Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Patent
1985-01-16
1987-09-08
Ball, Michael
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
156240, 156249, 156267, 428914, 8468, B44C 117, B32B 3100, D06P 102
Patent
active
046921982
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a method of printing a pattern on a surface receptive to sublimation printing, in which the pattern cut or punched in mirror-reversed form from a carrier foil provided with sublimation dye is caused to contact the surface by means of an auxiliary carrier and is heated for the transfer of the pattern to the surface. The term "pattern" as used herein includes arbitrary shapes, such as letters, numbers, symbols, ornaments and the like.
A method of this type is described in the German Patent Specification No. 2,847,702, according to which a mounting adhesive, provided with a cover foil of silicon paper, is applied to the back of the carrier foil.
According to this patent specification, the desired pattern is cut or punched in mirror-reversed form from the cover foil. After removal of the carrier foil the pattern is manually placed mirror-reversed on a separate auxiliary carrier, which may e.g. be a sheet of paper, by means of the mounting adhesive. If the pattern is composed of several characters, these are placed one by one on the auxiliary carrier in the desired configuration or with the desired spacing. Then the auxiliary carrier with the applied pattern is contacted with the surface to which the pattern is to be transferred and is heated conventionally, e.g. by means of an iron so that the dye sublimes into the surface.
This method lends itself to the transfer of individual characters, but is cumbersome in case of composite patterns, such as sign legends and the like, because the characters forming the legends in mirror-reversed form on the auxiliary carrier are to be placed manually with great care.
The method of the above-mentioned patent specification moreover shares a drawback with other methods based on heat transfer of sublimation dye, viz. frequent formation of shadows on the surface to be decorated because the carrier with the applied pattern is not in complete contact with the surface.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method which is not vitiated by these drawbacks and which thus ensures perfect contact to the surface and obviates the previously necessary intermediate manual transfer of characters to an auxiliary carrier, and which moreover enables transfer of both positive and negative patterns composed of several characters.
This is achieved by the method of the invention which is characterized in that
(a) the back of the carrier foil provided with sublimation dye is caused to adhesively contact an auxiliary carrier by means of an adhesive of greater adhesiveness to the auxiliary carrier than to the carrier foil,
(b) the pattern to be transferred is cut or punched in mirror-reversed form in the carrier foil without cutting through the auxiliary carrier,
(c) excess carrier foil is released from the auxiliary carrier, and
(d) the auxiliary carrier with the applied positive or negative cut or punched pattern is caused to adhesively contact the surface, is pressed and heated.
The invention also relates to a sublimation foil with an auxiliary carrier for use in this method, said sublimation foil being characterized in that it consists of a carrier foil of paper or plastics whose front is provided with a layer of sublimation dye and whose back is provided with an auxiliary carrier by means of an adhesive of greater adhesiveness to the auxiliary carrier.
The method of the invention enables decoration of surfaces of all possible materials receptive to sublimation dyes and capable of resisting the heating which is necessary for the sublimation and which depends upon the sublimation temperature (range) of the selected dye, in particular. Examples of such materials include
(1) textiles of synthetic and/or natural fibres optionally treated to ensure the required heat stability,
(2) thermoplastic materials, such as polystyren, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, vinyl chloride or vinyl acetate copolymers, styrene butadiene copolymers or ABS polymers, polyamides, acrylic polymers, such as polyacrylonitrile and polyacrylates, polyesters, polyuret
REFERENCES:
patent: 4078886 (1978-03-01), De Fago et al.
patent: 4115412 (1978-09-01), Hohmann et al.
patent: 4379017 (1983-04-01), Barta
patent: 4604153 (1986-08-01), Melbye
A/S Modulex
Ball Michael
Falasco Louis
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