Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6547381?dq=6,243,373
Timestamp: 2014-07-22 08:37:22
Document Index: 538921846

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1010', 'art 1010', 'art 1006', 'art 1010', 'art 1010', 'art 1010', 'art 940']

Patent US6547381 - Ink, image recording process, ink cartridge, recording unit, ink set, crust ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign in<nobr>Advanced Patent Search</nobr>PatentsAn ink comprises a coloring material and an aqueous medium wherein the coloring material contains a self-dispersing type carbon black, in which self-dispersing carbon black a hydrophilic group combines with the surface of a carbon black directly or through another atomic group, and which ink contains...http://www.google.com/patents/US6547381?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6547381 - Ink, image recording process, ink cartridge, recording unit, ink set, crust-preventing method and image forming apparatusAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS6547381 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 09/881,803Publication dateApr 15, 2003Filing dateJun 18, 2001Priority dateJun 23, 2000Fee statusPaidAlso published asCN1203139C, CN1332209A, DE60134444D1, EP1167471A2, EP1167471A3, EP1167471B1, US20020036677Publication number09881803, 881803, US 6547381 B2, US 6547381B2, US-B2-6547381, US6547381 B2, US6547381B2InventorsTomonari Watanabe, Shinya Mishina, Koichi OsumiOriginal AssigneeCanon Kabushiki KaishaExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (33), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (18), Classifications (16), Legal Events (4) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetInk, image recording process, ink cartridge, recording unit, ink set, crust-preventing method and image forming apparatusUS 6547381 B2Abstract An ink comprises a coloring material and an aqueous medium wherein the coloring material contains a self-dispersing type carbon black, in which self-dispersing carbon black a hydrophilic group combines with the surface of a carbon black directly or through another atomic group, and which ink contains potassium ion in an amount of 0.6% or more of the weight of the carbon black.
2. The ink according to claim 1, wherein said hydrophilic group is selected from the group consisting of �COOM, �SO3M, �PO3HM and �PO3M2, wherein M is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkali metal, ammonium and organic ammonium.
By the way, as factors for considering the nature of an ink for ink-jet, there are the intermittent ejection stability and crusting property of the ink. Specifically, the intermittent ejection stability of the ink means the following property. Namely, when an ink is ejected from a predetermined nozzle of an ink-jet recording head, the ejection of the ink from the nozzle is stopped for a considerably long period of time (for example, about 12 hours) and the ink is then ejected again from the nozzle, the resumption of ejection of the ink may not be stably conducted in some cases to disorder printing. As described above, the operation that the ink is ejected from the predetermined nozzle, the ejection of the ink from the nozzle is stopped for the predetermined period of time and the ink is then ejected again from the nozzle is referred to as �intermittent ejection of ink�, and unstable resumption of ejection of the ink is referred to as �poor intermittent ejection�.
The crusting property of the ink means the following property. Namely, when ejection of an ink from a nozzle is stopped for a long period of time (for example, several days or longer) and the ink is then ejected again from the nozzle, a recovery operation for removing an ink which has undergone an increase in viscosity or solidification within the nozzle may be required in some cases. A state that the resumption of ejection of the ink is not stably conducted due to the viscosity increase or solidification of the ink within the nozzle is referred to as �crusting of ink�, and an ink of which a great number of recovery operations is required for achieving stable resumption of ejection is referred to as �ink poor in crusting property�.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, it may not be said that technical findings for providing images having high optical density (OD) and sharp edge and achieving ink-jet ejection properties such as intermittent ejection stability and crusting property as to pigment inks comprising the above-described self-dispersing carbon black as a coloring material, particularly black pigment inks are sufficiently accumulated, and so their behavior as inks for ink-jet recording is not completely clarified.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of illustrating an exemplary head of an ink-jet recording apparatus.
FIG. 16 is a schematic cross-sectional view corresponding to a 16�16 cross-sectional form in FIG. 15 and illustrating an ejecting operation of a liquid in the liquid-ejecting head with time together with FIGS. 17 to 23.
FIG. 17 is a schematic cross-sectional view corresponding to the 16�16 perspective sectional form in FIG. 15 and illustrating an ejecting operation of the liquid in the liquid-ejecting head with time together with FIGS. 16 and 18 to 23.
FIG. 18 is a schematic cross-sectional view corresponding to the 16�16 cross-sectional form in FIG. 15 and illustrating an ejecting operation of the liquid in the liquid-ejecting head with time together with FIGS. 16, 17 and 19 to 22.
FIG. 19 is a schematic cross-sectional view corresponding to the 16�16 cross-sectional form in FIG. 15 in the liquid-ejecting head and illustrating an ejecting operation of the liquid in the liquid-ejecting head with time together with FIGS. 16 to 18 and 20 to 23.
FIG. 20 is a schematic cross-sectional view corresponding to the 16�16 cross-sectional form in FIG. 15 and illustrating an ejecting operation of the liquid in the liquid-ejecting head with time together with FIGS. 16 to 19 and 21 to 23.
FIG. 21 is a schematic cross-sectional view corresponding to the 16�16 cross-sectional form in FIG. 15 and illustrating an ejecting operation of the liquid in the liquid-ejecting head with time together with FIGS. 16 to 20, 22 and 23.
FIG. 22 is a schematic cross-sectional view corresponding to the 16�16 cross-sectional form in FIG. 15 and illustrating an ejecting operation of the liquid in the liquid-ejecting head with time together with FIGS. 16 to 21 and 23.
FIG. 23 is a schematic cross-sectional view corresponding to the 16�16 cross-sectional form in FIG. 15 and illustrating an ejecting operation of the liquid in the liquid-ejecting head with time together with FIGS. 16 to 22.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will hereinafter be described in more detail by the preferred embodiments of the invention. In the accompanying drawings, like parts are given the same reference characters.
�COOM, �SO3M, �PO3HM and �PO3M2 wherein M is hydrogen, alkali metal, ammonium or organic ammonium. Among these, carbon black anionically charged by bonding �COOM or �SO3M to the surface thereof can be particularly preferably used in the present invention, since its dispersibility in the inks is good.
Of those represented by �M� in the above-described hydrophilic groups, specific examples of the alkali metal include Li, Na, K, Rb and Cs, and specific examples of the organic ammonium include methylammonium, dimethylammonium, trimethylammonium, ethylammonium, diethylammonium, triethylammonium, methanolammonium, dimethanolammonium and trimethanolammonium.
As a method for preparing anionically charged self-dispersing carbon black, may be mentioned, for example, a process in which carbon black is subjected to an oxidation treatment with sodium hypochlorite. By this process, a �COONa group can be chemically bonded to the surface of carbon black.
Specific examples of the atomic group include linear or branched alkylene groups having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, a substituted or unsubstituted phenylene group, and a substituted or unsubstituted naphthylene group. Examples of substituent groups on the phenylene group and the naphthylene group include linear or branched alkyl groups having 1 to 6 carbon atoms. Specific examples of the combination of the atomic group and the hydrophilic group include �C2H4�COOM, �Ph�SO3M and �Ph�COOM, wherein �Ph� is a phenylene group, and M has the same meaning as defined above.
The wording �content of the monovalent cation� as used herein means an amount of all monovalent cations contained in the ink. More specifically, it means an amount of all cations which are present as cations in the ink and can be detected as cations, for example, a counter ion to the functional group on the surface of the self-dispersing carbon black, a cation added as a pH adjuster, a cation added in the form of a salt, etc. Quantitative analysis methods of the cations in the ink include a combination of ion chromatography and plasma emission spectrometry.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a head 13 taken along the flow path of ink, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2�2 in FIG. 1. The head 13 is formed by bonding a glass, ceramic, silicon or plastic plate or the like having a flow path (nozzle) 14 through which an ink is passed, to a heating substrate 15. The heating substrate 15 is composed of a protective layer 16 made of silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon carbide or the like, electrodes 17 a and 17 b formed of aluminum, gold, aluminum-copper alloy or the like, a heating resistor layer 18 formed of a high-melting material such as HfB2, TaN or TaAl, a heat accumulating layer 19 formed of silicon oxide, aluminum oxide or the like, and a substrate 20 made of silicon, aluminum, aluminum nitride or the like having a good heat radiating property.
Now, upon application of pulsed electric signals to the electrodes 17 a and 17 b of the head 13, the heating substrate 15 rapidly generates heat at the region shown by �n� to form bubbles in an ink 21 which is in contact with this region. A meniscus 23 of the ink is projected by the pressure thus produced, and the ink 21 is ejected in the form of ink droplets 24 from an ejection orifice 22 through the nozzle 14 of the head toward a recording medium 25.
When the motor 1018 is operated to rotate the belt 1016 in a direction shown by an arrow R in FIG. 9, the carriage member 1010 a of the recording part 1010 is moved by the prescribed movement in the direction shown by the arrow S in FIG. 9. When the motor 1018 is operated to rotate the belt 1016 in a direction reverse to the direction shown by the arrow R in FIG. 9, the carriage member 1010 a of the recording part 1010 is moved by the prescribed movement in a direction reverse to the direction shown by the arrow S in FIG. 9. At an end of the driving part 1006 for movement, a recovery unit 1026 for conducting an ejection-recovery treatment for the recording part 1010 is provided in opposed relation to an array of ink-ejection openings of the recording part 1010 at the home position of the carriage member 1010 a. In the recording part 1010, ink-jet cartridges (hereinafter may be referred merely to as �cartridges� in some cases) 1012Y, 1012M, 1012C and 1012B for respective colors, for example, yellow, magenta, cyan and black, are detachably mounted on a carriage member 1010 a. FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary ink-jet cartridge capable of being mounted on the above-described ink-jet recording apparatus. The cartridge 1012 in this embodiment is of a serial type, and its principal part is constructed by an ink-jet recording head 100 and a liquid tank for containing a liquid such as an ink.
In FIG. 11, reference numeral 934 indicates a substrate equipped with electrothermal conversion elements (hereinafter may be referred as �heater� in some cases) 931 and an ink feed opening 933 formed of a long-grooved through-opening as a common liquid chamber. The heaters 931, which are thermal energy-generating means, are arranged in a zigzag form in a row on both sides of the ink feed opening 933 along the longitudinal direction thereof with an interval of, for example, 300 dpi between the electrothermal conversion elements. Walls 936 for ink flow path for forming ink flow paths are provided on the substrate 934. Further, an ejection-opening plate 935 equipped with ejection openings 832 is provided on the walls 936 for ink flow path.
FIGS. 16 to 23 are cross-sectional views; for illustrating the ejecting operation of a liquid by the liquid-ejecting head shown in FIGS. 11 to 15 and are cross-sectional views of the bubbling chamber 1337 shown in FIG. 15 taken along line 16�16. In this section, an end of the ejection opening part 940 in the thickness-wise direction of the orifice plate is the top 1141 a of a groove 1141.
FIG. 16 illustrates a state that a film-like bubble has been formed on the heater, and FIGS. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 illustrate states after about 1 μs from the state in FIG. 16, after about 2 μs from the state in FIG. 16, after about 3 μs from the state in FIG. 16, after about 4 μs from the state in FIG. 16, after about 5 μs from the state in FIG. 16, after about 6 μs from the state in FIG. 16 and after about 7 μs from the state in FIG. 16, respectively. Incidentally, in the following description, �drop� or �drop-in� does not mean drop in the so-called gravity direction, but means the movement in the direction of an electrothermal conversion element irrespective of the installing direction of a head.
In this embodiment, the ejection opening part has a plurality of grooves 1141 in a dispersed state, whereby capillary force acts in an opposite direction FC to the receding direction FM of the meniscus at the portion of the groove 1141 when the meniscus 102 recedes. As a result, the forms of the meniscus and a main droplet (hereinafter may be referred to as �liquid� or �ink� in some cases) 11 a when the meniscus recedes are compensated so as to give substantially symmetrical forms to the center of the ejection opening even if some variation is observed in the state of the bubble 101 by some cause.
The hydrophilic-group density on the surface of the self-dispersing carbon black prepared above was measured in the following manner and was found to be 2.6 μmol/m2. The measurement was conducted by measuring the concentration of a sodium ion by an ion meter (manufactured by DKK) and converting the hydrophilic-group density from this value. The sodium ion was replaced by an ammonium ion using an ion-exchange method, thereby obtaining Pigment Dispersion A in which self-dispersing carbon black with a �Ph�COONH4 group introduced into the surface of carbon black was dispersed.
The hydrophilic-group density on the surface of the self-dispersing carbon black prepared above was measured in the same manner as described above and was found to be 1.6 μmol/m2. The sodium ion was replaced by an ammonium ion using an ion-exchange method, thereby obtaining Pigment Dispersion B in which self-dispersing carbon black with a �Ph�COONH4 group introduced into the surface of carbon black was dispersed.
EXAMPLE 4 The following components were mixed and thoroughly stirred into a solution. The resultant solution was then filtered under pressure through a microfilter (product of Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.) having a pore size of 3.0 μm, thereby preparing an ink according to the present invention.
EXAMPLE 5 The following components were mixed and thoroughly stirred into a solution. The resultant solution was then filtered under pressure through a microfilter (product of Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.) having a pore size of 3.0 μm, thereby preparing an ink according to the present invention.
COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1 The following components were mixed and thoroughly stirred into a solution. The resultant solution was then filtered under pressure through a microfilter (product of Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.) having a pore size of 3.0 μm, thereby preparing an ink according to the present invention.
COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 2 The following components were mixed and thoroughly stirred into a solution. The resultant solution was then filtered under pressure through a microfilter (product of Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.) having a pore size of 3.0 μm, thereby preparing an ink according to the present invention.
COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 3 The following components were mixed and thoroughly stirred into a solution. The resultant solution was then filtered under pressure through a microfilter (product of Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.) having a pore size of 3.0 μm, thereby preparing an ink according to the present invention.
COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 4 The following components were mixed and thoroughly stirred into a solution. The resultant solution was then filtered under pressure through a microfilter (product of Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.) having a pore size of 3.0 μm, thereby preparing an ink according to the present invention.
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