Image formation

Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Medium and processing means

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C347S105000, C347S102000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06652087

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a technology for imparting a color image onto a film article having a resin layer on its surface. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for forming an image that is sharper and more glossy than that obtained by a conventional method for obtaining a transferred image by thermally transferring a color image printed on a transfer paper to a film article having a resin layer.
BACKGROUND ART
A sublimating thermal transfer dyeing method that thermally transfers a color image preliminarily printed on a transfer paper has heretofore been known. In this method, while intimately contacting an imagewise ink jet printed transfer paper printed using a sublimating ink containing a sublimating dye as a colorant and a polyester fabric each other for pressurization, they are heated at about 190 to about 200° C. for 30 to 60 seconds at atmospheric pressure to evaporate the sublimating dye, thereby dyeing the polyester fabric.
In a developed form of the method, a method has been used that intimately contacts the transfer paper as described above on a film article having heat resistance, such as a polyester film or a polycarbonate film, or a film article comprising a more general-purpose film article having laminated thereon a crosslinked type clear resin layer, in a roll form or a sheet form under vacuum and heats them at a temperature of about 150 to about 170° C. for about 2 to about 5 minutes to dye the clear resin of the surface layer. In many cases, these are provided as articles preliminarily treated with a pressure-sensitive adhesive on its rear surface.
The sublimating thermal transfer dyeing method for the polyester fabric described above performs the dyeing by impregnating a sublimating dye incorporated in an ink solvent to a transfer paper and drying it, volatilizing the sublimating dye that is present in the form of an aggregation by heating so as to reach the interface between the transfer paper and the polyester fabric that are in closer contact due to the pressurization and its neighborhood as well as diffuse into the polyester filaments to thereby dye them. In the case where such a polyester fabric is to be dyed, pressurization at about 300 g/cm
2
and a high temperature of about 190° C. or more are indispensable. This is because the fabric is of a woven structure so that it forms an adiabatic body that traps a large amount of air therein and hence it is necessary to remove the trapped air and substantially elevate the temperature of the contact surface between the fabric and the transfer paper. Also, this is because the sublimating dye must be exposed to a high temperature in order to convert it into a gaseous state so that it can reach to parts that are not in contact with the transfer paper even by the pressurization pressure. Further, this is because in the case of polyester filaments, the orientation in the process of spinning increases the degree of crystallinity of the polyester to make it difficult for the dye to diffuse therein so that greater energy is required for the dyeing.
In the sublimating thermal transfer dyeing method for the transfer to the heat resistant film articles described above, the pressurization to increase the degree of contact of the transfer paper to the film article and also the action of heat simultaneously applied bring the film article into a softened state, so that the texture of the rough surface of the transfer paper is inevitably transferred onto the surface of the film article as an embossed pattern. As a result, the gloss that the surface of the film article has had originally is deteriorated markedly, so that a glossy, sharp transferred image could not be obtained. Accordingly, thermal transfer is performed by pressurization at most at the level of intimate contact achieved under vacuum. However, even in this case, it is impossible to retain the gloss that the film article has had originally. Thus, even in the case of film articles having high heat resistance, perfect thermal transfer could not be effected. Much less, film articles having low heat resistance have problems not only that a glossy surface cannot be obtained but also that the transfer paper and the film article tend to bond to each other, so that the sublimating thermal transfer dyeing method can by no means be practiced.
Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide a method for forming an image on any desired film article having a resin layer on its surface using an ink jet printer with a sublimating ink such that a full color image that retains the original gloss on the surface of the film can be imparted.
On the other hand, film articles used in the sublimating thermal transfer dyeing method are not limited to those products that are wound in a roll state. However, in many cases, they include those utilized in a sheet state, such as those cut into a standardized size in the field of applications such as an ID card and a photograph and those cut into a form size (A4 or A3). In these cases, an image is temporarily ink jet printed on a transfer paper and then intimately contacted with a film article in a sheet state in an accurate registration and heated. In this method, an accurate registration operation is required for each sheet so that an enormous work is necessary for a large number of sheets. Also, there is the problem that the vertical and horizontal sizes of transfer paper may vary in several percentages (%) or more in the heating step after the transfer depending on the level of moisture absorption at ambient temperature so that the sizes of image of the film article after the thermal transfer cannot be precisely maintained at predetermined sizes.
Therefore, a second object of the present invention is to provide a method for forming an image using an ink jet printer with a sublimating ink such that a predetermined full color image on the surface of the film can be imparted on a large number of film articles in a sheet state having a predetermined size in a simple and inexpensive manner.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above problems, the present inventor made extensive studies. As a result, he has found that preliminarily laminating an ink jet receiving layer on a film article on which a color image is to be formed, color printing an image with a sublimating ink on the ink jet receiving layer by an ink jet method and then heating the image enables the printed image to pass through the ink jet receiving layer to diffuse on the surface of the film article and further, for a part thereof, into the inside thereof. Thereafter, peeling off the ink jet receiving layer as a film layer results in the transfer of the image depicted on the ink jet receiving layer onto the film article as a glossy, sharp transferred image. The present invention is achieved based on the above discovery.
That is, the present invention provides the following image forming methods.
1. A method for forming an image, comprising providing a laminate film comprising a resin made film or a substrate having a resin layer on its surface and an ink jet receiving layer provided thereon, ink jet printing an image on the ink jet receiving layer with an ink containing a sublimating or volatile dye, heating the ink jet receiving layer having the printed image to allow the printed image to migrate to the resin made film or to the surface resin layer of the substrate, and then peeling off the ink jet receiving layer as a film layer.
2. The method for forming an image according to item 1 above, wherein a laminate resin is used that comprises a resin having affinity for the sublimating dye and a resin overlying thereon having no affinity for the sublimating dye as the resin of the resin made film or of the surface resin layer of the substrate.
3. A method for forming an image according to item 2 above, wherein the resin having no affinity for the sublimating dye is a fluorine-based resin, a silicone-based resin or an olefin-based resin.
4. A method for forming an image according to item 1 above, wherein the lamina

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