Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Medium and processing means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-31
2002-08-13
Barlow, John (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Medium and processing means
C347S105000, C428S195100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06431701
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ink jet printing method using a porous ink jet recording element.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
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 and 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-receiving 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.
An important characteristic of ink jet recording elements is their need to dry quickly after printing. To this end, porous recording elements have been developed which provide nearly instantaneous drying as long as they have sufficient thickness and pore volume to effectively contain the liquid ink. For example, a porous recording element can be manufactured by cast coating, in which a particulate-containing coating is applied to a support and is dried in contact with a polished smooth surface.
When a porous recording element is printed with dye-based inks, the dye molecules penetrate the coating layers. However, there is a problem with such porous recording elements in that the optical densities of images printed thereon are lower than one would like. The lower optical densities are believed to be due to optical scatter which occurs when the dye molecules penetrate too far into the porous layer.
EP 1,002,660 relates to a porous ink jet recording element comprising fine particles, hydrophilic binder and a water-soluble, cationic polymer. However, there is a problem with this element in that the density of an image printed on such an element using a water-soluble cationic polymer is lower than one would like.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,704 relates to a nonporous ink jet recording element comprising cationic polymeric vinyl latex and a hydrophilic polymer. However, there is a problem with this nonporous recording element in that it images printed thereon dry too slowly.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,096,469 relates to an ink jet recording element comprising mesoporous particles dispersed in an organic binder. In column 8, it is disclosed that the organic binder can be a cationic latex polymer “having less than 10 mole percent of a copolymerizable monomer having a tertamino or quaternary ammonium functionality”. However, there is a problem with this element in that the density of an image printed on such an element with a binder having less than 10 mole percent of a cationic mordant functionality is lower than one would like.
It is an object of this invention to provide an ink jet printing method using a porous ink jet recording element that, when printed with dye-based inks, provides superior optical densities, good image quality and has an excellent dry time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This and other objects are achieved in accordance with the invention which comprises an ink jet printing method comprising the steps of:
I) providing an ink jet printer that is responsive to digital data signals;
II) loading the printer with a porous ink jet recording element comprising a support having thereon a porous image-receiving layer comprising:
(a) particles having a mean particle size of from greater than 0.04 &mgr;m to about 5 &mgr;m; and
(b) water insoluble, cationic, polymeric particles comprising at least about 20 mole percent of a cationic mordant moiety;
III) loading the printer with an inkjet ink composition; and
IV) printing on the image-receiving layer using the ink jet ink composition in response to the digital data signals.
By use of the printing method of the invention, a porous ink jet recording element is obtained that provides superior optical densities, good image quality-and has an excellent dry time.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In a preferred embodiment, the (a) particles useful in the invention include alumina, boehmite, hydrated aluminum oxide, clay, calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide, calcined clay, aluminosilicates, silica, barium sulfate, or organic particles such as polymeric beads. Examples of organic particles useful in the invention are disclosed and claimed in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.: 09/458,401, filed Dec. 10, 1999; 09/608,969, filed Jun. 30, 2000; 09/607,417, filed Jun. 30, 2000, 09/608,466 filed Jun. 30, 2000; 09/607,419, filed Jun. 30, 2000; and 9/822,731, filed Mar. 30, 2001; the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The (a) particles may be porous or nonporous. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the particles are inorganic oxides. In another preferred embodiment, the (a) particles have a mean particle size of from about 0.05 &mgr;m to about 1 &mgr;m.
While many types of inorganic and organic particles are manufactured by various methods and commercially available for an image-receiving layer, porosity of the ink-receiving layer is necessary in order to obtain very fast ink drying. The pores formed between the particles must be sufficiently large and interconnected so that the printing ink passes quickly through the layer and away from the outer surface to give the impression of fast drying.
The (b) water insoluble, cationic, polymeric particles comprising at least about 20 mole percent of a cationic mordant moiety useful in the invention can be in the form of a latex, water dispersible polymer, beads, or core/shell particles wherein the core is organic or inorganic and the shell in either case is a cationic polymer. Such particles can be products of addition or condensation polymerization, or a combination of both. They can be linear, branched, hyper-branched, grafted, random, blocked, or can have other polymer microstructures well known to those in the art. They also can be partially crosslinked. Examples of core/shell particles useful in the invention are disclosed and claimed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/772,097, of Lawrence et al., Ink Jet Printing Method, filed Jan. 26, 2001, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Examples of water dispersible particles useful in the invention are disclosed and claimed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/770,128, of Lawrence et al., Ink Jet Printing Method, filed January 26, 2001; and U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/770,127, of Lawrence et al., Ink Jet Printing Method, filed Jan. 26, 2001; the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. In a preferred embodiment, the water insoluble, cationic, polymeric particles comprise at least about 50 mole percent of a cationic mordant moiety.
The (b) water insoluble, cationic, polymeric particles useful in the invention can be derived from nonionic, anionic, or cationic monomers. In a preferred embodiment, combinations of nonionic and cationic monomers are employed. In general, the amount of cationic monomer employed in the combination is at least about 20 mole percent.
The nonionic, anionic, or cationic monomers employed can include neutral, anionic or cationic derivatives of addition polymerizable monomers such as styrenes, alpha-alkylstyrenes, acrylate esters derived from alcohols or phenols, methacrylate esters, vinylimidazoles, vinylpyridines, vinylpyrrolidinones, acrylamides, methacrylamides, vinyl esters derived from straight chain and branched acids (e.g., vinyl acetate), vinyl ethers (e.g., vinyl methyl ether), vinyl nitriles, vinyl ketones, halogen-containing monomers such as vinyl chloride, and olefins, such as butadiene.
The nonionic, anionic, or cationic monomers employed can also include neutral, anionic or cationic derivatives of condensation polymerizable monomers such as those used to prepare polyesters, polyethers, polycarbonates, polyureas and polyurethanes.
The
Baier John M.
Gallo Elizabeth A.
Sadasivan Sridhar
Barlow John
Cole Harold E.
Eastman Kodak Company
Shah Manish S
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