Fabric (woven – knitted – or nonwoven textile or cloth – etc.) – Coated or impregnated woven – knit – or nonwoven fabric which... – Coating or impregnation specified as porous or permeable to...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-10
2001-12-04
Juska, Cheryl (Department: 1771)
Fabric (woven, knitted, or nonwoven textile or cloth, etc.)
Coated or impregnated woven, knit, or nonwoven fabric which...
Coating or impregnation specified as porous or permeable to...
C442S118000, C442S121000, C442S136000, C428S195100, C428S323000, C428S326000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06326323
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fabric for ink-jet recording. In particular, the invention relates to a fabric for recording with ink-jet printers which record images by jetting liquid ink as droplets from a nozzle, and especially to a fabric for ink-jet recording which comprises a fibrous material as the substrate and has excellent ink absorption and drying properties during recording and excellent moisture resistance and color developing properties of the resulting recorded image.
The fabric for ink-jet recording of the invention can be applied for uses such as indoor and outdoor advertisement and tapestries for interior decoration.
2. Description of the Related Art
When recording on ink-jet recording sheets by spraying droplets of ink consisting of a dye or pigment dissolved or dispersed in a solvent, the droplets of ink are attached to the sheet by a printing head which scans in the lateral direction and advances in the vertical direction to print an image consisting of patterns or characters; however, when the absorption or drying properties of the ink are poor, the attached ink sometimes runs off, making it impossible to form a sharp image.
Also, when printing is overlaid with ink of a different color the total amount of ink is increased, thus causing problems of blotting and running and reducing the sharpness of the image. Thus, liquid ink must be rapidly absorbed in the ink absorbing layer of recording sheets, and must have low moisture on the surface for a dry appearance.
Prints obtained by ink jet printing have also been quite inferior to those obtained by screen printing, not only in terms of ink absorption and drying properties, but also as concerns the color developing property, i.e. the brightness, clarity and depth of the colors of the obtained image.
Furthermore, outdoor use demands moisture resistance to prevent blotting of the dye or pigment after printing even when in contact with rain or other water.
The prior art has dealt with these problems by combining the following technical elements.
First, fillers comprising porous silica or other inorganic compounds are used in the ink absorbing layer to increase the absorption and color developing property of water-based inks.
Second, water-soluble polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinylpyrrolidone are used as binders for fixation onto supports without causing a loss in performance of the filler comprising the inorganic compound.
Third, the use of dye or pigment anchoring agents for a better color developing property has been proposed, examples of which include the use of a cationic polymer (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-58788), the use of a copolymer of a diallylamine acid salt and a monoallylamine acid salt (Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 3-31594), the use of a monoallylamine salt polymer (Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-30951), the use of an alumina sol (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-125412) and the combined use of dimethyldiallylammonium chloride and a divalent water-soluble metal salt (Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 5-71393). Anionic dyes and pigments dispersed with anionic dispersing agents are anchored to the surface by ionic bonding with the aforementioned cationic substances, resulting in better color depth during printing and an improved moisture resistance.
Fourth, for uses involving substrate materials with no air permeability or absorption properties, such as synthetic paper, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-282091 discloses an ink-recording material with a 2-layer coat prepared by formation of an ink-anchoring layer containing non-water-soluble cellulose and a binder such as polyvinyl alcohol followed by formation of an ink receiving layer containing a cationic polymer and an inorganic pigment such as calcium carbonate, the object of which is to provide an ink material which is not blotted with the passage of time.
Recorded print images on ink-jet recording sheets obtained by this process, however, do not satisfy the demands for overall properties such as ink absorption and drying properties during ink-jet printing, the color developing property after printing and the moisture resistance of dye ink-printed images, and in particular ink-jet recording fabrics wherein the substrate of the ink-jet recording sheet is composed of a fibrous material such as a woven fabric have had poorer color development, absorption and drying properties compared to those which use paper.
In addition, since some ink-jet recording fabrics do not even provide sufficient color development or moisture resistance with simple printing, there is known a method whereby ink-jet recording fabrics which are printed under the conditions of high temperature and high humidity in color developing steps carried out for conventional screen printing after being printed in a ink-jet printer are treated to cause the dye to migrate into the fibers of the fibrous substrate themselves, for an increased color developing property and moisture resistance. This method, however, requires attachment of water-soluble substances, printing, color development through a color development step and a subsequent washing step to remove the water-soluble compounds attached to the fibrous substrate, and therefore the working steps are longer, creating a very inefficient and uneconomical situation; consequently, ink-jet recording fabrics have been desired which have fibrous substrates, have excellent color development, absorption and drying properties, and which can be used directly without undergoing a color development step after printing.
Moreover, recent years have seen the use of sheets a few meters to a few tens of meters in size which are printed with ink-jet printers, as hanging curtains for stores and event grounds and as curtains for construction sites, and therefore the additional property of flame resistance has been desired from the viewpoint of safety.
Conventional ink-jet recording sheets have also been associated with a problem in which the recorded images are shed upon folding or friction, and therefore improved durability of the recordings has also been desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned problems by providing an ink-jet recording fabric which has improved ink absorption properties (degree of absorption volume and blotting) and drying properties in the ink absorbing layer, and which can provide vastly improved color developing properties (brightness, clarity and depth of color) as well as sharpness and moisture resistance of the resulting images.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an ink-jet recording fabric which has improved durability of recorded images and is also flame retardant.
The invention therefore provides an ink-jet recording fabric characterized by comprising a fibrous substrate and an ink absorbing layer formed thereon, wherein the ink absorbing layer contains fine fibrous cellulose with a diameter of 0.5 &mgr;m or less, a water-soluble nonionic polymer, porous silica and a cationic polymer.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The fibrous substrate used according to the invention is not particularly restricted and may be made of synthetic fibers such as polyester, regenerated fibers such as rayon or natural fibers such as cotton, or a composite product thereof. From the standpoint of ink absorption and drying properties, a fibrous substrate comprising hydrophilic fibers such as cotton may be preferred. The fibrous substrate may be in the form of a woven or non-woven fabric.
The fibrous substrate may, if necessary, be subjected to fluorescent whitening for increased brightness and clarity of the image.
According to the invention, fine fibrous cellulose with a diameter of 0.5 &mgr;m or less is used in the ink absorbing layer to improve the absorption and drying properties of liquid inks, particularly aqueous inks. Such types of cellulose, which are known, include fine fibrous cellulose obtained by subjectin
Minamiyama Takeshi
Shimano Yasunao
Juska Cheryl
Komatsu Seiren Co., Ltd.
Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP
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