JPH0226885A - Method for decorating tile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form a high accuracy decorative pattern by a simple method by adhering an aq. soln. of starting material for coloring to a tile base with an ink jet printer and by firing the tile base. CONSTITUTION:An aq. soln. of starting material for coloring such as CoCl2 or NiCl2 is prepd. and adhered to the surface of a tile base by jetting with an ink jet printer. By this method, separate droplets of the soln. are arranged one by one, so a high accuracy pattern is formed with little unevenness. The tile base is then dried and fired. The aq. soln. is allowed to develop a color and a desired decorative pattern is obtd.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for decorating tiles, in which a coloring material is attached to the surface of the tile using an inkjet printer, and a desired decorative pattern is obtained by drying and baking. It is.

[Conventional technology]

Usually, when forming decorative patterns on the surface of tiles, etc., it is mainly done by the Sufurin printing method. Other methods include a spray method and a brush coating method.

To decorate tiles using the screen printing method, a paste is prepared by mixing pigments with water, an organic binder, a dispersant, a plasticizer, etc. This paste is placed on a nylon mesh or stainless steel mesh called a mask, and then a squeegee is applied to the screen. The paste is forcibly passed through the mesh, and the paste-like pigment is adhered to the tiles placed below the mask, thereby forming a pattern. After printing, the tile is heat-treated (fired) at a predetermined temperature to volatilize the volatile components contained in the paste into the atmosphere, and at the same time cause the pigment to develop color and react with the tile base to obtain the desired decorative pattern. ing.

In addition, when spraying or brushing, a pigment dispersion containing mainly metal oxides or a soluble metal salt solution (liquid pigment) is applied to the surface of the tile base using a spray or brush, and then dried. By firing, the metal salt develops color and a desired decorative pattern is obtained on the tile surface.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the screen printing method, the weight of the paste that adheres to the tile base is greatly affected by the viscosity of the paste, the wear of the screen mesh used, and the wear of the squeegee. Printing conditions change and the color development of the product is affected. Therefore, in the screen printing method, it was necessary to strictly control the viscosity of the paste and the wear of the mask and squeegee. Furthermore, the equipment used for screen printing is expensive, and the masks must be replaced periodically, resulting in high running costs. In addition, when changing the decorative pattern, it is necessary to change the mask to one with a new decorative pattern, and it is necessary to set the operating conditions of the mask and squeegee each time, which requires a lot of effort to change the product number. It had the disadvantage of accompanying. Furthermore, since the paste contains a large amount of organic binder, there is a limit to the temperature increase during drying or firing, and if the temperature is raised too quickly, the binder will volatilize too quickly, leaving areas where pigment is not needed. The disadvantage was that it led to a large number of defective products.

On the other hand, dispersions of pigments made of metal oxides have unstable fluidity due to their rheological behavior, and in some cases they may form precipitates, making them difficult to control industrially. The method of forming a decorative pattern by applying the liquid pigment to the tile surface has the disadvantage that color unevenness, variations in the color of the spots, etc. may occur depending on the drying conditions after the liquid pigment is applied. In addition, when liquid pigment is applied, air-dried, and fired, the drying speed at the tip and surrounding areas of the tile base is fast, and pigment components (salts) accumulate in these areas due to capillary action, resulting in uneven color and spots. There was also a drawback. Furthermore, when a liquid pigment is applied to a tile base with good water absorption, the liquid pigment penetrates deep into the base, resulting in less pigment components on the surface.
The problem was that the degree of color development was poor.To prevent this, conventionally, an organic waterproofing agent such as formalin or gelatin was applied to the tile base in advance, but this was time consuming and labor-intensive. It had little effect.Furthermore,
Liquid pigments are chlorides and nitrates.

Since inorganic acid salts such as sulfates are converted into a solution, the pH of the solution is low, and if it is applied indiscriminately over a wide area at once with a spray gun, etc., it will scatter onto surrounding fences, floors, belts, and other attached equipment. There is a problem in that not only does it eliminate corrosion, but also it requires a great deal of effort to recover the scattered liquid pigment. Incidentally, an organic acid salt having relatively neutral 98 can be used as the liquid pigment, but it is not practical because it is expensive and the solution changes greatly over time.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention improves and eliminates the above-mentioned conventional problems, and enables the formation of highly accurate decorative patterns in a simple manner, and also allows for the creation of tiles without uneven drying. The purpose is to provide a decoration method.

Therefore, the means adopted by the present invention in order to solve the above problem is to spray an aqueous solution of a coloring raw material as a droplet using an inkjet printer, deposit it on the tile base, and dry and bake it. A desired decorative pattern is obtained by developing color.

[For production]

In the method of dripping an aqueous solution of coloring raw material and spraying it onto the tile surface using an inkjet printer, individual droplets are deposited in an array of 1 (II).
Since the size of the droplets is uniform, there is little variation in the coloring material adhering to the surface of the tile base, and highly accurate pattern formation is possible. In addition, since the small droplets are arranged and deposited one by one, the components of the coloring raw material are unlikely to move regardless of the drying conditions, and there is no uneven drying color.Furthermore, unlike screen printing methods, masks are not required. It is possible to simplify the equipment. Moreover, since the ejection density and ejection direction of the ejected droplets can be electrically controlled and is extremely simple, it is easy to change the pattern of the decorative pattern.

After forming the decorative pattern on the surface of the tile base in this way, it is allowed to air dry and then subjected to normal firing. This makes it possible to form the desired decorative pattern on the tile surface. be.

[Example 1] First, a raw material called white base material having the following components is prepared.

That is, 5iOz 69.1. Alz O31B,
6. TiO20.4, Fez 030.9. CaO
O,3,MgOO,1+ to 20/Naz O4,6,
Burning heat reduction M4.6.

Then, after pulverizing this white base material with a ball mill, it is mixed with appropriate water adjustment, and then processed with a vacuum extrusion molding machine.
Extrude a continuous tile base and make it 120 *va
It was cut into a size of 120 cranes x 10 squares. This is then dried and used as a tile base.

Next, CoCl2 ・6+1 was used as a liquid for tile coloring.
A 5% aqueous solution of No. 20 was prepared, and this aqueous solution was supplied to the ink tank of an inkjet printer. Then, from the nozzle tip of the inkjet printer, droplets with a diameter of about 30μ11 were ejected at a rate of 1500 droplets/second, and were deposited in a straight line on the surface of the tile base. When forming a pattern on the surface of a tile base using this inkjet printer, the size of the droplet of the aqueous solution jetted from the nozzle is uniform, and the coloring material is distributed over the entire area of the pattern to be formed on the surface of the tile base. Uniform color development was obtained with little variation in component concentration. Conversely, the amount of aqueous solution dropped can be easily increased or decreased by changing the number of ejections of the inkjet printer, and as a result, the density of the color tone can be changed. These controls can be performed extremely easily using a computer. Furthermore, the pattern is formed by attaching individual droplets one by one, which prevents the coloring raw materials from moving depending on the drying conditions (and does not cause color unevenness, etc.). A pattern is formed by depositing droplets, and the droplets dry quickly during flight and after deposition, and there is almost no deterioration in color development due to penetration into the tile base after deposition.

After forming a pattern on the surface of the tile base using an inkjet printer as described above, the whole was air-dried for a day and night, and then baked at a temperature of 1,230° C. for 1 hour. The thus obtained tile product had no color unevenness or deterioration in the degree of color development due to the above-mentioned effects, and the decorative pattern had vivid colors and clear outlines.

[Example 2] In this Example 2, using the same tile base as in Example 1 described above, glaze slurry was sprayed onto the surface of the tile base with a spray gun.9 Then, NiC was applied to the surface coated with this glaze.
A coloring raw material of a 5% aqueous solution of 12.6H20 was sprayed with an inkjet printer and adhered to the glaze-coated surface.

With an inkjet printer, one droplet with a diameter of approximately 30 μm is
The tile product thus obtained was sprayed at a rate of 500 IN/sec. Afterwards, it was naturally dried during the day and night and fired at a temperature of 1230°C for 1 hour. The area around the area where the raw material was attached was colored yellow.The other effects are the same as in the first example described above.

[Example 3] In this example, a raw material called red base material with the following components was prepared.

That is, 5iOz 67.4. A120 a 19
．． 5. TiO20,6, Fe2032.5. Ca0
0.4. MgOO,7.

K20/Na204.2, loss on ignition 4.2.

Then, 12 extrusion molded bodies made of this red base raw material were
After sufficiently drying at 0°C, apply a 10% IIcI aqueous solution to the tile surface with an inkjet printer in a diameter of about 5H.
It was sprayed at a rate of 0.113m+1 within a circle to form a circular dot pattern, and after drying at 80℃ for 2 hours,
Firing was performed at 00°C for 1 hour.

As a result, we removed the circular dot pattern (while the other parts had a so-called iron-red color, the circular dot pattern had a slightly whitish color, and the circumference was clear). This is thought to be due to the suppression of the iron-red coloration caused by ignition of HCI.Other effects are the same as in the first and second embodiments described above, and here The explanation will be omitted.

By the way, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and, for example, the type of inkjet printer, the size of the droplet, the ejection speed, etc. can be changed as appropriate.

In addition, the nozzles of the inkjet printer may be arranged in a plurality of nozzles, and furthermore, these may be ones that eject different types of coloring raw materials, and furthermore, the nozzles of the coloring raw materials may be may be changed as appropriate depending on the desired decorative pattern.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, an aqueous solution of a coloring raw material is dripped onto the surface of a tile base and sprayed onto the surface using an inkjet printer to form a desired pattern. Therefore, the size of the droplets ejected from the nozzle of the inkjet printer is uniform, and there is little variation in the concentration of the coloring raw material over the entire pattern formed on the surface of the tile base, resulting in uniform color development and clear decorative patterns. can get. Moreover, inkjet printers are extremely convenient because they allow you to freely change the pattern, color density, etc. Furthermore, unlike conventional screen printing methods, there is no need for masks or squeegees, and there is no need for troublesome viscosity adjustment of paste as a coloring raw material. In other words, even when decorating the surface of just one tile, expensive mask production costs and printing costs can be omitted or significantly reduced, which is not only advantageous in terms of cost, but also allows for quick changes to the decoration design. The present invention can be used for high-mix, low-volume production, and has great industrial value.The present invention can also be applied not only to decorating tiles, but also to printing and patterning on sanitary ware and enamel products. . In other words,
It can be applied to any application in which a liquid pigment is chemically bonded to a printed surface through heat treatment and has a coloring or decoloring effect.

Patent applicant: Inax Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Toshihiko Uchida

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An aqueous solution of a coloring raw material is dripped and sprayed using an inkjet printer, and this is deposited on a tile base and dried and fired to develop color and obtain a desired decorative pattern. How to decorate tiles.