Patent Application
20080075966
One embodiment according to the present invention will be described by referring to
A decorative material 1 according to the present embodiment is a decorative material where a picture pattern 4 corresponding to an expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, is provided on a substrate 2. The decorative material 1 has the picture pattern 4 partially provided in a base pattern 5, which is provided on the entire surface of the substrate 2, a gloss adjusting layer 6 provided by covering the picture pattern 4 and which forms the surface of the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, and an ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 provided in the vicinity of the outline of the picture pattern 4 except the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient and which is immediately above the picture pattern 4, and which has a stepwise gradation in terms of gloss conditions. A sealer layer 8 formed from an aqueous resin is provided between the picture pattern 4 and substrate 2. Note that the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, means a region to visually express as a recess or a salient when compared to the part in which the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 is provided.
For the substrate 2, various materials can be used depending on the purpose as conventionally known. Specifically, paper such as tissue paper, titanium paper, resin-impregnated paper, flameproof paper, and mineral paper; woven or non-woven fabrics formed from natural fibers or synthetic fibers; substrates based on synthetic resins such as homo- or random polypropylene resins, polyolefin-based resins such as polyethylene resins, copolyester resins, crystalline polyester resins in an amorphous state, polyethylene naphthalate resins, polybutylene resins, acrylic resins such as methylmethacrylate resins and polymethylmethacrylate resins, styrene-based resins, polyamide-based resins, cellulose-based resins, polycarbonate resins, polychlorinated vinyl resins, polychlorinated vinylidene resins, and fluorine resins; wood-based substrates such as a wood veneer, sliced veneer, plywood, glued laminated wood, particle board, and medium density fiber board; mineral substrates such as a gypsum board, cement plate, calcium silicate board, and ceramic board; metal substrates such as iron, copper, aluminium, and stainless steel; complexes thereof, laminated bodies thereof, or the like which are conventionally known arbitrary materials can be used and shapes thereof are not limited at all and film-forms, sheet-forms, board-forms, or atypical compact-forms can be adopted, for example.
Although materials constituting the base pattern 5 and picture pattern 4 are not particularly limited, together with an appropriate binder resin, printing ink or coating materials, which are formed by dissolving or dispersing coloring agents such as dyes or pigments in an appropriate solvent, are generally used.
As such coloring agents, for example, inorganic pigments such as carbon black, titanium white, zinc white, red iron oxide, chrome yellow, iron blue, and cadmium red; organic pigments such as azo pigments, lake pigments, anthraquinone pigments, phthalocyanine pigments, isoindolinone pigments, and dioxazine pigments; or mixtures of two or more of these pigments can be used.
As binder resins, for example, various synthetic resins such as acrylic resins, styrene resins, polyester resins, urethane resins, polyvinyl resins, alkyd resins, petroleum resins, ketone resins, epoxy resins, melamine resins, fluororesins, silicone resins, cellulose resins, and gum resins, mixtures thereof, or copolymers thereof can be used.
As a solvent, for example, toluene, xylene, cyclohexane, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methylisobutylketone, cyclohexanone, water, or the like, or a mixture thereof can be used.
Other agents including various additives such as extender pigments, plasticizers, dispersing agents, surfactants, tackifiers, adhesion auxiliaries, desiccants, curing agents, curing accelerators, or concrete retarders are used where appropriate.
The base pattern 5 needs to contain, at least, the picture pattern 4 which corresponds to the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient. On the other hand, it is also possible to make a decorative material 10 as one which is provided with, although not essential, a surface pattern 9 as shown in
For example, in the case of woodgrain patterns, it is common to separately print a base solid, woodgrain form, vessel pattern, or the like as conventionally known. Among them, the base solid and woodgrain form are provided as the base pattern 5 in the decorative material 1 of the present invention and the vessel pattern is provided as the picture pattern 4 which corresponds to the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient. Needless to say, the base pattern 5 in the present invention is not limited to woodgrain patterns and it can be appropriately applied to rift patterns, abstract patterns, or the like.
The base pattern 5 and picture pattern 4 are generally formed by appropriate printing methods such as the gravure printing method, offset printing method, screen printing method, electrostatic printing method, and ink-jet printing method. However, methods are not limited to those above and, for example, the aforementioned base solid may also be formed by coating methods such as the roll coating method, knife coating method, and die coating method. In addition, other patterns can also be formed by arbitrary image-forming methods which are conventionally known.
The gloss adjusting layer 6 is constituted from printing ink, coating agents, or the like, which are similar to those cited as the aforementioned constituting materials of the base pattern 5 and picture pattern 4. This is with the proviso that, since the gloss adjusting layer 6 needs to be provided with transparency, which makes at least the base pattern 5 and picture pattern 4 possible to be seen through the layer, as a printing ink, coating agents, or the like which form the layer, it is necessary to use those which contain no coloring agents such as dyes or pigments at all or only in a small amount to an extent where the required transparency is not impaired.
Additionally, since the gloss adjusting layer 6 is one which constitutes the most outer surface layer of the decorative material 1 in the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, the layer is preferably constituted from materials having a hardening resin as a major component to achieve surface physical properties required by the decorative material 1 such as abrasion resistance, scratch resistance, solvent resistance, and stain resistance. Specifically, for example, thermosetting resins such as melamine resins, epoxy resins, aminoalkyd resins, urethane resins, polyester resins, and silicone resins; or ionizing radiation-curable resins such as acrylic resins can favorably be used. Although the term “ionizing radiation” generally refers to a radiation which imposes ionization effects on substances and includes X-rays, γ-rays, β-rays (electron rays), and short wavelength ultraviolet rays, in the present invention, since UV-curable resins due to photoinitiators can also be used, the term also includes long wavelength ultraviolet rays, which do not impose ionization effects.
In order to express continuous changes in depth (height) by the changes in gloss conditions, the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 is configured so as to change the gloss conditions thereof continuously or stepwise in the vicinity of the outline of the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient. In other words, when proceeding from the outline of the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, towards the inside thereof, the gloss conditions change from one close to that of the surface of the region 3 to that in the part other than the vicinity of the picture pattern 4, which corresponds to the region 3.
To describe more specifically, when expressing the expression region 3 as a recess, the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 is designed so as to have a higher gloss than that of the surface of the region 3. In addition, the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 is formed by being provided with a gradation so that in the vicinity of the outline of the region 3, when departing from the outline of the region 3 and proceeding to the inside of the part where the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 is formed, the gloss of the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 gradually becomes higher.
On the other hand, when expressing the expression region 3 as a salient, the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 is designed so as to have a lower gloss than that of the surface of the region 3. Moreover, the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 is formed by being provided with a gradation so that in the vicinity of the outline of the region 3, when departing from the outline of the region 3 and proceeding to the inside of the part where the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 is formed, the gloss of the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 gradually becomes lower. When using a printing plate for the gravure printing method, in addition to the methods which use a film at the time of printing such as the chemical etching method (in which deviations in multistage alignment occur easily due to expansion and contraction of the film) or the mechanical engraving method, use of a laser-made plate will result in the large cell volume of the printing plate and difficulties in positional deviations even when multistage etching is carried out. Thus, it is possible to express gradation with better register accuracy.
Note that the outline of the picture pattern 4 corresponding to the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, does not necessarily precisely coincide with the outline of the stair-like region 3 and it may be deviated to the inside or outside of the outline of the stair-like region 3 to some extent. It is also possible to appropriately adjust the virtual appearance of uneven irregularities by positively deviating the outlines of both patterns slightly from each other. In addition, it is also possible to confer changes in virtual appearance of uneven irregularities depending on places by changing directions or distances of deviations between the outlines of both patterns inside the stair-like region 3.
When expressing minute recesses or salients such as woodgrains and vessels, the parts in ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 where gradation is provided will also naturally become minute and a high degree of resolution is required also in printing plates, printing ink, or the like. On the other hand, in general two-component curable resins which are heavily used as surface coating agents of decorative materials, a curing reaction proceeds during printing resulting in the increase in viscosity thereof causing so-called plate fill in and thus, reproducibility of gradation is reduced in some cases.
Accordingly, resins used for the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 are those having a viscosity of 0.1 to 1 Pa·s. This is because when the viscosity is within this range, favorable adhesive properties among layers are achieved. In addition, when the viscosity is lower than 0.1 Pa·s, layers will become too flexible and will easily collapse and when the viscosity exceeds 1 Pa·s, layers will become stiff and adhesive properties with the adjacent layers will be deteriorated.
As such resins, specifically, ionizing radiation-curable monomers, which do not increase the viscosity thereof with time during printing, are used. These resins do not increase the viscosity thereof since a curing reaction does not proceed when they are in a coating-liquid state at normal temperature during printing. On the other hand, since a curing reaction proceeds rapidly after resins are irradiated with ionizing radiation and resins are cured completely, there are advantages such as the lack of generation of blocking due to poor drying even when printed matter is retrieved or laminated
As ionizing radiation-curable monomers, the compounds having ethylenic unsaturated double bonds can be used and these include monofunctional monomers, difunctional monomers, and polyfunctional monomers such as trifunctional monomers. Usually, the monomers are those which are not hydrophilic and for example, they do not have any of —CHO group, —OH group, and —COOH group.
Specific examples of monofunctional monomers which have ethylenic unsaturated double bonds include 2-(2-ethoxyethoxy)ethyl (meth)acrylate, stearyl(meth)acrylate, tetrahydrofurfuryl(meth)acrylate, lauryl (meth)acrylate, 2-phenoxyethyl(meth)acrylate, isodecyl(meth)acrylate, isooctyl(meth)acrylate, tridecyl(meth)acrylate, caprolactone (meth)acrylate, ethoxylated nonyl phenol (meth)acrylate, propoxylated nonyl phenol (meth)acrylate, phenoxyethyl(meth)acrylate, phenoxydiethylene (meth)acrylate, ethylene oxide-modified nonylphenyl(meth)acrylate, methoxytriethylene glycol (meth)acrylate, ethylene oxide 2-ethylhexyl (meth)acrylate, and isobonyl(meth)acrylate dipropylene glycol (meth)acrylate. When it is described as “stearyl(meth)acrylate”, for example, this shows it means stearyl acrylate and/or stearyl methacrylate (and same applies to others hereinafter).
Examples of difunctional monomers include 1,3-butanediol di(meth)acrylate, 1,4-butanediol di(meth)acrylate, polyethylene glycol di(meth)acrylate, polypropylene glycol di(meth)acrylate, neopentyl glycol di(meth)acrylate, propoxylated neopentyl glycol di(meth)acrylate, ethoxylated neopentyl glycol di(meth)acrylate, neopentyl glycol hydroxypivalate di(meth)acrylate, (hydrogenated) bisphenol A di(meth)acrylate, (hydrogenated) ethylene oxide-modified bisphenol A di(meth)acrylate, (hydrogenated) propylene glycol-modified bisphenol A di(meth)acrylate, 1,6-hexanediol di(meth)acrylate, 2-ethyl-2-butylpropanediol di(meth)acrylate, and 1,9-nonanediol di(meth)acrylate.
Examples of polyfunctional monomers include tris(2-hydroxyethyl)isocyanurate tri(meth)acrylate, ethoxylated trimethylolpropane tri(meth)acrylate, propoxylated trimethylolpropane tri(meth)acrylate, propoxylated glyceryl tri(meth)acrylate, pentaerythritol tri(meth)acrylate, trimethylolpropane (meth)acrylate, ethylene oxide-modified trimethylolpropane (meth)acrylate, propylene oxide-modified trimethylolpropane (meth)acrylate, tris(acryloxyethyl) isocyanurate, pentaerythritol tetra(meth)acrylate, ditrimethylolpropane tetra(meth)acrylate, ethoxylated pentaerythritol tetra(meth)acrylate, penta(meth)acrylate ester, and dipentaerythritol hexa(meth)acrylate.
As ionizing radiation-curable monomers, monomers such as urethane (meth)acrylate, polyester (meth)acrylate, polyether (meth)acrylate, and polyacryl(meth)acrylate are desirable since their surface easily becomes smooth after coating due to their low viscosity and anchor effects to the sealer layer 8, base pattern 5, or the like also improve.
Silicone oil is added to the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7. This is added as an antipollution agent for preventing surface contaminants of the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 from becoming attached or for allowing the attached contaminants to be easily wiped away with various detergents or solvents. Silicone oil is incorporated in the matrix resin constituted from ionizing radiation-curable monomers.
As a silicone oil, unmodified silicone oil, amino-modified silicone oil, epoxy-modified silicone oil, carboxy-modified silicone oil, mercapto-modified silicone oil, carbinol-modified silicone oil, methacryl-modified silicone oil, and phenol-modified silicone oil can be used. The amount of silicone oil is preferably 0.01 to 5 weight % when the total weight of ionizing radiation-curable monomers is taken as a standard. This is because when the amount of silicone oil is less than 0.01 weight %, effects of the addition thereof are not achieved and when the amount exceeds 5 weight %, the aqueous resins of the picture pattern 4 or the like are repelled to cause adhesive failures.
When the picture pattern 4 corresponding with the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, is expressed as a recess as described above, the gloss of the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 needs to be designed higher than that of the gloss adjusting layer 6. On the other hand, when the picture pattern 4 corresponding with the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, is expressed as a salient, the gloss of the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 needs to be designed lower than that of the gloss adjusting layer 6. In order to appropriately adjust gloss conditions of the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7, gloss-adjusting agents such as silica, alumina, calcium carbonate, and barium sulfate may be added where appropriate.
In many cases, it is more advantageous from the viewpoint of visually-obtained stereoscopic vision of uneven irregularities that the gradation provided in the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 be a stepwise gradation in terms of changes in gloss conditions as shown in
As a method to provide gradation in gloss conditions of the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7, for example, a gravure printing method is used and it is carried out by changing the depth or area ratio of the gravure printing plate so that desired gradation is achieved. Other printing methods such as a general offset printing method, screen printing method, electrostatic printing method, and ink jet method are also used where appropriate.
Note that the abovementioned gradation is not limited to the gradation due to changes in the coating amount of ionizing radiation-curable resins and it is possible to express gradation due to changes in area ratio of halftone dots or the like (not illustrated) and it is also possible to use changes in the coating amount and changes in the area ratio concomitantly (not illustrated).
This is with the proviso that these differences are not necessarily fundamental since generally speaking, even when the design on the printing plate is in the form of halftone dots, it is common to become more or less continuous due to resin flow at the time of printing. Although a description is hereinafter provided using the stepwise figure as shown in
When the expression region 3 is expressed as a recess, the surface of the expression region 3 must be in a low-gloss condition. In order to achieve the condition, as shown in the example in
The positional relationship between the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, and the base pattern 5 corresponding to the region 3 is mentioned again here. When expressing a recess or a salient where only the bottom face of the recess or the top face of the salient has different colors from the other parts, there is a need to form the base pattern 5 having an identical outline to that of the region 3. On the other hand, when expressing a recess or a salient where slope sections of the outline of the recess or the salient also have identical colors to that of the bottom face or the top face, it is preferable to form the base pattern 5 in the region where the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 reaches the outline of a region, which is outside the expression region 3 and has gradation. For example, when imitation of vessel grooves in the cross-section of natural wood is aimed at, the latter configuration is recommended.
In addition, when expressing the state where colors continuously change in the slope sections of the outline of the recess or the salient, it is good to provide gradation in the color of the base pattern 5 in the region, which is in the vicinity of the outline of the region 3 and where the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 has gradation. Alternatively, it is also possible to achieve an analogous visual expression effect by placing the outline of the base pattern 5 in the middle of internal and external outlines of the region where the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 has gradation. Additionally, it is also possible to express complex uneven irregular shapes where the appearance of uneven irregularities changes depending on the position by adopting the combinations of various expression techniques described so far depending on the position.
Specific examples where the present invention is applied are most represented by the expression of vessel grooves of natural wood as already mentioned many times. Since vessel grooves are physically recesses, the configuration where surface gloss of the vessel-pattern part is made low and the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 having a high gloss is provided on the surface except the vessel-pattern part is generally adopted. However, there are also cases where it is better to reverse the high and low state of gloss from the above to achieve reality like the case when expressing the types of trees whose color tones of the wood surface are light and vessel-groove parts appear to come to the surface such as certain types of coniferous wood.
According to such a decorative material 1, it is possible to express uneven irregular shapes where the depth (height) changes continuously like vessels of natural wood or the like since the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 is provided on the surface of the decorative material 1 so as to have gradation in gloss conditions. By making the viscosity of the ionizing radiation-curable resin 0.1 to 1 Pa·s at this juncture, it is possible to favorably express uneven irregular shapes where the depth (height) thereof changes continuously without the ionizing radiation-curable resin being too soft to run off and it is also possible to produce the decorative material 1 continuously at a high speed without difficulties in providing the layer due to the resin being too hard. Moreover, the stress generated at the time when the ionizing radiation-curable resin is cured can be favorably relaxed and peeling among layers can favorably be suppressed.
Additionally, by making the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 as the high gloss layer and by providing the gloss adjusting layer 6 with low gloss between the layer 7 and the picture pattern 4, it is possible to make the expression of uneven irregular shapes due to gloss more distinctly. Furthermore, due to this gloss adjusting layer 6, the stress generated when the ionizing radiation-curable resin is cured can be relaxed and peeling of the picture pattern 4 or the base pattern 5 or the like can be suppressed. For this reason, it is possible to favorably maintain more stereoscopically excellent design achieved by the base pattern 5 on the entire surface and the picture pattern 4, which is partially provided and which expresses a recess or a salient.
In addition, by using a water-based ink in the picture pattern 4, it is possible to reduce the amount of volatile organic compounds. Moreover, since the sealer layer 8 formed of an aqueous resin is provided on the substrate 2, adhesive properties among respective layers will be excellent and various surface resistances can be improved.
Additionally, by using monomers based on (meth)acrylate in the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7, adhesive properties among layers with respect to the lower layer after coating will be excellent even with a favorable viscosity and various surface resistances can be improved.
Moreover, since silicone oil is added to the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7, it is possible to improve the surface stain resistance.
Note that the scope of techniques of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and various changes can be made within the range not deviating from the scope of the present invention.
For example, in the above embodiment, it is implicitly assumed that gloss conditions of the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 in the part other than the vicinity of the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, are constant. However, for example, it is also possible to confer changes conforming with woodgrain patterns to gloss conditions of the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 in order to express gloss differences between the spring-wood part and autumn-wood part in natural wood or gloss differences due to angles between sections and woodgrain directions. By doing so, it is possible to achieve a decorative material extremely excellent in design properties, which is closer to natural wood, coupled with the aforementioned true expression of shapes of vessel-groove parts.
Tissue paper with a basis weight of 29 g/m2 (“HPN-29” produced by Tentok Paper Co., Ltd.) was used as the substrate 2. An aqueous urethane-based coating (a mixture of 100 parts of “LWO59 SEALER” and 5 parts of “LT109 HARDERNER” both produced by Toyo Ink MFG. Co., Ltd.) was coated on the surface thereof as a sealer layer 8 formed of an aqueous resin so that the coating amount after drying will be 2 g/m2.
A colored solid layer of one color was printed thereon on the entire surface by gravure printing using an aqueous acrylic resin-based gravure printing ink (“PCW” produced by Toyo Ink MFG. Co., Ltd.) as a water-based ink of the base pattern 5. Furthermore, a woodgrain pattern was printed and a vessel pattern, which conformed with the woodgrain pattern, was sequentially printed as the picture pattern 4 corresponding to the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient.
A resin (“LT097EB Primer” produced by Toyo Ink MFG. Co., Ltd.) formed from an acrylic resin, in which silica powder was added to adjust the gloss thereof to low, urethane resin, casein, trifunctional monomer, and an additive was coated on the entire surface of the above patterns as the gloss adjusting layer 6 so that the coating amount after drying will be 5 g/m2. Then an ionizing radiation-curable resin (a mixture of 50 weight parts of pentaerythritol tri(meth)acrylate, 50 weight parts of ethoxylated trimethylolpropane (meth)acrylate, and 0.5 weight parts of amino-modified silicone oil) formed from silicone acrylate monomer to achieve high gloss was coated as the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 on the surface except the vessel-pattern part with a coating amount of 4 g/m2 by providing gradation in the vicinity of the outline of the vessel-pattern layer.
Thereafter, an electron beam was irradiated in a nitrogen atmosphere under the irradiation conditions of 45 KGy (5 Mrad) dose, 1.5 kV, 100 mA, and line speed of 200 m/min to cure the ionizing radiation-curable resin.
When the decorative material obtained as described so far was retrieved, blocking did not occur.
Tissue paper with a basis weight of 29 g/m2 (“HPN-29” produced by Tentok Paper Co., Ltd.) was used as the substrate 2. A colored solid layer of one color was printed thereon on the entire surface using a gravure printing ink formed of an oil-based acrylic resin (“PCNT” produced by Toyo Ink MFG. Co., Ltd.) as the base pattern 5. Furthermore, a woodgrain pattern was printed and a vessel pattern (150 lines in line number of a pattern printing-plate), which conformed with the woodgrain pattern, was sequentially printed as the picture pattern 4 corresponding to the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient.
A coating (a mixture of 100 parts of “EXP-UV60425 mat” and 10 parts of “W325N”) formed from a two-component curable urethane resin, in which silica powder was added to adjust the gloss thereof to low, and a UV-curable resin was coated on the entire surface of the above patterns as the gloss adjusting layer 6 so that the coating amount after drying will be 5 g/m2.
Then a UV-curable resin (a mixture of 50 parts of “EXP-UV60425 HighMat” and 50 parts of “EXP-UV60425 gloss” both produced by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals Inc.) formed from a urethane acrylate monomer to achieve high gloss was coated as the ionizing radiation-curable resin layer 7 on the surface except the vessel-pattern part with a coating amount after drying of 2 g/m2 by providing gradation (line number of 100 lines) in the vicinity of the outline of the vessel-pattern layer.
Thereafter, ultraviolet rays were irradiated in an air atmosphere under the irradiation conditions using two metal halide lamps of 160 W/cm and a line speed of 100 m/min to cure the UV-curable resin. When the decorative material obtained as described so far was retrieved, blocking did not occur.
Thereafter, although an electron beam-curable colored enamel coating (produced by Toyo Ink MFG. Co., Ltd.) is provided as the surface pattern 9 only on the surface of the picture pattern 4 corresponding to the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, the provision was easily carried out without any problems such as gradation collapse or positional deviations.
In the configuration of Example 2, block isocyanate-curable urethane resin (produced by Toyo Ink MFG. Co., Ltd.) was used instead of the UV-curable resin (a mixture of 50 parts of “EXP-UV60425 HighMat” and 50 parts of “EXP-UV60425 gloss” both produced by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals Inc.). Although uneven irregular shapes, which had sloping sections where the depth (height) thereof changed continuously, are provided with a line speed of 80 m/min in the vicinity of the region of the picture pattern 4 corresponding to the expression region 3, which is a recess or a salient, blocking occurred at the time of retrieving. Although the surface pattern 9 was further provided thereafter, gradation collapsed and design properties thereof were impaired.
The decorative materials obtained in each of the abovementioned Examples were decorative materials having an appearance of uneven irregularities of vessel grooves, which is analogous to natural vessels, due to the gradation in gloss conditions in the outline section of the vessel pattern and excellent in design properties. Moreover, they could be produced with good workability without generating problems such as the so-called plate fill in during printing, blocking due to poor drying, or trapping.
The present invention can be used as a decorative material for interior and exterior finishing of buildings and architecture, fittings, or surface decorations or the like of furniture. More specifically, the present invention can be used as a decorative material which, in the case of a woodgrain pattern for example, expresses uneven irregularities such as vessel parts stereoscopically by differences in surface gloss.
While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated above, it should be understood that these are exemplary of the invention and are not to be considered as limiting. Additions, omissions, substitutions, and other modifications can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as being limited by the foregoing description, and is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| P2006-257232 | Sep 2006 | JP | national |
