Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Medium and processing means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-28
2002-04-16
Barlow, John (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Medium and processing means
C347S100000, C347S105000, C347S106000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06371610
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to ink-jet printing method and ink-jet printed cloth, and more particularly to an ink-jet printing method suited to the production of printed cloth for use in applications such as large-sized screens, banners and displays requiring to be resistant to water and weather, and ink-jet printed cloth produced by said method.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, paper, resin film and other similar materials have been used as printing sheets for advertisements, PR and decorations. When used for such purposes, paper has an advantage in providing full-color brilliant images, but has the disadvantages of low strength with poor resistance to tear and crease, as well as low water resistance, presenting a problem of limiting its use to indoor applications such as copying and printing paper unless it is processed somehow for improvement of its such physical properties.
Film may be used for similar purposes, whether indoors or outdoors, but when used outdoors, it has a problem with its structure, causing it to undergo direct influence of wind. In addition, as in the case of paper, it has the disadvantages of poor resistance to crease, tear and scratch, causing it to fail to be good for practical use.
In the meantime, ink-jet printing technology for cloth has recently made such great progress as to produce large-size full-color images, attracting wide attention from the business circles involved in advertisements, PR and decorations.
Under these circumstances, there has been increased demand for printed cloth for use in applications such as large-sized screens, banners and displays requiring color brilliancy and water/weather resistance.
Notwithstanding the above, the production of printed cloth, generally consisting of application of coloring material (dyes, pigments or inks) onto cloth (by various methods including ink-jet printing method), fixation of the coloring material into the cloth for color development, washing of the cloth for removal of any unfixed coloring material, its drying and finishing, has conventionally involved such a long and complicated process, presenting the problem that it cannot be produced in a short time at a low cost. To solve this problem, various attempts have been made at simplifying or reducing the production process by omitting some of the steps involved in it, especially the washing step imposing large loads on it such as labor, time, water and heat.
However, the washing step is indispensable to the production process, especially in order to provide the printed cloth with high color fastness and color brilliancy. The omission of this step from the production process causes the cloth to be finished with incomplete removal of the ink holding agent and/or unfixed coloring materials left on it, which, when exposed to water, migrate, creating problems such as bleeding.
In order to solve these problems, JP-A-60-75692 discloses the use of a disperse dye containing a dispersing agent at a concentration of 1 to 40% relative to its coloring ingredient and JP-A-60-75693 discloses the use of a dye dissolving liquid mainly composed of organic solvent ranging in boiling point from 40 to 160° C. for dyeing cloth without washing process. However, these dyeing methods have problems with the dye dispersion and dissolution, respectively, causing them to fail to come into practical use. A similar dyeing method is also disclosed in JP-A-61-31469 in which a disperse dye containing dye dispersing and water repelling agents at a concentration of 5 to 50% relative to its coloring ingredient is used. However, this dyeing method involves a problem of non-uniform distribution of the water repelling agent over the cloth, which causes the ink to fail to penetrate into it uniformly with resultant unevenness of its dyeing, preventing it from being obtained as marketable printed goods.
To solve this problem, JP-A-4-270679 discloses a method involving the coating of cloth with a urethane resin followed by coagulation in water.
However, this method only provides cloth with the same level of color brilliancy and water resistance as obtained with the conventional methods, and is far from coming into practical use in such applications as require cloth-specific feel and strength.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an ink-jet printing method of applying an ink containing dyes onto cloth without need for a subsequent step of washing the cloth to produce printed cloth excellent in water-, weather- and abrasion-resistance and dye-specific color brilliancy as well as soft to the touch, and ink-jet printed cloth produced by said method.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With the above object in view, the present invention has the methods described below and set forth in the claims hereto appended:
Firstly, the present invention resides in an ink-jet printing method of applying an ink containing dyes onto cloth, which comprises treating cloth with an ink acceptor solution containing an ink holding agent and a synthetic resin having a glass transition temperature ranging from 60 to 150° C., subjecting the treated cloth to ink-jet printing and then subjecting the printed cloth to a wet-heat treatment.
Secondly, the present invention resides in the method mentioned above, in which said synthetic resin is at least one polymer selected from polyacrylic acid, polymethyl methacrylate, polystyrene, polyacrylonitrile, and polyvinyl acetate.
Thirdly, the present invention resides in the method mentioned above, in which said wet-heat treatment is performed at a temperature of 150 to 190° C.
Fourthly, the present invention is ink-jet printed cloth produced by the ink-jet printing method described in the method mentioned above.
PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail as follows:
The ink holding agents referred to in the present invention include carboxymethylcellulose, sodium alginate, guar gum, locust bean gum, gum Arabic, crystal gum, methylcellulose, polyacrylamide, starch, sodium polyacrylate, sodium polystyrene sulfonate, hydroxyethylcellulose, polyvinyl alcohol and other water-soluble polymers. Among them, however, carboxymethylcellulose or sodium alginate, or a mixture of both is particularly preferable for use in the invention in terms of providing the resultant printed cloth with color depth, high color fastness and brilliancy.
The cloth referred to in the present invention includes any and all types of fabrics such as woven, knitted, non-woven and braided ones. Among them, woven fabric is particularly preferable for use in the invention.
The material of which the cloth is composed includes polyester such as polyethylene terephthalate and polybutylene terephthalate, polyamide such as nylon, wool and silk, cellulose such as cotton and rayon, and acetate, and blends thereof. Among them, polyester is particularly preferable for use in the invention because it is excellent in structural strength (such as directionality, stretching property, compressibility and dimensional stability), mechanical strength (tensile strength, elongation resistance, tear strength, rupture strength and impact strength) and endurance strength (such as abrasion resistance, fatigue resistance, heat resistance, chemical resistance and mildew resistance).
The synthetic resin ranging in glass transition temperature from 60 to 150° C. referred to in the present invention includes polymethyl methacrylate, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyacrylonitrile, polyacylic acid, acrylonitrile-styrene resin, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin, methyl methacrylate-styrene copolymer, polyvinyl acetate and poly(meth) acrylate. Among then, synthetic resin ranging in glass transition temperature from 70 to 130° C. is preferable for use in the invention. More preferable for this purpose is synthetic resin ranging in glass transition temperature from 80 to 110° C., which can be used individually or as a mixture thereof.
The use of synthetic resin, the glass transition temperature of which
Nakamura Syungaku
Nomura Akiyo
Oobayashi Naohiro
Dilworth & Barrese LLP
Seiren Co., Ltd.
Stewart Jr. Charles W.
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