Record receiver having plural interactive leaves or a colorless – Having plural interactive leaves
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-25
2004-01-27
Hess, Bruce H. (Department: 1774)
Record receiver having plural interactive leaves or a colorless
Having plural interactive leaves
Reexamination Certificate
active
06683026
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a cold peelable image transfer material for the transfer of images to fabrics.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Transfer materials have been available for many years and serve the decoration of goods. Typically they consist of a polymeric or wax film which is formed on a support. An image is printed on the film and subsequently the film is transferred from the support to a substrate usually by applying pressure and/or heat to the back of the support.
FR 2 715 607 B1 describes a method for decorating a substrate with an image which, at first, has been printed on a transfer material. A digital image from a conventional video camera is printed using an ink-jet-printer onto the transfer material which comprises a plastic support and a heat-sensitive adhesive coating onto which the ink is printed. The printed side of the transfer material is placed in contact with the substrate and heat is applied to activate the support. The plastic support can be removed once the adhesion between the coating and the substrate is greater than that between the coating and the plastic support. FR 2 715 607 does not disclose the composition of the coating which accepts the printing ink. However, non-heat-sealable coatings are essentially continuous films deposited from a polymer solution in an organic solvent or water, or from a dispersion of a polymer in water with emulsifiers. WO 98/35840 describes a transfer film for transferring an ink comprising at least one liquid component, the film comprising a porous matrix of particles of a heat activatable adhesive bound together by an absorber, the absorber being at least partly soluble in the said liquid component within the porous matrix, and the absorber preferable being within the pores of the porous matrix. The absorber has the double function of binding the matrix of heat activatable adhesive and at least partially absorbing the liquid component of the ink.
The absorber is a water soluble or hydrophilic absorber, i.e. an acrylate copolymer, a cellulose ether and/or a polyvinyl pyrrolidone. However, the printed image on the transfer material of WO 98/35840 shows a grainy performance.
WO 98/02314 relates to a recording material for ink-jet printing, that comprises at least one temporary sheet-like material, a siliconized paper for example, and a porous recording layer which is arranged thereon and capable of being transformed into a film by the action of heat. Between the ink-recording layer and the substrate additional layers may be included such as an interface and an intermediate layer. On the intermediate layer which is a plastic film a partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol may be applied as an adhesive. After printing an image by ink-jet printing and forming a film the support is removed and the film transferred to a textile material.
One problem of the image transfer to textiles is that the image or the pigments which are present in the image layer tend to sink or to migrate into the textile material or adjacent layers arranged on the textile material. The decrease in pigment content in the image layer results in a decrease of the image quality. A further problem is that the polymers of the image layer penetrate into the textile material thereby reducing image quality. The sinking of image and polymers into the textile is particularly a problem when images are transferred to dark permanent supports due to the lack of contrast between the image and the background as compared with white fabrics.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved image transfer material which does not show the above-mentioned disadvantages. The improved printable transfer material shall provide high color density, even image quality, in particular, on dark permanent carriers such as textile fabrics, good adhesion on the permanent carrier and high flexibility of the image bearing layer on the permanent carrier as well as durability of the image after multiple washings.
These and other objects are achieved with a laser printable image transfer material comprising a siliconized support, an adhesive polymer containing layer applied on the support and an image receiving layer arranged on the polymer layer, said adhesive polymer containing layer being substantially free of pigment and cold-peelable from the siliconized support, said image receiving layer comprising solid particles, a binder mixture of a high elastic, film forming first binder polymer and a second binder polymer or binder polymer mixture that comprises ethylene vinyl acetate and vinyl alcohol units.
Still further, the invention refers to a fabric onto which an image was transferred from the aforementioned laser printable image transfer material of the invention. The fabric can be any textile such as a shirt, sweat shirt, T-shirt or canvas bag.
Surprisingly, it was found that an excellent particle hold out on textile fabrics is achieved by the composition of the image layer. This means particles such as pigments are prevented from sinking into the fabric or adjacent layers. Without being bound to a certain theory it is assumed that low amounts of the polyvinyl alcohol being part of the binder polymer or being present in addition to such a binder polymer keep the image on the surface of the fabric in the image layer.
It was found that polyvinyl alcohol together with the first binder was not suited. The layer was too brittle and cracks readily. The water fastness of the product was also very poor. Many resins were examined but the desired hold out effect was only achieved by the teaching of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The adhesive polymer containing layer of the present invention is substantially free or completely free of pigments. This layer functions as a hot-melt adhesive layer. Its tackiness keeps the image layer on the textile fabric. The polymer layer is capable of being cold-peeled from the siliconized support. The 90° peel force required for the remove of the adhesive polymer layer from the support can be adjusted in the range of from 0.55 to 1.00 g/mm. The coating weight of the adhesive polymer containing layer may amount to 15 to 50 g/m
2
, preferably about 20 to 35 g/m
2
.
The polymer layer which can be applied directly on the support preferably comprises a thermoplastic resin that can be extruded onto the support. This resin may be a homo polymer or a copolymer. Preferably, this resin is a copolymer that consists essentially of a low density polyethylene (LDPE) and an ethylene acrylic acid (EAA). The LDPE content may amount to 75 to 97%, preferably 80 to 87% by weight. The EAA content may amount to 3 to 25%, preferably 9 to 20% by weight. According to a particular preferred embodiment of the invention this resin comprises about 80% by weight LDPE and about 20% by weight EAA. This copolymer may have a Vicat softening temperature in the range of 37 to 46° C., preferably 40 to 43° C.
The adhesive polymer containing layer may contain additional additives such as wetting agents, slip additives, anti-blocking agents, anti-static agents and denesting agents.
The image receiving layer includes at least two binders plus vinyl alcohol units. The first binder forms a highly flexibly film. The amount of this polymeric binder in the image receiving layer is from 30 to 45%, preferably from 33 to 40% by weight. The film forming first binder polymer is preferably an aliphatic polyester polyurethane. This polymer may be used as a dispersion. The first binder polymer should have a low vicat softening point according to ASTM D 1525-98. Preferably the Vicat softening point is less than 125° C., most preferably 55 to 65° C. determined according to ASTM D 1525-98. According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention the first binder polymer provides a film with an elongation at break of from 500 to 1,200, preferably greater than 1,000.
Preferably the second binder polymer is an ethylene vinyl acetate resin. This resin composition includes a small amount of polyvinyl alcohol units. A small amount of pol
Nellis James A.
Storfer-Isser Nathan I.
Amster Rothstein & Ebenstein LLP
Felix Schoeller Technical Papers Inc.
Hess Bruce H.
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