JPS61185491A - Ink sheet for color heat transfer recording - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable realization of highly accurate register of recording dot by forming heat fusion ink layers of two or more colors that are different from each other and a transparent heat fusion ink layer at separate places of a substrate sheet. CONSTITUTION:An ink sheet 7 for color heat transfer recording is coated with heat fusion ink of three different colors 4, 5, and 6, and in addition, a transparent heat fusion ink 11. The ink sheet 7 for heat transfer recording and recording paper 2 are tightly stuck together, and are pressed to a thermal head 1 by a platen roller 9, and by having the thermal head 1 generate heat, the fusion ink fuses and transferring is caused to take place on a recording paper 2. The ink sheet 7, now, moves in a direction of the arrow, and transparent ink 11 is heat transferred, first, and recorded on the recording paper 2. Thus, after the recording paper 2 shrank, if heat transfer recording is carried out with other heat fusion inks 4, 5 and 6, highly accurate registers among the dots recorded by the heat fusion inks 4, 5 and 6 may be obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording ink sheet used in a thermal transfer recording type color printer using heat-melting ink.

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional ink sheet for thermal transfer recording will be described below.

Figure 2 shows the principle of color recording using the thermal transfer recording method. 1 is a thermal head, 2 is a recording paper, and 3 is an ink sheet base material. On the ink sheet base material 3, at least two or more colors are printed. Coated with heat-melting ink,
In color recording, three colors of heat-melt ink are generally applied.Here, three colors of heat-melt ink are applied, and a first heat-melt ink 4 and a second heat-melt ink are used, respectively. 6. Third thermofusible ink 6. The colors of the heat-melting inks are different, for example, 4 is yellow, 5 is magenta, and 6 is cyan, and these components include pigment as a coloring agent, wax as a binder, oil, etc. , 3, 4, 5°6 are collectively called an ink sheet for thermal transfer recording.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a platen roller which presses the heat-melting ink 4 and 9 transferred onto the recording paper 2 into contact with the thermal head 1 by bringing the thermal transfer recording ink sheet 7 and the recording paper 2 into close contact with each other.

The principle of color thermal transfer recording with the above configuration will be explained below.

Thermal transfer recording is performed by bringing the ink sheet for thermal transfer recording into close contact with the recording paper 2 as shown in FIG. Melt 6 and record paper 2
Transfer to. In this way, the colors are transferred in the order of yellow, magenta, and cyan. At this time, the thermal transfer recording ink sheet 7 advances in one direction of the arrow, so the recording paper 2 must be accurately returned to its original position each time the color changes.

Transfer recording is performed by melting the heat-fusible ink by heating, penetrating and adhering to the recording paper 2 or onto the heat-fusible ink that has been previously transferred, and cooling and solidifying.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In such a conventional configuration, when performing thermal transition recording for the first color, the first heat-melting ink 4 melts, penetrates into the recording paper 2, adheres to it, and solidifies. As a result, the recording paper 2 shrinks, and even if the recording paper 2 is accurately returned to its original position for thermal transfer recording of the second and third colors, the second and third colors do not overlap with the first color accurately. was there.

Figure 3 shows the above-mentioned problems in a diagram.

FIG. In the figure, numeral 10 is a heating element of the thermal head 1, and the other parts are the same as in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the state immediately after the transfer recording of the first color has been completed and the first heat-melting ink 4 has been transferred to the recording paper 2. Thereafter, the first heat-melting ink 4 permeates into the recording paper 2 and solidifies, so that the recording paper 2 shrinks.

Here, it is assumed that the paper shrinks in the leading direction in FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the state in which the recording paper 2 is accurately returned to its original position after the recording of the first color is completed.

As shown in Figure 4, the recording paper 2 shrinks when recording the first color, so even if the recording paper 2 is accurately returned to its original position, the colors of the second and third colors will not shift relative to the first color. That's why it's happening.

In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for higher resolution image quality in thermal transfer recording type color printers, so the above-mentioned problem has become a major drawback.

The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink sheet for color thermal transfer recording that realizes highly accurate positioning of recorded dots.

In order to solve this problem, the color heat transfer re-recording ink sheet of the present invention has two or more heat-melt ink layers of mutually different colors and a transparent heat-melt ink layer. are formed at separate locations on a base sheet.

action The effect of this configuration is as follows.

That is, first, thermal transfer recording is performed on recording paper using transparent heat-melting ink. At this time, the recording paper will shrink, but
Thereafter, even if other heat-melting ink is transferred onto the transferred transparent ink, the recording paper will not shrink.

Therefore, by thermally transferring transparent heat-fusible ink onto recording paper and then sequentially thermally transferring heat-fusible ink of the desired color to be recorded, highly accurate alignment of recording dots can be achieved.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a plan view of an ink sheet for color thermal transfer recording according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 indicates a transparent heat-melting ink, and the other parts are the same as in FIG. 2.

Now, the ink sheet is withdrawn in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and transparent ink 11 is first thermally transferred and recorded on recording paper 2. As a result, after the recording paper 2 has shrunk, other heat-melting inks 4, 5, .
If thermal transfer recording is performed in step 6, heat-melting ink 4.5.6
This means that highly accurate alignment can be achieved between the dots recorded by the method.

Since the ink 11 that is first transferred at this time is transparent, it does not affect the hue of the printed result in any way.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to achieve the effect that recording dots can be aligned with extremely high precision.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an ink sheet for color thermal transfer recording according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus using an ink sheet for color thermal transfer recording, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of a conventional ink sheet for color thermal transfer recording. A cross-sectional view showing the state immediately after the first color heat-melting ink is recorded in color thermal transfer recording,
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the state immediately before recording the second color heat-melting ink in conventional color thermal transfer recording. 3... Ink sheet base material, 4... First
heat-melt ink, 5... second heat-melt ink, 6... third heat-melt ink, completion...
...Ink sheet for thermal transfer recording, 11...Transparent heat-melting ink.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ink sheet for color thermal transfer recording, characterized in that two or more heat-melt ink layers of mutually different colors and a transparent heat-melt ink layer are formed at separate locations on a base sheet.