WO2012005103A1

WO2012005103A1 - Printing method, printing device, and capillary force sheet

Info

Publication number: WO2012005103A1
Application number: PCT/JP2011/064023
Authority: WO
Inventors: 大塚　秀一
Original assignee: 富士フイルム株式会社
Priority date: 2010-07-05
Filing date: 2011-06-20
Publication date: 2012-01-12
Also published as: JP2012086211A

Abstract

Disclosed are a capillary force sheet, a printing device and a printing method capable of easily dyeing an entire item to be printed on a target colour, said item being formed of a plurality of regions having different capillary forces. A pre-processing unit (1) provides a capillary force layer, wherein ink is held and contained by means of a high capillary force, on at least a region having a low capillary force in an item to be printed on (P); a printing head (6) imparts drops of ink toward each region of the item to be printed on (P) by means of an ink jet method, and after the ink has been fixed to the entire item to be printed on (P), a reduction cleaning device (8) removes the capillary force layer from the item to be printed on (P).

Description

Printing method, printing device and capillary force sheet

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing method and a printing apparatus, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for printing an object to be printed consisting of a plurality of regions having different capillary forces by an ink jet method.

Cloth and woven fabrics are widely used in daily necessities, and their forms and materials are diversified. With this diversification, the number of fabrics that are difficult to uniformly dye the whole has increased.
As such a woven fabric, there are, for example, a fabric in which a polyester fastener is attached to the woven fabric, or a raised woven fabric having a fluffed surface of the woven fabric. The hooks and raised parts of the fastener are made of independent fibers and wires and have a convex shape, and only a low capillary force works. On the other hand, in the ground structure, fine fibers are twisted together to form a yarn, and further woven or knitted, and a high capillary force is expressed by the action of adjacent fibers.
In these fabrics, an area where the ink is likely to stay due to a high capillary force (ground texture) and an area where the ink is difficult to stay due to a capillary force lower than this area (a convex area such as a fastener hook or a raised portion) are arranged adjacent to each other. Has been. For this reason, ink that has been ejected onto a region having a low capillary force easily moves to a region having a high capillary force, and it is difficult to dye a predetermined amount of ink in a region having a low capillary force to a target color. there were.

Therefore, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses that the entire portion of the raised fabric is dyed in a different color by changing the nozzle diameter at the root and tip of the raised portion that is difficult to uniformly dye, so that the whole can be dyed to a target color. Proposed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-69631

However, much labor is required for changing the nozzle diameter and adjusting ink.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a conventional problem, and can print easily the entire printed material including a plurality of areas having different capillary forces with a target color. It is an object to provide a method and a printing device.

In order to achieve the above object, a printing method according to the present invention is a printing method in which printing is performed on an object to be printed including an area where ink does not stay easily by an ink jet method, and the capillary holds and holds ink with a high capillary force. A force layer is applied to at least a region having a low capillary force of the printed material, ink is ejected toward each region of the printed material by an inkjet method, and the color material of the ink is fixed to the printed material, and after fixing The capillary force layer is removed from the printed material.

Here, it is preferable that the capillary force layer includes an aggregate of inorganic fine particles, water-insoluble organic fibers, or organic porous particles applied to the printing material in a thin layer shape. In addition, the capillary force layer may further include a water-soluble polymer that improves the adhesion amount of the inorganic fine particles or water-insoluble organic fibers to the printing material by viscosity. The capillary force layer is a surfactant for improving the dispersibility of inorganic fine particles, water-insoluble organic fibers or organic porous particles in the coating liquid, or for improving the wettability with the printing material. Further, an aqueous polymer or the like can be further contained.

In addition, before applying the capillary force layer to the printing material, the wettability of the printing material may be improved by discharge treatment.
Further, the application of the capillary force layer to the printing material is performed by immersing at least a region having a low capillary force of the printing material in a pretreatment liquid in which the inorganic fine particles or water-insoluble organic fibers are dispersed. Can do. Alternatively, it is also possible to supply the pretreatment liquid by a dispenser that supplies a fixed amount of the preprinted liquid to at least a region having a low capillary force.

Further, the printed material is configured by attaching a region having a low capillary force to a ground tissue having a high capillary force, and is low after the capillary force layer is applied to the region having a low capillary force. An area having a capillary force may be attached to the ground structure, and ink may be supplied to each area of the print target integrated with the ink jet method.
After ink printing, a heat fixing process is performed. In the fixing process, the color material in the ink is firmly attached to the printing material by heating. When the color material is a disperse dye, the color material molecules are moved into the fibers or resin of the non-printed matter. When the coloring material is an acid dye or a reactive dye, water vapor is added during heating to cause a chemical reaction with the fiber / resin surface.
The removal of the capillary force layer from the printed material can be performed by alkali-washing the printed material on which the ink has been fixed after completion of the fixing process.

Further, the capillary force layer may be made of a sheet having an ink receiving gap adhered to a printing material. Further, the sheet can be attached to the printing medium through an adhesive solution in which the water-soluble polymer is dissolved and has a viscosity. Further, the sheet can be arranged so that the surface of the printing material is positioned within the range of the moving distance of the color material due to vaporization or the like during the heat treatment for fixing the ink to the printing material. Further, the removal of the capillary force layer from the printed material may be performed by peeling off the sheet from the printed material.

In addition, the capillary force layer supplies in advance a flocculant that promotes the agglutination reaction of the aggregate to be gelled by aggregation to at least a region having a low capillary force of the printing object, and the aggregate and the high capillary A capillary force imparting solution containing inorganic fine particles or water-insoluble organic fibers and organic porous particles for imparting force is supplied, and the capillary force imparting solution is gelled by an agglomeration reaction between the aggregate and the aggregating agent. Thus, it can be applied to a region having a low capillary force.

Further, it is preferable that the flocculant is supplied by adjusting the size and amount so that the liquid droplets supplied to the region having a low capillary force of the printing material remain on the region having a low capillary force. The flocculant can be supplied as air-dispersed fine particles.
Further, by supplying the capillary force imparting liquid and the flocculant supplied to the region having a low capillary force of the substrate to be printed at short time intervals, the region in which the capillary force imparting liquid or the flocculant has a high capillary force is supplied. It can be made to gel before it moves. Moreover, the said capillary force provision liquid can be supplied to the whole area | region which has a low capillary force of to-be-printed material. Further, the capillary force application liquid may be supplied only to the upper surface of the region having a low capillary force of the substrate.

The capillary force-imparting liquid is a surfactant for dispersing and stabilizing inorganic fine particles, water-insoluble organic fibers or organic porous particles, an aqueous polymer dispersion such as acrylic or polyester, and an aqueous such as PVA or algin sun. Preferably it contains a polymer solution. In order to accelerate the aggregation reaction, a soluble aqueous polymer or the like may be added.
Moreover, it is preferable that a capillary force provision liquid contains an aqueous polymer as the said to-be-aggregated body, and it aggregates with the said coagulant | flocculant and a viscosity is raised. In addition, an anionic surfactant can be used as the agglomerate, and an agglutination reaction can be performed by using an acid as the aggregating agent. Further, an organic cationic polymer is used as the aggregate and an anionic surfactant is used as the aggregating agent, or a dispersion containing an organic anionic polymer is used as the aggregate and the aggregating agent is used. The aggregation reaction may be performed using a cationic surfactant. In addition, agglomeration reaction may be performed by using a material in which a hydrophobic colloid or a hydrocolloid is dispersed as the aggregate and using the hydrophobic colloid or the neutralizing agent of the hydrocolloid as the aggregating agent. Further, the agglomeration reaction may be performed by using a material containing a crosslinkable polymer as the aggregate and using a crosslinking initiator of the crosslinkable polymer as the aggregating agent.
In addition, before supplying the flocculant, by supplying a deactivator that deactivates the agglutination reaction between the aggregate and the flocculant to a region having a high capillary force of the printed matter, It is possible to prevent the aggregation reaction from occurring in a region where application is not desired. As the quencher, an acid, an alkali, or the like that shifts to the Ph region where the agglutination reaction hardly occurs can be used. For example, in the case of an agglomerated dispersion mainly composed of an anionic active agent that causes aggregation in an acidic region using an organic acid as an aggregating agent, an alkaline agent can be used as a deactivating agent.

Further, the region having a low capillary force in the substrate can be made of a raised tissue. Moreover, the area | region which has a low capillary force in a to-be-printed object can also consist of a polyester structure larger than the diameter of a fiber.

Further, the printing apparatus according to the present invention is a printing apparatus that performs printing on an object to be printed including an area where ink hardly stays by an inkjet method, and has a capillary force layer that holds and holds the ink with high capillary force. A capillary force layer applying device that applies to at least a region having a low capillary force, an ink supply device that ejects ink toward the substrate by an inkjet method, a fixing device that fixes the ink on the substrate, And a removing device for removing the capillary force layer from the printed matter.

Here, the capillary force layer may include a fine particle aggregate or a water-insoluble organic fiber having an ink receiving void imparted to the printing material in a thin layer shape. Further, the capillary force layer may be formed of a sheet having an ink receiving gap attached to a printing material.

In addition, the capillary force layer applying device includes a flocculant supply device that supplies a flocculant that promotes the aggregating reaction of the aggregate to be gelled by aggregation to a region having a low capillary force of the printed matter, and the aggregate And a capillary force applying liquid supply device that supplies a capillary force applying liquid containing at least a region having a low capillary force of the printed material, the fine particle having ink receiving voids for applying a high capillary force, the flocculant, and the coagulant And a drying device for drying the capillary force imparting liquid that has been gelated by the aggregation reaction of the aggregates.

In addition, the capillary force imparting device may include a decapitating agent that deactivates the aggregating reaction between the aggregating agent and the agglomerated substance before supplying the aggregating agent by the aggregating agent supplying device, and is a capillary having a high printout. It is preferable to further have a deactivator supply device for supplying to the region having power.
Moreover, the said capillary force provision liquid supply apparatus can be supplied to the whole area | region which has a low capillary force of a to-be-printed material with an inkjet, a dispenser, or a coating device. Moreover, the said capillary force provision liquid supply apparatus can also supply only to the upper surface of the area | region which has a low capillary force of a to-be-printed material with an inkjet, a dispenser, and a coating device.

In addition, the capillary force sheet according to the present invention has an ink receiving gap that holds and holds ink ejected by the ink jet method with a high capillary force, and is attached to a printing surface of a printing object including a region where the ink is difficult to stay. The ink held in the ink receiving gap is vaporized by heat treatment to fix the ink on the substrate to be printed and then peeled off.

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily dye an entire printed material including a plurality of regions having different capillary forces with a target color.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the printing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. FIGS. 4A to 4D are diagrams illustrating a state in which a printing object is printed in the first embodiment. (A) to (D) are views showing a state in which a printing object is printed in a modification of the first embodiment. (A) And (B) is a figure which shows typically the other to-be-printed material used in Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a preprocessing unit used in a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment. (A) And (B) is a figure which shows the to-be-printed material to which the capillary force layer was provided by the pre-processing part shown in FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing unit used in Embodiment 2. FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a printing object is printed in a modified example of the second embodiment. It is a figure which shows typically the heating apparatus used in the modification of Embodiment 2. It is a figure which shows the to-be-printed material with which the coating liquid used in Embodiment 3 was apply | coated. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing unit used in a sixth embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the pre-processing part used in Embodiment 4. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a preprocessing unit used in a modification of the fourth embodiment. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a preprocessing unit used in Embodiment 5. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a nozzle of a capillary force imparting liquid supply device used in Embodiment 5. FIG. 10 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a nozzle of a capillary force imparting liquid supply apparatus used in a modification of the fifth embodiment.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment 1
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a printing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The printing apparatus includes a preprocessing unit 1 that performs preprocessing of the printing material P and a printing unit 2 that performs printing on the printing material P.
Here, the printed material P is made of, for example, a polyester fiber ground structure in which fine fibers are twisted and have a high capillary force that is woven to easily retain ink, and an independent wire thicker than the ground structure. It is comprised from the fastener hook which consists of polyester which is comprised and has a low capillary force and it is hard to retain ink rather than a ground structure. The capillary force indicates the ability to retain ink in each region of the printing material P, and the region having a high capillary force collects ink from the peripheral region having a relatively low capillary force by the capillary force. The region having a low capillary force cannot hold the ink by an attractive force from a peripheral region having a relatively strong capillary force.

The preprocessing unit 1 includes a plasma irradiator 3 that improves the wettability of the printing material P, a coating device 4 that applies a capillary force layer to the printing material P, and a drying device 5 that dries the printing material P. Have.
The plasma irradiator 3 has a pair of electrodes (not shown) and generates plasma between the electrodes. The generated plasma is sequentially irradiated onto the fastener hooks of the printing material P moving in a certain direction, and the surface of the fastener hooks is subjected to a hydrophilic treatment.
The coating device 4 is arranged on the downstream side of the plasma irradiator 3 with respect to the moving direction of the printing material P, and contains inorganic fine particles, water-insoluble organic fibers, or organic porous particles having a predetermined concentration as particles having ink receiving voids. The coating liquid dispersed in the ink mainly composed of water is applied on the surface of the printing material P in a thin layer. The particles having ink receiving voids contained in the coating liquid generate capillary force, and the coating liquid has a concentration of particles having ink receiving voids so as to generate a capillary force substantially equal to the capillary force of the ground tissue. It is adjusted. For example, the capillary force at the time of holding ink between substances (between fibers or particle aggregates) such as a ground texture or particles having an ink receiving void is expressed by the following equation (1).
p = aγcos θ / r (1)
Here, p is a capillary force (pressure) per unit area, a is a proportional constant, γ is the surface tension of the ink liquid, θ is a contact angle indicating wettability between the ink and the target substance, and r is a substance that holds the ink. Is the distance between.

Thus, since the capillary force p greatly depends on the distance r (gap size) between the substances holding the ink, the distance between the fibers of the ground tissue and the distance between the aggregates of the particles having the ink receiving voids are By adjusting the coating solution so as to be substantially the same, the capillary forces of both can be made substantially equal. In addition, in order to increase the efficiency of dyeing the target printing material during the heat treatment of the ink coloring matter, the particles having the ink receiving voids are not dyed with the ink coloring matter during the heat treatment of the printing material P, and are not melted. Those that do not deform / react are preferable. For example, inorganic fine particles such as alumina, silica, and titanium oxide having a particle diameter of several to several tens of nm, or water-insoluble organic fibers such as pulp and cellulose can be used.

The coating device 4 can supply the coating liquid to the fastener hook by a method such as roller coating or dip coating. Alternatively, it is possible to increase the viscosity of the liquid so that the coating liquid does not flow on the hook surface and apply the liquid to a necessary area by a dispenser.
The drying device 5 is disposed on the downstream side of the coating device 4 with respect to the moving direction of the printing material P, and dries the printing material P. As a result, the surface of the printing material P is dried, and a capillary force layer is formed on the surface of the printing material P in which particles having ink receiving voids spread in a thin layer. The capillary force layer has a capillary force substantially equal to that of the ground structure of the printing material P by adjusting the concentration of particles having ink receiving voids in the coating liquid.

The printing unit 2 is disposed on the downstream side of the drying device 5 with respect to the moving direction of the printing material P. In the printing unit 2, a print head 6, a heating device 7, a reduction cleaning device 8, and a drying device 9 are sequentially arranged in the moving direction of the printing material P.
The print head 6 is for ejecting ink onto an object to be printed P provided with a capillary force layer by an ink jet method. A print head capable of printing a plurality of color materials according to the final color development target can be arranged. The heating device 7 heats the printed material P on which ink has been ejected to dye the ink pigment into the printed material P. The reduction cleaning device 8 cleans the dyed printing material P. At this time, the capillary force layer applied to the substrate P is also removed. The drying device 9 is for drying and finishing the washed printing object P.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 1, the substrate P is moved in a certain direction by a moving device (not shown). For example, as shown in FIG. 2 (A), the substrate P to be printed is one in which a fastener hook 11 having a low capillary force is attached to a ground tissue 10 having a high capillary force. As described above, since the ground material 10 and the fastener hook 11 are adjacent to each other in the printed material P, when ink is applied to the fastener hook 11 as it is, the ink moves to the ground texture 10 due to a difference in capillary force. However, it is difficult to dye the fastener hook 11 with a predetermined amount of ink.
When the substrate P is moved and reaches the plasma irradiator 3 installed in the pretreatment unit 1, the plasma irradiator 3 sequentially irradiates the fastener hooks 11 of the substrate P with plasma, thereby wetting. Improve sexiness.

When the plasma-treated printing material P reaches the coating device 4 from the plasma irradiator 3, a coating liquid in which, for example, inorganic fine particles are dispersed at a predetermined concentration from the coating device 4 is applied to the surface of the printing material P in a thin layer. Is done. At this time, since the wettability of the fastener hook 11 is improved by the plasma treatment, the coating liquid can remain uniformly on the surface. Subsequently, the printing material P is dried by the drying device 5, and a capillary force layer 12 in which inorganic fine particles spread in a thin layer is formed on the surface of the printing material P as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2C, ink is ejected from the print head 6 onto the printing material P on which the capillary force layer 12 is formed. The ink ejected toward the ground tissue 10 is supplied to the ground tissue 10 directly or via the capillary force layer 12 without being captured by the fastener hook. The ink printed on the ground texture penetrates to the back surface due to the permeability of the ground texture.
Further, the ink ejected toward the fastener hook 11 is held without moving to the ground tissue 10 because the aggregate of inorganic fine particles has a capillary force almost equal to the capillary force of the ground tissue 10.

In this way, in the printing medium P having areas having different capillary forces, the ink that is deposited on the area having a low capillary force is retained in the area by the capillary force layer 12 so that the area is dyed. Can be suppressed. Further, the capillary force layer 12 is composed of an aggregate of inorganic fine particles, and a fine void is present in advance, and ink is held in the void.
The ink can be held in a short time compared to an ink holding agent composed of a film of a water-soluble polymer such as polyvinyl alcohol, alginic acid, etc. that exhibits ink holding power by dissolving or swelling in the ink liquid, It is possible to prevent the ink from moving from the fastener hook 11 to the ground structure 10 before the ink holding power is exerted.

The printing material P is heated by the heating device 7 in a state where the ink is held in the capillary force layer 12, and the pigment of the ink is dyed into the ground structure 10 and the fastener hook 11. The printed material P on which the ink has been heat-fixed is cleaned by the reduction cleaning device 8 and the capillary force layer 12 formed on the surface thereof is also removed and dried by the drying device 9, as shown in FIG. As described above, the dyeing of the printing material P is finished.
For example, when the fastener hook 11 is made of polyester, the dye is heated and fixed on the printed material P at 180 to 200 ° C. by the heating device 7, and then the printed material P is washed with heated alkaline water by the reduction cleaning device 8. Then, the printed material P can be dried by the drying device 9 and finished.

According to the printing apparatus of this embodiment, since the target color can be dyed only by applying the capillary force layer 12 to the printing material P composed of regions having different capillary forces, printing is easily performed. The object P can be dyed.

The capillary force layer 12 may be formed only on the fastener hook 11 of the printed material P. For example, the capillary force layer 12 can be formed by applying the coating liquid in a thin layer only to the fastener hook 11 of the printing material P by the coating device 4.
Further, before attaching the fastener hook 11 to the ground structure 10, as shown in FIG. 3 (A), the capillary solution layer 12 is formed by applying a coating solution only on the fastener hook 11 in a thin layer shape. ), The fastener hook 11 formed with the capillary force layer 12 may be attached to the ground tissue 10. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3C, ink is ejected from the print head 6 to the ground structure 10 and the fastener hook 11, and as shown in FIG. 3D, heat fixing processing and washing processing are performed. The substrate P can be dyed and finished.

The coating liquid may contain a water-soluble polymer that increases the viscosity. As the water-soluble polymer, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), sodium alginate, gelatin, aqueous acrylic, aqueous polyester and the like can be used. Thus, by increasing the viscosity of the coating liquid, it is possible to improve the adhesion amount of the particles having ink receiving voids to the region having a low capillary force of the printing material P and to increase the ink in the region having a low capillary force. It is possible to easily adjust the adhesion amount of the particles having the receiving voids.
Further, the coating liquid may include a processing agent that improves the wettability of the printing material P. As the treating agent, alcohols or surfactants can be used. This makes it easy for the coating liquid to stay even in the region having a low capillary force of the printing material P, and it is possible to improve the amount of particles having ink receiving voids in the region having a low capillary force.

In the present embodiment, the wettability is improved by plasma processing the fastener hook 11 of the printing material P by the plasma irradiator 3, but the printing material is obtained by other dry discharge processing such as corona processing. The wettability of P may be improved. Further, the wettability improving process can be omitted by adjusting the coating solution.

Further, as the substrate P, a structure in which a snap 14 having a low capillary force is attached to a ground tissue 13 having a high capillary force as shown in FIGS. 4 (A) and (B) may be used. Since the ground tissue 13 and the snap 14 are adjacent to each other, if ink is ejected onto the snap 14 in the same state, the ink moves to the ground tissue 13 due to the difference in capillary force, and the snap 14 is dyed with a predetermined amount of ink. Even for a printing object P that is difficult to print, it can be easily dyed to a target color by the printing apparatus of the present embodiment. In this case, the coating liquid may be supplied only to the snap portion by a dispenser.

Embodiment 2
FIG. 5 shows a configuration of the preprocessing unit 21 used in the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment. The pre-processing unit 21 attaches a capillary force sheet 22 having an ink receiving gap formed of a fiber bundle such as a yarn, cloth, nonwoven fabric, paper, or the like as a capillary force layer to the printing material P. Used in place of the preprocessing unit 1. The pre-processing unit 21 includes a supply roller 23 that supplies the capillary force sheet 22 to the printing material P, a wet sponge roller 24 that attaches the capillary force sheet 22 to the printing material P, and a drying device that dries the printing material P. 25. Here, the substrate P is composed of, for example, a fibrous ground tissue having a high capillary force and a snap having a convex shape and a low capillary force made of polyester resin.

A capillary force sheet 22 is wound around the supply roller 23, and the capillary force sheet 22 is supplied to the printing material P by feeding the capillary force sheet 22 in accordance with the movement of the printing material P. The capillary force sheet 22 has an ink receiving gap that generates a capillary force substantially equal to the capillary force of the ground tissue on the surface of the printing material P, for example, a fiber spacing substantially equal to the fiber spacing of the ground tissue. Can be used. The capillary force sheet 22 is preferably one that is not dyed with an ink pigment during the heat treatment of the printing material P. For example, a cloth, a nonwoven fabric, or a thin paper woven with cellulosic fibers can be used. The wet sponge roller 24 is disposed on the downstream side of the supply roller 23 with respect to the moving direction of the printing material P, and is applied to the printing material P while the capillary force sheet 22 supplied from the supply roller 23 is moistened with an adhesive solution. By pressing, the capillary force sheet 22 is attached to the surface of the printing material P. As the adhesive solution, for example, a solution having viscosity by dissolving a water-soluble polymer such as PVA, sodium alginate, gelatin, and aqueous polyester can be used. The drying device 25 is disposed on the downstream side of the wet sponge roller 24 with respect to the moving direction of the printing material P, and dries the printing material P. As a result, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the dried capillary force sheet 22 adheres to the surface of the printing material P to form a capillary force layer.
Note that the capillary force sheet 22 is attached to the printing material P using another peelable film-like support provided with the capillary force sheet 22 and is attached from the film-like support when attached with a sponge roller. The capillary force sheet 22 may be peeled off and remain on the substrate.

The capillary force sheet 22 is arranged so that the surface of the printing material P is positioned within a distance range in which the dye of the ink vaporized from the capillary force sheet 22 is moved by the heat treatment. The arrangement position of the capillary force sheet 22 can be set within a range of several mm, preferably 0.5 mm from the printing material P, for example. As long as the arrangement position of the capillary force sheet 22 with respect to the printing material P can be within the movement distance range of the vaporized ink, a solution such as water having no viscosity may be used as the adhesive solution.

FIG. 7 shows a printing unit 26 used in the printing apparatus according to this embodiment. The printing unit 26 is used for stripping the capillary force sheet 22 from the printing material P on the downstream side of the drying device 9 with respect to the traveling direction of the printing material P in the printing unit 2 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. A stripping device 27 is newly arranged.

First, as shown in FIG. 5, the capillary force sheet 22 fed from the supply roller 23 in accordance with the printing material P moving in a certain direction is sequentially supplied to the surface of the printing material P. The capillary force sheet 22 supplied to the printing material P is pressed against the printing material P while being wetted with the adhesive solution by the wet sponge roller 24, and is stuck along the surface of the printing material P via the adhesive solution. Attached. Subsequently, the printed material P is dried by the drying device 25 and adheres along the surface of the printed material P composed of the ground structure 13 and the snaps 14 as shown in FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B). A capillary force layer composed of the capillary force sheet 22 is formed.

In the same manner as in the first embodiment, ink is ejected from the print head 6 of the printing unit 26 onto the substrate P to which the capillary force sheet 22 is attached. At this time, since the capillary force sheet 22 has a capillary force substantially equal to the capillary force of the ground tissue 13, the ink ejected toward the snap 14 does not move to the ground tissue 13, but moves on the surface of the snap 14. It is held between the fibers of the capillary force sheet 22 located at the position.
Subsequently, the printing material P is heated by the heating device 7 in a state where ink is held on the capillary force sheet 22. By this heat treatment, the ink held on the capillary force sheet 22 is vaporized and moved, and is fixed to the ground structure 13 and the snap 14 of the printing material P arranged within the moving distance range. The dyed print P is washed by the reduction cleaning device 8 and then dried by the drying device 9. As shown in FIG. 7, the dried print substrate P is subjected to the removal of the capillary force sheet 22 adhering to the surface by the stripping device 27, and the print product P is dyed.

According to the printing apparatus of the present embodiment, the target color can be dyed only by applying the capillary force layer composed of the capillary force sheet 22 to the printing material P composed of regions having different capillary forces. Thus, the printing object P can be easily dyed.

In the cleaning process of the reduction cleaning device 8, when the capillary force sheet 22 is removed from the surface of the printing material P by dissolution or the like, the stripping device 27 may not be provided in the printing unit 26.
In the present embodiment, the capillary force sheet 22 is used to hold ink between fibers. However, the capillary force sheet 22 only needs to have a capillary force almost equal to that of the ground tissue and can hold the ink, for example, a film or cloth. For example, a plurality of particles having ink receiving voids (such as inorganic fine particles) aggregated may be used.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a raised fabric comprising a ground tissue 28 having a high capillary force and a raised tissue 29 having a low capillary force may be used.
A capillary force sheet 22 is attached to the tip of the raised tissue 29 by the preprocessing unit 21 on the substrate P to be printed. The printed material P to which the capillary force sheet 22 is attached is ejected with ink from the print head 6 of the print unit 26. In addition, a new print head 36 may be provided on the ground tissue 28 side of the substrate P, and ink may be directly ejected from the print head 36 to the ground tissue 28 without using the capillary force sheet 22. The printed material P on which the ink has been ejected is heated by the heating device 7. As the heating device 7, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, by using a device that heats a thermal roll 30 in contact with the capillary force sheet 22, the distance between the capillary force sheet 22 and the raised tissue 29 is kept constant. Stabilizes the position where heat is fixed to the printing material P, and heats and fixes the dye from the tip side of the raised tissue 29 where ink is difficult to fix. The heat-treated printing material P is finished through the reduction cleaning device 8, the drying device 9, and the stripping device 27.
The higher the temperature of the heat treatment, the longer the moving distance of the vaporized ink and the longer the distance at which the pigment is fixed, the longer the distance from the tip of the raised tissue 29 toward the root. The position of the pigment can be controlled by the temperature of the heat treatment and the amount of ink printed. In addition, when ink is ejected from both sides of the printing material P by the print heads 6 and 36, the raising amount is controlled by controlling the printing amount from the capillary force layer side, the printing amount from the ground tissue side, and heating conditions. It is also possible to make the degree of color development or the color different between the background of the tissue 29 and the tip.
As described above, even a raised fabric composed of regions having different capillary forces can be easily dyed to a target color simply by providing a capillary force layer composed of the capillary force sheet 22.

Embodiment 3
As the to-be-printed material P used in Embodiment 1 described above, a raised fabric composed of a ground tissue having a high capillary force and a raised tissue having a low capillary force may be used. In this case, for example, the coating device 4 includes a pressing roller or the like, and, as shown in FIG. 10, in addition to the particles (inorganic fine particles, etc.) having ink receiving voids from the coating device 4, The application liquid 31 containing a water-soluble polymer is applied to the raised tissue 29 of the printing material P, and at the same time, the raised tissue 29 is pressed by a roller or the like to be fixed in a lying state so as to be substantially parallel to the ground tissue 28. preferable.
That is, a coating liquid 31 containing particles having ink receiving voids and having a high viscosity is applied from the coating device 4 to the printing material P and pressed by the roller or the like of the coating device 4 so that the raised tissue 29 is placed sideways. Defeated. In addition, in order to improve the wettability of the raised tissue before application, plasma treatment or the like can be performed in advance. Due to this pressing and the high viscosity of the coating liquid 31, the raised tissue 29 of the substrate P is fixed while lying on the ground tissue 28. Subsequently, the printed material P is dried by the drying device 5, and the capillary force in which particles having ink receiving voids spread in a thin layer on the surface of the printed material P fixed to the ground tissue 28 with the raised tissue 29 lying on the surface. A layer is formed. In this way, a capillary force layer can be applied to the entire raised tissue of the printing material P. As the water-soluble polymer, for example, PVA, sodium alginate, gelatin, aqueous polyester and the like are used.

Ink is ejected from the print head 6 of the printing unit 2 onto the substrate P to which the capillary force layer is applied. The ejected ink is held on the surface of the raised tissue by an aggregate of particles having ink receiving voids having a capillary force substantially equal to the ground structure of the printing material P. In the same manner as in the first embodiment, the printed material P is heat-treated in a state where the ink is held in the capillary force layer, and is washed and dried to finish the dyeing.

According to the printing apparatus of the present embodiment, even a raised fabric composed of regions having different capillary forces can be easily dyed to a target color simply by providing a capillary force layer composed of particles having ink receiving voids. it can.

Embodiment 4
FIG. 12 shows the configuration of the preprocessing unit 61 used in the printing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment. The pre-processing unit 61 is for improving the efficiency of applying the capillary force layer to the printing material P, and is used instead of the pre-processing unit 1 in the first embodiment. The pre-processing unit 61 includes a deactivator supply device 62 that supplies a deactivator to the printing material P, a coagulant supply device 63 that supplies the coagulant to the printing material P, and imparts capillary force to the printing material P. It has a capillary force applying liquid supply device 64 for supplying the liquid and a drying device 65 for drying the printing material P.

Here, it is assumed that the substrate P is composed of, for example, a ground tissue having a high capillary force and a raised tissue having a low capillary force. In addition, the capillary force imparting liquid is an aqueous polymer such as an acrylic or polyester polymer that gels by aggregation, particles to be aggregated composed of a polymer activator, and particles having ink receiving voids for imparting high capillary force (inorganic fine particles , Water-insoluble organic fibers, or organic porous particles), the aggregating agent is for accelerating the aggregating reaction of the aggregate to be contained in the capillary force imparting liquid, and the deactivating agent is the aggregating agent. Is deactivated to suppress the aggregation reaction between the aggregating agent and the aggregate.

The deactivator supply device 62 is disposed on the back side of the printed material P where there is no raised fabric, and supplies the deactivator to the ground structure of the printed material P by, for example, an inkjet method.
The flocculant supply device 63 is disposed downstream of the deactivator supply device 62 with respect to the traveling direction of the printing material P and on the surface side where the raised fabric of the printing material P is present, and on the surface side of the printing material P. Supply flocculant. The size and amount of the flocculant supplied by the flocculant supply device 63 are adjusted so that the respective droplets collect on the surface of the raised fabric and do not move to the ground structure of the substrate P to be printed. For example, the size of the flocculant supplied to the raised fabric is made smaller than the capillary force length represented by the following formula (2) so that the droplets of the flocculant remain stable without moving on the surface of the raised fabric. Can be adjusted.
1 / κ = (γ / ρ · g) ^1/2 (2)
1 / κ is the capillary force length, γ is the surface tension, ρ is the specific gravity, and g is the gravitational acceleration.
For the flocculant supply device 63, for example, an ultrasonic atomizer or an air spray that supplies the flocculant in a mist form (air-dispersed particles) of several microns to a hundred microns can be used.

The capillary force applying liquid supply device 64 is arranged on the downstream side of the flocculant supply device 63 with respect to the traveling direction of the printing material P and on the surface side of the printing material P, and is made of inorganic fine particles diffused at a predetermined concentration. A capillary force imparting liquid containing particles having ink receiving voids is supplied to the printing material P. As the capillary force applying liquid supply device 64, for example, an inkjet, a dispenser, an applicator, or the like can be used. The capillary force imparting liquid supplied to the raised fabric is gelled by the agglomeration reaction between the aggregate and the aggregating agent, and is retained on the surface of the raised fabric. When the capillary force imparting solution and the flocculant move to the ground tissue, the quenching agent supplied to the ground tissue avoids the reaction between the two, and gelation of the capillary force imparting solution in the ground tissue occurs. I won't let you.
The drying device 65 is disposed on the downstream side of the capillary force applying liquid supply device 64 with respect to the traveling direction of the printing material P, and dries the printing material P. As a result, the dispersion medium component of the gel-like capillary force imparting liquid staying on the surface of the raised fabric is volatilized, and the particles having the ink receiving voids contained in the capillary force imparting solution spread in a thin layer on the surface of the raised fabric. A layer is formed.

First, as shown in FIG. 12, the deactivator is supplied to the ground structure from the back side of the printing material P by the deactivator supply device 62. The supplied quencher penetrates to the surface side of the ground tissue. Next, a mist-like (air-dispersed particle) flocculant is supplied from the front side of the printing material P by the flocculant supply device 63. At this time, since the flocculant supply device 63 adjusts the particle size and amount of the flocculant and supplies the flocculant, the flocculant supplied to the raised fabric gathers each droplet and moves to the ground structure of the substrate P to be printed. Not positioned at a predetermined interval.
Subsequently, the capillary force applying liquid supply device 64 supplies a capillary force applying liquid including particles having an ink receiving gap having a predetermined concentration and an aggregate to be printed from the front side of the printing material P. When the capillary force imparting liquid is supplied, the aggregates contained in the capillary force imparting liquid are gelled by agglomeration reaction with an aggregating agent present on the surface of the raised fabric. By being in the gel state in this way, the capillary force imparting liquid is attached to the raised fabric, and the particles having ink receiving voids contained in the capillary force imparting solution are retained on the surface of the raised fabric. When the capillary force imparting liquid and the flocculant move to the ground tissue, the quenching agent supplied to the ground tissue from the deactivator supply device 62 avoids the coagulation reaction between the two, so that the capillary is applied to the ground tissue. The force-imparting liquid does not gel and stay.
The capillary force-imparting liquid fastened to the raised fabric in a gel state is dried by the drying device 65. As a result, the dispersion medium component is volatilized in the gel-like capillary force applying liquid, and a capillary force layer in which particles having ink receiving voids spread in a thin layer form on the surface of the raised fabric is formed. The thus formed capillary force layer has a capillary force substantially equal to that of the ground structure of the printing material P by adjusting the concentration of the capillary force applying liquid.

In this way, the particles having the ink receiving voids supplied to the raised fabric are moved to the ground tissue by fixing the particles having a predetermined amount of the ink receiving voids to the raised fabric by gelling the capillary force imparting liquid. A predetermined amount of capillary force layer can be formed on the surface of the raised fabric.

The printed material P in which the capillary force layer is formed on the raised fabric is printed by the printing unit 2 in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

According to the printing apparatus of the present embodiment, the capillary force imparting liquid is made into a gel to keep the particles having ink receiving voids in the region having a low capillary force of the printed material. Ink can be retained by forming a capillary force layer having a sufficient thickness in the area.

When the flocculant supply device 63 and the capillary force applying liquid supply device 64 supply the flocculant and the capillary force applying liquid from the front side of the printing material P, they are in a region having a low capillary force of the printing material P. It may be supplied directly to the ground tissue which is supplied and has a high capillary force. For example, as shown in FIG. 13, a printing material P composed of a ground tissue having a high capillary force and a snap having a low capillary force is used, and a flocculant and a capillary force application liquid are supplied from the front side. Capillary force-imparting liquid and coagulant are supplied directly to the snap and the ground tissue, respectively. In snap, the aggregate and the coagulant contained in the capillary force-imparting liquid undergo agglutination reaction, whereas in the ground tissue, the deactivator. The deactivator supplied from the supply device 62 to the ground tissue deactivates the flocculant and avoids the coagulation reaction between the flocculant and the aggregate. Thereby, the capillary force imparting liquid can be gelled and held only on the surface of the snap.

In addition, if the capillary force imparting liquid that has been gelled by agglomeration reaction between the aggregate and the aggregating agent in the ground structure of the printing object P is not affected by the subsequent printing process, the deactivator supply device 62 may be used. It is not necessary to supply the deactivator to the ground structure of the printing material P. The flocculant and the capillary force imparting liquid are supplied from the front side of the printing material P, and the capillary force imparting liquid in the form of a gel is fastened to the snap and the ground tissue. Thereafter, the film is dried by the drying device 65, and a capillary force layer in which particles having ink receiving voids spread in a thin layer is formed on the entire surface of the printing material P.

The deactivator supply device 62 may be disposed on the back side of the printing material P and between the flocculant supply device 63 and the capillary force applying liquid supply device 64. The deactivator is supplied to the ground structure after the coagulant is supplied to the printing material P, and deactivates the coagulant supplied to the ground structure.
Further, the deactivator supply device 62 can be disposed on the surface side of the printing material P as long as the flocculant supplied to the ground texture can be deactivated by the supplied deactivator.

Embodiment 5
FIG. 14 shows a configuration of a preprocessing unit 71 used in the printing apparatus according to the fifth embodiment. This pre-processing unit 71 is for supplying the capillary force-applying liquid only to the region having a low capillary force of the printing material P. In the pre-processing unit 61 of the fourth embodiment, the deactivator supply device 62 is excluded. In addition, the capillary force applying liquid supply device 72 is used instead of the capillary force applying liquid supply device 64. Here, it is assumed that the substrate P is composed of, for example, a ground tissue having a high capillary force and a snap having a low capillary force.
The capillary force applying liquid supply device 72 is configured by a dispenser that supplies the capillary force applying liquid via, for example, the nozzle 73 so as to supply the capillary force applying liquid only to the upper surface of the snap of the printing material P. As shown in FIG. 15, the nozzle 73 has a fine hole 74 formed at the tip, and a certain amount of capillary force application liquid is supplied to the upper surface of the snap of the printed material P through the hole 74. The capillary force application liquid supplied to the upper surface of the snap is agglomerated with the flocculant to gel, and is retained on the upper surface of the snap. On the other hand, since the capillary force application liquid is not supplied to the ground tissue of the substrate P, the gelation of the capillary force application liquid does not occur in the ground tissue. The printed material P is dried by the drying device 65, and the dispersion medium component of the gel-like capillary force imparting liquid held on the snap is volatilized, and a capillary force layer in which particles having ink receiving voids spread on the top surface of the snap in a thin layer form. Is formed.

According to this embodiment, the ink can be retained by forming a capillary force layer having a sufficient thickness in an area having a low capillary force of the printing material P without using a quencher.

The capillary force applying liquid supply device 72 may supply the capillary force applying liquid to the snap of the printing material P through the nozzle 75 as shown in FIG. The nozzle 75 has a concave portion 76 corresponding to the shape of the snap of the printing material P at the tip portion thereof, and the snap is covered with the concave portion 76 by moving up and down. A hole 77 is formed in the side surface constituting the recess 76, and a certain amount of capillary force application liquid is shared by the upper surface and the side surface of the snap through the hole 77. In this way, the capillary force application liquid supplied to the entire snap is agglomerated with the flocculant to gel, and remains in the entire snap. As a result, a capillary force layer in which particles having ink receiving voids spread in a thin layer can be formed on the entire snap of the printing material P.

Further, the aggregates in Embodiments 4 and 5 are surfactants for dispersing and stabilizing particles having ink receiving voids (inorganic fine particles, water-insoluble organic fibers, organic porous particles), acrylic or polyester-based materials, and the like. It is preferable to include an aqueous polymer dispersion of PVA or an aqueous polymer solution such as alginic acid. Moreover, you may add the aqueous polymer etc. for accelerating agglutination reaction.
In the aggregation reaction in Embodiments 4 and 5, a dispersion containing an anionic surfactant is used as the dispersion in which the aggregate is dispersed (aggregated dispersion), and an organic acid is used as the aggregating agent. Aggregation reaction can be performed. The anionic surfactant is dispersed in a state adjusted to be neutral or alkaline. However, when an organic acid is added as an aggregating agent and becomes acidic, the degree of dissociation is reduced and aggregation occurs. Along with this, the aqueous polymer contained in the flocculant aggregates and gels. In addition, fatty acid sodium, monoalkyl sulfate, alkyl polyoxyethylene sulfate, alkylbenzene sulfonate, monoalkyl phosphate, etc. can be used as anionic surfactants, and malonic acid, citric acid, acetic acid as organic acids. Etc. are available. As the quencher, an alkali agent such as sodium carbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate, or caustic soda that suppresses acidification by an organic acid can be used.

In addition, the agglomeration reaction may be performed by a reaction using a flocculated dispersion composed of a stabilized anionic surfactant and a coagulant composed of an organic cationic polymer, or a flocculated dispersion composed of a stabilized cationic surfactant and an organic A reaction by a flocculant made of an anionic polymer can be used. For example, an anionic surfactant is negatively charged and dispersed, but when an organic cationic polymer is added as an aggregating agent, the charge is neutralized and aggregated to be gelled. Here, the cationic surfactant used as the flocculant is an N, N-dimethylaminoethyl acrylate copolymer obtained by copolymerizing acrylamide and N, N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate or N, N-dimethylaminoethyl acrylate monomer. Polymers, polyvinylamidine polymers, and amphoteric polymers can be used. On the other hand, as the stabilized anionic surfactant used as an aggregate, a polyacrylamide partially hydrolyzed or a copolymer of acrylamide and sodium acrylate can be used.

In the agglutination reaction, a method of treating with lignin sulfonic acid and an inorganic aggregate as described in Japanese Patent No. 0879778, and phenols and aldehydes in the presence of an alkaline substance as described in Japanese Patent No. 0946869. A method of using an initial condensate with an inorganic aggregate, a method of using an organic substance having a phenolic hydroxyl group and an inorganic or organic aggregate as described in Japanese Patent No. 1125326, A method of treating with tannin and tannic acid as described in Japanese Patent No. 090884, lignin sulfonic acid as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-238193, an inorganic aggregate and a cationic polymer aggregate Can be used. Along with this, the acrylic resin or polyester resin contained in the flocculant aggregates and gels.
Further, coagulation may be used for the aggregation reaction. It consists of a neutralizing agent (electrolyte or alcohol, etc.) with the opposite sign to these colloidal particles for hydrophobic colloids or hydrocolloids that diffuse by repelling each other in the aggregated dispersion. By adding a flocculant, it becomes electrically neutral and agglomerates when the repulsion between colloidal particles disappears. Along with this, the colloidal particles are aggregated and gelled. In addition, as a hydrophobic colloid and a hydrocolloid, an aluminum salt (aluminum sulfate, polyaluminum chloride) or an iron salt (polyferric sulfate, ferric chloride) is used.

Further, in the agglutination reaction, the viscosity of the capillary force application liquid may be increased by utilizing a cross-linking reaction by an aggregating agent composed of a to-be-aggregated dispersion containing a crosslinkable polymer (monomer or oligomer) and a crosslinking initiator. For example, a crosslinking reaction with a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) resin solution and boric acid, a urethane resin-based reaction that causes a chemical reaction by mixing a polyol having a hydroxyl group at a terminal and a urethane prepolymer having an isocyanate group at a terminal and a polyol, or An epoxy resin-based reaction that causes a reaction with a curing agent such as an amine to the epoxy resin prepolymer can be used.

Embodiment 6
As shown in FIG. 11, the printing unit used in the printing apparatus according to the first to fifth embodiments prints each area of the printing material P based on the input data and prints the results printed on the printing material P. It is possible to achieve a configuration that corrects by feedback and realizes a desired color.

The printing unit 41 of the present embodiment includes a supply condition calculation unit 42, a printing characteristic database (DB) 43, a control unit 44, a print driving unit 45, and print heads 46 to 48.
The supply condition calculation unit 42 includes information on the printed material P including a plurality of regions (for example, a ground tissue region and a raised tissue region) having different color development characteristics and a printed image to be printed on the printed material P. The reproduction target color information is input as input data by the operator. The information on the substrate P includes information on the material / thickness, presence / absence of the capillary force layer, the type / thickness of the capillary layer, etc. for each region of the substrate. The information on the reproduction target color includes information on the chromaticity of the reproduction target color in each area of the printing material P.
The supply condition calculation unit 42 is connected to the print characteristic DB 43. The supply condition calculation unit 42 searches the print characteristic DB 43 based on the information on the printing object P and the information on the reproduction target color, and print heads 46 to 46 showing the color development closest to the reproduction target color for each area of the printing object P. 48 ink types, ink supply parameters, and permeate supply parameters are extracted. Here, the supply parameters of the ink and the penetrating liquid include the voltage, frequency, waveform, and the like output to the print heads 46-48. The print characteristic DB 43 includes the relationship between the print amount of each color ink and the color development characteristics after completion of the color development process for each region. At this time, the relationship of the color development characteristic according to the presence or absence of application of the capillary force layer or the coating amount of the capillary force layer is included.
Here, the “penetrating liquid” is a liquid for promoting permeation for appropriately penetrating the ink after printing into the printing material, and is preferably a dispersion medium constituting the ink. By printing the “penetrating liquid”, the ink can reach the back surface of the printing material and the inside of the capillary force layer even when printing a small amount.

The supply condition calculation unit 42 is connected to the control unit 44. The control unit 44 inputs an electric signal indicating the ink type, ink supply parameter, and permeating liquid supply parameter required for each region extracted by the supply condition calculation unit 42 to the print driving unit 45, so that the print object P is printed. Controls printing.
The control unit 44 is connected to the print driving unit 45. When the print heads 46 to 48 and the flocculant supply device or the capillary force applying liquid supply device of the preprocessing unit can be controlled in accordance with the electrical signal input from the control unit 44, the print driving unit 45 sets the preprocessing unit respectively. To drive.
The print drive unit 45 is connected to the print heads 46 to 48. The print heads 46 to 48 are so-called ink jet type print heads, which eject four types of ink Y, M, C, K or penetrating liquid. The print head 46 ejects ink from the front side of the substrate P, and the print head 47 ejects ink from the back side of the substrate P. On the other hand, the print head 48 ejects the penetrating liquid from the front side of the printing material P.

A heating device 49, a reduction cleaning device 50, and a drying device 51 are arranged on the downstream side of the print heads 46 to 48 with respect to the moving direction of the printing material P, and the coloring material in the ink is fixed to the printing material P. Let

Further, a convex region measuring device 52 and a ground texture measuring device 53 are arranged downstream of the drying device 51 with respect to the traveling direction of the substrate P, and the convex region printing result measurement value input unit 54 is provided in the convex region measuring device 52. Are connected to the ground texture measuring device 53 with the ground texture printing result measurement value input unit 55, and the convex area printing result measurement value input unit 54 and the ground texture printing result measurement value input unit 55 are connected to the supply condition calculation unit 42. .
The convex region measuring device 52 and the ground texture measuring device 53 are for measuring the optical characteristics from the convex region such as the raised portion of the printing material P and the ground texture, respectively, and measuring the color development amount. It has a spectral colorimeter or an optical sensor calibrated with the spectral colorimeter. The convex region print result measurement value input unit 54 and the ground texture print result measurement value input unit 55 input the measurement values obtained in the convex region measurement device 52 and the ground texture measurement device 53 to the supply condition calculation unit 42. The printing result of the substrate P is fed back. The supply condition calculation unit 42 prints the supply condition values of the ink to be ejected and the penetrating liquid in which the measurement value input from the print result measurement value input unit 54 is corrected so as to realize the same color as the reproduction target color. This is obtained for each region of the object P.

Next, the operation of the printing unit 41 shown in FIG. 11 will be described.
First, the supply condition calculation unit 42 searches the print characteristic DB 43 based on the information on the printing material P input by the operator and the information on the reproduction target color of the print image to be printed on the printing material P. The supply condition calculation unit 42 uses the same type as each region (for example, each region of the raised tissue to which the capillary force layer is applied) in the substrate P from the information on the region type of the substrate in the print characteristic DB 43. Search for each of the indications.
The supply condition calculation unit 42 uses the data of the print characteristic DB 43 and uses all the ink types (YMCK × 2 = 8 types) of the print heads 46 and 47 so that the color development information of each area of the printing medium P becomes the color development information target. ) And the supply parameters for the penetrant of the print head 48.
The supply condition calculation unit 42 uses the data of the print characteristic DB 43 to predict color development when supplying supply parameters for all ink types of the print heads 46 and 47 and the penetrant liquid of the print head 48, and provides color development information. It is also possible to calculate and combine the supply parameters so that the coloring information becomes the coloring information target by an optimization method. Specifically, using the following formulas (3) and (4), K / S is used to obtain the relationship between the printing amount and the color development information, and the linear programming method by the simplex method, the successive approximation method, the genetic method, etc. Optimization techniques can be used. In addition, the supply condition calculation unit 42 can obtain a plurality of combinations of supply parameters close to the color reproduction target in the print characteristic DB 43 and obtain an optimum supply parameter by interpolation.

K / S = (1-Rc) ² / 2Rc (3)
(K / S) mix
= Jy (K / S) y + Jm (K / S) m + Jc (K / S) c + Jk (K / S) k (4)

In addition, Formula (3) shows the relationship among the absorption intensity K by a color material, the light scattering intensity S from a to-be-printed object, and the reflectance Rc in each wavelength. In Equation (4), (K / S) mix indicates K / S of a region where a plurality of color materials are printed and mixed, and (K / S) y, (K / S) m, (K / S) c and (K / S) k respectively indicate K / S when unit amounts of the four color materials are adhered, and Jy, Jm, Jc and Jk respectively indicate the four color materials on the printed material. Indicates the amount of adhesion.

The ink type, ink supply parameter, and permeate supply parameter for each area of the printing material P extracted by the supply condition calculation unit 42 in this way are output to the control unit 44. When the control unit 44 outputs the supply parameters of the ink and the penetrating liquid to the print drive unit 45, the print drive unit 45 sends a drive signal corresponding to these supply parameters to the print heads 46 to 48 corresponding to the ink type or the penetrating liquid. The ink and the penetrating liquid are ejected onto each area of the printing material P.
As a result, it is possible to cause the ground tissue without the capillary force layer, the fastener hook to which the capillary force layer is provided, the raised portion, and the like to be colored in the same manner as the reproduction target color and the thickness of the printed material P. Color can be uniformly developed in the direction. For example, the printed material P is reproduced even when the front side and the back side of the printed material P have different capillary forces, such as the ground structure of the printed material P and the raised tissue formed on the back side thereof. The color can be developed in the same manner as the target color and can be uniformly developed in the thickness direction of the printing material P.

In conjunction with the movement of the substrate P, ink and penetrating ink droplets are repeatedly applied to all regions with the ink and penetrant supply parameters extracted for each region of the substrate P. The printed object P that has been printed is heated by the heating device 49, then reduced and cleaned by the reduction cleaning device 50, and dried by the drying device 51. The dried printing material P is color-measured by the convex area measuring device 52 and the ground texture measuring apparatus 53, and the measured value is passed through the convex area printing result measured value input section 54 and the ground texture printing result measured value input section 55. Input to the supply condition calculation unit 42.

When the input measurement value is outside the allowable range of chromaticity of the reproduction target color, the supply condition calculation unit 42 performs measurement input from the convex region printing result measurement value input unit 54 and the ground texture printing result measurement value input unit 55. Ink and penetrant supply parameters to be ejected from the respective head portions of the print heads 46 to 48 are corrected so that the values match the chromaticity of the reproduction target color. The ink and penetrant supply parameters corrected by the supply condition calculation unit 42 are output to the control unit 44, and the control unit 44 uses the print driving unit 45 to set the print heads 46 to 48 on the basis of these supply parameters. The drive is controlled, and printing is performed on the substrate P. When the correction does not fall within the allowable range of the chromaticity of the target color to be reproduced, it is preferable to repeat the above correction until it falls within the allowable range.

As described above, since the result of printing on the printing material P is fed back to the printing material P based on the ink and penetrant supply parameters corrected by feeding back, the initial calculation accuracy is poor, or the ink, Even when the physical properties of the printing material P or the like change with time or in the environment, it is possible to effectively suppress the deviation or fluctuation of the color development amount.

The supply condition calculation unit 42 accumulates the supply parameter corrected by the feedback of the printing result in the print characteristic DB 43 every time it is corrected, or the supply already stored in the print characteristic DB 43 by the corrected supply parameter. A learning function can be provided by updating the parameters. As described above, the accuracy of information stored in the print characteristic DB 43 can be improved by learning each time printing is repeated.

1,1,61,71 Pretreatment unit, 2,26,41 Printing unit, 3 Plasma irradiator, 4 Coating device, 5,9,25,51,65 Drying device, 6,36 Print head, 7,49 Heating Device, 8, 50 Reduction cleaning device, 10, 13, 28 Ground structure, 11 Fastener hook, 12 Capillary force layer, 14 Snap, 22 Capillary force sheet, 23 Supply roller, 24 Wet sponge roller, 27 Stripping device, 29 Brushed tissue , 30 heat rolls, 31 coating solution, 42 supply condition calculation unit, 43 print characteristic database, 44 control unit, 45 print drive unit, 46-48 print head, 52 convex region measuring device, 53 geological measuring device, 54 convex region Print result measurement value input unit, 55 texture print result measurement value input unit, 62 quencher supply device, 63 flocculant supply device , 64, 72 capillary force applying liquid supply device, 73 and 75 nozzles, 74 and 77 holes, 76 recess, P printing object.

Claims

A printing method for performing printing on an object to be printed including an area where ink is difficult to stay by an inkjet method,
Applying a capillary force layer that retains and holds the ink by high capillary force to at least a region having a low capillary force of the printed material;
Ink-jetting ink onto the substrate to be printed,
Fix the ink coloring material on the substrate,
A printing method, wherein the capillary force layer is removed from an object to be printed.
The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the capillary force layer includes an aggregate of particles having an ink-receiving void imparted to a printing material in a thin layer shape.
The printing method according to claim 2, wherein the capillary force layer further includes a water-soluble polymer that improves an adhesion amount of the particles having the ink receiving voids to the printing object by viscosity.
The printing method according to claim 2, wherein the capillary force layer further includes a treatment agent that improves wettability with a printing material.
The printing method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the wettability of the printed material is improved by a discharge treatment before the capillary force layer is applied to the printed material.
The application of the capillary force layer to the printing material is performed by immersing at least a region having a low capillary force of the printing material by a dipping method in a pretreatment liquid in which particles having the ink receiving voids are dispersed. The printing method according to any one of claims 2 to 5.
The printed material is configured by attaching a region having a low capillary force to a ground tissue having a high capillary force,
After the capillary force layer is applied to a region having a low capillary force, the region having a low capillary force is attached to the ground tissue, and ink is supplied to each region of the print target that is integrated. The printing method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein:
The printing method according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein the capillary force layer is removed from the printed material by performing alkaline washing on the printed material on which the ink has been fixed.
2. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the capillary force layer is made of a sheet having an ink receiving gap attached to a printing object.
The printing method according to claim 9, wherein the sheet is attached to a printed material through an adhesion solution in which a water-soluble polymer is dissolved and has a viscosity.
11. The sheet according to claim 9, wherein the sheet is disposed such that a surface of the printing material is positioned within a range of an ink moving distance that is vaporized by heat treatment for fixing the ink to the printing material. Printing method.
12. The printing method according to claim 9, wherein the removal of the capillary force layer from the printing material is performed by peeling off the sheet from the printing material.
The capillary force layer is
A flocculant that promotes the agglutination reaction of the aggregate to be gelled by agglomeration is supplied to the area of the printed material having a low capillary force;
Supplying a capillary force imparting liquid containing the aggregate and particles having ink receiving voids for imparting a high capillary force to at least a region having a low capillary force of the printed material;
The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the printing is performed by gelling the capillary force application liquid by an aggregation reaction between the aggregation agent and the aggregate.
The flocculant is supplied by adjusting the size and amount so that the droplets supplied to the region having a low capillary force of the printing material remain on the region having a low capillary force. Item 14. The printing method according to Item 13.
The printing method according to claim 14, wherein the flocculant is supplied as air-dispersed fine particles.
The capillary force imparting liquid and the aggregating agent supplied to a region having a low capillary force of a printing material are supplied so as to gel while staying on the region having a low capillary force. Item 14. The printing method according to Item 13.
The printing method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the capillary force applying liquid is supplied to the entire area of the substrate to be printed having a low capillary force.
The printing method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the capillary force imparting liquid is supplied only to an upper surface of a region having a low capillary force of the substrate.
The printing method according to any one of claims 13 to 18, wherein the capillary force imparting liquid contains an aqueous polymer as the aggregate to be aggregated, and the viscosity is increased by aggregation with the aggregating agent.
The printing method according to claim 19, wherein an aggregating reaction is performed by using an anionic surfactant as the aggregate and using an acid as the aggregating agent.
An organic cationic polymer is used as the aggregate and an anionic surfactant is used as the flocculant, or an organic anionic polymer is used as the aggregate and a cationic surfactant is used as the flocculant. The printing method according to claim 19, wherein an aggregating reaction is performed.
20. The agglutination reaction is carried out by using a dispersion of a hydrophobic colloid or a hydrocolloid as the aggregate and using a neutralizing agent of the hydrophobic colloid or the hydrocolloid as the aggregating agent. The printing method described.
20. The printing method according to claim 19, wherein the aggregating reaction is performed by using a material containing a crosslinkable polymer as the aggregate and using a crosslinking initiator of the crosslinkable polymer as the aggregating agent.
The deactivation agent for deactivating the aggregation reaction between the coagulant and the aggregate to be aggregated is supplied to an area having a high capillary force of the printed matter before supplying the coagulant. The printing method according to any one of items 1 to 23.
The printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 24, wherein the region having a low capillary force in the substrate is made of a raised tissue.
The printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 24, wherein the region having a low capillary force in the printed material is made of polyester.
A printing apparatus that performs printing on an object to be printed including an area where ink is difficult to stay by an inkjet method,
A capillary force layer applying device that applies a capillary force layer that retains and holds the ink with a high capillary force to at least a region having a low capillary force of the printed material;
An ink supply device for ejecting ink toward a printing material by an inkjet method;
A fixing device for fixing the color material of the ink to the substrate,
And a removing device that removes the capillary force layer from the printing material.
28. The printing apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the capillary force layer includes an aggregate of fine particles having ink receiving voids provided in a thin layer on a printing material.
28. The printing apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the capillary force layer is made of a sheet having the ink receiving gaps attached to a printing object.
The capillary force layer applying device is:
A flocculant supply device that supplies a flocculant that promotes the aggregating reaction of the aggregate to be gelled by aggregation to a region having a low capillary force of the print;
A capillary force-applying liquid supply device for supplying a capillary force-providing liquid containing the aggregate and particles having the ink receiving voids for imparting a high capillary force to at least a region having a low capillary force of the print;
The printing apparatus according to claim 27, further comprising: a drying device that dries the capillary force imparting liquid that has been gelated by the aggregation reaction between the aggregating agent and the aggregate.
The capillary force imparting device has a high capillary force of the printed matter with a deactivator that deactivates the aggregating reaction between the aggregating agent and the aggregate to be aggregated before supplying the aggregating agent by the aggregating agent supply device. The printing apparatus according to claim 30, further comprising a deactivator supply device that supplies the region having the deactivation agent.
32. The printing apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the capillary force imparting liquid supply apparatus supplies the entire area of the printed material having a low capillary force by an inkjet or a dispenser.
32. The printing apparatus according to claim 30 or 31, wherein the capillary force applying liquid supply apparatus supplies only to an upper surface of an area having a low capillary force of a printing object by an inkjet or a dispenser.
An ink receiving gap that holds and holds ink ejected by an inkjet method with high capillary force;
The ink is affixed to the printing surface of the printed material including a region where it is difficult to stay, and the ink held in the ink receiving gap is vaporized by heat treatment to fix the ink on the printed material and then peeled off. Capillary force sheet characterized by.