Radiation imagery chemistry: process – composition – or product th – Radiation sensitive product – Silver compound sensitizer containing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-08
2002-06-11
Chea, Thorl (Department: 1752)
Radiation imagery chemistry: process, composition, or product th
Radiation sensitive product
Silver compound sensitizer containing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06403297
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a thermally developable material causing no transportation problems and a packing method of the same.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, in the printing and plate-making field as well as the medical field after exposure, a so-called wet process is generally used in which development, fixation, washing or stabilization, and drying are carried out in said order, employing an automatic processor. However, in this method, because of the use of solutions, improvement in workability (since the solutions are heavy, dirty, and require stock control), and environmental issues (such as caused by generation of solution waste) has been demanded.
A dry type silver salt photosensitive material has long been investigated as a starting point of overcoming the above-mentioned problems. Cited as a representative one, is the thermally developable photosensitive material described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,075 in which an image is formed by thermal reaction employing an organic silver salt. Further, there are methods in which an image is formed in combination of a thermal reaction with diffusion transfer, and also a method in which an image is formed by fusion, sublimation or ablation caused by the light-heat converting energy of a laser beam light.
Each technique has resulted in different performance and handleability as those of a silver halide photosensitive material processed by conventional wet processing. However, some methods are close to practical application, of these, a few methods are commercially employed, with some technical problems still being unresolved.
With respect to a thermally developable material employing an organic silver salt, technical developments are actively carried out, and many investigation results have been reported.
The investigators of the present invention found in the course of their experimental investigations, that with respect to the thermally developable photosensitive material employing the organic silver salt, transportation was a critical factor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a thermally developable material with no transportation problems.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
After making a great effort, it was found that the above object was attained by a thermally developable material composed of the following constitution.
1. A thermally developable material comprising a support and an image forming layer containing an organic silver salt and a binder, wherein the rising curl of said thermally developable material is 0 to 60 mm after said thermally developable photosensitive material, being wound around a card board core having an outside diameter of 3.5 inches, is allowed to stand at 40° C. and 50% RH for 2 days.
2. The thermally developable material of item 1, wherein said image forming layer further contains a silver halide.
3. The thermally developable material of item 1, wherein said image forming layer or an layer adjacent to said image forming layer contains a reducing agent.
4. The thermally developable material of item 1, wherein said thermally developable material is wound in the rolled state.
5. The thermally developable material of item 4, wherein humidity is 20 to 60% RH when said thermally developable material is wound in the rolled state.
Furthermore, the following items are specifically important in the present invention.
(Item 1) A roll type thermally developable photosensitive material comprising a support having thereon at least one photosensitive layer containing a photosensitive silver halide, an organic silver salt, a reducing agent for a silver ion and a binder, wherein rising curl of said thermally developable photosensitive material is 0 to 60 mm after said thermally developable photosensitive material, being wound around a card board core having an outside diameter of 3.5 inches, is allowed to stand at 40° C. and 50% RH for 2 days.
(Item 2) A packing method of a thermally developable photosensitive material comprising a support having thereon at least one photosensitive layer containing a photosensitive silver halide, an organic silver salt, a reducing agent for a silver ion and a binder, wherein humidity is 20 to 60% RH when packing said thermally developable photosensitive material.
Namely, by making the rising curl of the thermally developable material which is in the market in the long length rolled state to be 0 to 60 mm when measured by a later mentioned method and cutting this thermally developable material being wound in the rolled state into the sheet state, it was found that various transportation problems were remarkably improved when exposing and thermally developing.
Furthermore, to attain the rising curl, it was found to be necessary that humidity is 20 to 60% when packing the thermally developable material being wound in the rolled state.
The present invention will be explained in detail below.
The thermally developable material according to the present invention comprises a support having thereon at least one image forming layer containing an organic silver salt and a binder, and forms a photographic image by thermal development process. Further, the thermally developable material is preferably a thermally developable photosensitive material which contains a silver halide in the image forming layer. Furthermore, the thermally developable material preferably contains a reducing agent which can reduce a silver ion in the image forming layer or an adjacent layer to the image forming layer, if necessary, it contains an image toner which controls silver tone.
The thermally developable material of the present invention is stable at normal temperature and is developed after an exposure when being heated (for example, 80 to 140° C.). Preferably upon heating, silver is formed through an oxidation-reduction reaction between the organic silver salt and the reducing agent for the silver ion. This oxidation-reduction reaction is accelerated by the catalytic action of a latent image formed in the silver halide through the exposure. Silver formed by the reaction of the organic silver salt in an exposed area yields a black image, which contrasts with an unexposed area, to form an image. This reaction process proceeds without the further supply of a processing solution such as water, etc. from outside.
Only photosensitive layer may be formed on the support, but at least one nonphotosensitive layer is preferably formed on the photosensitive layer. In order to control the amount or wavelength distribution of light transmitting through the photosensitive layer, a filter dye layer may be provided on the same side as the photosensitive layer, and/or an antihalation dye layer, a so-called backing layer may be provided on the opposite side. A dye or pigment may also be incorporated into the photosensitive layer. As the dye used, any compound which has absorption in intended wavelength region can be acceptable, for example, the compounds described in Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection (hereinafter referred to as JP-A) Nos. 59-6481, 59-182436, U. S. Pat. Nos. 4,271,263, 4,594,312, European Patent Publication Nos. 533008, 652473, JP-A Nos. 2-216140, 4-348339, 7-191432, 7-301890, are preferably used.
Furthermore, these nonphotosensitive layers preferably contain the above mentioned binder and a matting agent, and may contain a lubricant such as a polysiloxane compound, a wax or a liquid paraffin.
The photosensitive layer may be composed of a plurality of layers. Furthermore, for gradation adjustment, in terms of sensitivity, layers may be constituted in such a manner as a fast layer/slow layer or a slow layer/fast layer.
Details of the thermally developable material, for example, are described in D. Morgan, U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,904 (Dry Silver Photographic Material), D. Morgan and B. Shely, U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,075, “Thermally Processed Silver Systems” (Imaging Processes and Materials) Neblette's 8th Edition, edited by Sturge, V. Walworth, and A. Shepp, page 279, (1969), etc.
Of these, the thermally dev
Chea Thorl
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Konica Corporation
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