JP2000094894A - Thermal transfer foil - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thermal transfer foil which enables various patterns such as designs and characters to be thermally transferred, in a clear profile, to a working paper through a thermal transfer process using a mold. SOLUTION: This thermal transfer foil comprises a synthetic resin carrier sheet 12 with heat resistance and plasticity, a separable layer 14 formed of a synthetic resin having a lower melt point than the carrier sheet 12 in contact with the surface of the carrier sheet 12 and a layer 15 to which patterns are thermally transferred, formed on the separable layer 14. In this case, the layer 15 has an adhesive layer 22 which adheres to an object to be decorated when heat and pressure are applied to the carrier sheet 12 side.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer foil, for example, in the form of a film or a tape. The present invention relates to a heat transfer foil that can be heat-transferred.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, various types of thermal transfer members for obtaining decoration of a desired pattern by a thermal transfer method are known. Conventional thermal transfer members are generally used for thermal transfer of a desired pattern or pattern. Transfer the layer to a thermal transfer tape or sheet
t) directly beforehand on a medium of the form and then thermally transferred.

Further, as another type of prior art thermal transfer member, there has been proposed a thermal transfer member in which a thermal transfer layer is formed on the entire surface of a sheet-like medium such as a tape or paper.

[0004]

However, in order to obtain a desired pattern using the thermal transfer body of the latter form, it is necessary to use a thermal transfer press having a mold in which a fixed pattern is formed. It was impossible to obtain a clear pattern. This is because thermal transfer was not clearly performed at the peripheral edge portion of the pattern engraved on the mold. Therefore, in order to obtain the desired pattern or character by thermal transfer,
After cutting the transfer body and making such patterns and characters,
This had to be arranged on working paper and thermally transferred.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and uses a mold in which a desired pattern is carved, and engraves an object to be decorated, such as fiber or leather, in the mold. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer foil capable of performing thermal transfer sharply with a patterned pattern.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer foil capable of further improving the decorative effect by reflecting light at a portion thermally transferred to an object to be decorated.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a thermal transfer foil according to the present invention comprises a carrier sheet of a synthetic resin having heat resistance and plasticity, and a synthetic resin having a melting point lower than that of the carrier sheet. A separation layer formed in contact with the carrier sheet, and a transfer receiving layer formed on the separation layer, wherein the transfer layer adheres to an object to be decorated when heat and pressure are applied to the carrier sheet side And a transfer-receiving layer having an adhesive layer to be transferred (claim 1).

[0008] In the case of performing thermal transfer using the thermal transfer foil, for example, the thermal transfer foil is placed on the object to be decorated with the adhesive layer facing down, and a mold mounted on a press is used. Pressure and heat are applied to the carrier sheet of the thermal transfer foil. A pattern of a desired form is engraved on the mold in advance.

[0009] Here, the separation layer has a lower melting point than the carrier sheet, and the carrier sheet and the separation layer have a double structure in contact with each other. The temperature transmitted directly to the carrier sheet is absorbed by the carrier sheet to some extent and then transmitted to the separation layer. For this reason, the separation layer 14 becomes flexible in a state of being melted, and the separation layer is clearly and clearly separated from the transfer-receiving layer corresponding to the engraved portion of the mold. Therefore, a desired pattern design having a sharp periphery and a beautiful contour can be obtained. Finally,
The separation layer has a function of stably maintaining the transferred layer at the time of thermal transfer because the portion corresponding to the engraved portion of the mold is melted and does not stick.

By the heat transmitted from the carrier sheet side, the adhesive layer is brought into an adhesive state in a shape corresponding to the engraved portion of the mold, and the transferred layer corresponds to the engraved portion of the mold. The shape is fixed to the object to be decorated by the adhesive layer.

In the thermal transfer foil, the transferred layer may include a lens layer formed on the separation layer side and a reflection layer formed on the lens layer. 2). In this case, by the cooperation of the lens layer and the reflection layer, a high luminance is obtained when light is incident in a state after the thermal transfer, and the decoration effect is further improved.

The lens layer may be formed of fine spherical glass particles, and the reflecting layer may be formed so as to include a large number of smooth concave surfaces. The lens layer acts as a concave lens,
Since the reflective layer acts as a good reflective surface,
The decorative effect is even better.

Further, if the transfer layer is further provided with a color layer having a color between the lens layer and the reflection layer (Claim 4), the thermal transfer foil of various hues can be formed. can get.

As another embodiment, a thermal transfer foil having the following configuration can be used. That is, a carrier sheet of a synthetic resin material having heat resistance and plasticity,
A separation layer formed by applying a synthetic resin material having a lower melting point than the carrier sheet on the carrier sheet, and a thin film bonding layer as a transfer-receiving layer formed on the separation layer, A glass bead layer formed of fine ball-shaped glass grains and serving as a lens, and an aluminum layer applied to the glass bead layer to form a mirror reflection surface,
A thin film bonding layer having an adhesive layer for fixing the glass bead layer and the aluminum layer to an object to be decorated by thermal transfer, and the die through a mold having an engraved design in a desired form. When heat and pressure are applied to the carrier sheet, only the portion of the thin film bonding layer that is pressed and heated by the design engraved on the mold is separated from the separation layer while having a clear peripheral portion. A thermal transfer foil fixed to the object to be decorated by the adhesive layer (claim 5).

As still another embodiment, a thermal transfer foil having the following configuration can be provided. That is,
Carrier sheet of synthetic resin material having heat resistance and plasticity; Separation layer of synthetic resin material applied on the carrier sheet and having a lower melting point than the carrier sheet; Fine ball shape applied on the separation layer A glass bead layer which functions as a lens, which is made of glass particles, an aluminum layer which is applied to the glass bead layer to form a mirror reflection surface, and which is bonded to a work sheet after completion of the thermal transfer of the glass bead layer and the aluminum layer A thin film tie layer having an adhesive layer for applying the heat and pressure to the carrier sheet through a mold having an engraved design of a desired form, the heat and pressure being applied by the engraved design. Only the portion of the thin film bonding layer, etc. is separated from the separation layer while having a sharp peripheral portion, and such separation is performed by applying the carrier sheet. Absorbing and dispersing a portion of the heat disperses the separation layer so that it does not stick to the mold and the thin film bonding layer, and stabilizes the thin film bonding layer during the thermal transfer process. Achieved by a double structure that maintains the thermal transfer foil (claim 6).

If the thermal transfer foil further includes a colored layer of a colored synthetic resin between the glass bead layer and the aluminum layer (claim 7), thermal transfer foils of various hues are preferably obtained. It is.

Further, the carrier sheet may have a thickness of about 30 to 5
The separation layer may be formed of a polyethylene film having a thickness of about 15 to 20 microns.

Further, the size of the glass particles forming the glass bead layer and the size of the particles of the aluminum layer are about 300 to 400 mesh, respectively, and the thickness of the glass bead layer and the adhesive layer is about 15 to 400 respectively. It can be 20 microns and about 10 to 25 microns (claim 9).

[0019]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a thermal transfer foil (thermal transfer sheet) 10 as a thermal transfer body is
Carrier sheet as a base material
t) 12, and a separation layer 14 is formed on the carrier sheet 12 in contact therewith. A glass bead layer 16 as a lens layer is formed on the surface of the separation layer 14 in contact therewith. An aluminum layer 20 as a reflection layer, an adhesive layer And 22 are sequentially formed in contact with each other. In this embodiment, the glass bead layer 16, the aluminum layer 20, and the adhesive layer 2
2 form the thin film coupling layer 15 which is the layer to be transferred. A color layer is provided between the glass bead layer 16 and the aluminum layer 20.
r) 18 can also be interposed. In this case, the color layer 18 is also provided with the thin film bonding layer 15 as a transferred layer.
To form

The carrier sheet 12 is made of a synthetic resin having heat resistance and plasticity.
It is formed in the form of tape or wrapping paper. The carrier sheet 12 has a melting point higher than that of the synthetic resin forming the separation layer 14, for example, "Mylar" (a trademark of a product manufactured by DuPont), "V".
It is preferred to use a polyester film such as "idene" (a trademark of a product manufactured by Goodyear).

The separation layer 14 is formed on the carrier sheet 1.
It is formed by applying a synthetic resin having a melting point lower than 2 to the surface of the carrier sheet 12. Examples of the synthetic resin used as the material of the separation layer 14 include polyethylene (polyethylene) and ethylene vinyl acetate (ethylene vinyl ac).
ateate: EVA) or ionomer (ionom)
er) and the like, and preferred examples thereof include
For example, "Elvax" (Du Pont)
(Trademark of products manufactured by the company).

The glass bead layer 16 is formed of fine glass particles, preferably, fine spherical or bead-shaped glass particles. It is formed using means. The glass bead layer 16 is, for example, 30
It is laminated using a glass bead of 0 to 400 mesh so as to have a coating thickness of about 15 to 25 microns. The fine glass beads forming the glass bead layer 16 function as concave lenses in a state after thermal transfer.

The color layer 18 is formed by applying a colored synthetic resin on the glass bead layer 16 so as to have a thickness of, for example, about 15 to 25 microns. As in the present embodiment, the color layer 18 having a color is formed by the glass bead layer 16 and the aluminum layer 2.
It is preferable that a thermal transfer foil having various hues can be obtained by interposing the thermal transfer foil between 0 and 0.

The aluminum layer 20 is provided on the glass bead layer 16 in the present embodiment.
8, for example, vacuum vapor deposition (vacuum vapor)
(rdeposition) method. The aluminum layer 20 is uniformly applied so as to function as a mirror reflection surface. The aluminum layer 20
Is preferably applied to a thickness of about 0.01 to 0.1 micron using, for example, 300 to 400 mesh aluminum powder. The aluminum layer 20
Is formed so as to include a number of smooth concave surfaces corresponding to the surface shape of the glass bead layer 16 and acts as a mirror reflecting surface.
In combination with the function as a concave lens, there is an effect that high luminance is obtained when light is incident on the glass bead layer 16.

The adhesive layer 22 is formed of the aluminum layer 2
For example, it is formed by applying an adhesive so as to have a thickness of about 10 to 25 microns. The adhesive layer 22
For example, various kinds of adhesives such as a pressure-sensitive adhesive and a thermoplastic adhesive can be used. One preferred example of an adhesive to be used is hot tackifying adhesive described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,877.
Can be given.

Next, a thermal transfer process using the thermal transfer foil 10 will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, the thermal transfer foil 10 in the form of a paper roll or tape is placed on a work sheet 28 to be decorated by thermal transfer. In this state, a pressure is applied to the carrier sheet 12 of the thermal transfer foil 10 using a mold 24 mounted on a press 26,
Heat. A pattern of a desired form is engraved on the mold 24 in advance. For example, when pressure is applied at about 170 ° C. for 1 to 2 seconds, heat is applied to the carrier sheet 12.
And the separation layer 14, the separation between the separation layer 14 and the thin film coupling layer 15, which is the layer to be transferred, is separated at the engraved portion of the mold 24.

Here, the carrier sheet 12 has a melting point higher than that of the separation layer 14, and has a double structure in which the carrier sheet 12 and the separation layer 14 are in contact with each other. Is applied to the carrier sheet 12 and the separation layer 14. That is, the temperature directly transmitted to the carrier sheet 12 is absorbed to some extent by the carrier sheet 12 and then transmitted to the separation layer 14, so that the separation layer 14 becomes flexible in a molten state. Become. Therefore, the separation layer 14 is clearly and clearly separated from the thin film bonding layer 15 corresponding to the intaglio portion of the mold 24, thereby obtaining a desired pattern design having a sharp peripheral portion. As a result, the separation layer 14 is melted and does not stick, so that the glass bead layer 16 also has an effect of stably maintaining at the time of thermal transfer. In the double structure of the carrier sheet 12 and the separation layer 14, the thermal transfer effect is changed by adjusting the thickness of the carrier sheet 12 and the separation layer 14. Therefore, it is preferable that the carrier sheet 12 is formed to have a thickness of, for example, about 30 to 50 microns, and the separation layer 14 is formed to have a thickness of, for example, about 15 to 20 microns.

Eventually, the heat transferred to the thin film bonding layer 15 causes the adhesive layer 22 to change to a solid state so as to perform an adhesive action, and the glass bead layer 16 serving as a transfer-receiving layer and the glass bead layer 16 to the transfer layer. The aluminum layer 20
It is fixed on the work sheet 28. Finally, when the carrier sheet 12 is peeled off, as shown in FIG. 4, a heat transfer body having a sharp outline, a clean contour, and a desired pattern is obtained on the work sheet 28.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a desired design pattern can be obtained neatly using a pattern engraved on a mold. The heat transfer can be easily performed using the design engraved on the mold, which increases work efficiency and is suitable for mass production. In addition, since the incident light is reflected by the glass bead layer 16 and the aluminum layer 20 in the thermally transferred thin film bonding layer 15, the decorative effect is further enhanced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway plan view showing layers and the like constituting a thermal transfer foil according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a thermal transfer foil as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and a press fitted with a mold with a depressed design.
FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged view showing a step of performing thermal transfer to a work sheet.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which the thin film bonding layer is thermally transferred to the work sheet only in the engraved portion of the mold after the process of FIG. 3 is completed, and the carrier sheet and the separation layer are separated without being thermally transferred in the depression. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Thermal transfer foil 12 Carrier sheet 14 Separation layer 15 Transfer receiving layer (thin film bonding layer) 16 Lens layer (glass bead layer) 18 Color layer 20 Reflective layer (aluminum layer) 22 Adhesive layer 28 Object to be decorated

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A carrier sheet made of synthetic resin having heat resistance and plasticity, a separation layer formed by contacting the carrier sheet with a synthetic resin having a melting point lower than that of the carrier sheet, and A heat transfer foil comprising: a transfer layer formed, the transfer layer having an adhesive layer that adheres to an object to be decorated when heat and pressure are applied to the carrier sheet side. 2. The transfer layer includes a lens layer formed on the separation layer side, a reflection layer formed on the lens layer,
The thermal transfer foil according to claim 1, comprising: 3. The lens layer is formed of fine spherical glass particles, and correspondingly, the reflection layer is formed to include a large number of smooth concave surfaces.
The thermal transfer foil according to claim 2. 4. The thermal transfer foil according to claim 2, wherein the transferred layer further comprises a color layer having a color between the lens layer and the reflection layer. 5. A carrier sheet of a synthetic resin material having heat resistance and plasticity, a separation layer formed by applying a synthetic resin material having a melting point lower than that of the carrier sheet on the carrier sheet, and the separation layer A glass bead layer formed of fine coated glass particles serving as a lens and serving as a lens, and a mirror coated on the glass bead layer and serving as a mirror; A thin-film bonding layer comprising: an aluminum layer forming a reflective surface; and an adhesive layer for fixing the glass bead layer and the aluminum layer to an object to be decorated by thermal transfer. When heat and pressure are applied on the carrier sheet through a mold having a designed design, the portion of the thin film bonding layer is pressed and heated by the design engraved on the mold. A heat transfer foil characterized in that only the part is separated from the separating layer with a sharp periphery and is fixed to the object to be decorated by the adhesive layer. 6. A carrier sheet made of a synthetic resin material having heat resistance and plasticity; coated on the carrier sheet;
A separation layer of a synthetic resin material having a melting point lower than that of the carrier sheet; a glass bead layer formed of fine bead-shaped glass particles applied on the separation layer and serving as a lens;
A thin film bonding layer having an aluminum layer applied to the glass bead layer to form a mirror reflection surface, and an adhesive layer for bonding the glass bead layer and the aluminum layer to a work sheet after completion of thermal transfer; When heat and pressure are applied on the carrier sheet through a mold having a design, the stamped design presses and heats only the portion of the thin film bonding layer, etc., which has a sharp peripheral portion. The carrier layer absorbs and disperses a part of the applied heat, so that the separation layer is melted, and the mold and the thin film are separated. Achieved by a dual structure that prevents sticking to the tie layer and stably maintains the thin film tie layer during the thermal transfer process. 7. The thermal transfer foil according to claim 6, further comprising a colored layer of a colored synthetic resin between the glass bead layer and the aluminum layer. 8. The carrier sheet is a polyester film having a thickness of about 30 to 50 microns, and the separation layer is a polyethylene having a thickness of about 15 to 20 microns.
The thermal transfer foil according to claim 6. 9. The glass beads forming the glass bead layer and the particles of the aluminum layer have a size of about 300 to 400 mesh, respectively, and the glass bead layer and the adhesive layer have a thickness of about 15 mesh, respectively. 9. The thermal transfer foil of claim 6, 7 or 8, wherein the thickness is between about 20 microns and about 10 to 25 microns.