Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Structurally defined web or sheet – Discontinuous or differential coating – impregnation or bond
Reexamination Certificate
1997-07-14
2003-10-14
Yamnitzky, Marie (Department: 1774)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Structurally defined web or sheet
Discontinuous or differential coating, impregnation or bond
C428S206000, C428S305500, C428S308400, C428S315500, C428S317900, C347S105000, C427S355000, C427S372200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06632510
ABSTRACT:
COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS
The file of this patent contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent with color drawings will be provided by the Patent and Trademark Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a microporous inkjet receptor that provides excellent images with pigmented inks deposited thereon.
2. Background of Invention
Inkjet imaging techniques have become vastly popular in commercial and consumer applications. The ability to use a personal computer and desktop printer to print a color image on paper or other receptor media has extended from dye-based inks to pigment-based inks. The latter provide brilliant colors and more durable images because pigment particles are contained in a dispersion before being dispensed using a thermal inkjet print head, such as those commercially available from Hewlett Packard Corporation or LexMark Corporation in inkjet printers commercially available from Hewlett Packard Corporation, Encad Inc., Mimaki Corporation, and others.
Ink jet printers have been in general use for wide-format electronic printing for applications such as, engineering and architectural drawings. Because of the simplicity of operation, economy of ink jet printers, and improvements in ink technology the inkjet imaging process holds a superior growth potential promise for the printing industry to produce wide format, image on demand, presentation quality durable graphics.
The components of an ink jet system used for making graphics can be grouped into three major categories:
1 Computer, software, printer.
2 Ink.
3 Receptor sheet.
The computer, software, and printer will control the size, number and placement of the ink droplets and will transport the receptor film. The ink will contain the colorant or pigments which form the image and the receptor film provides the medium which accepts and holds the ink. The quality of the ink jet image is a function of the total system. However, the composition and interaction between the ink and receptor film is most important in an ink jet system.
Image quality is what the viewing public and paying customers will want and demand to see. Many other demands are also placed on the ink jet media/ink system from the print shop, such as rapid drying, humidity insensitivity, waterfastness and overall handleability. Also, exposure to the environment can place additional demands on the media and ink (depending on the application of the graphic).
Porous film is a natural choice to use as an ink jet receptive media because the capillary action of the porous film can wick the ink into the pores much faster than the absorption mechanism of film forming water soluble coatings. However, in the past, when a porous coating or film has been employed to achieve desired quick dry, optical density has suffered greatly because the colorant penetrates too deep into the porous network. This type of problem is magnified by printers that dispense high volumes of ink per drop because extra film thickness may be required to hold all the ink. When the pore size and pore volume of the membrane are opened to allow the pigments to penetrate, the pigments can be stratified in the membrane. Meaning, the black, cyan, magenta, and yellow will be predominately found at different depths depending on the order of application. Furthermore, lateral diffusion of the ink can also be a problem inherent in porous membranes used as receptive media. Hence, some of the first color(s) applied is/are optically trapped in the image by subsequent application of other pigmented ink When pigmented inks are jetted onto a porous film that has a pore size that is too small, color pigments will be filtered on the top of the membrane rendering high image density, but the pigments will easily smear and have the effect of never drying. Also, excess fluid from the ink can pool and run on the image before the water/glycol carrier is wicked away.
The chemical formulation of the pigmented inkjet ink has considerable complexity due to the requirement of continued dispersion of the pigment particles in the remainder of the ink.
The typical consumer medium for receiving dye-based inkjet inks has been paper or specially coated papers. However, with too much inkjet ink in a given area of the paper, one can see the over-saturation of the paper with the aqueous ink in which dye was dissolved.
As inkjet inks have become more commercially oriented and pigmented-based inks have become more prevalent, different media have been tried in an attempt to control the management of fluids in the ink. For example, copending, coassigned, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/614,986 (Steelman et al.), now abandoned, combines a hygroscopic layer to manage fluids in the ink with a hydrophilic layer thereon, upon which the ink can be deposited. Pigment particles remain with the hydrophilic layer while fluids pass through to the hygroscopic layer for rapid drying.
Ink receptive element containing absorptive polymers and polymer particles together with a binder has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,340.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,985 discloses an inkjet transparency film comprising a substantially transparent resinous support containing a clear absorptive coating thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,731 mentioned the use of a non-porous substrate and a coating layer formed thereon comprising a carboxyl group-containing ionomeric hydrophilic urethane resin and organic and/or inorganic fine particles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,395 discloses a recording medium which comprises a porous ink-transporting layer and a non-porous ink-retaining layer.
German Patent No. 30 24 205 uses a pigment/binder mixture on the ink receiving paper. The purpose of the pigment is to add whiteness and porosity. A high pigment load leads the film to high porosity. This makes the paper smudge proof but this has a negative effect on optical density, because the dyes in the ink are drawn into the interior of the material.
Japanese Patent JP 61-041585 discloses a method for producing printing material using a ratio of PVA/PVP. The disadvantage is inadequate waterfastness and wet rub off properties.
Japanese Patent JP61-261089 discloses a transparent material with cationic conductive resin in addition to a mixture of PVA/PVP. The material is water fast and smudge proof but the wet rub off properties are poor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,529 discloses a coating with PVP/PVA with water soluble compounds containing aldehyde groups. They also added quaternary ammonium compounds such as polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride. Plus on the backside of the paper they coat on hydropilic colloidal binders such as starch, PVA, or oxidized potato starch. Some color density is lost when submerged in water but after the initial loss it is resistant to further color loss by a weak rubbing test.
European Patent Publication EP 0 716 931 A1 discloses a system using a dye capable of co-ordinate bonding with a metal ion in two or more positions. Again binder resins are used with inorganic pigments in the paper or film. The metal ion was preferred to be jetted on before imaging and additional heating is necessary to complete the reaction. This system was not claiming to be water fast; the focus was long term storage without fading from heat or light.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,388 discloses a waterproofing system where after imaging one sprays on a compound containing a mono-valent metal atom or ammonium group with a tri-valent metal atom. An example of these compounds claimed are KAl(SO
4
)
2
.12 H
2
O. Claim 8 discloses aluminum sulfate can be applied to the paper before imaging, but the mono-valent component then has to be in the ink.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,137 discloses a system to achieve waterfastness by curing with heat or UV light. In the body of the patent, examples of their coatings contained Ca++ from CaCl
2
. This was added to provide reactive species for the acid groups on the dispersed polymer. The coating remains water soluble until UV or heat curing after imaging.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,064 uses multivalent me
Farooq Omar
Mrozinski James S.
Waller, Jr. Clinton P.
3M Innovative Properties Company
Peters Carolyn V.
Yamnitzky Marie
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