JPH0829620B2 - Image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible not only to form a high grade transfer image to plain paper inferior to surface smoothness but also to perform high speed recording, by using a transfer recording medium having a transfer recording layer of which the physical properties dominating transfer characteristics are changed by imparting plural energies. CONSTITUTION:At first, the transfer recording medium 1 is irradiated with beam with a wavelength lambda(Y) from the side of the transfer recording layer 1a thereof and, for example, the heat generating resistors 20b, 20d, 20e, 20f of a thermal head 20 are allowed to generate heat. Whereupon, the part to which both of heat and beam with the wavelength lambda(Y) were applied of an image forming element 31 containing a yellow coloring material is cured. Similar ly, beams with wavelengths lambda(M), lambda(C), lambda(K) are allowed to irradiate and desired heat generating resistors are allowed to generate heat to cure the parts to which heat and beams are applied of the image forming element 31 and a trans fer image is formed to a transfer recording layer 1 by the parts not cured finally of the image forming element 31. This transfer image is transferred to a medium 10 to receive transfer as shown by Fig 2e in the next transfer process.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Field of Industrial Application> The present invention relates to an image forming method, a transfer recording medium and an image forming apparatus which can be used in a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile machine and the like.

<Prior Art> In recent years, along 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 lightweight and compact, noise-free, and excellent in operability and maintainability. According to this method, plain paper can be used as a transfer medium.

However, the conventional thermal transfer recording method is not without its drawbacks. In the conventional thermal transfer recording method, the transfer recording performance, that is, the printing quality is greatly affected by the surface smoothness, and good printing is performed on the transfer medium having high smoothness, but the transfer medium having low smoothness is used. In this case, the print quality is significantly reduced. However, even when using paper, which is the most typical transfer medium, high smoothness paper is rather special, and ordinary paper has various degrees of unevenness due to the entanglement of fibers. Therefore, according to the conventional thermal transfer recording method, the edge portion of the printed image is not sharp, or a part of the image is missing, which deteriorates the printing quality.

Further, in the conventional thermal transfer recording method, the transfer of the ink layer to the transfer medium is performed only by the heat from the thermal head, but the thermal head must be cooled to a predetermined temperature within a limited short time. In addition, it is theoretically difficult to increase the amount of heat supplied from the thermal head because, for example, it is necessary to prevent thermal crosstalk between the heat-generating segments forming the thermal head surface. Therefore, high-speed recording is difficult with the conventional thermal transfer recording method.

In addition, since the heat conduction has a slower response response than electricity or light, it is generally difficult to control the heat pulse until the halftone can be reproduced in the recording with the conventional thermal head. Since the thermal transfer ink layer does not have a gradation transfer function, halftone recording was not possible.

In addition, in the conventional thermal transfer recording method, one transfer is required.
Since only a color image can be obtained, it is necessary to repeat the transfer a plurality of times to overlap the colors in order to obtain a multicolor image. However, it is very difficult to accurately superimpose images of different colors, and it is difficult to obtain an image without color shift. In particular, when attention is paid to one pixel, color superimposition is hardly performed in one pixel, and in the conventional thermal transfer recording method, a multicolor image is formed by the polymer of the pixels whose colors are shifted. Was there. Therefore, a clear multicolor image cannot be obtained by the conventional thermal transfer recording method.

Further, when a multi-color image is to be obtained by the conventional thermal transfer recording method, it is necessary to provide a plurality of thermal heads, or to perform complicated movements such as reverse feeding and stopping to a transfer target medium. However, there are drawbacks such as large size and complexity, and a decrease in recording speed.

Also, there is US Pat. No. 4,399,209 for forming a multicolor visible image using a color former and a color developer. U.S. Patent 4,3
99 and 209 use a recording medium in which capsules containing a photosensitive composition and a color former are arranged on a substrate, and the photosensitive composition in the capsules is cured by ultraviolet light converted according to the recorded image to form a transferred image. Is formed, and this transferred image is further superimposed on a recording medium having a color developing layer to form a visible image on the recording medium.

In such a conventional recording method, a transfer image is formed on a recording medium by irradiating only light energy. Therefore, in order to obtain a clear recorded image at high speed, a recording medium highly sensitive to light is used. Or, it is necessary to irradiate light with high energy.

However, the high-sensitivity recording medium has a problem in storability and is inconvenient to handle. Further, it is difficult to obtain high energy enough to cure the photosensitive composition at a high speed with a single energy, and the apparatus tends to be large. Particularly, in the case of light energy, it is difficult to obtain high energy, and the size of the device is increased.

<Objects of the Invention> Therefore, the present invention is directed to an image forming method which solves the problems of the conventional thermal transfer recording method, that is, a high-quality transfer image to the most commonly used plain paper having a low surface smoothness. Can be formed, high-speed recording is possible, and halftone recording is also possible. Even when obtaining a multicolor transfer image, it is not necessary to make a complicated movement on the transfer medium, and a clear multicolor image can be obtained. The main object of the present invention is to provide an image forming method, a transfer recording medium used for the same, and an image forming apparatus.

<Means for Solving Problems> In the image forming method according to the present invention, transfer recording containing a solid photothermographically sensitive component whose melting temperature, softening temperature or glass transition point is increased by applying light and heat. A step of applying at least one of light and heat corresponding to recording information to a transfer recording medium having a layer under the condition that the light is applied when the transfer recording layer is heated; and heating the transfer recording layer. Thus, the method includes a step of transferring a portion other than the portion to which both light and heat are applied in the previous step to the transfer medium.

Further, the transfer recording medium according to the present invention is a transfer recording layer containing a solid-state photothermally sensitive component whose melting temperature, softening temperature or glass transition point rises when light is applied while the transfer recording layer is heated. It is characterized by having.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus that forms an image by transferring a transfer image formed on a transfer recording layer of a transfer recording medium to a transfer medium, and includes a heating unit, a light irradiation unit, and the transfer recording unit. A transfer unit configured to transfer the transfer image formed on the layer to the recording medium, and at least one of the heating unit and the light irradiation unit operates based on an image signal. .

In the image forming method according to the present invention, the transfer image is formed by changing the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics, and the physical properties are arbitrarily determined depending on the type of the transfer recording medium used. In the case of a transfer recording medium in which a transfer image is transferred in a heat-melted state, it is a melting temperature, a softening temperature, a glass transition point, or the like, and the transfer image is in an adhesive state or a permeation state into a medium to be transferred. In the case of a transfer recording medium that is transferred in the above manner, the viscosity is the same at the same temperature. Further, plural kinds of energy used for forming a transfer image are also arbitrarily determined according to the kind of the transfer recording medium to be used, and for example, photoelectron beam, heat, pressure and the like are appropriately combined and used.

In order to understand the image forming method according to the present invention, an example using a transfer recording medium on which a latent image is formed by light and thermal energy will be described with reference to FIGS. 1a to 1d. Figure 1a is ~
The time axis (horizontal axis) of each graph in Fig. 1d corresponds to each other. Further, the transfer recording layer contains a reaction initiator and a polymerizing component, which will be described later, as sensitive components. FIG. 1a shows how the surface temperature of the heating means rises and then drops when the heating means such as a thermal head is driven to generate heat for a time of 0 to t ₃ . The transfer recording medium brought into pressure contact with this heating means is
It shows the temperature change as shown in Fig. 1b. That is, the temperature rises with a time delay of t ₁ , and similarly, the temperature reaches the maximum temperature at the time of t ₄ later than t _{3 and then} decreases. This transfer recording layer has a glass transition point Tgo, and is abruptly softened and its viscosity is reduced in a temperature range above Tgo. This is shown by curve A in FIG. 1c. Time t ₄ when the maximum temperature is reached after reaching Tgo at time t ₂
The viscosity continues to decrease until the temperature decreases and the viscosity increases again.
It shows a rapid increase in viscosity until time t _{6 when} it falls to Tgo. In this case, the transfer recording layer is basically not affected by changes in physical properties before heating, and if it is heated to temperature Tgo or higher in the next transfer step, the phenomenon of viscosity is exhibited as described above. Therefore, if the heating required for the transfer is performed by pressing the transfer medium, for example, Tgo or more, the transfer recording layer is transferred for the same reason as the transfer mechanism of the conventional thermal transfer recording. the, as shown in 1d view, when similarly light irradiation and heating from time t _2, the temperature is such as reaction initiator activation is included in the transfer recording layer is sufficient to increase the reaction rate If the temperature rises only by this, the probability that the polymerizable monomer will polymerize dramatically increases, and thus the curing will proceed rapidly.

When the heating and the light irradiation are simultaneously performed in this way, the transfer recording layer behaves as shown by the curve B in FIG. 1c. Then, as the reaction proceeds, the glass transition point rises, and at time t ₅ when the reaction ends, Tgo changes to Tg ′. This is shown in Figure 1d. Therefore, when heating is performed in the next transfer step, there is a difference in properties between the portion where Tg 'has changed and the portion where it does not change.
Along with this, the transfer start temperature Ta, which is the transfer start temperature that is the temperature at which the transfer recording layer starts transfer, changes to Ta ′. Therefore, for example, if heating is performed to Tr that satisfies Ta <Tr <Ta ′, a difference between a portion where the viscosity is reduced and a portion where the viscosity is not generated occurs, and only the portion where the viscosity is reduced is transferred to the transfer medium. Depending on the temperature stability accuracy of the transfer process, Tg'-Tgo is about 20 at this time.
C. or higher is preferable. Particularly, 40 ° C or higher is preferable. In this way, the transfer image can be formed by controlling heating or non-heating according to the image signal and irradiating light at the same time.

The heating temperature in the transfer image forming step is preferably 70 ° C. or higher, preferably 80 ° C. or higher, in order to accelerate the reaction rate at which the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics change and to stabilize the reaction. Setting the temperature above ℃ gives good results.

As the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics of the transfer recording layer, in addition to the glass transition point described above, the melting temperature, the softening temperature, etc. are conceivable, but in any case, the melting temperature before and after the application of a plurality of types of energy The transfer image is formed in the transfer recording layer by utilizing the irreversible change such as the softening temperature. Further, the softening temperature, the melting temperature, and the glass transition point fluctuate with almost the same tendency. Therefore, the above description using the glass transition point is also the description using the melting temperature and the softening temperature as they are. Next, the principle of the present invention will be described using the softening temperature.

The softening temperature of the transfer recording layer is Ts. Clay in the transfer recording layer sharply decreases in the temperature range of Ts or higher. This state
This is shown by curve A in FIG. 1c. Clay drop at time t ₂ until time t ₄ when reaching the maximum temperature after reaching Ts is followed, again the viscosity with the temperature drop shows increased sharply clay increases until time t ₆ for lowering the Ts. In this case, the transfer recording layer is basically not changed in physical properties before heating, and if it is heated to temperature Ts or higher in the next transfer step, the viscosity is reduced similarly to the above.

Therefore, the transfer recording layer is transferred for the same reason as the transfer mechanism of the conventional thermal transfer recording if the heating required for transfer by pressing against the transfer receiving medium, for example, heating to Ts or more, is performed. the, as shown in 1d Figure case, the time t ₂
When irradiated with light at the same time as heating, the transfer recording layer is softened and, for example, the reaction initiator contained in the transfer recording layer is activated and the temperature rises sufficiently to increase the reaction rate. Since the probability that the monomers will polymerize will increase dramatically, curing will proceed rapidly.

When the heating and the light irradiation are simultaneously performed in this way, the transfer recording layer behaves as shown by the curve B in FIG. 1c. Then, as the reaction progresses, the softening temperature rises and the crosslinking ends at time t ₅
Then it changes from Ts to T's. This is shown in Figure 1d. However, Tg and Tg ′ shown in FIGS. 1b and 1d are replaced by Ts and Ts ′.
And Therefore, when heated in the next transfer step, there is a difference in properties between the portion changed to T's and the portion not changed.
Along with this, the transfer start temperature Ta, which is the temperature at which the transfer recording layer starts transferring, changes to T′a. So for example
When the Tr is heated to satisfy Ta <Tr <T′a, only the portion where the softening temperature does not rise is transferred to the transfer medium. T's-Ts at this time is preferably about 20 ° C. or higher, although it depends on the temperature stability accuracy of the transfer process. Particularly, 40 ° C or higher is preferable. In this way, it is possible to form a transfer image by controlling heating or non-heating according to the image signal and simultaneously irradiating light.

The transfer start temperature in the present invention is measured as follows.

A 6μ thick transfer recording layer coated on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film and a surface smoothness (beck smoothness) used as a transfer medium of 50 to 200 seconds and a 0.2 mm-thick quality paper are transferred to face each other. The recording medium and the high-quality paper are sandwiched by the following two rolls and conveyed at a speed of 2.5 mm / sec. The first roll of the two rolls is disposed on the transfer recording medium side, is an iron roll with a built-in halogen heater of 300 W, and has a diameter of 40 mm. The second roll on the high-quality paper side has a diameter of
The surface of a 40 mm iron roll is covered with 0.5 mm thick fluorine rubber, and the two rolls face each other at a linear pressure of 4 kg / cm. The surface of the first roll is detected by a thermistor, and the halogen heater is controlled so as to maintain it at a predetermined temperature. Two
Four seconds after passing between the two rolls, the transfer recording medium was pulled at a constant conveyance speed of the roll at a 90 ° angle while keeping the high quality paper flat, and the transfer recording medium and the high quality paper were separated. The presence or absence of transfer to the high quality paper of the transfer recording layer is observed. In this way, the temperature at which the optical density of the transferred image is saturated is measured while gradually increasing the surface temperature of the heat roll (first roll) (heating rate is 10 ° C./MIN. Or less), and the transfer start temperature is known.

The softening temperature is measured by thermal mechanical analysis (TMA). In principle, this is to know the softening temperature by knowing how the needle penetrates into the sample by gradually raising the temperature while the needle is pressed against the sample with a constant load. Here, TMA is measured under the following conditions. That is, a transfer recording layer having a thickness of 20 μm is applied on an Al base material having a thickness of 1 mm. A needle is pressed against here with a pressure of 70 g / cm ² (specifically, a needle with a flat tip is used and the plane area of this tip is 0.7 m
Press the m ² needle against the sample with a load of 500 mg). And 10
Measure how the needle penetrates at a temperature rising rate of ° C / MIN. The softening temperature is defined as the temperature at which the penetration speed increases rapidly when the needle does not penetrate instantly.

With reference to the above description, an image forming method in the case of multiple colors will be described. FIGS. 2a to 2d are partial views showing the relationship between the transfer recording medium of the present invention and the thermal head, in which the thermal energy modulated according to the recording signal is used to change the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics. It is given together with light energy of a wavelength selected according to the color tone of the body.
"Modulation" refers to changing the position of energy application according to the image signal, and "together" may apply light energy and heat energy at the same time, or may apply light energy and heat energy separately. It may be done.

The multicolor transfer recording medium 1 of the present invention is configured by providing a transfer recording layer 1a on a base film 1b. Transfer recording layer 1a
Is a distribution layer of minute image forming elements 31, and each image forming element 31 exhibits a different color tone. For example, Figure 2a ~
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2d, each image forming element 31 contains any color material of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K). However, the color material contained in each image forming element 31 is not limited to cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, and any color material may be used depending on the application. In addition to the coloring material, each image-forming element body 31 contains a sensitive component whose physical properties governing the transfer characteristics change rapidly when light and heat energy are applied. The image forming element 31 includes a base material 1b.
It may be provided on the above with a binder, or may be melted by heating.

The sensitive component of each image forming element 31 has wavelength dependency depending on the contained coloring material. That is, the image forming element body 31 containing the yellow coloring material undergoes rapid crosslinking and hardening when heat and light of wavelength λ (Y) are applied. Similarly, the image forming element body 31 containing the magenta coloring material has heat and wavelength λ.
The light of (M), the image forming element body 31 containing the cyan coloring material has the heat and the wavelength of λ (C), and the image forming element body 31 containing the black coloring material has the heat and the wavelength of λ (K). Crosslinking progresses and cures when each light is applied. Cured image forming element 31
Does not transfer to the medium to be transferred even if it is heated in the transfer step next time. Heat and light are applied according to the recorded information.

In the image forming method of the present invention, the transfer recording medium 1 is superposed on the thermal head 20, and light is irradiated so as to cover the entire heating portion of the thermal head 20. The light to be irradiated sequentially emits light having a wavelength to which the image forming element body 31 reacts. For example,
When the image forming element 31 is colored in any of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, the wavelengths λ (C), λ
Lights of (M), λ (Y) and λ (K) are sequentially irradiated.

That is, first, light of wavelength λ (Y) is irradiated from the transfer recording layer 1a side of the transfer recording medium 1 and, for example, the heating resistors 20b, 20d, 20e and 20f of the thermal head 20 are caused to generate heat. Then, the image forming element body 31 containing the yellow coloring material
Among them, the image forming element body 31 (hatched portion in FIG. 2a; hereinafter, the cured image forming element body is indicated by hatching) to which both heat and light of wavelength λ (Y) are applied. Harden.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2b, the wavelength λ is transferred to the transfer recording layer 1a.
When the heating resistors 20a, 20e, and 20f are caused to generate heat while being irradiated with the light of (M), heat of the image forming element body 31 containing the magenta coloring material and light of the wavelength λ (M) are added. The image forming element body 31 is cured. Further, as shown in FIGS. 2c and 2d, when light of wavelength λ (C) and light of wavelength λ (K) are irradiated and a desired heating resistor is heated, light and heat are added. The image forming element body 31 is cured, and finally the uncured image forming element body 31 forms a transfer image on the transfer recording layer 1. This transfer image is transferred to the transfer medium 10 in the next transfer step as shown in FIG. 2e.

In the transfer step, the transfer recording medium on which the transfer image is formed is brought into contact with the transfer medium and heated from the transfer recording medium or the transfer medium side to selectively transfer the transfer image to the transfer medium to form an image. To do. Therefore, the heating temperature at this time is determined so that only the transferred image is selectively transferred in the transfer process.
It is also effective to apply pressure at the same time for efficient transfer. Pressurization is particularly effective when a medium to be transferred having low surface smoothness is used.

Heating in the transfer step is suitable for obtaining a stable multicolor image which is stable and has excellent storage stability.

In the embodiment described above with reference to FIGS. 2a to 2d, the method of forming an image by irradiating the entire area of the thermal head 20 with light and selectively heating the heating resistors of the thermal head 20 is shown. Evenly heat a portion of the transfer recording medium (2a
In the case of the thermal head 20 shown in the figure, a multicolor image can be similarly formed by selectively performing light irradiation when all the heating resistors are heated. That is, light energy having a wavelength selected according to the color tone of the image forming element which is modulated according to the recording signal and whose physical properties dominate the transfer characteristics is desired is applied together with heat energy.

Explaining with the example shown in FIG. 2a, the heating resistors 20b, 20d,
Instead of heating 20e and 20f, the thermal head 20 heats the whole uniformly and the heating resistors 20b, 20d, 20e and 2
The light having the wavelength λ (Y) is applied to the position corresponding to 0f. Also when irradiating with light of wavelength λ (M), the entire thermal head 20 is made to generate heat, and light is irradiated to the positions corresponding to the heating resistors 20a, 20e and 20f. The same applies when irradiating light of wavelength λ (C) and wavelength λ (K).

In the above description, the thermal head is used as a means for uniformly heating the entire body for convenience, but a uniform heating means such as a heat roll or a heating plate can be used.

In the image forming method of the present invention described above, halftone recording is performed as follows, for example.

That is, as described above, according to the present invention, basically eight colors of a plurality of colors (for example, Y, M, C, R, G, B, BK, W) can be expressed for each recording pixel. Therefore, by combining these, so-called full-color expression is also possible. That is, as shown in (a) to (z) of FIG. 3, the pseudo halftone expression is possible depending on how many recording pixels are arranged in the matrix 30 composed of a plurality of pixels 30a. Applying to 8 colors enables vivid full-color expression.

Many such methods have been proposed, and some of them have been put into practical use. However, in the present invention, due to their characteristics, the conventional digital image forming means (for example, ink jet method, laser electrophotographic method, electrostatic recording method) is used. Method, heat-sensitive recording method, etc.) is basically applicable.

Further, as described above, it is possible to represent a plurality of stages of halftones by one recording pixel, and it is also possible to distribute these pixels in a matrix to represent a multistage tone, so that an image of high resolution and high quality can be obtained.

In the above description, as shown in FIG. 2e, each element is discretely scattered on the transfer medium (recording paper etc.), but this is merely a form for convenience of description. Actually, the transferred element spreads two-dimensionally on the surface of the medium to be transferred, and as a result, in the example of FIG. 2, each pixel is correctly formed corresponding to each heating element of the thermal head.

In the transfer image forming method described above, an example in which the image forming element has different spectral sensitivities for each color has been shown, but this characteristic is not always essential in the present invention. For example, if materials that react with two kinds of light and heat having different temperature characteristics and have different temperature characteristics are used, even if the spectral characteristics are the same, they can be distinguished by the thermal energy applied. In other words, a temperature-dependent image-forming element body is used as the image-forming element body, and the image-forming element body is uniformly irradiated with light, and thermal energy is changed by the recording information and the color tone of the image-forming element body. I don't care.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, an image forming element B which is exposed to light and cures at a temperature T ₁ or higher and an image forming element R which is exposed to light and cure at a temperature T ₂ (> T ₁ ) or higher form a distribution layer. A transfer recording medium is used (Fig. 4a). The element B is blue and the element R is red. Referring to FIG. 2, in order to irradiate light λ (B, R) having a wavelength component to which the element bodies B and R are sensitive and to cure both the element bodies B and R at a temperature T ₂ or higher. Therefore, the heating resistor 20C generates heat for a period of t _{0 to} t ₂ as shown in FIG. 4c, and heats the element bodies B and R to a temperature of t ₂ or higher. On the other hand, in order to cure only B, it is necessary to heat to T ₁ or more and T ₂ or less. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4c, the heating resistors 20a, 20d for the period of t _{0 to} t ₁
Generates heat to cure the corresponding element body B.

After this, the uncured element is transferred to the transferred medium 10 to obtain an image (Fig. 4b). In the case of this example, two-color images of a red (R) portion and a black (B and R) portion are obtained.

As described above, in the embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 2a to 2e,
Although an example in which a multicolor image is obtained using the transfer recording medium of the present invention has been shown, a monocolor image can be obtained by using one type of color material as the color material contained in the image forming element. . In this case, it is not necessary to change the sensitive component according to the color material.

In the description of FIGS. 2a to 2e, the transfer recording layer 1a is formed by coating the particulate image-forming element, but it may be a continuous layer uniformly melt-coated. Also,
As shown in FIG. 5, the particulate image-forming element is provided with a core portion 31a.
The capsule-shaped element body 31 including the wall material 31b and the wall material 31b may be used. When the image is formed into a capsule, the core contains a color material and a sensitive component. When a multicolor transfer image is obtained, it is preferable that the transfer recording layer uses an image forming element in the form of particles or capsules. When the transfer recording layer is composed of the capsule-shaped image-forming element, the wall material of the image-forming element is destroyed in the transfer step and the core part is mainly transferred to the transfer-receiving recording medium. A transfer image is formed. Therefore, the heating temperature in the transfer step is determined so that the wall material of the image forming element is destroyed and only the transferred image is selectively transferred with respect to the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics.

When the transfer recording layer is composed of a particulate image-forming element, the distribution density of the image-forming element is preferably 25% to the closest packed state considering the projected area of the element on the substrate.

As the transfer recording medium used in the present invention, any transfer recording medium can be used as long as it can form a transfer image due to changes in physical properties by heat and light energy.
A transfer image can be formed by using a transfer recording layer whose physical properties such as a melting temperature, a softening point, a glass transition point and a viscosity are changed by applying heat and light energy.

For example, a transfer recording medium containing a color material in a transfer recording layer and a polymer component as a sensitive component may be mentioned. By polymerizing the polymerizing component, the melting temperature and the like of the transfer recording layer at that portion becomes high, and the portion not polymerized forms a transfer image. When the transfer recording layer is composed of a capsule-shaped image forming element, the melting temperature and the like of the core portion of the portion to which a plurality of types of energy are applied becomes high and a transfer image is formed.
The image forming element forming the transfer recording layer contains a sensitive component and a coloring component. However, when the sensitive component is irradiated with a plurality of energies such as light and heat energies, the reaction of change in physical properties is caused. It is preferable to use one that initiates or one in which the reaction rate of changes in physical properties changes rapidly.

The polymerizing component is a component that undergoes a polymerization reaction or a crosslinking reaction, and includes a monomer, an oligomer or a polymer. Examples of the oligomer or polymer include polyvinyl cinnamic acid, P-methoxycinnamic acid-succinic acid half ester, polyvinylstilpyridinium, polymethyl vinyl ketone, polyethylene glycol acrylate,
Polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate, polypropylene glycol diacrylate, etc., or epoxy resin, unsaturated polyester resin, polyurethane resin, polyvinyl alcohol resin, polyamide resin,
Examples include polyacrylic acid-based resins, polymaleic acid-based resins, and silicone-based resins having a reactive group at the terminal or side chain. Further, specifically, acrylic acid ester, acrylic acid amide, methacrylic acid ester, methacrylic acid amide and the like can be mentioned.

As the polymerizable monomer, ethylene glycol diacrylate, propylene glycol diacrylate, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate 1,4-butadiol diacrylate, N, N'-methylenebisacrylamide, methyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, cyclohexyl acrylate, benzyl acrylate, acrylamide , Methacrylamide, N-methylol acrylamide, N-diacetone acrylamide, styrene, acrylonitrile, vinyl acetate, ethylene glycol diacrylate, butylene glycol dimethacrylate,
Examples thereof include 1,4-butanediol diacrylate, 1,6-hexanediol dimethacrylate, diethylene glycol diacrylate, and triethylene glycol diacrylate.

A reaction initiator is added as necessary to cause the reaction of the polymerizing component. As the reaction initiator, radical initiators such as azo compounds, organic sulfur compounds, carginyl compounds and halogen compounds are preferable. For example, benzophenone, benzyl, benzoin ethyl ether, 4
Carbonyl compounds such as -N, N-dimethylamino-4'-methoxy-benzophenone, organic sulfur compounds such as dibutyl sulfide, benzyl disulphide, decylphenyl sulfide, di-tert-butyl peroxide, benzoyl peroxide Peroxides such as carbon tetrachloride, silver bromide, 2
-A halogen compound such as naphthalene sulfonyl chloride, a nitrogen compound such as azobisisobutyronitrile and benzenediazonium chloride, and the like.

Further, particularly in the case of the structure of the transfer recording layer in the case of forming a transfer image by receiving both light and thermal energy, the reaction between the reaction initiator which acts upon receiving the light energy and the polymerizing component reacts. The type of the reaction initiator and the polymerizing component may be selected so that the combination has a large temperature dependence of the rate.

For example, a heat-meltable urethane acrylate-based polymerizable monomer is used as a polymerizing component, and a combination of reaction initiators of 2-chlorothioxanthone or ethyl-P-dimethylaminobenzoate can be mentioned.
It is possible to add an acrylic resin as a binder.

The coloring component is a component contained to form an optically recognizable image, and various pigments and dyes are appropriately used. Examples of such pigments and dyes include inorganic pigments such as carbon black, yellow lead, molybdenum red, and red iron oxide,
Hansa Yellow, Benzidine Yellow, Brilliant Carmine 6B, Lake Red C, Permanent Red F5R,
Examples thereof include organic pigments such as phthalocyanine blue, Victoria blue lake, and fast sky blue, and coloring agents such as leuco dyes and phthalocyanine dyes.

In addition, the transfer recording layer contains stabilizers such as hydroquinone, P-methoxyphenol, and P-tert-butylcatechol 2,2'-methylene-bis (4-ethyl-6-tert-butylphenol). Is also good.

Further, in order to enhance the activation of the reaction initiator with respect to energy, P-nitroaniline, 1,2-benzanthraquinone, P-P'-dimethylaminobenzophenol, anthraquinone, 2,6-dinitroaniline Michler's ketone and the like are increased. A sensitizer may be contained in the transfer recording layer.

In the transfer recording medium of the present invention, a resin, wax or liquid crystal may be mixed as a binder in addition to the coloring material and the sensitive component.

Examples of the resin used as the binder include polyester-based, polyamide-based, polyurethane-based, polyurea-based, polyvinyl-based, silicon-based, polyacetylene-based, and polyether-based pohipolymers or copolymers. These may be used alone or in combination of two or more. You may use it.

In addition, as binders for waxes, plant waxes such as candelilla wax, carnauba wax, rice wax, animal waxes such as beeswax and whale wax, mineral waxes such as ceresin and montan wax, paraffin wax. There are synthetic waxes such as petroleum wax, polyethylene wax, sazol wax, montan wax derivative, paraffin wax derivative, hydrogenated castor oil, hydrogenated castor oil derivative, and fatty acid such as stearic acid and fatty acid amide ester. In the present invention, these waxes may be used alone or in combination of two or more.

Further, the liquid crystal used as the binder includes cholesterol hexanoate, cholesterol decanoate, cholesterol m-aluminum carbonate, cholesterol methyl carbonate, 4'-methoxybenzylidene-4-acetoxyaniline, 4'-methoxybenzylidene-4-methylaniline. 4'-ethoxybenzylidene-4-dianoaniline, N, N'-bisbenzylidene-
3,3'-dimethoxybenzidine and the like.

When microcapsules are used for the image forming element constituting the transfer recording layer, the above-described materials are contained in the core. Materials used for the wall material of microcapsules include gelatin and gum arabic, ethyl cellulose,
Cellulosic urea formalin such as nitrocellulose, nylon, tetron, polyurethane, polycarbonate,
Examples thereof include maleic anhydride-based copolymers, vinylidene chloride, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polystyrene, PET and other polymer systems.

In the transfer recording medium of the present invention, the thickness of the transfer recording layer is 1 to 20.
μ is preferable, and 3 to 10 μ is particularly preferable. When the transfer recording layer is composed of an image-forming element of microcapsules, the particle size of the microcapsules is preferably 1 to 20μ,
A particle size of 3-10 μm is particularly preferable. The particle size distribution of the microcapsules is preferably ± 50% or less, more preferably ± 20% or less, based on the number average diameter. The thickness of the wall material of the microcapsule is preferably 0.1 to 2.0 μ, and particularly 0.1 to 0.5% μ
Is preferred.

In order to bind the image forming element body of the microcapsule to the substrate, for example, a binder for coating such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) or an epoxy-based adhesive is used. The thickness of the coating binder is preferably 0.1 to 1 μm.

In the multicolor transfer recording medium used in the multicolor image forming method of the present invention, the image forming element constituting the transfer recording layer needs to have wavelength dependence depending on the type of the color material in the case of reproducing a color image. . As described above, when the transfer recording layer is composed of image forming elements of n kinds of colors,
The distribution layer of the image forming element is composed of light having different wavelengths for each colored color, that is, a combination of sensitive components such that the reaction rate changes abruptly at n different wavelengths. As a combination of such sensitive components, for example, as a sensitizer Is sensitive at about 400-500nm like 2 color recording is possible by using a material that is sensitive to light of about 480 to 600 nm. In this case, the photosensitive area of both is 48
Although the wavelength range of 0 to 500 nm overlaps, it is also a region of low sensitivity, and by properly selecting the light source, the two can be separated almost completely.

In addition, azo compounds sensitive to these at 340-400 nm and 30
By combining a halogen compound which is sensitive at 0 to 400 nm, an image forming element of three colors can be used, so that development to full color recording becomes possible.

Furthermore, as a combination of reaction initiators, a combination of 2-chlorothioxanthone / ethyl P-dimethylaminobenzoate and dichlorobenzophenone / ethyl P-dimethylaminobenzoate can be used. The light source used for this combination has a peak wavelength
A 390 nm fluorescent lamp and a peak wavelength of 313 nm fluorescent lamp can be used. The irradiation energy required to obtain the same reaction amount (equal transfer densities) is given by
Is 4, and the combination of − is 1.1, and − is 5.

Therefore, the reaction can be distinguished by setting the irradiation energy to 1 and the irradiation energy to 1.1.

Further, even when the wavelength dependency of the sensitive components contained in the image forming element exhibiting different color tones is almost equal, it is possible to impart the wavelength dependency by the filter effect of the colorant.
For example, when the colorant is blue, this blue colorant reflects and transmits a wavelength of blue light of about 400 to 500 nm, and a green to red color of 500 to 700 nm.
Absorbs light of wavelength. Thus, an imaging element containing a blue colorant is sensitive to blue light. For the same reason, it may be sensitive to red light when it has a red colorant. Therefore, even if it has a sensitive component that is sensitive to light from blue to red, the colorant can impart wavelength dependency.

In the transfer recording medium used in the present invention, the radical reaction of the transfer recording layer may be suppressed due to oxygen in the air. In order to prevent this, for example, it is preferable to apply a solution obtained by adding a small amount of a surfactant to an aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol as an oxygen prevention layer on the transfer recording layer. This oxygen prevention layer is removed by washing with water after the transfer image is formed. In the case of a microencapsulated element, the wall material can have a function as an oxygen prevention layer.

The transfer recording medium used in the present invention can be manufactured, for example, as follows.

The transfer recording medium of the present invention is prepared by melt-mixing components such as a sensitive component, a reaction developing agent, a sensitizer, a stabilizer, and a coloring material, and coating them on a substrate with an applicator or the like. When the transfer recording layer is composed of an image forming element,
By spray-drying the above components for each color, to form a fine image-forming element, and further thoroughly mixing each color image-forming element with a binder such as a polyester resin in a solvent such as methyl ethyl ketone or ethylene glycol diacetate,
Solvent coat on film such as polyimide,
Further, the desired recording medium can be obtained by drying at 80 ° C. for 3 minutes to remove the solvent.

When the image-forming element is composed of microcapsules, for example, a microcapsule image-forming element is manufactured by a method as described in detail in Examples below, and a particulate image-forming element is produced. In the same manner as in the above case, it is coated on the base material by the solvent coating method.

The above example shows the case where the melting temperature of the portion to which a plurality of types of energy are applied becomes high, but as a transfer recording medium, a sensitive component that is softened by receiving a plurality of types of energy or has a low melting temperature is used. In such a case, a portion that has received a plurality of types of energy forms a transfer image. Such sensitive components include: polymethyl vinyl ketone, polyvinyl polyvinyl ketone, copolymers of methyl vinyl ketone or methyl isopropenyl ketone with ethylene, styrene, etc., copolymers of ethylene and carbon monoxide. Polymers, copolymers of vinyl chloride, acrylate and the like with carbon monoxide, polyvinyl phenyl ketone, polyamide-imide, polyamide, polysulfone, and the like.

The substrate used for the recording medium of the present invention is not particularly limited, and a conventionally known substrate can be used as it is. Examples of the support include polyester, polycarbonate, triacetyl cellulose, nylon, polyimide and the like.

In the present invention, the composition of the recording layer has, for example, a colorant of 0.1
-10% by weight, and the sensitive component is 20-95% by weight. Further, when the sensitive component contains a reaction initiator, the reaction initiator is preferably 0.001 to 20% by weight based on the weight of the recording layer. The binder is preferably 0 to 90% by weight.

Examples of some embodiments of the image forming method of the present invention are: (1) Both light and thermal energy are applied to a transfer recording medium under the condition that at least one of light and thermal energy is applied corresponding to recorded information. Are applied to form transfer images having different transfer start temperatures and the like.

(2) The reaction initiator and the polymerizing component are mixed in a portion that receives pressure, and pressure and heat are applied to the transfer recording medium containing the reaction initiator that acts by receiving light and heat energy. Alternatively, three of pressure, heat, and light energy are applied under the condition that at least one of light energy is applied in correspondence with recorded information to form a transferred image having different melting temperatures and the like.

In the embodiment of the image forming method described above, the pressure is preferably in the range of 5 to 100 kg / cm ² , and particularly preferably ²⁰ to 50 kg / cm ² . The energy of light is 250 to 600 nm, preferably
At a wavelength of 300 to 500 nm, 10 μJ / cm ^{2 to} 10 mJ / cm ² is preferable, and 20 to 200 μJ / cm ² is particularly preferable. It is preferable to heat the transfer recording medium so that the transfer recording medium has a temperature of 50 to 180 ° C, particularly 70 to 120 ° C.

Next, with respect to the image forming method of the present invention, some examples of processes will be described with reference to FIGS.

The example of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 6 to 11 is an apparatus for forming an image by transferring a transfer image formed on a transfer recording layer of a transfer recording medium to a transfer medium, and heating means and light irradiation. And a transfer unit that transfers the transfer image formed on the transfer recording layer onto the recording medium, and at least one of the heating unit and the light irradiation unit operates based on an image signal.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing an example of an apparatus for carrying out the image forming method of the present invention. That is, the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 selectively drives a single heating means having a plurality of heating elements in accordance with an image signal, and attempts to record at least the position of the driven heating element. To carry out a forming method for forming a multicolor transfer image by irradiating different light depending on the color tone of the image, 1 is a melting temperature by irradiating light in a state of being melted or softened by heat. Alternatively, the transfer recording medium of the present invention in which the transfer recording layer 1a having an increased softening point is arranged on the film 1b, 2 is a supply roll around which the transfer recording medium 1 is wound, and 3 is for uniformly irradiating the transfer recording medium 1 with light. The low-pressure mercury lamp, the high-pressure mercury lamp, the metal halide, the fluorescent lamp, the mysenon lamp, and other light irradiation means 4 are heating means such as a thermal head that causes the control circuit 5 to generate a heat pulse based on the image signal. It is also possible to use an energization heat type transfer recording medium which energizes the transfer recording medium 1 to generate heat, and in this case, the heating means 4 is an energization head for generating an electric pulse for energization. This heating means 4
Indicates a plurality of heating elements (the heating element refers to the heating resistor shown in FIG. 2a when the heating means is a thermal head, for example).
When the heating means is an energizing head, it means an electrode. ) Is provided. The heating elements may be arranged as an example, arranged in a matrix, or arranged in a plurality of rows.

Further, the heating elements may be separated from each other, or may be a continuous rod-shaped electric heating material separated by a plurality of electrodes.

Reference numerals 8 and 9 denote transfer means, 8 denotes a heat roll having a heater 7 therein, 9 is disposed so as to face the heat roll 8, and a transfer medium 10 such as plain paper or an OHP sheet and a transfer recording medium 1 are separated from each other. The pinch roller 11 that is pressed by 3 is a winding roll that winds the transfer recording medium after transfer recording. Recorded image
12 is formed on the transfer medium 10 and separated from the transfer recording medium.

Now, the transfer recording medium 1 sent out from the supply roll 2.
Is given a heat pulse based on the image signal by the thermal head 4. Transfer recording medium 1 by thermal head 4
At the same time that the heat pulse is applied to the lamps, light having different wavelengths is sequentially emitted from the lamp 3 in synchronization with the heat pulse based on the (color) image signal. The principle of the transfer image forming process is shown in Figs. 2a to 2d.
This is as explained in the figure. The lamp 3 shown in the figure is a schematic one, and light with different wavelengths may be emitted by a plurality of lamps. That is, if one lamp emits light of one wavelength, the same number of lamps as the number of types of color tones provided by the image forming element are required.

A transfer image is formed on the transfer recording layer 1a by the thermal head 4 and the lamp 3, and the transfer image is transferred to the transfer medium 10 by the heat roll 8 and the pinch roller 9.

In this case, it is basically one of the selective heating means such as a thermal head that is controlled based on the image signal as described above, and the control circuit can therefore be simple. As a result, it is easy to realize a small and highly reliable device and to form a stable image.

It is also possible to control both heating and light irradiation according to the image signal. For example, heat is applied in the same manner as in the example shown in FIGS. 2a to 2d, and light is irradiated to the position corresponding to the heat generating resistor that has generated heat. That is, in the example shown in FIGS. 2a to 2d, the light is uniformly irradiated, but when controlling both heating and light irradiation, the irradiation position of the light is controlled so as to match the heat generation position of the thermal head. To be done. Thus, when the wavelength-dependent image forming element is used, the wavelength of light is sequentially changed according to the color of the image forming element, and when the temperature-dependent element is used as the image forming element, The heating temperature is changed according to the color of the image forming body.

When both heating and light irradiation are controlled as described above, it is advantageous to increase the contrast of changes in the physical properties of the transferred image, and it becomes easy to obtain a sharp image. In addition, since the influence on the image when one of them is deteriorated is halved, it is easy to obtain a highly reliable device.

The formation of a multicolor image has been described above, but if the color material contained in the transfer recording layer 1a is one kind, a monocolor image can be formed by the apparatus shown in FIG. The same applies to the devices shown below.

As the form of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to include a plurality of steps for forming a transfer image. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the heating means and the light irradiating means form one transfer image forming unit, and the transfer image forming unit is formed by arranging a plurality of the transfer image forming units and the transfer image forming unit. A transfer means for transferring the transfer image to the recording medium is provided, and a transfer image of one color is formed in each transfer image forming unit.
In the example of FIG. 7, the step of forming a yellow transfer image is performed by a lamp 3Y as a light irradiation means and a thermal head as a heating means.
By 4Y, magenta process is performed by lamp 3M and thermal head 4M, cyan process is performed by lamp 3C thermal head 4C, black process is performed by lamp 3K and thermal head 4K
Transfer images are sequentially formed by the above process, and after a multicolor transfer image is formed through the black process, the transfer image is transferred to the transfer target medium 10 to obtain a multicolor image.

The image forming method in which a plurality of transfer image forming steps are provided can be an advantageous means for increasing the speed. Especially when a heating means such as a thermal head is used according to the image signal, the heating means needs to repeat heating and cooling at high speed. Now, suppose that the time required for heating / cooling the heating means is 4 mSec. The transfer image forming step is one, and the heating and cooling of four times are described above.
If it is divided into Y, M, C, and K processes, the calculation requires at least 4 mSec. × 4 = 16 mSec. To process one scanning line. On the other hand, there are four transfer image forming steps, and if they share the role of forming the transfer images of Y, M, C, and K corresponding to the above example, processing one scanning line at 4 mSec. It is possible because it is processed in parallel. Thus, high-speed processing is easy and a high-speed multicolor recording apparatus can be obtained.

On the other hand, in the case of having the above-described one-transfer image forming step, in principle, multicolor formation is performed for each image at one place, so that color misregistration hardly occurs and a clear multicolor image can be obtained.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an apparatus for carrying out another aspect of the image forming method of the present invention. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, light irradiation is controlled based on an image signal, and heat is uniformly applied. That is, to explain with the example shown in FIG. 2a, instead of heating the heating resistors 20b, 20d, 20e and 20f, the entire thermal head 20 is uniformly heated to generate the heating resistors 20b, 20d, 20e. And the wavelength λ (Y) at the position corresponding to 20f.
Irradiate the light of. When irradiating with light of wavelength λ (M),
The positions corresponding to the heating resistors 20, 20e and 20f are irradiated with light. The same applies when irradiating light of wavelength λ (C) and wavelength λ (K).

Therefore, 14 is a heater for uniformly heating the transfer recording medium 1,
For example, one such as the heat roller 8 may be used, or one in which a heater is arranged on the ceramics base material may be used. Of course, a temperature sensor and a feed back heater control circuit may be provided for the purpose of controlling the heating temperature with high accuracy. On the other hand, 15 is a lamp array that is irradiated by a control circuit based on an image signal and is selected according to the spectral sensitivity of the transfer recording layer 1a.
LED arrays, laser arrays, liquid crystal shutter arrays, etc. A laser scanning system may be used instead of the lamp array. When it has sensitivity in the ultraviolet region, an ultraviolet lamp array or a method of scanning ultraviolet light with an optical system is used.

In the device shown in FIG. 8, it is easy to obtain high speed and high image quality because the light controlled basically on the basis of the image signal is light which is excellent in responsiveness and can reduce diffusivity.

As a form of an apparatus to which the image forming method of the present invention is applied, a configuration in which a plurality of recording units including a transfer image forming step and a transfer step are combined is also possible. That is, the heating unit, the light irradiation unit, and the transfer unit are used as one recording unit, a plurality of the recording units are provided, and the transfer image formation and the transfer are repeated for each recording unit, and the transfer image is superposed on the transfer medium. Images can also be formed together. Referring to the drawings, as shown in FIG. 9, a first recording unit I forms a two-color image in this case, and then a second unit II produces a different image.
A color transfer image is transferred to obtain a multicolor image. Of course, one color image may be formed by one recording unit, or a black image may be formed by the second recording unit II after forming three color images of Y, M, C by the first recording unit I. It can be thought of as forming.

As described above, the image forming method in which the transfer image is formed and the transfer is repeated for each recording unit is advantageous in increasing the speed and improving the color separation property. For example, a unit for recording Y, M, C is provided, and the transfer image of Y, M, C can be transferred onto the transfer medium, and in the next unit, a black solid transfer image is independently formed, and Y, M, C are formed.
The black transfer image is superimposed on the image of and transferred.

In the process mode shown in FIGS. 6 to 9,
It is also possible to carry out light irradiation after heating, or conversely, heat after light irradiation.
The heating and light irradiation surface may be in the same direction or may be the opposite of the illustrated one. Further, in addition to pigments and dyes as the colorant, a color-forming agent or a color-developing agent for developing the color-forming agent may be used so that the image-forming element exhibits a color tone. And the color development reaction is performed both in the transfer image forming step and in the transfer step,
Or it may be after that. Further, for example, a color developer may be applied to the recording medium to be transferred, and a color is developed by a reaction with the transferred color developer. Examples of such color formers include leuco dyes and diazo groups. On the other hand, when a colorant such as a pigment or dye that does not use a color development reaction is contained, it generally has excellent preservability of the medium before recording and image storability after recording, and at the same time, has high quality and high reproducibility of color tone. It is easy to obtain a color image.

FIG. 10 shows one mode of the process of forming a transfer image by light, heat and pressure. Reference numeral 1 denotes a transfer recording layer in which a photoreaction initiator is mixed with a polymerizing component by cleaving the capsule by pressure, and the melting temperature, softening point and the like can be increased by light and heat energy as described above. It is the arranged transfer recording medium. Reference numeral 13 is an ultraviolet-transmissive pressure-bonding member for applying a pressure to the transfer recording medium almost uniformly as described above and breaking the couple, and is formed by using quartz glass or the like. Others are the same as those shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 shows one mode of the process of applying the third step before the step of forming the transfer image. In FIG. 11, a pressure roller is provided as 16, and pressure is applied to light and thermal energy. In this example, the transfer recording medium 1 is changed to a reaction state.
The same as the example in the figure can be used.

[Effect of the present invention]

As described above, in the present invention, since a transfer recording medium whose properties change rapidly when light and heat energy are applied at the same time, only heat which affects the ambient temperature as in the conventional method is used. Compared with the method using a transfer recording medium that obtains a change in characteristics even with only light energy,
The environmental stability is improved, and it is possible to always obtain stable and high-definition images. Further, for this reason, the preservability of the transfer recording medium and the preservability of the recorded image are improved.

Further, for example, in the method using only heat, the recording speed is governed by the thermal responsiveness of the system, and in the conventional method which requires a long time to give the energy necessary for image formation to the transfer recording medium with only one energy. On the other hand, the present invention is suitable for high speed recording because it is controlled by light and heat energy.

Further, since the transfer image is formed by the energy of light and heat, halftone recording can be performed by facilitating stepwise adjustment of the process of changing the physical properties forming the transfer image.

Further, the image forming method of the present invention can form a multicolor transfer image by continuously irradiating light having different wavelengths in a short time, and the conventional multicolor thermal transfer recording method can be applied to a transfer recording medium. In contrast to forming a multicolor image by making a complicated movement, the multicolor image forming method of the present invention does not require a complicated movement of the transfer recording medium or the recording medium,
Multicolor images can be obtained at high speed.

Also, since the process of forming the transfer image and the process of transferring the transfer image are independent, the conditions suitable for transferring the transfer image to the transfer medium with high quality and stability can be set independently of the conditions for forming the transfer image. Can be set to. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a high-quality image by using not only plain paper but also paper having low surface smoothness or a wide range of transfer media such as trans-bearency as the transfer medium. At the same time, excellent fixing properties can be obtained.

In the image forming method according to the present invention, the transfer image forming step and the transfer step are separated, and the transfer image is already formed in the transfer recording layer in the transfer step. Therefore, the constraint of the imagewise selective energy application is released. To be done. Therefore, in the transfer step, it is possible to provide the transfer recording medium with energy necessary for forming a clear image by transfer according to the surface properties of the transferred medium. Further, the transfer image formed in the transfer recording layer is not a mere property change image such as a thermal fusion image but an image formed by changing the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics. By using it in the process, the transfer can be surely realized, and the transfer image can be faithfully transferred. For example, when a thermal fusion image is used as a transfer image as in the conventional thermal transfer recording method, it is necessary to completely maintain the thermal fusion image from the transfer image forming step to the transfer step. Inevitably, the transferability is deteriorated by the cooling development and the image is blurred due to heat conduction to the periphery of the heat-melted image.

However, in the case of the present invention, the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics, for example, the melting point, the softening point of the transfer recording layer, the viscosity at the same temperature, etc. are changed imagewise to form a transferred image. In addition, the transferability of the transfer image and the image blurring do not occur unless the energy for changing the physical properties is applied after the transfer image forming step. Therefore, even if the surface smoothness of the transfer medium is low, it is possible to form an image with high image quality and transfer the transfer image to the transfer medium without degrading the image quality.

Further, according to the image forming method of the present invention, a multicolor transfer image can be formed without causing a complicated movement of the transfer recording medium or the transferred medium. The multicolor transfer recording medium used in the image forming method of the present invention has a distribution layer of an image forming element exhibiting different color tones on a substrate, and by changing the conditions for applying a plurality of energies, The color image forming element can be transferred to the transfer medium. Therefore, by sequentially changing the conditions for applying a plurality of energies in a short time, the transfer medium is advanced in one direction at a high speed without causing complicated movements of the transfer recording medium or the transfer medium. It is possible to obtain a multicolor transfer image.

Further, in the image forming method of the present invention, there is no color shift in one pixel, and the entire image becomes extremely clear.

Further, in the image forming method according to the present invention, the application of signalized energy for transfer image formation and the application of uniform energy for transfer are functionally separated from each other. As compared with the case where the signalized energy for transfer formation has to be simultaneously used as the energy for transfer, the energy application condition is relaxed. For example, in the present invention, the amount of energy for transfer image formation may only cause a change in the physical properties of the transfer recording layer, and the energy for transfer may be a non-signaled uniform energy. Therefore, the amount of energy for transfer image formation and the amount of energy for transfer can be independently determined. Therefore, the condition of energy application is relaxed, and high-speed recording can be easily realized.

In addition, the thermal head used in the conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus has the fastest thermal response speed of 1 to 5 mse.
It is about c, and if it is attempted to drive at a repetition cycle faster than that, the temperature cannot rise or fall sufficiently within one cycle, resulting in insufficient heating or conversely the temperature does not fall and the effect of heat storage is affected. Appears in image quality. This was one of the main factors that hampered the speedup. However, if a plurality of types of energy are used as in the present invention, for example, when a thermal head and light irradiation are combined, even if the thermal head accumulates heat, light irradiation is performed. The physical properties that control the transfer characteristics can be changed only when the recording head is in use, so even if the Samal head heats up, it will not be affected by the heat, and even if a conventional thermal head is used, the recording operation will be performed at a shorter repetition cycle. It becomes possible to do. Therefore, the present invention facilitates high-speed recording.

Further, the image forming method according to the present invention forms a transfer image by applying a plurality of types of energy, and changes in physical properties by which the transfer image is formed as compared with the conventional case where the transfer image is formed only by heat. Can be adjusted stepwise, and the response to one of a plurality of types of energy is fast, and it is easy to adjust the intensity stepwise. For example, light can be used. It is easy to form. For example, by setting the intensity or time of light irradiation in three steps and combining it with heating, it is possible to express gradation in four steps (3 steps + non-heating).

Further, although it is desired that such control be performed at high speed, it is also possible to use high-speed halftone recording together with energy such as light that has a fast response response.

As described above, in the present invention, since the transfer recording medium whose properties are drastically different is used only when the light and heat energies are applied at the same time, only the heat which affects the environmental temperature as in the conventional method is used. Compared with the method of using a transfer recording medium in which the characteristics are changed only by the light energy and the method of using a transfer recording medium, the environmental stability is higher, and it is possible to always obtain a stable and high-definition image. Further, for this reason, the preservability of the transfer recording medium and the preservability of the recorded image are improved.

Further, for example, in the conventional method using only heat, the recording speed is governed by the thermal response of the system, and it takes a lot of time to give the energy required for image formation to the transfer recording medium. The invention is suitable for high speed recording because it is controlled by more than one energy.

Further, since the transfer image is formed by light and heat energies, it becomes easy to adjust the degree of change in physical properties forming the transfer image stepwise, and halftone recording can be performed.

Also, since the process of forming the transfer image is independent of the process of transferring, the conditions suitable for transferring the transfer image to the transfer medium with high quality and stability can be set independently of the conditions for forming the transfer image. Can be set to. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a high-quality image by using not only plain paper but also paper having low surface smoothness or a wide range of transfer media such as transparency as the transfer medium. At the same time, excellent fixing properties can be obtained. When a discontinuous image-forming element is used as the transfer recording layer, the transfer recording layer can be cut well and a clear transfer image can be obtained.

Further, the image forming method of the present invention can form a multicolor transfer image by continuously irradiating light having different wavelengths in a short time, and the conventional multicolor thermal transfer recording method can be applied to a transfer recording medium. In contrast to forming a multicolor image by making a complicated movement, the image forming method of the present invention does not require a complicated movement of the transfer recording medium or the recording medium,
Multicolor images can be obtained at high speed.

Further, in the present invention, the energy to be applied is shared by the energy of light and heat, and each energy itself does not require so high energy, so that the device can be compactly assembled.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to Examples.

Example 1 The components shown in Table 1 were mixed with a chloroform solvent, and the mixture was applied onto a polyimide having a thickness of 6 μm by a solvent coating method under light blocking to prepare a transfer recording medium of the present invention. The thickness of the transfer recording layer was 5 μm. This was wound into a roll and incorporated into the device shown in FIG.

The thermal head 4 is a line type of A-4 size of 8 dots / mm, and the heating element array is arranged in the edge portion. The thermal recording head 4 is arranged so that the base material 1b side of the transfer recording medium 1 is in contact with the heating element. Then, the tension of the transfer recording medium 1 is pressed against the heating element. Then, a high-pressure mercury lamp 3 of about 2 KW was placed at a position facing each other and separated from the transfer recording medium 1 by 2 cm.

Next, the heat generation of the thermal head is controlled according to the image signal. In this embodiment, since the transfer recording layer in which the glass transition point is raised by the application of light and heat and the transfer start temperature is raised, negative recording is performed. That is, the thermal head is not energized in the case of a mark signal (black) and is energized to generate heat when it is not a mark signal (white). The energizing energy at the time of heat generation was 0.8 w / dot × 2.0 msec. In this way, the thermal head is controlled and driven according to the image signal in the above-described manner while the light irradiation is uniformly performed by the high pressure mercury lamp, and 5 msec./lin.
The transfer recording medium was conveyed by the stepping motor and the drive rubber roll in synchronism with the repetition cycle of e.

After the transfer image was formed in the transfer recording layer 1a in this manner, plain paper having a surface smoothness of 10 to 30 seconds was overlaid on the transfer recording layer, and sandwiched between the heat roll 8 and the pinch roll 9 and conveyed. The heat roll 8 had a 300 w heater inside, and the heater was controlled to keep the surface at 90 to 100 ° C. with an aluminum roll whose surface was coated with 2 mm thick silicon rubber. The pinch roll 9 is a silicon rubber roll having a hardness of 50 ° measured by a JIS rubber hardness tester, and the pressing force is 1 to 1.5 kg / cm ² . In this way, the image obtained on the plain paper was clear, and a high-quality image having good fixability could be obtained.

Example 2 The components shown in Table 2 were melt mixed in a solvent of dichloromethane to a concentration of about 10%. Then, this solution was applied onto an aramid film having a thickness of 6 μm under light blocking by an applicator at
It was applied to form a transfer recording layer. After drying the transfer recording layer, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with a concentration of 10% is used to prevent the radical reaction of the transfer recording layer from being suppressed by oxygen.
A solution prepared by adding a small amount (about 0.1%) of fatty acid alkylodiamide as an surfactant as an aqueous solution was applied as an oxygen prevention layer onto the transfer recording layer to prepare the transfer recording medium of the present invention. The oxygen prevention layer was applied to a thickness of 5 μm with an applicator.

The transfer recording medium of the present invention is rolled into a sixth
It was incorporated into the apparatus shown in the figure to form a transfer image.
As the thermal head 4, an A-4 size line type with 8 dots / mm was used. Light source 3 has a peak wavelength of 370 nm
The fluorescent lamp of was used. The thermal head has a cycle of 400 mSec.
Then, a power of 0.06 W / dot with a pulse width of 50 mSec. Was applied according to the image signal. Further, the fluorescent lamp was uniformly irradiated with an illuminance of 15 mW / cm ² and a pulse width of 50 mSec. In synchronization with the thermal head.

After forming the transfer image in the transfer recording layer in the transfer image forming step in this way, the transfer recording medium was once taken out from the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 and washed with water to remove the oxygen prevention layer on the transfer recording layer. After that, the transfer recording medium of the present invention on which the transferred image was formed was again mounted in the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 and conveyed to the transfer step.

In the transfer step, the pressure between the heat roll 8 and the pinch roll 9 was 25 Kg / cm ² . The surface temperature of the heat roll was 130 ± 10 ° C. The structures of the heat roll 8 and the pinch roll 9 were the same as in Example 1. The transferred recording medium used had a surface smoothness within the range of 10 to 30 seconds.

In this way, the transfer image formed on the transfer recording medium is
It was clear and of high quality.

Example 3 A transfer recording medium of the present invention was prepared in the same manner as in Example 2 except that the components shown in Table 3 were used instead of the components shown in Table 2.

Using the transfer recording medium of the present invention, a transfer image was formed on plain paper having a surface smoothness in the range of 10 to 30 seconds in the same manner as in Example 2. However, the thermal head 4 has a pulse width of 35 mSec., 0.05 w / dot at a cycle of 100 mSec. According to the image signal.
Power was applied. The light source 3 has a peak wavelength of 31
A 3 nm fluorescent lamp was used. The fluorescent lamp was synchronized with the thermal head 4 and uniformly irradiated with a pulse width of 50 mSec. The illuminance of the fluorescent lamp was 8 mW / cm ² .

Example 4 The components shown in Table 2 were replaced with the components shown in Table 4, and a transfer recording medium of the present invention was prepared in the same manner as in Example 2.
However, in this example, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film having a thickness of 5 μm was used as the substrate. Further, the polymerizable monomer shown in Table 4 had a melting temperature of about 60 ° C.

Using this transfer recording medium of the present invention, a transfer image was formed on plain paper having a surface smoothness of 10 to 30 seconds in the same manner as in Example 2. However, in this embodiment, the thermal head has a pulse width of 2 mSe at a cycle of 5 mSec. According to the image signal.
A power of 0.18 w / dot was applied. The fluorescent lamp used had a peak wavelength of 370 nm, and the illuminance was 50 mW / cm ² .
The fluorescent lamp has a pulse width of 2.4 mSec in synchronization with the thermal head.
Uniform irradiation.

Example 6 The components shown in Tables 5 and 6 were mixed in a chloroform solvent, and two types of image forming elements having different color tones were prepared by a spray drying method. The particle size of the formed image forming element was in the range of approximately 8 to 12 μm.

The sensitizer in the image forming element shown in Table 5 is about 350 to 440.
It absorbs light in the nm band and starts the reaction. Further, since this sensitizer has a yellowish tinge, it mixes with Brilliant Carmine 6B mixed as a colorant and becomes red during image formation.

The sensitizer in the image forming element shown in Table 6 is about 500
It absorbs light in the band of ~ 600 nm and starts the reaction. Since this sensitizer has a magenta taste, it mixes with phthalocyanine green mixed as a colorant and becomes black during image formation.

An equal amount of these two types of image forming elements was placed in a binder and uniformly dispersed. This was coated on a 6 μm-thick polyimide film while blocking light, to prepare a transfer recording medium of the present invention. The transfer recording medium of the present invention was wound into a roll and incorporated in the apparatus shown in FIG.

The thermal head 4 used in this example is 8 dots / mm.
This was a line type of A-4 size, and the main row of heat generation was arranged in the edge part. In addition, as the light source 3,
Each has the spectral characteristic a and the spectral characteristic b shown in FIG.
Two 40w type fluorescent lamps 3a, 3b 2cm from the transfer recording medium
Used apart. A fluorescent lamp for a diazo copying machine was used as the fluorescent lamp 3a having the spectral characteristic of the graph a shown in FIG. 13, and (SrMg) ₂ P ₂ O ₃ : Eu ²⁺ was used as the fluorescent material. S as another phosphor
Although r ₃ (PO ₄ ) ₂ , Sr ₂ P ₂ O ₃ : Eu ^{2+ and the} like can be used, the above-mentioned phosphor that is most suitable for the wavelength characteristics of the sensitizer was used. A high color rendering green fluorescent lamp is used as the fluorescent lamp 3b having the branching characteristic of the graph b shown in FIG. 13, and the fluorescent substance is (La, Ce, Tb) ₂ O ₃ .0.2SiO ₂
-0.9P ₂ O ₅ was used. MgAl ₁₁ O ₁₉ : CeT as another phosphor
Although b, Y ₂ SiO ₅ : Ce, Tb and the like can be used, the above phosphor is used in terms of practical efficiency and working characteristics.

The heating element of the thermal head 4 is controlled by the control circuit 5 according to the image signal. In this case, negative recording is performed because the transfer recording layer 1a in which the glass transition point is raised by the application of light and heat and the transfer start temperature is raised. Since the present embodiment is for two-color recording of black and red, the control of the thermal head 4 is not energized in the case of a mark signal (black or red) and is energized to generate heat when it is not a mark signal (white). The energization energy during this heat generation was 0.8 w / dot x 2.0 msec.

 FIG. 12 shows a drive timing chart of this embodiment.

First, the heating resistor corresponding to red of the image signal is not energized, and a portion corresponding to white of the image signal is energized for 2 msec, and at the same time, the fluorescent lamp 3a for the diazo copying machine is uniformly irradiated. The irradiation time was 4 msec from the start of energization of the heating resistor. After 1 msec has elapsed from the end of irradiation, that is, 5 msec after the start of energization, the heating resistor corresponding to the black of the image signal is not energized in the future, and the part corresponding to white of the image signal is energized for 2 msec at the same time. The high color rendering green fluorescent lamp 3b was uniformly irradiated. The irradiation time is 4 msec as described above. In the above procedure, the thermal head 4 is selected according to the black, red and white image signals.
Was controlled and driven, and the transfer recording medium 1 was conveyed by a stepping motor (not shown) and a heat roll 8 in synchronism with a repetition cycle of 10 msec / line. After molding the transfer image in this way,
Recording paper that is plain paper with a surface smoothness in the range of 10 to 30 seconds
10 was superposed on the transferred image surface, sandwiched by the heat roll 8 and the pinch roll 9, and conveyed. The heat roll 8 is an aluminum roll having a 300 W heater 7 inside and a surface coated with 2 mm thick silicon rubber, and the heater is controlled so as to keep the surface at 90 to 100 ° C. The pinch roll 9 is made of a silicone rubber having a hardness of 50 ° measured by a JIS rubber hardness meter, and the pressing force is 1 to 1.5 kg / cm ² . In this way, the two-color image obtained on the plain paper was free from color misregistration, was highly saturated, was clear, and was able to obtain a high-quality image with good fixability.

Example 7 A transfer recording medium of the present invention was prepared in the following manner using the components shown in Tables 7 and 8. That is,
First, 0.55 parts of finely powdered silica is added to 18 parts of 0.1N hydrochloric acid and 20 parts of water and dispersed. 40 parts of this dispersion, and Tables 7 and 8
Each element in the table was dissolved in methylene chloride, and 55 parts of a 25% solution was stirred at room temperature with a homogenizer at 4,500 rpm for 15 minutes to granulate each element. The dispersion was heated to 60 ° C. for 2 hours and stirring was continued. At this point, the number average particle size was 8.6 μm in both of the image forming elements shown in Tables 7 and 8. In this way, equal amounts of the dispersions obtained for each element body were mixed and coated on the PET film by an applicator so that the image forming element became almost one layer under light blocking, and after drying, heated to 100 ° C. Then, each element was fused on a substrate to form a transfer recording layer.

Further, the same PVA layer as in Example 2 which serves as an oxygen prevention layer is added to about 5
The transfer recording layer of the present invention was prepared by coating the transfer recording layer with a thickness of μ.

The transfer recording medium of the present invention was wound into a roll and incorporated in the apparatus shown in FIG. 6, and in the same manner as in Example 2, a transfer image was formed on plain paper having a surface smoothness of 10 to 30 seconds. The driving sequence at this time is shown in FIG. 14. As the light source 3, a fluorescent lamp 3d having a peak wavelength of 370 nm and a fluorescent lamp 3c having a peak wavelength of 313 nm were used. A fluorescent lamp having a peak wavelength of 370 nm polymerizes the image forming element composed of the components shown in Table 7. Also, the fluorescent lamp having a peak wavelength of 313 nm polymerizes the image forming element composed of the components shown in Table 8. The thermal head has a pulse width of 35 msec. And 0.05 w / dot at a cycle of 70 msec. According to the image signal.
Power was applied. Further, the fluorescent lamp 3c and the fluorescent lamp 3d were uniformly irradiated with a pulse width of 50 msec. In synchronization with the thermal head. The illuminance of the fluorescent lamp is 15 mW / cm ² for fluorescent lamp 3 c and 3 m for fluorescent lamp 3 d.
It was 10 mW / cm ² . The motor pulse shown in FIG. 14 is a pulse for driving the stepping motor used to convey the transfer recording medium.

Thus, a clear two-color image with no color shift was obtained on the recording medium to be transferred.

Example 8 The components shown in Tables 9 to 12 were mixed in a solvent,
In the same manner as in Example 10, four types of image forming elements having different color tones were prepared. The particle size of the formed image forming element was within the range of approximately 8 to 12 μm for all four types.

The sensitizers or photoinitiators in the image forming elements shown in Tables 9 to 12 are about 280 to 340 nm and about 340 to 380 nm in order from Table 9.
It absorbs light in the band of about 380 to 450 nm and about 450 to 600 nm and starts the reaction. The colors at the time of image formation are black, cyan, yellow, and magenta in order.

Equal amounts of these four types of image forming elements were put into a binder and uniformly dispersed. This was coated on a 6 μm-thick polyimide film while blocking light, to prepare a transfer recording medium of the present invention. This transfer recording medium of the present invention was wound into a roll and incorporated in the apparatus shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, as the light source 3, a high color rendering green fluorescent lamp 3b, a diazo copying machine fluorescent lamp 3a, a black light 3e, and a health line lamp 3f are arranged. Also, in particular, a sharp cut filter 18 is installed on the front surface of the fluorescent lamp 3a for the diazo copying machine, and a black light 3e.
Was arranged on the front surface of the device in order to obtain desired spectral characteristics corresponding to the image forming element of each color of the shear cut filter 19.
As film 18, Sharp Cut Filter L-38
Was used. As the filter 19, Sharp Cut Filter L-1A was used.

FIG. 16 shows the spectral characteristics of the light source in the present embodiment.
The curves in and b used fluorescence similar to that of the fluorescent lamp used in Example 10. A fluorescent lamp manufactured by Toshiba was used as the fluorescent lamp exhibiting the characteristics of e and f. The same thermal head as in Example 10 was used. Negative recording is also performed in this embodiment because the transfer recording layer in which the glass transition point is increased by the application of light and heat and the transfer start temperature is increased.

In this way, first, the heating resistor corresponding to yellow of the image signal is not energized, and 2 msec is applied to the part corresponding to white of the image signal.
At the same time, the fluorescent lamp 3a for the diazo copying machine is uniformly irradiated. The irradiation time was 4 msec. 1 msec after completion of irradiation
After the lapse of time, the heating resistor corresponding to magenta of the image signal was not energized, and the portion corresponding to white of the image signal was energized for 2 msec and simultaneously the high color rendering green fluorescent lamp 3b was uniformly irradiated. The irradiation time is 4 msec at the same time as for yellow.
Similarly, in the case of cyan, the black light 3e is irradiated, and in the case of black, the health ray lamp 3f is irradiated to complete the transfer image formation for all four colors. The fluorescent lamp is controlled by a lighting control circuit. As described above, the thermal head is controlled and driven according to the image signals of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, and the transfer recording medium 1 is synchronized with the stepping motor and the heat roll 8 not shown in synchronization with the repeating cycle of 20 msec / line. It was transported in. After forming the transfer image in this way,
A recording paper 10, which is a plain paper having a surface smoothness of 10 to 30 seconds, was superposed on the transfer image surface, sandwiched by a heat roll 8 and a pinch roll 9, and conveyed. The heat roll 8 is an aluminum roll having a 300 W heater 7 inside and a surface covered with 2 mm thick silicon rubber, and the heater 7 is controlled so as to keep the surface at 90 to 100 ° C. The pinch roll 9 is a silicon rubber roll having a hardness of 50 ° measured by a JIS rubber hardness tester, and the pressing force is 1 to 1.5 kg / cm ² . In this way, the full-color image obtained on the plain paper was free from color misregistration, and it was possible to obtain a high-quality image having high saturation and vividness and good fixability.

Example 9 The same transfer recording medium of the present invention as in Example 10 was wound into a roll and incorporated in the apparatus shown in FIG.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 17, a heater 14 that uniformly heats the A4 size from the base material 1b side of the transfer recording medium 1 and the transfer recording medium 1 at a portion opposite to the heater 14 is shown in FIG. The A-4 size liquid crystal shutter array 21 having two rows is provided. The aperture size of one Shutter 21a is 0.4.
The size of the array pitch is 0.5 mm and the width is 0.4 mm. Again 2
A on the front side of the line in the traveling direction of the transfer recording medium 1
The row has a yellow filter 21b that allows a large amount of light with a wavelength of 500 nm or more to pass through.
(Fuji Filter SC50) was pasted together, and the other column B was pasted with blue filter 21b (Fuji Filter SP1) that allows much light of wavelength 500 nm or less to pass through. A white light source 20 for uniformly illuminating the shutter array is provided above the shutter array 21. A 2kw xenon lamp was used here. The light from the white light source is shielded by a light shield (not shown) so as not to irradiate the transfer recording medium 1 except through the shutter array.

With the above structure, the shutter array 21 is controlled according to the image signal. In this embodiment, since black / red two-color negative recording is carried out, in the row of the shutter array A to which the yellow filter 21b is attached, the shutter 21a corresponding to the red signal is closed and the other shutters 21a are opened for 28 msec and then 12 msec. close. At the same time, in row B of the shutter array to which the blue filter 21c is attached, the shutter 21a corresponding to the black of the image signal one line before is closed and the other shutters 21a are opened for 28 msec.
Close for 12msec. As described above, the shutter array 21 is controlled and driven according to the black and red image signals, and the transfer recording medium is conveyed by the stepping motor and the heat roll 8 not shown in synchronization with the repeating cycle of 40 msec / line. . After forming the transfer image in this way, the recording paper 10 which is a plain paper having a surface smoothness of 10 to 30 seconds is superposed on the transfer image surface, and is sandwiched between the heat roll 8 and the pinch roll 9 and conveyed. Heat roll 8 is 300W
The heater 7 was controlled so that the surface was kept at 90 to 100 ° C. with an aluminum roll having the heater 7 inside and a surface coated with 2 mm thick silicon rubber. The pinch roll 9 is a silicon rubber roll having a hardness of 50 ° measured by a JIS rubber hardness tester, and the pressing force is 1 to 1.5 kg / cm ² . In this way, the two-color image obtained on the plain paper was free from color misregistration, was highly saturated, was clear, and was able to obtain a high-quality image with good fixability.

Example 10 The components shown in Table 13 were used as the core portion, and a microcapsule-shaped image forming element was prepared by the method described below.

That is, 10 g of a mixture of the components shown in Table 13,
First, it is mixed with paraffin oil, and this is mixed with a surfactant such as cation or nonion having a HLB value of at least 10 or more and gelatin 1.
g and 1 g of gum arabic were mixed with 200 ml of water, and the mixture was further stirred with a homomixer at 8,000 to 10,000 rpm. Next, NH ₄ OH (ammonia) was added to adjust the pH to 11 or above to obtain a microcapsule slurry, which was then subjected to solid-liquid separation with a Nuttier filter and dried in a vacuum dryer at 35 ° C for 10 hours to produce a microcapsule image A formed body was obtained. This image-forming element is a microcapsule in which the components shown in Table 1 mixed with paraffin oil are coated with gelatin and gum arabic, and the particle size is 7 to 15
and the average particle size was 10μ.

The obtained image-forming element was provided on a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) film having a thickness of 6 μm with an adhesive made of a polyester resin under light blocking to form a transfer recording layer. The thickness of the adhesive was about 1μ.

The transfer recording medium 1 thus prepared was wound into a roll and incorporated as a supply roll 2 into the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 to form a transfer image. When forming the transfer image,
All conditions such as transfer image forming conditions and transfer conditions were the same as in Example 1.

In this way, the image obtained on the plain paper was clear, and a high-quality image having good fixability could be obtained.

Example 11 Using the components shown in Tables 14 to 17 as core portions, four types of microcapsule-shaped image forming elements were obtained in the same manner as in Example 14. These four types of image forming elements were dispersed in an equal amount of binder 32 and provided on a base material 1b made of polyimide having a thickness of 6 μ in a light-shielded manner to form a transfer recording layer 1a.
The particle size of the image forming element 31 constituting the transfer recording layer 1a was in the range of about 8 to 12 μm for all four types. The transfer recording medium 1 thus produced was wound into a roll and incorporated as a supply roll in the apparatus shown in FIG.

The sensitizers or photoinitiators in the image forming elements shown in Tables 2 to 5 are about 280 to 340 nm and about 340 to 380 nm in order from Table 2.
It absorbs light in the band of about 380 to 450 nm and about 450 to 600 nm and starts the reaction. The colors used during image formation are black (BK),
Cyan (C), yellow (Y), and magenta (M).

In forming the transfer image, all conditions such as the transfer image forming condition and the transfer condition were the same as in Example 12.

In this way, the full-color image obtained on the plain paper was free from color misregistration, and it was possible to obtain a high-quality image having high saturation and vividness and good fixability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIGS. 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d are diagrams for explaining the principle of transfer image formation when a latent image is formed by the energy of light and heat, FIGS. 2a, 2b and 2c. , Figures 2d and 4a
FIG. 3 is a partial view showing the relationship between the transfer recording medium of the present invention and a thermal head, FIGS. 2e and 4b are partial views showing the relationship between the transfer recording medium of the present invention and the transferred medium, and FIG. 1 of a method for realizing halftone expression in the image forming method of the invention
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example, FIG. 4c, FIG. 12 and FIG. 14 are diagrams showing a drive timing chart, and FIG. 5 is a partial view showing an example of a transfer recording medium of the present invention in which a transfer recording layer is composed of microcapsules. , Fig. 6, Fig. 7, Fig. 8, Fig. 9, Fig. 10
FIG. 11, FIG. 15, FIG. 15 and FIG. 17 are schematic views showing an embodiment of the present invention, respectively, and FIG. 13 is a view showing spectral characteristics of a fluorescent lamp,
FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the spectral characteristics of the fluorescent lamp used in the example shown in FIG. 15, and FIG. 18 is a partial view of the crystal array used in the example shown in FIG. 1 ... Transfer recording medium 2 ... Supply roll 3 ... Lamp 4 ... Heating means 7 ... Heater 8 ... Heat roll 9 ... Pinch roll 10 ... Transfer medium 11 ... Winding roll 13 ... Press bonding Member 20: Heating resistor 31: Image forming element

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication location G03F 7/004 521 (31) Priority claim number Japanese patent application 60-150597 (32) Priority date Sho 60 (1985) July 9 (33) Priority claiming country Japan (JP) (31) Priority claim number Japanese Patent Application No. 60-199926 (32) Priority date Sho 60 (1985) September 10 (33) Priority Claiming country Japan (JP)

Claims (20)

[Claims] 1. A transfer recording layer comprising a transfer recording layer containing a solid photothermally sensitive component whose melting temperature, softening temperature or glass transition point increases when light and heat are applied. Under the condition that is applied while the temperature is being raised, a step of applying at least one of light and heat corresponding to the recording information, and by heating the transfer recording layer, both light and heat are applied in the previous step. An image forming method comprising the step of transferring a portion other than the above portion to a transfer medium. 2. A solid-state photothermally sensitive component whose melting temperature, softening temperature or glass transition point rises when light and heat are applied, and becomes a state sensitive to light and heat upon receiving pressure. A step of applying at least one of light heat and pressure corresponding to recording information to a transfer recording medium having a transfer recording layer containing a photothermographic component under the condition that light is applied when the temperature of the transfer recording layer is raised; And an image forming method comprising a step of heating the transfer recording layer to transfer a portion other than the portion to which light, heat and pressure were applied in the previous step, to the transfer medium. 3. A distribution layer of a minute image-forming element containing a solid photothermally sensitive component whose melting temperature, softening temperature or glass transition point is increased by application of light and heat and a coloring material. The step of applying at least one of light and heat to the transfer recording medium corresponding to the recording information under the condition that the light is applied when the distribution layer of the image forming element is heated, and the image forming element. An image forming method comprising: heating a distribution layer of a body to transfer a portion other than a portion to which both light and heat are applied in a previous step to a transfer medium. 4. A solid-state image-forming element having a melting temperature, a softening temperature or a glass transition point which is increased by the application of light and heat, and which has different color tones, and the melting temperature and the softening depending on the color tone. Different conditions for applying light or heat for increasing the temperature or the glass transition point are applied to the transfer recording medium having a distribution layer of the image forming element under different conditions for applying light or heat depending on the color tone of the image forming element. And the light is applied under the condition that the distribution layer of the image forming element is heated, and a step of applying at least one of light and heat corresponding to recorded information, and heating the distribution layer of the image forming element. Accordingly, the image forming method includes a step of transferring a portion other than the portion to which both light and heat are applied in the previous step to the transfer medium. 5. The image forming method according to claim 4, wherein different light applying conditions have different spectral characteristics depending on the color tone of the image forming element. 6. The image forming method according to claim 4, wherein different light application conditions are different irradiation energies depending on the color tone of the image forming element. 7. The image forming method according to claim 4, wherein different heat application conditions are different temperatures depending on the color tone of the image forming element. 8. A core portion containing at least a solid photothermally sensitive component whose melting temperature, softening temperature or glass transition point rises when light and heat are applied and a coloring material, and a wall covering the core portion. At least one of light and heat corresponds to recorded information under the condition that light is applied to a transfer recording medium having a distribution layer of an image forming element made of a material when the distribution layer of the image forming element is heated. And a step of heating the distribution layer of the image-forming element to transfer a portion other than the portion to which both light and heat are applied in the previous step to the transfer medium. Image forming method. 9. A transfer recording layer comprising a solid-state photothermographic component, the melting temperature, softening temperature or glass transition point of which is raised by the application of light when the transfer recording layer is heated. Characteristic transfer recording medium. 10. The transfer recording medium according to claim 9, wherein the photothermal sensitive component is in a state of receiving pressure and reacting with light and heat. 11. A solid-state photothermographic component and a coloring material, which have a melting temperature, a softening temperature or a glass transition point which is increased by applying light when the distribution layer of the image forming element is heated. A transfer recording medium having a distribution layer of a minute image forming element on a substrate. 12. The transfer recording medium according to claim 11, wherein the image forming element comprises a core portion containing at least a photothermographic component and a coloring material, and a wall material covering the core portion. 13. A solid-state image-forming element whose melting temperature, softening temperature or glass transition point is increased by applying light when the distribution layer of the image-forming element is heated. A transfer recording medium having a distribution layer of an image forming element that exhibits different color tones and that is different in the conditions of application of light or heat for increasing the melting temperature, the softening temperature or the glass transition point depending on the color tone. 14. The transfer recording medium according to claim 13, wherein the image forming element comprises a core portion containing at least a photothermographic component and a coloring material, and a wall material covering the core portion. 15. The transfer recording medium according to claim 13 or 14, wherein different light applying conditions have different spectral characteristics depending on the color tone of the image forming element. 16. The transfer recording medium according to claim 13, wherein different light application conditions are different irradiation energies depending on the color tone of the image forming element. 17. The transfer recording medium according to claim 13, wherein different heat application conditions are different temperatures depending on the color tone of the image forming element. 18. An apparatus for forming an image by transferring a transfer image formed on a transfer recording layer of a transfer recording medium to a transfer medium, which is formed on the transfer recording layer with a heating means, a light irradiation means. An image forming apparatus comprising: a transfer unit that transfers the transferred image to the recording medium, and at least one of the heating unit and the light irradiation unit operates based on an image signal. 19. The image forming apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the heating means, the light irradiation means, and the transfer means are one recording unit, and a plurality of the recording units are provided. 20. A transfer image forming section comprising the heating means and the light irradiating means as one transfer image forming unit, and a plurality of the transfer image forming units arranged, and a transfer image formed by the transfer image forming section. The image forming apparatus according to claim (18), wherein the recording medium is provided with a transfer unit.