THERMAL MIMEOGRAPH PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING STENCIL PAPER

Abstract: A thermosensitive stencil paper composed of porous carrier (2) over one surface of which thermoplastic resinous film layer (1) is spread through adhesives (3), which is characterized in that said porous carrier (2) and thermoplastic resinous film (1) have a point-bonded structure in which they are point-bonded to each other in a dot pattern, whereby the point-bonding structure exhibits excellent perforation characteristic.

Description: This invention relates to a thermal mimeograph process making use of a heat emitter element like a thermal head. So far, mimeograph has been widely used as an expeditious and inexpensive printing system. According to this system, a material comprising a suitable porous backing sheet such as paper and a thermoplastic resin film layer laminated on its surface is used as a heat-sensitive stencil paper. This stencil paper is cut by a thermal head or other means, and the thermoplastic resin film layer is then heated and melted to form an imagewise perforation pattern, through which printing ink is fed to make prints on the material to be printed. In order to improve the setting properties of stencil paper used with such a thermal setting system as mentioned above, esp., the capability of stencil paper to be perforated - hereinafter simply referred to as perforability, the choice of material and the selection of a bonding agent used for laminating the thermoplastic resin film on the porous backing material present important conditions, because this system is unique. As set forth in JP-A-58(1983)-147396 and 62(1987)-264998 specifications, thermal stencil paper products have heretofore been known in the art, which are obtained by bonding together a porous backing material and a thermoplastic resin film through an adhesive layer having a network or fine regular pattern. When the backing material and thermoplastic resin film are laminated together with such an adhesive layer having a network pattern as set forth in JP-A-58-147396 specification into stencil paper, a perforating problem arises depending upon the amount of the adhesive applied, causing the deterioration of the resulting image quality. In the case of stencil paper including an adhesive layer having such a specific, regular pattern as disclosed in JP-A-62-264998, it is awkward in itself to form an adhesive layer having such a regular pattern. According to the inventor's finding, even when the given pattern has been formed, there are such problems as whitening and moire depending upon how much the adhesive is applied and to what extent bonding takes place, which in turn occasion various problems in making printing of high resolving power. Thus, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a thermal stencil paper which can be well cut or perforated and makes printing of high resolving power feasible. Incidentally, thermal stencil paper used with the above-mentioned conventional, thermal mimeograph system is formed by laminating a thermoplastic resin film layer as thin as a few µm in thickness on a porous backing material, generally paper, with the application of a bonding agent. This bonding agent is typically (1) a solvent (or aqueous) type of adhesive - see, e.g. JP-P-47(1972)-1188 and 1187 publications. EP-A-0 331 748 describes a heat-sensitive mimeotype stencil paper which comprises a porous support having provided on one side thereof a thermoplastic film with an adhesive layer therebetween. Problems with the solvent type of adhesive, which is used with large amounts of solvents, are that its recovery takes much cost, difficulty is involved in maintaining working environment, the resulting products are poor in resistance to solvent, and the kind of ink used is limited. Problems with the aqueous type of adhesive are that the quantity of heat needed for drying is enormous, and the thermoplastic resin film shrinks or the porous backing material suffers dimensional changes due to the heat applied during drying, making stencil paper curl or wrinkle. (b) a solventless type of curing adhesives which are used for eliminating the above-mentioned defects of the solvent type of adhesives - see JP-A-61(1986)-286131, 58(1983)-153697, 62(1987)-181374 and 63(1988)-233890 specifications. Of these adhesives, the heat curing type of adhesive requires a large amount of heat for curing, and further offers problems that the thermoplastic resin film shrinks or the porous backing material undergo dimensional changes during the production of stencil paper, making the stencil paper curl or wrinkle. The room temperature or moisture curing type of bonding agent has a defect of curing so slowly that it takes so much time to produce stencil paper; in other words, this is inferior in the productivity of stencil paper. The ultraviolet curing type of adhesive has again a slow curing rate. At an increased dose, so great a rise in temperature takes place due to infrared rays other than ultraviolet rays, that the thermoplastic resin film shrinks, making stencil paper curl or wrinkle. The solventless type of adhesive has a general defect of having a viscosity too high to be applied on the thermoplastic resin film or backing material to form a thin film thereon. Particular difficulty is involved in the stable application of it on a limp, thermoplastic resin film because of its viscosity. When the adhesive is heated to decrease its viscosity, the thermoplastic resin film deforms, rendering its coating difficult. For that reason, it has been proposed to coat the adhesive on the backing material - see JP-A-61(1986)-286131 specification. In this case, however, when the span of time required for curing is increased, the backing material is so impregnated with the adhesive that any product of excellent resolving power and image quality cannot be obtained. The curing type of adhesive is inferior in its heat fusibility after curing and, hence, causes the resulting stencil paper to become worse in terms of perforability, failing to provide any product of high resolving power and excellent image quality. Thus, a second object of this invention is to achieve economical provision of thermal stencil paper which is free from such problems as mentioned above and so serves well. As the thermal head of a digital type of thermal mimeographing equipment, use has so far been made of a thin type of thermal head glazed all over the surface, as illustrated in Fig. 2. In some attempts to increase the perforability of stencil paper, the thermal head has been mechanically heated, or its contact with stencil paper has been improved - see JP-A-60(1985)-147338, 60-208244 and 60-48354 specifications. In another efforts to increase the perforability of stencil paper by making some modifications thereto, the physical properties of the associated thermoplastic resin film, i.e., the thickness, thermal shrinkage factor, crystallinity, etc. thereof have been varied - see JP-A-62(1987)-2829, JP-A-63(1988)-160883, JP-A-62-149496 and JP-A-62-282984 specifications. In the case of a film formed of a polyethylene terephthalate homopolymer in particular, the perforability is satisfied only when the film has a thickness of at most 2 µm, as set forth in JP-A-60(1985)48398 specification. The adhesive, whether it is of the solvent type or the solventless type, is applied at a coverage of 0.5 to 3 g/m 2 on solid basis - see JP-A-1(1989)-148591 and JP-A-62(1987)-1589 specifications. When the thermal head used is a conventional thin type of full-glazed thermal head, such as one shown in Fig. 2, there is a problem that the film of stencil paper cannot be fully perforated corresponding to the heat emitter element of the thermal head. This is because the heat emitter portion is so concave that its contact with the film is in ill condition. In order to provide a solution to this problem, it has been proposed to heat the platen - see JP-A-60(1985)-147338 specification or prevent heat from radiating to the platen see JP-A-60-48354 specification. However, such proposals are not so effective because it is the porous backing material of stencil paper that comes in contact with the platen, and result in increased power consumption as well. In addition, it has been proposed to use a thick film type of thermal head including a convex heat emitter portion in combination with a thin film type of thermal head - see JP-A-60(1985)-208244 specification. This proposal is considered effective for perforability, but presents a problem that the resistance value of the thick film type of thermal head varies so largely that it is impossible to obtain perforations corresponding to the magnitude of the heat emitter element. Turning on the other hand to the physical properties of the thermoplastic resin film of stencil paper, esp., its thickness, the thinner than 2 µm the thickness, the better the perforability. However, this gives rise to a serious rise in the production cost of stencil paper, or makes the rigidity of stencil paper insufficient, only to offer a problem in connection with feeding it through a printing machine. Further, it is effective to form the resin of a copolymer, thereby lowering the melting point of the film see JP-A-62(1987)-2829 specification. However, the copolymer degrades the heat resistance, solvent resistance, etc. of the film, so that the processability of the film drops at the time of being laminated onto the porous backing material, or the resulting stencil paper becomes poor in storage stability. The copolymer also lowers the dependence of the film's viscosity upon temperature and so causes stringing, having less influence upon the perforability than expected. A problem with the adhesive is that the larger the coverage, the better the wear resistance of stencil paper but the lower the perforability of stencil paper. When a solvent type of adhesive is used, there is a problem that skinning takes place among fibers at the time of drying, making not only perforability but also the passage of ink worse. It is therefore a third object of this invention to provide a thermal mimeograph paper and a printing process, with which the above-mentioned problems can be solved. Thermal mimeograph paper used with the aforesaid conventional thermal mimeograph system is generally formed by laminating a thermoplastic resin film as thin as a few µm in thickness onto the surface of a porous backing material such as paper. However, because the thermoplastic resin film layer is meltable by heating, there is a problem that the thermal head may be fused to the thermoplastic resin film layer during stencil-making, thus failing to feed stencil paper stably. In order to avoid this, it has been proposed to forming a layer of such a lubricator as silicone oil, silicone resin, a crosslinked type of silicone resin or a phosphate ester on the thermoplastic resin film layer as a thermal fusion preventing layer, thereby preventing the fusion of the thermal head thereto - for instance, see JP-P-63(1988)-233890 and JP-A-61(1986)-40196, 61-164896, 62(1987)-33690 and 62-3691 specifications. However, problems with the silicone oil are that it is inferior in the capability to form a film; it is less wetting, but repellant, with respect to the thermoplastic resin film, thus failing to form any satisfactory film; and it may contaminate other articles. This is also true of the silicone resin. In addition, oil or scum accumulates on the thermal head, and a type of silicone resin well capable of forming a film is poor in releasability. The crosslinked type of silicone resin, because of its high heat resistance, makes the perforability of the thermoplastic resin film worse. Problems with the phosphate ester are that it is poor in the capability to form a film and causes separation of the thermal fusion preventing layer, giving rise to accumulation of oil or scum on the thermal head. Use of the phosphate ester in combination with a binder presents a similar problem in connection with peeling and scumming, because it is inferior in the compatibility with the binder. A further problem with the conventional thermal fusion preventing layer is that its insufficient antistatic properties make the feeding of stencil paper so worse that it is likely to stick to a drum during stencil-making or printing. It is therefore a fourth object of this invention to achieve economical provision of thermal mimeograph paper with which the above-mentioned problems can be solved, and which shows excellent performance with no accumulation of oil or scum on the thermal head even when continuously used to make stencils. The present invention is directed to a thermal mimeograph process wherein a heat emitter element of a thin type of partially glazed thermal head is allowed to generate heat in response to digital signals for images and characters to perforating a film of mimeograph paper in tune with said digital signals to make a stencil, said mimeograph paper comprises a porous backing material and a thermoplastic resin film laminated thereon through an adhesive layer, said thermoplastic resin film having a thickness lying in the range of 2.0 to 6.0 µm and said adhesive layer being applied at a coverage lying in the range of 0.1 to 0.5 g/m 2 on solid basis. As a result of intensive studies, it has been found that the above-mentioned problems of the prior art can be solved by using such a thin type of partially glazed thermal head as shown in Fig. 1 as a thermal head of a digital type of thermal mimeograph machine and employing stencil paper in which the thermoplastic resin film has a thickness of 2.0 to 6.0 µm and the adhesive layer is applied at a coverage of 0.1 to 0.5 g/m 2 on solid basis. Thus, the present invention has a number of advantages that (i) the production cost of stencil paper can be greatly reduced, (ii) the processability and handleability of stencil paper can be improved by increasing the rigidity of stencil paper, (iii) the storage stability of stencil paper can be improved and (iv) the solvent resistance (wear resistance) of stencil paper can be improved. FIGURE 1 is a sectional view illustrating the construction of a partially glazed type of thermal head used with the mimeograph paper according to this invention, and FIGURE 2 is a sectional view illustrating the construction of a full-glazed type of thermal head used with conventional stencil paper. The present invention will now be explained in greater detail with reference to the preferred embodiments. The thermal mimeograph equipment used in the present invention is similar to a conventional printing machine except the structure of its thermal head. As illustrated in Fig. 1, this thermal head includes a ceramic substrate 5 on which a convex, glazed layer 6 is provided. The layer 6 is then covered thereon with a heat emitter 7, on both sides of which electrodes 8 are in turn located. Over the resulting assembly there is provided a protective layer 9. By contrast, the conventional, full-glazed thermal head includes a ceramic substrate 5, on which a flat, glazed layer is formed, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The glazed layer is then covered thereon with a heat emitter 7, on both sides of which electrodes 8 are located. Over the resulting assembly there is provided a protective layer 9. Such a thin type of partially glazed thermal head as shown in Fig. 1 is so less variable in terms of resistance value that it can give perforations corresponding to the heat emitter element, and is so convex in geometry that its contact with the film of stencil paper can be improved. With this thermal head, thus, even stencil paper having a relatively thick film can be well cut. A porous backing material, on which the above-mentioned film is to be laminated, is required to be such porous as to enable printing ink used for printing to pass through it. To this end, all materials used as the porous backing sheets of conventional, thermal mimeograph paper products may be applied, including various forms of paper, esp., open-texture paper such as Japanese paper; synthetic paper or mesh sheets made up of such chemical fibers as rayon, vinylon, polyester, acrylonitrile and polyamide; and mixed paper obtained from chemical fibers and natural fibers such as Manila hemp, kozo and mitsumata. For the thermoplastic resin film to be laminated on the surface of the above-mentioned porous backing material, all thermoplastic resin films so far known in the art may be used, if they have a thickness of 2.0 to 6.0 µm. Particular preference is given to a 3.0 to 5.0-µm thick film formed of a polyethylene terephthalate homopolymer. The polyethylene terephthalate homopolymer film, because of its melt viscosity being greatly depending upon temperature, can be easily perforated in only its portions heated, giving perforations corresponding to the heat emitter element of the thermal head. Thus, this film serves to improve image quality, and is inexpensive as well. A thermoplastic resin film of 2 µm in thickness is more easily perforated. However, the thinner the film, the larger the diameters of perforations and so the more the amount of ink transferred, thus presenting an offset problem. Also, the thinner the film, the lower the rigidity of stencil paper, thus causing a feeding trouble to the printing machine. A further decrease in the thickness of the film gives rise to a sharp rise in the cost. A thermoplastic resin film as thick as 6 µm or more in thickness, on the other hand, cannot be perforated even with the thin type of partially glazed thermal head. The thermoplastic resin film having a thickness lying in the range of 2 to 6 µm is thus preferable, since it can be well perforated, while imparting high rigidity to stencil paper and reducing the cost of stencil paper considerably. The adhesive used for bonding the porous backing material to the thermoplastic resin film layer may be any desired one of those so far known in the art. In the present invention, however, preference is given to a solventless type of electron beam curing adhesive, esp., a radiation curing adhesive comprising a polyurethane resin and a monofunctional and/or polyfunctional (meth)acrylate. Preferably but not exclusively, the formation of an adhesive layer may be achieved by coating the abovementioned adhesive, if required together with other additives and viscosity regulating solvents, onto either the porous backing material or the thermoplastic resin film by suitable coating techniques such as multi-roll coating, blade coating, gravure coating, knife coating, reverse-roll coating, spray coating, offset gravure coating and kiss-roll coating. Too large a coverage results in a drop of perforability, while too small a coverage contributes to an increase in perforability but presents a problem in connection with the wear resistance of stencil paper. According to this aspect of the invention wherein the solventless type of electron beam curing adhesive is used, a stencil paper having improved wear resistance can be obtained at a low coverage, say 0.1 to 0.5 g/m 2 . The adhesive, because of being solvent-free, is unlikely to penetrate into the porous backing material even when the film has a relatively large thickness, and provides a stencil paper greatly improved in terms of perforability due to its small coverage. Since the adhesive is of the electron beam curing type, on the other hand, so high crosslinking densities are obtained that it can improve wear resistance even at a low coverage. After the application of the above-mentioned electron beam curing adhesive, the adhesive layer loses fluidity by cooling. However, this layer is allowed to retain some adhesion and tackiness due to the presence of the monomer, thus enabling the backing material and film to be laminated together. In the course of or after lamination, the adhesive layer is irradiated with electron beams through either the thermoplastic resin film layer or the porous backing material for curing, whereby both are firmly bonded together to provide the thermal mimeograph paper according to this invention. As mentioned above, the adhesive layer may be irradiated with electron beams through either side of the laminate, using conventional irradiator equipment as such. For electron beam curing, use may be made of electron beams having an energy of 50 to 1,000 KeV, preferably 100 to 300 KeV, emitted from various electron beam accelerators, for instance, Cockroft-Walton, Van de Graaf, resonance transformer, insulating core transformer, linear, electrocurtain, dynatron and high frequency types of accelerators which operate preferably at an irradiation dose of about 1 to 5 Mrad. The thus obtained thermal mimeograph paper according to this invention may provide an improved stencil. When the thermoplastic resin film is heated with a thermal head to perforate the mimeograph paper, however, there is a fear that depending upon the conditions applied, the thermoplastic resin film may be broken by the fusion of the thermal head thereto. In order to eliminate such a problem, it is preferable to form on the thermoplastic resin film a thermal fusion preventing layer comprising a silicone oil, a silicone resin and a surface active agent, optionally with a binder resin. The above-mentioned thermal fusion preventing layer may be formed by dissolving or dispersing the required components in an organic solvent or water to prepare a coating solution and applying it on the surface of the thermoplastic resin film in any suitable manner. This layer should preferably be as thin as about 0.1 to 10 µm, because too large a thickness gives rise to a drop of the heat sensitivity and hence perforability of stencil paper. This layer may also be formed at any desired time, e.g. in the course of or after forming the thermal mimeograph paper according to this invention, or alternatively on the raw material for the thermoplastic resin film. The present invention will now be explained in greater detail with reference to the following examples and comparative examples, wherein "parts" and "%" are given by weight, unless otherwise stated. Example C1 While heated at 90°C, an electron beam curing adhesive comprising 76 parts of an electron beam curing polyurethane resin and 20 parts of an acrylic ester monomer (Alonix M5700 made by Toa Gosei K.K.) was coated at a dry coverage of 0.3 g/m 2 onto a Manila hemp/polyester fiber mixed paper having a maximum weight of about 10 g/m 2 by multi-roll coating, and was laminated thereon with a 3.0-µm thick polyethylene terephthalate homopolymer film. After that, the adhesive layer was cured by exposure to 3-Mrad electron beams. In addition, a thermal fusion preventing layer comprising a silicone oil/polyester resin mixture was applied onto the polyester film side at a dry coverage of 0.1 g/m 2 to obtain a thermal mimeograph paper according to this invention. Examples C2-C5 & Comparative Examples C1-C3 Thermal mimeograph paper products according to this invention and for the purpose of comparison were obtained by following the procedures of Ex. C1 with the exception that the thermoplastic resin film and the coverage of adhesive were changed, as set out in the following Table C1. Examples Films Coverage of Adhesive C2 PET 3.5 µm 0.1 g/m 2 C3 PET 4.0 µm 0.3 C4 PET 4.5 µm 0.4 C5 PET 5.0 µm 0.5 Comp. Ex. C1 PET 1.5 µm 1.0 g/m 2 C2 PET 6.5 µm 2.0 C3 PET 3.0 µm 1.5 Example of Use With the present and comparative thermal mimeograph paper products, stencil-making was performed on an experimental stencil-making machine including a thin type of partially glazed thermal head and a full-glazed thermal head. After that, printing was carried out with Richo Preport SS 950 to evaluate the density and resolution of the prints. The results are reported in the following Table C2. Partially glazed TH Full-glazed TH density resolution density resolution Ex. C1 o ○ o ○ ▵ ▵ C2 o ○ o ○ ▵ ▵ C3 o ○ o ○ X X C4 o ○ o ○ X X C5 o ○∼○ o ○ X X Comp. C1 o ○ X ○ ○ C2 X ○ X X C3 ▵ ○ ▵ ▵ o ○: Superior ○: Good ▵: Inferior X: Practically useless With the present invention as mentioned above, it is possible to achieve stencil paper which can be well fed through a printing machine and impart good quality to the resulting image and is very inexpensive as well; cut down the cost of prints. Why such effects are obtained in this invention is due to the fact that the thin type of partially glazed thermal head is in good contact with the film and the inexpensive stencil paper excelling in perforability and rigidity and including a thick film is used for stencil-making.

Claims: A thermal mimeograph process wherein a heat emitter element of a thin type of partially glazed thermal head is allowed to generate heat in response to digital signals for images and characters to perforate a film of mimeograph paper in tune with said digital signals for stencil-making, said mimeograph paper comprising a porous backing material and a thermoplastic resin film laminated thereon through an adhesive layer, said thermoplastic resin film being a film having a thickness of 2.0 to 6.0 µm and said adhesive being applied at a coverage of 0.1 to 0.5 g/m 2 on solid basis.

Inventors: ANDO MASAYUKI, HIROI JUNICHI, KAMIYAMA HIRONORI, KOMATSUBARA KAZUE, KOSAKA YOZO, SAKANO SHINICHI, TSUCHIYA MITSURU, YAMASHITA YUDAI, ANDO, MASAYUKI, HIROI, JUNICHI, KAMIYAMA, HIRONORI, KOMATSUBARA, KAZUE, KOSAKA, YOZO, SAKANO, SHINICHI, TSUCHIYA, MITSURU, YAMASHITA, YUDAI, ANDO, MASAYUKI DAI NIPPON INSATSU KABUSHIKI, HIROI, JUNICHI DAI NIPPON INSATSU KABUSHIKI, KAMIYAMA, HIRONORI DAI NIPPON INSATSU KABUSHIKI, KOMATSUBARA, KAZUE DAI NIPPON INSATSU KABUSHIKI, KOSAKA, YOZO DAI NIPPON INSATSU KABUSHIKI KAISHA, SAKANO, SHINICHI DAI NIPPON INSATSU KABUSHIKI, TSUCHIYA, MITSURU DAI NIPPON INSATSU KABUSHIKI, YAMASHITA, YUDAI DAI NIPPON INSATSU KABUSHIKI
Applicants: DAINIPPON PRINTING CO LTD, DAI NIPPON INSATSU KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B41N1
IPC codes: B41N1