Patent Grant
7604695
The present invention relates to an ink composition comprising an organic solvent and a pigment, which has a little amount of smell, excellent safety and health properties, excellent resin solubility, excellent printing stability and excellent drying properties, causes no corrosion in a printer, and is excellent in adhesion to non-absorbable printing media and good printability.
Gravure printing for flexible packaging materials, flexographic printing for sanitary materials, silk screen printing for metal plates, inkjet printing for indoor and outdoor advertisement, and the like, have been generally known as printing methods suitable for non-absorbable printing media. However, ink compositions used for these printing methods generally comprise solvents such as toluene, ethyl acetate, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone and cyclohexanone. In this case, obligations such as an ambient concentration setting, the installation of a local exhauster because of smells or the like, and regular medical examinations, are imposed. Thus, handling is difficult. Therefore, inks having higher safety and health properties are required. In particular, unlike gravure printing, flexographic printing and silk screen printing which are performed in exclusive factories, inkjet printing is used in ordinary business offices so that it is required to give more consideration to safety, hazardousness and odour.
With regard to gravure printing for flexible packaging materials and flexographic printing for sanitary materials, non-toluene inks which do not comprise toluene whose ambient concentration set value is small or water-based inks which comprise alcohols as a main component, have been developed to improve safety.
On the other hand, in regard to inkjet printing, an ink which uses a polyalkylene glycol solvent or a hydrocarbon solvent (Japanese Patent No. 3590486) has been developed. However, such inks cannot dissolve the surface of the printing media, and thus result in poor fixity and water resistance.
In recent years, accordingly, solvent-containing inks with improved fixity and water resistance have been developed, by jointly using a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound such as 2-pyrrolidone or N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone or a lactone compound (JP-A-2005-60716, JP-A-2005-15672, JP-A-2005-200469, Japanese Patent No. 3692365, JP-A-2005-248006) as an assistant solvent. However, due to their strong solubility, in some cases, these materials and the odour need consideration.
An object of the present invention is to provide an ink composition which has a little amount of smell, excellent safety and health properties, excellent resin solubility, excellent printing stability and excellent drying properties, causes no corrosion to a printer, and is excellent in adhesion to non-absorbable printing media and good printability.
The present invention relates to an ink composition containing at least an organic solvent and a pigment, wherein the organic solvent is at least one compound selected from the group consisting of a compound represented by the formula (1) and a compound represented by the formula (2),
wherein each of R1, R2 and R4 independently represents an oxygen atom or —NR6— wherein R6 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, a hydroxyalkyl group, a hydroxyl group or a hydrogen atom, and R3 and R5 each independently represent a branched or non-branched hydrocarbon group represented by CmHn wherein m is an integer of 2 to 8 and n is an integer of 2m-4, 2m-2 or 2m.
Further, the present invention relates to the ink composition, which further comprises as the organic solvent at least one solvent selected from the group consisting of a solvent represented by the formula (3), a solvent represented by the formula (4), a solvent represented by the formula (5), a solvent represented by the formula (6), a diacetone alcohol solvent, a paraffin solvent, a naphthene solvent and a paraffin/naphthene solvent,
R7CO(OR8)zOR9 (3)
R10CO(OR11)zOCOR12 (4)
R13(OR14)zOR15 (5)
R16COOR17 (6)
wherein each of R8, R11, and R14 independently represents an ethylene group or a propylene group, each of R7, R9, R10 and R12 independently represents an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, each of R13 and R15 independently represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, R16 represents a 2-hydroxyethyl group, R17 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, and Z represents an integer of 1 to 3.
Further, the present invention relates to the ink composition, which further comprises a dispersant.
Further, the present invention relates to the ink composition, which further comprises a resin.
Further, the present invention relates to the ink composition, which is used as an ink for non-absorbable printing media printing.
Further, the present invention relates to the ink composition, wherein the ink for non-absorbable printing media printing is an inkjet ink.
According to the present invention in which the compound of the formula (1) and/or the compound of the formula (2) is/are added to an ink, there is provided an ink composition which has a little amount of smell and excellent safety and health properties, slightly dissolves the surface of non-absorbable printing media, on which printing is to be done, and thus remarkably increases the adhesion of the ink without corroding the printer. Also, due to the increase of resin solubility in the ink composition, the shelf life such as viscosity stability, the continuous printing stability and the ink stability at low temperature are excellent. Thus, the ink composition offered in this present invention has remarkably improved printability.
The ink for printing on non-absorbable printing media, provided by the present invention, contains a compound represented by the formula (1) and/or a compound represented by the formula (2) as the organic compound. The content of the compound of the formula (1) and/or the compound of the formula (2) in the ink is preferably 1 to 50% by weight, more preferably 1 to 20% by weight. When the above content is too small, intended adhesion, ink stability and printability cannot be obtained. On the other hand, when it is too large, the ink dissolves the surface of non-absorbable printing media too much, which causes roughness on the surface of printing or a decrease in gloss.
The boiling point, at 1 atmospheric pressure, of each of the compounds represented by the formulae (1) and (2) used in the present invention is preferably at least 140° C., more preferably 150° C. or more, particularly preferably 160° C. or more. When the boiling point at 1 atmospheric pressure is lower than 140° C., drying after printing advances too promptly and this solvent volatilizes before dissolving the surface of non-absorbable printing media, so that sufficient adhesion cannot be obtained.
The following Table 1 shows specific examples of the compound of the formula (1).
The following Table 2 shows specific examples of the compound of the formula (2).
An organic solvent which is to be used in combination with the above compound of the formula (1) and/or the compound of the formula (2) is not specially limited. For the ink for printing on non-absorbable printing media, it is preferred to use an organic solvent having a boiling point of at least 140° C. at 1 atmospheric pressure and it is more preferred to use an organic solvent having a boiling point of at least 140° C. at 1 atmospheric pressure and a flash point of at least 60° C. The mixing ratio of the compound of the formula (1) and/or the compound of the formula (2): the organic solvent to be used in combination therewith is preferably 1:0.1 to 84, more preferably 1:1 to 29, particularly preferably 1:3 to 21.
The organic solvent used in combination with the compound of the formula (1) and/or the compound of the formula (2) includes solvents represented by the formulae (3) to (6), diacetone alcohol, a paraffin solvent and a naphthene solvent,
R7CO (OR8)zOR9 (3)
R10CO (OR11)zOCOR12 (4)
R13(OR14)zOR15 (5)
R16COOR17 (6)
wherein each of R8, R11 and R14 independently represents an ethylene group or a propylene group, each of R7, R9, R10 and R12 independently represents an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, each of R13 and R15 independently represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, R16 represents a 2-hydroxyethyl group, R17 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, and Z represents an integer of 1 to 3.
The solvent of the formula (3) includes glycol mono acetates such as ethylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether acetate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether acetate, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether propionate, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether propionate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether propionate, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether propionate, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether propionate, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether propionate, propylene glycol monomethyl ether propionate, dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether propionate, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether butylate, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether butylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether butylate, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether butylate, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether butylate, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether butylate, propylene glycol monomethyl ether butylate and dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether butylate.
The solvent of the formula (4) includes glycol diacetates such as ethylene glycol diacetate, diethylene glycol diacetate, propylene glycol diacetate, dipropylene glycol diacetate, ethylene glycol acetate propionate, ethylene glycol acetate butylate, ethylene glycol propionate butylate, ethylene glycol dipropionate, ethylene glycol dibutylate, diethylene glycol acetate propionate, diethylene glycol acetate butylate, diethylene glycol propionate butylate, diethylene glycol dipropionate, diethylene glycol dibutylate, propylene glycol acetate propionate, propylene glycol acetate butylate, propylene glycol propionate butylate, propylene glycol dipropionate, propylene glycol dibutylate, dipropylene glycol acetate propionate, dipropylene glycol acetate butylate, dipropylene glycol propionate butylate, dipropylene glycol dipropionate and dipropylene glycol acetate dibutylate.
The solvent of the formula (5) includes glycols such as ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, propylene glycol and dipropylene glycol and glycol ethers such as ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, propylene glycol monomethyl ether, propylene glycol monobutyl ether, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, diethylene glycol diethyl ether, diethylene glycol monobutyl ether, diethylene glycol dibutyl ether, diethylene glycol methylethyl ether, dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether, dipropylene glycol monoethyl ether, dipropylene glycol monobutyl ether, propylene glycol n-propyl ether, triethylene glycolmonomethyl ether, triethylene glycol monoethyl ether, triethylene glycol monobutyl ether and tripropylene glycol monomethyl ether. Diethylene glycol diethyl ether, diethylene glycol methylethyl ether and dipropylene glycol monoethyl ether are in particular excellent in view of a little amount of smell and resin solubility.
The solvent of the formula (6) includes esters such as methyl lactate, ethyl lactate, propyl lactate and butyl lactate.
Specific examples of the paraffin solvent include Isopar G, H, L and M, Norpar 12, 13 and 15, supplied by Exxon, IP solvent 1620 and 2028 supplied by Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.; Normal Paraffin SL, L, M and H, O type Solvent L, M and H, Isosol 300 and 400, Dry Solvent, Dry Solvent High Soft, Cleansol, Mineral Spirit A, A solvent, and Highalom 2S, supplied by Nippon Oil Corporation; MARUKASOL R supplied by Maruzen Petrochemical Co., Ltd.; Idemitsu Supasol LA25, LA30, LA35, LA41, FP20, FP25, FP30, FP38 and CA25, Diana Fresia P02, P05 and S02, supplied by Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.; Shellsol 71 and 72 supplied by Shell Chemicals Japan Ltd.; and Moresco White P-40, P-55, P-60, P-70, P-80, P-100, P-120, P-150, P-200, P-230, P-260, P-300 and P-350P, and Moresco Violes, supplied by Matsumura Oil Research Corp.
Specific examples of the naphthene solvent include AF-4, AF-7, AF-5, AF-6, and Teclean N16, N20 and N22, supplied by Nippon Oil Corporation.
Specific examples of the paraffin/naphthene mixed solvent include Exxsol D40, D80, D110 and D130, supplied by Exxon, and Shellsol D100, supplied by Shell Chemicals Japan Ltd.
The pigment used in the present invention can be selected from various pigments which are used for printing inks and coatings. Examples of the pigment include, shown as Color Index, Pigment Black7, Pigment Blue 15, 15:1, 15:3, 15:4, 15:6 and 60, Pigment Green 7 and 36, Pigment Red 9, 48, 49, 52, 53, 57, 97, 122, 149, 168, 177, 178, 179, 206, 207, 209, 242, 254 and 255, Pigment Violet 19, 23, 29, 30, 37, 40 and 50, Pigment Yellow 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 24, 74, 83, 86, 93, 94, 95, 109, 110, 117, 120, 125, 128, 137, 138, 139, 147, 148, 150, 151, 154, 155, 166, 168, 180 and 185, and Pigment Orange 36, 43, 51, 55, 59, 61, 71 and 74. With regard to carbon blacks, all carbon blacks such as neutral carbon blacks, acidic carbon blacks and basic carbon blacks can be used. The content of the pigment in the ink is preferably 0.1 to 10% by weight.
In the present invention, it is preferred to incorporate a dispersant for the purpose of improving the dispersibility of the pigment and the storage stability of the ink. For example, a hydroxyl group-containing carboxylic acid ester, a salt of a long-chain polyaminoamide and a high molecular weight acid ester, a salt of a high molecular weight polycarboxylic acid, a salt of a long chain polyaminoamide and a polar acid ester, a high molecular weight unsaturated acid ester, a high molecular weight copolymer, a modified polyurethane, a modified polyacrylate, a polyether ester type anionic surfactant, a naphthalenesulfonic acid formalin condensate salt, an aromatic sulfonic acid formalin condensate salt, a polyoxyethylene alkyl phosphoric acid ester, a polyoxyethylene nonylphenyl ether, and stearyl amine acetate can be used.
Specific examples of the dispersant include “Anti-Terra-U (a polyaminoamide phosphoric acid salt)”, “Anti-Terra-203/204 (a high molecular weight polycarboxylic acid salt)”, “Disperbyk-101 (a polyaminoamide phosphoric acid salt and an acid ester), 107 (a hydroxyl group-containing carboxylic acid ester), 110, 111 (a copolymer containing an acid group), 130 (polyamide), 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 170 (a high molecular weight copolymer)”, “400”, “Bykumen (a high molecular weight unsaturated acid ester)”, “BYK-P104, P105 (a high molecular weight unsaturated acid polycarboxylic acid)”, “P104S, 240S (a high molecular weight unsaturated acid polycarboxylic acid and a silicon type)” and “Lactimon (a long chain amine, an unsaturated acid polycarboxylic acid and a silicon)”, supplied by BYK Chemie.
Further, examples of the dispersant include “Efka 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 54, 63, 64, 65, 66, 71, 701, 764, 766” and “Efka Polymer 100 (modified polyacrylate), 150 (aliphatic modified polymer), 400, 401, 402, 403, 450, 451, 452, 453 (modified polyacrylate), 745 (copper phthalocyanine type)”, supplied by Efka CHEMICALS; “Flowlen TG-710 (urethane oligomer)”, “Flownon SH-290, SP-1000”and “Polyflow No. 50E, No. 300 (acrylic copolymer)”, supplied by Kyoeisha Chemicals Co., Ltd.; and “Disparlon KS-860, 873SN, 874 (high-molecular weight dispersant), #2150 (aliphatic polyhydric carboxylic acid) and #7004 (polyether ester type)”, supplied by Kusumoto Chemicals, Ltd.
Furthermore, examples of the dispersant include “Demol RN, N (naphthalenesulfonic acid formalin condensate sodium salt), MS, C, SN-B (aromatic sulfonic acid formalin condensate sodium salt), EP”, “Homogenol L-18 (polycarboxylic acid type polymer)”, “Emulgen 920, 930, 931, 935, 950, 985 (polyoxyethylene nonyl phenyl ether)”, “Acetamin 24 (coconut amine acetate), 86 (stearylamine acetate)”, supplied by Kao Corp.; “Solsperse 5000 (phthalocyanine ammonium salt type), 13940 (polyester amine type), 17000 (fatty acid amine type), 24000”, supplied by Lubrizol Co.; “Nikkol T106 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate), MYS-IEX (polyoxyethylene monostearate), Hexagline 4-0 (hexaglyceryl tetraoleate)”, supplied by Nikko Chemicals Co., Ltd. and “AJISPER PB821, PB822 (basic dispersant)”, supplied by Ajinomoto Fine-Techno Co., Inc. The content of the dispersant in the ink is preferably 0.1 to 10% by weight.
In the present invention, a resin is preferably added in order to further improve the adhesion to non-absorbable printing media. Examples of the resin which can be used include an acrylic resin, a styrene-acrylic resin, a styrene-maleic acid resin, a rosin resin, a rosin ester resin, an ethylene-vinyl acetate resin, a petroleum resin, a coumarone indene resin, a terpene phenol resin, a phenol resin, an urethane resin, a melamine resin, a urea resin, an epoxy resin, a cellulose resin, a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate resin, a xylene resin, an alkyd resin, an aliphatic hydrocarbon resin, a butyral resin, a maleic acid resin and a fumaric acid resin. Specific examples of the resin include Super Ester 75, Ester gum HP and MALKYD 33, supplied by Arakawa Chemical Industries, Ltd., YS Polyster T80, supplied by Yasuhara Chemical Co., Ltd., Hiretts HRT200X supplied by Mitsui Chemicals, Johncryl 586 supplied by Johnson Polymer Co., Ltd., UCAR solution vinyl resin VYHD, VYHH, VMCA, VROH and VYLF-X, supplied by Dow Chemicals, and Solbin resin CL, CNL, C5R, TA5R, supplied by Nisshin chemical Industry Co., Ltd. The content of the resin in the ink is preferably 0.1 to 10% by weight.
The ink composition of the present invention may contain a variety of additives such as a plasticizer, a surface conditioner, an ultraviolet light inhibitor, a photostabilizer, an antioxidant and a hydrolysis inhibitor.
The non-absorbable printing media in the present invention includes polyvinyl chloride sheet, polyolefin sheet, glass and metal. In particular, the polyvinyl chloride resin sheet is preferable.
The printing method of the ink composition of the present invention is typically gravure printing, flexographic printing, silk screen printing or inkjet printing. In particular, the inkjet printing is preferable.
The ink composition of the present invention can be produced as follows. First, the pigment is dispersed with the resin or the dispersant in a single solvent or mixed solvents by means of a paint shaker, a sand mill, a roll mill or a media-less disperser to obtain a pigment dispersion, and the pigment dispersion is diluted with the solvent of the present invention.
The present invention will be concretely explained with reference to Examples hereinafter, while the present invention shall not be limited to these Examples. In Examples, “part” stands for “part by weight”.
First, a pigment dispersion A was prepared in accordance with the following recipe. The dispersion A was prepared by adding a pigment and a dispersant to an organic solvent, stirring the mixture with a high speed mixer, etc., until the mixture became homogeneous, and dispersing the thus-obtained mill base with a horizontal sand mill for about 1 hour.
Further, a pigment dispersion B was prepared in accordance with the following recipe. The pigment dispersion B was prepared by adding a pigment and a dispersant into an organic solvent, stirring the mixture with a high speed mixer, etc., until the mixture became homogeneous, and dispersing the thus-obtained mill base with a horizontal sand mill for about 1.5 hours.
Further, a pigment dispersion C was prepared in accordance with the following recipe. The pigment dispersion C was prepared by adding a pigment and a dispersant into an organic solvent, stirring the mixture with a high speed mixer, etc., until the mixture became homogeneous, and dispersing the thus-obtained mill base with a horizontal sand mill for about 2 hours.
Further, a pigment dispersion D was prepared in accordance with the following recipe. The pigment dispersion D was prepared by adding a pigment and a dispersant to an organic solvent, stirring the mixture with a high speed mixer, etc., until the mixture became homogeneous, and dispersing the thus-obtained mill base with a horizontal sand mill for about 1 hour.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion A in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion A in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion A in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion B in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion A in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion C in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion B in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion C in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion C in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion A in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion A in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained using the pigment dispersion D in accordance with the following recipe.
An ink composition was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the compound 7 used in the recipe of Example 1 was replaced with diethylene glycol methyl ethyl ether.
An ink composition was obtained in the same manner as in Example 5 except that the compound 3 used in the recipe of Example 5 was replaced with N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone.
An ink composition was obtained in the same manner as in Example 2 except that the compound 7 used in the recipe of Example 2 was replaced with ε-caprolactone
As is evident from the following Table 3, the ink compositions of Examples 1 to 12, in which the compounds specified in the present invention were used as organic solvents respectively, were excellent in all of smell, viscosity stability, printing stability, drying properties, corrosion to printer, and adhesion. On the other hand, the ink composition of Comparative Example 1 was poor in viscosity stability, printing stability, drying properties and adhesion. The ink composition of Comparative Example 2was poor in smell, printing stability and corrosion. The ink composition of Comparative Example 3 was poor in smell, viscosity stability, printing stability, drying properties and corrosion.
The evaluation methods are shown below.
<Smell>
Each of the ink compositions obtained in Examples 1 to 12 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3 was independently applied to a polyvinyl chloride resin sheet, of which the surface had not been treated, with a wire bar No. 6 (supplied by Toyo Seiki sha) in a thermostatic chamber at temperature of 25 ° C. and at a humidity of 30%, and 10 minutes later, the sheets with the ink compositions were sensuously tested for smell. ⊙ shows the presence of no unpleasant smell, ◯ shows the presence of almost no unpleasant smell, Δ shows the presence of an unpleasant smell to some extent, x shows the presence of an unpleasant smell.
<Viscosity Stability>
The ink compositions obtained in Examples 1 to 12 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3 were evaluated for viscosity with an E type viscosimeter (supplied by NIKKISO Co., ltd.) before and after a 70° C. and 3-week accelerated aging. ◯ shows that the rate of change of the viscosity was less than 10%, and x shows that the rate of change was at least 10%.
<Printing Stability>
The ink compositions obtained in Examples 1 to 12 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3 were evaluated as follows. Continuous printing was made on a polyvinyl chloride resin sheet, of which the surface had not been treated, with IP-6600 (supplied by Seiko I Infotech, wide format inkjet printer) at 25° C. The frequency of dot loss, curved flight or scattering of ink was evaluated. ◯ shows that the frequency of dot loss, curved flight or scattering of ink was less than 10 in a 50-hour continuous test. Δ shows that the frequency of dot loss, curved flight or scattering of ink was from 10 to less than 20 in a 50-hour continuous test. x shows that the frequency of dot loss, curved flight or scattering of ink was 20 or more in a 50-hour continuous test.
<Drying Properties>
The ink compositions obtained in Examples 1 to 12 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3 were evaluated as follows. Solid printing was made on a polyvinyl chloride resin sheet, of which the surface had not been treated, with IP-6600 (supplied by Seiko I Infotech, wide format inkjet printer) at 25° C. The period of time required for drying at 40° C. was measured. ◯ shows that the period of time required for drying was within 3 minutes. Δ shows that the period of time required for drying was more than 3 minutes and less than 6 minutes. x shows that the period of time required for drying was 6 minutes or more.
<Corrosion to Printer>
A printer material to be brought into contact with an ink was immersed in each of the ink compositions obtained in Examples 1 to 12 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3. The change rate of the length of the material and the change rate of the weight of the material between before and after an accelerated aging at 70° C. for 3 weeks were evaluated. ⊙ shows that one or both of the change rates of the length and the weight were less than 3%. ◯ shows that one or both of the change rates were from 3% to less than 6%. Δ shows that one or both of the change rates were from 6% to less than 9%. x shows that one or both of the change rates were 9% or more.
<Adhesion>
The ink compositions obtained in Examples 1 to 12 and Comparative Examples 1 to 3 were evaluated for adhesion as follows. Printing was made on a polyvinyl chloride resin sheet, of which the surface had not been treated, with IP-6600 (supplied by Seiko I Infotech, large-sized inkjet printer). The printed surface, on which printing had been carried out, was evaluated for adhesion with a rubbing tester (supplied by Tester Sangyo Co., Ltd., type AB301). In the evaluation, a piece of cloth (Cannequin No. 3) for a test was reciprocated 50 times at a load of 200 g. ◯ shows that nothing on the printed surface was peeled off. Δ shows that partial discoloration occurred. x shows that the base material appeared due to peeling off.
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