Image supporting material, method for use thereof and image forming apparatus utilizing the same
View Patent ↗The present invention provides an image supporting material for fixably supporting a color toner image, the material including a base material, a light scattering layer provided on the base material and containing a white pigment and a thermoplastic resin, and a color toner receptive layer provided on the light scattering layer and containing at least a thermoplastic resin, wherein the thermoplastic resin in the light scattering layer is constituted of a polyolefin or a polyolefinic copolymer having a temperature, at which viscosity becomes 5×10 3 Pa·s, of 100° C. or higher, and the thermoplastic resin in the color toner receptive layer is constituted of a resin obtained by melt mixing of a crystalline polyester resin and an amorphous resin and having a temperature, at which viscosity becomes 10 3 Pa·s, equal to or higher than 65° C. but lower than 80° C.
1. An image supporting material for fixably supporting an image of a color toner including at least a thermoplastic resin and a colorant, the image supporting material comprising:
a base material;
a light scattering layer provided on the base material and containing a white pigment and a thermoplastic resin; and
a color toner receptive layer provided on the light scattering layer and containing at least a thermoplastic resin;
wherein the thermoplastic resin in the light scattering layer comprises a polyolefin or a polyolefinic copolymer having a temperature Tb, at which viscosity becomes 5×10 3 Pa·s, of 100° C. or higher; and
the thermoplastic resin in the color toner receptive layer comprises a resin obtained by melt mixing of a crystalline polyester resin and an amorphous resin and having a temperature T 1 , at which viscosity becomes 10 3 Pa·s, equal to or higher than 65° C. but lower than 80° C.
2. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
the base material is a base paper of a basis weight of 100 to 250 gsm.
3. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
the light scattering layer contains the white pigment in an amount of 20 to 40 wt. %.
4. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
the light scattering layer has a thickness of from 20 to 50 μm.
5. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
the color toner receptive layer contains the thermoplastic resin in an amount of 70 wt. % or higher.
6. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
the color toner receptive layer has a thickness of 5 to 20 μm.
7. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
in the thermoplastic resin of the color toner receptive layer, the crystalline polyester resin and the amorphous resin have a weight ratio within a range from 35:65 to 65:35.
8. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
the melt mixing of the crystalline polyester resin and the amorphous resin is executed under a condition of a temperature T (° C.) within a range from T 0 to T 0 +20 and a time t (minute) within a range from t 0 to 10×t 0 , in which a melting mixing for a time t 0 (minute) at a temperature T 0 (° C.) of the crystalline polyester resin and the amorphous resin provides a resin showing a visual reflectance Y of 1.5% in a film of 20 μm.
9. An image supporting material according to claim 8 , wherein
the temperature T (° C.) is within a range from T 0 +5 to T 0 +10 and the time t (minute) is within a range from t 0 to 3×t 0 .
10. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
the amorphous resin is a polyester resin.
11. An image supporting material according to claim 10 , wherein
the crystalline polyester resin and the amorphous polyester resin include a common alcohol-derived component or a common acid-derived component.
12. An image supporting material according to claim 11 , wherein:
an alcohol-derived component of the amorphous polyester resin includes a linear aliphatic component which is the same as the linear aliphatic component with 2 to 12 carbon atoms, constituting a principal component of alcohol-derived component of the crystalline polyester resin, and which represents 10 to 30 mol. % of all the alcohol-derived component; and
an acid-derived component of the amorphous polyester resin includes an aromatic component, which represents 90 mol. % or more of all the acid-derived component.
13. An image supporting material according to claim 12 , wherein:
the aromatic component constituting the acid-derived component of the amorphous polyester resin is the same as an aromatic component derived from terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid or naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, which is a principal component of the acid-derived component of the crystalline polyester resin.
14. An image supporting material according to claim 13 , wherein:
the alcohol-derived component of the crystalline polyester resin includes a linear aliphatic component with 2 to 12 carbon atoms and an aromatic diol-derived component, in which the linear aliphatic component represents 85 to 98 mol. % and the aromatic diol-derived component represents 2 to 15 mol. % with respect to all the alcohol-derived components; and
the alcohol-derived component of the amorphous polyester resin includes a linear aliphatic component and an aromatic diol-derived component which are the same as principal components of the alcohol-derived component of the crystalline polyester resin, and in which the linear aliphatic component represents 10 to 30 mol. % and the aromatic diol-derived component represents 70 to 90 mol. % with respect to all the alcohol-drived components.
15. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
the amorphous resin includes a styrene-based resin and an acrylic resin in an amount of 80% or more.
16. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
an alcohol-derived component of the crystalline polyester resin is principally constituted of a linear aliphatic component with 2 to 12 carbon atoms, in which the linear aliphatic component represents 85 to 100 mol. % of all the alcohol-derived component; and
an acid-derived component of the crystalline polyester resin is principally constituted of a linear aliphatic component with 4 to 12 carbon atoms, in which an aromatic component represents 90 mol. % or more of all the acid-derived component.
17. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
the crystalline polyester resin has a weight-averaged molecular weight of 17,000 to 30,000 and the amorphous resin has a weight-averaged molecular weight of 8,000 to 40,000.
18. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein
the color toner receptive layer includes inorganic fine particles in an amount of 3 to 30 wt. %.
19. An image supporting material according to claim 18 , wherein
the inorganic fine particles comprises titanium dioxide or silica with a particle size of 8 to 400 nm.
20. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an antistatic layer on at least either of a front surface or a rear surface.
21. An image supporting material according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a gelatin layer between the light scattering layer and the color toner receptive layer.
22. A method of using an image supporting material according to claim 1 , wherein:
the thermoplastic resin of the color toner principally comprises a polyester resin or a styrene-acrylic resin having a temperature T 2 , at which viscosity thereof becomes 10 4 Pa·s, equal to or higher than T 1 (° C.) but is lower than T 1 +20 (° C.).
23. A method of using an image supporting material according to claim 22 , wherein:
the thermoplastic resin of the color toner at least includes a crystalline polyester resin and an amorphous styrene-acrylic resin.
24. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image supporting material for fixably supporting an image of a color toner including at least a thermoplastic resin and a colorant;
an image forming unit for forming an image of the color toner on the image supporting material; and
a fixing apparatus for fixing the image of the color toner, formed by the image forming unit, on the image supporting material; wherein
the image supporting material includes:
a base material;
a light scattering layer provided on the base material and containing a white pigment and a thermoplastic resin; and
a color toner receptive layer provided on the light scattering layer and containing at least a thermoplastic resin;
the thermoplastic resin in the light scattering layer comprises a polyolefin or a polyolefinic copolymer having a temperature Tb, at which viscosity becomes 5×10 3 Pa·s, of 100° C. or higher; and
the thermoplastic resin in the color toner receptive layer comprises a resin obtained by a melt mixing of a crystalline polyester resin and an amorphous resin and having a temperature T 1 , at which viscosity becomes 10 3 Pa·s, equal to or higher than 65° C. but lower than 80° C.
25. An image forming apparatus according to claim 24 , wherein
the fixing apparatus includes:
a fixing member contacted with the image supporting material across an image thereon;
a heat-pressurizing unit which heats and pressurizes the image of the color toner on the image supporting material; and a cool-peeling unit which cools and peels the heat-pressurized
image of the color toner from the fixing member.