Aqueous pigment ink composition, inkjet ink and ink set

Abstract

The aqueous pigment ink composition includes: a pigment; and a block polymer containing at least one type of hydrophilic block and at least one type of hydrophobic block, wherein: an average Stokes diameter of dispersed particles including the pigment and the block polymer is in a range of 30 nm to 100 nm; and a total content of metal in the aqueous pigment ink composition is not more than 100 ppm with respect to the pigment.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The nature of this invention, as well as other objects and advantages thereof, will be explained in the following with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a table for explaining examples of the present invention.

Claims

1. An aqueous pigment ink composition comprising: a pigment; anda block polymer containing at least one type of hydrophilic block and at least one type of hydrophobic block, wherein:an average Stokes diameter of dispersed particles including the pigment and the block polymer is in a range of 30 nm to 100 nm; anda total content of metal in the aqueous pigment ink composition is not more than 100 ppm with respect to the pigment.

2. The aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 1, wherein the metal includes at least one of Fe, Ni, Cr and Zr.

3. The aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 1, wherein the average Stokes diameter of the dispersed particles is 40 nm to 80 nm.

4. The aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 1, wherein the total content of the metal is not more than 20 ppm with respect to the pigment.

5. The aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 1, further comprising an anionic surfactant.

6. The aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 5, wherein a number average molecular weight of the anionic surfactant is 100 to 2000.

7. The aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 1, wherein the block polymer has a polyalkenyl ether structure.

8. The aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 7, wherein the block polymer has a repeated unit of a vinyl ether polymer structure having an oxyethylene side chain as expressed by the following general formula: —(CH2—CH(OR1))—,where R1 is a group represented by —(CH2—CH2—O)k—R2,—(CH2)m—(O)n—R2,—R3—X, —(CH2—CH2—O)k—R3—X, or —CH2)m—(O)n—X; R2 represents a hydrogen atom, a straight-chain or branched alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, or —CO—CH═CH2,—CO—C(CH3)═CH2,—CH2—CH═CH2, or —CH2—C(CH3)═CH2; R3 represents an aliphatic hydrocarbon group or an aromatic hydrocarbon group; and X represents a group that has anionic properties and is selected from a carboxylic acid group, a sulfonic acid group, and a phosphoric acid group.

9. The aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 1, wherein the pigment included in the dispersed particles is dispersed by an ultra high-pressure homogenizer, at a pressure of not less than 150 MPa.

10. The aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 1, wherein the pigment included in the dispersed particles is dispersed by an ultrasonic homogenizer, at a frequency of not more than 25 kHz and an energy density in a dispersion unit of not less than 100 W/cm2.

11. The aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 1, wherein the pigment included in the dispersed particles is dispersed by an ultrasonic homogenizer, at a frequency of not more than 25 kHz and an energy density in a dispersion unit of not less than 100 W/cm2, and then dispersed by an ultra high-pressure homogenizer, at a pressure of not less than 150 MPa.

12. The aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 1, wherein the pigment included in the dispersed particles is dispersed by an ultra high-pressure homogenizer, at a pressure of not less than 150 MPa, and then dispersed ultrasonically by an ultrasonic homogenizer, at a frequency of not more than 25 kHz and an energy density in a dispersion unit of not less than 100 W/cm2.

13. An inkjet ink containing the aqueous pigment ink composition as defined in claim 1.

14. The inkjet ink as defined in claim 13, wherein the inkjet ink is for use in a thermal inkjet system.

15. An inkjet ink set comprising three color inks of cyan ink, magenta ink and yellow ink, wherein at least one color ink of the three color inks is the inkjet ink as defined in claim 13.