Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Ink jet stock for printing
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-04
2004-01-13
Schwartz, Pamela R. (Department: 1774)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Ink jet stock for printing
C428S032170, C428S032340, C428S032380
Reexamination Certificate
active
06677004
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an inkjet recording element. More particularly, this invention relates to a porous ink jet recording element containing porous polymeric 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 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 inkjet 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.
A problem with known inkjet recording elements that employ a porous single layer or multilayer coatings that act as suitable image-receiving layer(s) is dye stability during storage. In particular, dyes printed onto an inkjet receiver element tend to fade due to exposure to ozone which is present in the atmosphere.
Another problem with inkjet recording elements that employ a porous single layer or multilayer coatings that act as suitable image-receiving layer(s) is image stability under high humidity storage conditions. In particular, dyes tend to migrate through the image receiving layer during storage since the dye image receiving layer is hydrophilic and tends to absorb water from the atmosphere.
Japanese Kokai 2000-203154 relates to an inkjet recording sheet containing cationic porous particles in an ink recording layer. However, there is a problem with this element in that it the inks printed thereon have poor stability in the presence of ozone.
It is an object of this invention to provide an ink jet recording element that has a fast ink dry time. It is another object of this invention to provide an inkjet recording element that has good stability when exposed to ozone and high humidity conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These and other objects are achieved in accordance with the invention which comprises an inkjet recording element comprising a support having thereon an image-receiving layer comprising porous polymeric particles in a polymeric binder, the porous polymeric particles being prepared in the presence of an anionic or cationic dispersant, and the image-receiving layer containing a surfactant having a charge opposite to that of the dispersant used to make the porous polymeric particles, the surfactant being present in an amount from about 0.04 parts to about 0.30 parts by weight of the dispersant.
By use of the invention, an ink jet recording element is obtained which has a good dry time and good stability when exposed to ozone and high humidity conditions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The support used in the inkjet recording element of the invention may be opaque, translucent, or transparent. There may be used, for example, plain papers, resin-coated papers, various 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, and the like. In a preferred embodiment, the support is paper or a voided plastic material. 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 porous polymeric particles which are used in the invention are in the form of porous beads, porous irregularly shaped particles, or are aggregates of emulsion particles.
Suitable 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 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-a-chloroacrylate, methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate; and mixtures thereof. In another preferred embodiment, methyl methacrylate or ethylene glycol dimethacrylate is used.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the porous polymeric particles are crosslinked. They may have a degree of crosslinking of about 27 mole % or greater, preferably about 50 mole %, and most preferably about 100 mole %. The degree of crosslinking is determined by the mole % of multifunctional crosslinking monomer which is incorporated into the porous polymeric particles.
Typical crosslinking monomers which may be used in making the porous polymeric particles employed in the invention 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
Kaeding Jeanne E.
Merkel Paul B.
Missell Gregory E.
Smith Dennis E.
Cole Harold E.
Eastman Kodak Company
Konkol Chris P.
Schwartz Pamela R.
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