JPH09202060A - Metal lustrous thermal ink transfer recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a metal lustrous thermal ink transfer recording medium which does not show the deterioration of a metal luster in a printed image, if the surface of an adhesive layer is uneven by providing a layer composed mainly of a resin whose glass transition point and melt viscosity are specified between the metal evaporated layer and the adhesive layer of the metal lustrous thermal ink transfer recording medium. SOLUTION: This metal lustrous thermal ink transfer recording medium consisting of at least, a colored or an uncolored ink layer, a metal evaporated layer and an adhesive layer arranged in that order on one of the faces of a base material has a layer composed mainly of a resin with a glass transition point of 65 deg.C or more and a melt viscosity of 1×10<5> cPs or more at 140 deg.C arranged between the metal evaporated layer and the adhesive layer. In addition, the coating amount of the layer formed between the metal evaporated layer and the adhesive layer is set to the range of 0.1-1g/m<2> . Consequently, a luster retaining layer does not become softened excessively, if the adhesive layer is softened and melted during thermal ink transfer, and has the ink transferred retaining its original shape. Besides, the unevenness of the adhesive layer surface no longer adversely affects the metal evaporated layer, hence a print image with a superior metal luster.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium for forming an image having metallic luster.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium, one having a structure in which a colored or non-colored ink layer, a metal vapor deposition layer and an adhesive layer are provided in this order on one side of a substrate is known.

The metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium having such a structure does not necessarily have high transfer sensitivity, and it is difficult to cope with high speed printing and low power printing.

Therefore, in order to increase the transfer sensitivity, the softening point of the adhesive layer has been lowered, but the lowering of the softening point of the adhesive layer has led to the occurrence of problems such as blocking and scumming.

Therefore, conventionally, the adhesion layer having a low softening point is added with a pigment, a powder, or the like to make the surface of the adhesion layer uneven, thereby preventing the above-mentioned problems.

[0006]

However, if the surface of the adhesive layer having a low softening point is made uneven, the unevenness of the surface of the adhesive layer appears on the metal vapor deposition layer side when an image is formed by thermal transfer. As a result, a crack is generated in the metal vapor deposition layer, and the gloss of the obtained printed image is deteriorated.

In view of the above points, the present invention provides a blocking method for a metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium in which a colored or non-colored ink layer, a metal vapor deposition layer and an adhesive layer are provided in this order on one surface of a substrate. An object of the present invention is to provide a metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium in which the metallic luster of an image to be printed does not deteriorate even if the adhesive layer surface is provided with irregularities in order to prevent scumming.

[0008]

The present invention provides (1) a metallic gloss thermal transfer recording in which at least a colored or non-colored ink layer, a metal vapor deposition layer and an adhesive layer are provided in this order on one surface of a substrate. A medium, which is a medium and has a layer having a glass transition point of 65 ° C. or more and a melt viscosity at 140 ° C. of 1 × 10 ⁵ cps or more as a main component, is provided between the metal vapor deposition layer and the adhesive layer. And a metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium.

The present invention further includes (2) the coating amount of the layer provided between the metal vapor deposition layer and the adhesive layer is 0.1 to 1 g / m.
^{2. The} present invention relates to the metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium as described in (1) above.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium of the present invention, a layer containing a resin having a high glass transition point and a high melt viscosity as a main component between the metal vapor deposition layer and the adhesive layer (hereinafter, gloss retention). By providing a layer), even if the adhesive layer softens and melts during thermal transfer, the gloss retention layer does not excessively soften and is transferred while maintaining the original shape, so that the unevenness of the adhesive layer surface An image having an excellent metallic luster can be obtained without affecting the vapor-deposited metal layer.

Next, the present invention will be described in detail.

The metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium of the present invention is based on a structure in which a colored or non-colored ink layer, a metal vapor deposition layer and an adhesive layer are provided in this order on one surface of a substrate.

If desired, a release layer may be provided between the substrate and the ink layer, and / or a vapor deposition protective layer (vapor deposition anchor layer) may be provided between the ink layer and the metal vapor deposition layer. May be.

As the base material, any film or sheet generally used as a base material of a thermal transfer recording medium can be used. For example, a plastic film such as a polyester film, a polyamide film, a polycarbonate film or a thin film such as a condenser paper. Papers are included. The thickness of the substrate is suitably about 1 to 10 μm. If necessary, a heat-resistant protective layer may be provided on the back surface of the substrate to prevent sticking of the thermal head.

The release layer provided as necessary is melted by a heat signal from a thermal head or the like at the time of thermal transfer, and is composed of a transfer layer (an ink layer, a metal vapor deposition layer, a gloss holding layer and an adhesive layer) of a heating portion. Or ink layer, vapor deposition protection layer,
It has a function of facilitating peeling of a metal vapor deposition layer, a gloss retention layer and an adhesive layer) from the substrate. The release layer is mainly composed of waxes, and may contain a thermoplastic resin (including an elastomer) for adjusting the adhesiveness to the substrate or the ink layer, if necessary.

Examples of the waxes include natural waxes such as wood wax, beeswax, lanolin, carnauba wax, candelilla wax, montan wax and ceresin wax; petroleum waxes such as paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax; oxidation waxes and esters. Synthetic waxes such as wax, low molecular weight polyethylene wax, Fischer-Tropsch wax, α-olefin-maleic anhydride copolymer wax and the like;
Higher fatty acids such as lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, and behenic acid; higher fatty alcohols such as stearyl alcohol and docosanol; higher fatty acid monoglycerides, fatty acid esters of sucrose, esters such as fatty acid esters of sorbitan; oleyl One or more kinds of amides such as amides and bisamides can be used.

Examples of the thermoplastic resin include polyester resins, polyamide resins, polyurethane resins, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate-maleic acid. -Based copolymer, polyvinyl butyral, α-olefin-maleic anhydride-based copolymer, ethylene- (meth) acrylic acid ester-based copolymer, low molecular weight styrene-based resin, ethylene-styrene-based copolymer, styrene-butadiene One type or two or more types of copolymers, petroleum resins, rosin resins, terpene resins, polypropylene resins, ionomer resins and the like can be used.

The release layer can be formed by coating and drying the above waxes and, if necessary, the above resins dissolved or dispersed in an appropriate solvent (including water) on a substrate. Further, it can be formed by hot melt coating. The coating amount of the release layer (coating amount after drying, the same applies below) was 0.
About 5 to 5 g / m ² is suitable.

The ink layer is usually provided in order to obtain a metallic luster of various hues which is not limited to the metallic luster color peculiar to the metal vapor deposition layer, and is a colored ink layer containing a binder and a colorant as main components. If the metallic gloss color inherent to the metal deposition layer is desired as it is, a non-colored ink layer containing no coloring agent may be used.

Thermoplastic resins and / or waxes can be used as the binder.

The thermoplastic resin (including elastomer)
As the polyester-based resin, polyamide-based resin, polyurethane-based resin, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer,
One or more of vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene- (meth) acrylate copolymer, polypropylene resin, petroleum resin, rosin resin, terpene resin and the like can be preferably used. .

Examples of the waxes include natural waxes such as wood wax, beeswax, lanolin, carnauba wax, candelilla wax, montan wax and ceresin wax; petroleum waxes such as paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax; oxidation waxes and esters. Synthetic waxes such as wax, low molecular weight polyethylene wax, Fischer-Tropsch wax, α-olefin-maleic anhydride copolymer wax and the like;
Higher fatty acids such as lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, and behenic acid; higher fatty alcohols such as stearyl alcohol and docosanol; higher fatty acid monoglycerides, fatty acid esters of sucrose, esters such as fatty acid esters of sorbitan; oleyl One or more kinds of amides such as amides and bisamides can be used.

As the colorant, either an organic pigment or an inorganic pigment can be used. A dye may be used in combination for adjusting the hue. The content of the coloring agent in the coloring layer is suitably about 5 to 40% by weight.

As the pigment, for example, a yellow pigment, a magenta pigment, a cyan pigment and a mixed pigment of one kind or two or more kinds thereof can be appropriately used. These color pigments are preferably transparent.

Examples of the yellow pigment include Disazo Yellow HR, Naphthol Yellow S, Hansa Yellow 5G, Hansa Yellow 3G, Hansa Yellow G, Hansa Yellow GR, Hansa Yellow A, Hansa Yellow RN, Hansa Yellow R, Benzidine Yellow, Benzidine. One or more of yellow G, benzidine yellow GR, permanent yellow NCG, and quinoline yellow lake are used.

Examples of the magenta pigments include quinacridone red, permanent carmine F5B, permanent red 4R, brilliant fast scarlet, brilliant carmine BS, permanent carmine FB, resole red, permanent red F5R, brilliant carmine 6B, pigment scarlet 3
B, rhodamine lake B, rhodamine lake Y, alizarin lake, or one or more of these are used.

Examples of the cyan pigment include Victoria blue lake, metal-free phthalocyaninine blue, phthalocyaninine blue, and fast sky blue.
Species or two or more species are used.

The ink layer is prepared by dissolving or dispersing the binder in an appropriate solvent (including water), and optionally dispersing a colorant on the substrate or the release layer, and drying. Can be formed. Alternatively, it can be formed by hot melt coating. The coating amount of the coloring layer is 0.5 to
About 5 g / m ² is appropriate.

The vapor deposition protective layer provided as necessary mainly functions as an anchor layer for the metal vapor deposition layer,
It is a layer mainly composed of a thermoplastic resin (including an elastomer), and is a transparent layer which is not usually colored.

Examples of the thermoplastic resin include polyester resins, polyamide resins, polyurethane resins, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers, ethylene- (meth) acrylic acid ester resins. Copolymer, (meth) acrylic resin, styrene-butadiene copolymer, petroleum resin, polypropylene resin,
One or more of ionomer resins and the like can be used. The vapor deposition protective layer can be formed by dissolving or dispersing these resins in an appropriate solvent (including water) on the ink layer and drying. It is better that the coating amount of the vapor deposition protective layer is small from the viewpoint of transferability as long as it has a protective function,
Usually, about 0.1 to 1 g / m ² is appropriate.

As the metal of the metal vapor deposition layer, amylnium, zinc, tin, nickel, chromium, titanium, copper, silver,
A simple substance, a mixture, an alloy, or the like of gold, platinum, or the like can be used, but aluminum is usually preferably used. The metal deposition layer can be formed by a physical vapor deposition method such as a vacuum vapor deposition method, a sputtering method, or an ion plating method, or a chemical vapor deposition method.

The thickness of the metal vapor deposition layer is from 10 to 100 nm, especially from 20 to 40, from the viewpoint of obtaining a high-luminance metallic luster.
The range of nm is preferred.

The gloss retention layer is a layer containing as a main component a resin having a glass transition point of 65 ° C. or more and a melt viscosity at 140 ° C. of 1 × 10 ⁵ cps or more, preferably 80% by weight or more. By providing such a gloss-maintaining layer containing a specific resin as a main component between the metal vapor deposition layer and the adhesive layer, it is possible to prevent cracks or the like from occurring in the metal vapor deposition layer at the time of thermal transfer, and to exhibit excellent metal gloss. An impression can be obtained. The glass transition temperature of the main component resin is less than 65 ° C or 1
If the melt viscosity at 40 ° C. is less than 1 × 10 ⁵ cps,
At the time of thermal transfer, the gloss retaining layer is excessively softened, which adversely affects the metal vapor deposition layer, resulting in an inferior metallic gloss of the printed image.

From the viewpoint of thermal transferability, the upper limit of the glass transition point is about 140 ° C. and the upper limit of the melt viscosity is 10 ¹⁰ cps / 1.
It is preferably about 40 ° C.

Examples of the resin include polyester resins, cellulose resins such as nitrocellulose, polyamide resins, acrylic resins, polyurethane resins,
One or two of vinyl chloride resin, epoxy resin, ethylene- (meth) acrylic acid ester copolymer, etc.
Those having a glass transition point of 65 ° C. or more and a melt viscosity at 140 ° C. of 1 × 10 ⁵ cps or more are appropriately selected and used. UV curable resins are also preferably used.

If desired, waxes and oligomer resins may be added to the gloss-retaining layer.

The gloss-retaining layer is preferably colorless and transparent, containing no particulate matter such as color pigments and extender pigments. This is to prevent the gloss from being reduced due to the unevenness caused by the particulate matter.

The coating amount of the gloss-retaining layer is preferably 0.1 g / m ² or more from the viewpoint of gloss retention, and 1 g from the viewpoint of transferability.
/ M ² or less is preferable.

The gloss-retaining layer is prepared by dissolving or dispersing the above-mentioned specific resin and, if necessary, other additives in an appropriate solvent (including water) on the metal vapor-deposited layer and then drying it. Can be formed. When an ultraviolet curable resin is used, it is further irradiated with ultraviolet rays to be cured.

The adhesive layer contains an adhesive resin as a main component.

As the adhesive resin of the adhesive layer, for example,
Polyester resin, polyamide resin, polyurethane resin, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-
(Meth) acrylic acid ester-based copolymer, petroleum-based resin,
Examples thereof include one kind or two or more kinds of rosin-based resins and terpene-based resins.

The softening point of the adhesive layer is 40 to 40 from the viewpoint of transferability.
A range of 60 ° C. is preferred.

When the softening point of the adhesive layer is lowered as described above, blocking and scumming are likely to occur, so it is preferable to incorporate particles.

Examples of the particles include silica, talc, calcium carbonate, precipitated barium sulfate, alumina, clay,
One or more of magnesium carbonate, carbon black, tin oxide, titanium oxide and the like can be used. The size of the particles is preferably in the range of 0.1 to 1 μm in average particle size.

The content of particles in the adhesive layer is preferably 5% by weight or more from the viewpoint of blocking and prevention of background stain, and preferably 50% by weight or less from the viewpoint of adhesiveness.

The adhesive layer is formed by dissolving or dispersing the adhesive resin in an appropriate solvent (including water) and, if necessary, dispersing particles in the adhesive resin and coating it on the gloss-retaining layer and drying. it can. The coating amount of the adhesive layer is 0.5 to 1.
About 5 g / m ² is appropriate.

[0047]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to examples.

Examples 1 to 3 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3 Thickness having a silicone resin heat-resistant protective layer formed on the back surface.
A release layer composition having the following formulation was hot-melt coated on the surface side of a 5 μm polyethylene terephthalate film to form a release layer having an application amount of 1.0 g / m ² .

Release Layer Composition Composition Weight Part Paraffin Wax 60 Candelilla Wax 40 Total 100.0 A coating solution for a colored ink layer having the following formulation is applied onto the release layer and dried to apply a coating amount of 1 A colored ink layer of 0.0 g / m ² was formed.

Coating Liquid Composition for Colored Ink Layer Weight Part Polyamide Resin 8.0 Brilliant Carmine 6B 2.0 Dispersant 0.1 Toluene 9.9 Isopropyl Alcohol 80.0 Total 100.0 On the Colored Ink Layer A vapor deposition protective layer coating solution having the following formulation was applied and dried to form a vapor deposition protective layer having a coating amount of 0.5 g / m ² .

Coating liquid for vapor deposition protection layer Composition Weight part Acrylic resin (glass transition point 90 ° C.) 10 Methyl ethyl ketone 90 Total 100 An aluminum vapor deposition layer having a thickness of 20 nm is formed on the vapor deposition protection layer by a vacuum vapor deposition method, The gloss retaining layer composition having the formulation shown in Table 1 was solvent-coated thereon and dried to form a gloss retaining layer having the coating amount shown in Table 1. In Comparative Example 1, the gloss retention layer was not formed.

[0052]

[Table 1]

An adhesive layer coating solution having the following formulation was applied onto the gloss-retaining layer and dried to form an adhesive layer having a coating amount of 0.5 g / m ² .

Adhesive layer coating liquid component weight part Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (softening point 50 ° C.) 8.0 Silica particles (average particle size 1.0 μm) 2.0 Dispersant 0.1 Toluene 89. 9 Total 100.0 Using the thermal transfer recording medium obtained above, a thermal transfer printer (Bungou Mini 5 manufactured by NEC Corporation) was used to form an image on an image receiving paper (Xerox # 4024 manufactured by Xerox Co., Ltd.), and the following image was formed. The transferability and gloss were evaluated by the method. Table 2 shows the results.

[Transferability] 2-dot vertical ruled line [Vertical ruled line having a structure in which 2-dot printing portions are arranged at intervals of 2 dot width in the horizontal direction] is printed, and whether the vertical ruled line can be clearly printed Was judged according to the following criteria.

◯: Printing can be performed without connecting vertical ruled lines.

×: Vertical ruled lines cannot be printed.

[Gloss] Solid printing is performed, and the glossiness (60 ° C. glossiness) of the solid printing portion obtained is measured with a gloss meter (a digital gloss meter GM-260 type manufactured by Murakami Color Research Laboratory Co., Ltd.). Then, the gloss was evaluated according to the following criteria.

◯ ... glossiness 70 or more x ... glossiness less than 70

[0060]

[Table 2]

[0061]

According to the present invention, in a metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium in which a colored or non-colored ink layer, a metal vapor deposition layer and an adhesive layer are provided in this order on one surface of a substrate,
By providing a gloss retention layer between the metal deposition layer and the adhesive layer, the metallic gloss of the printed image deteriorates even if the adhesive layer surface with a low softening point has irregularities to prevent blocking and background stains. do not do.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium in which at least a colored or non-colored ink layer, a metal vapor deposition layer and an adhesive layer are provided in this order on one surface of a substrate, and the metal vapor deposition layer is adhered. Glass transition point between layers is 65 ° C
As described above, the metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium is provided with a layer containing a resin whose melt viscosity at 140 ° C. is 1 × 10 ⁵ cps or more as a main component. 2. The metallic luster thermal transfer recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the coating amount of the layer provided between the metal vapor deposition layer and the adhesive layer is 0.1 to 1 g / m ² .