Liquid composition, ink set for ink-jet recording, ink-jet...

Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means

Reexamination Certificate

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C347S100000, C347S101000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06533406

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid composition, an ink set for ink-jet recording, an ink-jet recording process, a recording unit and an ink-jet recording apparatus, and more particularly to a liquid composition and an ink set for ink-jet recording, which can form images with reduced bleeding and excellent in water fastness, and an ink-jet recording process, a recording unit and an ink-jet recording apparatus using either one of these composition and ink set.
2. Related Background Art
An ink-jet recording method is a recording method of low noise and nonimpact that an ink is directly ejected on a recording medium to record an image. This method is easy to reduce running cost, miniaturize an apparatus and form color images because no complicated apparatus is required upon practice thereof. Therefore, recording apparatus such as printers, copying machines, facsimiles and word processors, to which the ink-jet recording method is applied, have heretofore been put to practical use. Color ink-jet recording apparatus have also been put to practical use for forming multi-color images with a black ink and color ink(s) (for example, at least one color ink selected from yellow, cyan, magenta, red, green and blue inks) using such an ink-jet recording technique.
On the other hand, image formation by the ink-jet recording method involves a problem that there occurs a phenomenon (bleeding) that when two inks of different kinds are applied adjoiningly on a recording medium, the inks are mixed with each other at boundaries between them, and so the quality of a color image formed is deteriorated. In particular, color mixing at boundaries between a black ink and a color ink greatly affects deterioration of image quality, so that various solving methods have been developed.
A representative solving method is an ink set and a recording method having a mechanism that when two inks are applied adjoiningly on a recording medium, viscosity increase of at least one ink or aggregation or precipitation of at least one ink is caused to prevent bleeding.
As described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-202328, U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,023 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-106841, there have been disclosed techniques for controlling color bleeding by using a first liquid containing a precipitant and a second liquids containing a coloring material capable of forming precipitate by the precipitant in combination. Polyvalent metal salts are disclosed as the precipitant, and dyes having at least one carboxyl group, and the like are disclosed as the coloring materials capable of precipitating by the polyvalent metal salts. The first liquid may contain a coloring material. In this case, the first liquid may also be used as an ink. However, all these polyvalent metal salts use a Cl

, NO
3

, I

, Br

, ClO
3

or CH
3
COO

ion as an anion in the polyvalent metal salts. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-136337 discloses, as precipitants, metal-coordinated compounds with a polyvalent metal ion coordinated in a compound having a ligand in addition to the above-described polyvalent metal salts.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present inventors have carried out an extensive investigation with a view toward improving bleeding. As a result, it has been found that when a first liquid containing a polyvalent metal salt of a polyol phosphate and a second liquid containing a coloring material capable of reacting with the polyvalent metal salt of the polyol phosphate are used in combination, and these liquids are applied onto a recording medium so as to form a contact state, the coloring material reacts with the polyvalent metal ion to lessen occurrence of bleeding. The term “reaction” as used in the present invention means to cause aggregation, precipitation or viscosity increase of the second liquid and also includes a reaction after these liquids penetrate into the recording medium. It has been further found that the polyvalent metal salt of the polyol phosphate is excellent in solubility in an ink, can be effectively utilized as a component of the ink and is very safe against the human body. It has also been confirmed that water fastness of the resulting image is improved when the first liquid and second liquid are applied so as to overlap each other.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a liquid composition which can alleviate occurrence of bleeding when used in an ink-jet recording method together with an color ink and can form high-quality images improved in water fastness.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink set which can form high-quality images lessened in occurrence of bleeding and having excellent water fastness.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an ink-jet recording process which can form images having good water fastness.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an ink-jet recording process which can form color images in which bleeding at a boundary region between adjacent inks of different colors is alleviated.
A yet still further object of the present invention is to provide an ink-jet recording apparatus which can be suitably used in the formation of color images lessened in occurrence of bleeding and images having good water fastness.
A yet still further object of the present invention is to provide a recording unit which can be suitably used in the ink-jet recording apparatus.
The above objects can be achieved by the present invention described below.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is thus provided a liquid composition for ink-jet recording which is used together with a color ink and reacts with the color ink when it comes into contact with the color ink, which comprises a polyvalent metal salt of a polyol phosphate and a liquid medium.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is also provided an ink-jet recording process, comprising the steps of:
(i) applying energy to the liquid composition described above to eject it toward a recording medium;
(ii) applying energy to a color ink to eject it toward a recording medium; and
(iii) forming a contact state of the liquid composition with the color ink on the recording medium.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is further provided an ink set for ink-jet recording, comprising
(1) the liquid composition described above, and
(2) a color ink which comprises a coloring material and a liquid medium and reacts with the liquid composition by contact with the liquid composition.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is still further provided a recording unit, comprising a liquid composition container portion containing the liquid composition described above, an ink container portion containing a color ink which reacts with the liquid composition, and an ink-jet recording head for ejecting the liquid composition and the color ink by applying energy to the liquid composition and the color ink.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is yet still further provided an ink-jet recording apparatus, comprising a liquid composition container portion containing a liquid composition, an ink container portion containing a color ink which reacts with the liquid composition, and an ink-jet recording head for ejecting the liquid composition and the color ink by applying energy to the liquid composition and the color ink, wherein the liquid composition is the liquid composition described above.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is yet still further provided an ink-jet recording apparatus in which a liquid composition and a color ink are ejected from an ink-jet recording head of a recording unit to conduct recording, wherein the recording unit is the recording unit described above.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is yet still further provided an ink set for ink-jet recordin

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