Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser – Synthetic resins – At least one aryl ring which is part of a fused or bridged...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-30
2002-04-09
Jagannathan, Vasu (Department: 1714)
Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser
Synthetic resins
At least one aryl ring which is part of a fused or bridged...
C524S503000, C524S556000, C524S548000, C524S557000, C347S105000, C523S160000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06369152
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an ink jet printing method. More particularly, this invention relates to an ink jet printing method using an ink jet recording element containing polymeric particles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INTENTION
In a typical ink jet recording or printing system, ink droplets are ejected from a nozzle at high speed towards a recording element or medium to produce an image on the medium. The ink droplets, or recording liquid, generally comprise a recording agent, such as a dye or pigment, and a large amount of solvent. The solvent, or carrier liquid, typically is made up of water, an organic material such as a monohydric alcohol, a polyhydric alcohol or mixtures thereof.
An ink jet recording element typically comprises a support having on at least one surface thereof an ink-receiving or image-forming layer, and includes those intended for reflection viewing, which have an opaque support, and those intended for viewing by transmitted light, which have a transparent support.
While a wide variety of different types of image-recording elements for use with ink jet devices have been proposed heretofore, there are many unsolved problems in the art and many deficiencies in the known products which have limited their commercial usefulness.
It is well known that in order to achieve and maintain photographic-quality images on such an image-recording element, an ink jet recording element must:
Be readily wetted so there is no puddling, i.e., coalescence of adjacent ink dots, which leads to non-uniform density
Exhibit no image bleeding
Absorb high concentrations of ink and dry quickly to avoid elements blocking together when stacked against subsequent prints or other surfaces
Exhibit no discontinuities or defects due to interactions between the support and/or layer(s), such as cracking, repellencies, comb lines and the like
Not allow unabsorbed dyes to aggregate at the free surface causing dye crystallization, which results in bloom or bronzing effects in the imaged areas
Have an optimized image fastness to avoid fade from contact with water or radiation by daylight, tungsten light, or fluorescent light
An ink jet recording element that simultaneously provides an almost instantaneous ink dry time and good image quality is desirable. However, given the wide range of ink compositions and ink volumes that a recording element needs to accommodate, these requirements of ink jet recording media are difficult to achieve simultaneously.
Ink jet recording elements are known that employ porous or non-porous single layer or multilayer coatings that act as suitable image-receiving layers on one or both sides of a porous or non-porous support. Recording elements that use non-porous coatings typically have good image quality but exhibit poor ink dry time. Recording elements that use porous coatings exhibit superior dry times, but typically have poorer image quality and are prone to cracking.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,317 relates to an ink jet recording sheet which contains polystyrene beads on a transparent support. However, there is no disclosure that the amount of beads in the coating should be greater than 8 parts particles per part polymeric binder. There is a problem with coatings having an amount of beads less than about 8 parts particles per part polymeric binder in that they do not absorb ink satisfactorily, as will be shown hereafter,
U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,131 relates to an ink jet recording medium containing polymeric particles in an ink-transporting layer. However, these particles are not crosslinked.
It is an object of this invention to provide an ink jet printing method using an ink jet recording element that has a fast ink dry time with minimal puddling. It is another object of this invention to provide an ink jet printing method using an ink jet recording element that is free from cracking.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These and other objects are achieved in accordance with the invention which comprises an ink jet printing method, comprising the steps of:
A) providing an ink jet printer that is responsive to digital data signals;
B) loading the printer with an ink jet recording element comprising a support having thereon an image-receiving layer comprising non-porous polymeric particles in a polymeric binder, the non-porous polymeric particles being present in an amount of at least about 8 parts of particles per part of polymeric binder, and the non-porous polymeric particles having a degree of crosslinking of at least about 30 mole %;
C) loading the printer with an ink jet ink composition; and
D) printing on the ink jet recording element using the ink jet ink in response to the digital data signals.
Using the ink jet printing method of the invention, an ink jet recording element is obtained which has less cracking than prior art elements while providing good image quality and fast ink dry times with minimal puddling.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The support used in the ink jet recording element employed in the invention may be opaque, translucent, or transparent. There may be used, for example, plain papers, resin-coated papers, plastics including a polyester resin such as poly(ethylene terephthalate), poly(ethylene naphthalate) and poly(ester diacetate), a polycarbonate resin, a fluorine resin such as poly(tetra-fluoro ethylene), metal foil, various glass materials, various voided or filled opaque plastics and the like. In a preferred embodiment, the support is opaque. The thickness of the support employed in the invention can be from about 12 to about 500 &mgr;m, preferably from about 75 to about 300 &mgr;m.
The non-porous polymeric particles which are used in the invention contain a degree of crosslinking of about at least 30 mole %. The non-porous polymeric particles are in the form of beads, or irregularly shaped particles.
Suitable non-porous polymeric particles used in the invention comprise, for example, acrylic resins, styrenic resins, or cellulose derivatives, such as cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose propionate, cellulose acetate propionate, and ethyl cellulose; polyvinyl resins such as polyvinyl chloride, copolymers of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate and polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl acetal, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers, and ethylene-allyl copolymers such as ethylene-allyl alcohol copolymers, ethylene-allyl acetone copolymers, ethylene-allyl benzene copolymers, ethylene-allyl ether copolymers, ethylene acrylic copolymers and polyoxy-methylene; polycondensation polymers, such as, polyesters, including polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polyurethanes and polycarbonates.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the non-porous polymeric particles are made from a styrenic or an acrylic monomer. Any suitable ethylenically unsaturated monomer or mixture of monomers may be used in making such styrenic or acrylic polymer. There may be used, for example, styrenic compounds, such as styrene, vinyl toluene, p-chlorostyrene, vinylbenzylchloride or vinyl naphthalene; or acrylic compounds, such as methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, n-butyl acrylate, n-octyl acrylate, 2-chloroethyl acrylate, phenyl acrylate, methyl-&agr;-chloroacrylate, methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate; and mixtures thereof. In another preferred embodiment, methyl methacrylate is used.
In addition, a suitable crosslinking monomer is used in forming the non-porous polymeric particles in order to produce the desired properties. Typical crosslinking monomers are aromatic divinyl compounds such as divinylbenzene, divinylnaphthalene or derivatives thereof; diethylene carboxylate esters and amides such as ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, diethylene glycol diacrylate, and other divinyl compounds such as divinyl sulfide or divinyl sulfone compounds. Divinylbenzene and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate are especially preferred. The crosslinking monomer is used at least about 30 mole %, preferably about 100 mole %. The degree of crosslinking is determined by the mole % of multifunctional crosslinking
Kaeding Jeanne E.
Kapusniak Richard J.
Missell Gregory E.
Muehlbauer John L.
Smith Dennis E.
Cole Harold E.
Eastman Kodak Company
Jagannathan Vasu
Shasho Callie E.
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