JPS62149452A - Printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make available a printing method by which high-quality character and image printing can be performed by adopting printing technique which does not allow ink and a medium to be transferred to touch each other at the non-recording part of the ink and rolling ink dots on paper to be transferred after application of thermal energy using a heat roller. CONSTITUTION:The titled printing method is a printing technique for transferring the recording part of ink to a medium to be transferred by magnetic attraction force through the control of thermal energy application using a means 11 to apply thermal energy to the recording part 13 of thermoplastic magnetic ink and a means 15 to generate magnetic attraction force in the ink. In a printing method which does not allow ink and a medium to be transferred to contact each other at the non-recording part 12 of ink, ink dots on paper to be transferred are rolled using a heat roller 16 after application of thermal energy. Ink is transferred by magnetic attraction force under a thermal activation state of ink and no process of stripping off an ink medium is required. In addition, the fixing of ink into paper is markedly improved by melting and rolling ink dots after transfer and thereby the difficulty to link the dots can be overcome.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a non-impact printing device, and more specifically, it transfers thermoplastic magnetic ink to a transfer medium by the action of heat and magnetism, thereby printing characters, letters, etc. It concerns a printing method for obtaining an image.

[Conventional technology]

As a compact, low-cost, non-impact printing method, many methods using magnetic ink have been proposed.For example, the method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 52-96541 uses magnetic ink as the ink of the melt thermal transfer method, and heat supply. The ink corresponding to the thermal image is transferred by applying a magnetic attraction force to the ink by a magnetic means provided separately from the thermal image. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the thermal head 31, the ink medium 52, the transfer paper 35, and the magnet 36 are installed in this order, and the thermoplastic magnetic ink 34 of the ink medium is heated when the thermal head applies heat from the base film 33. After the ink medium is brought into contact with the transfer paper (directly below the head) and the molten ink is adhered to the transfer paper, the ink medium is peeled off from the transfer paper and the ink is transferred. Furthermore, the magnetic attraction force increases the probability of contact of the molten ink with the transfer paper, and the effect of increasing the transfer rate to the paper when the ink medium is peeled off. It is also possible to print a single character image on a paver with high quality.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, when the ink medium is peeled off, the ink in the recording area to be transferred remains in contact with the base film and the ink in the non-recording area.
A force acts to peel off the ink in the recording area that has been molten and adhered to the transfer paper together with the base film, causing transfer defects. In FIG. 5, in general thermal transfer recording, there are FA (inter-transfer paper adhesion force) and IFB (ink cohesive force), which are the forces that promote the transfer of the recording part ink to the transfer paper, and the forces that impede the transfer. ?
IF B
, F A ))? If the relationship o, p n always holds, the transcription is complete.

In the IN, 41 is the base film, 42 is the ink in the recording area, 46 is the ink in the non-recording area, and 44 is the transfer paper.

In the conventional method, the melted recording part ink is pulled toward the transfer paper by the magnetic attraction σ1 force, increasing the probability of contact with the transfer paper. 'A has the effect of increasing it. In other words, although the ink transfer rate is higher than that of general thermal transfer methods, the I
Due to the presence of FO and IFD, the above-mentioned ? A (1
a Ten T! There is a problem in that case o occurs, resulting in poor transfer.

Therefore, the present invention aims to solve these problems.
The purpose of this is to print very high-quality characters even on transfer paper with very poor surface smoothness or on films that do not have a very high affinity with ink. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing method that can print an iI image.

[Means for solving problems]

As shown in FIG.
and means 15 for generating a magnetic attraction force to the ink,
This is a printing method in which the recorded part of the ink is transferred to the transfer medium 14 by magnetic attraction force by controlling the application of thermal energy, and the ink and the transfer medium are connected to the non-recorded part 12 (11'M is magnetic) of the ink. The non-contact printing method is characterized in that a heat roller 16 is used to roll the ink dots on the receiving paper after application.

[Effect]

According to the above configuration of the present invention, the thermoplastic magnetic ink and the transfer medium are not in contact with each other in the non-recording portion of the ink. Thus, ink transfer is effected by magnetic attraction in the thermally activated state of the ink, eliminating the need for the prior art process of peeling off the ink medium. That is, the third
In the figure, since Fa and To, which had been hindering transfer, become 0, the transfer rate becomes extremely high. As a further supplement, even during ink transfer according to the present invention, the above-mentioned N in FIG.
o, FD acts as a resistance force for ink transfer, but since the ink is activated, it is smaller than that at the time of peeling off (state where the ink temperature has fallen). There is also a method in which the ink medium is peeled off without the ink temperature decreasing, that is, immediately after the head, but in this case, there is a problem that cohesive failure of the ink easily occurs and transfer reproducibility is lacking. Furthermore, the thermal heat roller of the present invention melt-rolls the ink dots after transfer onto the transfer paper, so that the fixability of the ink to the paper is improved by several steps compared to when the heat roller is not rolled. The fixed area of the rolled ink dots becomes larger, and even if the transfer efficiency is low, by spreading the dots, it is possible to improve the difficulty in connecting the dots.

[Example 1] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an example of the present invention. A thermal head 21 was used as a thermal energy applying means, and a permanent magnet 26 was used as a magnetic attraction force generating means.

As shown in the figure, when not recording, the ink medium 22 and the transfer paper (the paper type is 5outhworth 403
Paper (with a smoothness of 5 seconds) 25 was not brought into contact with the head and was placed directly below the head with a distance of 100 μm. The ink medium used was a PET film 23 with a thickness of 6 μm coated uniformly with a thermoplastic magnetic ink 24 having the composition shown below to a thickness of 6 μm.

〔composition〕

1 Magnetite fine particles 4 (1wt%2 Carnauba wax 20wt%3 Paraffin wax 50wt%4 171
5wt%5 Dispersant 1wt%6 Dye 4vrt% Permanent magnet has a maximum energy product of 25-3MGO.

At the tip of the magnet using a Sam magnet? An e-CO alloy Vermengel was installed. Applied energy cL5 mJ/d with thermal head of resolution zoomp processing
When the image was printed using ot, it was transferred to the receiving paper with a transfer efficiency of 70%. Here, the heating element (1
This means that an ink dot area corresponding to 70% of the area (25 μrn x 140 μm) was formed on the transfer paper. (Hereinafter, transfer efficiency shall have the above meaning.) [Example 2] As shown in Fig. 2, the same application bag 4B as in Example 1 (combined with a permanent magnet and a thermal head having the same performance) was used. method)
The temperature of the heat roller is around the melting point of the ink, 55-60℃.
A magnetic ink film with the same ink composition as in Example 1 was used, and the applied energy of the thermal head (15 m
J/dot and before the ink cools down, the ink dots on the transfer paper (5 outWorth 403) are rolled with a heat roller at a pressure of 100 P/-, and the ink is transferred onto the transfer paper with a transfer efficiency of 90% or more. I was able to make very high quality prints.

Figure 5 shows the details. First, the surface material of the transferred paper 25 and the transferred ink dots 50 by the thermal head is formed of silicone resin, and the ink dots are rolled by a heat roller 28 having a halogen lamp 29 (500W) as a heat source inside, so that the ink dots become independent from each other. What was previously transferred becomes a twin transfer object 31 due to an increase in the transfer area due to thermal pressure.

The following embodiments will be based on the system shown in FIG.

, [Example 3] The same application device as in Example 2 was used, the same heat roller was applied to the same transfer paper, the temperature of the heat roller was maintained at 55 to 60 °C near the melting point of the ink, and a magnetic ink film with the same ink composition was used. The applied energy of the thermal head is 0.
After applying 5 mJ/(lot), before the ink cools down, the ink dots on the transfer paper are rolled under pressure with a heat roller at 75 t/-. I was able to make a quality impression.

[Example 4] The same application device as in Example 2 was used, the same heat roller was applied to the same transfer paper, the temperature of the heat roller was maintained at 55 to 60°C near the melting point of the ink, and a magnetic ink film with the same ink composition was used. , the applied energy of the thermal head is 0.
After applying the ink at 5 m, T/dot, and before the ink cools down, the ink dots on the transfer paper are rolled with a pressure of 60 P/cfA using a heat roller, and the transfer efficiency is 75.
% or more was transferred onto the receiving paper.

Example 5: The same application device as in Example 2, the same heat roller applied to the same transfer paper, the heat roller humidity maintained at 45 to 50°C, and the magnetic ink film with the same ink composition used.
Applied energy of thermal head 0.5 mJ/dot
After application, before the ink cools down, apply pressure to the ink dots on the transfer paper using a heat roller at 12at/att.
When rolled with T, the transfer efficiency was 90% or more and the transfer was transferred onto the receiving paper, and a very high quality print was obtained.

[Example 6] The same application device, same transfer paper, and heat roller as in Example 2 were used, the temperature of the heat roller was kept at 40 to 45°C, a magnetic ink film with the same ink composition was used, and the temperature of the thermal head was After applying energy (L5 mJ/dot) and rolling the ink dots on the transfer paper with a heat roller at a pressure of 120 f/ctti before the ink cools down, the ink dots are transferred onto the transfer paper with a transfer efficiency of 85% or more, and a high A quality impression was obtained.

Examples 1 to 6 can be summarized as above.

[Comparative Example 1] As shown in Figure 3, the thermoplastic magnetic ink of the ink medium was brought into contact with the transfer paper when heat was applied from the base film surface by the thermal head, and the bath-melted ink was adhered to the transfer paper. When the ink medium was then peeled off from the transfer paper and the ink was transferred, the transfer efficiency was only 40%, resulting in very poor printing quality.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention includes a means for applying thermal energy to a recording portion of thermoplastic magnetic ink and a means for generating a magnetic attraction force to the ink, and by controlling the application of thermal energy, In a printing device that transfers a recorded portion of ink onto a transfer medium using magnetic attraction, the ink and the transfer medium do not come into contact with each other in the non-recorded portion of the ink, and a heat roller is provided to transfer the ink onto the transfer medium. The area of the ink dots can be expanded by rolling, making it possible to improve the low transfer efficiency of the prior art. Furthermore, the fixability to paper has also improved significantly compared to before. This allows transfer paper, which has a very rough surface with conventional technology, to
That is, it essentially solves the problem of poor printing quality on rough paper, and has the effect of allowing very high quality printing to be performed without being affected by the surface condition of the transfer paper.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, but is effective for all printing methods in which a recorded portion of thermoplastic magnetic ink is transferred onto a transfer medium by magnetic attraction by controlling thermal energy.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of the printing method of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating various forces acting on the ink when peeling off the ink medium in the thermal transfer method of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the principle of the conventional eye-photographing method. FIG. 5 shows details of an embodiment according to the present invention. ! ! It is a diagram. 11...Heat energy applying means 1...
. . . 13... Ink recording portion 14 . . . Transfer medium 15 . . . Magnetic attraction force generating means 16 . . . ... Heat roller 1M ... Magnetic attraction vector 21 ... Thermal head 22 ... Ink medium 23 ... Base film 24 ... Heat Plastic magnetic ink 25...Transfer paper 26...Permanent magnet 27...Transfer magnetic ink 28...Heat roller C surface material (silicon resin) 29 ...Halogen lamp (heat source) 30...
... Ink flying transfer material 51... Ink transfer material after heat roller rolling (Applicant: Seiko Epson Co., Ltd. Agent Patent attorney - C Sen 1 sentence) Figure 1 Figure 1 Iz Figure Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] It has a means for applying thermal energy to a recorded portion of thermoplastic magnetic ink and a means for generating a magnetic attraction force to the ink, and by controlling the application of thermal energy, the recorded portion of the ink is transferred to a transfer medium by the magnetic attraction force. This is a printing method in which the ink and the transfer medium do not come into contact with each other in the non-recorded area of the ink, and a heat roller is used to roll the ink dots on the transfer paper after application. A printing method characterized by: