JP2019010831A - Transfer type inkjet recording method and transfer type inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a transfer type inkjet recording method that can favorably transfer an ink image to a recording medium and form an image having high robustness.SOLUTION: The transfer type inkjet recording method has: a step of forming an ink image on a transfer body applied with reaction liquid which comes into contact with ink to make the ink highly viscous, by application of the ink thereto using an inkjet head; a step of removing part of liquid components out of the ink image by bringing a first liquid absorption member, which contains liquid with a surface tension of 20 mN/m or less therein and has a contact angle with ink of 90 degrees or more, into contact with the ink image under a pressure of 0.5 kg/cmor less; a step of transferring the ink image to the recording member by bringing the recording medium into contact with the transfer body on which the ink image having the part of the liquid components removed therefrom is formed; and a step of removing the liquid components out of the ink image by bringing a second liquid absorption member into contact with the ink image transferred to the recording medium.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a transfer type inkjet recording method and a transfer type inkjet recording apparatus.

  When image formation is performed by an ink jet method, bleeding in which adjacently applied inks are mixed and beading in which ink that has landed first is attracted to ink that has landed later may occur. Further, curling or cockling may occur due to excessive absorption of the liquid component in the ink by the recording medium. As a method for solving these problems, Patent Document 1 proposes a transfer type inkjet recording method having the following steps. A step of forming an ink image by applying an ink containing a color material on a transfer body to which a reaction liquid that forms an ink image by contacting the color material in the ink is applied using an inkjet device. A step of pressing the transfer body on which the ink image is formed to a recording medium and transferring the ink image to the recording medium. Here, in Patent Document 1, an ink image is formed on a transfer body provided with a heating unit, and then the ink image on the transfer body is heated by the heating unit to evaporate water in the ink image. Transferred to a recording medium.

  However, the ink image formed on the transfer body is different in the amount of ink applied (hereinafter also referred to as “duty”) depending on the location, and therefore is in an excessively dry state (hereinafter also referred to as “overdrying”) in a region where the duty is low. . In the overdried region of the ink image formed on the transfer body, there is almost no moisture, and therefore the adhesiveness required for the movement of the ink image from the transfer body to the recording medium is low. Therefore, transfer to the recording medium is not performed well in the transfer process. Therefore, as a method for preventing or reducing such over-drying of the ink image, Patent Document 2 discloses that a gas containing vapor generated in the drying process is reapplied to the ink image between the drying process and the transfer process. It has been proposed to perform transfer with the ink image wet.

  As described above, as an example of the method of removing moisture from the ink image on the transfer body, an example of performing heat drying has been described. However, in this method, since the latent heat of water is large, energy consumption is large, and drying takes time. There are problems such as. Therefore, as a method of removing moisture other than heat drying, Patent Document 3 proposes a method of removing moisture by bringing a liquid absorbing member into contact with an ink image on a transfer body.

JP-A-6-200199 JP 2007-331169 A JP 2009-45851 A

  However, even when the liquid component is removed by contact with the liquid absorbing member as described in Patent Document 3, the ink image may be overdried. In order to prevent or reduce this overdrying, even if transfer is performed after water is reapplied to the ink image after removal of the liquid, transfer to the recording medium may not be performed satisfactorily. On the other hand, when a large amount of liquid component is left so as not to be overdried in an area where the duty is low in consideration of transferability, the fastness to scratching of an image after transfer to a recording medium is lowered.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a transfer type ink jet recording method and a transfer type ink jet recording apparatus which can transfer an ink image to a recording medium satisfactorily and can form an image having high fastness. To do.

The transfer-type inkjet recording method according to the present invention is a process of forming an ink image by applying an ink using an inkjet head on a transfer body provided with a reaction liquid that comes into contact with the ink to increase the viscosity of the ink. A first liquid-absorbing member containing a liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m or less and having a contact angle with the ink of 90 degrees or more with respect to the ink image at a pressure of 0.5 kg / cm ² or less. Removing a part of the liquid component from the ink image by bringing the recording medium into contact with the transfer medium on which the ink image from which a part of the liquid component has been removed is contacted, A step of transferring an ink image to the recording medium, and bringing a second liquid absorbing member into contact with the ink image transferred to the recording medium, whereby at least a part of a liquid component from the ink image And a step of removing.

A transfer type ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention has an ink application having an ink jet head that forms an ink image by applying ink onto a transfer body provided with a reaction liquid that comes into contact with the ink to increase the viscosity of the ink. A liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m or less, which removes a part of the liquid component from the ink image by contacting the device with the ink image at a pressure of 0.5 kg / cm ² or less; A first liquid removing device having a first liquid absorbing member having a contact angle with ink of 90 degrees or more; and a recording medium on the transfer body on which the ink image from which a part of the liquid component has been removed is formed. At least a liquid component from the ink image by contact between the transfer pressing member for transferring the ink image to the recording medium and the ink image transferred to the recording medium. And a second liquid removing device having a second liquid absorbing member for removing a part thereof.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a transfer type ink jet recording method and a transfer type ink jet recording apparatus which can transfer an ink image onto a recording medium satisfactorily and can form an image having high fastness. it can.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a transfer type inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a control system for the entire apparatus in the transfer type inkjet recording apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a printer control unit in the transfer type inkjet recording apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1.

The transfer type inkjet recording method according to the present invention includes the following steps. A step of forming an ink image by applying an ink using an ink jet head on a transfer body provided with a reaction liquid that is brought into contact with the ink to increase the viscosity of the ink. A first liquid absorbing member containing a liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m or less and having a contact angle with the ink of 90 degrees or more is brought into contact with the ink image at a pressure of 0.5 kg / cm ² or less. Removing a part of the liquid component from the ink image. A step of bringing a recording medium into contact with the transfer body on which the ink image from which a part of the liquid component has been removed is formed, and transferring the ink image to the recording medium. Removing at least a part of the liquid component from the ink image by bringing a second liquid absorbing member into contact with the ink image transferred to the recording medium;

The transfer type inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration. An ink applicator having an ink jet head that forms an ink image by applying ink onto a transfer body provided with a reaction liquid that increases the viscosity of the ink by contacting the ink. A part of the liquid component is removed from the ink image by contacting the ink image with a pressure of 0.5 kg / cm ² or less, and a liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m or less is contained therein, The 1st liquid removal apparatus which has a 1st liquid absorption member whose contact angle is 90 degree | times or more. A transfer pressing member for transferring the ink image to the recording medium by bringing the recording medium into contact with the transfer body on which the ink image from which a part of the liquid component has been removed is formed. A second liquid removing apparatus having a second liquid absorbing member that removes at least a part of a liquid component from the ink image by contact with the ink image transferred to the recording medium.

  When the liquid component is removed from the ink image formed on the transfer body by the contact of the liquid absorbing member, the energy consumption can be reduced and the drying time can be shortened as compared with the case of performing heat drying. However, unlike heat drying, since the liquid component is physically removed without causing a phase change to gas, not only moisture but also a non-volatile solvent is removed. For this reason, the ink image tends to be excessively dried, and the adhesiveness of the ink image is lowered, so that the transfer to the recording medium may not be performed well. In particular, when the material of the liquid absorbing member is hydrophilic (indicating that the contact angle with the ink is less than 90 degrees), the tendency of the ink image to become excessively dry tends to become more prominent.

In the present invention, the first liquid absorption of water repellency (indicating that the contact angle with the ink is 90 degrees or more) containing a liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m or less (hereinafter also referred to as a treatment liquid) in the interior. The member is brought into contact with the ink image at a low pressure of 0.5 kg / cm ² or less. Thereby, the capillary permeation ability of the liquid absorbing member is adjusted to an appropriate range, and the liquid component can be appropriately removed from the ink image.

  Further, in the present invention, the liquid component is removed from the ink image by bringing the second liquid absorbing member into contact with the ink image after being transferred to the recording medium, so that it remains in the ink image after the transfer. Liquid components can be absorbed and removed. Thereby, an image having high fastness can be formed.

The transfer type inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention can have the following configuration, for example. An image forming unit for forming an ink image before liquid removal containing a first liquid and a color material on a transfer body. A part of the first liquid is removed from the ink image before the liquid removal by contacting with the ink image before the liquid removal at a pressure of 0.5 kg / cm ² or less. And a first liquid removing device having a first liquid absorbing member having a contact angle with ink of 90 ° or more. A pressing member for transfer, which contacts a recording medium such as paper with a transfer body on which an ink image after liquid removal is formed, and transfers the ink image after liquid removal to the recording medium. A second liquid removing apparatus having a second liquid absorbing member that removes at least a part of the first liquid from the transferred ink image by contact with the transferred ink image transferred to the recording medium.

  A part of the first liquid is removed from the ink image before liquid removal by bringing the first liquid absorbing member of the first liquid removing device into contact with the ink image before liquid removal on the transfer body. As a result, curling and cockling due to excessive absorption of the first liquid in the ink image by a recording medium such as paper is suppressed. On the other hand, since the first liquid remains moderately in the ink image after the liquid removal, the transfer to the recording medium is performed well. Further, by bringing the second liquid absorbing member of the second liquid removing device into contact with the transferred ink image on the recording medium, at least a part of the first liquid is removed from the transferred ink image. Thereby, an image having high fastness can be obtained.

  The image forming unit is not particularly limited as long as it can form an ink image before removing the liquid containing the first liquid and the color material on the transfer body. Preferably, 1) a reaction liquid applying device for applying a reaction liquid containing the first liquid or the second liquid onto the transfer body, and 2) an ink containing the first liquid or the second liquid, and a coloring material. And an ink applying device for applying the ink onto the transfer body. In this case, an ink image before the liquid removal is formed as a mixture of the reaction liquid and the ink. The ink applicator can have an inkjet head. The reaction liquid includes a component that chemically or physically reacts with the ink to make the mixture of the reaction liquid and the ink more viscous than each of the reaction liquid and the ink. That is, the reaction liquid can be brought into contact with the ink to increase the viscosity of the ink. At least one of the reaction liquid and the ink includes the first liquid that is a liquid component. Here, the first liquid includes a liquid having low volatility at room temperature (room temperature), and particularly includes water. The second liquid is a liquid other than the first liquid, and may be high or low in volatility, but is preferably a liquid having higher volatility than the first liquid.

  Hereinafter, specific embodiments of a transfer type inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a transfer type inkjet recording apparatus of the present embodiment. A transfer type inkjet recording apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 is a single-wafer type inkjet recording apparatus that manufactures a recorded matter by transferring an ink image to a recording medium 108 via a transfer body 101. In FIG. 1, the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction indicate the width direction (full length direction), the depth direction, and the height direction of the transfer type inkjet recording apparatus 100, respectively. The recording medium 108 is conveyed in the X direction.

  A transfer type inkjet recording apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 has the following configuration. A transfer body 101 supported by a support member 102. A reaction liquid applying device 103 that applies a reaction liquid that reacts with ink onto the transfer body 101. An ink applicator 104 provided with an ink jet head that applies ink onto the transfer body 101 to which the reaction liquid has been applied, and forms an ink image that is an image of the ink on the transfer body 101. A first liquid removing device 105 that removes a part of the liquid component from the ink image on the transfer body 101. A transfer pressing member 106 that transfers the ink image on the transfer body 101 from which the liquid component has been removed onto a recording medium 108 such as paper. A second liquid removing device 110 for removing at least a part of the liquid component from the transferred ink image formed on the recording medium 108; Further, the transfer type inkjet recording apparatus 100 may include a transfer body cleaning member 109 that cleans the surface of the transfer body 101 after transfer, if necessary. The transfer body 101, the reaction liquid application device 103, the ink jet head of the ink application apparatus 104, the first liquid removal apparatus 105, and the transfer body cleaning member 109 each have a length corresponding to the recording medium 108 used in the Y direction. have.

  The transfer body 101 rotates about the rotation shaft 102a of the support member 102 in the direction of arrow A in FIG. Due to the rotation of the support member 102, the transfer body 101 moves. On the moving transfer body 101, a reaction liquid and an ink application apparatus 104 sequentially apply a reaction liquid and an ink application apparatus 104 to form an ink image on the transfer body 101. The ink image formed on the transfer body 101 is moved to a position in contact with the first liquid absorbing member 105 a included in the first liquid removing device 105 by the movement of the transfer body 101.

  The first liquid absorbing member 105 a moves in synchronization with the rotation of the transfer body 101. The ink image formed on the transfer body 101 is in contact with the first liquid absorbing member 105a that moves in the direction of arrow B. During this time, the first liquid absorbing member 105 a removes the liquid component from the ink image on the transfer body 101.

  If the removal of the liquid component is described from a different point of view, it can also be expressed as concentrating the ink constituting the ink image formed on the transfer body 101. Concentrating the ink means that the content ratio of the solid component such as a coloring material or resin contained in the ink increases as the liquid component contained in the ink decreases.

  Then, the ink image after removal of the liquid on the transfer body 101 is moved to a transfer portion in contact with the recording medium 108 conveyed in the direction of arrow C by the recording medium conveyance device 107 by the movement of the transfer body 101. While the ink image after liquid removal is in contact with the recording medium 108, the transfer pressing member 106 presses the transfer body 101, whereby the ink image is transferred onto the recording medium 108. The ink image transferred onto the recording medium 108 is an inverted image of the ink image before liquid removal and the ink image after liquid removal.

  Thereafter, the recording medium 108 on which the transferred ink image is formed is moved by the recording medium transport device 107 to a contact portion with the second liquid absorbing member 110a included in the second liquid removing device 110. The transferred ink image formed on the recording medium 108 is in contact with the second liquid absorbing member 110a. During this time, the second liquid absorbing member 110 a removes the liquid component from the transferred ink image on the recording medium 108. As a result, an image is formed on the recording medium 108.

  In addition, since the ink is applied after the reaction liquid is applied on the transfer body 101 and the ink is formed, the reaction liquid remains in the non-image area where the ink image is not formed without reacting with the ink. Yes. In the present invention, the first liquid absorbing member 105a contacts not only the ink image but also the unreacted reaction liquid, and removes the liquid components of the reaction liquid together. Accordingly, the removal of the liquid component by the first liquid absorbing member 105a has been described and described as removing the liquid component from the ink image, but in the limited sense of removing the liquid component from only the ink image. In other words, it is used in the sense that at least the liquid component should be removed from the ink image on the transfer body 101. The liquid component is not particularly limited as long as it does not have a certain shape, has fluidity, and has a substantially constant volume. For example, water, an organic solvent, or the like contained in ink or a reaction liquid can be used as the liquid component. Each configuration of the transfer type ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described below.

<Transfer>
The transfer body can have a surface layer including an ink image forming surface. As a material for the surface layer, various materials such as a resin and a ceramic can be used as appropriate, but a material having a high compression elastic modulus is preferable in terms of durability. Specific examples include condensates obtained by condensing acrylic resins, acrylic silicone resins, fluorine-containing resins, and hydrolyzable organosilicon compounds. In order to improve the wettability and transferability of the reaction solution, surface treatment may be performed. Examples of the surface treatment include flame treatment, corona treatment, plasma treatment, polishing treatment, roughening treatment, active energy ray irradiation treatment, ozone treatment, surfactant treatment, and silane coupling treatment. A plurality of these may be combined. Moreover, arbitrary surface shapes can also be provided in the surface layer.

  The transfer body preferably has a compression layer having a function of absorbing pressure fluctuation. By providing the compression layer, the compression layer absorbs deformation, disperses the fluctuation with respect to the local pressure fluctuation, and can maintain good transferability even during high-speed printing. Examples of the material for the compression layer include acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber, acrylic rubber, chloroprene rubber, urethane rubber, and silicone rubber. At the time of molding these rubber materials, a predetermined amount of vulcanizing agent, vulcanization accelerator, etc. is blended, and further, a foaming agent, hollow fine particles, or fillers such as salt are blended as necessary to make it porous. . Thereby, since the bubble part is compressed with a volume change with respect to various pressure fluctuations, deformation in the direction other than the compression direction is small, and more stable transferability and durability can be obtained. The porous rubber material includes a continuous pore structure in which the pores are continuous with each other and an independent pore structure in which the pores are independent from each other. In the present invention, any structure may be used, and these structures may be used in combination.

  Further, the transfer body preferably has an elastic layer between the surface layer and the compression layer. As the material for the elastic layer, various materials such as resin and ceramic can be used as appropriate. Various elastomer materials and rubber materials are preferably used in terms of processing characteristics and the like. Specifically, fluorosilicone rubber, phenyl silicone rubber, fluorine rubber, chloroprene rubber, urethane rubber, nitrile rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, natural rubber, styrene rubber, isoprene rubber, butadiene rubber, ethylene / propylene / butadiene copolymer, nitrile Examples thereof include butadiene rubber. In particular, silicone rubber, fluorosilicone rubber, and phenyl silicone rubber are preferable in terms of dimensional stability and durability because they have a small compression set. Further, these have a small change in elastic modulus due to temperature and are preferable in terms of transferability.

Various adhesives and double-sided tapes may be used between each layer (surface layer, elastic layer, compression layer) constituting the transfer body in order to fix and hold them. Moreover, you may provide the reinforcement layer with a high compression elastic modulus in order to suppress lateral elongation at the time of mounting | wearing with an apparatus, and to maintain a firmness. A woven fabric may be used as the reinforcing layer. A transfer body can be produced by arbitrarily combining the layers made of the above materials.
The size of the transfer body can be freely selected according to the target print image size. The shape of the transfer body is not particularly limited, and specific examples include a sheet shape, a roller shape, a belt shape, and an endless web shape.

<Supporting member>
The transfer body can be supported on a support member. Various adhesives and double-sided tapes may be used as a method for supporting the transfer body. Alternatively, the transfer member may be supported on the support member using the installation member by attaching an installation member made of metal, ceramic, resin, or the like to the transfer member.

  The support member is required to have a certain degree of structural strength from the viewpoint of conveyance accuracy and durability. For the material of the support member, metal, ceramic, resin or the like is preferably used. In particular, in addition to rigidity and dimensional accuracy that can withstand pressure during transfer, and to reduce control inertia and improve control responsiveness, aluminum, iron, stainless steel, acetal resin, epoxy resin, polyimide, Polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, nylon, polyurethane, silica ceramics, and alumina ceramics are preferably used. It is also preferable to use a combination of these.

<Reaction solution applying apparatus>
The transfer type ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention can have a reaction liquid applying apparatus that applies a reaction liquid to a transfer body. The reaction liquid application device 103 shown in FIG. 1 includes a reaction liquid storage part 103a that stores the reaction liquid, and reaction liquid application members 103b and 103c that apply the reaction liquid in the reaction liquid storage part 103a onto the transfer body 101. The case of the gravure offset roller which has is shown. However, the reaction liquid application apparatus may be any apparatus that can apply the reaction liquid onto the transfer body, and various conventionally known apparatuses can be appropriately used. Specifically, other than the gravure offset roller, an inkjet head, a die coating device (die coater), a blade coating device (blade coater), and the like can be given. The application of the reaction liquid by the reaction liquid application device may be performed before application of the ink or after application of the ink as long as it can be mixed (reacted) with the ink on the transfer body. Preferably, the reaction liquid is applied before applying the ink. By applying the reaction liquid before applying the ink, bleeding and beading can be suppressed during ink image formation by the ink jet method.

<Reaction solution>
The reaction liquid comes into contact with the ink and increases the viscosity of the ink. Therefore, the reaction liquid can contain a component for increasing the viscosity of the ink (ink viscosity increasing component). Increasing the viscosity of ink means that the coloring material or resin that is a component of the ink chemically reacts or physically adsorbs by coming into contact with the ink viscosity increasing component, and thereby the viscosity of the entire ink. The rise of is recognized. In addition, the increase in the viscosity of the ink includes a case where the viscosity is locally increased due to agglomeration of a part of components constituting the ink such as a coloring material. This ink viscosity-increasing component has the effect of reducing bleeding and beading during ink image formation before liquid removal by reducing the fluidity of at least part of the ink on the transfer body. As such an ink viscosity increasing component, known ones such as polyvalent metal ions, organic acids, cationic polymers, and porous fine particles can be used. Of these, polyvalent metal ions and organic acids are preferred. It is also preferable to include a plurality of types of ink thickening components. The content of the ink thickening component in the reaction liquid is preferably 5% by mass or more based on the total mass of the reaction liquid.

Examples of the polyvalent metal ions include divalent metal ions such as Ca ²⁺ , Cu ²⁺ , Ni ²⁺ , Mg ²⁺ , Sr ²⁺ , Ba ²⁺ and Zn ²⁺ , Fe ³⁺ , Cr ³⁺ , Y ³⁺ and Al ^3+. Of the trivalent metal ions.

  Examples of organic acids include oxalic acid, polyacrylic acid, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, glycolic acid, malonic acid, malic acid, maleic acid, ascorbic acid, levulinic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, glutamic acid, and fumaric acid. Citric acid, tartaric acid, lactic acid, pyrrolidone carboxylic acid, pyrone carboxylic acid, pyrrole carboxylic acid, furan carboxylic acid, pyridine carboxylic acid, coumaric acid, thiophene carboxylic acid, nicotinic acid, oxysuccinic acid, dioxysuccinic acid and the like.

  The reaction solution can contain an appropriate amount of water or a low-volatile organic solvent. The water used in this case is preferably water deionized by ion exchange or the like. Moreover, it does not specifically limit as an organic solvent which can be used for the reaction liquid applied to this invention, A well-known organic solvent can be used.

  The reaction liquid can be used by appropriately adjusting the surface tension and viscosity by adding a surfactant or a viscosity modifier. The material used is not particularly limited as long as it can coexist with the ink thickening component. Specific examples of the surfactant used include acetylene glycol ethylene oxide adduct (“acetylenol E100” (trade name), manufactured by Kawaken Fine Chemical Co., Ltd.), perfluoroalkylethylene oxide adduct (“megafuck F444” (trade name) And DIC Corporation).

<Ink application device>
The transfer type ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention includes an ink applying apparatus that applies ink onto a transfer body to which a reaction liquid is applied. The reaction liquid and the ink are mixed to form an ink image, and then the liquid component is removed from the ink image by the first liquid removing device.

  An ink jet head is used as an ink application device for applying ink. As an inkjet head, for example, an ink is ejected by forming a bubble by causing film boiling in the ink by an electro-thermal converter, a form in which the ink is ejected by an electro-mechanical converter, and an ink using static electricity. The form etc. which discharge are mentioned. In the present invention, a known inkjet head can be used. Among these, those using an electro-thermal converter are preferably used from the viewpoint of performing high-speed and high-density printing. Drawing is performed by receiving an image signal and applying a necessary ink amount to each position.

The ink application amount can be expressed by the image density (duty) and the ink thickness. In the present invention, the ink application amount (g / m ²⁾ is obtained by multiplying the mass of each ink dot by the application number and dividing by the printing area. ). The maximum ink application amount in the image region indicates an ink application amount applied in an area of at least 5 mm ² or more in the region used as information on the transfer body from the viewpoint of removing the liquid component in the ink. .

  The transfer type ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention may have a plurality of ink jet heads in order to apply ink of each color onto the transfer body. For example, when each color image is formed using yellow ink, magenta ink, cyan ink, and black ink, the transfer type ink jet recording apparatus has four ink jet heads that respectively discharge the four types of ink onto the transfer body. . Further, the ink applying device may include an ink jet head that discharges ink (clear ink) that does not contain a color material.

<Ink>
Each component of the ink applied to the present invention will be described.

(Coloring material)
The color material contained in the ink applied to the present invention preferably contains a pigment. For example, it is preferable to use a pigment or a mixture of a dye and a pigment as the color material. The kind of pigment that can be used as the color material is not particularly limited. Specific examples of the pigment include inorganic pigments such as carbon black; organic pigments such as azo, phthalocyanine, quinacridone, isoindolinone, imidazolone, diketopyrrolopyrrole, and dioxazine. These pigments can be used alone or in combination of two or more as required.

  The kind of dye that can be used as the color material is not particularly limited. Specific examples of the dye include direct dyes, acid dyes, basic dyes, disperse dyes, food dyes, and the like, and dyes having an anionic group can be used. Specific examples of the dye skeleton include an azo skeleton, a triphenylmethane skeleton, a phthalocyanine skeleton, an azaphthalocyanine skeleton, a xanthene skeleton, and an anthrapyridone skeleton. The content of the pigment in the ink is preferably 0.5% by mass or more and 15.0% by mass or less, and more preferably 1.0% by mass or more and 10.0% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink. .

(Dispersant)
As the dispersing agent for dispersing the pigment, a known dispersing agent used for ink jet inks can be used. Among these, in the embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable to use a water-soluble dispersant having both a hydrophilic part and a hydrophobic part in the structure. In particular, a pigment dispersant made of a resin obtained by copolymerizing at least a hydrophilic monomer and a hydrophobic monomer is preferably used. There is no restriction | limiting in particular about each monomer used here, A well-known thing is used suitably. Specifically, examples of the hydrophobic monomer include styrene and other styrene derivatives, alkyl (meth) acrylate, and benzyl (meth) acrylate. Examples of the hydrophilic monomer include acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid and the like.

  The acid value of the dispersant is preferably 50 mgKOH / g or more and 550 mgKOH / g or less. Moreover, it is preferable that the weight average molecular weights of this dispersing agent are 1000 or more and 50000 or less. The mass ratio of pigment to dispersant (pigment: dispersant) is preferably in the range of 1: 0.1 to 1: 3. In addition, it is also preferable in the present invention to use a so-called self-dispersing pigment that can be dispersed by surface modification of the pigment itself without using a dispersant.

(Resin fine particles)
The ink applied to the present invention can be used by containing various fine particles having no coloring material. Among these, resin fine particles are preferable because they may be effective in improving image quality and fixability. The material of the resin fine particles that can be used in the present invention is not particularly limited, and a known resin can be appropriately used. Specifically, homopolymers such as polyolefin, polystyrene, polyurethane, polyester, polyether, polyurea, polyamide, polyvinyl alcohol, poly (meth) acrylic acid and salts thereof, poly (meth) acrylate alkyl, polydiene, or the like And copolymers obtained by polymerizing a combination of a plurality of monomers for producing these homopolymers. The weight average molecular weight (Mw) of the resin is preferably in the range of 1,000 to 2,000,000. Further, the amount of the resin fine particles in the ink is preferably 1% by mass or more and 50% by mass or less, more preferably 2% by mass or more and 40% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink.

  Furthermore, in the embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable to use the resin fine particle dispersion in which the resin fine particles are dispersed in a liquid. The dispersion method is not particularly limited, but a so-called self-dispersing resin fine particle dispersion in which a resin obtained by homopolymerization or copolymerization of a monomer having a dissociable group is dispersed is preferable. Here, examples of the dissociable group include a carboxyl group, a sulfonic acid group, and a phosphoric acid group, and examples of the monomer having this dissociable group include acrylic acid and methacrylic acid. A so-called emulsified dispersion type resin fine particle dispersion in which resin fine particles are dispersed with an emulsifier can also be suitably used in the present invention. As the emulsifier, a known surfactant is preferable regardless of the low molecular weight or high molecular weight. As the surfactant, a nonionic surfactant or a surfactant having the same charge as the resin fine particles is preferable.

  The resin fine particle dispersion used in the embodiment of the present invention preferably has a dispersed particle size of 10 nm or more and 1000 nm or less, and more preferably has a dispersed particle size of 50 nm or more and 500 nm or less. It is also preferable to add various additives for stabilization when preparing the resin fine particle dispersion used in the embodiment of the present invention. Examples of the additive include n-hexadecane, dodecyl methacrylate, stearyl methacrylate, chlorobenzene, dodecyl mercaptan, blue dye (bluing agent), and polymethyl methacrylate.

(Surfactant)
The ink used in the present invention may contain a surfactant. Specific examples of the surfactant include acetylene glycol ethylene oxide adducts (acetylene E100 (trade name), manufactured by Kawaken Fine Chemical Co., Ltd.). The amount of the surfactant in the ink is preferably 0.01% by mass or more and 5.0% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink.

(Water and water-soluble organic solvents)
The ink used in the present invention can contain water and / or a water-soluble organic solvent as a solvent. The water is preferably water deionized by ion exchange or the like. The content of water in the ink is preferably 30% by mass to 97% by mass with respect to the total mass of the ink.

  Moreover, the kind of water-soluble organic solvent is not specifically limited, Any well-known organic solvent can be used. Specifically, glycerin, diethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, triethylene glycol, thiodiglycol, hexylene glycol, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether, 2-pyrrolidone, ethanol , Methanol and the like. Two or more kinds selected from these can be mixed and used. The content of the water-soluble organic solvent in the ink is preferably 3% by mass or more and 70% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink. The solid content concentration of the ink is preferably 5% by mass or more and 30% by mass or less, and more preferably 10% by mass or more and 20% by mass or less.

(Other additives)
In addition to the above components, the ink used in the present invention, if necessary, is a pH adjuster, a rust inhibitor, a preservative, an antifungal agent, an antioxidant, a reduction inhibitor, a water-soluble resin and its neutralizer, a viscosity. You may contain various additives, such as a regulator.

<First liquid removing device>
The first liquid removing apparatus according to the present invention absorbs the liquid component in the ink image by bringing the first liquid absorbing member into contact with the ink image and removes a part of the liquid component from the ink image. It is. The first liquid removing apparatus 105 shown in FIG. 1 includes a first liquid absorbing member 105a and a liquid absorbing pressing member 105b that presses the first liquid absorbing member 105a against the ink image on the transfer body 101. Have. In addition, there is no restriction | limiting in particular about the shape of a 1st liquid absorption member and a press member. For example, the pressing member may have a cylindrical shape, the first liquid absorbing member may have a belt shape, and the belt-shaped first liquid absorbing member may be pressed against the transfer body with the cylindrical pressing member. . Further, the pressing member has a columnar shape, and the first liquid absorbing member has a cylindrical shape formed on the circumferential surface of the columnar pressing member, and the cylindrical liquid is absorbed by the columnar pressing member. The structure which presses a member to a transfer body may be sufficient.

  In the present invention, considering the space in the transfer type ink jet recording apparatus, the first liquid absorbing member is preferably belt-shaped. Further, the first liquid removing apparatus having such a belt-shaped first liquid absorbing member may have a stretching member that stretches the first liquid absorbing member. In FIG. 1, 105c, 105d, and 105e are tension rollers as tension members.

  In the first liquid removing device 105 shown in FIG. 1, the first liquid absorbing member 105a is pressed against and contacted with the ink image by the pressing member 105b, so that the liquid component contained in the ink image is absorbed by the first liquid. The member 105a absorbs it and reduces the liquid component. As a method of reducing the liquid component in the ink image, in addition to the above-described method in which the first liquid absorbing member is brought into contact with the ink image, various other conventionally used methods, for example, a method using heating, and blowing low-humidity air Or a method of reducing the pressure may be combined. Further, the liquid component may be further reduced by applying these methods to the ink image after the liquid removal in which the liquid component is reduced. Hereinafter, various conditions and configurations in the first liquid removing apparatus will be described in detail.

<First liquid absorbing member>
The 1st liquid absorption member which concerns on this invention contains the liquid whose surface tension is 20 mN / m or less inside. Since the first liquid absorbing member contains a liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m or less inside, the liquid component can be easily infiltrated even if it is a water-repellent first liquid absorbing member. It can be used as a member. The lower limit of the surface tension range of the liquid is not particularly limited, but can be, for example, 1 mN / m or more. The surface tension of the liquid is a value measured by an automatic surface tension meter DY-300 (trade name, manufactured by Kyowa Interface Science Co., Ltd.).

  The liquid (treatment liquid) preferably contains water and a surfactant. As the surfactant, at least one of a silicone surfactant and a fluorine surfactant is preferably used, and a fluorine surfactant is more preferably used. Specific examples of the surfactant used include fluorosurfactant F-444 (trade name, manufactured by DIC), Zonyl FS3100 (trade name, manufactured by DuPont), Capstone FS-3100 (trade name, The Chemouries Company LLC). And BYK349 (trade name, manufactured by BYK) of a silicone-based surfactant. The water is preferably water deionized by ion exchange or the like. The liquid may contain a water-soluble organic solvent. The kind of water-soluble organic solvent is not particularly limited, and any known organic solvent such as ethanol or isopropyl alcohol can be used. The content of the surfactant in the liquid is preferably 0.2% by mass or more, more preferably 0.4% by mass or more, and more preferably 0.5% by mass or more with respect to the total mass of the liquid. Particularly preferred. The upper limit of the content of the surfactant in the liquid is not particularly limited, but is preferably 10% by mass with respect to the total mass of the liquid from the viewpoint of solubility of the surfactant in the liquid.

The liquid can be contained in the first liquid absorbing member in an amount of 1 g / m ² or more. Examples of a method for putting the liquid into the first liquid absorbing member include a method for performing a pretreatment for press-fitting the liquid into the first liquid absorbing member. Specifically, there is a method of press-fitting using a roller or the like. The pressure when the liquid is pressed into the first liquid absorbing member is preferably 0.1 to 3.0 kg / cm ² .

  The first liquid absorbing member according to the present invention has a contact angle with the ink of 90 degrees or more. When the contact angle of the first liquid absorbing member with the ink is 90 degrees or more, it is possible to suppress adhesion of ink aggregates when removing the liquid. The upper limit of the contact angle range is not particularly limited, but can be, for example, 150 degrees or less. The contact angle is a value measured by an automatic contact angle meter DMo-601 (trade name, manufactured by Kyowa Interface Science Co., Ltd.).

  The first liquid absorbing member according to the present invention is preferably a liquid absorbing member having a porous body. In this case, the contact surface of the first liquid absorbing member with the ink image before liquid removal is the first surface, and the porous body is disposed on the first surface. The first liquid absorbing member having such a porous body moves in conjunction with the movement of the transfer body and comes into contact with the ink image before liquid removal. Those having a shape that can re-contact the image and circulate and absorb the liquid are preferable. Examples of the shape include an endless belt shape and a drum shape.

(Porous body)
The porous body of the first liquid-absorbing member is preferably a porous body in which the average pore diameter on the first surface side is smaller than the average pore diameter on the second surface side opposite to the first surface. . Moreover, in order to have uniform high air permeability, it is preferable that the porous body is thin. The air permeability can be indicated by a Gurley value defined by JIS P8117, and the Gurley value is preferably 10 seconds or less. However, if the porous body is thinned, the capacity necessary for absorbing the liquid component may not be sufficiently secured. Therefore, it is preferable that the porous body has a multilayer structure. The first liquid-absorbing member may be a porous body that is in contact with the ink image before liquid removal on the transfer body, and the layer that is not in contact with the ink image before liquid removal on the transfer body is porous. It does not have to be a body.

  Next, an embodiment in which the porous body has a multilayer structure will be described. Here, the layer on the side in contact with the ink image before liquid removal is the first layer, and the layer laminated on the surface opposite to the contact surface of the first layer with the ink image before liquid removal is the second layer. This will be described as a layer. Further, the multilayer structure is also expressed in the order of stacking from the first layer. In the present specification, the first layer may be referred to as an “absorbing layer” and the second and subsequent layers may be referred to as a “support layer”. Moreover, when making a porous body into a structure of only one layer, it can be set as only a 1st layer.

[First layer]
The material of the first layer is not particularly limited as long as the contact angle with the ink is 90 degrees or more, but a water repellent material having a low surface free energy is preferable, and a fluororesin is more preferable. Specific examples of the fluororesin include polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyvinyl fluoride (PVF), perfluoroalkoxy fluororesin (PFA), Examples thereof include tetrafluoroethylene / hexafluoropropylene copolymer (FEP), ethylene / tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (ETFE), and ethylene / chlorotrifluoroethylene copolymer (ECTFE). These resin can use 1 type (s) or 2 or more types as needed. Moreover, the structure by which the several film | membrane was laminated | stacked in the 1st layer may be sufficient. The thickness of the first layer is preferably 50 μm or less, and more preferably 30 μm or less. In addition, in this invention, thickness is a value obtained by measuring thickness of arbitrary 10 points | pieces with the linear micrometer OMV_25 (brand name, product made by Mitutoyo), and calculating the average value.

  The first layer can be produced by a known method for producing a thin porous membrane. For example, it can be obtained by forming a resin material into a sheet by a method such as extrusion and then stretching it to a predetermined thickness. Moreover, a porous film can be obtained by adding a plasticizer such as paraffin during extrusion molding and removing the plasticizer by heating or the like during stretching. The pore diameter can be adjusted by appropriately adjusting the amount of plasticizer to be added, the draw ratio, and the like.

[Second layer]
The second layer is preferably a breathable layer. Such a layer may be a non-woven fabric of resin fibers or a woven fabric. Although it does not specifically limit as a material of a 2nd layer, The material whose contact angle with a liquid component is equal to or lower than a 1st layer so that the liquid component absorbed to the 1st layer side may not flow backward It is preferable that Specifically, polyolefins (polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), etc.), polyurethanes, polyamides such as nylon, polyesters (polyethylene terephthalate (PET), etc.), single materials such as polysulfone (PSF), and these And composite materials. The second layer is preferably a layer having a larger pore size than the first layer.

[Third layer]
The third and subsequent layers are preferably non-woven fabrics from the viewpoint of rigidity. As the material for the third and subsequent layers, the same material as that for the second layer is used.

[Other materials]
The 1st liquid absorption member may have the reinforcement member which reinforces the side surface of a 1st liquid absorption member other than the porous body which has the said laminated structure. Further, the first liquid absorbing member may have a joining member when connecting the longitudinal ends of the long sheet-shaped porous body to form a belt-shaped member. As such a material, a non-porous tape material or the like can be used, and it can be arranged at a position or a period that does not contact the ink image before liquid removal.

[Method for producing porous body]
The method for laminating the first layer and the second layer to form the porous body is not particularly limited. The first layer and the second layer may be simply overlapped, or may be adhered to each other using a method such as adhesive lamination or heat lamination. From the viewpoint of air permeability, it is preferable that the layers are bonded to each other by a hot laminate which is heated while being pressed with a heated roller sandwiched between the layers. Further, for example, a part of the first layer or the second layer may be melted by heating and bonded to each other. Further, a fusing material such as hot melt powder may be interposed between the first layer and the second layer and bonded to each other by heating. When the third and subsequent layers are stacked, they may be stacked at once or sequentially. The stacking order is appropriately selected.

(Pressure condition)
In the present invention, a part of the liquid component is absorbed from the ink image before the liquid removal by bringing the first liquid absorbing member into contact with the ink image before the liquid removal at a pressure of 0.5 kg / cm ² or less. And remove. By bringing the first liquid absorbing member into contact with the ink image before the liquid removal at a low pressure of 0.5 kg / cm ² or less, the liquid component is removed from the ink image before the liquid removal regardless of the image duty. On the other hand, it is possible to leave an appropriate amount of liquid component in the ink image before liquid removal. Thereby, good transfer can be performed.

  In the present invention, the pressure when the first liquid absorbing member is brought into contact indicates the nip pressure between the transfer body and the first liquid absorbing member. Specifically, it is a value calculated by measuring the surface pressure with a surface pressure distribution measuring instrument (trade name: I-SCAN, manufactured by Nitta Co., Ltd.) and dividing the weight in the pressurizing region by the area. The pressure when the second liquid absorbing member described later is brought into contact indicates the nip pressure between the second liquid absorbing member and the recording medium, and is a value measured and calculated by the same method.

(Action time)
The operation time for bringing the first liquid absorbing member into contact with the ink image before liquid removal is 100 ms (milliseconds) in order to further suppress the coloring material in the ink image from adhering to the first liquid absorbing member. The following is preferable. The operation time in this specification is calculated by dividing the pressure sensing width in the moving direction of the transfer body in the surface pressure measurement described above by the moving speed of the transfer body. In the case of a second liquid absorbing member to be described later, the pressure sensing width in the moving direction of the recording medium in the surface pressure measurement described above is calculated by dividing by the moving speed of the recording medium. Hereinafter, this action time is referred to as a liquid absorption nip time.

(Remaining amount of liquid component)
The mass of the ink image after removal of the liquid component from which part of the liquid component has been removed by the first liquid absorbing member depends on the solid content concentration of the ink, but the ink image before removal of part of the liquid component 25-80 mass% is preferable on the basis of mass, 30-70 mass% is more preferable, 35-65 mass% is further more preferable. When this ratio is within the above range, transfer can be performed more satisfactorily.

<Pressing member for transfer>
The transfer type ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention includes a transfer pressing member that brings a recording medium into contact with a transfer body on which an ink image after liquid removal has been formed and transfers the ink image to the recording medium. In the transfer type ink jet recording apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1, the ink image after removing the liquid on the transfer body 101 is transferred onto the recording medium 108 conveyed by the recording medium conveying means 107 by the transfer pressing member 106. Transfer by press-contacting to. In the present invention, since an appropriate amount of the liquid component contained in the ink image on the transfer body is removed in advance, it is possible to obtain a recorded image in which curling, cockling, and the like are suppressed while maintaining good transferability.

  The pressing member is required to have a certain degree of structural strength from the viewpoint of the conveyance accuracy and durability of the recording medium. As the material of the pressing member, metal, ceramic, resin, or the like is preferably used. In particular, in addition to rigidity and dimensional accuracy that can withstand pressure during transfer, and to reduce control inertia and improve control responsiveness, aluminum, iron, stainless steel, acetal resin, epoxy resin, polyimide, Polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, nylon, polyurethane, silica ceramics, and alumina ceramics are preferably used. Moreover, you may use combining these.

  There is no particular limitation on the pressing time for the pressing member to press the transfer body in order to transfer the ink image after removing the liquid on the transfer body to the recording medium, but the transfer is performed well and the durability of the transfer body is impaired. From the standpoint of not, 5 ms (milliseconds) to 100 ms (milliseconds) is preferable. The pressing time in the present invention indicates the time during which the recording medium and the transfer body are in contact with each other, and the surface is measured using a surface pressure distribution measuring device (trade name: I-SCAN, manufactured by Nitta Co., Ltd.). The pressure is measured, the length in the conveyance direction of the pressurizing region is divided by the conveyance speed, and the value is calculated.

There is no particular limitation on the pressure with which the pressing member presses the transfer body in order to transfer the ink image after removing the liquid on the transfer body to the recording medium, but the transfer is performed well and the durability of the transfer body is impaired. Be careful not to. Therefore, the pressure is preferably 9.8 N / cm ² (1 kg / cm ² ) or more and 294.2 N / cm ² (30 kg / cm ² ) or less. The pressure indicates the nip pressure between the recording medium and the transfer body, and the surface pressure is measured using a surface pressure distribution measuring device, and the value is calculated by dividing the weight in the pressure area by the area. It is.

  There is no particular limitation on the temperature when the pressing member presses the transfer body in order to transfer the ink image after removing the liquid on the transfer body to the recording medium, but it is not less than the glass transition point of the resin component contained in the ink. Or it is preferable that it is more than a softening point. Further, it is preferable that the heating unit includes a unit capable of heating the ink image, the transfer body, and the recording medium after removing the liquid on the transfer body. The shape of the pressing member is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include a roller shape.

<Recording medium and recording medium conveying apparatus>
The recording medium is not particularly limited, and any known recording medium can be used. Examples of the recording medium include a long product wound in a roll shape, or a single sheet cut into a predetermined size. Examples of the material include paper, plastic film, wood board, cardboard, and metal film. In FIG. 1, the recording medium conveying device 107 for conveying the recording medium 108 includes a recording medium feeding roller 107a and a recording medium take-up roller 107b. However, the recording medium conveying device 107 is limited to this configuration as long as the recording medium can be conveyed. Is not to be done.

<Second liquid removing device>
The second liquid removing apparatus according to the present invention absorbs the liquid component in the ink image by bringing the second liquid absorbing member into contact with the transferred ink image transferred to the recording medium, An apparatus that removes at least part of a liquid component from an ink image. The second liquid removal apparatus can have the same configuration as the first liquid removal apparatus described above. The second liquid removing device 110 shown in FIG. 1 has a second liquid absorbing member 110a and a liquid absorbing press that presses the second liquid absorbing member 110a against the transferred ink image on the recording medium. The member 110b is included. The second liquid removing device 110 includes stretching rollers 110c, 110d, and 110e as stretching members that stretch the second liquid absorbing member 110a.

<Second liquid absorbing member>
The second liquid absorbing member according to the present invention is not particularly limited as long as at least a part of the liquid component can be removed from the transferred ink image. For example, a porous body similar to the first liquid absorbing member described above can be used.

  In particular, in the removal of the liquid component from the ink image after transfer by the second liquid absorbing member, the second liquid absorbing member is required to overcome the capillary force of the ink image crushed by the transfer process. . From this viewpoint, the average pore radius of the second liquid absorbing member is preferably 0.6 μm or less. When the average pore radius is 0.6 μm or less, the liquid component remaining in the ink image after transfer can be sufficiently removed, and the fastness of the obtained image is further improved.

In the present invention, the average pore radius is a value determined by a mercury intrusion method using Autopore III9420 (trade name, manufactured by Micromeritics). Specifically, this is a value obtained by dividing the total volume of mercury inflow by the sum of the volume of mercury inflow for each pore radius D / 2 obtained by the following formula (1).
PD = −4σcos θ (Washburn formula) (1)
P: Pressure D: Pore diameter σ: Surface tension of mercury (482.536 dyne / cm)
θ: Contact angle between mercury and the liquid absorbing member.

Moreover, although the water repellent material was mentioned as a material of the 1st layer in a 1st liquid absorption member, a hydrophilic material can also be used as a material of a 2nd liquid absorption member. In the case of a hydrophilic material, there is an effect of sucking up a liquid component, particularly water, by capillary force. Examples of the hydrophilic material include a single material such as cellulose and polyacrylamide, or a composite material thereof. Further, the surface of the porous body made of the water-repellent material described above can also be used after being hydrophilized. Examples of the hydrophilization treatment include sputter etching, irradiation with radiation and H ₂ O ions, and excimer (ultraviolet) laser light irradiation.

(Pressure condition)
The pressure at which the second liquid absorbing member is brought into contact with the transferred ink image on the recording medium is more than the pressure at the time of transfer, so that the liquid component in the transferred ink image can be more effectively removed. This is preferable because it can be removed. Specifically, the pressure is preferably 5 kg / cm ² or more, and more preferably 10 kg / cm ² or more.

(Action time)
The time for which the second liquid absorbing member is brought into contact with the transferred ink image is 100 ms (milliseconds) or less in order to further prevent the coloring material in the ink image from adhering to the second liquid absorbing member. It is preferable that

<Control system>
The transfer type inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention can have a control system for controlling each apparatus. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control system of the entire apparatus in the transfer type ink jet recording apparatus 100 shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 301 denotes a recording data generation unit such as an external print server, 302 denotes an operation control unit such as an operation panel, and 303 denotes a printer control unit for performing a recording process. Reference numeral 304 denotes a recording medium conveyance control unit for conveying the recording medium, and reference numeral 305 denotes an inkjet device for printing.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a printer control unit in the transfer type inkjet recording apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 401 is a CPU that controls the entire printer, 402 is a ROM for storing a control program of the CPU 401, and 403 is a RAM for executing the program. An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) 404 includes a network controller, a serial IF controller, a head data generation controller, a motor controller, and the like. Reference numeral 405 denotes a liquid absorption member conveyance control unit for driving the liquid absorption member conveyance motor 406, which is command-controlled from the ASIC 404 via the serial IF. Reference numeral 407 denotes a transfer body drive control unit for driving the transfer body drive motor 408, which is similarly command-controlled from the ASIC 404 via the serial IF. Reference numeral 409 denotes a head controller that performs final ejection data generation, drive voltage generation, and the like of the inkjet device 305.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Examples and Comparative Examples. The present invention is not limited in any way by the following examples as long as the gist thereof is not exceeded. In the description of the following examples, “part” is based on mass unless otherwise specified.

[Example 1]
(Image formation)
In this example, an image was formed using the transfer type inkjet recording apparatus shown in FIG. As the support member 102, a cylindrical drum made of an aluminum alloy was used from the viewpoint of having rigidity and dimensional accuracy that can withstand pressure during transfer, and reducing rotational inertia to improve control responsiveness. . As the transfer body 101, a PET sheet having a thickness of 0.5 mm obtained by coating a silicone rubber having a rubber hardness of 40 ° (trade name: KE12, manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) with a thickness of 0.2 mm was used. The surface of the PET sheet was subjected to plasma surface treatment using an atmospheric pressure plasma treatment apparatus (trade name: ST-7000, manufactured by Keyence Corporation), and the PET sheet was fixed to the support member 102 with a double-sided adhesive tape.

  A reaction liquid was continuously applied onto the transfer body 101 using a reaction liquid applying apparatus 103. A 50% by mass glutaric acid aqueous solution was used for the reaction solution. Next, ink was ejected from the ink applicator 104 in which four inkjet heads of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow were set, and an ink image before liquid absorption that was mirror-reversed on the transfer body 101 was formed. As the ink application device 104, an ink in the form of a line head in which inkjet heads that discharge ink by an on-demand method using electrothermal conversion elements are arranged in a line so as to be substantially parallel to the shaft 102a of the transfer body 101. An applicator was used. Drawing is performed by printing a patch with a size of 40 mm square of 25/50/100/200/300% duty (100% definition is 2 dots printed on 1200 dpi square) with 3.5 pl dots of black ink. It was. As the black ink, an ink containing 15% by mass of a solid content of a pigment or a resin, 15% by mass of a solvent component, and 70% by mass of water was used.

Next, the first liquid absorbing member 105a of the first liquid removing apparatus 105 is applied to the ink image formed on the transfer body 101 before liquid removal at a pressure of 0.5 kg / cm ² for 10 ms (millisecond). Second) for a nip time of 2 seconds. Thereby, a part of the liquid component contained in the ink image before liquid removal was absorbed and removed. As the first liquid absorbing member 105a, a non-woven fabric HOP is formed on a water-repellent PTFE porous material having an average pore radius of 1.0 μm by a mercury intrusion method in which a treatment liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m is previously injected at 1 kPa. The belt-shaped thing which laminated | stacked the name and Hirose Paper Co., Ltd. product) by the heat | fever lamination was used. As the treatment liquid, a mixture of 5% by mass of a surfactant (trade name: Megafac F-444, manufactured by DIC Corporation) and 95% by mass of ion-exchanged water was used. The treatment liquid was press-fitted into the porous body using a roller.

  Here, in order to measure the absorption amount of the liquid component by the first liquid absorbing member 105a, the same process as described above was performed with another sample having a size of 160 × 200 mm for each duty. The mass of the ink image before removing the liquid and the ink image after removing the liquid on the transfer body 101 was measured with an electronic balance (trade name: AUX-320, manufactured by Shimadzu Corporation), and the change in mass was calculated. As a result, in each patch of 25/50/100/200/300% duty, the mass of the ink image after removing the liquid is 35/48/54/61 with respect to 100% of the mass of the ink image before removing the liquid. / 65%. Since the solid content concentration of the ink was 15% by mass, it was found that the liquid component remained sufficiently even in the ink image after liquid removal.

Thereafter, the recording medium 108 is brought into contact with the ink image after removal of the liquid formed on the transfer body 101, and the ink image after removal of the liquid and the recording medium 108 are sandwiched by the support member 102 and the pressing member 106 for transfer. The ink image after liquid removal was transferred. As the recording medium 108, aurora coated paper (trade name, manufactured by Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd., basis weight: 104 g / m ² ) was used. In this embodiment, a long and roll sheet is used as the recording medium. However, a sheet cut into a prescribed shape can also be used. The pressurization conditions were nip time: 100 ms (milliseconds) and applied pressure: 15 kg / cm ² .

Thereafter, the second liquid absorbing member 110a of the second liquid removing device 110 has a nip time of 20 ms (milliseconds) at a pressure of 15 kg / cm ² with respect to the transferred ink image on the recording medium 108. The liquid component contained in the ink image after the transfer was removed. As a result, an image was formed on the recording medium 108. As the second liquid absorbing member 110a, a non-woven fabric HOP is formed on a water-repellent PTFE porous material having an average pore radius of 0.6 μm by a mercury intrusion method in which a treatment liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m is previously injected at 1 kPa. The belt-shaped thing which laminated | stacked the name and Hirose Paper Co., Ltd. product) by the heat | fever lamination was used. As the treatment liquid, a mixture of 5% by mass of a surfactant (trade name: Megafac F-444, manufactured by DIC Corporation) and 95% by mass of ion-exchanged water was used. The treatment liquid was press-fitted into the porous body using a roller.

(Transferability evaluation)
The transfer rate of the ink image after removal of the liquid to the recording medium 108, the optical density value (OD value) of the ink image before and after the transfer, a plane spectrophotometer (trade name: PSA-700E, manufactured by JFE Techno-Research Corporation) ). As a result, the transfer rate to the recording medium 108 was 100% in all patches of 25/50/100/200/300% duty, and it was found that good transfer was performed.

(Robustness evaluation)
The fastness of the image formed on the recording medium 108 was evaluated by the following method. 50 μL of artificial sweat (JIS-L-0804 alkaline pH 8.0) was applied to a test cloth (JIS-L-0803 attached white cloth cotton for dyeing fastness test: model No. 670101), and this cloth was wound around a weight of 120 g. Ten reciprocal rubbing was performed on the% duty image. The ink adhesion rate to the test cloth was calculated by the following formula (2). In the following formula (2), the average tone of the test cloth is obtained by reading the obtained image with a scanner, assuming that the obtained 200% duty image portion is 0, the recording medium margin portion is 255, and Photoshop (product). This is a value obtained by performing image analysis using the name, manufactured by Adobe). In Examples 1 to 3, the test cloth was rubbed against the image immediately after the liquid component was removed by the second liquid absorbing member 110a. In Comparative Example 1, the image was transferred to a recording medium. The test cloth was rubbed against the immediately following image.

Adhesion rate (%) = (255−average tone of test cloth) × 100/255 (2)
In addition, the evaluation criteria of robustness are as follows.
A: The ink adhesion rate is 2.0% or less.
B: The ink adhesion rate is more than 2.0% and not more than 6.0%.
C: Ink adhesion rate is over 6.0%.
As a result, the adhesion rate to the test cloth in this example was 1.8% (fastness evaluation result: A), and it was found that it was difficult to visually confirm the adhesion of the ink. That is, it was found that an image with high fastness was formed in this example.

[Example 2]
As the second liquid absorbing member 110a, a belt-like shape in which a non-woven fabric HOP (trade name, manufactured by Hirose Paper Co., Ltd.) is laminated on a hydrophilic PTFE porous body having an average pore radius of 0.6 μm by a mercury intrusion method by heat lamination. A thing was used. Further, the second liquid absorbing member 110a is brought into contact with the ink image after transfer on the recording medium 108 at a pressure of 10 kg / cm ² so as to have a nip time of 20 ms (milliseconds). The liquid component contained in the ink image was removed. Except for these, images were formed and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1. As a result, in the fastness evaluation, the adhesion rate to the test cloth was 1.6% (fastness evaluation result: A), and it was difficult to visually confirm the ink adhesion. That is, it was found that an image with high fastness was formed in this example.

[Example 3]
As the second liquid absorbing member 110a, a belt-shaped member in which a nonwoven fabric HOP (trade name, manufactured by Hirose Paper Co., Ltd.) is laminated on a water-repellent PTFE porous body having an average pore radius of 1.5 μm by a mercury intrusion method by thermal lamination. Images were formed and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1 except that those were used. As a result, in the fastness evaluation, the adhesion rate to the test cloth was 4.5% (fastness evaluation result: B), which was found to be a level at which ink adhesion was slightly visually recognized. That is, in this example, it was found that an image having sufficient fastness was formed.

[Comparative Example 1]
An image was formed and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the liquid component contained in the ink image after transfer by the second liquid absorbing member 110a was not removed. As a result, in the fastness evaluation, the adhesion rate to the test cloth was 9.8% (fastness evaluation result: C), and it was found that it was a level at which ink adhesion could be visually confirmed. That is, it was found that an image with low fastness was formed in this comparative example.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Transfer type inkjet recording apparatus 101 Transfer body 103 Reaction liquid application apparatus 104 Ink application apparatus 105 First liquid removal apparatus 105a First liquid absorption member 106 Press member 108 for transfer Recording medium 110 Second liquid removal apparatus 110a Second liquid absorbing member

Claims (8)

Forming an ink image by applying an ink using an inkjet head on a transfer body to which a reaction liquid that increases the viscosity of the ink by contacting the ink is applied;
A first liquid absorbing member containing a liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m or less and having a contact angle with the ink of 90 degrees or more is brought into contact with the ink image at a pressure of 0.5 kg / cm ² or less. Removing a part of the liquid component from the ink image,
A step of bringing a recording medium into contact with the transfer body on which the ink image from which a part of the liquid component has been removed is formed, and transferring the ink image to the recording medium;
Removing at least part of the liquid component from the ink image by bringing a second liquid absorbing member into contact with the ink image transferred to the recording medium;
A transfer-type ink jet recording method comprising:   The transfer type ink jet recording method according to claim 1, wherein an average pore radius of the second liquid absorbing member is 0.6 μm or less.   The mass of the ink image from which part of the liquid component is removed by the first liquid absorbing member is 25 to 80% by mass based on the mass of the ink image before part of the liquid component is removed. Item 3. The transfer type inkjet recording method according to Item 1 or 2.   The transfer type inkjet recording method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m or less contains water and a surfactant. An ink applicator having an ink jet head that forms an ink image by applying ink on a transfer body provided with a reaction liquid that is brought into contact with the ink to increase the viscosity of the ink;
A part of the liquid component is removed from the ink image by contacting the ink image with a pressure of 0.5 kg / cm ² or less, and a liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m or less is contained therein, A first liquid removing device having a first liquid absorbing member having a contact angle of 90 degrees or more;
A transfer pressing member for bringing a recording medium into contact with the transfer body on which the ink image from which a part of the liquid component has been removed is formed and transferring the ink image to the recording medium;
A second liquid removing device having a second liquid absorbing member that removes at least part of the liquid component from the ink image by contact with the ink image transferred to the recording medium;
A transfer-type ink jet recording apparatus comprising:   6. The transfer type ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein an average pore radius of the second liquid absorbing member is 0.6 [mu] m or less.   The mass of the ink image from which part of the liquid component is removed by the first liquid absorbing member is 25 to 80% by mass based on the mass of the ink image before part of the liquid component is removed. Item 7. The transfer type inkjet recording apparatus according to Item 5 or 6.   The transfer type inkjet recording apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the liquid having a surface tension of 20 mN / m or less contains water and a surfactant.

Images