Active ray curable ink-jet ink, image forming method and ink-jet recording apparatus using the same
A active ray curable ink-jet ink includes a multifunctional acrylate or methacrylate of at least three functional groups, and the acrylate or the methacrylate has a partial structure of the following Formula (1) in an amount of 5-40 weight % based on the total weight of the active ray curable ink-jet ink: Formula (1) —(R—O—) n —, wherein R is an alkylene group, and n is an integer of at least three.
1. An active ray curable ink-jet ink comprising a multifunctional acrylate or methacrylate of at least three functional groups, the multifunctional acrylate or methacrylate having a partial structure of the following Formula (1) in an amount of 10-30 weight % based on the total weight of the active ray curable ink-jet ink:
Formula (1)
—(—R—O—) n —
wherein R is an alkylene group of —CH 2 CH 2 —, or —CH 2 CH(CH 3 )—, and n is 3, and
the ink-jet ink further comprising a bifunctional acrylate or methacrylate having a partial structure of Formula (1) in an amount of 30-80 weight % based on the total weight of the ink-jet, provided that a sum of the multifunctional acrylate or methacrylate of at least three functional groups and the bifunctional acrylate or methacrylate is from 40 to 100 weight %.
2. The active ray curable ink-jet ink described in claim 1 , further comprising a monofunctional acrylate or methacrylate compound, a content [M (weight %)] of which is 0<M<20, and a sum of the monofunctional acrylate or methacrylate compound and the bifunctional acrylate or methacrylate is in an amount of 70 to 90 weight % based on the total weight of the ink-jet ink.
3. The active ray curable ink-jet ink described in claim 1 , further comprising at least one kind of tertiary amine compound.
4. The active ray curable ink-jet ink described in claim 1 , further comprising at least one kind of photopolymerizable tertiary amine monomer.
5. The active ray curable ink-jet ink described in claim 1 , wherein the ink-jet ink exhibits a viscosity of 10-70 mPa·s at 25° C.
6. An image forming method comprising the steps of:
(a) ejecting the active ray curable ink-jet ink described in claim 1 from an ink-jet recording head onto a recording medium, and
(b) curing the ejected ink to form an image,
wherein active rays are irradiated between 0.001-1.0 second after the ejected active ray curable ink-jet ink is deposited onto the recording medium.
7. The image forming method described in claim 6 ,
wherein the total thickness of the cured ink layer is 2-20 μm.
8. The image forming method described in claim 6 ,
wherein the recording medium is a non-absorbable recording medium.
9. An image forming method comprising the steps of:
(a) ejecting the active ray curable ink-jet ink described in claim 1 from nozzles of an ink-jet recording head onto a recording medium, and
(b) curing the ejected ink to form an image,
wherein a droplet volume of ink ejected from the nozzles is 1-15 pl.