JPH09234893A - Thermal transfer recording method and indirect transfer medium to be used therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To record on an image receiving body having different surface smoothness by making an indirect transfer medium and an ink layer of a melting thermal transfer recording material face each other, heating from their rear faces, peeling the thermal transfer recording material so as to form an image on an image receiving layer, thereafter only the image is re-transferred to the image receiving body. SOLUTION: On a support body, a deformable layer which deforms under heat and/or pressure and an image receiving layer which has property to re-transfer a transfer image to an image receiving body are layered in the described order so as to form an indirect transfer medium. Also, on the support body, an ink layer which has melt thermal transfer property and contains a binder having a thermoplastic resin as a main component is provided so as to form a melting thermal transfer recording material. In recording images, the indirect transfer medium and the ink layer of the melting thermal transfer recording material are made to face each other, they are heated from their rear faces, the melting thermal transfer recording material is peeled from the indirect transfer medium before an ink is cooled and solidified, images are formed on the image receiving layer of the indirect transfer medium, thereafter, only the images are re-transferred on the image receiving body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for forming a multicolor image by a thermal transfer recording system used for color proofing and color printing for color proofing, display bodies and signboard decorations, and an indirect transfer medium used therefor. The present invention relates to an image forming method capable of forming a multicolor image on a receiver having no image receiving layer by fusion-type thermal transfer recording, and an indirect transfer medium used for the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, methods such as thermal transfer (fusible thermal transfer, sublimation thermal transfer), electrophotography, and ink jet have been put into practical use as full-color image recording systems. Also in the color proofing method in the field of printing plate making, from the surprint method called chemical proof using a conventional photosensitive resin, the above-mentioned method that is excellent in workability and can easily record many sheets Has come to be used.

However, the sublimation type thermal transfer can change the amount of the dye to be sublimated and transferred by changing the thermal energy of a heat source such as a thermal head, so that the gradations of both images can be reproduced by density modulation. However, in order to form an image, an image receptor having a dedicated image-receiving layer for receiving a sublimation dye is required as a recording image receptor, and cannot be recorded on an image receptor having no image-receiving layer such as plain paper or plastic film. It has the drawback of Further, since the color tone of the ink layer is different from the color tone of the printing ink, the reproduced color tone is not exactly similar to that of the printed matter. Also,
The same applies to the ink jet system, which has the advantage that large-size (A0 size or larger) recording is possible, and has the advantage of being suitable for recording such as outdoor display bodies, but still requires a dedicated recording receiver. Strictly speaking, the reproduction color tone is also different from printing.

In the melt-type thermal transfer system, the ink layer has a color material mixed in a heat-meltable binder, and it is possible to use the same color material as the printing ink, for example. Like a printed matter, it has the possibility of becoming a color proof for color proofing, such as being able to record only an image on a recording image receptor. However, while this method has the feature that no special image receiving layer is required as an image receiving body, on the other hand, if the surface of the recording image receiving body (image layer receiving surface) is not excellent in smoothness, high quality prints will be produced. It also had the drawback of not being able to. For example, when printing on paper with poor smoothness, the image layer is transferred only to the convex portions of the paper surface and the image layer is not transferred to the concave portions, and as a result, there is a problem that image missing occurs in the recorded image portion. Will end up.

Therefore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-220390 has been proposed.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-137470 and the like, by devising the structure of the thermal transfer recording medium and the material used for the ink layer, high quality recording without transfer marks can be achieved even on paper with poor surface smoothness. Method for obtaining the same, and JP-A-58-1
As disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 62355/1990, an intermediate transfer medium is provided in a thermal transfer recording apparatus, a recorded image is primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer medium, and then retransferred to an image receptor to obtain surface smoothness. A method for obtaining high-quality recording without transfer marks even on inferior paper, and as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-290731, peelable from a donor sheet (melt type thermal transfer recording material) having a peelable thin film Image receiving material (indirect transfer medium according to the present invention) having a different image receiving layer (the image receiving layer according to the present invention) is uniformly laminated, and then thermal energy is applied imagewise so that the adhesive force of the thin film of the donor sheet is increased. This is a method in which the image-wise decrease is formed, an image is formed on the image-receiving layer (peeling development), and then the image formed on the image-receiving layer is transferred from the image-receiving material to a permanent support (image-receiving body in the present invention). Until It has been proposed.

[0006]

One of the quality requirements for a color proof for color proofing in the field of printing is that a color proof should be produced on the same paper as the printing paper actually printed by the machine. Therefore, in the case of producing a color proof by a fusion-type thermal transfer recording method, similarly, it corresponds to a wide variety of printing papers,
In addition, it is desired that the quality is such that only an image can be recorded on the image receiving body like the printed matter.

However, JP-A-4-220390, JP-A-7-137470 and JP-A-58-1
The method disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 62355, etc. has the advantage that only an image can be recorded on an image receiver, as in the case of the conventional thermal transfer recording system, and recording on an image receptor having inferior smoothness as compared with the conventional method. Although the quality is improved, a satisfactory recording quality has not been achieved for all printing papers (coated paper, high-quality paper, lower grade paper, newspaper, etc.) having a wide range of smoothness. Further, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-290731, the image receiving layer of the image receiving material is configured to be peelable, so that the image recorded on the image receiving layer is permanently supported together with the image receiving layer. Is transferred to. Therefore, this method can perform recording without transfer loss even on printing paper having a wide range of smoothness, but since the image alone cannot be recorded on the permanent support, the finish differs from that of printed matter. (Because the image receiving layer is also transferred to the non-image area of the permanent support, the texture differs from that of the printed matter).

In view of the above points, the present invention does not require a dedicated image receptor in the fusion type thermal transfer recording system, has no transfer mark to various image receptors having different surface smoothness, and is similar to a printed matter. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording method and material capable of recording only an image on an image receptor.

[0009]

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a deformable layer which deforms under heat and / or pressure on a support, and an image formed by fusion type thermal transfer recording. Melt thermal transfer property including an indirect transfer medium having an image receiving layer having adhesiveness and retransferability of a transferred image to an image receiving body in this order, and a binder containing a thermoplastic resin as a main component on a support. The ink layer of the melt-type thermal transfer recording material provided with the above ink layer is faced, and imagewise heating is performed from the back surface of the melt-type thermal transfer image material or the back surface of the indirect transfer medium, and the melt-type heat transfer recording material before the ink is cooled and solidified. Is peeled off from the indirect transfer medium to form an image on the image receiving layer of the indirect transfer medium, and then only the image is retransferred to the image receptor. Ri is resolved.

Conventionally, as an image recording method for a melt type thermal transfer recording material, there is a cold peeling method in which the melt type thermal transfer recording material (ink ribbon or the like) is peeled from a recording medium after the ink is solidified, and before the ink is solidified. There is a hot peeling method that peels the melted thermal transfer recording material from the recording medium. However, in the case of the cold peeling method, when the ink layer surface of the melting type thermal transfer recording material and the image receiving layer surface of the retransferable indirect transfer medium are superposed, the ink is transferred to the image receiving layer by using a thermal head or a laser. In order to transfer the ink layer selectively to the non-imagewise heating part and obtain high image quality, both the shear breaking force and the elongation of the ink layer coating are small,
Moreover, it is necessary to select a material having high affinity and wettability with the image receiving layer. Therefore, the material forming the ink layer and the material forming the image receiving layer are selected from materials having similar physical properties such as the solubility parameter SP value. For this reason, the affinity between the image transferred and formed on the image receiving layer and the image receiving layer becomes strong, and when the image is finally re-transferred to the image receiving body (such as printing paper), it is difficult to transfer only the image. It will be difficult. Therefore, in this case, as the configuration of the indirect transfer medium,
By providing a peelable image receiving layer,
A method of transferring an image to an image receiving body together with the image receiving layer is used.

On the other hand, in the present invention, the binder of the ink layer uses a material containing a thermoplastic resin as a main component, and the melting type thermal transfer recording material has a particular feature after imagewise heating and before the ink is cooled and solidified. The image is transferred onto the image receiving layer of the indirect transfer medium by peeling it off from the indirect transfer medium (heat peeling method), and then only the image on the image receiving layer is retransferred to the image receiver (printing paper etc.). Made it possible. In other words, select a thermoplastic resin binder for the ink layer, and peel the melt-type thermal transfer recording material from the indirect transfer medium before the ink cools and solidifies (when the ink is in a molten state) (hot peeling method). As a material used for the image receiving layer of the indirect transfer medium, the compatibility with the ink layer,
It has been found that a high quality image can be obtained without using a material having high wettability. Therefore, the affinity between the image transferred and formed on the image receiving layer and the image receiving layer in this case is weak, and finally only the image can be easily retransferred to the image receiving member (printing paper or the like).

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail. First, the fusion type thermal transfer recording material will be described.
The recording material used in the present invention basically has a structure in which an ink layer containing a binder whose main component is a heat-peelable thermoplastic resin is laminated on a support, and if necessary, the support and the ink layer. An intermediate layer (release layer, deformable layer, photothermal conversion layer) may be provided between the layers.

The binder used in the ink layer of the melt-type thermal transfer recording material is mainly composed of a thermoplastic resin suitable for the hot peeling method, and may contain a small amount of a wax-like substance if necessary. . Examples of the resin include ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene- (meth) acrylic acid alkyl ester copolymer (as the alkyl group, methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, hexyl, heptyl, octyl, 2-ethylhexyl, Nonyl, dodecyl, hexadecyl, etc. having about 1 to 16 carbon atoms), ethylene-acrylonitrile copolymers, ethylene-styrene copolymers and other ethylene-based copolymers; polylauryl (meth) acrylic acid esters; Examples thereof include vinyl chloride (co) polymers such as polyvinyl chloride, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer, and vinyl chloride-vinyl alcohol copolymer. Among them, an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer is particularly preferable because it has a high viscosity at the time of melting and has excellent temporary adhesion.

Examples of the wax-like substance include natural waxes such as wood wax, beeswax, carnauba wax, candelilla wax, montan wax and ceresin wax; petroleum waxes such as paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax; oxidized wax. , Synthetic waxes such as ester wax, polyethylene wax, Fischer-Tropsch wax, α-olein-maleic anhydride copolymer wax; higher fatty acids such as myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, behenic acid; higher fatty acids such as stearyl alcohol and docosanol Group alcohols; higher fatty acid monoglycerides, sucrose fatty acid esters, sorbitan fatty acid esters, and other esters; stearic acid amide, oleylamide, and other amides, and bisamides Etc. The.

As the colorant used in the ink layer, any of those conventionally used as a colorant for this type of heat-meltable ink can be used, and various inorganic and organic pigments and dyes can be appropriately used. .

As the imagewise heating method of the ink layer, a method of heating the ink layer imagewise by a thermal head or the like, a method of causing the melting type thermal transfer recording material to have a photothermal conversion function and heating the image layer by light can be used. .

As a device capable of the hot peeling method, a method of shortening the distance from the heat generating portion of the thermal head to the ink ribbon peeling edge portion is disclosed in JP-A-7-81113. Stuff available.

Next, the indirect transfer medium used in the present invention will be described. The indirect transfer medium of the present invention has a deformable layer and an image receiving layer on a support in this order, and in some cases, between the support and the deformable layer, or between the deformable layer and the image receiving layer. Each interface between (support / deformable layer,
An adhesive layer may be provided for the purpose of adhering the deformable layer / image receiving layer).

As a support for the indirect transfer medium, a conventionally known sheet-shaped material such as a plastic film can be used.
For example, a plastic film such as polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polycarbonate, and triacetate, or a metal plate such as an aluminum plate and a zinc plate can be used. In addition, because the ink layer melted by heat is transferred,
Moderate heat resistance, a material excellent in dimensional stability is preferable, from the viewpoint of handling polyethylene terephthalate film,
A polycarbonate film or the like is suitable, but is not particularly limited thereto. Further, the transparency of the support is not limited. The thickness of the support is not particularly limited, but is preferably 25 μm to 200 μm, more preferably 50 μm to 1 from the viewpoint of workability and the like.
50 μm.

The organic polymer used for the deformable layer of the indirect transfer medium has a softening temperature of 90 ° C. or lower under the standard test conditions of JIS K 6730 and an elongation at break under the standard test conditions of JIS K 6760. It is a preferred embodiment that the effect of the present invention can be realized when the content of the organic polymer is 400% or more. The reason for this is that by using an organic polymer substance having a low softening temperature of 90 ° C. or less, it is possible to indirectly transfer the image after forming the retransferable image on an indirect transfer medium by pressure heat transfer to an image receiver such as paper. This is because the deformable layer of the transfer medium is softened, so that the deformable layer is deformed according to the unevenness of the surface of the image receptor such as paper and the image is evenly adhered to the image receptor. Softening temperature 90
When using an organic polymer substance higher than ℃, it is necessary to transfer at a high temperature, and when using an organic polymer substance whose elongation at break is lower than 400%, it is necessary to transfer at a high pressure. In either case, the dimensional stability of the image is adversely affected, which is not preferable. For this reason, the softening temperature of the organic polymer used in the deformable layer is 90 ° C or lower, preferably 60 ° C or lower.
℃ or less, and -100 ℃ or more, elongation at break is 400
% Or more, preferably 500% or more, and 1000% or less.

The organic polymer substance which can be used in the deformable layer is not limited by the kind of material, but preferred examples thereof include polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate, ethylene-acryl. Acid, ethylene-acrylic acid ester,
Alternatively, ethylene copolymers such as a copolymer of ethylene and α, β-unsaturated carboxylic acid, polyvinyl chloride, vinyl chloride copolymers such as vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, polystyrene, styrene and (meth) acrylic acid ester. Examples thereof include styrene copolymers, poly (meth) acrylic acid esters, and copolymers of (meth) acrylic acid esters such as butyl (meth) acrylate-butyl acetate-vinyl acetate.

The thickness of the deformable layer is 5 μm or more, more preferably 10 μm or more, and 80 μm or less. The reason is that the image can be transferred along the unevenness of the image receptor at the time of retransfer by making it thicker than the unevenness of the surface of the image receptor (coated paper, high-quality paper, newsprint) to be transferred and recorded. In the case of color proof, for example, when a four-color image is transferred to an image receiver, there is unevenness in the image part and the non-image part of each color, so that the image layer in the part where the four colors are transferred to the same part. This is because the thickness corresponding to the thickness is required. Further, when the image transferred to the image receiving layer is retransferred to the image receiving body, it is preferable to subject the surface of the deformable layer to corona discharge treatment in order to retransfer only the image. This improves the adhesive force between the deformable layer and the image receiving layer, and makes it easier to retransfer only the image to the image receiving body.

The thermoplastic resin, wax-like substance,
An ink layer is formed by appropriately mixing a colorant and the like, an image is formed on an indirect transfer medium by a thermal peeling method using a fusion type thermal transfer recording material using the same, and the image is retransferred to an image receiver. However, the image receiving layer of the indirect transfer medium is an acrylic resin whose main component is methyl methacrylate or / and hydroxyethyl methacrylate, and a substance obtained by graft-copolymerizing hydroxyethyl methacrylate or / and N-methylol acrylamide. What is contained is excellent as an image receiving layer as an image receiving layer, and is effective as a material that can transfer only the image to the image receiving layer when retransferring to the image receiving layer and does not transfer any layer other than the image to the image receiving layer. Met. If necessary, other resins or plasticizers, matting agents (silicon dioxide, calcium carbonate, inorganic particles such as aluminum powder or polyethylene,
Organic particles such as polypropylene and polystyrene) and additives such as a wettability improver may be mixed to the extent that the required performance is not impaired.

The thickness of the image receiving layer is preferably 0.1 to 5 μm, more preferably 0.1 to 3 μm. The reason is that if the image receiving layer is thicker than the above range, the performance of the deformable layer below the image receiving layer will be impaired, and high quality image recording without transfer loss will be performed according to the unevenness of the image receiving surface such as paper. This is because they cannot do it.

A method of retransferring the image formed on the image receiving layer of the indirect transfer medium to the image receiving body will be described. As a device, a device having a mechanism such as a laminator is suitable,
Heated uniformly to a temperature of 80 ° C to 150 ° C and at the same time a linear pressure of 1kg / c
It is preferable to pressurize at a pressure of 2 kg / cm or more when transferring by pressurization alone. The material of the image receptor is paper, plastic sheet,
Woven cloths, metal plates, etc. are used, and it is also suitable for papers with poor smoothness, and is targeted for printing papers and materials to be printed that perform approximate color printing.

[0026]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to the following examples. The parts in the present embodiment mean parts by weight.

Example 1 (Method for producing an indirect transfer medium) On a biaxially stretched polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of 100 μm, the following deformable layer forming resin A was formed into a thickness of 50 μm by an extrusion coating method, and the deformable The layer was subjected to corona discharge treatment, and the image-image-receiving layer forming liquid A was applied thereon by a wire bar coating method and then dried to successively provide the image-receiving layer having a thickness of 2 μm. <Deformable layer forming resin A> Ethylene-ethyl acrylate copolymer resin (EVAFLEX-EEA A-701: manufactured by Mitsui DuPont Polychemical) <Image receiving layer forming liquid A> Stem chain composition Polymethyl methacrylate Branch chain composition Poly (2 -Hydroxyethyl methacrylate) 40 parts (comb-type polymer L-20 (25% liquid): Soken Chemical Co., Ltd.) Toluene 30 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 30 parts

Example 2 (Method for producing indirect transfer medium) On a 100 μm thick biaxially stretched polyethylene terephthalate film, the following deformable layer forming resin B was formed by extrusion coating to a thickness of 30 μm, and the deformable The layer was subjected to corona discharge treatment, and the image-image-receiving layer forming liquid B was applied thereon by a wire bar coating method and then dried to successively provide the image-receiving layer having a thickness of 1 μm. <Deformable layer forming resin B> Ethylene methacrylic acid copolymer resin (Nucrel 1108C: manufactured by Mitsui DuPont Polychemical) <Image receiving layer forming liquid B> Stem chain composition Polymethylmethacrylate branch chain composition Poly (N-methylolacrylamide / 2 -Hydroxyethyl methacrylate) 40 parts (comb-type polymer L-40M (25% liquid): Soken Chemical Co., Ltd.) Toluene 30 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 30 parts

Example 3 (Method for manufacturing indirect transfer medium) On a 100 μm thick biaxially stretched polyethylene terephthalate film, the following deformable layer forming resin C was formed to a thickness of 20 μm by an extrusion coating method, and the deformable The layers were subjected to corona discharge treatment, and the image receiving layer forming liquid C was applied thereon by a wire bar coating method and then dried, and the layers were sequentially formed so that the thickness of the image receiving layer was 3 μm. <Deformable layer forming resin C> Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer resin (EVAFLEX-250: manufactured by Mitsui DuPont Polychemical) <Image receiving layer forming liquid C> Stem chain composition Poly (methyl methacrylate / hydroxyethyl methacrylate) Branch chain composition Poly N-methylol acrylamide 40 parts (comb-type polymer LH-448 (25% liquid): manufactured by Soken Chemical Co., Ltd.) Toluene 30 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 30 parts

Example 4 (Method for producing indirect transfer medium) A resin A for forming a deformable layer was extruded on a biaxially stretched polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of 100 μm to have a thickness of 50.
The thickness of the image receiving layer is 1 μm, and the deformable layer is subjected to corona discharge treatment, the image receiving layer forming liquid B is applied onto the deformable layer by a wire bar coating method, and then dried. Provided.

Example 5 (Method for producing indirect transfer medium) A resin B for forming a deformable layer was extruded onto a biaxially stretched polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of 100 μm to give a thickness of 60.
The thickness of the image receiving layer is 2 μm, and the deformable layer is subjected to corona discharge treatment, and the image receiving layer forming liquid C is applied onto the layer by a wire bar coating method and then dried. Provided.

Example 6 (Method for producing indirect transfer medium) A resin C for forming a deformable layer was extruded onto a biaxially stretched polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of 100 μm to give a thickness of 30.
The thickness of the image receiving layer is 1 μm. The deformable layer is subjected to corona discharge treatment, and the image receiving layer forming liquid A is applied onto the deformable layer by a wire bar coating method and then dried so that the image receiving layer has a thickness of 1 μm. Provided.

Comparative Example 1 (Method for manufacturing indirect transfer medium) On a 100 μm thick biaxially stretched polyethylene terephthalate film, the following deformable layer forming resin D was formed by extrusion coating to a thickness of 30 μm, and the deformable The image-receiving layer forming liquid D was applied onto the layers by a wire bar coating method and then dried to successively provide the image-receiving layer having a thickness of 1 μm. <Deformable layer forming resin D> Ionomer resin (Himilan AM-7902: manufactured by Mitsui DuPont Polychemical) <Image image receiving layer forming liquid D> Polyester resin 10 parts (Vylonal MD-1400: Toyobo) Isopropyl alcohol 45 parts Water 45 Department

Comparative Example 2 (Method for producing indirect transfer medium) A deformable layer having a thickness of 40 μm was formed by extrusion coating using a resin D for forming a deformable layer described below on a biaxially stretched polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of 100 μm. Was set up. <Deformable layer forming resin D> Ionomer resin (HIMIRAN AM-7208: manufactured by Mitsui DuPont Polychemical)

Using the above-described indirect transfer medium (Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2), the following thermal-melting type melt-type thermal transfer recording material and thermal transfer recording apparatus, and a laminator as a retransfer apparatus were used. The printing test was conducted and the evaluation results are shown in Table 1.・ Fusion type thermal transfer recording material: Alps Electric ink cassette, for paper, black (MDC-FLCK) ink cassette, for paper, yellow (MDC-FLCY) ink cassette, for paper, magenta (MDC-FLCM) ink cassette, for paper・ Cyan (MDC-FLCC) ・ Thermal transfer recording device: Alps Electric, Micro Dry Process Printer MD-2000S ・ Laminator: Nippon Paper, Star Proof Laminator SPL-005 Roll temperature: 110 ℃ Transport speed: 400mm / min ・ Image reception Body: coated paper (Oken type smoothness 5000 seconds), PPC paper (Oken type smoothness 50 seconds), newsprint (Oken type smoothness 20)
Seconds) 3 types

[0036]

[Table 1]

[0037]

As is clear from Table 1, by using the thermal transfer recording method and the indirect transfer medium of the present invention, only a recorded image can be recorded on various image receivers having different surface smoothness, and the texture of the image receiver can be obtained. High quality recording can be done without loss.

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masahide Takano 1551 Higashidaira, Higashimatsuyama-shi, Saitama, Japan Image Technology Center

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A deformable layer which is deformed under heat and / or pressure on a support, and has adhesiveness to an image formed by fusion type thermal transfer recording and retransferability of the transferred image to an image receiver. And an indirect transfer medium having an image receiving layer having an image-receiving layer in this order, and an ink layer of a melt-type thermal transfer recording material having a melt-heat transferable ink layer containing a binder containing a thermoplastic resin as a main component on a support. Then, imagewise heating is performed from the back surface of the melt-type thermal transfer image material or the back surface of the indirect transfer medium, and the melt-type thermal transfer recording material is peeled off from the indirect transfer medium before the ink is cooled and fixed to form the image receiving layer of the indirect transfer medium. A thermal transfer recording method, comprising forming an image and then retransferring only the image onto an image receptor. 2. The softening temperature of the material used for the deformable layer is −100 ° C. or higher under the standard test conditions of JIS K 6730 90
The indirect transfer medium used in the thermal transfer recording method according to claim 1, wherein the indirect transfer medium is composed of an organic polymer substance having a temperature of not higher than ° C. 3. The elongation at break of the material used for the deformable layer is 400% or more under the standard test conditions of JIS K 6760.
The indirect transfer medium according to claim 2, wherein the indirect transfer medium is composed of 1000% or less of an organic polymer material. 4. An acrylic polymer resin whose main component is methyl methacrylate and / or hydroxyethyl methacrylate, and hydroxyethyl methacrylate and / or N-methylol acrylamide are grafted onto an organic polymer substance component which constitutes the image receiving layer. The indirect transfer medium according to claim 2 or 3, which contains a copolymerized substance.