Claims
- 1. A thermal transfer ink sheet for thermal printing, comprising:
- a heat resistant support layer;
- a fusible first ink layer including a colorant disposed on the support layer;
- an interlayer disposed on the first ink layer, the interlayer including a material selected from the group consisting of resins, waxes and mixtures thereof and formulated so that the cohesive properties of selected portions of the interlayer are increased when heated during thermal printing, so that the interlayer will support the first ink layer in a substantially uniform manner when transferred to a recording medium during thermal printing; and
- a second fusible layer disposed on the interlayer, the materials for the first fusible ink layer, interlayer and second fusible layer selected so that the second fusible layer, interlayer and first ink layer are transferred together to and adhere to a recording medium as a single body to form a dot of ink during thermal printing.
- 2. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 1, wherein the second fusible layer is an ink layer including a colorant.
- 3. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 2, wherein the second fusible layer includes at least about 40% by weight max.
- 4. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 3, wherein the second fusible layer includes at least one wax selected from the group consisting of natural wax, synthetic wax and mixtures thereof and at least one organic additive selected from the group consisting of fatty amides, fatty esters, methyl cellulose, carboxyl methyl cellulose, styrene-butadiene copolymers, methylmethacrylate resins, silicone resins, polyethylene, styrene-acryl copolymers, acrylic resins, polystyrene and mixtures thereof.
- 5. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 2, wherein the second fusible layer has a melting point between about 50.degree. and 150.degree. C.
- 6. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 1, wherein the interlayer is formed of a material in which viscosity does not vary substantially with temperature within the temperature range encountered during thermal printing.
- 7. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 1, wherein the interlayer is a thin film of thermoplastic resin.
- 8. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 7, wherein the thin film thermoplastic resin is between about 0.1 to 5 .mu.m thick.
- 9. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 8, wherein the interlayer includes wax in an amount less than about 50% by weight.
- 10. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 9, wherein the thermoplastic material of the interlayer further includes an inorganic additive selected from the group consisting of titanium oxide, calcium carbonate, carbon black and mixtures thereof.
- 11. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 7, wherein the thermoplastic resin is selected from the group consisting of phenol resins, melanin resins, urea resins, unsaturated polyester resins, epoxy resins, polyamides, silicone resins, alkyd resins, urethane resins, casein resins and mixtures thereof.
- 12. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 4, wherein the interlayer includes wax in an amount less than 50% by weight.
- 13. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 1, wherein the interlayer is formed from thermosetting resin.
- 14. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 1, wherein the first ink layer includes at least about 50% by weight wax.
- 15. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 14, wherein the first ink layer includes at least one wax selected from the group consisting of natural wax, synthetic wax and mixtures thereof and at least one organic additive selected from the group consisting of fatty amides, fatty esters, methyl cellulose, carboxyl methyl cellulose, styrene-butadiene copolymers, methyl-methacrylate resins, silicone resins, polyethylene, styrene-acryl copolymers, acrylic resins, polystyrene and mixtures thereof.
- 16. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 1, wherein said first ink layer has a melting point between about 40.degree. to 200.degree. C.
- 17. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 1, wherein the support layer is formed of a material selected from a group consisting of condenser paper, polyethylene terephthalate, polyether sulfone, polyetherether ketone, polyphenylene sulfide polyimide, polyamideimide and polycarbonate.
- 18. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 1, wherein the interlayer is formed from at least one member selected from the group consisting of silicone-acryl emulsions, styrene-acryl copolymer emulsions and acrylic acid ester emulsions.
- 19. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 1, wherein the interlayer is formed with acryl-emulsions.
- 20. A thermal transfer ink sheet, comprising:
- a heat resistant support layer;
- a first fusible ink layer including a colorant disposed on the support layer;
- an interlayer disposed on the first ink layer for supporting the first ink layer in a substantially uniform manner when transferred to a recording medium during thermal printing, the interlayer being a thin layer including at least one of thermoplastic resins and thermosetting resins in the form of discrete domains separated by gaps extending through the thickness of the interlayer, the domains having a particle size smaller than about 200 .mu.m in diameter; and
- a second fusible layer disposed on the interlayer, the materials for the first fusible ink layer, interlayer and second fusible layer selected so that the second fusible layer, interlayer and first ink layer are transferred to and adhere to a recording medium as a single body to form a dot of ink during thermal printing.
- 21. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 20, wherein the gaps are between about 0.1 and 50 .mu.m wide.
- 22. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 20, wherein the interlayer further includes an inorganic additive selected from the group consisting of calcium carbonate, titanium oxide, carbon black and mixtures thereof.
- 23. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 20, wherein the interlayer includes wax in an amount less than about 50% by weight.
- 24. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 23, wherein the thermoplastic material of the interlayer further includes an inorganic additive selected from the group consisting of titanium oxide, calcium carbonate, carbon black and mixtures thereof.
- 25. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 20, wherein the second fusible layer is an ink layer including a colorant.
- 26. A thermal transfer ink sheet, comprising:
- a heat resistant support layer;
- a first fusible ink layer including a colorant disposed on the support layer;
- an interlayer disposed on the first ink layer for supporting the first ink layer in a substantially uniform manner when transferred to a recording medium during thermal printing, the interlayer being a thin film of a thermosetting material; and
- a second fusible layer disposed on the interlayer, whereby the second fusible layer, interlayer and first ink layer are transferred to and adhere to a recording medium as a single body to form a dot of ink during thermal printing.
- 27. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 26, wherein the second fusible layer is an ink layer including a colorant.
- 28. A thermal transfer ink sheet, comprising:
- a heat resistant support layer;
- a first fusible ink layer including a colorant disposed on the support layer;
- an interlayer disposed on the first ink layer for supporting the first ink layer in a substantially uniform manner when transferred to a recording medium during thermal printing, the interlayer being a thin layer formed from at least one of a thermoplastic resin and a thermosetting resin, on the first layer in the form of fine grains having a particle size smaller than about 200 .mu.m in diameter and formulated so that the cohesive properties of selected portions of the interlayer increase after the selected portions are heated during thermal printing;
- a second fusible layer disposed on the interlayer, the materials for the first fusible ink layer, interlayer and second fusible layer selected so that the second fusible layer, interlayer and first ink layer are transferred to and a adhere to a recording medium as a single body to form a dot of ink during thermal printing.
- 29. The thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 28, wherein the second fusible layer is an ink layer including a colorant.
- 30. A method for preparing a thermal transfer ink sheet for thermal transfer printing, comprising:
- providing a heat resistant support layer;
- applying a first fusible ink layer to one surface of the support layer;
- applying an interlayer on the first ink layer, the interlayer including materials whose cohesive properties will increase after the interlayer is heated during thermal printing to maintain the first ink layer in a substantially uniform manner when it is transferred to a recording medium during thermal transfer printing; and
- applying a second fusible layer to the interlayer.
- 31. The method of claim 30, including forming the interlayer into separate domains separated by gaps which extend continuously from the first ink layer to the second fusible layer.
- 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the domains are formed by gravure printing.
- 33. The method of claim 31, including forming the gaps between domains by coating with a material having a large coefficient of thermal expansion by the solvent hot melt method drying and cooling.
- 34. The method of claim 31, including forming the gaps between domains by coating an emulsion, and drying the coated emulsion at a temperature below the lowest temperature at which a film will form.
- 35. The method of claim 30, including applying the interlayer as an aggregation of grains, the grains formed by melting thermoplastic material, kneading the thermoplastic material by heating and cooling to set and grinding the thermoplastic material into finely divided grains.
- 36. The method for manufacturing a thermal transfer ink sheet of claim 30, wherein the interlayer is applied to the first ink layer by forming an emulsion including material selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic resins, thermosetting resins and mixtures thereof, then coating the first ink layer with the emulsion, and drying the emulsion at a temperature below the lowest film forming temperature of that emulsion.
- 37. A method of thermal transfer printing an image on a recording medium using a thermal transfer ink sheet having a support layer, a first fusible ink layer including colorant on the support film, an interlayer including one of thermosetting resins and thermoplastic resins, the cohesion of which will increase during thermal printing to maintain the first ink layer in a substantially uniform manner during thermal printing on the first ink layer and a second fusible layer on the interlayer, comprising:
- positioning the ink sheet against the recording medium so that the second ink layer contacts the recording medium;
- selectively applying thermal energy to the support layer in accordance with image signals corresponding to the image sought to the printed to heat selected portions of the first ink layer, second fusible layer and interlayer, increasing the cohesion of the selected portions of the interlayer and causing the selected portions of the first ink layer and second fusible layer to substantially soften and adhering the selected portions of the first ink layer, interlayer and second fusible layer to the recording medium as a single body to form a dot of ink on the recording medium, the interlayer maintaining the first ink layer in a substantially uniform manner; and
- separating the selected portion including the first ink layer, interlayer and second fusible layer from the non-printed portion.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
61-310236 |
Dec 1986 |
JPX |
|
61-310237 |
Dec 1986 |
JPX |
|
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/137,130 filed Dec. 23, 1987 now abandoned, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 6/851,759, filed Apr. 14, 1986 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4880324 |
Sato et al. |
Nov 1989 |
|
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
81185 |
May 1984 |
JPX |
1116591 |
Jun 1986 |
JPX |
Continuations (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
137130 |
Dec 1987 |
|
Parent |
851759 |
Apr 1986 |
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