleic anhydride resin, polyvinyl chloride resin, polyacrylonitrile resin, etc. In addition to the above synthetic resins, mixtures or copolymers of these can also be used. In the present invention, various known water-soluble and / or water-dispersible polymers can be used as the water-soluble binder used together with the above-mentioned dye-receptive substance, but the water-soluble binder having a group capable of undergoing a crosslinking reaction by a hardening agent is used. Polymers are preferable, and gelatins are particularly preferable.

A protective layer, a release layer, and
An auxiliary layer such as an anti-curl layer can be provided. In particular, it is useful to provide a protective layer. The total thickness of the receiving layer is preferably 0.5 to 50 μm, particularly preferably 3 to 30 μm. In the case of a two-layer structure, the outermost layer preferably has a thickness of 0.1 to 2 μm, particularly 0.2 to 1 μm.

The receiving layer may be composed of two or more layers.
In that case, it is preferable that a layer closer to the support contains a large amount of a dye-receptive substance, and a high-boiling point organic solvent and / or a heat solvent is added to the receptor layer so that the dyeing property is enhanced. May be. A binder having a lower glass transition point, which is advantageous for heat transferable dyeing properties, is used in the layer closest to the outermost layer containing the dye-receptive substance, and the dyeing property during transfer is improved. May be. For the outermost layer, a synthetic resin having a higher glass transition point is used, or the amount of the high-boiling organic solvent and / or thermal solvent and / or the transfer accelerator of the present invention used is minimized or not used. It is desirable to have a structure that prevents failures such as stickiness, retransfer to another substance after adhesive transfer with another substance, and blocking with a thermal transfer donor material.

The thermal transfer dye image-receiving material, particularly the image-receiving layer, may contain a high-boiling organic solvent or a thermal solvent as a substance capable of receiving the heat-transferable dye or as a diffusion aid of the dye. Specific examples of the high boiling point organic solvent and the heat solvent include JP-A Nos. 62-174754 and 62-24525.
No. 3, No. 61-209444, No. 61-200538
No. 6, No. 62-8145, No. 62-9348, No. 62
The compounds described in Nos. -30247 and 62-136646 can be mentioned.

The support of the image-receiving sheet used in the present invention can withstand the transfer temperature, has a smoothness, a whiteness,
Any material can be used as long as it satisfies the requirements in terms of slipperiness, friction, antistatic properties, and dents after transfer. For example, synthetic paper (polyolefin-based, polystyrene-based, etc.), high-quality paper, art paper, coated paper, cast-coated paper, wallpaper, backing paper, synthetic resin or emulsion-impregnated paper, synthetic rubber latex-impregnated paper, synthetic resin Paper support such as paper, paperboard, cellulose fiber paper, polyolefin coated paper (paper coated on both sides with polyethylene), and various plastic films or sheets such as polyolefin, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene methacrylate, polycarbonate, etc. Films or sheets that have been treated to impart white reflectivity to the plastic, and laminates of any combination of the above may also be used. As a support of an image receiving material for transmission observation (for example, OHP, etc.), if it has heat resistance enough to withstand thermal transfer processing, and if it has transparency enough to observe a transferred image, it is a generally known support. The body is used. Specifically, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl alcohol, polyester, polycarbonate, polyamide, polystyrene, ethylene / vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene / vinyl alcohol copolymer, ionomer, acetyl cellulose, cellulose ester, polyvinyl acetal. Resin films of polyvinyl chloride, polyphenylene sulfone, polyether sulfone, polyether ether ketone, polyether imide, polyacrylate, polymethyl methacrylate, etc. are used. In consideration of transparency, flexibility, heat resistance, etc., films of polyester, polycarbonate, polyamide, etc. are preferable. Of these, polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene naphthalate films are particularly preferable. These resin films may be used alone or in the form of a laminated film. The thickness of these supports is usually 25 mμ to 360 μm, preferably about 75 mμ to 200 μm.

In the present invention, the thermal transfer image-receiving material may have an intermediate layer between the support and the receiving layer. The intermediate layer is any one of a cushion layer, a porous layer, and a dye diffusion preventing layer or a layer having two or more functions depending on the constituent material, and also serves as an adhesive in some cases. The dye diffusion-preventing layer serves to prevent the heat transferable dye from diffusing into the support. The binder constituting the diffusion prevention layer may be water-soluble or organic solvent-soluble, but a water-soluble binder is preferable, and examples thereof include the above-mentioned binder for the receiving layer, particularly gelatin. The porous layer is a layer which prevents the heat applied during the thermal transfer from diffusing from the receiving layer to the support and plays a role of effectively utilizing the applied heat.

In the present invention, silica, clay, talc, diatomaceous earth, calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, barium sulfate, etc. are used for the receiving layer, cushion layer, porous layer, diffusion preventing layer, adhesive layer and the like which constitute the thermal transfer image receiving material. Fine powders of aluminum silicate, synthetic zeolite, zinc oxide, lithobon, titanium oxide, alumina and the like may be contained.

A fluorescent whitening agent may be used in the thermal transfer image receiving material. As an example, K. Veenkatarama
n edition "The Chemistry of Synth
"tic Dyes" Vol. V, Chapter 8, JP-A-61-1
The compounds described in No. 43752 and the like can be mentioned. More specifically, stilbene compounds, coumarin compounds, biphenyl compounds, benzoxazolyl compounds, naphthalimide compounds, pyrazoline compounds, carbostyryl compounds, 2,5-dibenzoxazolethiophene compounds, etc. Can be mentioned. The fluorescent whitening agent can be used in combination with an anti-fading agent.

As the support for the thermal transfer dye-providing material, any of those conventionally known can be used. Examples thereof include polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, polycarbonate, glassine paper, condenser paper, cellulose ester, fluoropolymer, polyether, polyacetal, polyolefin, polyimide, polyphenylene sulfide, polypropylene, polysulfone, and cellophane. The thickness of the support of the thermal transfer dye-donor element is generally 2 to
It is 30 μm. An undercoat layer may be provided if necessary. Further, a dye diffusion preventing layer made of a hydrophilic polymer may be provided between the support and the dye donating layer.

The thermal transfer dye-providing material using a heat-transferable dye basically has a dye-providing layer containing a dye and a binder which are movable by heat on a support. This thermal transfer dye-providing material is prepared by dissolving or dispersing a dye and a binder resin which are conventionally known to be sublimated or become mobile by heat in a suitable solvent to prepare a coating solution,
This is applied to one side of the support of a conventionally known thermal transfer dye-donor element, for example, about 0.2 to 5 μm, preferably 0.4 to 2
It can be obtained by forming a dye-donor layer by coating and drying at a coating amount that results in a dry film thickness of μm. The dye-donor layer may be formed of a single layer, but may be formed of two or more layers for use in a method in which it is repeatedly used many times. In this case, the dye content and dye / binder ratio in each layer may be different. As the dye useful for forming such a dye-donor layer, any of the dyes conventionally used in thermal transfer dye-donor materials can be used. Preferred in the present invention are those having a small molecular weight of about 150 to 800, and particularly preferred are heat transferable dyes having an electrophilic substituent and / or a substituent which is dissociated to be anionic and has a transfer temperature. , Hue, light resistance, solubility in ink and binder resin, dispersibility and the like. Dye application amount is 0.03-5
g / m ^2, preferably 0.1-2 g / m ^2.

A slipping layer may be provided to prevent the thermal head from sticking to the dye-donor element. The slipping layer is composed of a lubricating material, with or without a polymeric binder, such as a surfactant, a solid or liquid lubricant or mixtures thereof. The dye-donor material is preferably subjected to anti-sticking treatment on the side of the support on which the dye-donor layer is not provided, in order to prevent sticking due to heat from the thermal head when printing from the back side and to improve slippage. For example, it is preferable to provide a heat-resistant slip layer containing (1) a reaction product of a polyvinyl butyral resin and isocyanate, (2) an alkali metal salt or an alkaline earth metal salt of a phosphoric acid ester, and (3) a filler. Good. The polyvinyl butyral resin has a molecular weight of about 60,000 to 200,000, a glass transition point of 80 to 110 ° C., and a vinyl butyral portion having a weight percentage of 15 to 40% from the viewpoint of many reaction sites with isocyanate. Is good. As the alkali metal salt or alkaline earth metal salt of phosphoric acid ester, Gafac RD720 manufactured by Toho Kagaku Co., Ltd. is used, which is 1 to 50% by weight, preferably 10% by weight based on the polyvinyl butyral resin.
It is recommended to use about 40% by weight. The heat-resistant slip layer is preferably accompanied by heat resistance in the lower layer, a combination of a synthetic resin that can be cured by heating and its curing agent, such as polyvinyl butyral and polyvalent isocyanate, acrylic polyol and polyvalent isocyanate, cellulose acetate and titanium chelating agent, Alternatively, a combination of polyester and an organic titanium compound may be provided by coating.

The dye-donor element may be provided with a hydrophilic barrier layer for preventing the dye from diffusing toward the support. The hydrophilic dye barrier layer contains hydrophilic materials useful for the intended purpose. Generally good results are gelatin, poly (acrylamide), poly (isopropylacrylamide), butyl methacrylate grafted gelatin,
Ethyl methacrylate graft gelatin, cellulose monoacetate, methyl cellulose, poly (vinyl alcohol),
Poly (ethyleneimine), poly (acrylic acid), a mixture of poly (vinyl alcohol) and poly (vinyl acetate), a mixture of poly (vinyl alcohol) and poly (acrylic acid) or cellulose monoacetate and poly (acrylic acid) ). Especially preferred are poly (acrylic acid), cellulose monoacetate or poly (vinyl alcohol).

The dye-donor layer is formed by selecting hues so that a desired hue can be transferred when printed, and by arranging two or more dye-donor layers having different hues side by side with one thermal transfer dye-donor material, if necessary. May be. For example, when an image such as a color photograph is formed by repeatedly printing each color according to the color separation signal, it is desirable that the hue when printed is cyan, magenta, and yellow, and such a hue is given. Line up the three dye-donor layers containing the dye. Alternatively, in addition to cyan, magenta, and yellow, a dye-donor layer containing a dye that imparts a black hue may be added. In addition, it is preferable to provide a mark for position detection at the same time when any one of the dye-donor layers is formed during the formation of these dye-donor layers, because an ink or printing step different from the dye-donor layer formation is not required.

The dye-donor elements of the invention are used in sheet form or in continuous rolls or ribbons. If a continuous roll or ribbon is used, it may have areas of different dyes, such as cyan and / or magenta and / or yellow and / or black and other dyes that have only one type of dye or are heat transferable. Have separately. That is, one-color, two-color, three-color, or four-color materials (or even multicolor materials) are included within the scope of the present invention.

In the present invention, in order to improve the releasability between the thermal transfer dye-donor element and the thermal transfer image-receiving element, in the layers constituting the dye-donor element and / or the image-receiving element, it is particularly preferable that both materials come into contact with each other. It is preferable to include a release agent in the outermost layer corresponding to the above. As the release agent, solid or wax-like substances such as polyethylene wax, amide wax, fine powder of silicone resin, fine powder of fluororesin, etc .: Fluorine-based, phosphoric ester-based surfactants: paraffin-based, silicone Any conventionally known release agent such as system oil and fluorine oil can be used, but silicone oil is particularly preferable. As the silicone oil, in addition to unmodified silicone oil, modified silicone oil such as carboxy-modified, amino-modified, epoxy-modified, polyether-modified and alkyl-modified can be used alone or in combination of two or more kinds. Examples thereof include various modified silicone oils described on pages 6 to 18B of "Modified Silicone Oil" technical data issued by Shin-Etsu Silicone Co., Ltd. When used in an organic solvent-based binder, when an amino-modified silicone oil having a group capable of reacting with a crosslinking agent of the binder (for example, a group capable of reacting with an isocyanate) is also emulsified and dispersed in a water-soluble binder. The carboxy-modified silicone oil (for example, Shin-Etsu Silicone Co., Ltd .: trade name X-22-3710) or the epoxy-modified silicone oil (for example, Shin-Etsu Silicone Co., Ltd .: trade name KF-100T) is effective.

The layers constituting the thermal transfer dye-donor element and thermal transfer image-receiving element used in the present invention may be hardened with a hardener. In the case of curing an organic solvent-based polymer, JP-A Nos. 61-199997 and 58-21539.
The hardeners described in No. 8 and the like can be used. It is particularly preferable to use an isocyanate type hardener for the polyester resin. For curing water-soluble polymers, U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,739, column 41, JP-A-59-1166.
55, 62-245261 and 61-18942.
The hardeners described in No. etc. are suitable for use. More specifically, aldehyde type hardener (formaldehyde etc.), aziridine type hardener, epoxy type hardener, vinyl sulfone type hardener (N, N'-ethylene-bis (vinylsulfonylacetamide)) Ethane, etc.), N-methylol type hardener (dimethylolurea, etc.), or polymer hardener (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 6-62).
2-234157 etc.).

An anti-fading agent may be used in the thermal transfer dye-providing material and the thermal transfer image-receiving material. Examples of anti-fading agents include antioxidants, ultraviolet absorbers, and certain metal complexes. Examples of the antioxidant include chroman compounds, coumarane compounds, phenol compounds (for example, hindered phenols), hydroquinone derivatives, hindered amine derivatives, and spiroindane compounds.
The compounds described in JP-A-61-159644 are also effective. Examples of ultraviolet absorbers include benzotriazole compounds (US Pat. No. 3,533,794), 4-thiazolidone compounds (US Pat. No. 3,352,681), benzophenone compounds (JP-A-56-2784).
No.), and other Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 54-48535 and 62-62.
There are compounds described in Nos. 136641 and 61-88256. Further, the ultraviolet absorbing polymer described in JP-A-62-260152 is also effective. As a metal complex,
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,241,155 and 4,245,0
No. 18, columns 3 to 36, No. 4,254, 195, No. 3 to
Column 8, JP-A Nos. 62-174741, 61-8825
No. 6, pages (27) to (29), JP-A-1-75568.
And JP-A-63-199248. Examples of useful anti-fading agents are disclosed in JP-A-62-21.
5272, pages 125-137. An anti-fading agent for preventing fading of the dye transferred to the image-receiving material may be contained in the image-receiving material in advance, or may be supplied to the image-receiving material from the outside by a method such as transferring from the dye-providing material. May be. The above-mentioned antioxidant, ultraviolet absorber, and metal complex may be used in combination.

Various surfactants can be used in the constituent layers of the thermal transfer dye-donating material and the thermal transfer image-receiving material for the purpose of coating aid, improvement of peeling property, improvement of sliding property, antistatic property, acceleration of development and the like. Nonionic surfactants, anionic surfactants, amphoteric surfactants and cationic surfactants can be used. Specific examples of these are disclosed in JP-A-62-1734.
63, 62-183457 and the like.

Further, a substance capable of receiving a heat transferable dye, a release agent, an anti-fading agent, an ultraviolet absorber, a fluorescent brightening agent and other hydrophobic compounds are dispersed in the gelatin of the present invention and an aqueous polyvinyl resin solution. At this time, it is preferable to use a surfactant as a dispersion aid. For this purpose, in addition to the above-mentioned surfactant, 37 to 3 of JP-A-59-157636.
The surfactants described on page 8 are particularly preferably used.

A matting agent can be used in the thermal transfer dye-providing material and the thermal transfer image-receiving material. As the matting agent, in addition to the compounds described in JP-A-61-88256, page (29), such as silicon dioxide, polyolefin or polymethacrylate, benzoguanamine resin beads, polycarbonate resin beads, AS resin beads and the like are disclosed in JP-A-63-2749.
44, and 63-274952.

The constituent layers of the thermal transfer dye-providing material and the thermal transfer image-receiving material may contain an organic fluoro compound for the purpose of improving slipperiness, preventing electrification and improving releasability. As typical examples of the organic fluoro compound, JP-B-57-9053, columns 8 to 17, JP-A-61-20944 and JP-A-62-13.
5826 and the like, or a hydrophobic fluorine compound such as an oily fluorine compound such as fluorine oil or a solid fluorine compound resin such as tetrafluoroethylene resin.

In the present invention, the thermal transfer dye-providing material is superposed on the thermal transfer image-receiving material and heat is applied in accordance with the image information from either side, preferably from the back side of the thermal transfer dye-providing material, by means of heating means such as a thermal head. By applying energy, the dye in the dye-donor layer can be transferred to the thermal transfer image-receiving material according to the amount of heating energy, and a color image with excellent sharpness and resolution can be obtained. Further, an anti-fading agent can be similarly transferred. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the dye-donor element comprises a polyethylene terephthalate support coated in successive repeating regions of a cyan dye, a magenta dye and a yellow dye, the steps being carried out sequentially for each color to transfer three colors. Form an image. Of course, when this process is performed in a single color, a monochrome transfer image is obtained.

The heating means is not limited to the thermal head, but laser light: ion gas laser such as argon or krypton, metal vapor laser such as copper, gold and cadmium, solid laser such as ruby or YAG, or 750. Lasers such as semiconductor lasers such as gallium-arsenide which emit in the infrared region of ~ 870 nm can be used.
However, practically, the semiconductor laser is effective in terms of small size, low cost, stability, reliability, durability and ease of modulation. In laser-based systems, the thermal transfer dye-donor material preferably contains a material that strongly absorbs laser light. When a thermal transfer dye-donor material is irradiated with laser light, this absorbing material converts light energy into heat energy and transfers the heat to the dye in the immediate vicinity, and the dye is transferred to the heat transfer image-receiving material at a temperature (heat transfer temperature). ) Is heated up to. The absorbent material is layered below the dye and / or is mixed with the dye. The laser beam is modulated with an electrical signal that represents the shape and color of the original image,
Only the areas of the dye that need to be present on the thermal transfer dye-donor material to reconstruct the original target color are heated and thermally transferred. Thermal transfer To transfer a dye from a dye-donor material to a thermal transfer image-receiving material, current is supplied to the thermal head in response to an electric signal, or an ion gas laser such as argon or krypton, a metal vapor laser such as copper, gold and cadmium, or a ruby. Solid state laser such as YAG or YAG, or 750
Heating with several lasers can be used, such as semiconductor lasers such as gallium-arsenide, which emits in the infrared at 870 nm. However, in practice, semiconductor lasers are advantageous in terms of small size, low cost, stability, reliability, durability, and ease of modulation.

In the present invention, the thermal transfer dye-donor material is combined with a thermal transfer image-receiving material to form an image by printing using various printers of thermal printing system, facsimile, or magnetic recording system, magneto-optical recording system, optical recording system and the like. It can be used to create prints, prints from a television or CRT screen. For details of the thermal transfer recording method, the description in JP-A-60-34895 can be referred to.

[0039]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples, but the invention is not limited to the following specific examples as long as the gist of the invention is not exceeded.

Example 1 [Preparation of thermal transfer dye-donating material]: Tables 1 to 21: A polyester film having a thickness of 6 μm and a width of 95 mm provided with a heat-resistant slip layer made of a thermosetting acrylic resin on one side was used as a support. On the surface of the support opposite to the side provided with the heat resistant slipping layer, a detection mark having a length of 20 mm with a black gravure ink and a dye-donor layer forming ink composition having the following composition were used. The coating amount after drying was changed to 1.2 g / m ^{2 by} changing the binder resin and the binder resin variously as shown in Table 1.
The dye-providing materials 1 to 21 were prepared by applying the dye-providing materials 170 to 170 mm in length so as to be In Table 1, x indicates a coating failure (unevenness, streak, etc. on the coated surface) during production, and o indicates a coating failure. The prepared dye-providing material was left in an oven at 50 ° C and 80% for 2 weeks, and then the precipitation of the dye was caused to deteriorate the storability, and the storability was deteriorated. It was shown to. (Ink composition for coating thermal transfer dye-donating layer) Dissociative dye [Table 1] 3 (g) Binder resin [Table 1] 3 (g) Silicone oil (KF-96 manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical) 0.05 ml Toluene 50 ml Methyl ethyl ketone 50 ml Poly Isocyanate (Takenate D110N made by Takeda) 0.05 ml

[0041]

[Table 1]

As shown in Table 1, when the binder resin of the present invention is used, coating failure during production does not occur,
Further, the storability of the dye-donor element was good.

[Preparation of thermal transfer dye image-receiving material]: Table 3: 1
5 In the coating solution composition for dye image-receiving layer having the following composition on the support shown in Table 2, the dye-receptive resin is changed as shown in Table 3 and the thickness after drying is changed by the wire bar coating method. Thermal transfer dye image-receiving materials 1 to 5 were prepared by coating so as to have a thickness of 8 μm. Sample size is 100mm x 14
It was cut to 0 mm.

[0044]

[Table 2]

(Composition for Coating Thermal Transfer Dye Image Receiving Material) Dye Receptive Material [Table 3] a (g) Resin [Table 3] b (g) Hardener [Table 3] c (g) Release Agent [Table 3] d (g) solvent [Table 3] e (g)

[0046]

[Table 3]

Dye-donor element 1 obtained as described above
˜14,21 and the dye image receiving materials 1 to 5 are superposed so that the dye donating layer and the image receiving layer are in contact with each other, and a thermal head is used from the support side of the thermal transfer dye donating material. Heating was performed under the conditions of an output of a thermal head of 0.25 W / dot, a pulse width of 0.1 to 10 msec, and a dot density of 6 dots / mm, and the dye was dyed imagewise on the receiving layer of the image receiving material. The reflection density of the image of the portion (D _max ) where the density of the recorded image-receiving material obtained was saturated was measured using a reflection densitometer (X Rite Inc., built-in status A filter). . Then, the degree of image bleeding was observed after the recorded image receiving material was left in an oven at 60 ° C. for 2 weeks. Judgment criteria are ◎ when the image looks almost the same as before storage when viewed with an optical microscope with a magnification of about 200 times, ○ when slightly blurred but hardly felt visually blurred, and when visually perceived as slightly blurred Is indicated by Δ, and an extremely blurred image is indicated by x. The highest density portion of the recorded image receiving material was overlapped with the front and back surfaces of the image receiving sheet before use, a weight of 3 g / cm ² was placed so that the image receiving material was completely overlapped, and the image receiving material was left in an oven at 60 ° C for 1 week. The degree of color transfer was observed later.
Judgment criteria are as follows: color transfer occurs on less than 10% of the surface of the image, Δ indicates color transfer occurs on less than 50% of the surface of the image, and x indicates color transfer occurs on almost the entire surface. displayed. The results are shown in Table 4 below.

[0048]

[Table 4]

As shown in Table 4, when the sublimation type thermal transfer dye image receiving material of the present invention is used, the image transfer density is high,
Furthermore, no bleeding or color transfer of the image during storage of the recorded image receiving material was observed. However, when the comparative example was used, the transfer density was low, and image bleeding and color transfer were observed during recording of the recorded image.

[0050]

By using the binder resin in the dye layer of the dye-donor material of the present invention, it is possible to provide a dye-donor material having good storability without causing production failure, and further by using the thermal transfer recording material of the invention. Due to the high transfer density,
It is possible to obtain an image record in which the recorded image does not deteriorate due to bleeding or color transfer during storage.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A thermal transfer dye-providing material having a dye-donating layer comprising at least a heat-migrating dye and a binder resin on a support, wherein the heat-migrating dye migrates to the dye-receiving layer, whereby the dye-receiving A thermal transfer dye-providing material, which is a dissociative dye capable of donating a hydrogen atom to an organic substance to become an anion, and the binder resin of the dye-donating layer is polyvinyl butyral. 2. A thermal transfer dye-donating material having a dye-donating layer comprising at least a heat-transferable dye and a binder resin on a support, and a dye-receiving layer containing a dye-receiving substance on the support. A material for thermal transfer recording comprising a material, which is a dissociative dye capable of donating a hydrogen atom to the dye-receptive substance to become an anion when the heat-transferable dye migrates to the dye-receptive layer, and The binder resin of the dye-donating layer is polyvinyl butyral,
A material for thermal transfer recording, wherein at least one of the dye-receptive substances is a compound capable of receiving a hydrogen atom from the heat-transferable dye and forming a cation.