JPS60172589A - Thermal transfer recording ink sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a large number of stable gradations by widening the latidue of energy applied to a thermal head, by providing a specific ink layer between the ink layer and the wax layer of a thermal transfer recording ink sheet. CONSTITUTION:An ink sheet 8 is constituted by forming a wax layer 12 to a base material 9 through an ink layer 10 and a wax mixed ink layer 11. When transfer recording is performed by using this thermal transfer recording ink sheet 8, the upper wax layer 12 is melted at first and the lower ink layers 11, 10 are subsequently melted in succession and, therefore, desired gradation is obtained, for example, in image information of computer graphic. The quantity of energy applied to a thermal head at the time of transfer recording becomes large but, because the latitude of energy is made available widely at the time of gradation, a large number of various stable gradations (densities) are obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording ink sheet 1-, and particularly to a thermal transfer recording ink sheet 1- capable of expressing gradations.

(Prior Art) In recent years, various printing devices have been developed as printers (hard copy devices) for computer terminals, such as wire tod type, inkjet type, shuttle type, and thermal transfer type (13). It has become possible to print computer graphics and other information on monitor images.

It is well known that thermal transfer printing devices are widely used because they have a simpler mechanism, faster recording speed, and are easier to handle than the other printing devices mentioned above.

As shown in FIG. 1, the transfer principle is that a recording paper 4, which is plain paper, is held under pressure between a rotating roller 1 and a thermal head 2 with an ink sheet 3 interposed therebetween. By the rotation of 1, the arrow A' travels in the force direction u.

The ink sheet 3 is, for example, a poly J-
A heat-soluble ink layer 6 is formed by coating on a group I5 made of a polymer film such as a sprue film, a polyimide film, or a polycarbonate film.

In the transfer printing process, when a predetermined amount of current is passed through the thermal head 2 to generate heat, the ink layer 6 on the ink sheet 3 at the position corresponding to the thermal head 2 is dissolved. d recording paper 4
transcribed into.

The thermal head 2 is a rotating roller I J3 J:
The thermal heads are arranged in, for example, a row in the width direction of the recording paper 4 to form a group of thermal heads, and after controlling the current flowing through each thermal head and printing one line of dots, the rotating roller 1 is rotated. The next line is printed and this process is repeated in order to print desired characters and graphics on the recording paper 4.

During the transfer process, the ink layer 6 undergoes a phase change such as solid → liquid (gas) → solid, so its physical properties include, for example, melting point, thermal conductivity, density, and tensile strength. .

7 shows ink transferred from the ink sheet 3 to the recording paper 4.

There are two types of thermal transfer recording: the thermal melt transfer method and the thermal sublimation transfer method.The former has good preservation of the recorded image, but can reproduce only two tones, while the latter It is possible to reproduce halftones because it is possible to modulate the ink sheet by 1 degree, but since the ink uses a sublimable dye that has a vapor pressure even at room temperature, it improves the shelf life of the ink sheet and the recording quality. This method has drawbacks such as poor image fixing properties and the inability to record on 11-pass paper.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a two-layer ink sheet, ie, an ink sheet 1- having an ink layer and a wax layer, has been proposed. This 2N type ink sheet can reproduce multiple gradations by adjusting the applied energy applied to the thermal head, but its narrow latitude makes it difficult to obtain stable intermediate gradations. be.

(L1 aspect of the invention) The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional technology, and its purpose is to apply an electric current to a thermal head when transferring and recording image information such as computer graphics. Widen your energy latitude,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer recording ink sheet which can always obtain a large number of stable gradations.

(Structure of the Invention) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ink sheet 1 in which a wax layer is formed on a base material via an ink layer.
The present invention provides various thermal transfer recording inks characterized by having a second ink layer in which wax is mixed in the nine layers.

(Embodiment) FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing one embodiment of the thermal transfer recording ink sheet 1 to 1 of the present invention.

The ink sheet 8 has a wax layer 12 made of paraffin or the like formed on a base material 9 via a first ink layer 10 and a second ink layer 11 mixed with wax.

The base material 9 is made of a polymer film such as a polyester film or a polycarbonate film and has a thickness of 5 to 10 μm and is highly smooth.

Here, the ink layer 10 constituting a part of the main part of the present invention
To explain specifically, ink b1j10 contains a pigment as a coloring agent that can be dissolved in an organic solvent such as toluene, ethyl alcohol, acetone, or isopropyl alcohol, or, for example, turben 1-dye...azo dye, etc. As a regulator, a low melting point compound such as poly-1-dylene glycol, which is soluble in the above-mentioned organic solvent containing an ester-based ethylene A-1 diside group having a melting point of 40 to 100'C (such as a binder) ), one or more types i11 together! , :t) is used.

The method for producing Inksee 1-8 is to apply a first ink layer 1o having the above-mentioned composition onto a base material 9 of a 10μ plate using a coating device such as a bar coater.
A second ink layer 11 made of ink B10 having the above composition mixed with wax such as paraffin is applied uniformly to a thickness of, for example, 10 μm. Furthermore, a wax layer 12 made of wax such as paraffin is formed on it, and @45
~60 μm; This forms an ink sheet 8 with a true thickness.

The ink sheet 8 configured in this manner is formed by forming yellow, magenta, and cyan in a line shape on the base material, or by repeating yellow, magenta, and cyan in sequence on the base material in a dangling shape. It can be used as an ink sheet.

Therefore, when information is transferred and recorded onto the recording paper 4 by the device shown in FIG. When the amount of energy reaches a predetermined amount, first the upper wax layer 12 is melted, and then the second ink layer 11 and the first ink layer 10 below it are sequentially melted depending on the amount of applied energy. Therefore, a desired gradation level in image information such as computer graphics can be obtained.

In addition, the applied energy applied to the thermal head during transfer recording is shown in Figure 3 △ J: sea urchin conventional ink sheet B
Although it is larger than the above, since the latitude during gradation can be widened, a large number of stable gradations (densities) can be obtained. Note that C in Figure 3 shows the gradation level when G-11I heat-sensitive coloring paper is used. It becomes.

(Effects) As described above, according to the thermal transfer recording ink sheets 1 to 1 of the present invention, the latitude of the amount of energy applied to the thermal head during transfer recording can be widened, compared to the conventional two-layer type ink sheets 1 to 1. However, it has the feature of stable and large number of gradations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of a thermal transfer recording device, Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer recording ink sheet according to the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a thermal transfer η according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a gradation degree < m degree) vs. applied energy diagram comparing a recording ink sheet and a conventional ink sheet. 8... Ink sheet, 9... Base material, 10... First
11... second ink layer, 12... wax layer. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Input energy amount

Claims (1)

[Claims] In ink sheets 1 to 1 in which a wax layer is formed on a base material via an ink layer, a second ink layer in which wax is mixed in the ink layer is provided between the ink layer and the wax layer. Features a thermal transfer recording ink sheet.