Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Structurally defined web or sheet – Discontinuous or differential coating – impregnation or bond
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-02
2003-04-29
Hess, Bruce H. (Department: 1774)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Structurally defined web or sheet
Discontinuous or differential coating, impregnation or bond
C427S146000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06555207
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ink-jet recording material characterized by its rough texture. More specifically, the invention is concerned with a recording material that is rough in texture and highly suitable for ink-jet recording methods using pigment ink as well as dye ink.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The ink-jet recording method is a recording method of forming ink images on a recording material by directing jets of ink drops at the recording material by the use of various techniques. This recording method enables high-speed and full-color printing to be easily achieved with a low noise level. In recent years, therefore, the utilization of ink-jet recording method has been spreading at a rapid rate.
In the field of ink-jet recording, it has so far been preferred to use recording sheets having high smoothness, and so the recording sheets hitherto developed have high smoothness and glossiness comparable to those of photographic paper used for silver-salt photography. On the other hand, as in the cases of oil paintings, watercolor paintings and Japanese-style paintings and calligraphic works, images are drawn or painted on recording materials having low glossiness and rough texture (such as drawing paper, high-quality paperboard and Japanese writing paper), and thereby they can create their individual textures and tastes. However, it was impossible to reproduce such images by ink-jet recording processes without spoiling their original textures and tastes so far as highly smooth recording sheets hitherto developed were used.
The ink used for an ink-jet recording method generally contains a large amount of solvent, and so the recording materials to undergo ink-jet recording are required to have high ink absorbency. For imparting high ink absorbency to recording materials, it has commonly been carried out to provide an ink-absorbing layer on a support. When the support used is a recording material having a rough texture, such as drawing paper, high-quality paperboard or Japanese writing paper, and an ink-receiving layer having a sufficient ink absorption is provided thereon, the features of such a support material, inclusive of a rough texture and a low smoothness, are lost. Therefore, the recording material provided with such an ink-receiving layer has a problem of being unsuitable for the purpose of reproducing originals having a rough texture, such as oil paintings, watercolor paintings, Japanese-style paintings and calligraphic works.
In many cases, such originals as oil paintings, watercolor paintings, Japanese-style paintings and calligraphic works are displayed for interior or exterior decoration. Therefore, when it is aimed to reproduce paintings of the foregoing types and calligraphic works by the ink-jet recording process, recording materials are required to ensure not only high-density colors and excellent color reproduction but also high resistance to light and water in the images recorded.
In full-color inkjet recording, clear images are obtained mainly by the use of the so-called dye ink, which comprises at least three kinds of ink prepared by dissolving dyes of different colors in separate portions of a solvent respectively. This is because dyes used for the ink are superior in point of color reproduction. However, the dye ink has a problem with light resistance and water resistance. On the other hand, the so-called pigment ink lately introduced on the market comprises at least three kinds of ink prepared by dispersing minute-size pigments of different colors as main coloring ingredients into separate portions of a water-based solvent respectively, and so it is superior to the dye ink in light resistance and water resistance, but inferior in color reproduction. In particular, when the printing with pigment ink is made on traditional high-quality recording materials designed placing importance on ink absorption, satisfactory color reproduction cannot be made on such recording materials. Such being the case, it has been wished to develop recording materials capable of delivering both excellent color reproduction and high ink absorption when the pigment ink is used in inkjet recording.
For instance, in compliance with such a wish, Japanese Tokkai Hei 10-119417 (the term “Tokkai” as used herein means an “unexamined published patent application”) proposes providing a layer capable of swelling in ink by containing a water-soluble resin on an ink penetration layer containing an inorganic filler. However, such an ink-swellable layer is slow in ink drying speed and tends to cause bleeding of ink dots, and so it has an image formation problem. In addition, multiply paper is disclosed as drawing paper in Japanese Tokkai Hei 9-143900, but the images printed thereon with pigment ink have insufficient color reproduction.
So we have been made intensive studies on recording materials suitable for reproducing paintings having a rough texture and calligraphic works of Japanese style by ink-jet recording processes. As a result, it has been found that good results can be obtained when an ink-receiving layer having a specified surface roughness and smoothness is provided on a base paper having certain surface roughness and smoothness, thereby achieving the invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the invention is therefore to provide a recording material having a rough texture which can impart the appearance and feel similar to those of oil paintings, watercolor paintings or Japanese-style paintings and calligraphic works to the images reproduced thereon by an ink-jet recording process.
A second object of the invention is to provide an ink-jet recording material which, when full-color printing is done thereon with an ink-jet printer using at least three kinds of ink containing pigments different in color as their respective main coloring ingredients, can absorb the ink in a satisfactory condition, can ensure high resistance to light and water, high color densities and excellent color reproduction in the color images printed, and besides, has suitability for formation of rough-texture images like paintings of various styles and Japanese-style calligraphic works.
The aforementioned objects are attained with an ink-jet recording material having on at least one surface of a base paper at least one ink-receiving layer comprising pigment and binder, with the ink-receiving layer having surface roughness parameters (a), (b) and (c) specified below and an Oken-type smoothness of at most 30 seconds when determined according to Japan TAPPI No. 5:
(a) a surface roughness of at least 9.0 &mgr;m, measured with a PARKER PRINT-SURF measurement device (abbreviated as “PPS” hereinafter) under a soft packing condition of 5 kgf/cm
2
according to ISO 8791-4:1992,
(b) a surface roughness of at least 7.0 &mgr;m, measured with PPS under a soft packing condition of 10 kgf/cm
2
according to ISO 8791-4:1992, and
(c) a center-line average roughness (Ra) of at least 3.0 &mgr;m, measured with a stylus-type roughness tester according to JIS B0651.
It is preferable for the foregoing ink-receiving layer to be formed by applying to a base paper a coating composition having a solids concentration of at most 25 weight % and a viscosity of at least 1,000 mPa·s, measured with a Brookfield type viscometer (abbreviated as “B-type viscometer” hereinafter). In particular, it is advantageous to use a base paper having a surface roughness of at least 9.0 &mgr;m when measured with PPS under a soft packing condition of 5 kgf/cm
2
, a surface roughness of at least 7.0 &mgr;m when measured with PPS under a soft packing condition of 10 kgf/cm
2
, a center-line average roughness of at least 3. 0 &mgr;m and an Oken-type smoothness of at most 30 seconds.
By incorporating a water-soluble metal salt in the ink-receiving layer in an amount of 0.5 to 10 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of pigment, the present recording material can provide satisfactory ink absorption and excellent color reproduction, especially in the ink-jet recording with pigment ink. When the water-soluble salt incorpo
Kondo Noboru
Onishi Hiroyuki
Ono Atsushi
Otani Teiichi
Shibatani Masaya
Hess Bruce H.
Millen White Zelano & Branigan P.C.
Nippon Paper Industries Co. Ltd.
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