JPH11254842A - Picture receiving sheet for sublimable dye thermal transfer record - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a sublimable dye thermal transfer record of high quality which has only a single recipient layer and can be manufactured at a low cost. SOLUTION: The picture receiving sheet for sublimable dye thermal transfer record has a resin layer, as a dye recipient layer, on a substrate, wherein powder coating material composition particles with an average diameter of 0.1-30 μm are isolated and separated from one another by a substantially continuous film composed of inorganic fine particles with an average diameter of 1 nm-1 μm. The powder coating material composition particles contain a resin and coloring agent.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording method in which a thermal transfer sheet having a sublimable dye layer is superimposed on an image receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording, and the thermal transfer sheet is heated to thermally transfer the dye to the image receiving sheet. Regarding the image receiving sheet for sublimation dye thermal transfer recording used for, in detail, while being a single layer, the image receiving sheet for sublimable dye thermal transfer recording with high density image recording properties and excellent release properties to the thermal transfer sheet, preferably Relates to an image receiving paper for sublimable dye thermal transfer recording.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various thermal transfer recording systems have been known for printing and recording information such as characters and images on various types of dyes or inks on a recording paper. However, no matter what thermal transfer recording method is adopted, the above-mentioned thermal transfer recording image receiving paper generally has a function of preventing bleeding of a dye or ink thermally transferred to the image receiving paper or fixing the same. It is formed by dissolving or dispersing a substance in an appropriate solvent, and laminating this on an appropriate substrate in multiple layers. Therefore, on the one hand, such an image receiving paper has to be expensive due to the large number of manufacturing steps,
On the other hand, due to the characteristics of each printing method, a high quality recorded image cannot be obtained unless a special thermal transfer recording image receiving paper is used correspondingly.

As a typical one of the thermal transfer recording methods, a method of thermally transferring a sublimable dye is known. In this method, for example, a so-called full-color transfer image is obtained on an image receiving paper by successively superimposing and thermally transferring visible images obtained for each of three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan.

[0004] This sublimation dye thermal transfer recording system is a thermal transfer sheet (also referred to as an ink sheet or an ink film, hereinafter referred to as an ink sheet or ink film) in which a sublimable dye layer is formed on a suitable support such as a polyethylene terephthalate film. A sheet for thermal transfer recording having a receiving layer for receiving the dye on its surface is separately prepared, and the surface of the ink sheet on the dye layer side is formed on the receiving layer side of the image receiving paper. The ink sheet is heated according to the image information by a heat-sensitive means such as a thermal head or the like, and the dye is transferred to the receiving layer of the image receiving paper in accordance with the image information. A recording method for thermally transferring an image to an image receiving paper for thermal transfer recording.

In such a sublimation dye thermal transfer recording system, conventionally, an image receiving paper for thermal transfer recording has a receiving layer comprising a resin layer in which a dye of an ink sheet can be diffused or transferred by heat on an appropriate substrate. And a plurality of resin layers composed of a release layer composed of a resin layer for preventing fusion between the receiving layer and the ink sheet during heating, which are manufactured by sequentially laminating a plurality of resin layers by a wet coating method. ing.

That is, in the conventional image receiving paper for sublimation dye thermal transfer recording, a solution containing the resin constituting the receiving layer as described above is applied on a substrate, and dried to form a receiving layer. A resin layer for forming a release layer is applied thereon,
It is manufactured by drying to form a release layer, and thus separating and laminating a plurality of resin layers for each function. If necessary, an undercoat layer or an intermediate layer may be formed between the base sheet and the receiving layer. Therefore, such a conventional image-receiving paper for sublimable dye thermal transfer recording includes a multi-stage wet process, and its manufacturing process is complicated, and thus the manufacturing cost is high.

As described above, in the conventional sublimation dye thermal transfer recording system, in order to obtain a high quality recorded image,
Special multi-stage wet coating requires special receiving paper with multiple layers of receiving layers for receiving dyes on the base material.When ordinary plain paper is used, the expected high A quality recorded image cannot be obtained. Therefore, the conventional sublimation dye thermal transfer recording system can obtain a high-quality recorded image when a predetermined dedicated image receiving paper is used, but has a problem of high recording cost.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present inventors have conducted intensive studies on the production of an image receiving sheet for sublimation dye thermal transfer recording by dry coating of a powder coating composition instead of wet coating. The inorganic fine particles are mixed with the body coating composition at a predetermined ratio, and the mixture is dry-coated on a substrate, melted by heating, and fixed, whereby the particles of the powder coating composition substantially form the inorganic fine particles. The resin layers separated from each other by a continuous film can be formed, and a sublimation dye thermal transfer recording image receiving sheet having such a resin layer as an ink receiving layer has a single receiving layer. Only
It has been found that it can be manufactured at low cost and can realize high quality sublimable dye thermal transfer recording.
This has led to the present invention.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording of a sublimable dye having such a unique structure.

[0010]

The image-receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording of a sublimable dye according to the present invention has a powder having an average particle size (average primary particle size, hereinafter the same) of 0.1 to 30 μm on a substrate. The body coating composition particles are separated from each other by a substantially continuous film of inorganic fine particles having an average particle diameter (average value of primary particle diameter, hereinafter the same) of 1 nm to 1 μm. It has a dye receiving layer on the material.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Such an image-receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording of a sublimable dye according to the present invention has an average particle diameter of 0.1 to 30.
μm, preferably 1 to 20 μm, mixed with inorganic fine particles having an average particle diameter of 1 nm to 1 μm, dry-coated on a substrate, heated and melted, and fixed to obtain a powder coating composition. The particles of the composition can be obtained by forming a resin layer separated from each other by a substantially continuous film made of the above-mentioned inorganic fine particles and forming a separated resin layer on a substrate.

In the present invention, the substrate is usually
Paper, synthetic paper, synthetic resin sheet and the like are preferably used.
The paper is not particularly limited as long as it is made of ordinary cellulose fiber, and in addition to plain paper, high-quality paper,
Including coated paper. Examples of plain paper include ordinary PPC copy paper, paper subjected to calendering to enhance the smoothness of the surface of this PPC copy paper, and thermal transfer word processor paper and coated paper that have already been surface-treated. Can be mentioned. As the synthetic resin sheet, for example, polyester, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate,
Examples include sheets made of polycarbonate, polyamide, and the like. Examples of the synthetic paper include those obtained by extruding a mixture of a polyolefin resin or another synthetic resin as a resin component, a required inorganic filler, and the like. In particular, by using paper as the base material, the image receiving paper for sublimable dye thermal transfer recording according to the present invention can be manufactured at low cost.

The powder coating composition used in the present invention contains a resin. This resin forms a resin layer as a sublimation dye receiving layer on a base material, and forms a resin layer as a sublimation dye receiving layer on the base material, and serves as a thermal transfer of the sublimation dye. When a character or an image is recorded, a sublimable dye is diffused into a resin layer and absorbed by the resin layer, thereby enabling recording on an image receiving paper.

Examples of such resins include saturated polyester resins, polyamide resins, (meth) acrylic resins, polyurethane resins, polyvinyl alcohol resins, polyvinyl acetal resins, vinyl chloride resins, vinyl acetate resins, and vinyl chloride / vinyl acetate. Polymeric resin, vinylidene chloride resin, polystyrene resin, styrene resin such as styrene / acrylic copolymer resin, styrene / butadiene copolymer resin, polyethylene resin, ethylene / vinyl acetate copolymer resin, polyethylene resin, ethyl / vinyl acetate Copolymer resins, cellulosic resins, epoxy resins and the like can be mentioned. These resins are used alone or as a mixture of two or more. In the present invention, among these, a saturated polyester resin, a styrene-acrylic copolymer resin or a mixture thereof is preferably used, and in particular, a saturated polyester resin or a mixture of this and a styrene-acrylic copolymer resin is used. It is preferably used.

In the present invention, commercial products can be suitably used as the saturated polyester resin. Such commercial products include, for example, Byron 103, 200, 2
90, 600 (manufactured by Toyobo Co., Ltd.), KA-1038C
(Arakawa Chemical Co., Ltd.), TP-220, 235 (Nippon Synthetic Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.), Diacron ER-101, E
R-501, FC-172, FC-344, FC-71
4 (manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.), Tuffton NE-382,
1110 and 2155 (manufactured by Kao Corporation) and the like.

The styrene / acrylic copolymer resin is a copolymer of styrene and a (meth) acrylic acid ester. Specifically, examples of the (meth) acrylic acid ester include ethyl acrylate and butyl acrylate. , Methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate, 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate, dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate, diethylaminoethyl methacrylate and the like.

As such a styrene-acrylic copolymer resin, various commercially available products can be suitably used. Commercial products include, for example, Hymer UNi-3000, TB
-1800, TBH-1500 (Sanyo Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.)
CPR-100, 600B, 200, 300, X
PA4799, 4800 (manufactured by Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.) and the like.

In the present invention, the powder coating composition usually contains a coloring agent. The colorant is preferably white, for example, titanium oxide is preferably used,
It is not limited to this. The colorant gives the substrate the required ground color. The white colorant gives the substrate a white ground color. The coloring agent is usually used in the powder coating composition in an amount of 0.5
To 60% by weight, preferably 5 to 50% by weight.

The powder coating composition may, if necessary, contain an anti-offset agent so that no offset occurs when the composition is heated and melted on the surface of the base material and fixed. Usually, the melting point of the anti-offset agent is 50.
Various waxes in the range of -150 ° C are preferably used. Specifically, for example, paraffin wax,
Examples thereof include polyolefin waxes such as polyethylene and polypropylene, fatty acid metal salts, fatty acid esters, higher fatty acids, and higher alcohols. Such an anti-offset agent is usually added to the powder coating composition in an amount of 0.1 to 20.
%, Preferably in the range of 0.5 to 10% by weight.

The powder coating composition used in the present invention comprises:
Mix with resin, colorant and other additives, usually 1
It is obtained by melt-kneading at a temperature of about 00 to 200 ° C., preferably about 130 to 180 ° C. for several minutes, usually about 3 to 5 minutes, cooling, pulverizing and classifying. The powder coating composition has an average particle size in the range of 0.1 to 30 μm, preferably in the range of 1 to 25 μm, and most preferably in the range of 5 to 20 μm.

According to the present invention, such a powder coating composition is mixed with inorganic fine particles having an average particle diameter in the range of 1 nm to 1 μm, and this mixture (hereinafter referred to as a powder mixture).
Is dry-coated on the surface of the base material, melted by heating, and fixed, whereby the particles of the powder coating composition are coated on the base material with a substantially continuous film composed of the inorganic fine particles. And a separated resin layer can be formed.

In the present invention, the thickness of the resin layer composed of the powder coating composition is usually in the range of 1 to 100 μm,
Preferably, it is in the range of 2 to 80 μm, particularly preferably in the range of 5 to 50 μm. FIG. 1 schematically shows a cross section of such a powder coating sheet according to the present invention. On the substrate 11, the individual powder coating composition particles 12
The inorganic fine particles 13 are covered with a film 14 substantially continuous, are isolated from each other, and form a resin layer 15 having an interval or a gap therebetween. Exposed to exist.

In order to form a resin layer having such a unique structure, it is necessary to mix inorganic fine particles at a required ratio with respect to the powder coating composition. The mixing ratio of inorganic fine particles to the product is 0.5 to 10
%, Preferably from 1 to 9% by weight, most preferably from 5 to 8% by weight.
However, optimally, it can be experimentally determined according to the respective average particle diameters of the powder coating composition and the inorganic fine particles used. When the blending ratio of the inorganic fine particles is too small, the inorganic fine particles are substantially continuous in a film form, cover the individual powder coating particles, cannot be separated from each other, and cannot be separated. When superimposed on the image receiving sheet and heated, the image receiving sheet is easily fused. On the other hand, when the amount is too large, the fixing property of the receiving layer to the substrate is poor. For example, when the substrate is folded, the receiving layer is peeled from the substrate. Furthermore, the proportion of the resin powder coating composition is relatively too small, and the formed image density may be insufficient.

When the average particle diameter of the inorganic fine particles is smaller than 1 nm, even if a relatively large amount of the inorganic fine particles is used, the individual powder coating composition can be formed by a film in which such inorganic fine particles are substantially connected. When the average particle diameter is larger than 1 μm, the powder mixture composed of such inorganic fine particles and the powder coating composition may be coated. After dry coating on a substrate, even if it is heated and melted, it is difficult to fix on the substrate, peeling off from the substrate, causing defects in the resulting sublimable dye thermal transfer recording image receiving sheet Therefore, according to such an image receiving sheet, a high quality recorded image cannot be obtained.

According to the present invention, the inorganic fine particles are preferably hydrophobic, and among them, hydrophobic inorganic oxide fine particles are preferable. Commercially available products of such hydrophobic inorganic oxide particles include, for example, anhydrous silica manufactured by Nippon Aerosil Co., Ltd., Aerosil R972, R
972V, R972CF, R974, R202, R80
5, R812S, titanium dioxide T805, RX200,
RY200, etc., and anhydrous silica H15, H20, H30, H2000, manufactured by Wacker Chemicals East Asia,
H2000 / 4, H3004, H2015EP, H20
50 EP and the like.

As described above, the sublimation dye thermal transfer recording image receiving sheet according to the present invention has the particles of the powder coating composition isolated and separated from each other by a substantially continuous film made of inorganic fine particles.

As described above, the sublimable dye thermal transfer recording is a method in which an ink sheet having a sublimable dye layer and an image receiving sheet are overlapped, and the ink sheet is heated to thermally transfer the dye to the image receiving sheet. Yes, therefore, the ink sheet is often fused to the image receiving sheet, but according to the image receiving sheet of the present invention, the powder coating composition particles that receive the dye are each coated with a film made of inorganic fine particles, Since it is separated, the resin layer itself has excellent releasability from the ink sheet while having only a single receiving layer composed of the powder coating composition particles on the base material.

Further, in the conventional image receiving sheet for sublimation dye thermal transfer recording, as described above, a resin layer for receiving a dye is formed on a base material, and in order to prevent fusion of an ink sheet thereon, for example, A continuous cured film made of a reaction-curable silicone oil is formed as a release layer. Therefore, when thermally transferring the dye from the ink sheet to the image receiving sheet, when the ink sheet is fused to the image receiving sheet, the entire image receiving sheet is fused to the continuous film, for example, using a printer to perform thermal transfer recording. In such a case, an accident occurs in which the image receiving sheet is caught in the printer.

On the other hand, according to the image-receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording of a sublimable dye of the present invention, the powder coating composition particles are coated on the substrate with a film composed of inorganic fine particles and are separated from each other. Therefore, even if the powder coating composition particles and the ink sheet are fused, the powder coating composition particles only fuse individually, so a very limited number of powder coating composition particles Only the image-receiving sheet peels off from the ink sheet without being peeled off from the ink-receiving layer, so that there is no accident that the image-receiving sheet gets caught in the printer.

Further, according to the present invention, the inorganic fine particles serve to enhance the fluidity of the powder coating composition. That is, it is possible to improve the fluidity when dry-coating the mixture of the powder coating composition and the inorganic fine particles to the base material by, for example, an electrostatic spray method.

In order to form a resin layer comprising the powder coating composition particles as described above on a substrate, a powder mixture of the powder coating composition and inorganic fine particles is dry-coated on the substrate, This is melted by heating and fixed. As described above, the thickness of the resin layer is preferably in the range of 2 to 80 μm.
It is preferably in the range of 0 μm.

In the present invention, in order to dry-coat a powder coating composition containing inorganic fine particles on a substrate, for example, electrostatic coating such as electrostatic spraying or electrostatic immersion, spraying, spraying, etc. Powder coating such as coating method, dispersion method, powder melt lamination method, dusting method, cascade method, magnetic brush developing method,
Electrophotographic methods such as a powder cloud method, an open chamber method, a liquid developing method, a fur developing method, a printing developing method, and a developing method by electrostatic induction can be used.

Among these dry coatings, in the present invention, for example, an electrostatic spray method can be preferably used. This electrostatic spraying method is a kind of powder coating, and specifically, a mixture of a fine powder coating composition and inorganic fine particles (hereinafter referred to as a powder mixture) at the tip of a spray gun is air. And a negative high voltage (for example,
-50 to -90 kV) to apply a negative charge to the powder mixture and, along with a grounded electrode to the back surface of the substrate,
Thus, the negatively charged powder mixture is carried to the substrate and electrostatically deposited by the electric field present between the spray gun and the grounded electrode.

FIG. 2 shows a preferred embodiment of the method of the present invention using such an electrostatic spray method. That is, roll 2
A continuous long substrate (for example, plain paper) 22 rewound from 1 is guided into a booth 24 by a conveyor belt 23, where the powder mixture is electrostatically sprayed, as described later. Is dry-coated, heated and melted by a fixing roll 25, fixed, and then wound around a roll or cut as appropriate. After passing through the fixing roll 25, it is wound again on the roll or cut as appropriate. The transport belt 23 has a grounded (ie, positive) electrode 26 on the back side along the base material to be transported. The powder mixture is supplied from the storage tank 27 to the spray gun 2 with compressed air.
On the other hand, a negative high voltage is applied by a DC power supply 29 to a needle electrode (not shown) incorporated at the tip of the spray gun, and the powder mixture is negatively charged.
Thus, the powder mixture is carried to and adheres to the base paper by the electric field present between the spray gun and the electrodes along the substrate on the conveyor belt. In this way, the substrate on which the powder mixture is dry-coated is guided to the fixing roll 25, where the powder mixture is heated and melted, fixed on the substrate, and a resin layer is formed. The image receiving paper 30 for sublimable dye thermal transfer recording according to the present invention can be obtained.

Therefore, according to such an electrostatic spraying method, not only a resin layer is formed on the entire surface of the base material, but also, if necessary, a part of the base material or only a required portion can be easily formed. A resin layer can be formed.

[0036]

As described above, the image receiving sheet for sublimable dye thermal transfer recording according to the present invention has an average particle diameter of 0.1 to 30 μm.
m are coated with a substantially continuous film of inorganic fine particles having an average particle diameter in the range of 1 nm to 1 μm, and are isolated from each other and separated from each other. Having a layer on a substrate.

Therefore, according to such an image receiving sheet,
While having only a single resin layer composed of powder coating composition particles as a receiving layer on a substrate, it is possible to form a high-quality sublimable dye thermal transfer recording image, and furthermore, constitutes the receiving layer Since the powder coating composition particles are coated with inorganic fine particles and are separated from each other, even if they are fused with the ink sheet, the whole of the image receiving sheet is fused to the ink sheet, and upon thermal transfer recording, The image receiving sheet does not get caught in the printer, and only a very limited number of the powder coating composition particles are peeled off, thus making it possible to minimize the damage caused by fusion with the ink sheet. .

[0038]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below with reference to examples.
The present invention is not limited by these examples.

Example 1 (Preparation of powder coating composition and powder mixture) Saturated polyester resin (FC-344 manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.) 40
2 parts by weight, 30 parts by weight of a styrene / acrylic copolymer resin (CPR-200 manufactured by Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.) and 2 white pigments (titanium oxide “Taipe A220” manufactured by Ishihara Sangyo Co., Ltd.)
5 parts by weight in a twin-screw kneader at 150 to 160 ° C.
Melted and kneaded for ~ 5 minutes. After cooling, the obtained kneaded product was pulverized and classified to obtain a white powder coating composition having an average particle size of 11.0 μm. To 95 parts by weight of this white powder coating composition, 5 parts by weight of hydrophobic anhydrous silica (H-20 manufactured by Wacker Chemicals East Asia Co., Ltd., average particle diameter: 12 nm) is mixed, and dry coating is performed by an electrostatic spray method. (A 5% by weight of anhydrous silica).

(Production of Image Receiving Paper for Sublimation Dye Thermal Transfer Recording)
The above-mentioned white powder mixture is adhered to the entire surface of a commercially available plain paper using a commercially available electrostatic spray device, and then heated, melted, and fixed to form a 20 μm-thick receiving layer. An image receiving paper for heat transfer recording of a dye was obtained.

Only the resin layer of the image receiving paper was embedded in an epoxy resin, frozen to prepare a thin film of about 1000 °, then stained with ruthenium oxide, reinforced with carbon, and observed with a transmission electron microscope. . FIG. 3 shows a transmission electron micrograph of a cross section of the resin layer of the powder-coated paper. In the electron micrograph, the white area is the epoxy resin, and the left side is the resin layer. In the resin layer, a matrix that looks white is a polyester resin, a part that looks gray is a styrene-acryl copolymer resin, and black particles in the resin layer are titanium oxide. The black band covering the individual powder coating composition particles and isolating each other is composed of silica fine particles substantially in a band.

Further, a scanning electron micrograph of the surface of the image receiving paper is shown in FIG. It is understood that white spots are silica fine particles and the surface of the image receiving paper is substantially covered with the silica fine particles.

(Sublimation Dye Thermal Transfer Recording) Using a commercially available sublimation dye thermal transfer printer (manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation),
When sublimable dye thermal transfer recording was performed on the image receiving paper, a high quality recorded image could be obtained without fusing with the ink sheet.

(Manufacture of image receiving papers having different amounts of silica and performance evaluation) In the same manner as described above, 40 parts by weight of a saturated polyester resin, 30 parts by weight of a styrene / acrylic copolymer resin, 0.3 parts by weight of anhydrous silica, and 1 part by weight Parts, 3 parts by weight, 8 parts by weight, or 12 parts by weight and the white pigment in a total of 1 part by weight.
The white powder mixture for dry coating was prepared such that the amount of anhydrous silica was 0.3%, 1%, 3%, 8% or 12% by weight. Thus, an image receiving paper for thermal transfer recording of a sublimable dye was manufactured, and thermal transfer was performed on the image receiving paper with a sublimable dye.

Even if each of the thus obtained image receiving papers for sublimation dye thermal transfer recording is folded, when the receiving layer is not changed, the fixing property of the receiving layer to the base material is determined to be good (○), and When the paper was folded and the powder peeled off the image receiving paper, the fixability was poor (x).

Further, the density of the thermal transfer image obtained for each image receiving paper was measured with a densitometer (PDA manufactured by Konica).
-60), the reflection density was measured. When the reflection density was 1.6 or more for all of yellow, magenta, and cyan, the image density was determined to be sufficient (O), and at least one of yellow, magenta, and cyan was 1 When the value was smaller than 0.6, the image density was insufficient (x).

Further, the releasability between the image receiving paper and the ink sheet in the thermal transfer recording was examined as follows. That is, after the image receiving paper is superposed on the ink sheet and heated, the image receiving paper does not fuse to the ink sheet, and when the image receiving paper is easily peeled off, the releasability of the image receiving paper is regarded as good (○). The sample was evaluated as poor (x) when it was worn. Table 1 shows the results
Shown in

[0048]

[Table 1]

Example 2 (Preparation of powder coating composition and powder mixture) Saturated polyester resin (FC-344 manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.) 40
2 parts by weight, 30 parts by weight of a styrene / acrylic copolymer resin (CPR-200 manufactured by Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.) and 2 white pigments (titanium oxide “Taipe A220” manufactured by Ishihara Sangyo Co., Ltd.)
2 parts by weight in a twin-screw kneader at 150 to 160 ° C.
Melted and kneaded for ~ 5 minutes. After cooling, the obtained kneaded product was pulverized and classified to obtain a white powder coating composition having an average particle size of 11.0 μm. To 92 parts by weight of this white powder coating composition, 8 parts by weight of hydrophobic titanium dioxide (Titanium dioxide T805, manufactured by Nippon Aerosil Co., Ltd., average particle diameter: 21 nm) was mixed, and dry-coated by electrostatic spraying. A white powder mixture was obtained.

Similarly, 40 parts by weight of a saturated polyester resin, 30 parts by weight of a styrene / acrylic copolymer resin, 3 parts by weight or 5 parts by weight of the above-mentioned hydrophobic titanium dioxide (T805), and a white pigment are combined by weight. To give 100 parts by weight of the above hydrophobic titanium dioxide (T80
A white powder mixture for dry coating was prepared in which the ratio of 5) was 3% or 5% by weight.

(Manufacture of Image Receiving Paper for Sublimation Dye Thermal Transfer Recording)
With a commercially available electrostatic spray device, the white powder mixture is applied to the entire surface of the commercially available plain paper, and then heated, melted and fixed to form a 20 μm thick receiving layer. An image receiving paper for sublimation dye thermal transfer recording was obtained.

(Sublimation Dye Thermal Transfer Recording) Sublimation dye thermal transfer recording was performed on each of the image receiving sheets thus obtained using a commercially available sublimation dye thermal transfer printer (manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation). However, with any of the image receiving papers, a high quality recorded image could be obtained without fusing with the ink sheet.

In the same manner as in Example 1, the fixing property of the receiving layer to the substrate, the image density by thermal transfer recording, and the releasability of the image receiving paper in thermal transfer recording were evaluated. The evaluation was ○.

Comparative Example 1 The white powder coating composition in Example 1 was dissolved in methyl ethyl ketone to prepare an oil-based coating, which was applied on plain paper using a bar coder and dried to obtain an image receiving paper. Was.

Sublimable dye thermal transfer recording was performed on an image receiving paper using the same commercially available sublimable dye thermal transfer printer as in Example 1. However, the image receiving paper was remarkably fused to an ink sheet, and an image could be recorded. could not.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an image receiving sheet for sublimable dye thermal transfer recording according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an example of an apparatus configuration for producing an image receiving paper for thermal transfer recording of a sublimable dye according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a transmission electron micrograph showing the structure of powder coating composition particles in a resin layer of a sublimable dye thermal transfer recording paper according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a scanning electron micrograph (magnification: 10,000 times) showing the structure of the inorganic fine particles on the surface of the receiving layer of the image receiving paper for thermal transfer recording of a sublimable dye according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Base material, 12 ... Powder coating composition particles, 13 ... Inorganic fine particles, 14 ... Film consisting of inorganic fine particles, 15 ... Resin layer, 2
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Roll, 22 ... Base paper, 23 ... Conveying belt, 24 ... Booth, 25 ... Fixing roll, 26 ... Electrode, 27 ... Powder coating composition storage tank, 28 ... Spray gun, 29 ... DC power supply,
30 ... Sublimation dye image transfer paper for thermal transfer recording.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A resin layer in which powder coating composition particles having an average particle diameter of 0.1 to 30 μm are isolated and separated from each other by a substantially continuous film made of inorganic fine particles having an average particle diameter of 1 nm to 1 μm. An image receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording of a sublimable dye, comprising a dye as a dye receiving layer on a substrate. 2. The image receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording of a sublimable dye according to claim 1, wherein the powder coating composition contains a resin and a colorant. 3. The image-receiving sheet according to claim 1, wherein the amount of the inorganic fine particles is in the range of 0.5 to 10% by weight based on the total amount of the powder coating composition and the inorganic fine particles. 4. The image-receiving sheet according to claim 1, wherein the inorganic fine particles are hydrophobic anhydrous silica or titanium dioxide. 5. The image-receiving sheet according to claim 1, wherein the powder coating composition comprises a polyester resin and a white colorant. 6. The image receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording of a sublimable dye according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is paper.