Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Medium and processing means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-31
2004-02-17
Meier, Stephen D. (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Medium and processing means
C347S101000, C428S032100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06692123
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an inkjet printing method using an inkjet recording element containing encapsulated 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, an organic material such as a monohydric alcohol, a polyhydric alcohol or mixtures thereof.
An inkjet 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.
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
Exhibit the ability to 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 inkjet recording media are difficult to achieve simultaneously.
Inkjet 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 typically contain colloidal particulates and have poorer image quality but exhibit superior dry times.
While a wide variety of different types of porous image-recording elements for use with ink jet printing are known, there are many unsolved problems in the art and many deficiencies in the known products which have severely limited their commercial usefulness. A major challenge in the design of a porous image-recording layer is to be able to obtain good quality, crack-free coatings with as little non-particulate matter as possible. If too much non-particulate matter is present, the image-recording layer will not be porous and will exhibit poor ink dry times.
EPA 813,978 A1 relates to an ink jet recording element wherein an ink absorption layer is used comprising fine particles, a hydrophilic binder and oil drops. However, there is a problem with this element in that the oil drops will migrate to the surface and cause changes in the appearance of the image.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,197,381 B1 relates to the production of a recording sheet from a coating composition comprising fine inorganic particles, a hydrophilic binder and a hydrophobic latex having a glass transition temperature of not more than 30° C. However, there is a problem with this recording sheet in that it exhibits poor ink dry times.
Final Program and Proceedings of IS&T NIP14, pp. 150-152, relates to microporous paper having an image-receiving layer comprising inorganic core/organic shell particles. The organic shells are cationic polymers. However, there is no reference to the properties or identities of the cationic polymers.
It is an object of this invention to provide an ink jet printing method employing a porous ink jet recording element that has instant dry time. It is another object of this invention to provide an ink jet printing method employing a porous recording element that has good coating quality, especially reduced cracking. It is another object of this invention to provide an ink jet printing method employing an ink jet recording element that exhibits good image quality.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These and other objects are achieved in accordance with the invention which comprises an inkjet 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 substrate having thereon a porous image-receiving layer comprising
a) inorganic particles encapsulated with an organic polymer having a Tg of less than about 100° C.; and
b) particles having a mean particle size of up to about 5 &mgr;m;
III) loading the printer with an ink jet ink composition; and
IV) printing on the image-receiving layer using the ink jet ink composition in response to the digital data signals.
The ink jet recording element employed in the process of the invention has good coating and image quality.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Any inorganic particle may be used to prepare the (a) encapsulated particles employed in the invention, such as metal oxides, hydrated metal oxides, boehmite, clay, calcined clay, calcium carbonate, aluminosilicates, zeolites or barium sulfate. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the inorganic particles are metal oxides such as silica, available commercially as Nalco® (Nalco Co.), Ludox® (DuPont Corp), Snowtex® (Nissan Chemical Co.), alumina, zirconia or titania. In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the particle size of the inorganic particles is from about 5 nm to about 1000 nm.
The (a) encapsulated particles used in the invention may be prepared in a preferred embodiment by silane coupling chemistry wherein first the surface of the inorganic particles is modified with a silane-containing material, and then one or more monomers is polymerized in the presence of the modified particles. Useful polymerization techniques can be found in “Emulsion Polymerization and Emulsion Polymers”, edited by P. A. Lovell and M. S. El-Aassar, John Wiley and Sons, 1997.
Silane coupling agents useful for the modification of inorganic particles as described above include 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyldiethoxymethylsilane, 3-aminopropyldimethoxymethylsilane, 3-aminopropylethoxydimethylsilane, 3-aminopropylmethoxydimethylsilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl-trimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyl dimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane, 4-aminobutyltriethoxysilane, 4-aminobutyltrimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminoisobutylmethyl-dimethoxysilane, and other silane coupler agents listed in Gelest catalogue, pp. 105-259(1997). Most preferred silane coupling agents for the modification of inorganic colloids used in the invention include 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyl-diethoxymethylsilane, 3-aminopropyldimethoxymethylsilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl-trimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane, N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane.
Another embodiment of the invention relates to preparing the (a) encapsulated particles by polymerizing one or more monomers in the presence of the inorganic particles, without first modifying the surface. Another embodiment relates to preparing these encapsulated particles by adsorbing polymer onto the surface of the inorganic particles. Another embodiment relates to preparing these encapsulated p
Gallo Elizabeth A.
Sadasivan Sridhar
Wang Xiaoru
Cole Harold F.
Konkol Chris P.
Meier Stephen D.
Shah Manish
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