Thermal-transfer recording medium and thermal transfer recording

Details Thermal-transfer recording medium and thermal transfer recording Thermal-transfer recording medium and thermal transfer recording

1998-03-03

1999-10-12

Schwartz, Pamela R.

Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture

Methods

Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor

428195, 4284111, 428480, 428484, 428913, 428914, B41M 526

Patent

active

059649763

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a thermal-transfer recording medium of which thermal-transfer ink layer on the support is transferred to a transfer medium with the help of a heater element such as a thermal head printer so as to form an image and also relates to a thermal-transfer recording method using this. In particular, the present invention is directed to a thermal-transfer recording medium and its thermal-transfer recording method whereby ink can be well transferred to a transfer medium such as plastic film etc. and the transferred image is excellent in resistance to mechanical abrasion, and wherein, when plural colors of thermal-transfer inks are printed in layers, the layers of the thermal transfer inks are highly transmissible to light, forming a well-ordered laminar structure and hence presenting excellent color reproduction.


BACKGROUND ART

Thermal-transfer recording methods using thermal heads have become widely used for a variety of utilities such as label printers, ticket venders, word processors etc. As the use has spread, the usage environment of the prints has become more severe than the environment under which they were conventionally used.
Further, as the usage environment of the prints has become more severe, types of transfer media used have diversified from paper as conventionally used to plastic films etc. which have less dependence on the environment. When the transfer material is atypical, conventional ribbons having a thermal-transfer ink composition mainly composed of waxes cannot provide satisfactory transfer of ink or the print tends to easily rub off due to a slight abrasion even after successful transfer, so that the print cannot provide satisfactory mechanical resistance to abrasion.
In particular, in the field of printed matter needing high-quality, posters, billboards etc., there are strict constraints on the reproducibility of colors and color unevenness of the transfer material, and no conventional thermal transfer ribbons can satisfy these requirements.
Further, concerning the conventional thermal transfer ribbons, in the case where color representation is made by repeated transfer operations of thermal-transfer ink layers onto the same transfer medium and when two or more repeated printings are made, the composition of the previously printed transfer ink layer will melt from heat from the thermal head when it makes a repeated printing operation because the viscosity of the conventional thermal transfer ink at the softening point or at the melting point is low. This melting causes color unevenness due to ink mixing and ink repellence, and deficiency in transfer itself in the worst case.
The countermeasures against these problems needed delicate mechanical and electrical controls as being effected by impregnating all the inks which are transferred multiple times into paper as transfer medium so as to produce a mixed state of inks for representation of colors, or by lowering the transfer energy on the printer side depending on the number of repetitions of transfer, i.e., the first, the second and the third, so as to maintain the transferability in a good state.
There has been another attempt in which in accordance with the number of repetitions of transfer and the order of transfer, the softening temperatures of the ink layers to be transferred are differentiated so as to attain both good transfer performance and reproducibility of colors.
These countermeasures are effective in the case where the transfer media is composed of a material such as paper and the like, but cannot exhibit satisfactory effects for materials being less absorptive such as a plastic base etc., during transfer of thermal transfer ink.
As stated above, the environment under which the thermally transferred prints produced by using thermal heads has become more severe than the environment under which the prints were conventionally used. Examples include use under severe room temperatures and use under an environment in which the prints are mechanically abraded.
Because of this tende

REFERENCES:
patent: 5049903 (1991-09-01), Suzuki
Derwent Publications Ltd., London, GB; Class A14, AN 88-164780 XP002087821 & JP 63 102985 A (Toshiba KK), May 7, 1988 (abstract).

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