Ink compositions

Details Ink compositions Ink compositions

2000-06-22

2002-01-01

Koslow, C. Melissa (Department: 1755)

Compositions: coating or plastic

Coating or plastic compositions

Marking

C106S031750, C106S031290, C106S031610, C106S031580, C106S031860

Reexamination Certificate

active

06334890

ABSTRACT:

REFERENCE TO COPENDING PATENT APPLICATIONS AND PATENTS
Inks are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,082; U.S. Ser. No. 09/281,540, now abandoned; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,096,124, 6,071,333, 6,086,661, 6,096,125, 6,106,601; and 5,931,995, 5,902,390, 5,876,492, 5,922,117, and 6,066,200; the disclosures of each being totally incorporated herein by reference.
The appropriate components and processes of the copending applications, including the above parent application, may be selected for the present invention in embodiments thereof.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to ink compositions and, more specifically, the present invention relates to inks with, for example, a melting point of between about 60° C. and about 150° C., and preferably between about 70° C. to about 90° C., especially useful for acoustic ink printing, processes and apparatuses, reference, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,121,141, 5,111,220, and 5,371,531, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated herein by reference, including especially acoustic ink processes as illustrated in the above copending applications, such as an acoustic ink printer for printing images on a record medium. The inks of the present invention in embodiments thereof are comprised of (1) a phase change ink, that is, for example, an ink that changes from a liquid state to solid state in a suitable period of time, for example, from about 1 to about 100 milliseconds and preferably in less than about 10, such as from about 2 to about 7 milliseconds, and which inks contain a nonaqueous phase-change color spreading compound, or an additive, such as a long chain carbamate or an oxazoline compound that, for example, can fill the pores of a substrate, such as paper, with a melting point of lower than about 120° C. and preferably between about 60 to about 100° C., and with a low acoustic loss value of below about 100 dB/mm; (2) a nonaqueous crease improving carbamate, thiourea, or mixtures thereof with, for example, a boiling point of higher than about 150° C. (Centigrade) and more specifically with a boiling point from about 150 to about 225° C., and a melting point of between about 25 to about 100° C., and preferably between about 60 to about 100° C., with low acoustic loss, which primarily enables a reduction or minimization of energy consumption, and which acoustic loss is below, or about equal to 60 dB/mm; (3) a gloss improving alcohol compound; (4) a lightfastness component, such as a lightfastness UV absorber; (5) a lightfastness antioxidant; (6) a colorant such as a dye, a pigment or mixtures thereof; (7) a plasticizer, such as o,p-toluene sulfonamide (Uniplex 171), p-toluene sulfonamide (Uniplex 173), dicyclohexyl phthalate (Uniplex 250), dimethylisophthalate (Uniplex 270), pentaerythriol tetrabenzoate (Uniplex 552), or mixtures thereof; and (8) an optional clarifying agent such as Mn
1
Ri
2
1500/2000 series polyamides, Mn
1
-Ri
2
7000/8000 series maleic rosin resins, Mn
1
-Ri
2
4000/9000 series modified phenolic rosin resins, or mixtures thereof.
More specifically, the present invention is directed to phase-change acoustic ink compositions comprised of (1) a nonaqueous long chain carbamate compound with, for example, a melting point of lower than about 120° C. and preferably between about 60° C. and about 100° C., and with a low acoustic loss, and which acoustic loss is, for example, below about or equal to about 100 dB/mm, and preferably from about 25 to about 80 dB/mm; (2) blends of long chain carbamates dB/mm; (3) a crease improving plasticizer; (4) a clarifier; (5) a gloss improving alcohol compound with a boiling point of, for example, higher than about 150° C. and lower than about 350° C., preferably between about 170° C. to about 220° C., and a melting point of, for example, between about 25° C. to about 90° C. and with a low acoustic loss, and which acoustic loss is, for example, below about 60 dB/mm, and preferably in the range of between about 5 to about 40 dB/mm; (6) a lightfastness compound, such as a UV absorber; (7) an antioxidant; (8) a colorant, and wherein there can be generated with such inks excellent developed images on plain and coated papers with acceptable image permanence, excellent projection efficiency on transparencies without a post fusing step, and excellent crease resistance, and wherein the inks possess acceptable, and in embodiments superior lightfast, for example about 90 to about 100 percent and superior waterfast between, for example, about 95 to about 100 percent.
Blending long chain carbamates, especially two such carbamates, with different side chain lengths, for example, one with 16 carbon atoms and the other with 18 carbon atoms in the side chain, can reduce the spherulite size and improves crease, projection efficiency and haze. With blends, the amount of plasticizers and clarifiers in the compositions can be reduced to suitable amounts or one of them eliminated.
The blends can contain sufficient amounts of each carbamate and wherein the total thereof is about 100 percent, for example from about 1 to about 99 percent of one carbamate and from about 99 to about 1 percent of a second carbamate. Blends can include, for example, from about 1 to about 5 carbamates.
Moreover, in embodiments of the present invention there is enabled the elimination, or minimization of undesirable paper curl since water need not be present, or minimum amounts less than, for example, about 1 percent of water may be selected in embodiments, and in embodiments it is preferred that there be an absence of water. When water is not present in the inks, a dryer can be avoided thereby minimizing the cost of the acoustic ink jet apparatus and process.
Prior Art
In acoustic ink printing, the printhead produces approximately 2.2 picoliter droplets by an acoustic energy process. The ink under these conditions should display a melt viscosity of about 5 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, and should be 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 25 centipoise in the acoustic head, while also displaying solid like properties after being jetted onto paper. Since the acoustic head can tolerate a temperature up to about 180° C., and preferably up to a temperature of from about 140° C. to about 160° C., the vehicle for the ink should preferably display liquid like properties such as a viscosity of 1 to about 10 centipoise at a temperature of from about 75° C. to about 165° C., and solidify or harden after jetting onto paper such that the ink displays a hardness value of from about 0.1 to about 0.5 millimeter utilizing a penetrometer according to the ASTM penetration method D1321.
Ink jet printing processes that employ inks that are solid at room temperature and liquid at elevated temperatures are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,731, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses an apparatus for dispensing certain solid inks for printing on a substrate such as paper. The ink dye vehicle is chosen to have a melting point above room temperature so that the ink, which is melted in the apparatus, will not be subject to evaporation or spillage during periods of nonprinting. The vehicle selected possesses a low critical temperature to permit the use of the solid ink in a thermal ink jet printer. In thermal ink jet printing processes employing these phase-change inks, the solid ink is melted by a heater in the printing apparatus and utilized as a liquid in a manner similar to that of conventional thermal ink jet printing. Upon contact with the printing substrate, the molten ink solidifies rapidly, enabling the dye to remain on the surface instead of being carried into the paper by capillary action, thereby attempting to enable higher print density than is generally obtained with liquid inks.

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