HK1020581B - A liquid pressure pattern-transferring ink, a liquid pressure pattern-transferring film, a liquid pressure pattern-transferred article and a method of transferring a print pattern on an objective body under a liquid pressure - Google Patents

Description

Hydraulic transfer ink, hydraulic transfer film, hydraulic transfer product, and hydraulic transfer method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a hydraulic pattern transfer ink which can be used for transferring or printing a suitable printing pattern such as a wood grain pattern, a marble pattern or other patterns onto a target article such as a curved surface having a three-dimensional surface (i.e., an article to which the printing pattern is to be transferred) by using hydraulic pressure. More particularly, the present invention relates to improvements in hydraulic pattern transfer inks suitable for printing a printed pattern to be transferred onto outdoor target articles such as automobile bodies, fenders, fences, doors, bridges, and the like, which are often exposed to harsh outdoor environments such as sunlight, wind, and rain.

Further, the present invention relates to a transfer film on which a print pattern is printed by a hydraulic pattern transfer ink, a hydraulic transfer article with a predetermined print pattern transferred from the transfer film by hydraulic pressure, and a method of transferring the print pattern onto a target article using the transfer film.

Technical Field

A method of transferring a print pattern on a transfer film floating on a liquid surface onto a target object or an article (i.e., an article to which the print pattern is to be transferred) using hydraulic pressure has been known to print the print pattern onto a target object having a three-dimensional surface such as a curved surface. The liquid used may be water in general, but may be other than water if it does not cause trouble in the hydraulic transfer operation.

This hydraulic transfer method is a method in which a liquid-soluble or liquid-swellable transfer film (a transfer film having a predetermined print pattern without a liquid solution thereon) is floated on a surface of a liquid flowing in a transfer bath and swollen by the liquid, and then, a target object is immersed in the liquid in the transfer bath in a manner facing the transfer film, and the target object is provided with the print pattern transferred from the transfer film by using a hydraulic pressure.

If the transferred print pattern is printed on a target object used in a place that is never exposed to an outdoor environment, such as a building interior or an automobile interior, the printing ink is not so much required to have weather resistance.

Recently, the curved surface printing technique using the hydraulic transfer method has been required to be applied not only to interior products placed inside automobiles but also to exterior products placed outside automobiles, even to exterior building materials used for a long time or to outdoor buildings such as guard rails, doors, bridges, and the like.

If the transferred print pattern is printed on a target object exposed to a severe outdoor environment such as wind and rain, sunlight, etc., the printing ink is required to have weather resistance so that the color of the transferred pattern is neither changed nor faded when exposed to the severe outdoor environment for a long period of time. If articles such as guardrails, doors, bridges, etc., on which a printed pattern is to be transferred by a hydraulic transfer method, have a lifetime of ten years to several decades, the surface of the article to which the printed pattern is transferred by the hydraulic transfer is required to have the same lifetime as the article.

In general, a printing ink for printing a printing pattern on a transfer film used in a hydraulic transfer method includes a resin used as a binder or a vehicle, a plasticizer for adjusting hardness of the resin, a pigment for providing color, and a solvent for dissolving the resin into a liquid. With the gravure printing method, a print pattern for hydraulic transfer is formed by using one or more of yellow, red, blue, white, and black inks (although they are primary colors or mixed colors), and thus various colors appear where the primary colors or mixed colors are superimposed on each other.

The printing inks of the prior art comprise as an essential component an alkyd-containing resin and also a relatively inexpensive, colour-clearing pigment. More specifically, the printing inks of the prior art comprise: a resin component containing 2 to 15% by weight of a short-oil alkyd resin and 3 to 20% by weight of nitrocellulose, a plasticizer containing 2 to 7% by weight of dibutyl phthalate, 5 to 40% by weight of a colour pigment and a residual amount of solvent. Phthalocyanine blue is used as a blue pigment, anatase titanium dioxide powder is used as a white pigment, carbon black is used as a black pigment, permanent red is used as a red pigment, and disazo yellow is used as a yellow pigment.

Such a prior art printing ink is not problematic when used for printing a print pattern on the surface of an indoor target object by a hydraulic transfer method, but it is recognized that if the prior art printing ink is used for printing a print pattern on the surface of an outdoor target object exposed to a harsh outdoor environment such as sunlight, weather for a long period of time, the print pattern transferred on the target object and exposed to the harsh environment on a trial and continuing basis may be discolored or discolored. It is also recognized that under the same test conditions, the transferred pattern may lose its original good condition or may be peeled off from the surface of the target object.

It is presumed that discoloration or fading of the transferred pattern is caused by the properties of the pigment itself in the printing ink, and the applicant conducted a weather resistance test on various metal test pieces coated with printing inks of various colors using a weather resistance tester based on JIS (japanese industrial standards) to determine the weather resistance (weather resistance hours) of the pigment included in the prior art ink. As a result, it was confirmed that phthalocyanine blue as a blue pigment and anatase titanium dioxide as a white pigment neither discolored nor faded even in a period of more than 3000 hours, and carbon black as a black pigment neither discolored nor faded even in a period of more than 5000 hours, but permanent red as a red pigment and disazo yellow as a yellow pigment were discolored or faded respectively in a period of about 1000 to 500 hours. Therefore, it is to be noted that the pattern transferred from the printed pattern (formed by using the ink of the related art) on the transfer film may be discolored or faded due to the poor weather resistance of the pigment.

It is hypothesized that over time, the actual transferred pattern obtained using prior art inks loses its original state of well being due to the reduced functionality of the resin component (which disperses the pigment in the printing ink).

As described previously, the transferred pattern on an outdoor object article (object) such as an automobile exterior article, a building material, a building, or the like is required to have weather resistance corresponding to the service life of the outdoor article from ten years to several decades. This corresponds to a weather resistance of about 5000 hours as measured by a weather resistance test using a solar weather resistance tester based on JIS (Japanese Industrial standards).

However, with the use of the prior art inks, since the red and yellow printing inks have a low weatherability earlier than the lifetime of the article, the overall color of the transferred pattern is unbalanced, and as a result, the color of the transferred pattern on the outdoor target article is liable to change or fade. Further, the transferred pattern is disadvantageously changed from its original good state, so that the appearance of the transferred pattern is deteriorated or the transferred pattern is peeled off from the target product.

Such hydraulic transfer articles are sometimes coated with a primer prior to hydraulically transferring the printed pattern, or coated with a topcoat subsequent thereto. In this case, both the undercoat layer and the overcoat layer are required to have the same weather resistance as the transferred pattern.

Also, buildings such as guard rails or bridges require a decorative coating to be applied thereon. Buildings have much larger surface areas than indoor articles and outdoor articles such as automotive outdoor articles. Therefore, a large amount of paint (varnish) or ink is required as a decorative coating to be applied on the building, which makes the decorative layer not inexpensive to produce.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to efficiently transfer a printed pattern onto an outdoor target object under hydraulic pressure while the transferred pattern printed on the target object has a weather resistance of at least about 5000 hours (hereinafter referred to as a weather resistance of about 5000 hours herein) as measured by a JIS-based solar weatherometer.

Another object of the present invention is to prevent a transferred pattern printed on a target object from deteriorating even after a long time has elapsed, and to prevent the transferred pattern from peeling off from the target object, and therefore, to maintain an original good state of the transferred pattern for a long time.

It is another object of the present invention to apply a decorative layer of higher weatherability to a building such as a guardrail, bridge, etc. by using as little amount of paint or ink as possible.

The present invention provides a hydraulic pattern transfer ink suitable for achieving the above object, a transfer film having a print pattern printed with the hydraulic pattern transfer ink, a hydraulic transfer article having a transfer pattern obtained by using the hydraulic transfer film, and a method of manufacturing the hydraulic transfer article.

Disclosure of the invention

A first feature of the present invention is to provide a hydraulic pattern transfer ink containing a resin component composed of a fluoropolymer and a color pigment which is an inorganic pigment.

A second feature of the present invention is to provide a hydraulic transfer film with a liquid-soluble or liquid-swellable base film and a print pattern printed on the base film by using a hydraulic pattern transfer ink containing a resin component composed of a fluoropolymer and a color pigment which is an inorganic pigment.

A third feature of the present invention is to provide a hydraulically transferred article formed by transferring a print pattern, which is printed with a transfer ink containing a resin component composed of a fluoropolymer and a color pigment that is an inorganic pigment, from a transfer film onto a target object using hydraulic pressure.

A fourth feature of the present invention is to provide a method of transferring a print pattern printed with a transfer ink containing a resin component and a color pigment from a transfer film onto a target object using hydraulic pressure, the resin component being composed of a fluoropolymer, and the color pigment being an inorganic pigment.

A fifth feature of the present invention is to provide a method of transferring a print pattern printed with a transfer ink containing a resin component and a color pigment from a transfer film onto a target object using hydraulic pressure, the resin component being composed of a fluoropolymer, and the color pigment being an inorganic pigment.

In the first to fifth features of the present invention, the fluorine-containing polymer resin may preferably be 1, 1-difluoroethylene, but it may be a vinyl fluoride resin or a fluoroolefin copolymer. The color pigment for the yellow ink may be at least one pigment selected from the group consisting of iron oxide, titanium yellow and lead chromate, the color pigment for the red ink may be at least one pigment selected from the group consisting of iron oxide red, iron oxide and lead molybdate, the color pigment for the blue ink may be at least one pigment selected from the group consisting of iron blue, ultramarine blue and cobalt aluminate, the color pigment for the black ink may be at least one pigment selected from the group consisting of carbon black, iron oxide, and the color pigment for the white ink may be at least one pigment selected from the group consisting of titanium white, lead white and zinc white. The printed pattern may have a design in the form of a collection of dots produced by a gravure printing process using one or more printing inks selected from five color inks while maintaining their original colors or mixing. For example, an outdoor building material or a building may have an integrated design decorative layer obtained by combining a primer layer and a hydraulic transfer layer transferred from a printed pattern, which is sequentially printed on a film by using a single color printing ink. Materials for fences and doors may be examples of construction materials, and guardrails and bridges may be examples of buildings. It should be noted that, in the present specification, the term "monochrome" means that it includes one of a plurality of intermediate colors obtained by mixing a plurality of color inks and each of three primary colors of black, white, and yellow, such as red, blue, and yellow.

In the third to fifth features of the present invention, the resin component for either or both of the undercoat layer (application before transfer of the print pattern to the target object) or the topcoat layer (application after transfer of the print pattern to the target object) is preferably a fluoropolymer resin, and similarly, the resin is usually 1, 1-difluoroethylene.

The fluoropolymer resin used for the resin component of the printing ink never deteriorates even after long-term exposure to a severe environment, while the inorganic color pigment (color pigment of the printing ink) has a weather resistance of more than 5000 hours as measured according to JIS solar weatherometer.

The printed pattern on the pattern transfer film used in the general hydraulic transfer process can be obtained by forming a design drawing in the form of a set of dots on the transfer film by a gravure printing method using one or all of five color printing inks, or a mixed ink obtained by mixing these color printing inks. Since the hydraulic pattern transfer ink contains a resin component of a fluorine-containing resin and an inorganic color pigment of whatever color, the printing ink of all colors has weather resistance of 5000 hours or more. Thus, the resin component is not deteriorated while the color of the transferred pattern layer obtained from a single color printing ink is neither changed nor faded, and the color of the transferred pattern layer of the aggregated dots obtained from a plurality of color printing inks is neither changed nor faded, which is caused by the imbalance in the weather resistance of the printing inks if the discoloration or fading occurs. This enables the transfer pattern layer to have weather resistance of 5000 hours or more.

Since one or both of the top coat layer and the underlying base coat layer applied on the transfer pattern layer include a fluoropolymer resin, they are improved in weather resistance and thus can provide a baked top coat, and in addition, the base coat layer, the transfer pattern layer and the top coat layer are improved in adhesion due to the fluoropolymer resin included in the transfer pattern layer.

Brief description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a hydraulic transfer article of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a top view of another embodiment of a hydraulic transfer article, and FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a method of making a hydraulic transfer article.

Best mode for carrying out the invention

The basic method of transferring a printed pattern under hydraulic pressure by using the hydraulic pattern transfer ink of the present invention is substantially the same as the method of the prior art, as described in us patent 4010057 and 4436571, but the method described in us patent 4436571 will be briefly described later herein.

The transfer film used for the hydraulic pattern transfer method may be manufactured by printing a print pattern such as a wood grain pattern or a marble pattern on a liquid-soluble or liquid-swellable polyvinyl alcohol resin-based film by a gravure printing method or other methods using the printing ink of the present invention. The transfer film is dried and then wound on a roll or made into a laminate film, which is stored as a transfer film supply source.

In the case of transferring a print pattern on a transfer film to a target object, a series of transfer films or each transfer film is taken out from a transfer film supply source before the transfer film is put into a transfer tank and passed through an application device such as a roll coater where the transfer film is treated with an accelerator to apply the accelerator on the transfer pattern.

The accelerator used for the treatment has the effect of restoring the printing ink from the dry state to the swollen state so as to bring the printed pattern into a tacky state as it is immediately after printing. In the case of a target object bearing a primer layer or a primer, the accelerator preferably includes a component which does not rapidly dissolve the primer layer and has an affinity with the primer solvent.

The transfer film having the print pattern treated with the accelerator is placed on the liquid surface in the transfer tank by an appropriate film supply device, with the side holding the print pattern facing upward. The base film of the transfer film is swollen and softened by a liquid (usually water) in the transfer bath. Meanwhile, since the transfer pattern on the transfer film has been treated with the accelerator before reaching the transfer region in the transfer groove, the print pattern on the transfer film is restored to a completely swollen state and can be transferred.

The transfer device is configured to transfer the target object to be partially or fully immersed in the liquid along with the transfer film while engaging the transfer film in the transfer region of the transfer bath. Then, the transfer pattern is transferred and closely attached to the surface of the target object under the hydraulic pressure generated when the target object is immersed in the liquid. Depending on the elongation of the ink, the printed pattern may adhere closely along the curved or complex rough surface of the target object.

The transfer device for transferring the target object lifts the target object having the print pattern attached thereon out of the liquid surface, and then transfers the resultant object having the transferred pattern to the surface treatment room. Hot water is sprayed on the object to which the patterns have been transferred between the surface treatments to wash away the remaining portion of the transfer film base film. Subsequently, hot air is blown onto the object to which the pattern has been transferred between the surface treatment chambers, so that the solvent and the accelerator included in the ink are evaporated. If desired, a topcoat layer may be applied to the object to which the pattern has been transferred.

The target object should be transported in such a posture that no air enters between the target object and the transfer sheet when immersed in the liquid in the transfer tank. The liquid in the transfer tank flows at a given speed so that the transfer film moves into the transfer zone at a given speed, and the target object is immersed in the liquid at a speed corresponding to the transfer film.

As described in the specification of us patent 4010057, a transfer film is used to transfer a print pattern under fluid pressure by feeding the transfer film into a transfer tank after printing of the print pattern and before drying of the pattern. In this case, the transfer film does not need to be treated with an accelerator. As described in the U.S. patent specification, the transfer film is fed to the step of transferring the print pattern after being cut into a predetermined length, but may be fed without being cut in a continuous form. In the latter case, when the pattern-transferred object is taken out from water after the transfer of the print pattern, the transfer film in a swollen state is forcibly cut out from the pattern-transferred object.

The transfer ink of the present invention is basically characterized by containing a resin component composed of a fluoropolymer resin and a color pigment of an inorganic pigment regardless of the color. The transfer ink may include suitable additives such as plasticizers or other auxiliaries, as well as solvents added thereto for dissolving the ink components.

The fluoropolymer resin as the resin component may preferably be 1, 1-difluoroethylene, but may also be a vinyl fluororesin or a fluoroolefin copolymer.

Each color of ink may include the following specific inorganic color pigments described below. The yellow ink contains at least one pigment selected from the group consisting of iron oxide, titanium yellow and lead chromate, the red ink contains at least one pigment selected from the group consisting of iron oxide red, iron oxide and lead molybdate, and the blue ink contains at least one pigment selected from the group consisting of iron blue, ultramarine blue and cobalt aluminate. The black ink contains at least one pigment selected from carbon black and iron oxide, and the white ink contains at least one pigment selected from titanium white, lead white and zinc white. These color pigments may additionally contain metallic powder pigments such as aluminum powder, pearl mica powder, brass, which are added to obtain various decorative effects.

The plasticizer may be dibutyl phthalate, dioctyl phthalate, or other suitable ingredients.

The solvent may be toluene, xylene, ethyl acetate, acetone, etc.

The content of these ink components may be appropriately set in consideration of hardness or softness, hue, color, density, and the like.

The design drawing in the form of a dot set is formed by the gravure printing method using one or all of the five color printing inks (when they are primary colors or mixed colors with each other), and the print pattern on the transfer film is obtained.

For example, in order to form a print pattern transferred onto a target object on a base film by a gravure printing method, although inks of at least three primary colors of blue, yellow and red, or inks prepared by blending them with each other, are generally used, a black ink may be additionally used for the print pattern to express original black that cannot appear with the three primary colors, and a white ink may also be used to express white that cannot appear with a mixture of the three primary colors.

As described previously, an outdoor article prepared for long-term use and exposed to a severe outdoor environment cannot obtain weather resistance corresponding to its service life unless all printing inks prepared for printing a print pattern have a predetermined weather resistance because otherwise the transfer pattern would be unbalanced in hue.

It is understood that since all the printing inks containing the above-mentioned chromatic color pigments have weather resistance of 5000 hours or more as measured by a sun weatherometer based on JIS, the printed patterns printed and transferred from these inks onto the target object have weather resistance of ten years to several decades in both cases of single color and optional color mixing.

Certain examples of samples obtained using the hydraulic pattern transfer ink of the present invention will be described below. In these examples, samples of each color were separately formed with a transfer layer obtained by transferring an ink layer on a transfer film, which is obtained by sequentially applying one of three primary colors, white and black, on a base film, onto an aluminum test sheet under the pressure of water.

Table 1 shows the specific ratios of the printing ink components used to obtain the inventive example samples, while table 2 shows the specific ratios of the printing ink components used to obtain the prior art samples. The inorganic pigments in table 1 are selected from the specific inorganic pigments described above for each color. The organic or inorganic pigments in table 2 are: disazo yellow pigments for yellow pigments, permanent red for red pigments and phthalocyanine blue for blue pigments, all of which are organic pigments, and anatase titanium white for white pigments and carbon black for black pigments, all of which are inorganic pigments.

TABLE 1

Ink composition	By weight%
		1, 1-difluoroethylene (resin component)	5-20
Inorganic pigments (all colors)	12-40
		Dioctyl phthalate (plasticizer)	4-7
Toluene (solvent)	Balance of

TABLE 2

Ink composition	By weight%
		Resin component	-
Short oil alkyd resins	2-15
		Nitrocellulose	3-20
Organic and inorganic pigments	5-40
		Dioctyl phthalate (plasticizer)	2-7
Toluene (solvent)	Balance of

Weather resistance tests were carried out on these samples using a solar weather resistance tester based on JIS. Weathering tests were performed by comparing two samples, either visually or by color difference, and determining when the samples had discolored or faded. One sample is a test sample that is continuously irradiated with light from a xenon lamp for one cycle every 25 minutes and sprayed with water for the first 5 minutes of 25 minutes of one cycle, and the test procedure is repeated a plurality of times. Another sample was a non-test sample with a transfer layer, which was obtained by transferring a pattern of the same color as the above sample under the pressure of water, but without performing a weather resistance test. As a result, it was confirmed that the samples according to the examples of the present invention neither discolored nor faded, and no transfer ink layer was peeled off from the test piece, but in the samples according to the prior art, the yellow transfer layer started to discolor and fade in about 500 hours, and the red transfer layer started to discolor and fade in about 1000 hours, and they were observed that the transfer ink layer was peeled off from the test piece.

Therefore, it is considered that, even after exposure to a severe outdoor environment for ten years to several decades, the transfer pattern layer of the hydraulic transfer article produced by using the transfer ink of the present invention will neither change or fade nor will the transfer pattern layer peel off from the target object, regardless of whether they are in the form of a single color dot aggregate or a multi-color dot aggregate.

One embodiment of a transfer article of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. The transfer product 10 may be a metal product made of aluminum, stainless steel, or the like, an inorganic product made of ceramic, or the like, or a plastic product made of various plastics, but in the illustrated embodiment, the product is an outdoor construction material such as a door, or the like. The primer layer 16 is disposed under the transfer pattern layer 14, and the topcoat layer 18 is disposed on the outer surface of the transfer pattern layer 14. Primer layer 16 may be applied over primer layer 20 on surface 12a of object 12 of hydraulic transfer article 10.

As described above, by the above-described hydraulic transfer method, the transfer pattern layer 14 is formed by transferring the print pattern on the transfer film having the print pattern printed using the transfer ink or the single color or multi-color ink including the fluoropolymer resin and the inorganic pigment. The printed pattern on the transfer film is sent to a hydraulic transfer step while being activated by a predetermined accelerator.

Where the base coat 16 and top coat 18 are applied to an article, these coatings may preferably be formed by applying a paint comprising a resin component of a fluoropolymer resin. To obtain a hard surface, the basecoat and/or topcoat may be formed by baking at a baking temperature of 220 ℃ or higher. The fluoropolymer resin may be 1, 1-difluoroethylene as a preferred example, but may also be a vinyl fluororesin or a fluoroolefin copolymer, which are the same as the resin component of the ink.

Since paints for the base coat layer and the top coat layer, which are used in combination with the transferred pattern of the transferred article having a predetermined weather resistance, include resin components of fluoropolymer resins, these coatings can be obtained by baking to obtain a hard and good coating surface. In addition, since the transferred pattern between the coatings is provided with the ink layer including the fluoropolymer resin in the same manner, the three coatings can have high adhesiveness therebetween. Therefore, it can be noted that the properties of the article to which the pattern has been transferred are greatly improved together with the weather resistance of the fluoropolymer resin itself. As described above, since the transferred pattern has a weather resistance of 5000 hours or more as measured by JIS daylight weather tester, the life span of the pattern transferred article thus obtained can be maintained for decades to several decades.

Another embodiment of the transfer article and the hydraulic transfer method will be described below with reference to fig. 2 and 3. Unlike the method of manufacturing the hydraulic transfer article of the above-described embodiment, a transfer film having a transfer pattern printed by using a single color transfer ink is used in the present embodiment, and the transfer process is performed by transferring the transfer film to a transfer step before drying in the same manner as described in the specification of U.S. patent 4010057.

Fig. 2 shows a guard rail 30 as an example of a hydraulic transfer product having a monochrome transfer pattern. The guard rail 30 is provided with a brown base coat layer 34 coated on the surface of a guard rail object made of metal such as steel to provide a base color on the guard rail, and a black wood grain transfer layer 36 coated on the base coat layer 34 by the hydraulic transfer method of the present invention. If desired, the clear top coat may be applied over the basecoat 34 and the wood grain transfer layer 36.

The wood grain pattern transfer layer 36 may be transferred by means of a hydraulic transfer method using a hydraulic pattern transfer ink as previously described and will be described below with reference to FIG. 3.

The primer layer 34 and the top coat layer may be preferably formed in the same manner as described with reference to fig. 1 by using a paint including a resin component of a fluoropolymer resin (e.g., 1-difluoroethylene).

In this manner, a brown base coat layer 34 is applied to the surface of the guardrail 30 to create a background color thereon, a hydraulic transfer layer 36 having only a single black wood grain pattern is transferred to the base coat layer 34, and the combination of the base coat layer 34 and the hydraulic transfer layer 36 provides the guardrail 30 with a decorative design coating that looks like a real wood grain pattern when viewed from a distance. This makes the amount of transfer ink for the transfer layer 36 significantly less than in the case where the wood grain pattern is completely transferred to the surface of the barrier object 32, thereby making it possible to inexpensively provide the barrier with a container pattern.

When such barriers are placed along roads, rivers, etc. in, for example, mountainous, suburban or urban areas, these barriers are both aesthetically pleasing and economical because they look like wooden barriers are placed. The guard rail 30 also has a long life span due to the high weather resistance of the primer layer 34 and the hydraulic transfer layer 36.

Although in the embodiment of fig. 2, the hydraulic transfer article is a guardrail, it may be an outdoor construction material such as a fence, a door, or the like, or a building such as a bridge, or the like.

In the illustrated embodiment, although the wood grain pattern is printed with black ink, the pattern may also be printed with black and brown ink prepared by appropriately mixing various color inks.

A method of transferring the hydraulic transfer layer 36 onto the guard rail 30 of fig. 2 using the transfer device 40 of fig. 3 will now be described. Transfer device 40 includes a pattern printing section 44 that prints a wood grain pattern onto the base film of transfer film 42, and a hydraulic transfer section 46 that transfers the wood grain pattern onto railing 30 to form hydraulic transfer layer 36, wherein transfer film 42 is transferred to railing 30 before the ink of the wood grain pattern on transfer film 42 is dried.

The pattern printing portion 44 may include a pulley roller 48 for creating a wood grain pattern appearance obtained by a photolithography process, and a printing roller 50 made of polyurethane engaged with the pulley roller 48 for transferring the wood grain pattern from the pulley roller 48 to the printing roller 50. The hydraulic pattern transfer ink is supplied to the pulley roller 48 from ink rollers 52 and 54 for supplying the ink. The wood grain pattern transferred from the pulley roller 48 is printed on the base film 42A of the transfer film 42 by passing the base film 42A between the printing roller 50 and the pressing roller 56. Thus, it will be appreciated that the pattern printing portion 44 is an offset printing system, but may also be a gravure printing system. The ink used to print the wood grain pattern is a black ink including a fluorine-containing resin component and an inorganic pigment, as described with reference to fig. 2, and more specifically, the ink may be, for example, a black ink having a black inorganic pigment of a 1, 1-difluoroethylene resin component and carbon black. In the case of wood grain patterns printed with black-brown inks, the printing inks can be obtained, for example, by mixing red, yellow and black inks in suitable proportions. It should be noted that these color inks should be inks including a fluorine-containing resin such as 1, 1-difluoroethylene and the like and a specific inorganic color pigment.

In the illustrated embodiment, the hydraulic transfer section 46 is represented as a conveyor type in which a plurality of guard rails 30 are sequentially fed into the transfer zone. This can be effectively utilized also in the case where the guard rail 30 is relatively short. In the case where the pattern is to be transferred to the relatively long guard rails 30 under hydraulic pressure, it is preferable to employ a transfer process of a batch processing system in which each guard rail 30 is immersed in a transfer tank filled with static water in a gradually inclined manner from one end to the other end.

The conveyor-type hydraulic transfer section 46 includes a transfer tank 58 through which water is supplied, and a target object conveyor 60 that sequentially supplies the object sections 32 of the steel guard rails 30 to the transfer tank 58. Similarly, a brown paint containing a resin component of a fluoropolymer resin is used to pre-coat the surface of the barrier object 32 with a base coat, as described with reference to fig. 2.

As shown in fig. 3, the hydraulic transfer film formed by printing the wood grain pattern in the pattern printing portion 44 is transferred to the water surface in the transfer tank 58 with the wood grain pattern facing upward after pattern printing and transferred to the transfer zone 62 in the transfer tank 58 before drying. Transfer sheet 42 is moved by a suitable means such as flowing water in a transfer tank. Since the ink layer of transfer film 42 is in a swollen state, the transfer film can be continuously fed to the transfer step without the need for accelerator treatment.

Base film 42A is swollen with water as transfer film 42 is fed to water surface 64, but since the woodgrain pattern ink layer on the base film is insoluble in water, the transfer film is fed to the transfer zone while the transfer film is slightly elongated in the machine and cross directions as base film 42A swells.

As shown in fig. 3, target object conveyor 60 is used to sequentially immerse guardrail objects 30, pre-coated with a brown primer, in water in transfer area 62 within transfer tank 58 while transfer film 42 is positioned beneath the surface of guardrail object 32, and then pull guardrail objects 30 out of the water. The wood grain pattern ink layer on the transfer film 42 is closely attached to the surface of the barrier object 32 by using the water pressure generated when the barrier object is immersed in water, so that the wood grain pattern is transferred to the surface of the barrier object 32, forming the transfer pattern layer 14 (see fig. 1). If desired, the portion of the base film remaining on the barrier object 30 can be removed from the barrier object 30 having the wood grain pattern transferred thereto and pulled out of the water by any suitable stripping means, and then a topcoat can be applied. Thus, the steel guard rail 30 coated with the wood grain pattern shown in fig. 2 and having good weather resistance can be manufactured.

In this method, after the printing step of printing a print pattern (wood grain pattern) on transfer film 42, the print pattern is transferred onto the barrier object. Such a tandem operation system is advantageous in the case of printing a single-layer printing pattern (wood grain pattern) onto a transfer film. Of course, a tandem operation system may be used in the case of printing a multi-color or multi-layer print pattern onto a transfer film, but since multi-color printing and multi-layer printing are somewhat more difficult than single-layer printing, in the case of a transfer film using a print pattern obtained by multi-color printing or multi-layer printing, it is preferable to use a system in which a print pattern step and a transfer print pattern step are separately performed, as described in the specification of U.S. patent 4436571.

Industrial applicability

In this way, the present invention is suitably applied to printing a pattern on the surface of an outdoor article or an outdoor building by a hydraulic transfer method, which is a building material such as a guardrail, a door, and the like and a building such as a bridge, and which can be exposed to a severe environment for decades to several decades.

Further, the present invention is suitable for providing a hydraulic transfer article having a transfer pattern, the article having an undercoat layer on an object and, if necessary, a topcoat layer, the transfer pattern on the article having weather resistance which maintains the service life of the article itself. Since the transfer pattern layer and the undercoat layer and/or topcoat layer adhere closely to each other, the article can be applied to outdoor articles or similar outdoor buildings.

Since the present invention applies a transfer layer such as a wood grain pattern to a large outdoor building by combining a base coat having weather resistance with a transfer pattern of a printing ink having weather resistance for decades to decades, the wood-like building can be inexpensively manufactured while the amount of expensive ink is reduced as much as possible.

Claims (18)

1. An ink set of hydraulic transfer inks includes at least a blue ink, a yellow ink and a red ink, and each ink is characterized by containing a resin component composed of at least one of a 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer, a vinyl fluororesin and a fluoroolefin copolymer, and a color pigment which is at least one pigment selected from iron oxide, titanium yellow and lead chromate for the yellow ink, which is at least one pigment selected from iron oxide red, iron oxide other than iron oxide red and lead molybdate for the red ink, which is at least one pigment selected from iron blue, ultramarine blue and cobalt aluminate for the blue ink.

2. The ink set of hydraulic transfer inks according to claim 1, further comprising one or both of a white ink and a black ink, wherein the color pigment is at least one pigment selected from carbon black and iron oxide for the black ink, and the color pigment is at least one pigment selected from titanium white, lead white and zinc white for the white ink.

3. An ink set of hydraulic transfer inks according to claim 2 in which the fluoropolymer is a 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer.

4. A hydraulic transfer film having a liquid-soluble or liquid-swellable base film and a print pattern printed on the base film, the print pattern being obtained by printing with one or more printing inks of a blue ink, a yellow ink, a red ink, a black ink and a white ink, or with one or more inks prepared by mixing the printing inks, each ink being characterized by containing a resin component composed of at least one of 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer, vinyl fluororesin and fluoroolefin copolymer, and a color pigment which is at least one pigment selected from iron oxide, titanium yellow and lead chromate for the yellow ink, and which is at least one pigment selected from iron oxide red, iron oxide other than iron oxide red and lead molybdate for the red ink, the color pigment is at least one pigment selected from iron blue, ultramarine blue and cobalt aluminate for the blue ink, the color pigment is at least one pigment selected from carbon black and iron oxide for the black ink, and the color pigment is at least one pigment selected from titanium white, lead white and zinc white for the white ink.

5. The hydraulic transfer film according to claim 4, wherein the fluoropolymer is a 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer.

6. A liquid pressure transfer printed matter formed by liquid pressure transferring a print pattern from a transfer film onto a target object by using one or more printing inks of a blue ink, a yellow ink, a red ink, a black ink and a white ink, or one or more inks prepared by mixing the printing inks, each ink being characterized by containing a resin component composed of at least one of 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer, vinyl fluororesin and fluoroolefin copolymer, and a color pigment which is at least one pigment selected from iron oxide, titanium yellow and lead chromate for the yellow ink, which is at least one pigment selected from iron oxide red, iron oxide other than iron oxide red, and lead molybdate for the red ink, which is at least one pigment selected from iron blue, iron oxide other than iron oxide red, lead molybdate, and which is at least one pigment selected from iron blue, iron oxide other than iron oxide red, lead molybdate, Ultramarine blue and cobalt aluminate, the color pigment being at least one pigment selected from carbon black and iron oxide for the black ink, the color pigment being at least one pigment selected from titanium white, lead white and zinc white for the white ink.

7. The hydraulic transfer article according to claim 6, wherein the fluoropolymer is a 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer.

8. The hydraulic transfer article according to claim 6, wherein said target object is provided with one or both of a primer layer disposed below said hydraulic transfer film layer and a topcoat layer disposed above said hydraulic transfer film layer, said primer layer and said topcoat layer being formed with a coating material containing a resin component of a fluoropolymer resin.

9. The hydraulic transfer article according to claim 8, wherein the fluoropolymer is a 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer.

10. A hydraulic pressure changes printed matter which characterized in that: the article having a primer layer provided on a surface of a target object, and a hydraulic transfer layer formed by transferring a print pattern from a transfer film onto the primer layer by hydraulic pressure, the primer layer being formed with a paint containing a resin component of a fluorine-containing polymer to give a ground color to the target object, the hydraulic transfer layer having a single color pattern formed with a hydraulic transfer ink containing a resin component of at least one selected from the group consisting of 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer, a vinyl fluororesin and a fluoroolefin copolymer and an inorganic pigment to produce a predetermined decorative surface in combination with the ground color, the color pigment being at least one pigment selected from the group consisting of iron oxide, titanium yellow and lead chromate for the yellow ink, the color pigment being at least one pigment selected from the group consisting of iron oxide red, iron oxide other than iron oxide red and lead molybdate for the red ink, the color pigment is at least one pigment selected from iron blue, ultramarine blue and cobalt aluminate for the blue ink, the color pigment is at least one pigment selected from carbon black and iron oxide for the black ink, and the color pigment is at least one pigment selected from titanium white, lead white and zinc white for the white ink.

11. The hydraulic transfer article of claim 10, wherein the target object is a guardrail, a door, or a bridge.

12. The hydraulic transfer article according to claim 10, wherein the fluoropolymer is a 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer.

13. A method for transferring a print pattern, which is formed by printing using one or more printing inks of a blue ink, a yellow ink, a red ink, a black ink and a white ink, or one or more inks prepared by mixing the printing inks, from a transfer film to a target object using hydraulic pressure, each ink being characterized by containing a resin component composed of at least one of a 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer, a vinyl fluororesin and a fluoroolefin copolymer, and a color pigment, which is at least one pigment selected from iron oxide, titanium yellow and lead chromate, for the yellow ink, and which is at least one pigment selected from iron oxide red, iron oxide other than iron oxide red, and lead molybdate, for the red ink, and which is at least one pigment selected from iron blue, iron oxide other than iron oxide red, lead molybdate, for the blue ink, Ultramarine blue and cobalt aluminate pigments, the color pigment being at least one pigment selected from carbon black and iron oxide for the black ink, the color pigment being at least one pigment selected from titanium white, lead white and zinc white for the white ink, and the dried print pattern on the transfer film is transferred under the hydraulic pressure after being activated by treatment with an accelerator.

14. The method of hydraulically transferring a print pattern from a transfer film to a target object according to claim 13, wherein the fluoropolymer is a 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer.

15. A method for transferring a print pattern, which is formed by printing using one or more printing inks of a blue ink, a yellow ink, a red ink, a black ink and a white ink, or one or more inks prepared by mixing the printing inks, from a transfer film to a target object using hydraulic pressure, each ink being characterized by containing a resin component composed of at least one of a 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer, a vinyl fluororesin and a fluoroolefin copolymer, and a color pigment, which is at least one pigment selected from iron oxide, titanium yellow and lead chromate, for the yellow ink, and which is at least one pigment selected from iron oxide red, iron oxide other than iron oxide red, and lead molybdate, for the red ink, and which is at least one pigment selected from iron blue, iron oxide other than iron oxide red, lead molybdate, for the blue ink, Ultramarine blue and cobalt aluminate pigments, the color pigment being at least one pigment selected from carbon black and iron oxide for the black ink, and the color pigment being at least one pigment selected from titanium white, lead white and zinc white for the white ink, the printed pattern on the transfer film being transferred under the hydraulic pressure before the printed pattern is dried.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein said fluoropolymer is a 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer.

17. A method of transferring a printed pattern onto a target object, the method comprising the steps of: forming a primer layer on the target object with a paint containing a resin component of a fluoropolymer resin to produce a ground color on the target object; a hydraulic pattern transfer layer forming a monochrome color pattern by transferring a print pattern of the monochrome color pattern from a transfer film onto a base coat layer by using hydraulic pressure, the transfer layer being combined with the base color to provide a predetermined decorative surface to the target object, the print pattern being constituted of a hydraulic transfer ink containing a resin component selected from at least one of 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer, vinyl fluororesin and fluoroolefin copolymer and an inorganic pigment, the color pigment being at least one pigment selected from iron oxide, titanium yellow and lead chromate for the yellow ink, the color pigment being at least one pigment selected from iron oxide red, iron oxide other than iron oxide red and lead molybdate for the red ink, the color pigment being at least one pigment selected from iron blue, ultramarine blue and cobalt aluminate for the blue ink, the color pigment is at least one pigment selected from carbon black and iron oxide for the black ink, and the color pigment is at least one pigment selected from titanium white, lead white and zinc white for the white ink.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein said fluoropolymer is a 1, 1-difluoroethylene polymer.