Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Medium and processing means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-12
2003-03-04
Barlow, John (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Medium and processing means
C428S195100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06527388
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ink jet printing method using an ink jet recording element containing a mixture of various particles.
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.
There are generally two types of ink-receiving layers (IRL's). The first type of IRL comprises a non-porous coating of a polymer with a high capacity for swelling and absorbing ink by molecular diffusion. Cationic or anionic substances are added to the coating to serve as a dye fixing agent or mordant for the cationic or anionic dye. This coating is optically transparent and very smooth, leading to a high glossy “photo-grade” receiver. The second type of IRL comprises a porous coating of inorganic, polymeric, or organic-inorganic composite particles, a polymeric binder, and additives such as dye-fixing agents or mordants. These particles can vary in chemical composition, size, shape, and intra-particle porosity. In this case, the printing liquid is absorbed into the open pores of the IRL to obtain a print that is instantaneously dry to the touch.
A porous IRL that is glossy usually contains at least two layers: a base layer, and a glossy image-receiving layer. When coated on plain paper, the base layer is laid down underneath the glossy image-receiving layer. In order to provide a smooth, glossy surface on the image-receiving layer, special coating processes are often utilized, such as cast coating and film transfer coating. Calendering with heat and pressure is also used in combination with conventional blade or rod, or air-knife coating on plain paper to produce gloss on the image-receiving layer.
While glossy porous IRL's have the ability to absorb high concentrations of ink instantly, they suffer from image fastness problems, such as fading due to exposure to radiation by daylight, tungsten light, fluorescent light, or ozone, as described by D. E. Bugner and C. Suminski, “Filtration and Reciprocity Effects on the Fade Rate of Inkjet Photographic Prints”, Proceedings of IS&T's NIP16: International Conference on Digital Printing Technologies, Vancouver, B C, October 2000. It is believed that the poor image fastness may be attributed to the greater permeability of the porous IRL's to oxygen and/other airborne reactants such as ozone.
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.
It is an object of this invention to provide an inkjet printing method employing a glossy ink jet recording element that provides good surface gloss, fast drying time, and excellent image fastness.
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
A) providing an ink jet printer that is responsive to digital data signals;
B) loading the printer with ink jet recording element comprising a support having thereon in order:
(I) a base layer comprising at least about 50% by weight of inorganic particles; and
(II) an image-receiving layer comprising:
a) colloidal, inorganic oxide particles having a mean particle size of from about 10 to about 500 nm; and
(b) water-insoluble, cationic, polymeric particles having a benzyldimethyl benzylammonium moiety;
C) loading the printer with an ink jet ink composition; and
D) printing on the image-receiving layer using the ink jet ink By use of the invention, a recording element is obtained that has good gloss, fast drying time and excellent image fastness.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
As noted above, the base layer contains at least about 50% by weight of inorganic particles. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the base layer contains at least about 70% by weight of inorganic particles. In another preferred embodiment, the inorganic particles in the base layer comprise calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, kaolin, clay, talc, calcium sulfate, barium sulfate, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, zinc hydroxide, zinc carbonate, aluminum silicate, calcium silicate, magnesium silicate, synthetic amorphous silica, fumed silica, colloidal silica, silica gel, aluminum gel, fumed alumina, colloidal alumina, pseudo-boehmite, or zeolite. In another preferred embodiment, these inorganic particles in the base layer have an anionic surface charge. In yet another preferred embodiment, these inorganic particles in the base layer have a mean particle size of from about 100 nm to about 5 &mgr;m.
In still another preferred embodiment, the base layer contains a binder such as a polymeric material and/or a latex material, such as poly(vinyl alcohol) and/or styrene-butadiene latex. In still another preferred embodiment, the binder in the base layer is present in an amount of from about 5 to about 20 weight %. In still another preferred embodiment, the thickness of the base layer may range from about 5 &mgr;m to about 50 &mgr;m, preferably from about 20 to about 40 &mgr;m.
Examples of colloidal, inorganic oxide particles useful in the invention include alumina, boehmite, clay, calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide, calcined clay, aluminosilicates, silica, barium sulfate, or polymeric beads. The particles may be porous or nonporous. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the particles are metallic oxides, preferably fumed. In another preferred embodiment, the colloidal, inorganic oxide particles are fumed alumina, fumed silica, silica or hydrous aluminum oxide. Fumed oxides are available in dry form or as dispersions of the aggregates. In another preferred embodiment, the colloidal, inorganic oxide particles have a mean particle size of from about 50 to about 200 nm.
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. At the same time, the particles must be arranged in such a way so that the pores formed between them are sufficiently small so that they do not scatter visible light.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the image-receiving layer also contains a polymeric binder in an amount insufficient to alter the porosity of the porous receiving layer. In another preferred embodiment, the polymeric binder is a hydrophilic polymer such as poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone), gelatin, cellulose ethers, poly(oxazolines), poly(vinylacetamides), partially hydrolyzed poly(vinyl acetate/vinyl alcohol), poly(acrylic acid), poly(acrylamide), poly(alkylene oxide), sulfonated or phosphated
Chu Lixin
Nicholas Thomas P.
Sadasivan Sridhar
Shaw-Klein Lori J.
Wang Yongcai
Barlow John
Cole Harold E.
Eastman Kodak Company
Shah Manish S.
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