JPH0930126A - Ink sheet and transfer printed matter forming method using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain printing having a three-dimensional feeling by providing an ink layer containing thermally expansible particles obtained by filling microcapsules filled with a thermal expanding material on one surface of a base sheet. SOLUTION: The base sheet 11 of an ink sheet 10 utilized as the transfer ink ribbon of a label printer in a long tape state is composed of a synthetic resin such as polyethylene terephthalate or polypropylene and an ink layer 14 is provided on the surface of the base sheet 11 through a surface treatment layer 12 and a release agent layer 13. The ink layer 14 is formed from a compsn. prepared by mixing inorg. or org. pigment 16 and additives such as a plasticizer or the like and thermal expansible particles 17 with a binder 15 composed of a rubbery resin or an acrylic resin and the thermal expansible particles 17 are obtained by filling microcapsules 17a composed of thermal expansible material quality with a thermal expansible material 17b and, as the thermal expansible material 17b, a low m.p. material evaporated at heating temp. or lower at a time of thermal transfer is used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink sheet and a transfer printed matter forming method using the ink sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of a conventional ink sheet used for a transfer ink ribbon for a label printer. In this ink sheet, the ink layer 4 is provided on the surface of the base sheet 1 via the surface treatment layer 2 and the release agent layer 3, and the transferred sheet 6 is peeled off on the surface of the ink layer 4 via the adhesive layer 5. It is pasted as possible. Among them, the surface treatment layer 2 enhances the adhesion between the base sheet 1 and the release agent layer 3 to facilitate the peeling of the ink layer 4 from the release agent layer 3 as described later. belongs to.

In the case of forming a transfer printed matter using this ink sheet, first, by heating while applying pressure from the back side of the base sheet 1 with a thermal transfer roll or a thermal head, the ink layer 4 of the heated portion is formed. Is thermally transferred to the back surface of the transfer target sheet 6 together with the adhesive layer 5 of FIG.
After that, when the transferred sheet 6 is peeled off from the base sheet 1, the heated ink layer 4 is peeled off from the release agent layer 3 together with the adhesive layer 5 at that portion. As a result, a transfer printed matter in which characters or the like are printed on the back surface of the transfer sheet 6 by the ink layer 4 thermally transferred is formed.

[0004]

By the way, in the case of this conventional ink sheet, since the ink layer 4 is simply thermally transferred onto the transferred sheet 6, the printing of characters and the like is flat, I was not able to create a three-dimensional effect that was visually appealing, such as a floating letter or a floating pattern. An object of the present invention is to obtain a print with a three-dimensional effect.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the ink sheet according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises an ink layer containing thermally expandable particles obtained by filling a thermally expandable material in microcapsules. It is provided on one surface of the base sheet. A method for forming a transfer printed matter using the ink sheet according to claim 6, wherein an ink layer containing thermal expansion particles formed by filling a thermal expansion material in microcapsules is provided on one surface of the base sheet. A sheet is used, and the ink layer is thermally transferred onto the surface of the material to be printed in a state where the thermally expanded particles are thermally expanded to form a transferred printed material.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, since the ink layer is thermally transferred to the surface of the material to be printed in a state where the thermally expanded particles are thermally expanded, it corresponds to the thermal expansion degree of the thermally expanded particles. The heat-transferred ink layer can be raised by the amount corresponding to the increase in the amount, and therefore, a three-dimensional impression can be obtained.

[0007]

1 is a cross-sectional view of an ink sheet according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing an ink sheet used as a transfer ink ribbon of a label printer in the form of a long tape, for example. The base sheet 11 of this ink sheet is made of synthetic resin such as polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene and polyethylene. Base sheet 1
An ink layer 14 is provided on the surface of No. 1 via a surface treatment layer 12 and a release agent layer 13. Of these, the surface treatment layer 12 improves the adhesiveness between the base sheet 11 and the release agent layer 13 in the same manner as in the conventional case, and thus the release agent layer 1
It is for facilitating the peeling of the ink layer 14 from No. 3. Instead of the surface treatment layer 12, a coat layer formed by a primer treatment may be provided. The release agent layer 13 may be made of either a silicon-based material or a non-silicon-based material.

The ink layer 14 includes a binder 15 made of a rubber-based, acrylic-based, urethane-based, vinyl-based resin or the like, a pigment 16 made of an inorganic pigment or an organic pigment, an additive (not shown) such as a plasticizer, and heat. The expansive particles 17 are mixed and have a thickness of about 10 to 30 μm. The thermal expansion particles 17 are, as shown in the enlarged portion in FIG.
A microcapsule 17a made of a material capable of thermal expansion is filled with a thermal expansion material 17b.

The thermal expansion material 17b is made of a low-melting material which is in a liquid or solid state at room temperature and vaporizes at a heating temperature or lower during thermal transfer. Specifically, the general chemical formula C _n
A straight chain saturated hydrocarbon represented by H _{2n + 2} , having an n value of 5
The above liquid or solid hydrocarbons are used. n
The reason why a hydrocarbon having a value of 5 or more is used is as follows. For example, in the case of n = 4, butane has a boiling point as low as 0 ° C. or lower, so that it is difficult to make it in a liquid or solid state at room temperature. In contrast, the boiling point of pentane with n = 5 is 36.1 ° C and the boiling point of hexane with n = 6 is 68.74 ° C. Therefore, a hydrocarbon having n = 5 or more can be in a liquid or solid state at room temperature. Even if the hydrocarbon has an n value of 5 or more, its boiling point is somewhat higher than room temperature, for example, 50.
A temperature of ℃ or above is desirable.

On the surface of the ink layer 14, an adhesive layer 18 made of a resin having excellent transfer processability such as an acrylic type, urethane type, vinyl type, polyethylene, polypropylene chloride, polyester type is formed. A transfer sheet 19 is releasably attached to the surface.
An adhesive layer 20 is provided on the surface of the transferred sheet 19,
A release sheet 21 is releasably attached to the surface of the adhesive layer 20.

Next, a case of forming a transfer printed matter using the ink sheet 10 will be described. First, when heat is applied from the back surface side of the base sheet 11 while applying pressure by the thermal transfer roll 30, the heated ink layer 14 is thermally transferred to the back surface of the transfer sheet 19 together with the adhesive layer 18 of this portion. The temperature at the time of thermal transfer in this case is 50 if the boiling point of the thermal expansion material 17b is 50 ° C. or higher.
C or higher. Then, the thermal expansion material 17b filled in the microcapsules 17a of the thermal expansion particles 17 in the thermally transferred ink layer 14 is vaporized and expanded, so that the volume thereof is increased by about 10 to 100 times. In this case, the microcapsules 17a also expand without being destroyed.
After that, when the transfer sheet 19 is peeled off from the base sheet 11, the heated ink layer 14 is peeled off from the release agent layer 13 together with the adhesive layer 18 at that portion. This allows
On the back surface of the transfer-receiving sheet 19, a transfer printed matter on which characters and the like are printed is formed by the ink layer 14 thermally transferred.
In this case, the thermally expanded particles 1 in the thermally transferred ink layer 14
7 is settled to the size when its volume is increased to some extent. Therefore, the ink layer 14 that has been thermally transferred is heat-transferred by an amount corresponding to the increase in volume of the heat-expansion particles 17 (corresponding to the degree of thermal expansion).
Is raised, and as a result, a three-dimensional print 31 such as a floating character or a floating pattern is obtained.

By the way, in the transfer print thus obtained, the release sheet 21 is attached to the surface of the transfer sheet 19 via the adhesive layer 20. Then, the transfer printed matter obtained as described above is cut into a required length, and the release sheet 21 is peeled off and removed from the obtained product, and the adhesive layer 2 is formed on the surface of the transferred sheet 19.
You can get the stripped 0. Therefore, the transfer sheet 19 thus obtained is attached to the adhesive layer 20.
It can be attached to the back cover of the cassette via the.

In the above embodiment, the ink sheet 1 is used.
Although the sheet having the transferred sheet 19 and the release sheet 21 in advance has been described as 0, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, among those shown in FIG. 1, the adhesive layer 20 and the release sheet 21 may be omitted. In this case, the transferred sheet 19 obtained by cutting after the thermal transfer can be placed along the spine of the cassette or can be attached with an adhesive such as glue. Further, it may not have the adhesive layer 18 and the transfer target sheet 19. However, in this case, the adhesive layer 18
By mixing an adhesive of the same quality as the ink layer 14,
The ink layer 14 itself has adhesiveness. By doing so, it is possible to directly perform thermal transfer to the surface of the printing object such as a notebook. Further, in the state shown in FIG. 1, the ink layer 14 and the adhesive layer 18 may be mixed.

[0014]

As described above, in the ink sheet according to the present invention, since the ink layer is thermally transferred to the surface of the material to be printed in the state where the thermally expanded particles are thermally expanded, the thermal expansion degree of the thermally expanded particles is high. The heat-transferred ink layer can be raised by the amount corresponding to the amount, and therefore, a three-dimensional printing can be obtained, which is effective for printing as emphasized characters.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view showing a part of an ink sheet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional ink sheet.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Ink Sheet 11 Base Sheet 12 Surface Treatment Layer 13 Release Agent Layer 14 Ink Layer 17 Thermal Expansion Particles 17a Microcapsules 17b Thermal Expansion Material 18, 20 Adhesive Layer 19 Transferred Sheet 21 Release Sheet 31 Printing

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An ink sheet comprising an ink layer containing thermal expansion particles, which is obtained by filling a thermal expansion material in microcapsules, on one surface of a base sheet. 2. The ink sheet according to claim 1, wherein the thermal expansion material is made of a low melting point material which is in a liquid or solid state at room temperature and is vaporized at a temperature equal to or lower than a heating temperature during thermal transfer. 3. The ink sheet according to claim 2, wherein the thermal expansion material is represented by a general chemical formula C _n H _{2n + 2} and is composed of a hydrocarbon having n of 5 or more. 4. The ink sheet according to claim 1, wherein a transfer-receiving sheet is attached to the surface of the ink layer via an adhesive layer. 5. The ink sheet according to claim 4, wherein a release sheet is attached to the surface of the transfer sheet via an adhesive layer. 6. An ink sheet comprising an ink layer containing thermal expansion particles, which is obtained by filling a thermal expansion material in microcapsules, is provided on one surface of a base sheet, wherein the ink layer comprises the thermal expansion particles. A transfer printed material forming method comprising forming a transfer printed material by thermally transferring to a surface of an object to be printed in a state of being thermally expanded. 7. The ink sheet according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the ink layer is thermally transferred onto the surface of a printing target material in a state where the thermal expansion particles are thermally expanded to form a transfer printing material. Transfer printed material forming method. 8. The transfer sheet is formed by using the ink sheet according to claim 4 or 5, and thermally transferring the ink layer to the back surface of the transfer target sheet in a state where the thermal expansion particles are thermally expanded. A method for forming a transfer printed matter.