JPH0952451A - Heat transfer recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize favorable printing on a plastic such as polyethylene terephthalate, vinyl chloride, acrylic plastic or the like with heat energy, which is nearly equal to the heat energy required for the heat transfer recording medium mainly made of conventional wax, improve the high abrasion resistance and solvent resistance necessary for a transferred image and, at the same time, eliminate excess separation of ink transferring except the heating part at heat transfer. SOLUTION: In a heat transfer recording medium, a peel layer, in which the weight ratio of polyethylene wax to an acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer lies within the range of 40:60-5:95, is provided on a support. On the peel layer, a protective layer, in which the weight ratio of hot melt wax to a polyester resin lies within the range of 10:90-75:25. Further, on the protective layer, a coloring layer consisting of a coloring agent and an acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer having Tg of 90 deg.C of higher.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording medium containing wax as a main component, which is not much different from the conventional thermal transfer recording medium in the application of printing on a plastic such as polyethylene terephthalate, vinyl chloride or acrylic by a thermal transfer printer. The thermal transfer recording medium aims to improve the high scratch resistance and solvent resistance of the transferred image and to eliminate the residual peeling, which is the ink transfer other than the heating part during the thermal transfer. Is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when performing thermal transfer printing by a thermal transfer printer, a support having a heat-meltable ink layer containing wax as a main component or a release layer and an ink layer containing wax as a main component is provided. A thermal transfer recording medium having a multilayer structure has been adopted. These thermal transfer recording media are lower in viscosity than thermoplastic resins because the smoothness of the surface of ordinary paper or ordinary coat paper is lower than that of plastics such as polyethylene terephthalate, vinyl chloride and acrylic. A good transfer image is obtained by using a meltable wax as a main component.
However, when thermal transfer printing is performed on plastic cards such as polyethylene terephthalate, vinyl chloride, acrylic, etc., labels, films, etc., the transferred image may be crushed due to the low melting property of the ink, Since it has weak adhesiveness, it has drawbacks such as poor scratch resistance and solvent resistance. At present, many thermal transfer recording media having improved scratch resistance are provided, but these are often classified into scratch resistance and high scratch resistance. Above all, the ink components of the thermal transfer recording medium with high scratch resistance contain almost no heat-melting wax, and the thermoplastic resin is the main component. High printing energy is required.

JP-A-07-96682 and JP-B-6
Therefore, the thermal transfer recording medium provided by -65517 requires high printing energy because the transferred image obtained by thermal transfer printing on plastic has high scratch resistance and solvent resistance.

[0004]

As described above, as the performance of scratch resistance is improved, most of the ink constituent components of the thermal transfer recording medium are thermoplastic resins, and generally, high printing energy during thermal transfer printing is used. Is required, and there is a high possibility of causing a problem such as extra peeling which is an ink transfer at a portion other than the heating portion at the time of thermal transfer. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is good in that a transfer image obtained by thermally transferring it to a plastic such as polyethylene terephthalate, vinyl chloride or acrylic is free from such problems as residual peeling and the transfer image has high scratch resistance. The present invention provides a thermal transfer recording medium having solvent resistance and capable of thermal transfer printing without requiring high printing energy.

[0005]

The present invention is to solve the above problems. FIG. 1 shows the structure of the present invention. More specifically, a release layer 3 containing a polyethylene wax and a homopolymer or a copolymer of an acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer alone or a mixture of two or more on a support 4 made of plastic, and on the release layer 3 A protective layer 2 composed of a heat-fusible wax and a polyester resin laminated thereon, and a colorant and an acrylic or methacrylic homopolymer or copolymer alone having a Tg of 90 ° C. or higher and an acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer. Or 2
A thermal transfer recording medium comprising a colored layer 1 made of a mixture of at least one kind.

[0006]

In the thermal transfer recording medium provided by the present invention, the coloring layer 1 has a great influence on the printability, and the thermoplastic resin is added to Tg9.
After homopolymer or copolymer made of acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer at 0 ° C. or higher is used alone or as a mixture of two or more kinds thereof, it is melted and softened by receiving heat from a thermal head, and is adhered to a transfer target. The ink layer at the time of peeling becomes a glass state, the breakability of the ink becomes smooth, and a good transferred image can be obtained without causing problems such as excess peeling. Protective layer 2
Does not reduce the abrasion resistance even if the printing energy required for thermal transfer printing is reduced by containing the meltable wax by containing the polyester resin. The heat-melting wax also has a role as an anti-blocking agent. The peeling layer 3 has a function as a protective layer in addition to the effect of peeling the thermal transfer ink from the support, and is a homopolymer or a copolymer of polyethylene wax and an acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer, or a mixture of two or more thereof. By containing, the slipperiness is provided on the surface of the transferred image after transfer, and the printing is protected. Due to these effects, when thermally transferred to a plastic such as polyethylene terephthalate, vinyl chloride, or acrylic, the transferred image is good, and the transferred image has high scratch resistance and solvent resistance.

As the colorant, carbon black, an organic pigment, and an inorganic pigment, which have been appropriately used as conventionally known pigments, are preferably used. Further, if necessary, a dispersant for uniformly dispersing the plasticizer and the colorant may be added.

As the wax contained in the protective layer, known waxes such as carnauba wax, lanox, rice wax, candelilla wax and polyethylene wax may be used.

Further, in order to prevent blocking and improve scratch resistance, a non-heat-melting melamine resin, acrylic resin, silicone resin, fluororesin, fine powder of an inorganic substance, etc. may be added to the protective layer and the peeling layer, if necessary. You may add.

On the other side of the support, in order to prevent the support itself from being melted by heat and to improve the running stability of the ribbon, a back layer made of a resin having excellent heat resistance such as silicon resin and fluororesin and having good slipperiness is provided. It is desirable to provide it.

The plastic film used for the support is not particularly limited, and those conventionally known as a thermal transfer recording medium having good heat resistance such as polyester and polycarbonate are preferably used.

As shown in the figure, the structure of this thermal transfer recording medium is such that a release layer 3, a protective layer 2, and a release layer 3 are provided on one surface of a support 4.
The coloring layer 1 is sequentially laminated, and the back layer 5 is laminated on the other surface of the support 3. Support 4 is 2 to 6 μm, release layer 3
Is 0.1 to 1.5 μm, and the protective layer 2 is 0.3 to 5 μm.
m, and the colored layer 1 is preferably 0.3 to 10 μm.

[0013]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to examples. (Example 1) [Ink for release layer] Polyethylene wax 30 parts by weight Polymethylmethacrylate resin 20 parts by weight (weight ratio 60:40) Toluene 50 parts by weight [Ink for protective layer] Lanox 13 parts by weight Polyester resin 37 parts by weight (Weight ratio 26:74) Toluene 50 parts by weight [ink for coloring layer] Carbon black 15 parts by weight Polymethylmethacrylate resin (Tg 90 ° C.) 35 parts by weight Toluene 50 parts by weight (Example 2) [Ink for release layer] Polyethylene wax 47.5 parts by weight Polymethylmethacrylate resin 2.5 parts by weight (weight ratio 95: 5) Toluene 50 parts by weight [Ink for protective layer] Ink used in Example 1 [Ink for colored layer] Car Bonblack 25 parts by weight Polymethylmethacrylate resin (Tg 95 ° C) 25 parts by weight Toluene 50 parts by weight (Example 3) [Ink for release layer] Polyethylene wax 30 parts by weight Polymethylmethacrylate resin 20 parts by weight (weight ratio 60:40) Toluene 50 parts by weight [Ink for protective layer] Carnauba wax 30 parts by weight Polyester resin 20 parts by weight Parts (weight ratio 60:40) toluene 50 parts by weight [ink for coloring layer] carbon black 25 parts by weight polymethyl methacrylate resin (Tg 90 ° C.) 25 parts by weight toluene 50 parts by weight (comparative example 1) [for release layer] Ink] Polyethylene wax 1 part by weight Polymethylmethacrylate resin 49 parts by weight (weight ratio 2:98) Toluene 50 parts by weight [Ink for protective layer] Ink used in Example 1 [Ink for colored layer] Used in Example 1 Ink (Comparative Example 2) [Ink for release layer] Polyethylene wax 35 parts by weight Polymethacrylate Methyl acetate resin 15 parts by weight (weight ratio 70:30) Toluene 50 parts by weight [ink for protective layer] Ink used in Example 1 [ink for colored layer] Ink used in Example 1 (Comparative Example 3) [ Ink for release layer] Ink used in Example 1 [Ink for protective layer] Carnauba wax 2.5 parts by weight Polyester resin 47.5 parts by weight (weight ratio 5:95) Toluene 50 parts by weight [Ink for colored layer] Ink used in Example 1 (Comparative Example 4) [Ink for release layer] Ink used in Example 1 [Ink for protective layer] Carnauba wax 40 parts by weight Polyester resin 10 parts by weight (weight ratio 80:20) Toluene 50 parts by weight Part [Ink for colored layer] Ink used in Example 1 (Comparative Example 5) [Ink for release layer] Ink used in Example 1 [Ink for protective layer] Used in Example 1 Ink [Ink coloring layer] Ca - carbon black 25 parts by weight of polymethyl methacrylate resin (Tg: 60 ° C.) 25 parts by weight Toluene 50 parts by weight

Each of the above inks for the peeling layer, the protective layer and the coloring layer is produced by using a dispersing device such as a ball mill, a sand mill, an attritor, etc., and a gravure coater, a roll coater, etc. The coating device was used to apply a 5 μm-thick polyester film to the other surface of the back surface with an ink thickness of 0.5 μm for the release layer, 1.5 μm for the protective layer, and 1.5 μm for the colored layer to obtain a thermal transfer print medium. .

(Evaluation of Printability, Scratch Resistance, and Solvent Resistance) The thermal transfer printing medium obtained above was subjected to polyethylene terephthalate, vinyl chloride, acrylic film by means of a bar code printer M-4800 manufactured by SATO. A bar code pattern was heat-transfer-printed on.

Table 1 shows each evaluation of printability, scratch resistance and solvent resistance of a transfer image obtained by thermal transfer printing. For each evaluation, the above three kinds of films are performed, and if even one kind fails, all three kinds fail. The evaluation criteria are as follows.

Printability: Transfer image to bar code verification machine RJ
The evaluation read by S Inspector-4 is AN
SI grades of 3.0 or higher are marked with ◯, and SI grades below are marked with x.

Scratch resistance: HEIDON manufactured by HEIDON
14DR load 100g, moving speed 600mm / mi
n, scratched back and forth 20 times with a sapphire scratching needle (0.05 mmR, 90 °), and the one that does not affect the transferred image is marked as ○,
What was scraped off is x.

Solvent resistance: A cotton swab was impregnated with IPA (isopropyl alcohol) under the same conditions as the scratch resistance test and rubbed 10 times back and forth.
What was scraped off is x.

[0020]

[0021]

The thermal transfer recording medium of the present invention comprises the colored layer 1.
And an acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer having a Tg of 90 ° C. or higher, and a weight ratio of 10:90 to 75: to the protective layer 2.
A three-layer structure containing a heat-meltable wax and a polyester resin in the range of 25, and the release layer 3 containing a polyethylene wax in the weight ratio of 40:60 to 5:95 and an acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer. This enables printing on plastics such as polyethylene terephthalate, vinyl chloride, acrylic, etc. with thermal energy that is not much different from conventional thermal transfer recording media containing wax as the main component, and is the ink transfer other than the heating part during thermal transfer. Good printing without residual peeling, high scratch resistance,
A transferred image having good solvent resistance can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a thermal transfer recording medium.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. Colored layer 2. Protective layer 3. Release layer 4. Support 5. Rear view

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A weight ratio of polyethylene wax to acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer is 4 on the support.
A release layer in the range of 0:60 to 5:95 is provided, and the weight ratio of the heat-melting wax to the polyester resin is 1 on the release layer.
A thermal transfer recording medium having a protective layer in the range of 0:90 to 75:25 and further having thereon a coloring layer comprising a coloring agent and an acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer having a Tg of 90 ° C. or higher. 2. A copolymer or homopolymer in which the acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer having a Tg of 90 ° C. or higher used in the colored layer is an acrylic or methacrylic polymer.
2. The thermal transfer recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the thermal transfer recording medium is a single type or a mixture of two or more types. 3. An acrylic or methacrylic acid ester polymer used for the release layer is an acrylic or methacrylic homopolymer or copolymer alone or
The thermal transfer recording medium according to claim 1, which is a mixture of one or more kinds.