JPS63160886A - Electrothermal recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable efficient recording and simplify the construction of a printer, by performing energization while moving an electrothermal recording needle and a heat generating plate relative to each other, and performing thermal transfer recording or thermal color forming recording by the heat generated by an electrically energized heat generating layer in the heat generating plate. CONSTITUTION:An electrically energized heat generating layer comprising a conductive inorganic material having a surface resistance of 10-10<7>OMEGA is provided on one side of an electrically anisotropic plate-shaped body in which a metal having a volume resistivity of not more than 10<-2>OMEGA-cm is contained in a matrix of an insulating open- cellular glass having a volume resistivity of at least 10<9>OMEGA-cm. A conductive layer comprising a thin metallic film or a conductive ceramic having a surface resistance of not more than 50 OMEGA is provided on the surface of the heat generating layer to form a heat generating plate, and a thermal transfer recording medium and a recording material or a thermal color forming paper is laid on the conductive layer side of the heat generating plate. Energization is conducted while moving an electrothermal recording needle placed in contact with the other side of the plate shaped body and the heat generating plate relative to each other, and thermal transfer recording or thermal color forming recording is conducted by the heat generated by the heat generating layer in the heat generating plate.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to an electrically conductive thermal recording method.

(Prior Art) In recent years, information has become extremely abundant, and the need for rapid transmission and recording of that information has increased, and various developments have been made regarding information management systems such as information processing systems, information transmission systems, and information recording systems. A typical example of this is an electrically conductive thermal transfer recording system.

As a recording material used in the recording system, there is, for example, an electric current recording device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-179764. The product described in this publication has a heating resistance layer and a conductive layer formed on one heating sheet and is separated from a heat-melting ink layer, and since the heating sheet can be used repeatedly, it can be used for running without reducing printing speed. It has the advantage of being able to reduce costs.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, as a heat generating sheet, polycarbonate with conductive carbon dispersed or metal silicide is used for the heat generating resistance layer, and thin aluminum or stainless steel film is used for the conductive layer. However, polycarbonate in which conductive carbon is dispersed as a filler has poor durability and is extremely difficult to use repeatedly at a thickness of 0.5 to 2.0 μm. In addition, metal silicide is also 0.5~
With a thickness of 2.0 μm, it is extremely easy to break (and cannot be used alone. Furthermore, it is not easy to provide a conductive layer on these surfaces.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and its gist is to provide an insulating continuous porous glass having a volume resistivity of 109Ω-value or more. An electrically anisotropic plate-like body made of a matrix impregnated with a metal having a volume resistivity of 101Ω or less is laminated on one side of the electrically anisotropic plate-like body made of a W conductive inorganic material with a surface resistance of 10-109Ω. and a conductive layer made of a metal thin film or a conductive ceramic having a surface resistance of 50 Ω or less and a surface resistance lower than that of the current heating layer is further laminated on the surface of the current heating layer, the side of the conductive layer side of the heating plate. A thermal transfer recording medium and a recording medium or a thermosensitive coloring paper are superimposed on each other, an energizing recording needle is brought into contact with the other surface of the plate-like body, and the current is applied while moving the relative position of the energizing recording needle and the heating plate. , the heat-sensitive transfer recording or the heat-sensitive color recording is performed using the heat generated by the energized heat-generating layer in the heat-generating plate.

(Summary of the invention) The heating plate generates heat in the thickness direction directly under the current-carrying recording needle due to the current applied from the current-carrying recording needle in contact with the heat-generating plate, and is made of an insulating, continuous porous glass matrix. An electric heating layer made of a conductive inorganic material is laminated on one side of an electrically anisotropic plate-like body impregnated with a metal, and a conductive layer made of a thin metal film or a conductive ceramic is further layered on the surface of the electric heating layer. It is a layered product.

The plate-like body has the role of maintaining the self-supporting properties of the heating plate and allowing the current to flow only in the thickness direction directly below the current recording needle.

The insulating, open-circuit porous glass of the present invention preferably has a pore diameter of 80 μm to 1 μm. Further, as the metal to be impregnated into the matrix of this continuous porous glass, silver (Ag), copper (Cu), etc. are suitable.

Since the plate-like body has the above-described structure, it is electrically anisotropic in that a current flows selectively in the thickness direction of the plate-like body. Therefore, even if the thickness of the plate-shaped body increases, the conductivity is not impaired, so the thickness can be increased, and a thickness that is easy to handle can be selected. In addition, since such a plate-like body maintains a uniform distribution of conductive portions within its plane, uniform current-carrying conditions can be obtained no matter where the current-carrying recording needle hits. In addition, since the range of manufacturing conditions is wide, manufacturing is easy.

The thickness of the current heating layer is preferably 2 to 50 μm, and the conductive inorganic material constituting the current heating layer has a surface resistance of 1
0-10? It may be in the range of Ω, and for example, ruthenium oxide glass, tin oxide (SnOz), and other low-conductivity ceramics are suitable.

The conductive layer laminated on the surface of the current-carrying heat-generating layer serves as a counter electrode for the current-carrying recording needle, and also conducts the heat generated by the current-carrying heat-generating layer to the heat-sensitive recording medium or heat-sensitive coloring paper, and the conductive outer layer itself is Although it generates some heat, it will not be destroyed. If the surface resistance of this conductive layer increases, it will no longer function as a counter electrode, so the surface resistance of the conductive layer is made to be 50Ω or less and smaller than that of the electricity-generating layer. Further, the ratio of the surface resistances of the current heating layer and the conductive layer is determined to be in the range of 50 to 108.

If the thickness of the conductive layer is thinner than 0.05 μm, the surface resistance will increase and it will not function sufficiently as a counter electrode, and if it is thicker than 5 μm, the thermal conductivity will be poor and it will be difficult to be destroyed by current, making it difficult for the heat generating plate to The thickness is set at 0.05 to 5 pm, since heat is diffused and heat transfer takes time.

As the conductive layer, a metal thin film or conductive ceramics is suitable. As the metal thin film, a metal thin film such as aluminum, stainless steel, gold, silver, or a metal foil is suitable. In addition, examples of conductive ceramics include molybdenum silicide (MoSit) and titanium carbide (TiN).
, tungsten carbide (WC), zirconium boride (
Silicides, carbides, borides, nitrides of transition metals such as ZrBz), titanium nitride (TiN), etc. are suitable.

In the present invention, a heat-sensitive transfer recording medium and a recording material such as plain paper are stacked in this order on the conductive layer side of the heating plate as described above, or a heat-sensitive coloring paper is stacked on the conductive layer side. , a current-carrying recording needle is brought into contact with the surface of the heat-generating plate opposite to the current-carrying heat-generating layer, and thermal recording is performed by energizing the current-carrying recording needle. In other words, when the current-carrying recording needle is energized, point heat generation occurs directly below the portion of the heat-generating plate that the current-carrying recording needle contacts, and this heat is transmitted through the conductive layer and dissolves the ink on the thermal transfer recording medium, causing the ink on the thermal transfer recording medium to melt. The color is transferred onto the surface of a recording medium such as plain paper overlaid on a heat-sensitive transfer recording medium, or transmitted through a conductive layer to develop color on a heat-sensitive coloring paper overlaid on the conductive layer. Note that the current flowing through the conductive layer is returned to the power source through another return electrode that is in contact with the heat generating plate.

According to the present invention, during thermal transfer recording, by applying electricity while moving the relative positions of the energizing recording needle and the heat generating plate, heat is not stored in the heat generating plate, and recording can be performed efficiently.

Furthermore, since the heat generating plate has high m-electricity in the thickness direction, image density and sharpness are not impaired even if the thickness of the heat generating plate is increased. Furthermore, the heating plate has excellent abrasion resistance, is durable, and can be used semi-permanently, making it economical. It also simplifies the structure of the printer because it does not require a long heating sheet as in the past. .

(Example) Next, an example of the present invention will be described. Hereafter simply "department"
"parts by weight" means "parts by weight".

[Example 1] Silver (Ag) was impregnated into a continuous porous glass having a thickness of 200 μm to obtain a plate-like body having electrical anisotropy in the film thickness direction. Next, a ruthenium oxide-glass based resistance base was screen printed on one side of the plate and baked to a thickness of 20 μm.
, an energizing heating layer of Ω was formed on the surface resistance 5. Subsequently, a conductive layer made of zirconium boride (ZrBg) having a thickness of 2 μm was formed on the surface of the current heating layer by CVD to obtain a heat generating plate. The surface resistance of the conductive layer is 0.5X 10-'Ω
Met.

Ketone resin (manufactured by Honshu Kagaku Co., Ltd., product name nn:z80)
100 parts metal-containing dye (manufactured by Hodogaya Chemical Co., Ltd., trade name: ZhiU)
Npurafuku BNH)
25 Part Beeswax
15 parts carnauba wax
15 parts ethyl acetate
50 parts toluene
25 parts Next, the compound having the above composition was dissolved and dispersed, and applied to the other side of the polyester film on which a conductive layer consisting of an aluminum vapor-deposited layer with a surface resistance of 0.8 Ω was formed, and dried to give a thick A heat-sensitive transfer layer with a thickness of 3 μm was formed to obtain a heat-sensitive transfer recording material with a thickness of 9 μm.

The obtained thermal transfer recording material was cut to a width of 711 mm, the conductive layer surface of the heat generating plate was superimposed on the polyester film surface of the thermal transfer recording material, and a mimeograph paper making machine (manufactured by Gestellatner, trade name: Guest Fax 1100, modified) was used. thing)
A high-quality paper is brought into contact with the bottom of the heat-sensitive recording material, an energized recording needle is brought into contact with the heat-generating plate, a DC voltage of 20 V is applied to the energized recording needle, the scanning line density is 161/as, and the recording speed is 1. When recording electricity under the conditions of .2 m/sec, there was no scattering of soot or carbon black, no bad odor, no through holes were formed in the heating plate or polyester film, the conductive layer was not destroyed by discharge, and no recording was made. Clear black images were obtained on high-quality paper without any cutting.

The density of the obtained image is 1.35, and the resolution is 167
! /It was a dragon. Similar results were obtained after using the heating plate 20 times.

[Example 2] In Example 1, a stainless steel foil with a thickness of 3 μm was used as the conductive layer instead of the conductive ceramic. In this case, stainless steel foil was used as a laminate, and the surface resistance was 0.2 x 10-''Ω.

When energization recording was carried out under the same conditions as in Example 1, there was no scattering of soot or carbon black, no bad odor, no through holes were formed in the heating plate, and a clear black image was obtained on the high-quality paper. The density of the obtained image was 1.30, and the resolution was 161/w. Similar results were obtained after using the heating plate 10 times.

(Effects of the Invention) Since the present invention has the above-described structure, there is no need to replace the heating plate even if it is repeatedly used for a long period of time, and running costs can be significantly reduced.

Furthermore, since the heating plate has electrical anisotropy, it can be made thicker and has excellent durability. Furthermore, since a reinforcing member for reinforcing the heat generating plate is not required, the structure of the printer printing unit can be simplified, and the manufacturing cost of the entire printer printing unit can be reduced. Furthermore, since the uniform distribution of the four-electrode portion within the plane of the electrically anisotropic plate-like body that constitutes the heating plate is well maintained, uniform energization conditions can be obtained no matter where the energization recording needle hits. . In addition, the heating plate is easy to manufacture because it can be manufactured under a wide range of conditions.

Patent distributor: Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. Representative Hiro 1) Kaoru

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A matrix of insulating open porous glass having a volume resistivity of 10^9 Ω-cm or more and a volume resistivity of 10^-^
An electrically conductive heating layer made of a conductive inorganic material with a surface resistance of 10 to 10^7 Ω is laminated on one side of an electrically anisotropic plate-like body impregnated with a metal of 2 Ω-cm or less, and A heat-sensitive transfer recording medium is placed on the side of the conductive layer of a heat-generating plate in which a conductive layer made of a metal thin film or conductive ceramics having a surface resistance of 50 Ω or less and a surface resistance lower than that of the current-carrying heat-generating layer is laminated on the heat-generating layer side. and a recording medium or heat-sensitive coloring paper are superimposed, an energizing recording needle is brought into contact with the other surface of the plate-like body, and electricity is applied while moving the relative position of the energizing recording needle and the heat generating plate, so that the inside of the heat generating plate is An electrically conductive thermal recording method, characterized in that the thermal transfer recording or thermosensitive color recording is performed using heat generated in the electrically conductive heat generating layer. 2) The ratio of the surface resistance of the current heating layer and the conductive layer is 50 to 10.
^8. The electrically conductive thermal recording method according to claim 1.