Dye diffusion thermal transfer printing

Details Dye diffusion thermal transfer printing Dye diffusion thermal transfer printing

1998-03-09

2000-03-14

Hess, Bruce H.

Record receiver having plural interactive leaves or a colorless

Having plural interactive leaves

428195, 428913, 428914, B41M 5035, B41M 538

Patent

active

060373091

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to dye diffusion thermal transfer printing (DDTTP or D2T2 printing, D2T2 is a trade mark of Imperial Chemical Industries PLC), especially to a dye sheet carrying a dye or a dye mixture which has an improved print stability and to a transfer printing process in which the dye or the dye mixture is transferred from the transfer sheet to a receiver sheet by the application of heat.
It is known to print woven or knitted textile material by a thermal transfer printing (TTP) process. In such a process a sublimable dye is applied to a paper substrate (usually as an ink also containing a resinous or polymeric binder to bind the dye to the substrate until it is required for printing) in the form of a pattern, to produce a transfer sheet comprising a paper substrate printed with a pattern which it is desired to transfer to the textile. Substantially all the dye is then transferred from the transfer sheet to the textile material, to form an identical pattern on the textile material, by placing the patterned side of the transfer sheet in contact with the textile material and heating the sandwich, under light pressure from a heated plate, to a temperature from 180-220.degree. C. for a period of 30-120 seconds.
As the surface of the textile substrate is fibrous and uneven it will not be in contact with the printed pattern on the transfer sheet over the whole of the pattern area. It is therefore necessary for the dye to be sublimable and vaporise during passage from the transfer sheet to the textile substrate in order for dye to be transferred from the transfer sheet to the textile substrate over the whole of the pattern area.
As heat is applied evenly over the whole area of the sandwich over a sufficiently long period for equilibrium to be established, conditions are substantially isothermal, the process is non-selective and the dye penetrates deeply into the fibres of the textile material.
In DDTTP, a transfer sheet is formed by applying a heat-transferable dye (usually in the form of a solution or dispersion in a liquid also containing a polymeric or resinous binder to bind the dye to the substrate) to a thin (usually <20 micron) substrate having a smooth plain surface in the form of a continuous even film over the entire printing area of the transfer sheet. Dye is then selectively transferred from the transfer sheet by placing it in contact with a material having a smooth surface with an affinity for the dye, hereinafter called the receiver sheet, and selectively heating discrete areas of the reverse side of the transfer sheet for periods from about 1 to 20 milliseconds (msec) and temperatures up to 300C, in accordance with a pattern information signal, whereby dye from the selectively heated regions of the transfer sheet diffuses from the transfer sheet to the receiver sheet and forms a pattern thereon in accordance with the pattern in which heat is applied to the transfer sheet. The shape of the pattern is determined by the number and location of the discrete areas which are subjected to heating and the depth of shade in any discrete area is determined by the period of time for which it is heated and the temperature reached.
Heating is generally, though not necessarily, effected by a line of heating elements, over which the receiver and transfer sheets are passed together. Each element is approximately square in overall shape, although the element may optionally be split down the centre, and may be resistively heated by an electrical current passed through it from adjacent circuitry. Each element normally corresponds to an element of image information and can be separately heated to 300.degree. C. to 400.degree. C., in less than 20 msec and preferably less than 10 msec, usually by an electric pulse in response to a pattern information signal. During the heating period the temperature of an element will rise to about 300-400.degree. C. over about 5-8 msec. With increase in temperature and time more dye will diffuse from the transfer sheet to the receiver sheet and thus the amount of dye tran

REFERENCES:
patent: 3940246 (1976-02-01), Defago et al.
patent: 5344933 (1994-09-01), Mikoshiba et al.
patent: 5350731 (1994-09-01), Williams et al.

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