JPH10244767A - Heat transfer image receiving sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heat transfer image receiving sheet which is free from the deterioration of dye transferability in a receptive layer and the generation of transfer irregularities and also is free from the lowering of tensile strength or tear strength, and shows uniform and easy coloring and high resolution, and further the capability of strictly matching the hues of not only a photographic but also a non-photographic part to those of samples. SOLUTION: In the heat transfer image receiving sheet comprising an intermediate layer and a receptive layer laminated in that order on at least, one of the faces of a base sheet, the intermediate layer contains two different types or more of coloring material and the reflective properties of the surface where the receptive layer is formed are such that the L, a and b values measured by a method set forth by JIS-Z8722 and indicated by a method set forth by JIS-Z8730 fall within the range of L=87-94, a=-2.5-2 and b=3.5-7.5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer image receiving sheet which is used by being superimposed on a thermal transfer sheet. More specifically, the present invention can form a high-density and high-resolution image, adjust the hue of the image receiving sheet surface, and stabilize the image. And a heat transfer image receiving sheet capable of maintaining the hue.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various thermal transfer recording methods are conventionally known. Among them, a sublimation transfer dye is used as a recording agent.
From a thermal transfer sheet carrying this on a base sheet such as a polyester film, a transfer-receiving material dyeable with a sublimation dye,
For example, a sublimation transfer dye is thermally transferred on a thermal transfer image receiving sheet having a dye receiving layer formed on paper or a plastic film,
Various methods for forming full-color images have been proposed. In this case, a thermal head of a printer is used as the heating means, and the heating is performed for an extremely short time.
In this method, a large number of color dots of four or four colors whose heating amounts are adjusted are transferred to a receiving layer of a thermal transfer image receiving sheet, and the multicolored dots reproduce full color of an original. The image formed in this way is very clear and excellent in transparency because the coloring material used is a dye, so the obtained image is excellent in reproducibility and gradation of intermediate colors, It is possible to form a high-quality image which is similar to an image obtained by offset printing or gravure printing and is comparable to a full-color photographic image.

[0003] Utilizing the high quality image obtained by the sublimation transfer recording, it has begun to be used as a printed matter for calibration of various printings such as gravure printing, offset printing, screen printing and the like. Conventionally, a printed matter for proofreading is produced by printing with a proofing ink in the same printing conditions as in the final printing in order to match the hue of a printed product with an image or the like, and then drying and producing it. However, according to the above-described sublimation transfer recording method, there is no need for a printing plate or proofing ink, and if there is an original image of an image to be printed, the image is converted into an electric signal, and the thermal transfer sheet and the thermal transfer image receiving sheet are converted. Combined and printed with a thermal transfer printer, a printed matter for calibration can be easily obtained. In addition to the above-described printed matter for calibration, printed matter of sublimation transfer recording is also used as an alternative to a final printed product such as gravure printing or offset printing.

[0004]

The printed matter obtained by the above-described sublimation transfer recording method is required to exactly match the resolution and the hue of not only the printed portion but also the non-printed portion to the sample. ing. That is, a printed matter of sublimation transfer recording that can be regarded as the same as the sample product in the finished state is necessary, and the hue (ground color) of the image receiving surface of the thermal transfer image receiving sheet, which is a non-print portion, is changed to the hue (ground color) of the surface of the sample product Strict matching is required. On the other hand, a white pigment or an organic or inorganic coloring material may be added to the receiving layer of the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet to match the ground color of the sample, but the dye in the receiving layer is mixed by adding these additives. However, there is a problem that the transferability of the toner image is deteriorated and uneven transfer occurs.

[0005] In addition, coloring a base sheet of a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet by adding a white pigment or an organic or inorganic coloring material can be mentioned. However, it is difficult to uniformly color the entire width of the base sheet. In addition, there is a problem that the tensile strength and the tear strength of the base sheet are reduced. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-206095 by the present applicant discloses that a receiving layer or an intermediate layer of a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet contains a white pigment, a blue dye and a red dye to obtain an image-receiving sheet having excellent whiteness. Have been. However, there is a problem that this method cannot exactly match the ground color of a sample product having a slightly gray tint. Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, does not reduce the transferability of the dye in the receiving layer, does not cause transfer unevenness, etc., can be easily colored uniformly, and can be easily tensioned. An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet capable of strictly adjusting the resolution and the hue of the non-printing portion as well as the printing portion without lowering the strength and tearing strength, without fail.

[0006]

That is, the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet of the present invention is a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet comprising an intermediate layer and a receiving layer laminated on at least one surface of a base sheet in this order. Contains two or more types of coloring materials,
And the reflection characteristic of the surface provided with the receiving layer is JIS-
Measured according to the method specified in Z8722, JIS-Z87
The values of L, a, and b when displayed by the method specified by 30 are L = 87 to 94, a = −2.5 to 2, and b =
It is characterized by being in the range of 3.5 to 7.5. Also,
The two or more coloring materials include a white pigment, at least one yellow pigment of a dis-azo type, a titanium oxide type, and an iron oxide type, and carbon black.

[0007]

The thermal transfer image-receiving sheet of the present invention comprises an intermediate layer and a receiving layer laminated on a base sheet in this order, and the intermediate layer contains two or more kinds of coloring materials. The reflection characteristic of the surface provided with the layer is JIS-Z872
The values of L, a and b when measured by the method specified in 2 and displayed by the method specified by JIS-Z8730 are L = 87 to 94, a = −2.5 to 2, b = 3 .5-
It is in the range of 7.5. Further, as the two or more kinds of coloring materials, it is preferable to use a white pigment, at least one yellow pigment of a dis-azo type, a titanium oxide type, and an iron oxide type, and carbon black. By doing so, the heat transfer image-receiving sheet of the present invention can be easily colored uniformly without reducing the transferability of the dye in the receiving layer or generating transfer unevenness, etc., and has a tensile strength and a tear strength. Without lowering, the resolution and the hue of the non-printing portion as well as the printing portion can be exactly matched to the sample. However, the hue of the non-printing portion has a slightly gray tint, and is, for example, the ground color of printed paper used for overseas magazines, catalogs, and the like.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet of the present invention. The thermal transfer image-receiving sheet of the present invention, on at least one surface of the substrate sheet,
In a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet in which an intermediate layer and a receiving layer are laminated in this order, the intermediate layer contains two or more kinds of coloring materials, and the reflection characteristic of the surface provided with the receiving layer is JI.
Measured according to the method specified in S-Z8722, JIS-Z
L when displayed by the method specified by 8730,
When the values of a and b are L = 87 to 94, a = −2.5 to 2,
b = 3.5-7.5.

(Substrate Sheet) The substrate sheet has a role of holding the receptor layer, and has a mechanical strength that does not hinder handling even in a heated state since heat is applied during thermal transfer. Is preferred. The material of such a base sheet is not particularly limited. For example, condenser paper, glassine paper, parchment paper, or high-size paper, synthetic paper (polyolefin-based, polystyrene-based), woodfree paper, art paper, coated paper , Cast coated paper, wallpaper, backing paper, synthetic resin or emulsion impregnated paper, synthetic rubber latex impregnated paper, synthetic resin internal paper, paperboard, etc., cellulose fiber paper, or polyester, polyacrylate, polycarbonate, polyurethane, polyimide, polyether Imide, cellulose derivative, polyethylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, polypropylene, polystyrene, acrylic, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl butyral, nylon, polyetheretherketone, polysulfone, Liether sulfone, tetrafluoroethylene perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether, polyvinyl fluoride, tetrafluoroethylene ethylene, tetrafluoroethylene hexafluoropropylene, polychlorotrifluoroethylene, polyvinylidene fluoride and the like films, A white opaque film formed by adding a white pigment or a filler to these synthetic resins or a foamed foam sheet can also be used.
There is no particular limitation.

[0010] A laminate made of any combination of the above base sheets can also be used. As an example of a typical laminated body, there is a synthetic paper of cellulose fiber paper and synthetic paper or a synthetic paper of cellulose fiber paper and plastic film. The thickness of these substrate sheets may be arbitrary, and is usually 10 to 3
It is about 00 μm. When the adhesion between the base sheet and the layer provided thereon is poor, it is preferable to perform various primer treatments or corona discharge treatment on the surface of the base sheet.

(Intermediate layer) The intermediate layer formed on the base sheet is mainly for the purpose of coloring the image receiving surface and concealing the base sheet. And other additives as necessary, and a resin as a binder. Examples of suitable resins for forming the intermediate layer include polyurethane resins, acrylic resins, polyester resins, thermoplastic resins such as polycarbonate resins, or partially crosslinked resins thereof, crosslinkable polyurethane resins,
Thermosetting resins such as epoxy resins, melamine resins, and urea resins are exemplified.

The two or more types of color materials include, for example, a combination of a yellow color material and a black color material, a red color material and a black color material, and a combination of a yellow color material, a red color material and a blue color material. Examples of the yellow color material include dis-azo pigments, titanium oxide pigments, and iron oxide pigments. I. Pigment Yellow 83 is preferably used. Examples of the black color material include carbon black. For the red color material and the blue color material, conventionally known pigments can be used. It is preferable to add 0.01 to 10 parts by weight of such a coloring material per 100 parts by weight of the resin forming the intermediate layer. In particular, it is preferable to add 0.05 to 0.10 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the intermediate layer resin. As the white pigment, inorganic pigments such as titanium oxide, zinc oxide, barium sulfate, and alumina white, and extender pigments such as kaolin clay, silica, magnesium carbonate, and calcium carbonate can be used alone or in combination. In the present invention, in order to give the image receiving surface a slightly grayish hue, it is preferable to use a rutile-type titanium oxide which is a white pigment having a slightly blue tint. It is preferable to add 100 to 300 parts by weight of the white pigment per 100 parts by weight of the resin forming the intermediate layer. In particular, it is preferable to add 250 to 320 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the intermediate layer resin.

When the intermediate layer contains two or more kinds of coloring materials, and the surface reflection characteristics of the image receiving surface are measured by the method specified in JIS-Z8722 and displayed by the method specified in JIS-Z8730. L, a, and b of L =
87-94, a = -2.5-2, b = 3.5-7.5. The hue of the non-printing area as well as the printing area
The values of L, a, and b are L = 91 to 93, a = −0.9 to specifically match the sample product, and in particular, to make the hue of a non-printed part having a slightly gray tint. −0.4, b =
A range of 4 to 5.5 is preferable because the hue is closer to that of a sample product. Here, JIS-Z8722 and J
According to the method defined in IS-Z8730, the color tone of the measurement object is represented by three values of L, a, and b. L represents lightness, and a larger value indicates higher lightness. Further, a indicates redness, and a larger value indicates a stronger reddish color. A negative value indicates that the reddishness is insufficient, in other words, a greenishness is stronger. Further, the b value is an index of yellow tint, and when this value is large, it indicates that yellow tint is strong, and when it is-(minus), it indicates that yellow tint is insufficient and blue. If both a and b are 0, it means colorless.

As a method for forming the intermediate layer, the resin as described above, two or more kinds of coloring materials, a white pigment and other additives as necessary are added to acetone, ethyl acetate, methyl ethyl ketone, toluene, xylene, cyclohexanone or the like. A coating solution is prepared by dissolving and dispersing in a suitable organic solvent, and the coating solution is prepared by, for example, gravure printing, screen printing, or a reverse roll coating method using a gravure plate. Then, it is coated and dried, and then, if necessary, crosslinked and cured to form an intermediate layer. The thickness of the intermediate layer formed in this manner is about 0.5 to 10 g / m ² , more preferably 1 to
6 g / m ² is preferred. If the thickness of the intermediate layer is too small, the performance required for the intermediate layer cannot be obtained. On the other hand, if the thickness is too large, the effect as the intermediate layer is not improved any more, and the printing sensitivity is undesirably lowered.

(Receiving Layer) The receiving layer provided on the substrate is
This is to receive the dye transferred from the thermal transfer sheet when heated and to maintain the formed image. Examples of the resin for forming the receiving layer include polyolefin resins such as polypropylene, halogenated polymers such as polyvinyl chloride and polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl acetate, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, and vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer. Coalescence, vinyl resins such as polyacrylester, acetal resins such as polyvinyl formal, polyvinyl butyral, and polyvinyl acetal, various saturated / unsaturated polyester resins, polycarbonate resins, cellulose resins such as cellulose acetate, polystyrene, acryl-styrene Copolymer, styrene resin such as acrylonitrile styrene copolymer, urea resin, melamine resin, polyamide resin such as benzoguanamine resin,
And the like. These resins can be arbitrarily blended and used within a compatible range.

When the binder resin of the intermediate layer has active hydrogen such as a hydroxyl group or a carboxyl group, a curing agent that reacts with the active hydrogen is added to the receiving layer, so that the intermediate layer and the receiving layer may not react with each other. Adhesion can be improved. As such a curing agent, conventionally known isocyanate compounds, amino compounds, and organometallic compounds are preferable. In order to increase the reaction rate of these curing agents, a catalyst suitable for each of them can be used. The addition amount of the curing agent varies depending on the type, but is preferably the minimum amount that can adhere to the intermediate layer.

The above-mentioned receiving layer resin may be fused with a dye binder resin which holds a dye during thermal transfer in image formation. It is preferable to internally add various release agents such as an activator, a fluorine compound, a fluorine resin, a silicone compound, a silicone oil, and a silicone resin into the receiving layer, and in particular, those obtained by adding a modified silicone oil and curing. preferable. The addition amount of the release agent varies depending on the type, but the performance of the release agent is sufficiently exhibited when the layer solid content of the release agent is about 1 to 20 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the resin solid content. The lowest amount given is preferred. When a modified silicone oil having a reactive group capable of reacting with the curing agent is added to the modified silicone oil, the equivalent of the reactive group between the modified silicone oil and the curing agent is adjusted to 1: 1 to 1:10.
Is preferably within the range. Further, a layer composed of the above-mentioned release agent or a layer in which the above-mentioned release agent is mixed with a binder resin without being internally added to the receiving layer may be laminated as a release layer on the receiving layer.

The above-mentioned receiving layer is formed by dissolving a resin obtained by adding necessary additives to a suitable organic solvent or dispersing a dispersion, for example, by a gravure printing method, a screen printing method, or a gravure plate. It is formed by applying and drying by a forming means such as a reverse roll coating method. The receiving layer formed as described above may have any thickness, but generally has a thickness of 1 to 50 μm when dried.

(Slip Layer) A slip layer can also be provided on the back surface of the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet for the purpose of improving the mechanical transportability of the sheet and preventing curling. In order to improve the transportability, it is preferable to add an appropriate amount of an organic or inorganic filler to the binder resin, or to use a highly slippery resin such as a polyolefin resin or a cellulose resin. This slip layer is an acrylic filler as an additive in a resin such as an acrylic resin, a cellulose resin, a polycarbonate resin, a polyvinyl acetal resin, a polyvinyl alcohol resin, a polyamide resin, a polystyrene resin, a polyester resin, and a halogenated polymer. And organic fillers such as nylon-based fillers, Teflon-based fillers and polyethylene wax, and inorganic fillers such as silicon dioxide and metal oxides. Among them, acrylic resins are preferred, and acrylic polyols are most preferred. Further, it is preferable to use an acrylic polyol cured with a curing agent.

The slip layer is formed by adding the above-mentioned resin and filler arbitrarily, kneading the mixture sufficiently with a solvent, a diluting liquid or the like to produce a coating liquid, and forming an intermediate layer on the other surface of the base sheet. Similarly to the layer forming means, it is obtained by applying and drying by a forming means such as a gravure printing method, a screen printing method, and a reverse roll coating method using a gravure plate. The receiving layer formed as described above may have any thickness, but generally has a thickness of 1 to 10 μm when dried.

(Easy Adhesion Layer) An easy adhesion layer made of an adhesive resin such as an acrylate resin, a polyurethane resin or a polyester resin may be provided on the surface and / or the back surface of the base sheet. The easy-adhesion layer is prepared by preparing a coating liquid from the above-mentioned resin, and applying a gravure printing method, a screen printing method, a reverse roll coating method using a gravure plate, etc. on the surface and / or the back surface of the base sheet. By applying and drying. In addition, without providing the above-described coating layer, the surface and / or the back surface of the base sheet may be subjected to corona discharge treatment to enhance the adhesiveness between the base sheet and the layer provided thereon.

(Antistatic Layer) An antistatic layer may be provided on at least one of the outermost surfaces of the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet. As the antistatic layer, a method of applying a solution in which a fatty acid ester, a sulfate ester, a phosphate ester, an amide, a quaternary ammonium salt, a betaine, an amino acid, an ethylene oxide adduct, or the like is dissolved or dispersed in a solvent is applied. . Furthermore, a group having an antistatic effect such as a quaternary ammonium salt type, a phosphoric acid type, an ethosulfate type, a vinylpyrrolidone type or a sulfonic acid type is introduced or copolymerized into a resin such as an acrylic resin, a vinyl resin or a cellulose resin. The conductive resin may be applied. The coating amount of the antistatic layer is 0.001 to
It is preferably 0.1 g / m ² . Also, various kinds of processing other than coating, for example, a method such as spraying and transfer may be used. By providing the above-described antistatic layer, the obtained thermal transfer image-receiving sheet has excellent antistatic performance before printing, and it is possible to prevent feeding failure such as inserting two sheets.

As the thermal transfer sheet used for thermal transfer using the thermal transfer image receiving sheet as described above, in addition to the sublimation type thermal transfer sheet used in the sublimation transfer recording system, a pigment or the like is supported by a binder which melts the pigment and the like. A hot-melt type thermal transfer sheet may be used in which the hot-melt ink layer thus formed is formed and applied on a base sheet, and the entire ink layer is transferred to an object to be transferred by heating. As the means for applying thermal energy during thermal transfer, any conventionally known means for applying heat can be used. For example, the recording time is controlled by a recording device such as a thermal printer (for example, a video printer VY-100 manufactured by Hitachi, Ltd.). By doing, 5-1
By applying heat energy of about 00 mJ / mm ² , the intended purpose can be sufficiently achieved.

[0024]

The present invention will be described more specifically below with reference to examples and comparative examples using the present invention. Parts and% are based on weight unless otherwise specified. (Example 1) As a base sheet, an OK coat 157 g / m ² manufactured by Shin-Oji Paper Co., Ltd. was used as a support, and a foamed polypropylene film (Toyobo Co., Ltd. ) P4256, 60μ
m) is used. On one surface of the base sheet, an intermediate layer and a receiving layer having the following composition are laminated in this order. However, the coating amount of the intermediate layer was 3 g / m ^{2 in} a dry state, and the coating amount of the receiving layer was 4 g / m ^{2 in} a dry state.

Coating liquid for intermediate layer 1 Chlorinated polypropylene resin 14 parts (Hardlen B-13: Toyo Kasei Co., Ltd.) Titanium oxide 42 parts (TCR-30 rutile type: Tochem Products Co., Ltd.) I. Pigment Yellow 83 0.01 parts Carbon black 0.01 parts Toluene 38 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 6 parts

Coating liquid for receptor layer Vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer resin 7.2 parts (Denka vinyl # 1000A: Denki Kagaku Kogyo KK) Vinyl chloride-styrene-acryl copolymer resin 1.6 parts (Denka Rack # 400A: Denki Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. Polyester resin (Byron 600: Toyobo Co., Ltd.) 11.2 parts Vinyl-modified silicon 2.0 parts (X-6-1212: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) Catalyst ( CAT-PLR-5: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. 1.0 part Catalyst (CAT-PL-50T: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) 1.5 parts Toluene 39 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 39 parts

Next, an easy-adhesion layer and a slip layer having the following compositions are laminated in this order on the other surface of the base sheet.
However, the coating amount of the easy-adhesion layer was 0.1 g / m ^{2 in} a dry state, and the coating amount of the slip layer was 4 g / m ^{2 in} a dry state. Coating liquid polyurethane resin for easy adhesion layer (N-5199: Nippon Polyurethane Industry Co., Ltd.) 10 parts Polyisocyanate 2 parts (Coronate L-75: Nippon Polyurethane Industry Co., Ltd.) Toluene 45 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 43 parts

Slip layer coating liquid Acrylic polyol resin 20 parts (Acrydic 47-538: Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc.) Isocyanate curing agent (Takenate A-14: Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) 2 parts Nylon fine particles (Orgasol 2002: Nippon Rilsan) 0.1 part Catalyst (S-CAT24: Three-sharing machine synthesis) 0.1 part Toluene 40 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 40 parts

Further, an antistatic layer having the following composition on both the front and back surfaces is dried on the outermost surface of the front and back surfaces of the thermal transfer image receiving sheet having the above-mentioned constitution of the receiving layer / intermediate layer / base sheet / adhesive layer / slip layer. In this state, the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet of Example 1 was prepared by providing a coating amount of 1.5 g / m ² . Coating solution for antistatic layer Antistatic agent (TB-34: Matsumoto Yushi Seiyaku) 1 part Isopropanol 1000 parts

Example 2 A thermal transfer image-receiving sheet of Example 2 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the coating liquid 1 for the intermediate layer in Example 1 was changed to a coating liquid 2 having the following composition. . Coating liquid 2 for intermediate layer 2 Acrylic resin 50 parts (Nicazole FX337C: Nippon Carbide Industry Co., Ltd.) Rutile-type titanium oxide 50 parts (Color paste white conch RN: Tope Co., Ltd.) Iron oxide (Color paste oxide yellow N: 0.40 part Carbon black 0.20 part (Color paste Super Black NN: Tope Corporation) 70 parts water

(Comparative Example 1) A thermal transfer image-receiving sheet of Comparative Example 1 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the intermediate layer coating liquid 1 of Example 1 was changed to a coating liquid 3 having the following composition. . Coating liquid for intermediate layer 3 Chlorinated polypropylene resin 14 parts (Hardlen B-13: Toyo Kasei Co., Ltd.) Titanium oxide 42 parts (TCR-30 rutile type: Tochem Products Co., Ltd.) I. Pigment Yellow 83 0.01 parts Toluene 38 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 6 parts

Comparative Example 2 A thermal transfer image-receiving sheet of Comparative Example 2 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the coating liquid 1 for the intermediate layer in Example 1 was changed to a coating liquid 4 having the following composition. . Coating liquid for intermediate layer 4 Chlorinated polypropylene resin 14 parts (Hardlen B-13: Toyo Kasei Co., Ltd.) Titanium oxide 42 parts (TCR-30 rutile type: Tochem Products Co., Ltd.) I. Pigment Yellow 83 0.01 parts Carbon black 0.02 parts Toluene 38 parts Methyl ethyl ketone 6 parts

The reflection characteristics of the surface of each of the thermal transfer image-receiving sheets provided with the receiving layer were measured using a Minolta colorimeter CR-.
At 221, measurement was performed by the method specified in JIS-Z8722, and the values of L, a and b when displayed by the method specified in JIS-Z8730 were obtained. The ground color of the sample was also measured by the above-described method, and the ground color of the sample was visually compared with the hue of the non-printed portion of each of the image receiving sheets of Examples and Comparative Examples. did. The evaluation criteria are as follows. Hue comparison with sample ○: Compared with sample, hue can be regarded as similar. X: The hue is different from the sample.

The above measurement results and evaluation results are shown in Table 1 below.

[Table 1]

On the other hand, a dye layer ink having the following composition was prepared, and applied to a 6 μm-thick polyethylene terephthalate which had been subjected to heat treatment on the back surface by a wire bar so that the dry coating amount was 1.0 g / m ² . After drying, a few drops of silicone oil (X-41.4003A, Shin-Etsu Silicone) were spotted on the back surface, spread over the entire surface and coated on the back surface to obtain a thermal transfer sheet. Coating liquid disperse dye for dye layer formation (Kayaset Blue 714: Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd.) 4.0 parts Ethyl hydroxycellulose (Hercules) 5.0 parts Methyl ethyl ketone / toluene (weight ratio 1/1) 80.0 Parts Dioxane 10.0 parts

The thermal transfer sheet was overlaid so that the dye layer surface of the thermal transfer sheet was in contact with the receptor layer surface of the thermal transfer image receiving sheets of the above Examples and Comparative Examples, and heated from the back of the thermal transfer sheet with a thermal head. The heating condition is output 0.2W /
Dot, pulse width 12 msec. Dot width 6 dots / m
m, a cyan image was printed, and all of the images were good without any omission or color unevenness.

[0037]

Accordingly, the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet of the present invention is a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet comprising an intermediate layer and a receiving layer laminated on at least one surface of a substrate sheet in this order. The surface containing the above color material and having the receiving layer provided thereon has a reflection characteristic of JIS-Z8722.
The values of L, a, and b when measured by the method specified in JIS-Z8730 and displayed by the method specified in JIS-Z8730 are L = 87 to 94, a = -2.5 to 2, b = 3. 5-
When it is in the range of 7.5, the dye transferability of the dye in the receiving layer does not decrease, and transfer unevenness or the like does not occur, uniform coloring can be easily performed, and tensile strength and tear strength decrease. Without doing so, it is possible to exactly match the resolution and the hue of the non-printing portion as well as the printing portion with the sample.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A thermal transfer image-receiving sheet comprising an intermediate layer and a receptor layer laminated on at least one surface of a base sheet in this order, wherein the intermediate layer contains two or more types of coloring materials,
And the reflection characteristic of the surface provided with the receiving layer is JIS-
Measured according to the method specified in Z8722, JIS-Z87
The values of L, a, and b when displayed by the method specified by 30 are L = 87 to 94, a = −2.5 to 2, and b =
A thermal transfer image-receiving sheet having a thickness in the range of 3.5 to 7.5. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the two or more types of coloring materials contain a white pigment, at least one of a dis-azo-based pigment, a titanium oxide-based pigment, and an iron oxide-based pigment, and carbon black. The thermal transfer image-receiving sheet according to claim 1, wherein