JPH04329190A - Thermal transfer recording - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide thermal transfer recording technique by which to obtain a transferred image having a minimized appearance of roughness, high image quality and high grade. CONSTITUTION:An image-receiving sheet consisting of a cellulose sheet as a base is used for thermal transfer recording (heat-sensitive sublimation technique). The image-receiving sheet is fed under conditions that the tensile breakdown strength ratio or modulus ratio of tensile elasticity of the sheet in a thermal head movement direction against a heating element arrangement direction ranges from 0.01 to 0.9.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a transfer sheet having a transfer layer containing a vaporizable or heat-diffusible dye on the surface of a base material, and an image receiving layer that receives a dye on one side of a base material such as cellulose paper. The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording method using a layered image-receiving paper, and more specifically, to a thermal transfer recording method that improves the image quality of printed matter.

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, methods for reproducing images in the form of hard copies such as photographs from electrical image signals in video cameras, still video cameras, televisions, video discs, photographic transmission devices, etc. have been actively researched. Thermal transfer recording method is currently attracting attention as one of the promising methods.

The thermal transfer recording method uses a transfer sheet having a transfer layer containing a vaporizable or heat-diffusible dye on the surface of a base material, and an image-receiving paper having an image-receiving layer that receives the dye on one side of the base material. Using a paper feeding roller, the image receiving paper is fed between a thermal head formed by arranging a plurality of heating elements and a platen roller, and the image receiving layer and the transfer layer of the transfer sheet are faced and overlapped. The dye in the transfer layer is received by the image-receiving layer by heating the transfer sheet from the heating element, and recording is performed by relatively moving the image-receiving paper and the thermal head in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the heating elements are arranged. This is a thermal transfer recording method.

[0004] Various materials have been proposed for the base material of the image receiving paper used in the thermal transfer recording method, but the typical one is cellulose paper or a material laminated with a thermoplastic polymer material. ing. These base materials have the characteristics that they are cheaper than base materials made of synthetic paper such as plastic film, and have a good paper texture.

[0005] Incidentally, the deterioration in the image quality of printed matter occurs due to a complex relationship between various factors such as uneven density of the image, missing transfers, missing dots due to incorrect movement of the heating element, etc. It is not always easy to identify the relationship between content and factors. The present application previously conducted a detailed study on so-called roughness, which is said to be caused by small density unevenness and transfer omissions, and proposed a method for quantifying this (Japanese Patent Application No. 2-269910). The ``method for quantifying roughness'' proposed above quantifies the sense of roughness, which had been vaguely evaluated, using a specific index, and aims to simplify the analysis of the causes of roughness by improving the image quality of prints. It is useful for improving.

[0006]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] In order to further improve the image quality of prints, the inventors of the present invention have conducted various studies using the above-mentioned "method for quantifying roughness," and have found a surprising result. In addition, we have obtained a new finding that the degree of roughness of the obtained print differs depending on the direction in which the paper is fed between the thermal head and the platen roller in image-receiving paper based on cellulose paper or the like. The present invention was completed based on the above knowledge, and its purpose is to provide a thermal transfer recording method using an image receiving paper based on cellulose paper, etc., and to solve the problem of roughness in prints. An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording method that improves image quality.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] That is, the gist of the invention as set forth in claim 1 of the present invention is to provide a transfer sheet and a cellulose paper comprising a transfer layer containing a vaporizable or heat-diffusible dye on the surface of a base material. Using an image-receiving paper having an image-receiving layer for receiving dye on one side, the image-receiving paper is fed between a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements arranged and a platen roller by a paper feed roller. The image-receiving layer and the transfer layer of the transfer sheet are stacked facing each other, and the dye in the transfer layer is received by the image-receiving layer by heating the transfer sheet from a heating element,
In a thermal transfer recording method in which recording is performed by moving an image receiving paper and a thermal head relatively in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the heating elements are arranged, the tensile fracture strength ratio of the image receiving paper in the direction of movement of the thermal head relative to the direction in which the heating elements are arranged is determined. or a thermal transfer recording method characterized in that the image receiving paper is fed under conditions such that the tensile modulus ratio is in the range of 0.01 to 0.9; , an image receiving paper having a laminate layer of a thermoplastic polymer substance between the cellulose paper and the image receiving layer is used, and the invention according to claim 2 uses an image receiving paper having a back side treatment layer as the image receiving paper. It is something.

The present invention will be explained in detail below. Figure 1 shows
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of the thermal transfer recording method of the present invention.

The thermal transfer recording method of the present invention basically includes the following steps:
The method is similar to the conventionally known method, and a transfer sheet (
1) and an image receiving paper (2) consisting of a base material such as cellulose paper with an image receiving layer for receiving dye on one side, and a plurality of heating elements by paper feed rollers (3) and (3'). The image receiving paper is supplied between the arranged thermal heads (4) and the platen roller (5), and the image receiving layer and the transfer layer of the transfer sheet are faced and overlapped, and the transfer sheet from the heating element is This method involves heating the transfer layer to cause the dye in the transfer layer to be received by the image-receiving layer, and then recording by relatively moving the image-receiving paper and the thermal head in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the heating elements are arranged.

[0010] Thermal heads usually have 4
~16 dots of electric heating elements are arranged in a row. An electrical signal containing image information is input to this.

One type of image-receiving paper used in the present invention is based on cellulose paper. In general, cellulose paper is produced by mechanically treating a mixed pulp of hardwood sulfite pulp and hardwood kraft pulp in water to defibrate fiber bundles, cutting the fiber bundles with a disintegrator, and then using a paper machine. In the present invention, it is preferable to use cellulose paper having a thickness in the range of 50 μm to 300 μm.

Another image-receiving paper used in the present invention is based on cellulose paper laminated with a thermoplastic polymer material. Such a laminate product is usually called RC paper (Reson Coated). Examples of thermoplastic polymer substances include high-density polyethylene, medium-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, crystalline polypropylene, crystalline ethylene-propylene block copolymer, polybutene, and poly-3-methylbutene. -1, polyolefin resins such as poly-4-methylpentene-1, ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, vinyl chloride resins such as vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer, polyethylene terephthalate, Ester resins such as polybutylene terephthalate, amide resins such as nylon 6, nylon 6-6, nylon 6-10, nylon 11, and nylon 12, polystyrene, acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene ternary copolymer Examples include styrene resins such as polymers. These may be used alone or in combination of two or more using a known method.

[0013] As a method for forming the laminate layer of thermoplastic polymer material, extrusion laminate formation method, dry lamination method in which polymer films are bonded together using an adhesive, etc. can be applied. Extrusion lamination can be performed using known methods and equipment. For example, a molten resin for lamination is extruded through a die of an extruder at an appropriate temperature (280 to 340°C in the case of polyethylene) to form a molten thin film. and guiding the molten thin film to a pressure roll,
Similarly, this is carried out by pressure lamination with cellulose paper guided by a pressure roll. Then, the adhesive surface of the cellulose paper is subjected to surface activation treatment, if necessary.

[0014] The thickness of the laminate layer of thermoplastic polymer material is usually in the range of 5 μm to 40 μm, and the laminate layer usually contains titanium oxide, a fluorescent whitening agent, an antioxidant, etc. There is.

The image-receiving layer contains a dye-dying synthetic resin. Examples of synthetic resins include resins with ester bonds such as polyester resins, polyacrylate resins, polycarbonate resins, polyvinyl acetate resins, styrene acrylate resins, and vinyltoluene acrylate resins, resins with urethane bonds such as polyurethane resins, Resins with amide bonds such as polyamide resins, resins with urea bonds such as urea resins, others, polycaprolactane resins, styrene resins, polyvinyl chloride resins, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer resins, polyacrylonitrile resins etc. Moreover, mixtures and copolymers of these can also be used.

The image-receiving layer may contain a release agent in addition to the synthetic resin. Examples of the mold release agent include solid waxes such as polyethylene wax, amide wax, and Teflon powder, fluorine-based and phosphate-based surfactants, and silicone oils, with silicone oils being preferred.

As the above-mentioned silicone oils, oily ones can also be used, but curing types such as reaction curing type, photo curing type and catalyst curing type are preferable. In particular, reaction-curing silicone oils such as amino-modified silicone oil, epoxy-modified oil, alcohol-modified silicone oil, and carboxy-modified silicone oil are preferred. The content of the release agent is usually preferably in the range of 0.1 to 10% by weight as a concentration in the image-receiving layer.

[0018] Furthermore, the above image-receiving layer may contain a pigment. As the pigment, extender pigments such as silica, calcium carbonate, titanium oxide, and zinc oxide are preferred. The content of the pigment is usually preferably in the range of 1 to 30% by weight as a concentration in the image-receiving layer.

[0019] Furthermore, a plasticizer may be contained in the above image-receiving layer. The plasticizer preferably has the function of improving the fluidity of the plastic raw material and imparting flexibility to the molded product. Examples of such plasticizers include adipic acid derivatives, glycol derivatives, sebacic acid derivatives, phthalic acid derivatives, phosphoric acid derivatives, and polymeric plasticizers. The content of plasticizer is usually 5 to 5 as a concentration in the image receiving layer.
The content is preferably in the range of 30% by weight.

In the present invention, the thickness of the image-receiving layer is usually 0.
．． The range is 5 to 20 μm, preferably 2 to 10 μm.

Further, in the present invention, it is preferable to provide a back surface treatment layer of a thermoplastic polymer material on the surface of the image-receiving paper base material on the opposite side (front side) to the side on which the image-receiving layer is provided (front side). The back surface treatment layer is provided to impart anti-curl properties, paper feeding suitability, antistatic properties, etc. to the base material. The thermoplastic polymer material used is not particularly limited, but it is preferably the same as the thermoplastic polymer material layer used for the laminate layer of the RC paper. The thickness of the back surface treatment layer is appropriately determined in consideration of the balance with the front side laminate layer.

[0022] Furthermore, on the above-mentioned back surface treatment layer,
Other backside treatment layers described below may also be provided. This back surface treatment layer is provided to impart anti-set-off properties to the image-receiving paper, and to improve paper feeding suitability, antistatic properties, and the like. Here, set-off refers to the fact that when multiple sheets of printed image-receiving paper are stacked and stored, the image on the front side is transferred to the back side of the overlapping image-receiving paper due to dye migration, reducing the product value. refers to

[0023] The other back surface treatment layer described above is made of a thermoplastic polymer material in the same manner as described above, and suitable thermoplastic polymer materials include, for example, polyvinyl alcohol resin, polyester resin, polycarbonate resin, and polyvinyl butyral resin. Examples include resins having an amide bond such as polyacetal resins and polyamide resins. Moreover, mixtures and copolymers of these can also be used. The antistatic performance can also be enhanced by adding an antistatic agent to these resins.

In the present invention, the total thickness of the image receiving paper is 5
It is preferably in the range of 0 μm to 350 μm.

The feature of the present invention is that the tensile strength ratio or tensile modulus ratio of the image receiving paper in the direction of movement of the thermal head with respect to the arrangement direction of the heating elements is in the range of 0.01 to 0.9. The point lies in feeding paper.

Conventionally, when cellulose paper is moved using the driving force of a roll, it is customary to set the paper feeding direction in a direction with high mechanical properties. That is, as is well known, cellulose paper is manufactured using a water slurry of pulp as a main raw material through various steps including a papermaking process. and,
There is anisotropy in the machine direction and the width direction, and the mechanical properties and dimensions are Stability is different. Therefore, when moving cellulose paper using the driving force of a roll, roll paper,
The feeding direction of any sheet of paper is usually the direction (longitudinal direction) with high mechanical properties.

[0027] The above is no exception in printing applications; in particular, vertically grained paper is said to shrink less due to changes in humidity than horizontally grained paper, and it has become common sense to use vertically grained paper. ing. However, this is not a particular problem in the case of a thermal transfer recording method generally called a heat-sensitive melting type, but in the case of a thermal transfer recording method such as the present invention, which is generally called a heat-sensitive sublimation type, the yield may vary depending on the feeding direction of the image-receiving paper. It was found that the image quality of the printed matter, especially the roughness, was significantly different.

Although the above cause is not necessarily clear, it is presumed that the distance between the electric heating elements of the thermal head and the magnitude of the waviness in the fiber orientation direction of the cellulose paper are related. That is, as described above, in the thermal head, normally, electric heating elements of 4 to 16 dots per mm are arranged in a line in a direction substantially perpendicular to the paper feeding direction. On the other hand, the fibers of cellulose paper have relatively large undulations of 50 to 60 μm or more.

In the image-receiving paper used in the present invention, as mentioned above, the thickness of the cellulose paper as the base material is usually in the range of 50 μm to 300 μm, while the thickness of the image-receiving layer is Since it is usually in the range of 0.5 to 20 μm, the undulations of the cellulose paper will be reflected on the image receiving paper. Furthermore, in an image-receiving paper that has a thermoplastic polymer material layer between the cellulose paper and the image-receiving layer, and has a back-treated layer on the side opposite to the side on which the image-receiving layer is provided, the above-mentioned cellulose paper can also be used. Regarding the thickness, the thickness of the polymer material layer is usually in the range of 5 μm to 40 μm, and the thickness of the entire receiver paper including the back layer is usually 50 μm to 350 μm.
There is a problem with the waviness of the cellulose paper having the central thickness.

Therefore, the ratio of mechanical properties of the image receiving paper in the direction of movement of the thermal head to the direction in which the heating elements are arranged is 1.
When the image-receiving paper is fed under the above-mentioned conditions, the direction of surface waviness due to the fibers and the direction in which the heating elements are arranged are parallel to each other. In such a case, due to the difference in height (peaks and valleys) of the undulations of the image receiving paper, the high parts make sufficient contact with the heating element of the thermal head and sufficient heat transfer occurs, but the low parts do not make contact. If it is insufficient, heat transfer becomes insufficient, and as a result, white spots are formed without coloring, resulting in a rough texture. On the other hand, according to the present invention, the tensile breaking strength ratio or tensile modulus ratio of the image receiving paper in the thermal head movement direction with respect to the heating element arrangement direction is in the range of 0.01 to 0.9, particularly 0.3 to 0.9. When the image-receiving paper is fed under conditions within the range of 7, the direction of surface waviness due to the fibers and the direction in which the heating elements are arranged are perpendicular to each other. In such a case, the entire row of heating elements of the thermal head comes into contact with the part with approximately the same degree of undulation, and as a result, both the high and low undulation parts are well colored and printing without white spots is achieved. As a result, the roughness is reduced.

As described above, the present invention breaks down the conventional fixed idea regarding the paper feeding direction of the image receiving paper, and by adopting the paper feeding direction opposite to the conventional paper feeding direction, the present invention achieves an advantage even in thermal transfer recording. The purpose of this method is to reduce the roughness characteristic of a thermal transfer recording method generally called heat-sensitive dye sublimation, and to improve the image quality of prints.

According to the findings of the present inventors, as long as a normal thermal transfer recording device (printer) is used, even if the image receiving paper is fed in the opposite direction to the conventional paper feeding direction according to the present invention, There is no particular problem; in fact, the benefits of obtaining a high-quality transferred image with less roughness in the printed matter are far greater.

In the present invention, the above-mentioned roughness can be easily evaluated by the ``method for quantifying roughness'' proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2-269910, which will be explained below. That is, as described above, the deterioration of image quality is caused by a complex relationship between uneven image density, missing transfers, missing dots due to immobility of the heating element, and the like. The above-mentioned "method for quantifying roughness" attempts to quantify the feeling of roughness by measuring uncolored white areas caused by missing dots due to immobility of the heating element. The above "method for quantifying roughness" is as follows (1) to (
It consists of steps 4).

(1) A transferred image is obtained on image-receiving paper by supplying printing energy at a constant density to the back side of the transfer sheet. (2) The above transferred image is processed by an image processing device to obtain data on the color density level of the portion of normal color density. (3) With the color density level of the above data as the upper limit, each color density level below this level is binarized, and the area of the portion of the color density below the color density level, the so-called white area, is calculated. (4) The density level of each color is the X-axis value, and the logarithm of the white area is Y
The correlation between the two axis values is approximated by a straight line, and the area of a triangle formed by the straight line, the X axis, and the Y axis (hereinafter referred to as "area index") is determined, and this is used as a measure of roughness. The smaller the area index value, the smaller the graininess and the higher the image quality.

[0035]

[Examples] The present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples below, but the present invention is not limited to the Examples unless the gist thereof is exceeded. The tensile breaking strength and tensile modulus of the thermal transfer image receiving paper were measured under the following conditions.

(1) Tensile test (Strength and elongation) Using a tensile tester Intesco Model 2001 manufactured by Intesco Co., Ltd., a test piece with a length of 50 mm, 20 test pieces of receiver paper with a width of 15 mm
The following values are obtained from the tensile stress-strain curve by pulling at a speed of 0 mm/min. ■ Tensile fracture strength is calculated using the following formula. σ=F/A Where, σ=Tensile fracture strength (Kg/mm2) F=Load at fracture (Kg) A=Original cross-sectional area of test piece (mm2) ■ Tensile fracture elongation is calculated by the following formula. calculate. 1=(L-L0)/L0×100 Here, 1=
Tensile fracture elongation (%) L = Gauge distance at failure (mm) L0 = Original gauge distance (mm)

(2) Tensile Elastic Modulus Co., Ltd. Using the same tensile tester as above, a test was conducted for a length of 300 m in a room adjusted to a temperature of 23° C. and a humidity of 50% RH.
A test piece of receiver paper with a width of 20 mm and a width of 20 mm is pulled at a strain rate of 10%/min, and the initial straight line portion of the tensile stress-strain curve is used to calculate the strain according to the following formula. E=Δσ/Δε Where, E=tensile modulus (Kg/mm2) Δσ=stress difference due to original average cross-sectional area between two points on the straight line Δε=same 2
Strain difference between points

Example 1 Hardwood sulfite pulp and hardwood kraft pulp 1:
After the mixed pulp of No. 1 was dissolved in this way, it was made into paper. The thickness of the cellulose paper obtained was 190 μm. Next, a resin composition consisting of 7:3 of low-density polyethylene and high-density polyethylene was applied to the surface of the cellulose paper at a resin temperature of 3:3.
Melt extrusion coating was performed at 30°C to form a 13 μm thick surface laminate layer. The above polyethylene is
Both contain 10% anatase-type titanium oxide, and as low-density polyethylene, the density of polyethylene before adding titanium oxide is 0.92 g/m3, MI
The density of the polyethylene before adding titanium oxide is 0.96 g/m as high-density polyethylene.
3, and one with an MI of 5 was used. Next, on the side opposite to the front side laminate layer (back side), a resin composition similar to the above except that it does not contain titanium oxide was melt-extruded coated at a resin temperature of 330°C to form a back side laminate layer with a thickness of 13 μm. Formed. Next, the surface of the front side laminate layer was corona-treated to give a wetting tension of 55 dyn/cm, and then an image-receiving layer having the following composition was applied using a die coater and dried to form an image-receiving layer with a coating thickness of 5 μm. An image receiving paper for thermal transfer was obtained.

<Composition for forming image-receiving layer> Saturated polyester resin

10 parts by weight (TP-220: trade name manufactured by Nippon Gosei Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd.) Amino-modified silicone oil
0.5 parts by weight (KF-39
3: Product name: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) Solvent (
xylene/methyl ethyl ketone = 1/1)
30 parts by weight

The image receiving paper obtained above was cut into A6 size and cut in one direction (B direction).
The results of measuring the mechanical properties in the other direction perpendicular to this (direction A) are shown in Table 1. Table 1
A direction B direction
B/A──────────────────────
────────────── Tensile breaking strength (Kg
/mm2) 4.6 2.8
0.61 Tensile modulus (Kg/mm2
) 273 153
0.56 Tensile elongation at break (%)
3.8 8.3 ────
──────────────────────────
────────────

Using a commercially available thermal transfer recording device with the principle shown in FIG. Printing was performed by feeding the paper under conditions such that the tensile strength ratio in the direction of movement of the thermal head was 0.61. The transfer sheet and printing conditions used are as follows. <Transfer sheet> A transfer sheet manufactured by the following method was used. In other words, the thickness is 6 μm with a heat-resistant slippery layer on the back side.
An ink layer was formed by applying a coating composition having the following composition onto the surface of a polyethylene terephthalate film of 2.0 m using a bar coater so that the coating thickness after drying was 2 .mu.m. Sublimation dye (Sumiplus Red FB manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.) 5 parts by weight Ethyl cellulose (N-7 manufactured by Hercules, USA)
5 parts by weight ethyl alcohol

60 parts by weight butanol

30 parts by weight <Printing conditions> Main scanning and sub-scanning line density
6 dots/mm recording power
0.156W/dot Head heating time
8msec

00
42] Regarding the obtained print, patent application No. 2-26991
The results of measuring roughness (area index) according to the "Method for quantifying roughness" described in No. 0 are as shown in Table 2, and the roughness was small and the image quality was good.

Examples 2 to 4 By a method similar to Example 1, image receiving papers having different mechanical properties in one direction (direction B) and the other direction perpendicular thereto (direction A) were obtained and printed. That is, printing was performed by feeding the image-receiving paper under conditions in which the tensile breaking strength ratio and tensile modulus ratio of the image-receiving paper in the thermal head movement direction with respect to the arrangement direction of the heating elements are shown in Table 2. The roughness (area index) of the obtained print was determined in the same manner as in Example 1, and the results are shown in Table 2. In the case of any of the image-receiving papers, the printed matter had little roughness and the image quality was good.

Example 5 An image-receiving layer forming composition similar to that used in Example 1 was applied to one side of the 190 μm thick cellulose paper obtained in Example 1 using a die coater and dried. An image-receiving layer with a coating thickness of 5 μm was provided to obtain an image-receiving paper for thermal transfer. By a method similar to Example 1, an image receiving paper having different mechanical properties in one direction (direction B) and the other direction perpendicular to this (direction A) was obtained and printed. That is, printing was performed by feeding the image receiving paper under conditions in which the tensile breaking strength ratio and tensile modulus ratio of the image receiving paper in the thermal head movement direction with respect to the heating element arrangement direction are shown in Table 2. The roughness (area index) of the obtained prints was determined in the same manner as in Example 1, and the results are shown in Table 2. The print had little roughness and the image quality was good. Comparative Example 1 According to a known method, printing was performed by feeding image receiving paper under the conditions that the tensile breaking strength ratio and tensile modulus ratio of the image receiving paper in the direction of movement of the thermal head relative to the direction in which the heating elements were arranged were shown in Table 2. . The results of measuring the roughness (area index) of the obtained print are as shown in Table 2, and the roughness was large and the image quality was poor.

Table 2 Tensile fracture strength ratio
Tensile modulus ratio Area index─
──────────────────────────
────────── Example 1 0
．． 61 0.56
6.12 Example 2 -
─── 0.45
5.52 Example 3 0
．． 53 ────
5.10 Example 4 -
─── 0.65
7.01 Example 5 -
─── 0.51
7.53 Comparative Example 1 1
．． 64 1.78
8.92────────────────
────────────────────── (Note) The tensile breaking strength ratio and tensile modulus ratio of the receiver paper are based on the thermal head movement direction with respect to the heating element arrangement direction. It is a value.

[0046]

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention as described above, by feeding an image receiving paper based on cellulose paper or the like in a specific manner, a high-quality, high-quality transferred image with reduced roughness can be obtained. is obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an overview of the thermal transfer recording method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

(1)　　　　　　　　：Transfer sheet (2)　　　　　　　　: Image receiving paper (3) (3'): Paper feed roller

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claim 1: Using a transfer sheet comprising a transfer layer containing a vaporizable or heat-diffusible dye on the surface of a base material and an image-receiving paper comprising an image-receiving layer for receiving the dye on one side of cellulose paper, A paper feed roller supplies the image receiving paper between a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements arranged and a platen roller, and the image receiving layer and the transfer layer of the transfer sheet are stacked facing each other, and the heating elements The dye in the transfer layer is received by the image-receiving layer by heating the transfer sheet from
In a thermal transfer recording method in which recording is performed by moving an image receiving paper and a thermal head relatively in a direction approximately perpendicular to the direction in which the heating elements are arranged, the tensile breaking strength ratio or tensile strength of the image receiving paper in the direction of movement of the thermal head relative to the direction in which the heating elements are arranged is A thermal transfer recording method characterized in that image receiving paper is fed under conditions such that the elastic modulus ratio is in the range of 0.01 to 0.9. 2. The thermal transfer recording method according to claim 1, wherein the image-receiving paper is an image-receiving paper having a laminate layer of a thermoplastic polymer material between the cellulose paper and the image-receiving layer. 3. The thermal transfer recording method according to claim 1, wherein the image-receiving paper is an image-receiving paper having a back surface treatment layer on the side opposite to the side on which the image-receiving layer is provided.