JPH02233290A - Thermal recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a sharp color image of high resolving power having high light fastness and faithful to a real color by providing a base material and an ink layer formed by applying specific hot melt type heat-meltable ink containing a specific colorant and specific wax to the single surface of the base material. CONSTITUTION:A base material is equipped with an ink layer formed by coating the single surface of the base material with hot melt type heat-meltable ink containing a colorant and wax. The ink used herein is melted within a temp. range of 50-150 deg.C and the colorant is a disperse dye dispersed and held in a solvent and having an MW of 800 or less and a particle size of 10<-3>-5X10<-1>mum and showing the same color phase as the original color thereof at the time of transfer. The wax has the compatibility with the aforementioned solvent. The disperse dye is compounded in an amount of 0.1-20 pts.wt. per 100 pts.wt. of vehicle on a solid basis corresponding to a desired color phase and density. By containing wax having the compatibility with the solvent such as paraffin wax, rice wax, an amide resin or beeswax in the heat-meltable ink, the resolving power of a transfer image can be enhanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording medium used in a thermal transfer recording device such as a thermal printer or a thermal typewriter. More specifically, the present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording medium having a hot melt ink layer.

[Prior Art] When a thermal transfer recording medium is heated by a thermal transfer recording device,
The colorant of the heat-melting ink coated on the base material
The image is transferred to a receptor such as fabric or film to form an image.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Hot-melt inks that use pigments as colorants become opaque when images or characters are transferred to the receiver. To improve this point, transparency can be obtained by using oil-soluble dyes that are compatible with wax and binders instead of pigments, but this type of dye has a light fastness of grade 1 to 2. Very poor.

In addition, when a disperse dye with high light fastness is used in a hot-melt type ink, the disperse dye becomes a single molecule at the melting temperature of the hot-melt ink (50 to 150°C), and is accepted together with the wax without coloring. transfer to the body.

Therefore, in the case of a disperse dye in which the dye particles are fine and tend to aggregate with each other, the dye particles are transferred to the receiver in an aggregated state, resulting in a dull hue similar to pigments.

An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording medium that has excellent light fastness and can provide vivid color images that are most faithful to the actual colors.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a substrate formed by coating a hot-melt ink containing a colorant and wax on one side of the substrate. In a thermal transfer recording medium having an ink layer of 50 to 15
The colorant is dispersed in a solvent and has a molecular weight of 800 or less and a particle size of 10"3-5x.
The disperse dye is characterized in that it is within the range of 10'''1 μm and exhibits the original hue of the dye when transferred, and that the wax is compatible with the solvent.

In other words, the dye that is the coloring agent of the hot-melt ink of the present invention is a disperse dye that exhibits the original hue of the dye after it is thermally melted and transferred, and its molecular weight is 800 or less, and its particle size is The diameter needs to be within the range of 10-3 to 5×10-1 μm. The reason why the hue upon transfer is required to match the original hue of the dye is that at the thermal melting temperature of the ink of the present invention, the disperse dye becomes a single molecule and does not develop color. The above disperse dye has a desired hue,
Depending on the concentration, etc., it is added in an amount of 0.1 to 2.0 m parts by weight in terms of solid content per 100 fl'Hi parts of the vehicle.

Examples of disperse dyes suitable for the present invention include the following dyes.

(a) Yellow component Obras Yellow 140 (C.I. Solvent Yellow 93) Macrolex Yellow 3G (C.I. Solvent 1 Yellow 33) Cerase
Yellow GRN (C.I Solvent Yellow 29) Phuoron
Brill Yellow S-6GL (No C.I. number) M.S. Yellow VP (No C.I. number) = 4 (b) Magenta component Kayaset Re Sodo B (C.I. Disperse Re Sodo 60) Resilence
Red TB (C.I Daysverse Le Soto 60) Orient Le Soto No. 3 (C.I Disverse Re Sodo 60) Macrolex Re Sodo Noku Iole Soto R (C.I Disverse Noku Iole Soto 31) MS Magenta VP (C.I No. Number) Seven Races Red 3R (C .I Solvent Re Sodo 18) Orient
Red No. 4 (No C.I number) (c) Cyan component Cerase Blue GN (C.I Solvent Blue-63) Kayaset Blue 714 (C.I Solvent L/Blue 63) Kayaset
Blue 136 (C.I. Solvent Blue-36) Macrolex Blue CA (No C.I. number) Resyllen Blue TGL (No C.I. number) MS Cyan VP (No C.I. number) M.S. Cyan VPG (No C.I. number) Varifast Blue-2606 (C..No I number) If the molecular weight and particle size of the dye do not satisfy the above conditions, as mentioned above, the dyes will tend to aggregate with each other, and the dye will be in an agglomerated state during hot melting. When the color is transferred to the receiver along with the wax, the hue becomes unclear, making it impossible to obtain the desired hue.

The heat-melting ink of the present invention also contains waxes that are compatible with Solben 1, such as paraffin wax, rice wax, amide resin, and beeswax. It is.

Since the heat-melt ink of the present invention uses a solvent hot-melt method, it is less likely to separate from the base material during heat melting than a general hot-melt method. It is not necessary, but rather preferable are ethyl cellulose, petroleum resin, etc., which have both the functions of a binder and a thickener. This type of binder/thickener is blended in an amount of 01 to 20 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the vehicle.

Vehicles such as solvents include organic solvents commonly used for dispersing inks, such as toluene, 1-2 dichloroethane, dioxane, ethyl cellosolve, cyclohexane, xylene, methyl ethyl ketone, and methyl isobutyl ketone. It is contained in 40 to 95 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight.

The hot-melt ink is uniformly coated onto the substrate to a thickness in the range of 1 to 10 μm. The above ink is applied to the surface of the substrate that does not face the thermal head, and is dried to form an ink layer. Examples of the base material of the present invention include films of about 1 to 20 μm made of polyester, polyimide, polycarbonate, and the like. It is preferable to previously provide a heat-resistant layer such as a silicone resin on the surface of the film facing the thermal head to prevent sticking (fusion).

[Function] When an image is thermally transferred using a thermal transfer recording medium coated with a hot-melt ink having such a configuration, the disperse dye of the present invention uniformly transfers to the surface of the receptor without agglomerating. It has excellent light fastness and allows you to obtain high-resolution images with the desired hue as vivid as the dye itself.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, conventional hot-melt hot-melt inks use pigments as colorants, making them opaque, but according to the present invention, they can be dispersed together with wax melted by thermal transfer. Because the dye transfers uniformly to the receiver with its original hue intact, the transferred image has the high light fastness of disperse dyes, resulting in a vivid, high-resolution color image that is most faithful to the actual colors. become.

[Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described. "Parts" used below indicate "parts by weight."

Example 1 A hot melt ink containing the following disperse dye was prepared.

・Disperse dye Cerase Blue GN 2.0 parts Macrolex Red Violet R O. Part 5: Ink prescription beeswax (BWS-30)
2.0 parts Amide resin (KAO Amide S)
2.0 parts ester oligomer compound wax (KAO Wax 230) 5.0 parts Rice wax (Rice Wax L-301-J)
5.0 parts paraffin wax (Noda Wa
x NC511) 2.0 partial dispersant (Solsper
SE 24000) 2.0 parts Binder/Thickener (Ethyl Cell) 15 parts Solvent (Toluene)
After mixing the ink components other than the 780 partially dispersed dye in toluene and heating and dissolving them, the dispersed dye was mixed with this mixture and kneaded in a ball mill to prepare an ink in which dye particles were dispersed. This ink was applied to one side of a 6 μm thick polyester film to a thickness of 30 μm using a 200 mesh gravure printing machine. When this thermal transfer recording medium was thermally transferred using a color thermal printer (Shinko Electric Co., Ltd. (Kiyomi CHC-335)), a beautiful royal blue color was transferred to the receptor, resulting in high-resolution printed matter with good color reproduction. .

Example 2 A hot melt ink containing the following disperse dye was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1.

・Disperse dye Orien L・Red No. 3 3.
0 part Oplus Yellow 140 0.5
Section/Ink prescription beeswax (BWS-30)
2. 0 parts amide resin (KAO Amide S)
2.0 parts 9 110 One ester oligomer compound wax (・KAO Wax 230) 5.0 parts Rice wax (Rice Wax L-301-J
) 5.0 parts paraffin wax (Noda W
ax NC511) 2.0 partial dispersant (Solspe
rse 24000) 2.0 parts binder/thickener (Ethyl Cel Kanosu) 15 parts dissolved
agent (toluene)
500 parts Solvent (1,2 cycloethane) 270
This ink was applied to one side of a 5 μm thick polyester film to a thickness of 85 μm using a 175 mesh gravure printing machine. When this thermal transfer recording medium was thermally transferred in the same manner as in Example 1, a bright scarlet red color was transferred to the receiver, and a printed matter with high resolution and good color reproduction was obtained.

Example 3 A hot melt ink containing the following disperse dye was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1.

・Disperse dye Obras Yellow 140 0.94
Part/Ink prescription beeswax (BWS-30) 1
．． 90 parts Amide resin (KAO Amide S)
1.90 parts Ester oligomer compound wax (KAO Wax 230) 4.40 parts Rice wax (Rice Wax L-301-J
) 3.10 parts paraffin wax (Noda W
ax NC511) 1.90 part dispersant (Solspe
rse 24000) 1.30 parts Binder and thickening agent (Ethyl Cel Kanosu) 0.
94 parts Fluorine surfactant (Defencer MCF-323) 0.19
Partial solvent (toluene)
83.43 parts of this ink 3.5
It was coated to a thickness of 2.5 μm on one side of a μm-thick polyester film using a 220-mesh gravure printing machine. When this thermal transfer recording medium was thermally transferred in the same manner as in Example 1, the lemon yellow color was transferred to the receiver, and a printed matter with high resolution and good color reproduction was obtained.

Example 4 A hot melt 1 type hot melt ink containing the following disperse dye was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1.

・Disperse dye Cerase Blue GN 4.0 parts Macrolex Red Violet R 1.0 parts Obras Yellow 140 2.0 parts ・Ink formulation beeswax (BWS-30)
2.0 parts Amide resin (KAO Amide S)
2.0 parts ester oligomer compound wax (KAO Wax 230) 5.0 parts Rice wax (Rice Wax L-301-J)
3.5 parts paraffin wax (Noda Wa
x NC511) 2.0 partial dispersant (Solsper
se 24000) 1.0 parts Binder/Thickener (Ethyl Cell Kano 2) 1.5 parts Fluorine surfactant (Defencer MCF-323) 0.3 parts Solvent (Toluene)
75.7 parts of this ink 20μ
It was coated on one side of a polyester film with a thickness of 30 μm using a 165-mesh gravure printing machine. When this thermal transfer recording medium was thermally transferred in the same manner as in Example 1,
A pure black hue was transferred to the receiver, resulting in a print with high resolution and good color reproduction.

14 one

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A thermal transfer recording medium comprising a base material and an ink layer formed by coating one side of the base material with a hot melt ink containing a colorant and wax, comprising: The ink is thermally melted within a temperature range of 50 to 150°C, and the colorant is dispersed in a solvent and has a molecular weight of 800 or less and a particle size within a range of 10^-^3 to 5 x 10^-^1 μm. A thermal transfer recording medium characterized in that the wax is compatible with the solvent, and the wax is compatible with the solvent.