Compositions: coating or plastic – Coating or plastic compositions – Marking
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-22
2001-12-11
Koslow, C. Melissa (Department: 1755)
Compositions: coating or plastic
Coating or plastic compositions
Marking
C106S031750, C106S031870
Reexamination Certificate
active
06328792
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to ink compositions, and more specifically, the present invention relates to aqueous inks especially useful for thermal ink jet, and acoustic ink printing, reference for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,141, U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,220, U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,726, U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,531, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,384, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated herein by reference, including especially acoustic ink processes, such as an acoustic ink printer for printing images on a record medium. Also, the inks of the present invention may be useful as ink jet inks, and for thermal ink jet processes.
More specifically, the present invention is directed to substantially noncorrosive acoustic ink compositions, especially aqueous inks wherein there can be generated with such inks excellent developed images with acceptable image permanence, excellent projection efficiency on transparencies, superior waterfastness characteristics, for example waterfastness values of about 95 to about 100 percent, and excellent crease resistance, and wherein the inks need not contain certain salts, and moreover, wherein the inks reduce or minimize corrosion of, for example, ink jet heads by including in the inks an alkali metal halide, such as potassium iodide. Moreover, in embodiments of the present invention, there are provided inks that enable the elimination, or minimization of undesirable paper curl. The inks of the present invention in embodiments thereof are comprised of a colored vehicle and optionally a noncolored vehicle, reference U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,688,312; 5,667,568; 5,700,316; 5,747,554, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated herein by reference.
PRIOR ART
In acoustic ink printing, the printhead generates about 2.2 picoliter droplets by an acoustic energy process. The ink under these conditions should display a melt viscosity of about 25 centipoise or less at the jetting temperature. Furthermore, once the ink is jetted onto the paper, the ink image should be of excellent crease property, nonsmearing, waterfast, of excellent transparency and excellent fix qualities. In selecting an ink for such applications, it is desirable that the vehicle display a low melt viscosity, such as from about 1 centipoise to about 20, and preferably about 10 centipoise in the acoustic head, while also displaying solid-like properties after being jetted onto paper. Since the acoustic head can usually tolerate a temperature up to, for example, about 180° C. (Centigrade), and preferably up to a temperature of from about 100° C. to about 160° C., the vehicle for the ink should display liquid-like properties, such as a preferred viscosity of 1 to about 10 centipoise at a temperature of from about 25 to about 80° C.
Also known is an ink composition comprised of water, a colorant, and a monomeric oxazolidinone compound; an aqueous liquid vehicle, a pigment, and a vesicle-forming lipid, wherein vesicles of the lipid are present in the ink; an ink composition comprised of water, a colorant, a nonionic surfactant, and a fluorinated component; and a thermal ink jet printing which comprises incorporating into a thermal ink jet printer an ink composition comprising water; a colorant of a dye or pigment; a hydroxyamide derivative having at least one hydroxyl group and at least one amide group.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,674, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses an ink composition which comprises a major amount of water, an organic solvent selected from the group consisting of tetramethylene sulfone, 1,1,3,3-tetramethyl urea, 3-methyl sulfolane, and 1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidone, which solvent has permanently dissolved therein spirit soluble dyes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,170 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,187, the disclosures of each of which are totally incorporated herein by reference, disclose hot melt ink compositions suitable for ink jet printing which comprise a colorant, a binder, and a propellant such as hydrazine, cyclic amines, ureas, carboxylic acids, sulfonic acids, aldehydes, ketones, hydrocarbons, esters, phenols, and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,853,036 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,718, the disclosures of each of which are totally incorporated herein by reference, disclose, for example, an ink for ink jet recording which comprises a liquid composition comprising a colorant, a volatile solvent having a vapor pressure of 1 millimeter Hg or more at 25° C., and a solid material at room temperature.
Also known are thermal ink jet printing compositions comprising a dye, a liquid medium, and a surfactant selected from the group consisting of polyoxyalkylated ethers, anionic bitail fluorothio alkyls, alkyl aryl sulfonates, alkyl amine quaternary salts, and mixtures thereof.
While known compositions and processes are suitable for their intended purposes, a need remains for new acoustic aqueous ink compositions suitable for ink jet printing. In addition, there is a need for aqueous ink compositions which are compatible with a wide variety of plain papers. Further, there is a need for stabilized and substantially noncorrosive aqueous ink compositions, that is inks that do not substantially degrade the ink printheads, and aqueous ink compositions which generate high quality, waterfast images on plain papers. There is also a need for aqueous ink jet ink compositions, which generate high quality images on a wide variety of plain papers at low cost, with high quality text and high quality graphics. Further, there is a need for aqueous ink jet ink compositions which exhibit minimal feathering. Additionally, there is a need for aqueous ink compositions that exhibit excellent lightfastness properties on plain paper. Further, there is a need for aqueous ink jet ink compositions which are especially suitable for use in acoustic ink jet printing processes. Additionally, there is a need for aqueous ink compositions suitable for ink jet printing processes wherein the substrate is heated prior to printing, heated during the printing process, and is cooled to ambient temperature, about 25° C. for example, subsequent to printing (also known as heat and delay printing processes). There is also a need for ink compositions suitable for ink jet printing wherein high optical densities can be achieved with relatively low dye concentrations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Examples of features of the present invention include, for example:
It is an feature of the present invention to provide ink compositions with many of the advantages illustrated herein.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide aqueous ink compositions suitable for aqueous acoustic ink jet printing.
It is yet another feature of the present invention to provide aqueous ink compositions which are compatible with a wide variety of plain papers.
It is still another feature of the present invention to provide substantially noncorrosive ink compositions which generate high quality images on plain papers.
Yet another feature of the present invention is to provide aqueous ink jet ink compositions which exhibit low viscosity of from about 1 to about 20, and preferably from about 1.5 to about 5 centipoise at a temperature of from about 25° C. to about 80° C.
Still another feature of the present invention is to provide aqueous ink jet ink compositions which exhibit minimal intercolor bleed.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide aqueous ink jet ink compositions which exhibit excellent image permanence such as lightfastness and waterfastness.
It is yet another feature of the present invention to provide aqueous ink jet ink compositions that are suitable for use in acoustic ink jet printing processes.
It is still another feature of the present invention to provide aqueous ink compositions that are suitable for ink jet printing processes wherein the substrate is heated prior to printing, heated during the printing process and is cooled to ambient temperature subsequent to printing (also known as heat and delay printing processes).
Another feature of the present invention is to p
Breton Marcel P.
Lesani Fereshteh
Mayo James D.
Faison Veronica F.
Koslow C. Melissa
Palazzo E. O.
Xerox Corporation
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