JPS6154985A - Thermal transfer recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide good-quality transfer recorded pictures when for a recording medium with surface having bad smoothness by a method in which a liquid ink layer is provided on a supporter, a thermal transfer material laminated with a thermoplastic resin layer is lapped on the liquid ink layer in such a way that the thermoplastic resin layer of the thermal transfer material is contacted with the face to be recorded of the recording medium, and the laminate is heated in pattern from the supporter side while pressing it concurrently. CONSTITUTION:Thermal transfer materials 1 formed by laminating a liquid ink layer 3 and a thermoplastic resin layer 4 on a supporter 2 are laminated so that the thermoplastic resin layer 4 of the material 1 is faced the face to be recorded of a recording medium 5. The laminate consisting of the material 1 and the medium 5 is heated in pattern frim the supporter 2 side while pressing it concurrently, forming an ink line 3a corresponding to the recording pattern on the recording medium 5. Transferred recorded pictures having excellent quality without any defect can thus be obtained even on recording mediums having surface of bad smoothness.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Technical Field The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording method, and particularly to a thermal transfer recording method that allows good recording even on recording media with poor surface smoothness.

(2) Prior Art In recent years, with the rapid development of the information industry, various information processing systems have been developed, and recording methods and devices suitable for each information processing system have also been developed and adopted. One such recording method is the thermal recording method, which has recently become widely used because the equipment used in this method is lightweight, compact, and noiseless, and has excellent operability and maintainability.

In this thermal recording method, color-forming thermal recording paper containing a color forming agent and a color developer is usually used as a recording medium, but such recording paper is expensive because it is specially processed paper. Records can be tampered with, recording paper easily develops color due to heat or organic solvents, and recorded images fade in a relatively short period of time, resulting in poor record storage stability.

To maintain the advantages of the heat-sensitive recording method as described above and compensate for the drawbacks associated with the use of heat-sensitive recording paper.

The thermal transfer recording method has recently attracted particular attention.

This heat-sensitive transfer recording method generally uses a heat-sensitive transfer material made by melt-coating a heat-transferable ink made of a heat-melting binder with a colorant dispersed on a sheet-like support. The thermally transferable ink layer is superimposed on the recording medium so as to be in contact with the recording medium, and heat is supplied from the support side of the thermal transfer material by a thermal head to transfer the melted ink layer onto the recording medium. A transfer ink image is formed according to the shape of heat supply. According to this method, it is possible to maintain the above-mentioned advantages of the heat-sensitive recording method, use plain paper as a recording medium, and eliminate the above-described disadvantages associated with the use of heat-sensitive recording paper.

However, such a thermal transfer recording method is not without its drawbacks. For example, the transfer recording performance of the conventional thermal transfer recording method, that is, the recording quality of transferred characters and images, etc. is not as good as that of the above-mentioned plain paper. The surface smoothness of recording media such as It is. However, even when using paper, the most typical recording medium, highly smooth paper is rather special, and ordinary paper usually has various degrees of unevenness due to the entanglement of edge fibers. . Therefore, in the case of paper with large surface irregularities, the hot-melted ink cannot penetrate into the fibers of the paper during transfer and only adheres to the convexities on the surface and the vicinity thereof, resulting in sharp edges of the transferred image. The recording quality may deteriorate due to missing parts or missing parts of the image. On the other hand, in order to improve the recording quality, it may be possible to use a heat-melting binder with a low melting point, but in this case, although the heat fluidity of the ink improves, the ink is woody and heat-softened. The phenomenon of cooling and solidifying when it comes into contact with paper fibers is unavoidable, and the transferability to recording media with poor surface smoothness cannot be said to be sufficient, and the use of binders with such low melting points In this case, the thermal transfer ink layer becomes sticky even at relatively low temperatures, resulting in disadvantages such as a decrease in the storage stability of the thermal transfer material and staining of non-transfer areas of the recording medium.

(3) Disclosure of the Invention The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and the main purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional thermal transfer recording method described above and maintain various thermal transfer performances. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer recording method which can provide a high quality transfer recorded image not only to a recording medium having a good surface smoothness but also to a recording medium having a poor surface smoothness.

The inventors of the present invention have conducted intensive research to achieve the above object, and as a result, they used a liquid ink instead of the conventional heat-melting ink, provided a liquid ink layer made of this liquid ink on a support, and A heat-sensitive transfer material comprising 81 thermoplastic resin layers is superimposed so that the thermoplastic resin layer of the heat-sensitive transfer material and the recording surface of the recording medium are in contact with each other, and a carcass produced by this superposition is It has been found that simultaneously heating and pressing the support in a pattern from the support side is extremely effective in achieving the above object.

More specifically, by heating the heat-sensitive transfer material in a pattern as described above, dot-shaped holes corresponding to the pattern are formed in the thermoplastic resin layer.

It has been found that forming a recorded image by causing liquid ink to flow out of the chain type and transfer it onto the recording medium by applying pressure simultaneously with heating is extremely effective in achieving the above object. .

The present invention has been made based on the above findings, and the thermal transfer recording method of the present invention that achieves the above object is a thermal transfer recording method in which a liquid ink layer and a thermoplastic resin layer are sequentially laminated on a support. The thermal transfer material is laminated so that the thermoplastic resin layer of the thermal transfer material and the recording surface of the recording medium face each other, and the laminate consisting of the thermal transfer material and the recording medium is patterned from the support side. It is characterized in that it is heated and pressed at the same time, leaving a transferred recorded image corresponding to the heating pattern on the recording medium.

In such a thermal transfer recording method of the present invention, the thermal transfer material and the recording medium are heated while being in close contact with each other due to compression, which is advantageous in terms of heat conduction.

Furthermore, since a liquid ink is used, it is possible to obtain a transferred recorded image with excellent recording quality and no print defects even on a recording medium with poor surface smoothness. Furthermore, since the thermoplastic resin layer is in contact with the non-transferred portion of the recording medium during recording, there is no fear of ink staining.

(4) Implementation of the Invention Mr. IE The present invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings as necessary.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a typical example of a heat-sensitive transfer material used in a conventional heat-sensitive transfer recording method, and is a schematic cross-sectional view in the thickness direction of the heat-sensitive transfer material. As shown in FIG. 3, a conventional thermal transfer material 1' is generally formed by forming a thermal transferable ink layer 3' on a heat-resistant support 2, which is made by dispersing a colorant in a heat-melting binder. .

On the other hand, the thermal transfer material 1 used in the method of the present invention, the most basic aspect of which is explained in Fig. S2, has a liquid ink layer 3 and a thermoplastic resin layer 4 laminated in this order on a heat-resistant support 2. It will be done.

As the support 2, conventionally known films and papers can be used as they are, such as films of relatively heat-resistant plastics such as polyester, polycarbonate, triacetylcellulose, polyamide, polyimide, cellophane, parchment paper, etc. can be suitably used.

The thickness of the support is preferably about 2 to 15 microns when considering a thermal head as a heat source during thermal transfer, but it is preferable to use a heat source such as a laser beam that can selectively heat the thermoplastic resin layer. There is no particular thickness limit when using a thermal head, and when using a thermal head, the surface of the support that comes into contact with the thermal head may be made of silicone resin, fluororesin, polyimide resin, epoxy resin, phenolic resin,
The heat resistance of the support can be improved by providing a heat-resistant protective layer made of melamine resin, nitrocellulose, etc., or it is also possible to use a support material with low heat resistance that could not be used conventionally. Further, for reinforcement, the support body 2 can be multi-layered if necessary.

As the liquid ink constituting the liquid ink layer 3, it is possible to use a wide variety of liquid inks that are generally well known in the field of recording such as printing, and specifically, for example, dyes and pigments whose particle size is adjusted as necessary. Examples include those in which a coloring agent such as the following is dissolved or dispersed in a liquid substance 1 such as water, animal oil, mineral oil, ester compound, ether compound, aromatic or aliphatic solvent, or the like. Preferably, writing ink, typewriter ink, printing ink, etc. are used, but these inks are liquid at the environmental temperature (generally room temperature) where the information equipment and other devices in which they are used are normally used. Preferably, ink is used.

Such liquid ink is laminated on the support z by any coating method such as a roll coater, plate coater, eight-coater, etc., and constitutes the liquid ink layer 3. The thickness of the liquid ink layer is usually in the range of 0.1 to 10 mm, preferably 0.5 to 5 mm.

As the thermoplastic resin layer 4 laminated on the liquid ink layer 3, a thermoplastic film such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, soft polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl alcohol, polystyrene, polyurethane, etc. is used, It is preferable to make the film thickness as thin as possible. Those in the range of L to 10 u, preferably 0.5 to 2 - are suitably used.

Further, the thermoplastic resin layer 3 may be colored with the aforementioned dye, pigment, or the like.

The heat-sensitive transfer recording method of the present invention using such a heat-sensitive transfer material will be explained below with reference to its embodiments. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overview of the recording method, and is a schematic cross-sectional view in the thickness direction of a heat-sensitive transfer material during recording.

The thermoplastic resin layer 4 of the thermal transfer material 1 having the liquid ink layer 3 and the thermoplastic resin layer 4 and the recording surface of the recording medium 5 are stacked so as to face each other, and are opposite to the recording surface of the recording medium 4. A heating pad 6 is provided at a position facing a supporting member such as a platen 7 provided to support the side surface, and heat is supplied to the head 6 according to a desired recording pattern, and at the same time, the head 6 is The thermal transfer material 1 and the recording medium 5 are pressed against each other by moving toward the platen 7 (see FIG. 1(A)).The thermoplastic resin layer 4 is heated by the heat applied in a pattern by the thermal head 6. When melted, holes are formed on the thermoplastic resin layer 4 according to the thermal pattern. At the same time, liquid ink flows out from the holes onto the recording medium 5 due to the pressure applied by the thermal spatula 6, and the recording is performed. Ink Q3a corresponding to the recording pattern is formed on the medium 5 (see FIG. 1(B)).

In this embodiment, a liquid ink layer 3 and a thermoplastic resin layer 4 are used.
Although a thermal head was used as a heat source for supplying heat according to the recording pattern to the thermal transfer material 1 having the above-described structure, the above-mentioned laser beam or the like may be suitably used in addition to the thermal head. Further, as the pressurizing means, in addition to the method of using a thermal head as described above, various pressurizing means that are generally widely used in this type of technology can be used.

Specifically, the recording conditions of the method of the present invention are as follows:
For example, if a thermal head as shown in FIG. 1 is used, the applied heating pulse width is 0.5 to 5 m5 ec, and the applied pressure is 0.5 m5 ec.
A condition of 5 to 5 Kg/cm'' is preferably adopted.

(5) Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a transferred recorded image with excellent recording quality and no print defects etc. even on a recording medium with poor surface smoothness. Since the non-transferred portion on the recording medium is in contact with the thermoplastic resin layer during recording, a thermal transfer recording method is provided in which the recording medium is not stained with ink.

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overview of a fifteenth implementation of the thermal transfer recording method of the present invention, including a schematic cross-sectional view in the thickness direction of a thermal transfer material during recording, and a second The figure is a diagram explaining the most basic aspect of the thermal transfer material used in the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view in the thickness direction of the thermal transfer material used in the conventional thermal transfer recording method. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a typical example of a heat-sensitive transfer material, and is a schematic cross-sectional view in the thickness direction of the heat-sensitive transfer material. 1.1'--One heat-sensitive transfer material 2-m-Support 3'--
Thermal transferable ink layer 3-m-Liquid ink layer 3a---Ink image 4-1-
Thermoplastic resin layer 5-m-Recording medium 6--Thermoherad
7---Platen Figure 1 (A) Figure 1 (B) Figure 2 弗3

Claims (1)

[Claims] A thermal transfer material consisting of a liquid ink layer and a thermoplastic resin layer laminated in this order on a support is laminated so that the thermoplastic resin layer of the thermal transfer material and the recording surface of the recording medium face each other, and the A thermal transfer recording method, characterized in that a laminate consisting of a thermal transfer material and a recording medium is heated and pressed in a pattern from the support side at the same time, and a transferred recorded image corresponding to the heating pattern is left on the recording medium.