JPH11198556A - Image forming material - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming material which is free from careless separation of a furnishing material and an image receiving material which are stuck to each other, or can prevent careless separation to the utmost. SOLUTION: An image forming material is prepared wherein (1) in the image forming material wherein an image can be transferred from a furnishing material to an image receiving material by applying an image-like energy light while a furnishing material containing at least a substrate and an image forming layer and an image receiving material re contained, the furnishing material and the image receiving material re made a sheet shape in which the furnishing material and the image receiving material are shuck to each other, and chamferring of 5mm of over is applied to its corner part; (2) an adhesion of the furnishing material to the image receiving material is 4 to 10 gf/cm, which is the image forming material stated in (1); (3) and the chamfering of the image forming material stated in (1) is C chamfering.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming material capable of transferring an image from a donor material to an image receiving material by irradiating high density imagewise energy light such as a laser beam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an image forming method in which a recording material is irradiated with light energy such as a laser beam so that a part of the material is dissolved and deformed, scattered, burned, or removed by evaporation. These are dry treatments that do not require treatment with chemicals and the like, and have the advantage that high contrast can be obtained by dissolving, deforming, scattering, or evaporating and removing only the light irradiation part.

[0003] An image forming material generally called a release developing film is obtained by laminating a light-heat conversion layer, an image forming layer and an adhesive layer on a support made of a transparent resin film such as polyethylene terephthalate. It is constituted by laminating a donor material and an image receiving material (transfer member) made of synthetic paper or the same resin film as the support on the donor material.

In the image formation, after the laser beam is irradiated from the side of the support, the image receiving material is peeled off from the donor material to thereby substantially reduce the bonding strength with the support. Is transferred onto the image receiving material, and a negative image is obtained on the support (on the donor material side) and a positive image is obtained on the image receiving material (on the transfer receiving material).

[0005] In the case of the image formation, the image forming layer corresponding to the irradiated portion is pulled out from the image forming layer corresponding to the non-irradiated portion to form an image. In such a case, the image forming layer is sheared. When the force is high, it is difficult to obtain a high-resolution image as compared with the case where the shearing force is low.

[0006] Therefore, it is necessary to minimize the adhesive strength between the image-forming layer or the support and the image-forming layer (that is, the donor material) and the image-receiving material (synonymous with the peel strength) as much as possible.
This is preferable for obtaining a high-resolution image.

[0007]

Therefore, the adhesion (peeling) strength capable of reproducing a high resolution (5000 dpi or more) is determined according to JIS C2107 (JIS Z0237).
Although the image forming layer and the image receiving material were linked to each other with a weak adhesion such as 4 to 10 gf / cm in the 180-degree peeling method, it was confirmed by various experiments that a new problem occurred. In other words, even if the peeling at the time of cutting is within the allowable range, the image forming material bonded and formed into a sheet may be allowed at the corners due to deformation due to unexpected impact at the time of conveyor transport in the production process after cutting or at the time of stacking. That is to say, exfoliation beyond the range occurs. As a matter of course, if the sheet is used without knowing the peeling, a desired image cannot be obtained.

In order to solve such a problem, it is conceivable to increase the adhesive strength at the expense of resolution or to increase the adhesive strength only at the outer peripheral portion of the sheet and weaken the area necessary for image formation.

However, it is not desirable to sacrifice the resolution, but the method of increasing the adhesive strength at the outer peripheral portion of the sheet is problematic in terms of performance. That is, in order to obtain a strength of about 15 g / cm, which is not problematic by a normal processing method,
A heating time of about 70 ° C. for 2 to 3 seconds is required, and it is difficult to increase the strength to the above degree in a short time by UV curing.

As a result, the production capacity (for example, 200 to 300 cuts / min) of the normal sheet processing equipment cannot be fully exhibited, and the production capacity is reduced to about 1/10.

According to the present invention, the donor material and the image receiving material bonded to each other are not deformed due to an impact on a production line such as when being conveyed by a conveyor, at the time of stacking, or at the time of use, and the sheet corners are not peeled off. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming material capable of preventing inadvertent peeling as much as possible.

[0012]

The object of the present invention has been achieved by the following means.

(1) At least a support, a donor material including an image forming layer, and an image receiving material provided on the image forming layer side, and the image receiving layer is provided with an image-like energy so as to be converted from the donor material. An image forming material capable of transferring an image to an image receiving material, wherein the donor material and the image receiving material are in the form of a sheet bonded to each other, and the corners of the image forming material are chamfered by 5 mm or more. .

(2) The image forming material according to (1), wherein the adhesive strength between the donor material and the image receiving material is 4 to 10 gf / cm.

(3) The chamfer is a C chamfer (1)
2. The image forming material according to 1.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An image formation using an image forming material according to the present invention will be briefly described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1A is a view particularly showing an example of a layer structure of an image forming material, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a donor material and an image receiving material are peeled off according to an image forming process. FIG.

Reference numeral 1 denotes an image forming material, on a support 10 made of a transparent resin film, an image forming layer 11 containing a colorant such as carbon black or graphite having a wide absorption range from the ultraviolet region to the visible and infrared regions, and the image protection. A donor material constituted by laminating the layer 12 and the adhesive layer 13;
And an image receiving material (hereinafter, also referred to as a transfer object) 14 made of the same transparent resin film as that of the support, adhered on the adhesive layer 13.

A light-to-heat conversion layer may be provided between the support and the image forming layer.
The adhesive strength can be omitted. The peel strength between the transfer object and the image forming layer or the image protective layer is JIS.
It is set at 4 to 10 gf / cm by the 180 degree peeling method of C2107 (JIS Z 0237).

When the image forming material 1 having the above structure is irradiated with high-density energy light from the support 10 side and subjected to imagewise exposure, the bonding force between the image forming layer 11 and the support 10 in the irradiated area is obtained. Decrease. Thereafter, the transfer object 14 is moved to the support 1.
When peeled from 0, since the bonding force between the image forming layer and the image receiving layer in the irradiation area is larger than the bonding force between the support and the image forming layer, the layer of the portion is peeled off together with the image receiving layer, The desired image is obtained on the support.

The support is not particularly limited as long as it is a transparent film, and each resin film such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, acrylate, methacrylate, polybutylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene is preferable. Used.

As the colorant, an inorganic or organic pigment or dye can be used in addition to the black colorant such as the carbon black. Further, by using metal atom-containing particles as a coloring material in the image forming layer, for example, ferromagnetic iron powder, ferromagnetic metal powder, etc., sensitivity, resolution is excellent, and contamination of an exposed portion on a support can be remarkably improved. .

As the binder resin in the image forming layer, a vinyl chloride resin such as polyurethane or polyester is preferably used. The content of the binder resin in the image forming layer is about 1 to 50% by weight, preferably 5 to 40% by weight in the components for forming the image forming layer. The layer may optionally contain additives such as a durability improver, a dispersant, a filler, and a curing agent.

The image protective layer can be mainly composed of a binder resin and fine particles. Examples of the resin include polyolefin resins such as polyurethane, polyester and vinyl chloride copolymer, polyvinyl acetal resins, cellulose resins, and the like. A water-soluble resin such as a phenol resin, an epoxy resin, a phenoxy resin, polyvinyl alcohol, and gelatin may be used alone or in combination of two or more.

The fine particles include carbon black,
Graphite, ZnS, ZnO, CaO, α-FeOO
Examples include inorganic fillers such as H, MgO, titanium carbide, corundum, garnet, and silicate earth, and organic fillers such as polyethylene resin particles, fluorine resin particles, acrylic resin particles, silicon resin particles, and melamine resin particles.

The adhesive layer is obtained by applying and drying the composition for forming an adhesive layer on the image protective layer, and is provided when the heat-sealable film is an object to be transferred.

As the transfer object, a resin film similar to the above-mentioned support can be used. In the case of a resin film having no heat-sealing property, the film can be laminated by laminating the film on the adhesive layer, applying heat and pressure using a heating roller or a hot stamp, and performing lamination.

For image exposure, an electromagnetic wave whose energy application area can be narrowed down, for example, a laser, a light emitting diode, a xenon flash lamp, a halogen lamp, etc. can be applied in order to obtain high resolution. Examples of the laser light source include a solid-state laser, a gas laser, and a semiconductor laser.

FIG. 2 shows a laminate of the donor material and the image receiving material.
1 illustrates a production system in which an integrated image forming material is cut into a sheet shape from a long original roll, stacked, and then transported to a predetermined location.

Reference numeral 20 denotes an image forming material 1 as described above.
An original winding part 30 for installing the original winding 21 in the form as described above is an accumulator part for conveying the original winding with the roller group 300 and absorbing a speed difference of the intermittent driving, and the position in the figure and its position. There is a dancer roller 301 that can move between the position immediately below and the position shown by the broken line. 40 is a cutting unit for forming a sheet-like image forming material from the original roll,
Two cutting blades are provided as indicated by reference numeral 400.

The cutting blade cuts the material into sheets and, at the same time, chamfers the corners of the sheets. The dimensions of the chamfer are as follows: From the intersection of the two sides forming the corners (four corners), cut a straight line (C chamfer) between the two points on each side of 5 mm or more, or use an arc with a radius of 5 mm or more. Cut (R chamfer).

There is no problem if the number is larger than the above-mentioned number. However, if it is too large, the area as the image forming section may be reduced. Therefore, it is preferable to select an appropriate size. In addition, both the C chamfering and the R chamfering are effective as long as the distance from the intersection of the two sides is 5 mm or more.

If the chamfer is less than the above-mentioned number, the occurrence rate is extremely low, but the image-receiving material (transfer-receiving material) with respect to the donor material is used.
There is a risk of peeling off.

Reference numeral 50 denotes a stacking unit for stacking cut sheets, and a plate is prepared, and a film is stacked on the plate. When the amount of accumulation reaches a predetermined amount, a plate different from the above-mentioned plate is supplied thereon, and after the stack is sandwiched between the plates, the stack is pressed from above to release air between the films.

Thereafter, it descends from the illustrated position to the position indicated by the broken line.

Then, after the plate on which the stack is placed is sent out in the next process, it returns to the position shown in the drawing and is controlled so as to be ready for the next stack.

Numeral 60 denotes a transport section for bagging the stack on the plate sent from the stacking section 50 and for transporting the film stack on the plate toward a further next step.

The trimmings are collected in the trimming section, and the image forming material from which the transferred material has peeled off at the time of trimming or subsequent transportation is detected by a detecting means ( (Not shown) and transported as a defective film to a location different from the accumulation section.

[0039]

EXAMPLE 1 A polyethylene terephthalate transparent resin film having a thickness of about 180 μm was used as a support of a donor material, and an image forming layer (1 μm) containing a colorant and an image protective layer (0.5 μm) were provided thereon.
m) and an adhesive layer is provided by laminating and drying, and a 25 μm polyethylene terephthalate transparent resin film is superimposed on the adhesive layer as an image receiving material (transfer member), and is bonded by heating and pressing. The image forming material was chamfered as shown in FIG. 3 in the cutting section of the production system.

Chamfering is performed on two sides 10 forming corners (four corners).
A straight line (103) was cut between the points on the both sides that entered the same length (L1, L1) from the intersection P of 1, 102 (this chamfering is called C chamfering).

The length (L1) from the intersection P was set to 1, 3, 5, 8, and 10 mm on each side, and the degree of peeling of the image-receiving material after transport was examined. Did not occur.

The peeling force required for peeling the transfer object and the image forming layer (via the adhesive layer if present) is one of JIS C 2107 (JIS Z 0237).
It was 4 gf / cm in the 80 degree peeling method.

The results are shown in Table 1 below.

[0044]

[Table 1]

In the table, the numbers in the upper row represent the dimensions of the chamfer (C chamfer). For example, 1 indicates two sides forming a corner.
It indicates that a point 1 mm from the intersection of both sides is cut straight.

The lower numbers indicate the rate of occurrence of peeling during transportation in the production process. For example, 6/1000 indicates that peeling was observed in 6 sheets out of a total of 1,000 survey sheets.

Example 2 As shown in FIG. 4, the length of each side to be cut was changed, and the other conditions were the same as in Example 1. As a result, no peeling occurred when the length from the intersection of the two sides forming the corner was 5 mm or more on both sides.

Example 3 As shown in FIG. 5, the procedure was the same as in Example 1 except that the chamfered shape was curved (R chamfering).

As a result, the same result as in the first embodiment was obtained. That is, in the case of an arc having a radius of 5 mm or more, peeling did not occur.

[0050]

According to the present invention, since the adhesive (peeling) strength of the image receiving material to the image forming layer can be reduced, a high-resolution image can be formed. In addition, since the occurrence of inadvertent peeling of the image receiving material can be prevented as much as possible, including during the production of the sheet-shaped image forming material, the product can be shipped to the market with confidence.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a layer structure of an image forming material as an example of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a state when an image receiving material is peeled off.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a production system for producing a sheet-like image forming material.

FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplifying a part of an image forming material that has been chamfered.

FIG. 4 is a diagram exemplifying a part of an image forming material subjected to a C-chamfering deformation.

FIG. 5 is a diagram exemplifying a part of the image forming material that has been chamfered.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming material 10 Support 11 Image forming layer 12 Image protective layer 13 Adhesive layer 14 Image receiving material (transfer receiving material) 20 Main winding part 30 Accumulator part 40 Cutting part 50 Stacking part 60 Transport part

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a donor material containing at least a support and an image forming layer; and an image receiving material provided on the image forming layer side.
In an image forming material capable of transferring an image from the donor material to the image receiving material, the donor material and the image receiving material are formed into a laminated sheet, and the corners thereof are chamfered by 5 mm or more. Image forming material. 2. The image forming material according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive strength between the donor material and the image receiving material is 4 to 10 gf / cm. 3. The image forming material according to claim 1, wherein said chamfering is C chamfering.