Printing apparatus and applications therefor

Details Printing apparatus and applications therefor Printing apparatus and applications therefor

2000-02-24

2001-12-18

Nguyen, Thinh (Department: 2853)

Incremental printing of symbolic information

Ink jet

Medium and processing means

C347S101000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06331056

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a novel printing apparatus and methods for using the same. The present invention further relates to a method of curing photocurable inks, as used in ink jet printers and other printing apparatus, by exposing the photocurable ink to a radiation source, particularly a flat excimer lamp.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many commercially available photoinitiators, including IRGACURE® 369, are presently used in ink compositions to accelerate ink drying in “radiation-drying printing.” As used herein, the term “radiation-drying printing” refers to any printing method which utilizes radiation as a drying means. Radiation-drying printing includes, for example, off-set printing operations, such as on a Heidelberg press, flexographic printing, and flat-bed printing. Commercially available photoinitiator systems have a number of shortcomings. First, most of the commercially available photoinitiator systems require a relatively large amount of photoinitiator in the ink composition to fully cure/dry the ink composition. This leads to undesirable extractables within the ink composition. Second, most of the commercially available photoinitiator systems require a high energy radiation source to induce photocuring. Moreover, even with the high energy radiation source, often the cure results are unsatisfactory. Third, many commercially available photoinitiator systems are highly reactive to oxygen and must be used under a nitrogen blanket. Fourth, even with a large amount of photoinitiator and a high energy light source, the commercially available photoinitiator systems require a dry/cure time only accomplished by multiple passes, as many as 15 passes, under a light source, which significantly limits the output of a radiation-drying printing apparatus.
What is needed in the art is a new printing apparatus, which enables substantially instantaneous drying/curing of a photocurable ink without the need for a large amount of photoinitiator in the ink or a high energy radiation source for drying/curing. What is also needed in the art is a method of significantly increasing the output of a radiation-drying printing apparatus due to a reduction in ink drying/curing time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention addresses some of the difficulties and problems discussed above by the discovery of a new printing apparatus, which enables instantaneous drying/curing of a photocurable ink composition. The printing apparatus may be used to dry/cure any photocurable ink composition and finds particular utility with ink compositions containing one or more energy-efficient photoinitiators.
The present invention is also directed to methods of using the above-described printing apparatus to print an ink composition onto a substrate. The method comprises printing an ink onto a substrate; and drying/curing the ink with a source of radiation. In one embodiment, the radiation source is a flat excimer lamp.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after a review of the following detailed description of the disclosed embodiments and the appended claims.


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