Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or... – Physical dimension specified
Reexamination Certificate
1998-01-16
2001-04-10
Hess, Bruce H. (Department: 1774)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or...
Physical dimension specified
C428S206000, C428S334000, C428S335000, C428S480000, C428S500000, C428S910000, C428S195100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06214458
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image recording sheet. In particular, the invention relates to an image recording sheet employable for forming an image of a high glossiness and a good graininess by ink-jet recording, electrophotography, or thermal transfer recording.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the field of information industry, a variety of image recording and printing methods have been developed and practically employed. Among them, ink-jet recording and thermal transfer recording (printing) are widely used because apparatuses for such recording methods are light-weight, downsized and noiseless, as well as excellent in their workability and maintenance. Those apparatuses, moreover, can be easily modified to perform color recording. In addition to the above methods, color electrophotographic printers and copy machines, which can give full-color electrophotographic images of high resolution, have been recently developed and brought on market.
In the ink-jet recording, there are three types of methods classified according to the kind of ink employed in printing process, namely, method with aqueous ink, oily ink or wax ink. In any of those methods, an image is formed by applying the ink in the form of fine droplets onto a recording sheet.
Methods of thermal transfer recording can be classified into two types. One is a method using a thermal transfer sheet having a support and a melting ink layer coated thereon. In this method, the thermal transfer sheet is imagewise heated from the support side to melt the ink, and then the imagewise melted ink is transferred onto a recording sheet to form an image. Another method uses a thermal transfer sheet comprising a sublimating dye and a resin of a high softening point. In this method, the thermal transfer sheet is imagewise heated to sublimate the dye, and then the imagewise sublimated dye is transferred onto a recording sheet.
An electrophotographic printing method generally comprises the steps of: imagewise exposing a light-sensitive material to light, to form a latent image; developing the latent image with a toner to form a toner image on the surface of the light-sensitive material; transferring the formed toner image onto a recording sheet; and fixing the transferred toner image under heating.
Images recorded by the above methods are sometimes required to have a high glossiness, as well as a high resolution. In more detail, an image printed on a recording sheet is desired to have a high glossiness which appears close to that produced by silver-salt photography. In order to give a high glossiness to the image, the image recording sheet generally needs to comprise a highly transparent image-receiving layer, which is often provided on a white film support.
A recording sheet of the above-mentioned type is shown, for example, in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. H5-51469. The publication discloses an image recording sheet comprising: a polyethylene terephthalate film support containing calcium carbonate; and an image-receiving layer containing acrylic polymer emulsion, poly(vinyl alcohol), and colloidal silica. The image-receiving layer of the recording sheet has a relatively high transparency, and is provided on the white polyethylene terephthalate support film. Besides this, other white film supports are also known. Examples of such films include a polyester film containing dispersed barium sulfate particles (Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-30930), a polyester film containing calcium carbonate in an amount of 8 to 30 weight % (Japanese Patent Publication No. H7-15012), and a polyester film containing titanium oxide (Japanese Patent Publication No. H7-149926).
The present inventors, however, have noted that the known image recording sheet often gives an image of poor quality, especially from the viewpoint of graininess. In more detail, the known recording sheet often gives an image of a low quality such as an image having a series of beads-like spots of ink or toner (i.e., beading).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording sheet which gives an image of improved quality, especially in the graininess and glossiness.
It is another object of the invention to provide an image recording sheet which gives an image of improved quality by ink-jet recording and the ink-jet recording image forming method.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an electrophotographic recording sheet which gives an image of improved quality and the electrophotographic process.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an image recording sheet which gives an image of improved quality by thermal transfer recording (printing) and a thermal transfer image forming process.
The present invention resides in an image recording sheet comprising a transparent support film, a transparent image-receiving layer provided on one surface of the support film, and a white coated layer provided on the other surface of the support film.
The image-receiving layer preferably has a surface showing a glossiness of not less than 75% (preferably not less than 80%), and the white coated layer preferably shows a parallel rays transmittance of not more than 2%.
The invention also resides in an image forming process which comprises the steps of:
imagewise applying an aqueous ink onto an image recording sheet comprising a transparent support film, a transparent image-receiving layer provided on one surface of the support film and a white coated layer provided on the other surface of the support film on the side of the image-receiving layer; and
drying the aqueous ink on the image-receiving layer to form an ink image on the image-receiving layer.
For the above-mentioned image forming process, any one of the following image recording sheets are favorably employable.
The image recording sheet, wherein the image-receiving layer comprises a hydrophilic polymer and cationic polymer particles having a mean particle size of 1 to 200 nm.
The image recording sheet, wherein the image-receiving layer comprises a basic polymer latex having the formula (I):
&Parenopenst;A&Parenclosest;
x
&Parenopenst;B&Parenclosest;
y
&Parenopenst;C&Parenclosest;
z
(I)
wherein A represents a monomer unit comprising an ethylenic unsaturated double bond and a basic group selected from the group consisting of a tertiary amino group and a quaternary ammonium base; B represents a monomer unit comprising at least two ethylenic unsaturated double bonds; C represents a monomer unit having an ethylenic unsaturated double bond but differing from the monomer units of A and B; x means 10 to 90 mol %; y means 0 to 90 mol %; and z means 0 to 90 mol %.
The invention further resides in an image forming process which comprises the steps of:
imagewise exposing a light-sensitive material to light, to form a latent image;
developing the latent image with a toner comprising a colorant material and a binder resin, to form a toner image on the surface of the light-sensitive material;
transferring the toner image onto an image recording sheet comprising a transparent support film, a transparent image-receiving layer provided on one surface of the support film and a white coated layer provided on the other surface of the support film on the side of the image-receiving layer; and
heating and pressing the transferred toner image, to fix the toner image onto the image-receiving layer.
For the above-mentioned image forming process, the following image recording sheet is favorably employable.
The image recording sheet, wherein the image-receiving layer comprises a thermoplastic polyester resin having a glass transition temperature of 35 to 120° C.
The invention still further resides in an image forming process which comprises the steps of:
placing an ink sheet having a layer of wax ink thereon, on an image recording sheet comprising a transparent support film, a transparent image-receiving layer provided on one surface of the support film and a white coated layer provided on the other surface of the support film under th
Kobayashi Takashi
Nomura Tatsuya
Suematsu Kouichi
Costellia Jeffrey L.
Fuji Photo Film Co. , Ltd.
Grendzynski Michael
Hess Bruce H.
Nixon & Peabody LLP
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