JPS59146895A - Thermal transfer color printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To print in colors with accurate expression, by a method wherein images are printed in a heat-fusible ink of the first color on a recording paper by thermal transfer printing, then the ink is pressed with heating to enlarge the adherend area of transferred dots, and thereafter images are printed in the second color by thermal transfer printing. CONSTITUTION:A transfer paper 13 and the recording paper 11 are fed in a laminated condition between a thermal head 14 and a pressure roller 15, and the heat-fusible ink 12 provided on the transfer paper 13 is transferred onto the recording apper 11 by the heat supplied form the thermal head 14. Then, the paper 11 is fed to a position between a pressure roller 16 and a heated roller 17 to heat and press the paper, thereby enlarging the adherened area of the heat- fusible ink 12. Thereafter, thermal transfer printing similar to the above is conducted on the recording paper 11 by using a transfer paper coated with a heat- fusible ink 12 of a color different from that of the heat-fusible ink 12 used above, whereby the inks are firmly adhered to the recording paper and are made to be hardly exfoliated, thereby color printing is achieved with accurate expression.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a heat-sensitive transfer color printing method, in which a first color heat-melt ink is heat-sensitive transfer printed on a recording paper, and then the transferred heat-melt ink is bonded under heat and pressure. After widening the adhesion area of the transfer dots, by performing a second color thermal transfer printing, the transfer dots of the heat-melt ink are The purpose of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer color printing method that not only has high adhesion strength but also enables accurate color expression.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, recording paper 1 and transfer paper 3 coated with hot-melt ink 2 are stacked and fed between a thermal head 4 and a pressure roller 5.
Thermal head 4 heated by the heat generated by the heat generating resistor
Heat-sensitive transfer printing has been considered in which heat-melt ink 2 is melted and adhered to recording paper 1 to form transfer dots 2'.

In order to perform color printing by such thermal transfer printing, it is necessary to repeat the thermal transfer printing described above multiple times, that is, to repeat thermal transfer printing using transfer paper coated with heat-melting ink of different colors. The transfer dots obtained by thermal transfer printing obtained in this way can be, for example, as shown in FIG. 2a.

They are separated like b and c. In the figure, numerals 7, 8, and 9 indicate the first, second, and third color hot-melt inks, respectively.

In other words, simply repeating thermal transfer printing cannot
If the area of the second color hot-melt ink, or even the third color hot-melt ink, is wider than the first color hot-melt ink, as shown in Figure a, or as shown in the same figure, If they are all the same, or if it is the opposite of A in the same figure as in Figure C, the information to be printed will not be recorded correctly, and the information printed will be multiplied due to the accumulation of several basic colors as in color printing. When expressing colors, hot-melt ink has poor fixation, and multicolor printing may not be accurate.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, and examples thereof will be described below.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a thermal transfer color printing apparatus used for carrying out the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of printing using this apparatus.

In the figure, II is a recording paper, 12 is a first color hot-melt ink of a constant thickness, 13 is a transfer paper, 14 is a thermal head,
] 5 is a pressure roller, the configuration of which is the same as that shown in FIG.
1 is a pressure roller provided for feeding and twisting, 17 is a heating roller, and 18 is a roller with a smooth surface and good temperature characteristics (thermal conductivity), which is fed between the pressure roller 16 and the heating roller 17. For example, it is a polyester film, and this polyester film 18 is provided as necessary.

That is, the recording paper 11 and the transfer paper 13 are stacked and fed between the thermal head 14 and the pressure roller 15, and the heat-melting ink 12 that is melted by the heat of the thermal head 14 is applied to the recording paper 11. After the transfer, the recording paper 11 and the transfer paper 13 are separated, and then the hot melt ink 12 is
The recording paper 11 attached as 2' is moved to the pressure roller 16.
In particular, the polyester film 18 is fed between the transfer roller 112' of the hot-melt ink 12 and the heating roller 17.
Feed the recording paper 11 so that it overlaps with the heating roller 1.
When the hot melt ink on the transfer dot 12' is melted by the heat of the transfer dot 12' and the hot melt ink on the transfer dot 12' is pressed by the pressure roller 6, the hot melt ink on the transfer drum 1-12' is compressed and spread around the transfer dot 12'. ”. That is,
The transfer dots 12'' are thinner than the transfer dots 12', and have a larger adhesion area to the recording paper 11.

Next, a process similar to the above process is repeated on the recording paper 11 using a transfer paper coated with a constant thickness of the second color hot-melt ink.

Furthermore, if necessary for color printing, for example, by using a transfer paper coated with a certain thickness of heat-melting ink of a third color, and repeating the same process as the above, it is possible to The structure shown in FIG. 4 is shown in FIG. Same, Figure 4, 19//, 20/
/ are transfer dots formed by heat-melting ink of the second color and third color, respectively.

When thermal transfer color printing is performed as described above,
The adhesion area of the hot-melt ink increases, which improves its fixation on recording paper.Also, since the hot-melt ink can be superimposed, multicolor printing can be accurately expressed, and it can also be printed on paper or film with a smooth surface. Since the transfer dots are reheated through a heat exchanger, etc., the surface of the transfer dots becomes smooth and has good gloss.

However, if the colors of the first, second, and third hot-melt inks are set to yellow, magenta, and cyan, printing in most normal colors is possible.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is implemented using an apparatus that performs thermal transfer printing using a thermal head and a pressure roller, and then heats and presses the transfer dots formed by this thermal transfer printing using a mechanism separate from the thermal head and pressure roller. However, the present invention can be carried out without such a special heat-press bonding mechanism, for example, by using a thermal transfer printing apparatus as shown in FIG.

For example, a transfer paper as shown in FIG. 5 may be used, and after a predetermined thermal transfer printing, this recording paper may be fed again between the thermal head and the pressure roller. That is, first transfer paper 30
Normal thermal transfer printing is performed using the area coated with the first color hot-melt ink 31. At this point, the thickness of the melted part of the hot-melt ink and the unmelted part are the same, so even if strong pressure is applied with the pressure roller, the thickness of the melted hot-melt ink does not become thinner, i.e. It doesn't spread horizontally. Then thermal transfer printing/
The recording paper is returned to its original position, and the recording paper and the portion 32 of the transfer paper that is not coated with hot-melt ink are stacked and fed between the thermal head and the pressure roller, and the heat of the thermal head is applied to the recording paper. When the driver I. transferred onto the recording paper is heated and the pressure roller is used to press the dot, the transferred dots spread laterally.

By using the areas coated with the heat-melting ink 35 and the areas 36 not coated with the heat-melting ink, the same thermal transfer color printing as in the previous embodiment can be performed.

In the above embodiments, the transfer paper is described as having alternating portions coated with hot-melt ink and portions not coated with hot-melt ink, but for example, as shown in FIG. As shown, the process of heat-pressing the transfer dots is omitted after the final thermal transfer printing.''The structure of the transfer paper 30 is divided into a portion coated with the first color hot-melt ink 31 and a hot-melt ink layer. A portion 32 where no ink is applied, a portion where a second color hot-melt ink 33 is applied, a portion 34 where no hot-melt ink is applied, a portion 34 where a third color hot-melt ink 35 is applied. 7, where the first color hot-melt ink 31 is applied, and where the above is repeated, or as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8, a heat-melt binder 37 may be applied to the blank area between which the heat-melt ink is applied. If the present invention is carried out using a transfer paper coated with a heat-melting binder as shown in FIG. 7 or 8, the fixability of the transfer dots will be even better. Therefore, in the apparatus described in the first embodiment, if a hot-melt binder is applied to the surface of the polyester film 18 on the transfer dot side, the same effect can be obtained in such a case.

In addition, in the transfer paper mentioned above, there are two areas: one area coated with hot-melt ink and another area not coated with hot-melt ink, for example, 3.
It is convenient to make the area of the part 1 and the part 32 the same.

Also, in the above explanation, the present invention is described in the case of superimposing three colors, but this does not mean that the same effect can be obtained in the case of thermal transfer color printing by superimposing two or more colors. Of course.

As described above, in the thermal transfer color printing method according to the present invention, transfer paper and recording paper are fed between a thermal head and a pressure roller in a stack of 1~, and the thermal meltability of the transfer paper is improved by the heat of the thermal head. After transferring the ink to the recording paper, the hot-melt ink transferred to the recording paper is heat-pressed to widen the adhering area of the hot-melt ink, and then a hot-melt ink of another color different from the hot-melt ink is applied. Since heat-sensitive transfer printing is performed on the recording paper using transfer paper containing thermomeltable ink, the heat-meltable ink not only adheres strongly to the recording paper and is difficult to peel off, but also allows accurate color printing and is easy to perform. It has the following features.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of thermal transfer printing, and FIG. 2a is a diagram illustrating the principle of thermal transfer printing. 1], c is an explanatory diagram of a printing example, FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a thermal transfer color printing apparatus used for implementing the present invention, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a printing example according to the present invention, and FIGS. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a transfer paper used in carrying out the present invention. 11...Recording paper, 13.30...Transfer paper, 14.
・Thermal head, 15.16 ・・Pressure roller, 17・・
・Heating roller. Patent applicant: Victor Japan Co., Ltd. −−・ 3 Moriyacho, Kanayō Ward, Yokohama City. ．． ．． -12 B Inside Victor Co., Ltd. 72 Inventor Hiroki Kitamura 3-12B Moriyamachi, Kanayō-ku, Yokohama City Inside Victor Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Transfer paper and recording paper are stacked and fed between a thermal head and a pressure roller, and the heat of the thermal head transfers the hot-melt ink on the transfer paper to the recording paper, and then the ink is transferred to the recording paper. Hot-melt ink is bonded under heat and pressure to widen the adhering area of the hot-melt ink, and then heat-sensitive transfer printing is performed on the recording paper using a transfer paper containing a heat-melt ink of a different color from the heat-melt ink. A thermal transfer color printing method characterized by: