Metal printed constructions
There is disclosed a print construction comprising: (a) a printing substrate having an image-receiving surface; (b) a receptive layer, at least partially covering said image-receiving surface, and having a particle reception surface distally disposed to said image-receiving surface, said receptive layer optionally having a thickness of at least 1000 nanometer (nm); and (c) a plurality of individual particles adhered to said particle reception surface, and forming a monolayer thereon, the features of which are described herein.
1. A print construction comprising:
(a) a printing substrate having an image-receiving surface;
(b) a receptive layer, at least partially covering said image-receiving surface, and having a particle reception surface distally disposed to said image-receiving surface, said receptive layer having a thickness of at least 1000 nanometer (nm); and
(c) a plurality of individual metal particles adhered to said particle reception surface and forming a monolayer thereon, wherein an outer surface of said metal particles is hydrophobic;
wherein a number-averaged aspect ratio (ASPavg) of said plurality of individual metal particles is defined by:
ASPavg=Lavg/Havg
wherein Lavg is a number-averaged maximum long dimension of said plurality of individual metal particles;
wherein Havg is a number-averaged maximum thickness of said plurality of individual metal particles;
and wherein said plurality of individual metal particles exhibit at least one of the following structural properties:
(A) said number-averaged maximum long dimension (Lavg) is at most 800 micrometers;
(B) said number-averaged maximum average thickness (Havg) is at most 1200 nm;
(C) said number-averaged aspect ratio (ASPavg) is at least 1.5:1; and
wherein said monolayer has an optical surface coverage ratio of at least 20%.
2. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said monolayer is substantially devoid of a binder.
3. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said monolayer contains, by weight or by volume, at most 20% of a binder.
4. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said thickness of said receptive layer is at least 1.2 micrometers and at most 800 micrometers.
5. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said average maximum long dimension (Lavg) is at most 600 micrometers and at least 0.04 μm.
6. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said maximum average thickness (Havg) is at most 1000 nm.
7. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said maximum average thickness (Havg) is at least 5 nm.
8. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said average aspect ratio (ASPavg) is at least 1.5:1.
9. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said average aspect ratio (ASPavg) is at least 8:1.
10. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said average aspect ratio (ASPavg) of said plurality of individual metal particles is at most 100:1.
11. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said average aspect ratio (ASPavg) is at most 40:1.
12. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said average aspect ratio (ASPavg) is within a range of 1.5:1 to 50:1.
13. The print construction of claim 12 , wherein said average aspect ratio (ASPavg) is at least 2:1.
14. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said metal particles are non-hydrophobic, and wherein a hydrophobic layer is attached to a surface of each of said metal particles, and at least partially envelops, each of said metal particles.
15. The print construction of claim 14 , wherein said hydrophobic layer is an inorganic hydrophobic layer.
16. The print construction of claim 14 , wherein said hydrophobic layer is an organic hydrophobic layer.
17. The print construction of claim 16 , wherein said organic hydrophobic layer includes at least one of a fatty acid, an oil and an oily substance.
18. The print construction of claim 17 , wherein said fatty acid, said oil, and said oily substance have a backbone having a carbon number of at least 6.
19. The print construction of claim 14 , wherein said hydrophobic layer has a thickness of at most 15 nm.
20. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein an organic content of said particles, by weight, is at most 15%.
21. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said monolayer-further comprises a plurality of additional particles not adhered or affixed to said particle reception surface, said plurality of additional particles amounting to at most 35% by number, of a total number of particles comprised in said monolayer.
22. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said monolayer has an optical surface coverage ratio within a range of 40% to 100%.
23. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said receptive layer has a first half ending at said particle reception surface, and a second half disposed towards and contacting said image-receiving surface, and wherein at most 5% of said plurality of individual metal particles are disposed at least partially within said second half of said receptive layer.
24. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein within a field of view containing at least 5 particles of said plurality of individual metal particles, said receptive layer has a first half ending at said particle reception surface, and a second half disposed towards and contacting said image-receiving surface, and wherein at most 5% of said plurality of individual metal particles are disposed at least partially within said second half of said receptive layer.
25. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said monolayer—further comprises at least one overlapping particle that at least partially overlaps an underlying particle, and wherein a minimum distance between said overlapping particle and a surface of said underlying particle proximate to said overlapping particle is at most 25 nm.
26. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein, within a field of view containing at least 5 particles of said plurality of individual metal particles, said monolayer further comprises at least one overlapping particle that at least partially overlaps a respective underlying particle, and wherein a minimum distance between each said overlapping particle and a surface of said respective underlying particle proximate to said overlapping particle is at most 25 nm.
27. The print construction of claim 1 , further comprising an overcoat layer covering and sealing said monolayer, said overcoat layer having a thickness of at least 1.5 micrometers, said thickness of said overcoat layer being at most 300 micrometers.
28. The print construction of claim 27 , wherein said overcoat layer has a first half extending away from said receptive layer, and a second half disposed towards and contacting said receptive layer, and wherein at most 5% of said plurality of individual metal particles are disposed at least partially within said first half of said overcoat layer.
29. The print construction of claim 27 , wherein, within a field of view containing at least 5 particles of said plurality of individual metal particles, said overcoat layer has a first half extending away from said receptive layer, and a second half disposed towards and contacting said receptive layer, and wherein at most 5% of said plurality of individual metal particles are disposed at least partially within said first half of said overcoat layer.
30. The print construction of claim 27 , wherein said overcoat is a transparent, translucent, or opaque coating.
31. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said receptive layer is disposed on solely a portion of said image-receiving surface.
32. The print construction of claim 31 , wherein said monolayer is disposed solely on said portion of said image-receiving surface upon which said receptive layer is disposed.
33. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein ASPavg is evaluated in field of view or a representative field of view containing at least 5 of said particles.
34. The print construction of claim 29 , wherein said field of view contains 5 to 100 of said particles.
35. The print construction of claim 1 , said printing substrate including one or more of a fibrous printing substrate and a plastic printing substrate.
36. The print construction of claim 1 , said printing substrate having a thickness of at least 10 micrometers.
37. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein said metal particles include at least one of aluminum, copper, iron, zinc, nickel, tin, titanium, gold, silver, and alloys thereof.
38. The print construction of claim 37 , wherein said alloys include at least one of steel, bronze and brass.
39. The print construction of claim 38 , wherein said metal particles include platelets having a planar dimension whose orientation is in a direction substantially parallel to the image-receiving surface.
40. The print construction of claim 39 , said platelets having a light reflective surface so as to provide for a glossy image.
41. The print construction of claim 40 , wherein the glossy image has a gloss per size (GPS) of at least 100 Gloss Units (GU) per average maximum long dimension (Lavg) of the particles, said dimension being in micrometers, the glossy image having a GPS of at least 150 GU/μm.
42. The print construction of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of individual metal particles comprise metal cores including any one or more of aluminum, copper, iron, nickel, tin, titanium, gold, and silver, and a hydrophobic coating on the metal cores.
43. The print construction of claim 42 , wherein the plurality of individual metal particles exists in a burnished state upon the particle reception surface.