Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
  • B41M5/50—Recording sheets characterised by the coating used to improve ink, dye or pigment receptivity, e.g. for ink-jet or thermal dye transfer recording
  • B41M5/52—Macromolecular coatings
  • B41M5/5254—Macromolecular coatings characterised by the use of polymers obtained by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds, e.g. vinyl polymers
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
  • B41M5/50—Recording sheets characterised by the coating used to improve ink, dye or pigment receptivity, e.g. for ink-jet or thermal dye transfer recording
  • B41M5/52—Macromolecular coatings
  • B41M5/529—Macromolecular coatings characterised by the use of fluorine- or silicon-containing organic compounds

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an improved recording element for ink jet printing.
• ink jet printing has become a popular technique because of its simplicity, convenience and low cost. Especially in those instances where a limited edition of the printed matter is needed ink jet printing has become a technology of choice.
• a recent survey on progress and trends in ink jet printing technology is given by Hue P. Le in Journal of Imaging Science and Technology Vol. 42 (1), Jan/Febr 1998.
• ink jet printing tiny drops of ink fluid are projected directly onto an ink receptor surface without physical contact between the printing device and the receptor.
• the printing device stores the printing data electronically and controls a mechanism for ejecting the drops image-wise. Printing is accomplished by moving the print head across the paper or vice versa.
• Early patents on ink jet printers include US 3,739,393, US 3,805,273 and US 3,891,121.
• the jetting of the ink droplets can be performed in several different ways.
• a continuous droplet stream is created by applying a pressure wave pattern. This process is known as continuous ink jet printing.
• the droplet stream is divided into droplets that are electrostatically charged, deflected and recollected, and into droplets that remain uncharged, continue their way undeflected, and form the image.
• the charged deflected stream forms the image and the uncharged undeflected jet is recollected.
• several jets are deflected to a different degree and thus record the image (multideflection system).
• the ink droplets can be created “on demand” (“DOD” or “drop on demand” method) whereby the printing device ejects the droplets only when they are used in imaging on a receiver thereby avoiding the complexity of drop charging, deflection hardware, and ink recollection.
• DOD on demand
• the ink droplet can be formed by means of a pressure wave created by a mechanical motion of a piezoelectric transducer (so-called “piezo method”), or by means of discrete thermal pushes (so-called “bubble jet” method, or “thermal jet” method).
• Ink compositions for ink jet typically include following ingredients : dyes or pigments, water and/or organic solvents, humectants such as glycols, detergents, thickeners, polymeric binders, preservatives, etc.. It will be readily understood that the optimal composition of such an ink is dependent on the ink jetting method used and on the nature of the substrate to be printed.
• the ink compositions can be roughly divided in :
• Pigments and particles have also been described in patent applications including DE 2,925,769, GB 2,050,866, US-P 4,474,850, US-P 4,547,405, US-P 4,578,285, WO 88 06532, US-P 4,849,286, EP 339604, EP 400681, EP 407881, EP 411638 and US-P 5,045,864 (non-exhaustive list).
• binders of which the most common types such as gelatin, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, and various types of cellulose derivatives. These conventional binders are mentioned in numerous patent documents.
• the present invention is particularly directed to an improved recording material for outdoor use, such as billboards, banners, signs and advertisement pannels, it will be readily understood that the so-called weatherability characteristics of such a material are of prior importance. These necessary characteristics include excellent water-fastness, light-fastness, and resistance to high and low temperature.
• the present invention extends the teachings on ink jet recording materials and is particularly directed to to an improved material for outdoor use.
• an ink jet recording element comprising a support and a receiving layer comprising a pigment, an optional binder and a film-forming polymer latex, characterized in that said polymer latex is a homopolymer or copolymer containing repeating units derived from the following monomer (formula I): wherein,
• said monomer according to formula (I) is a vinyl ester monomer according to formula II below:
• said monomer according to formula (I) is an acrylic monomer represented by formula (III) below : wherein,
• the monomer is a vinyl ester monomer (formula II) it is most preferably a vinyl versatate.
• the ink receiving layer apart from the pigment and the optional binder, contains a film-forming (co)polymeric latex comprising repeating units derived from the monomer class of formula (I) defined above.
• Particularly suited monomers according to formula (II) for incorporation in the (co)polymer are so-called vinyl versatic acid ester monomers (or vinyl versatates).
• Versatic acids are highly branched C 9 - C 11 aliphatic carboxylic esters (Römpps Chemie-Lexikon, 7 e edition, p. 3803).
• Craynor 152 can be prepared as shown in the scheme below:
• the film-forming latex can be a homopolymer completely built up from the monomer of formula (I) as decribed. More preferably, it can be a copolymer incorporating repeating units derived from other monomers beside the monomer of formula (I). In a particularly preferred embodiment the copolymer contains stuctural units derived from ethylene and/or vinyl acetate monomers, beside the vinyl ester monomers. The ratio of the different monomers must be chosen so that the resulting polymer latex is film-forming under normal conditions of coating, drying and storage of the ink receiving layer.
• Useful commercially available copolymers include following compounds :
• the receiving layer contains a pigment and optionally a binder.
• the pigment present in the ink receiving layer may be chosen from organic material such as polystyrene, polymethylmethacrylate, silicones, urea-formaldehyde condensation polymers, polyesters and polyamides.
• organic material such as polystyrene, polymethylmethacrylate, silicones, urea-formaldehyde condensation polymers, polyesters and polyamides.
• it is an inorganic porous pigment, such as silica, talc, clay, koalin, diatomaceous earth, calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, aluminium hydroxide, aluminium oxide, titanium oxide, zinc oxide, barium sulfate, calcium sulfate, zinc sulfide, satin white, boehmite and pseudo-boehmite.
• the preferred pigment is a silica type, more particularly an amorphous silica having a average particle size ranging from 1 ⁇ m to 15 ⁇ m, most preferably from 2 to 10 ⁇ m.
• the use of non-colloidal silica types in ink jet receiver formulations is known for long time, e.g. from old references such as JP-A 55-051583, JP-A 56-000157, US-P 4,474,850 and DE 3410828.
• the silica is preferably present in the receiving layer in an amount ranging from 5 g/m 2 to 30 g/m 2 .
• a finer silica type or a colloidal silica type may also be present.
• a binder When a binder is present it can be chosen from a list of compounds well-known in the art including hydroxyethyl cellulose; hydroxypropyl cellulose; hydroxyethylmethyl cellulose; hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose; hydroxybutylmethyl cellulose; methyl cellulose; sodium carboxymethyl cellulose; sodium carboxymethylhydroxethyl cellulose; water soluble ethylhydroxyethyl cellulose; cellulose sulfate; polyvinyl alcohol; vinylalcohol copolymers; polyvinyl acetate; polyvinylacetal; polyvinyl pyrrolidone; polyacrylamide; acrylamide/acrylic acid copolymer; styrene/acrylic acid copolymer; ethylene-vinylacetate copolymer; vinylmethyl ether/maleic acid copolymer; poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid); poly(diethylene triamine-co-adipic acid); poly
• a preferred binder for the practice of the present invention is polyvinyl alcohol (PVA).
• PVA polyvinyl alcohol
• This PVA can be partially silanol modifided as it is the case with the Poval R polymer series, trade name of Kuraray Co., Japan.
• weight ratio is preferably lower than 50 weigth % vis-à-vis the total coating weight of the layer.
• the total dry coating weight of the receiving layer is preferably comprised between 10 and 40 g/m 2 .
• a cationic substance acting as mordant may be present in the ink receiving layer.
• Such substances increase the capacity of the layer for fixing and holding the dye of the ink droplets.
• a particularly suited compound is a poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) or, in short, a poly(dadmac). These compounds are commercially available from several companies, e.g. Aldrich, Nalco, Clariant, BASF, EKA Chemicals, and Nippon Goshei.
• a preferred type is GOHSEFIMER K210, trade name of Nippon Goshei Co..
• dadmac copolymers such as copolymers with acrylamide; dimethylamine-epichlorohydrine copolymers,
• CYPRO 514/515/516, SUPERFLOC 507/521/567 cationic cellulose derivatives such as CELQUAT L-200, H-100, SC-240C, SC-230M, trade names of Starch & Chemical Co., and QUATRISOFT LM200, UCARE polymers JR125, JR400, LR400, JR30M, LR30M and UCARE polymer LK; fixing agents from Chukyo Europe: PALSET JK-512, PALSET JK512L, PALSET JK-182, PALSET JK-220, WSC-173, WSC-173L, PALSET JK-320, PALSET JK-320L and PALSET JK-350; polyethyleneimine and copolymers, e.g.
• LUVIQUAT CARE, LUVITEC 73W, LUVITEC VPI55 K18P, LUVITEC VP155 K72W, LUVIQUAT FC905, LUVIQUAT FC550, LUVIQUAT HM522, and SOKALAN HP56 all trade names of BASF AG; polyamidoamines, e.g. RETAMINOL and NADAVIN, trade marks of Bayer AG; and phosphonium compounds such as disclosed in EP 609930.
• Still other cationic compounds include gelatin when the layer pH is below the isoelectric point of the gelatin, cationic aluminum oxide, boehmite, and poly(aluminumhydroxychloride) such as SYLOJET A200, trade name of Grace Co..
• Still further cationic polymers include polyvinylamines, e.g. PVAM-0595B from Esprit Co., and cationic modified acrylics, e.g. ACRIT RKW319SX, trade name of Tasei Chemical Industries, and RD134 from Goo Chemical.
• the cationic substance is not incorporated in the ink receiving layer itself but in a separate thin top layer.
• this layer is coated from an aqueous medium. Its dry coverage is preferably comprised between 0.5 and 5 g/m 2 .
• the cationic mordant can also be distributed between the ink receiving bulk layer and the extra thin top layer.
• an extra adhesive layer may be applied between the support and the ink receiving layer (undercoat layer).
• This layer is then coated from an aqueous medium containing any of the numerous known adhesive polymers.
• Preferred adhesive polymers include styrene-butadiene latex, acrylate latices, such as ethylacrylate-hydroxyethylmethacrylate, poly (ethylene-vinylacetate), polyvinylesters, copolyesters, and polyurethanes.
• the dry coating weight of this undercoat layer when present is preferably comprised between 0.5 and 10 g/m 2 .
• the ink receiving layer and the optional top- and undercoat layers may further contain well-known conventional ingredients, such as surfactants serving as coating aids, hardening agents plasticizers, whitening agents and matting agents.
• Surfactants may be incorporated in the ink-receiving layer of the present invention. They can be any of the cationic, anionic, amphoteric, and non-ionic ones as described in JP-A 62-280068 (1987).
• the surfactants are N-alkylamino acid salts, alkylether carboxylic acid salts, acylated peptides, alkylsulfonic acid salts, alkylbenzene and alkylnaphthalene sulfonic acid salts, sulfosuccinic acid salts, ⁇ -olefin sulfonic acid salts, N-acylsulfonic acid salts, sulfonated oils, alkylsulfonic acid salts, alkylether sulfonic acid salts, alkylallylethersulfonic acid salts, alkylamidesulfonic acid salts, alkylphosphoric acid salts, alkyletherphosphoric acid salts, alkyl
• Useful cationic surfactants include N-alkyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, palmityl trimethyl ammonium chloride, dodecyldimethylamine, tetradecyldimethylamine, ethoxylated alkyl guanidine-amine complex, oleamine hydroxypropyl bistrimonium chloride, oleyl imidazoline, stearyl imidazoline, cocamine acetate, palmitamine, dihydroxyethylcocamine, cocotrimonium chloride, alkyl polyglycolether ammonium sulphate, ethoxylated oleamine, lauryl pyridinium chloride, N-oleyl-1,3-diaminopropane, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine lactate, coconut fatty amide, oleyl hydroxyethyl imidazoline, isostearyl ethylimidonium ethosulphate, lauramidopropyl PEG-d
• These surfactants are commercially available from DuPont and 3M.
• the concentration of the surfactant component in the ink-receiving layer is typically in the range of 0.1 to 2 %, preferably in the range of 0.4 to 1.5 % and is most preferably 0.75 % by weight based on the total dry weight of the layer.
• the ink-receiving layer according to this invention may be crosslinked to provide such desired features as waterfastness and non-blocking characteristics.
• the crosslinking is also useful in providing abrasion resistance and resistance to the formation of fingerprints on the element as a result of handling.
• crosslinking agents also known as hardening agents - that will function to crosslink film forming materials. Hardening agents can be used individually or in combination and in free or in blocked form.
• a great many hardeners, useful for the present invention are known, including formaldehyde and free dialdehydes, such as succinaldehyde and glutaraldehyde, blocked dialdehydes, active esters, sulfonate esters, active halogen compounds, isocyanate or blocked isocyanates, polyfunctional isocyanates, melamine derivatives, s-triazines and diazines, epoxides, active olefins having two or more active bonds, carbodiimides, isoxazolium salts subsituted in the 3-position, esters of 2-alkoxy-N-carboxy-dihydroquinoline, N-carbamoylpyridinium salts, hardeners of mixed function, such as halogen-substituted aldehyde acids (e.g.
• mucochloric and mucobromic acids onium substituted acroleins and vinyl sulfones and polymeric hardeners, such as dialdehyde starches and copoly(acroleinmethacrylic acid), and oxazoline functional polymers, e.g. EPOCROS WS-500, and EPOCROS K-1000 series.
• the ink-receiving layer of the invention may contain a whitening agent.
• TiO 2 rutile or anatase
• the ink-receiving layer of the invention may contain a whitening agent.
• the ink-receiving layer of the present invention may also comprise a plasticizer such as ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, glycerol monomethylether, glycerol monochlorohydrin, ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate, tetrachlorophthalic anhydride, tetrabromophthalicanhydride, urea phosphate, triphenylphosphate, glycerolmonostearate, propylene glycol monostearate, tetramethylene sulfone, n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, n-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone.
• a plasticizer such as ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, glycerol monomethylether, glycerol monochlorohydrin, ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate, tetrachlorophthalic anhydride, tetrabromo
• the ink receiving layer and the optional supplementary layers can be coated onto the support by any conventional coating technique, such as dip coating, knife coating, extrusion coating, spin coating, slide hopper coating and curtain coating.
• the support for use in the present invention can be chosen from the paper type and polymeric type support well-known from photographic technology.
• Paper types include plain paper, cast coated paper, polyethylene coated paper and polypropylene coated paper.
• Polymeric supports include cellulose acetate propionate or cellulose acetate butyrate, polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene naphthalate, polyamides, polycarbonates, polyimides, polyolefins, poly(vinylacetals), polyethers and polysulfonamides.
• PET polyethylene terephthalate
• Other examples of useful high-quality polymeric supports for the present invention include opaque white polyesters and extrusion blends of polyethylene terephthalate and polypropylene. Polyester film supports, and especially polyethylene terephthalate, are preferred because of their excellent properties of dimensional stability.
• Typical supports for outdoor use include PET, wet strength paper, PVC, PVC with an adhesive backing, the polyethylene paper TYVEK, trade name of Du Pont Co., the porous polyethylene paper TESLIN, trade name of International Paper CO., canvas, polypropylene, and polycarbonate.
• a 1 litre dispersion was prepared containing 220 g of a commercially available silica (average particle size 6.5 ⁇ m), 330 g of a polyvinyl alcohol type (POVAL R3109 of Kuraray Co.), and 113 g of CAT FLOC 71259 (formerly Cat Floc T2), a 40 % poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) aqueous solution, trade name of Nalco Italiana S.r.l. To 843 ml of this dispersion different copolymer latices were added thus constituting different samples according to table 1 hereinafter.
• the obtained media samples were printed with an ENCAD PRO42 printer, trade mark of Encad Co., using pigments inks (GO, trade mark of Encad Co.), or with a Agfajet Sherpa 43 printer, trade name of Agfa-Gevaert N.V., using also pigment inks.
• the polymer No. corresponds to the sample No. of table 1.
• Polymer No. ml added to 1 l. of the coating solution Water fastness with GO inks on Encad Water fastness with pigment inks on Sherpa 1 comp. 110 A A 1 comp. 100 A A 1 comp. 91.6 A A 2 comp. 91 A A 3 comp. 99.5 B B 3 comp. 90.4 B B 3 comp. 89.2 B B 4 inv. 110 C C 4 inv. 100 C C 4 inv. 91.6 C C 5 inv. 93.5 C C 6 inv. 90.9 C C 7 inv. 100 C C C

Landscapes

• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• Ink Jet Recording Methods And Recording Media Thereof (AREA)
• Ink Jet (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=26072878

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (1)

Cited By (1)

Citations (6)

• 2001
  • 2001-11-08 EP EP01000605A patent/EP1211087B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime

Patent Citations (6)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events