WO2020050074A1

WO2020050074A1 - Printing method

Info

Publication number: WO2020050074A1
Application number: PCT/JP2019/033201
Authority: WO
Inventors: 理史川越
Original assignee: 株式会社Ｓｃｒｅｅｎホールディングス
Priority date: 2018-09-06
Filing date: 2019-08-26
Publication date: 2020-03-12
Also published as: TW202014312A; TWI709495B; JP7213041B2; JP2020037242A

Abstract

The present invention provides a technology which is able to suppress re-transfer of a transferred photocurable ink to an intermediate transfer medium or the like, while suppressing photocuring of the ink on the intermediate transfer medium, and which enables the achievement of good multilayer printing. A printing method according to the present invention transfers a print pattern of a photocurable ink to a print-receiving material from an intermediate transfer medium, increases the viscosity of the photocurable ink by irradiating the print pattern, which has been transferred to the print-receiving material, with first light, and cures the photocurable ink by irradiating the print pattern, the viscosity of which has been increased, with second light. The first light contains light of a first wavelength; and the second light contains light of a second wavelength, which is shorter than the first wavelength, at a higher intensity than the first light. The photocurable ink contains: a polymer material that is solidified by means of polymerization; a first photopolymerization initiator which is reactive with light of the first wavelength; and a second photopolymerization initiator which is reactive with light of the second wavelength, while being not reactive with light of the first wavelength.

Description

Printing method

{Circle over (1)} The present invention relates to a printing technique for performing printing by transferring a printing pattern formed on an intermediate transfer body using a photocurable ink to a printing substrate.

Among the printing inks, the photocurable ink prepared by containing the polymer material and the photopolymerization initiator is cured by short-time light irradiation, and generally can be cured more quickly than curing by drying or heating. . For this reason, the printing medium immediately after printing can be immediately provided to the next process, which is suitable for high-speed printing processing. For example, the technology described in Patent Document 1 relates to a printing method for realizing multicolor printing by superimposing a plurality of printing patterns formed on a blanket (intermediate transfer member) surface on the surface of a printing substrate. In this technology, in order to prevent color mixing of ink and re-transfer of uncured ink on a printing material to a blanket, a photo-cured ink is used to irradiate the ink with ultraviolet light for each color printing. Has been cured.

In addition, in this technique, a member for shielding light is arranged between the light source and the blanket in order to prevent the ink on the blanket from being irradiated with light to start curing.

光 As photocurable inks, those containing a plurality of types of photopolymerization initiators have also been proposed. For example, Patent Document 2 discloses that in a printing system combining inkjet printing and photo-curing, two or more kinds of polymerizations having different absorption wavelengths are started for the purpose of improving the adhesion and followability of an ink film to a substrate. It describes that an agent is used in combination. However, in ink-jet printing in which ink is directly ejected onto a printing substrate, the above-described problem of ink retransfer does not occur in principle.

JP-A-2017-196888 JP 2003-251910 A

The technique described in Patent Document 1 includes the following problems to be solved. First, the shielding of the light emitted from the light source to the ink on the blanket is not sufficient in the above-described conventional technology. This is because light incident on the blanket surface due to reflection or transmission on the printing substrate cannot be blocked. In particular, when the printing substrate is a transparent material such as glass, for example, it is inevitable that the light reflected on the surface or transmitted through the inside goes around the blanket surface. When such light is irradiated on the ink on the blanket, there is a problem in that the ink surface is cured on the blanket, and the transferability to the printing material is reduced.

Second, in multi-layer printing in which a plurality of print patterns are superimposed on a substrate, in order to obtain high adhesion between layers, it is necessary to superimpose the transferred ink while maintaining a viscosity of a certain level or less. desirable. On the other hand, if the ink transferred to the printing material maintains a low viscosity state, when the ink on the printing material comes into contact with the intermediate transfer body and surrounding members, the ink is retransferred to those members. Sometimes. In order to prevent such retransfer, it is desirable that the transferred ink has a sufficiently high viscosity at least on its surface. That is, it is required that the ink after transfer is maintained in a state having an appropriate viscosity that is higher than the viscosity immediately after transfer and lower than the viscosity in a completely cured state. However, with the technique described in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to control such a cured state.

特許 Patent Document 2 relating to ink jet printing does not disclose any information that can solve such a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and appropriately controls the viscosity of the photocurable ink after transfer to a print substrate, thereby suppressing retransfer to an intermediate transfer member and the like, and also reduces the viscosity of the intermediate transfer member. It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique capable of suppressing the photocuring of the ink of the present invention and performing good multilayer printing.

One aspect of a printing method according to the present invention includes a first step of forming a print pattern of a photocurable ink on the surface of an intermediate transfer body, and contacting the intermediate transfer body with a printing medium to achieve the above object. hand. A second step of transferring the printing pattern on the surface of the intermediate transfer member to the printing medium; and irradiating the printing pattern transferred to the printing medium with first light to increase the viscosity of the photocurable ink. A third step of irradiating the print pattern with increased viscosity with second light to cure the photocurable ink.

Here, the first light includes light having a first wavelength, and the second light includes light having a second wavelength shorter than the first wavelength and light having a second wavelength shorter than the first light. Contains with high strength. The photocurable ink is a polymer material that is solidified by polymerization, a first photopolymerization initiator that responds to the light of the first wavelength, and the first photopolymerization initiator that does not react to the light of the first wavelength. A second photopolymerization initiator responsive to light of the second wavelength. The first first light may be substantially free of the light of the second wavelength.

において In the present invention, the expression “the photopolymerization initiator reacts with light” means that the photopolymerization initiator undergoes a chemical change such that the polymerization reaction of the polymer material is accelerated by irradiation with light. Further, “the first light does not substantially contain the second wavelength component” means that the influence of the first light on the second photopolymerization initiator that reacts to the second wavelength component can be ignored. means. That is, the second photopolymerization initiator does not change by the first light irradiation.

In the invention configured as described above, the third and third photo-curable inks (hereinafter, may be simply referred to as “inks”) transferred from the intermediate transfer body to the printing medium in the first and second steps are used. Light is irradiated in four steps. In the third step, only the first photopolymerization initiator reacts, and the second photopolymerization initiator does not react. Therefore, the ink is in a low polymerization state and its viscosity increases.

として Even if the amount of exposure in the third step increases and the first photopolymerization initiator completely reacts, the second photopolymerization initiator does not substantially react. Therefore, the maximum viscosity of the ink that can be reached in the third step can be controlled by the content of the first photopolymerization initiator, and it is not necessary to adjust the viscosity by the exposure amount. For this reason, it is easy to maintain the ink after the third step at an appropriate viscosity with good controllability.

(4) Even if the first light is irradiated on the ink on the intermediate transfer member, it is possible to reliably prevent the viscosity of the ink from increasing to a certain degree or more. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a large decrease in the transferability of the ink from the intermediate transfer body to the printing medium.

On the other hand, in the fourth step, the second light containing more second wavelength components is irradiated, and the second photopolymerization initiator that reacts with the second light further cures the ink. This makes it possible to cure the transferred ink to the required hardness.

As described above, according to the present invention, the ink after transfer to the printing substrate can be maintained at an intermediate viscosity that does not lead to complete curing, and the viscosity at that time is determined by the content of the first photopolymerization initiator. It can be controlled by the amount. Therefore, by maintaining the photocurable ink after transfer to the print material at an appropriate viscosity, it is possible to suppress retransfer to the intermediate transfer body and suppress photocuring of the ink on the intermediate transfer body. it can. In addition, it is possible to realize a good state of adhesion between layers during multilayer printing. The additional irradiation using the second light can more reliably cure the ink.

According to the present invention, two kinds of photo-curing initiators having different reaction wavelengths are contained in the ink, the viscosity is increased by irradiating the first light having a relatively long wavelength, and then the second light having a shorter wavelength is used. To further cure the ink. Therefore, it is possible to control the viscosity of the ink after the irradiation of the first light, to suppress the retransfer to the intermediate transfer member or the like, and to suppress the photo-curing of the ink on the intermediate transfer member. . In addition, it can be performed well for multilayer printing.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings are for explanation only, and do not limit the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration example of a printing system capable of realizing a printing method according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a plate stage unit and an ink filling unit. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a bottle holding unit. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a bottle holding unit. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a printing method according to the invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating the movement of each unit in the process of executing the printing method in FIG. 4. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating the movement of each unit in the process of executing the printing method in FIG. 4. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating the movement of each unit in the overprinting. It is a figure explaining the problem of the light leak to a blanket. It is a figure explaining the problem of the light leak to a blanket. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating ink and UV light used in the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a mechanism of ink curing by light irradiation. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a mechanism of ink curing by light irradiation. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a mechanism of ink curing by light irradiation. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a mechanism of ink curing by light irradiation.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration example of a printing system capable of realizing the printing method according to the present invention. The printing system 100 is a system for printing on the surface of a printing medium. The printing substrate has a substantially cylindrical outer shape, such as a glass bottle or a resin bottle. The printing system 100 performs printing on the surface of a printing substrate, more specifically, on a side surface that is a cylindrical surface. Here, an XYZ orthogonal coordinate system is set as shown in FIG. 1 in order to unify the directions in each drawing. For example, the XY plane can be considered as a horizontal plane, and the Z axis can be considered as a vertical axis. In the following, the (-Z) direction is assumed to be vertically downward.

The printing system 100 includes a plate stage unit 1, an ink filling unit 2, a transfer unit 3, a temporary curing unit 4, a full curing unit 5, and a bottle holding unit 6. These units are arranged side by side in the above order from the (−Y) direction side to the (+ Y) direction side. The printing system 100 further includes a control unit 9 for controlling the operation of each of these units.

The printing process in the printing system 100 includes:
(1) Forming an ink pattern using photocurable ink by the plate stage unit 1 and the ink filling unit 2;
(2) transfer of the ink pattern to the transfer unit 3;
(3) transfer of the ink pattern from the transfer unit 3 to the printing medium,
(4) ink curing by light irradiation from the temporary curing unit 4 and the main curing unit 5;
Each step is included. Hereinafter, the case where the printing object is a cylindrical glass bottle or a resin bottle (hereinafter, simply referred to as “bottle”) B will be described, and the configuration and operation of each unit of the apparatus will be sequentially described.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the plate stage unit and the ink filling unit. The plate stage unit 1 includes a stage 11 on which a plate (for example, an intaglio plate) P for forming an ink pattern is mounted. The stage 11 is mounted on a base 13 via an alignment mechanism 12. The alignment mechanism 12 moves the stage 11 in the XYZ directions and the rotation direction around the Z axis according to a control command from the control unit 9. For example, a cross roller bearing mechanism can be used as the alignment mechanism 12.

The base unit 13 is engaged with a guide rail 14 extending in the Y direction on the base of the printing system 100, and is capable of reciprocating in the Y direction along the guide rail 14. More specifically, a drive mechanism (not shown) controlled by the control unit 9 is connected to the base portion 13. When the drive mechanism operates, the base 13 moves in the (-Y) direction and the (+ Y) direction. The position (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2) of the movable range of the base 13 closest to the (−Y) direction is the home position of the base 13. As the driving mechanism, for example, a suitable combination such as a combination of a rotary motor and a ball screw mechanism, a linear motor, a linear guide, an air cylinder, and the like can be used.

アライメント

Alignment cameras

15, 15 are arranged above the stage 11 in a state where it is positioned at the home position. The

alignment cameras

15, 15 capture images of alignment marks provided on the periphery of the plate P placed on the stage 11 or on the upper surface of the plate P, and send image data to the control unit 9. The control unit 9 detects the position of the plate P on the stage 11 and operates the alignment mechanism 12 as necessary to adjust the position of the plate P to an appropriate position.

(4) The ink filling unit 2 and the transfer unit 3 are provided along a path along which the base 13 moves from the home position in the (+ Y) direction. The ink filling unit 2 has a nozzle 21. The nozzle 21 is disposed so as to face the upper surface of the plate P mounted on the stage 11 passing immediately below. The nozzle 21 is supplied with a photo-curable ink (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as “ink”) from an ink supply unit 22 controlled by the control unit 9. The supplied ink is discharged from a discharge port provided at the lower end of the nozzle 21 and is applied to the upper surface of the plate P.

The photocurable ink contains a pigment as a color developer, a polymer material, and a photopolymerization initiator. The polymer material forms a strong polymer layer by a polymerization reaction, and contains at least one of a monomer and an oligomer. The photopolymerization initiator promotes a polymerization reaction of a polymer material by active species generated by a chemical change upon receiving light irradiation.
A doctor blade 23 is provided on the (+ Y) direction side of the nozzle 21. The doctor blade 23 scrapes the ink by rubbing the surface of the plate P to which the ink has been supplied. As a result, ink is filled in the concave portion provided on the upper surface of the plate P, and the remaining surplus ink is removed to form an ink pattern.

The plate P thus filled with ink moves further in the (+ Y) direction and reaches the position where the transfer unit 3 is disposed. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the transfer unit 3 includes a blanket roll 30 and a motor 33 for rotating the roll. More specifically, the blanket roll 30 includes a blanket cylinder 31 which is, for example, a metal cylinder, and a blanket 32 wound on the surface thereof, and has a substantially cylindrical shape as a whole. The blanket roll 30 is rotatably supported by a frame (not shown), and is driven to rotate about a central axis indicated by a chain line in FIG. 1 by a motor 33 controlled by the control unit 9.

The blanket 32 is made of an elastic resin material, for example, a silicone resin, and can carry an ink pattern on its surface. The blanket 32 has a thickness that is sufficiently larger than unevenness that can occur on the surface of the bottle B that is a printing object. As shown in FIG. 2, when the plate P placed on the stage 11 passes directly below the blanket roll 30, the surface of the blanket 32 comes into contact with the upper surface of the plate P. At this time, the ink filled in the concave portions of the plate P moves to the surface of the blanket 32. Thus, the ink pattern on the plate P is transferred to the blanket 32.

(4) The ink pattern once transferred (primary transfer) to the blanket 32 is secondarily transferred to the surface of the bottle B, which is a final printing material. That is, the blanket 32 functions as an intermediate transfer member that temporarily holds the ink pattern that is finally transferred to the printing medium.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing the configuration of the bottle holding unit. More specifically, FIG. 3A is a side view of the bottle holding unit 6 viewed in the Y direction, and FIG. 3B is a side view of the bottle holding unit 6 viewed in the X direction.

(4) The bottle holding unit 6 holds the bottle B, which is a printing object whose side surface B2 is a printing target surface, rotatably around its central axis. The bottle holding unit 6 has a support frame 60 in which a bottom plate 61 and a pair of

side plates

62, 62 extending upward from both ends in the X direction are combined. A connecting member 621 is rotatably attached to one of the side plates 62. The other side plate 62 is provided with a spring member 622. While the neck portion B1 of the bottle B is connected to the connecting member 621, the bottom portion B3 of the bottle B is urged toward the neck portion B1 by the spring member 622. As a result, the bottle B is held in a posture in which the central axis is substantially horizontal. The connection member 621 is driven to rotate by a motor (not shown), and can rotate the bottle B around its central axis.

ボトル As shown in FIGS. 1, 3A and 3B, the bottle B is supplementarily supported by backup rolls 631 to 634 having the X direction as the axial direction. The backup rolls 631 to 634 are rotatably supported on both side plates 62, respectively. The pair of backup rolls 631 and 632 are provided below the bottle B, and abut against the side surface B2 of the bottle B from below to restrict the displacement of the bottle B in the direction of gravity, that is, in the (-Z) direction. . The other pair of backup rolls 633 and 634 are provided on the (+ Y) direction side of the bottle B, and contact the side surface of the bottle B on the (+ Y) direction to displace the bottle B in the (+ Y) direction. regulate. On the other hand, among the side surfaces B2 of the bottle B, the side surface in the (−Y) direction is in a widely opened state.

底 The bottom plate 61 of the support frame 60 is attached to the base 66 via an alignment mechanism 65. The alignment mechanism 66 moves the support frame 60 in the XYZ directions and the rotation directions around the Z axis according to a control command from the control unit 9. For example, a cross roller bearing mechanism can be used as the alignment mechanism 65.

The base 66 is engaged with

guide rails

67, 67 extending on the pedestal of the printing system 100 in the Y direction, and is capable of reciprocating in the Y direction along the guide rail 67. More specifically, a drive mechanism (not shown) controlled by the control unit 9 is connected to the base 66. When the drive mechanism operates, the base 67 moves in the (-Y) direction and the (+ Y) direction. Therefore, the bottle B held by the bottle holding unit 6 is horizontally movable within a predetermined movable range in the Y direction. As the driving mechanism, for example, a suitable combination such as a combination of a rotary motor and a ball screw mechanism, a linear motor, a linear guide, an air cylinder, and the like can be used.

As shown in FIG. 3B, when the bottle holding unit 6 moves the bottle B to the vicinity of the end in the (−Y) direction in the movable range, the side surface of the bottle B on the (−Y) direction is on the surface of the blanket 32. Pressed. Thus, the ink pattern carried on the surface of the blanket 32 is transferred to the side surface B2 of the bottle B. The backup rolls 631 to 634 prevent the displacement of the bottle B due to the reaction force from the blanket 32 caused by the pressing of the bottle B against the blanket 32.

Although not shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, an alignment camera 68 (FIG. 6) for detecting the position of the bottle B held by the bottle holding unit 6 is also provided as described later. Is provided. The control unit 9 operates the alignment mechanism 66 based on the imaging result of the alignment camera 68, and adjusts the position of the bottle B, more specifically, the relative position of the bottle B with respect to the blanket 32 to an appropriate position.

仮 As shown in FIG. 1, the temporary curing unit 4 and the full curing unit 5 are arranged along the movement path of the bottle B by the bottle holding unit 6. These are all for irradiating light (ultraviolet light, UV light) to the ink pattern of the photocurable ink transferred to the bottle B to cure the ink. However, as will be described in detail later, the functions of the two are different.

(4) The temporary curing unit 4 does not completely cure the ink, but has a function of increasing the viscosity of the ink pattern transferred to the bottle B to a level that does not hinder the execution of the subsequent process. Therefore, the intensity of the emitted light may be relatively low, and for example, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) that outputs ultraviolet light may be used as a light source. The temporary curing unit 4 irradiates the ink immediately after being transferred to the bottle B with light. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 3B, the bottle B is disposed at a position facing the surface of the bottle B positioned so as to contact the surface of the blanket 32.

On the other hand, the main curing unit 5 has a function of hardening the ink having increased viscosity more strongly. For this reason, a light source having a high output such as a UV lamp is suitable as the light source. The main curing unit 5 is arranged at a position farther from the blanket 32 than the temporary curing unit 4. This is to avoid irradiating the ink pattern on the blanket 32 with strong light emitted from the main curing unit 5.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the printing method according to the present invention. More specifically, FIG. 4 shows an example of a printing process to which the printing method according to the present invention is applied. The printing process is realized by the control unit 9 executing a program stored in advance and causing each unit of the apparatus to execute a predetermined operation. FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams schematically showing the movement of each unit in the course of executing the printing method of FIG. In FIGS. 5 to 7, dotted arrows indicate the moving direction of the member.

In the printing process, first, the plate P and the bottle B are set in the printing system 100. Specifically, the plate P is carried into the system and set on the stage 11 (step S101), and the alignment of the plate P is adjusted based on the imaging result of the alignment camera 15 (step S102). Subsequently, the stage 11 starts moving in the (+ Y) direction, the photocurable ink IK is applied to the upper surface of the plate P from the nozzle 21 of the ink filling unit 2, and the surplus ink is scraped off by the doctor blade 23. Then, the plate surface is filled with ink (step S103). The ink pattern formed on the plate P is transferred to the surface of the blanket 32 by moving the stage 11 further and passing directly below the rotating blanket roll 60 (step S104).

FIG. 5 schematically shows the state of each part from when the plate P is placed on the stage 11 until the alignment adjustment and the ink filling are performed and the ink pattern is transferred to the blanket 32. As shown in the lower part of FIG. 5, finally, all the ink patterns IP formed on the plate P are transferred to the blanket 32.

ボトル In parallel with the above-described processing on the plate P, the bottle holding unit 6 executes the processing on the bottle B. That is, when the bottle B, which is a printing medium, is set (step S105), as shown in FIG. 6, the bottle B is imaged by the alignment camera 68, and the alignment of the bottle B is adjusted based on the imaged result (step S105). S106). Then, the bottle holding unit 6 moves in the (-Y) direction, and brings the bottle B into contact with the surface of the blanket 32 (step S107).

(6) As shown in FIG. 6, the blanket 32 onto which the ink pattern IP is transferred and the bottle B rotate with each other while abutting on each other, so that the ink pattern IP on the surface of the blanket 32 is sequentially transferred to the bottle B. For the sake of explanation, FIG. 5 shows the steps from the loading of the plate P to the transfer of the ink pattern to the blanket 32, and FIG. 6 shows the steps from the loading of the bottle B to the transfer of the ink to the bottle B. And these steps are described as independent. However, in the actual processing, the transfer of the ink pattern to the blanket 32 and the transfer of the ink pattern from the blanket 32 to the bottle B can be continuously performed in the same round of the blanket 32.

Here, the surface of the bottle B is in contact with the backup rollers 631 to 634. When the ink pattern IP reaches the contact position with the backup rollers 631 to 634 as the bottle B rotates, uncured ink may be transferred from the bottle B to the backup rollers 631 to 634. When the bottle B rotates one or more turns, the ink pattern IP on the surface of the bottle B may be re-transferred to the blanket 32. These disturb the ink pattern on the surface of the bottle B and also contaminate the blanket 32 and the backup rollers 631 to 634 with the ink.

(4) In order to prevent this problem, a temporary curing process is performed by irradiating a relatively low exposure amount of ultraviolet rays (step S108). That is, as shown in FIG. 6, light (ultraviolet light) UV1 is irradiated from the temporary curing unit 4 toward the surface of the bottle B immediately after the transfer of the ink pattern IP from the blanket 32. As described later, the light UV1 emitted from the temporary curing unit 4 increases the viscosity of the ink by polymerizing a part of the polymer material included in the ink, but has a property that does not lead to curing of the entire ink. Have

(4) As the viscosity of the ink increases, the adhesion of the ink to other objects decreases. Therefore, when the surface of the bottle B holding the ink comes into contact with the backup rolls 631 to 634 or the blanket 32, the transfer of the ink to these is prevented. At the end of the preliminary curing, the ink has not been completely cured. A full curing process is performed to completely cure this (Step S109). As shown in the lower part of FIG. 6, the main curing process is performed by irradiating the bottle B with light (ultraviolet light) UV2 from the main curing unit 5 in a state where the bottle B is largely separated from the blanket 32. The irradiation with the light UV2 at this time is performed with an exposure amount sufficient to completely cure the ink.

ボトル The bottle B on which the printing process has been performed is carried out to the outside (step S110). If there is a bottle to be printed next (YES in step S111), the process returns to steps S102 and S105, and the above processing is repeated from the alignment adjustment of plate P and the loading of bottle B. If the version P needs to be changed, the process may return to step S101.

Next, the operation in the case of performing the overprinting will be described. There is a case where a further ink pattern is printed on the bottle B on which the ink pattern has already been transferred. For example, there is a case where a printing layer is made thicker by overlapping ink patterns of the same color, or a case where multicolor printing is performed by overlapping ink patterns of different colors.

場合 When performing such overprinting, it is preferable that the ink pattern transferred to the bottle B is not completely cured. This is because, when a layer of a new ink pattern is overlaid on a layer of a completely cured ink pattern, the adhesion between the layers may be deteriorated. On the other hand, when the viscosity of the transferred ink pattern is too low, the inks of different colors are mixed with each other or the ink is re-transferred from the bottle B to the blanket 32, thereby deteriorating the print quality. Would.

In the printing process according to the present embodiment, these problems can be prevented by setting the viscosity of the ink transferred by the above-described temporary curing to an appropriate value. That is, a new ink pattern is transferred to the bottle B in which the transferred ink pattern is temporarily cured. By doing so, it is possible to satisfactorily perform multiple-layer printing. Specifically, it can be performed as follows.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing the movement of each part in the overprinting. First, consider the case where ink patterns of the same color are overlaid. If the circumferential length of the ink pattern transferred to the blanket 32 is larger than the circumferential length of the bottle B, the bottle B will rotate more than one round before all the ink patterns are transferred. As a result, the pattern transferred in the second rotation is transferred so as to overlap the pattern transferred in the first rotation.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the ink pattern IP2 remaining on the surface of the blanket 32 after the transfer of the ink pattern IP1 in the first round of the bottle B becomes the second round of the bottle B or later. Is transferred to the bottle B in the orbit. At this time, a new ink pattern IP2 is transferred to a region of the surface of the bottle B where the ink pattern IP1 has already been transferred, so that two-layer overprinting is realized. By setting the length of the plate P in the Y direction sufficiently larger than the peripheral length of the bottle B, such overprinting can be easily performed. In FIG. 7, the ink pattern IP1 transferred in the first cycle and the ink pattern IP2 transferred in the second cycle are shown with different densities in order to improve the visibility in the figure.

In this case, the ink immediately after the transfer is irradiated with the light UV1 from the temporary curing unit 4 to perform the temporary curing. Therefore, retransfer of the ink from the bottle B to the blanket 32 is prevented. In addition, since this ink is not completely cured, there is no problem in the adhesiveness with the newly transferred ink. By performing the main curing process after the completion of the overprinting, the entire transferred ink patterns IP1 and IP2 can be completely cured. In this way, high quality overprinting can be performed.

On the other hand, when printing with different colors or types of ink being superimposed, it is necessary to switch the plate P and the ink. In this case, the plate P and the ink may be switched in the printing system 100 of FIG. However, in terms of productivity in continuous printing, a set of a plate stage unit 1, an ink filling unit 2, a transfer unit 3, and a temporary curing unit 4 specialized for one type of ink is prepared by the number of types of ink. It is more advantageous to sequentially perform overlap printing while transporting the bottle B between the two.

Also in this case, by switching the bottle B and repeating the transfer process at the stage where the pre-curing is performed using one type of ink, a plurality of layers are formed, and then the main curing process is performed collectively. Multicolor overprinting can be completed.

By the way, in this printing process, it is necessary to irradiate light to the ink immediately after being transferred to the bottle B to perform temporary curing. Therefore, it is necessary to arrange the temporary curing unit 4 near the blanket 32. Due to this, the light UV1 emitted from the temporary curing unit 4 leaks and goes around the blanket 32, and the ink carried on the blanket 32 may be irradiated with light.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating the problem of light leakage to the blanket. As shown in FIG. 8A, in order to reduce the light that goes from the temporary curing unit 4 directly to the blanket 32, an appropriate light blocking member S may be provided between the two. However, when the surface of the bottle B has light reflectivity or when the material of the bottle B itself has light transmittance, the light UV1 is transmitted through the surface or the inside of the bottle B as indicated by a broken line arrow. It may be incident on the blanket 32. In particular, when the material of the bottle B is a transparent material, the effect is remarkable. When the blanket 32 is made of a silicone resin, the blanket 32 itself has a certain degree of ultraviolet transmittance. Such unexpected light irradiation may increase the viscosity of the ink on the blanket 32.

If the transfer of the ink from the blanket 32 to the bottle B and the light irradiation on the transferred ink can be performed separately, the light irradiation is not performed until the transfer is completed. Light irradiation on the upper ink can be avoided. However, such printing processes have low productivity. Therefore, as a practical matter, it is inevitable that the transfer of the ink from the blanket 32 to the bottle B and the light irradiation for the temporary curing are overlapped even temporarily.

FIG. 8B is a diagram schematically showing the relationship between the exposure amount and the viscosity of the ink. As shown by the solid line, as the exposure amount represented by the product of the intensity of the irradiation light and the irradiation time increases, the viscosity of the ink also increases. However, when the ink is completely cured, the viscosity does not increase any more. In the pre-curing stage, it is necessary to maintain an appropriate viscosity that is high enough to prevent re-transfer of ink to the blanket 32 or the like and that does not reach such a level that adhesion between layers is reduced. However, as described above, when light may enter the ink even when the ink is carried on the blanket 32, it is practically impossible to control the viscosity of the ink by adjusting the exposure amount in the temporary curing process. .

Therefore, as indicated by the dotted line, after the ink viscosity has been increased to an appropriate viscosity by light irradiation, a change in viscosity such that the viscosity does not increase even if the amount of exposure is further increased is ideal. In order to realize such a change in viscosity, in the present embodiment, two kinds of polymerization initiators having different light absorption characteristics are contained in the ink. Further, light having a different spectral distribution is generated between the temporary curing unit 4 and the main curing unit 5. Specifically, it is as follows.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing ink and UV light used in the present embodiment. The photocurable ink of the present embodiment includes a first photopolymerization initiator having an absorption characteristic up to a relatively long wavelength, and a second photopolymerization initiator absorbing only light of a shorter wavelength. ing. The light UV1 emitted from the temporary curing unit 4 is light that has a high absorption characteristic in the first photopolymerization initiator but contains a large amount of a component of the wavelength λ1 that is hardly absorbed by the second photopolymerization initiator. Can be Further, it is desirable that the light UV1 does not substantially include a wavelength component at which the second photopolymerization initiator exhibits absorptivity. That is, the light UV1 for temporary curing desirably includes only components on the longer wavelength side than the absorption wavelength range of the second photopolymerization initiator.

On the other hand, as the light UV2 emitted from the main curing unit 5, a light having a wavelength λ2, which is high in the second photopolymerization initiator, and having a higher luminous intensity than the light UV1 is used. It is not essential that the first photopolymerization initiator has absorptivity for this wavelength. However, in general, a material having high absorption on the long wavelength side also has high absorption for light of shorter wavelength.

すると In this case, the first photopolymerization initiator reacts with the temporary curing light UV1, but does not react with the second photopolymerization initiator. Here, if the content of the first photopolymerization initiator in the ink is set sufficiently smaller than the amount required to cure the entire ink, it is assumed that all of the first photopolymerization initiator has reacted. Does not cure completely. Therefore, the increase in the viscosity is saturated with the increase in the integrated exposure amount. The viscosity at this time can be controlled by the content of the first photopolymerization initiator.

FIGS. 10A to 10D are diagrams schematically showing a mechanism of ink curing by light irradiation. As shown in FIG. 10A, the ink pattern IP immediately after the transfer contains a polymer material and first and second photopolymerization initiators. As shown in FIG. 10B, when the ink pattern IP transferred to the bottle surface B2 is irradiated with the light UV1 from the temporary curing unit 4, the first photopolymerization initiator reacts, thereby causing the polymerization reaction of the polymer material to proceed. Begin. However, since the content of the first photopolymerization initiator is small, the polymerization reaction is limited, and a relatively low molecular weight polymer is dispersed in the ink. As a result, the viscosity is higher than immediately after the transfer, but it is not completely cured.

ＣAs shown in FIG. 10C, when the light UV2 containing a larger amount of shorter wavelength components is emitted from the main curing unit 5, the second photopolymerization initiator reacts in addition to the first photopolymerization initiator. As a result, the polymerization reaction of the polymer further proceeds, and the polymer is strongly crosslinked in the pattern, and the ink is completely cured.

粘度 The viscosity change during this time is schematically shown in FIG. 10D. By irradiating the ink pattern with light UV1, the viscosity of the ink increases, but the increase in viscosity saturates even if the light irradiation is continued. The viscosity at this time can be set to an appropriate viscosity depending on the content of the first photopolymerization initiator. Then, the irradiation of the light UV2 causes the viscosity of the ink to rise again, and finally the rise is stopped by the entire hardening. At this time, the contents of the polymer material and the second photopolymerization initiator in the ink are determined in advance so that the mechanical strength of the ink pattern satisfies the required specifications. The second photopolymerization initiator is desirably contained in an amount at least equal to the amount necessary for completely curing the entire ink.

This phenomenon can occur not only on the bottle B to which the ink has been transferred from the blanket 32 but also on the blanket 32 which receives the light wraparound via the bottle B. That is, when the ink carried on the blanket 32 is irradiated with light, its viscosity changes. However, the increase in ink viscosity is inherently limited by exposure to the light UV1, and the amount of exposure on the blanket 32 is sufficiently smaller than that of ink that is directly irradiated with light on the bottle B. Therefore, it is avoided that the viscosity of the ink on the blanket 32 increases so that the transferability to the bottle B becomes a problem. Therefore, a measure for blocking light incident on the blanket 32 from the temporary curing unit 4 may be omitted. Of course, in order to ensure completeness, it is preferable that a means (for example, a light-shielding plate) for blocking light leakage to the blanket 32 is provided for the temporary curing unit 4.

On the other hand, if the light UV2 is irradiated on the ink on the blanket 32, the ink may be cured. However, when the light UV2 is irradiated, the blanket 32 and the bottle B are largely separated from each other, and there is no positional restriction on providing a light blocking member between them if necessary. For this reason, exposure of the ink on the blanket 32 by the light UV2 can be easily avoided from becoming a serious problem.

Among various materials known as photoreaction initiators, those having high light absorption properties on a relatively short wavelength side and suitably applicable as the “second photopolymerization initiator” include, for example, benzoin derivatives, Benzophenone and the like. Examples of those having light absorption properties up to longer wavelengths and usable as the “first photopolymerization initiator” include, for example, Michler's ketone, acylphosphine oxide compounds, and the like.

According to the conventional general idea, a photopolymerization initiator having sensitivity to light in a wide band is added in an amount required for complete curing of the ink in order to efficiently perform photocuring of the ink. This aims at efficiently absorbing the irradiated light to promote the polymerization reaction of the polymer material.

On the other hand, in the printing process of the above embodiment, a small amount of photopolymerization initiator (first photopolymerization initiator) having broadband light absorption characteristics and a larger amount of light having light absorption characteristics biased to shorter wavelengths are used. A polymerization initiator (second photopolymerization initiator) is added to the ink. Then, the ink transferred to the printing substrate is irradiated with light having a wavelength at which only the first photopolymerization initiator has sensitivity, thereby temporarily curing the ink. At this time, the amount of the first photopolymerization initiator that reacts to the irradiation light is small, and does not completely cure the ink. Therefore, even if the exposure amount in the light irradiation at this time becomes excessive, it is possible to prevent the viscosity of the ink from rising beyond an appropriate range.

(4) Further, a part of the irradiation light may enter the untransferred ink on the blanket (intermediate transfer body). However, the increase in the viscosity of the untransferred ink due to this is also limited, and it is possible to avoid a decrease in transferability to a printing substrate. In addition, by performing the overprinting in a state where the ink maintains an appropriate viscosity due to the temporary curing, the adhesion between the inks between the overlaid layers becomes good. Then, it is possible to prevent the ink transferred to the printing material from being transferred to the surrounding members.

As described above, in the above embodiment, the blanket 32 functions as the “intermediate transfer member” of the present invention, and the ink pattern IP corresponds to the “print pattern” of the present invention. The light UV1 emitted from the temporary curing unit 4 corresponds to the “first light” of the present invention, and the wavelength λ1 is an example of the “first wavelength” of the present invention. On the other hand, the light UV2 emitted from the main curing unit 5 corresponds to the “second light” of the present invention, and the wavelength λ2 is an example of the “second wavelength” of the present invention.

In the printing process (FIG. 4) in the above embodiment, steps S101 to S103 correspond to the “first step” of the present invention, while steps S104 to S107 correspond to the “second step” of the present invention. . Steps S108 and S109 correspond to the "third step" and the "fourth step" of the present invention, respectively.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various changes other than those described above can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the printing system 100 of the above-described embodiment includes a temporary curing unit 4 and a full curing unit 5 for appropriately increasing the viscosity of the transferred ink. On the other hand, for example, in a printing system that presupposes overprinting, one or more printing devices that execute a process up to temporary curing, and a printing material that has been subjected to the temporary curing in those printing devices are received to perform a full curing. It is also possible to adopt a configuration based on a combination with one main curing device to be executed.

Further, in the printing system 100 of the above embodiment, the plate stage unit 1 moves the plate P and the bottle holding unit 6 moves the bottle B with respect to the fixed blanket roll 30, thereby positioning each other in the printing process. You. However, these movements need only be relatively realized. Which unit is made movable is not limited to the above and is arbitrary.

In addition, the formation of the ink pattern in the above embodiment is performed by applying ink to the intaglio plate and scraping it with a doctor blade. However, the method of forming the ink pattern is not limited to this, and is arbitrary. For example, a mode in which an ink pattern formed on a lithographic plate using an inkjet printing device is transferred to a blanket, or a mode in which an ink pattern is formed directly on the blanket surface by an inkjet printing device may be used.

The light source of the temporary curing unit 4 in the above embodiment is a UV-LED, and the light source of the main curing unit 5 is a UV lamp. However, the light source is not limited to these, and any light source can be used as long as it can emit light of a required wavelength and intensity.

Further, the bottle holding unit 6 of the above-described embodiment has a configuration in which the bottle B serving as a printing material is sandwiched between the connecting member 621 and the spring member 622, and the bottle B is additionally supported by the backup rolls 631 to 634. . However, the holding form of the printing material is not limited to this, and is arbitrary. For example, a configuration may be employed in which an object to be printed is held by an appropriate rotary chuck mechanism.

In addition, although the printing material in the above embodiment is a substantially cylindrical bottle B, the printing material is not limited to this. For example, it is possible to execute the printing process using the above-described print processing system 100 even on a cylindrical printing material having both open ends and a printing material having irregularities on the cylindrical surface.

As described above with reference to specific embodiments, in the printing method according to the present invention, for example, the content of the first photopolymerization initiator in the photocurable ink causes the entire polymer material to be cured. May be less than required. According to such a configuration, even when the exposure amount by the first light increases, the ink is not completely cured, and it is possible to maintain an appropriate viscosity. Therefore, a printing process that is less sensitive to the amount of exposure can be constructed.

Also, for example, the print substrate may have light transmittance. In this case, it is practically impossible to control the light transmitted through the inside of the printing medium and incident on the intermediate transfer member. However, in the present invention, as described above, the influence of the fluctuation of the exposure amount on the viscosity is small. For this reason, it is possible to avoid problems such as re-transfer of ink or transfer failure, which cause deterioration of print quality.

Further, for example, in the present invention, the intermediate transfer body has a blanket made of an elastic resin having a cylindrical surface shape, and the blanket carrying the print pattern on the surface rotates while abutting on the printing material, so that the print pattern is May be configured to be transferred to a print substrate. According to such a configuration, by providing the blanket that temporarily holds the print pattern, it is possible to easily cope with the change of the print pattern and the print medium. Further, since the surface of the blanket having elasticity can follow irregularities on the surface of the printing material, printing can be performed well even on a printing material that is not a perfect cylinder.

In the printing method according to the present invention, the transfer in the second step and the light irradiation in the third step may be simultaneously performed at least at one time. Part of the light used in the light irradiation for the third step may cause a change in the ink viscosity in the second step. However, in the present invention, this problem is solved by devising the wavelength of the photopolymerization initiator and the irradiation light, and no problem occurs even when both steps are performed simultaneously.

Further, in the printing method according to the present invention, the processes from the first step to the third step are performed a plurality of times on the same print material to transfer a multi-layer print pattern to the print material, and then the fourth process is performed. May be configured. According to such a configuration, the newly transferred print pattern is superimposed on the ink whose viscosity has been appropriately increased in the previous step. Therefore, the adhesion between the layers can be improved. Then, by irradiating the second light collectively after the transfer of the plurality of layers, the entire printed pattern can be cured to obtain a final printed matter.

Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiment, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is therefore contemplated that the appended claims will cover any such modifications or embodiments without departing from the true scope of the invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to all printing techniques for printing on the surface of a printing target having a cylindrical shape such as a glass bottle or a resin bottle, and particularly when the printing target has a light transmittance such as a transparent body It is effective for

3 Transfer unit 4 Temporary curing unit 5 Final curing unit 32 Blanket (intermediate transfer body)
100 Printing system B Bottle (substrate)
IP, IP1, IP2 Ink pattern (print pattern)
P version S101 to S103 First step S104 to S107 Second step S108 Third step S109 Fourth step UV1 First light UV2 Second light

Claims

A first step of forming a print pattern using a photocurable ink on the surface of the intermediate transfer body;
A second step of bringing the intermediate transfer body into contact with a printing medium and transferring the print pattern on the surface of the intermediate transfer body to the printing medium;
A third step of irradiating the print pattern transferred to the printing medium with first light to increase the viscosity of the photocurable ink;
Irradiating the print pattern with increased viscosity with a second light to cure the photocurable ink,
The first light includes light of a first wavelength,
The second light includes light of a second wavelength shorter than the first wavelength at a higher intensity than the first light,
The photocurable ink,
A polymer material solidified by polymerization,
A first photopolymerization initiator responsive to light of the first wavelength;
A second photopolymerization initiator that does not react with the light of the first wavelength but reacts with the light of the second wavelength.
The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the first light does not substantially include the light of the second wavelength.
The printing method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the content of the first photopolymerization initiator in the photocurable ink is smaller than an amount necessary for curing the entirety of the polymer material.
(4) The printing method according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the printing medium has light transmittance.
The intermediate transfer body has a blanket made of an elastic resin having a cylindrical surface.
The printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the printing pattern is transferred to the printing material by rotating while the blanket carrying the printing pattern on the surface contacts the printing material.
The printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the transfer in the second step and the light irradiation in the third step are simultaneously performed at least at one time.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first to third processes are performed on the same printing material a plurality of times to transfer a plurality of layers of the printing pattern to the printing material, and then the fourth process is performed. 7. The printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.