HK1112882B - Pre-treatment and/or pre-coating of non-adsorbent substrates and/or non-adsorbent support materials - Google Patents

Description

Pretreatment and/or precoating of non-absorbent substrates and/or non-absorbent carrier materials

Technical Field

The invention relates to a nonabsorbable substrate and/or nonabsorbable support material, in particular for the pretreatment and/or precoating of plastics, metals or glass, for ink-jet printing or ink-jet printing of water-based inks with pretreatment solutions and/or coating solutions.

Background

Nowadays, the water-based printing inks actually made for ink printing or inkjet printing are low viscosity printing inks. Its leveling is controlled by the properties of the substrate or carrier material. However, it often has the disadvantage that, when changing the substrate and carrier material, when changing the printing speed and when changing the ink composition, the printing ink or the ink leveling or flow properties change differently, respectively, and the printed text becomes blurred or the adhesion is not sufficiently strong and the lettering or printing becomes blurred due to the change in the flow conditions. Conventional ink-jet printing is a non-contact data printing in which the printing ink can be divided into individual volume elements or drops and applied as a function of time and position to any desired substrate or carrier material.

Inkjet printing, especially Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) printing, also includes discontinuous, thermally or piezoelectrically activated ink printing (drop on demand DoD) and electronically controlled spray techniques such as air brushing.

In inkjet printing, printing inks of different colors are printed in parallel on a plane according to a color order system, and the plane determines the resolution of the printed matter. The leveling effect achieved by the ink printed on the substrate or carrier material is a function of the interfacial tension formed between the applied ink and the carrier material and of the support structure or substrate itself. The flow of the printing ink was evaluated as the leveling rate as a film formation step.

The leveling of the ink or printing ink also determines the coverage and ink distribution such that the ink wets the substrate and carrier material as completely as possible with a large coverage and is distributed as uniformly as possible with an even ink distribution to achieve a given ink distribution without intermixing and mixing, which is not expected to be achieved.

In order to achieve good print quality, low viscosity inks for ink jet printing, where film formation is determined by solvent evaporation time, require control of influencing parameters that determine ink leveling, such as interfacial tension and flow. However, this control has not been adequately addressed.

Traditionally, with appropriate interfacial tension, print quality can be controlled by chemical pre-treatment (cleaning, acid washing, chromic acid treatment, phosphoric acid treatment, paint removal, fluoro-gasification), physical pre-treatment (flame coating, corona discharge, plasma treatment) or permanent coating or pre-coating, which ensures wet interfacial tension providing large coverage and equal ink distribution. Although conventional methods of controlling interfacial tension are not generally applicable, they can be applied to a given advanced substrate.

On the other hand, in the case of a suitable leveling state, the printability quality is conventionally used as a film-forming step by accelerating the reduction of the fluidity of the applied low-viscosity printing ink physico-chemically (by means of heating, convection drying) or photophysically (by uv-baking) in order to prevent the inks from intermixing and mixing and thus to obtain a given ink distribution. This is typically associated with viable technical support.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is to provide a commonly applicable pretreatment or precoating on nonabsorbable substrates or carrier materials such as plastics, metals and glass, which ensures wetting of the interfacial tension in the case of large coverage and equal ink distribution, if desired, and to provide a plurality of inks which, when applied to those pretreatment or precoating, prevent the coated volume elements from intermixing and mixing, thus achieving a given ink distribution. By these pretreatments or precoatings, the fluidity of the ink, the film forming step, the pigment fluidity and, if desired, the interfacial tension can be precisely controlled and completely achieved without a viable technical support.

The object of the invention is achieved by the features of the clauses of the patent claim 1 and the claims appended hereto.

A particular advantage of the present invention is that a temporary or permanent pre-coat, in particular a coating, is applied to the nonabsorbable substrate or carrier material prior to application of the ink, which is suitable to substantially reduce the flow of the applied ink, for example by flocculation or agglomeration and/or curing or polymerisation of the applied ink.

In addition, the color-distributing colorants in the ink should be permanently fixed to the coating liquid or to the support material or substrate.

It is a particular advantage of the present invention to select a coating solution comprising at least one initiator and, if desired, at least one surfactant. Preferably, the initiator is a monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric acid or a polyvalent metal salt such as calcium dichloride or calcium hydroxide.

Preferably, the surfactant is a monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric surfactant or a hydrocolloid. Emulsifiers, wetting agents and dispersants can be used as the surfactants.

In particular, above the pKa value of the coating or of the initiator, the flow behaviour of the ink applied to the pretreated substrate and/or coating solution is controlled if, for example, acrylates, in particular polyacrylates and/or polymethacrylates, whose solubility depends on the ph value, are added to the ink. In addition to controlling the fluidity of the coating ink, the acidic effect of the initiator can be used to effect curing, in particular subsequent thermal curing, by which the coating ink can be cross-linked. Amino resins with co-binders that encase low molecular (weight) co-binders actually work on cross-link reactions.

In this case, precise control of the state of the ink's leveling can be achieved. Under the influence of the acid, the coating ink thickens immediately.

Therefore, the flow state of the coating ink and the film-forming curing are controlled according to the pKa value of the initiator.

Drawings

Further advantages, features and details of the invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the figures and examples,

wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a concept according to the present invention for ink-or ink-jet printing of a pre-coating on a substrate and/or carrier material;

fig. 2 shows a side view of a concept according to another embodiment of the invention for providing a layer of coating liquid on a substrate and/or carrier material, on which printing is effected by means of ink printing or inkjet printing.

Detailed Description

According to FIG. 1, the invention has a substrate 1 and/or support material 2 with a layer of coating fluid 3, said coating fluid 3 being applicable by any application method according to the invention with said substrate 1 and/or said support material 2.

According to the invention, the coating liquid 3 is applied by ink printing or ink-jet printing to influence the flow state and the curing state of the water-based ink 4.

The ink 4 is applied to the coating 3 or the substrate 1 and/or the support material 2 in a conventional manner, in the form of an ink printer or ink jet printer.

Any non-absorbable material, such as plastic, metal, composite, foil, glass or the like, may be used as the substrate 1 and/or the carrier material 2.

Furthermore, the coating liquid 3 is applied to the surface of the substrate 1 and/or the support material 2 by a non-atomizing coating method such as dip coating, roll coating, casting, flooding or printing. However, other coating liquid methods, such as spraying or liquid atomization coating, compressed gas spraying, vacuum or high pressure spraying, electrostatic spraying, or powder coating methods, may be used to bond the coating liquid 3 to the support material 2.

Within the scope of the invention, the ink 4 is applied to the coating liquid 3 in a time-dependent or time-dependent manner before the ink-printed or ink-jet-printed ink is applied (in-line) to the substrate 1 and/or the support material 2. It is also within the scope of the invention that the ink 4 applied to the substrate 1 and/or the support material 2 may be applied to the coating liquid 3 separately over time. The ink 4 applied to the coating liquid 3 or the substrate 1 may be optionally heat-treated by a heater 5.

A particular advantage of the present invention is that the coating 3 is made or formed from at least one initiator and at least one surface-active substance. This is to generate or chemically cause a sufficiently rapid reduction or reduction in the flowability of the ink 4 applied to the coating liquid 3 and/or the substrate 1 or the support material 2 in the case of a given ink distribution. The coating liquid 3 containing the initiator and the surface active substance is completely or partially volatilized or dissolved in the applied printing ink. The ink 4 is combined with a coating liquid 3 applied to the substrate 1 or the support material 2.

A particular advantage of the present invention is the use of a monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric surfactant, preferably an anionic, cationic, amphoteric or microsurfactant, such as a surfactant of one of the components of coating 3. Hydrocolloids may also be used as surface active substances.

The surfactant is emulsifier, wetting agent and dispersant. The hydrocolloid is also a dispersant.

The main component of the present invention is an initiator, which is an acid, specifically, a monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric acid. Preferably, the initiator is a mono-or multifunctional carboxylic acid having a pKa value between-6 and 15. Preferably, the initiator is kept acidic, so that the solubility of at least one component of the ink 4 applied to the substrate 1 or the support material 2, in particular to the coating 3, is reduced. Said coating fluid 3 or said acidic initiator being capable of flocculating the polymeric or colour-distributing components or of agglomerating the pigments, and thus of curing the ink 4 applied to said substrate 1.

In addition, the initiator at least partially or completely polymerizes the ink 4 applied to the coating liquid 3 or to the substrate 1 or to the support material 2.

On the other hand, it is a particular advantage of the invention that, in addition to the volatile constituents, the ink 4 used has an at least partially polymerizable composition. According to the invention, this ink 4 has a composition comprising a coating liquid which gives the best control effect to the leveling state or the flow state.

By using the initiator of the coating liquid 3, the leveling state of the ink 4 can be appropriately controlled.

To this end, it is a particular advantage of the invention to use an ink 4, the components of which preferably comprise acrylates of polyacrylates and/or polymethacrylates. The amount of the acrylic ester, specifically, polyacrylate and/or polymethacrylate, as a constituent element of the water ink 4 may be up to 15% by weight thereof. In principle, all such polymers whose solubility is ph are suitable for use in the present description.

In addition, the acidic initiator as a component of the coating liquid 3 can function as a curing accelerator.

A preferred composition of water polymerizable ink 4 comprises:

10-98.9% by weight of a solvent;

0.1 to 50% by weight of an amino resin, in particular a melamine formaldehyde resin;

a co-binder comprising a low molecular weight co-binder such as a di-, tri-, oligo-or multifunctional alcohol, including and/or a glycol or glycol ether, 0-25% by weight;

a surfactant such as a monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric surface active material, in an amount of from 0 to 25% by weight;

a biocide such as a bactericide or fungicide, 0-5% by weight;

0-5% by weight of a ph stabilizer;

0.1 to 15% by weight of an acrylate, in particular a polyacrylate and/or a polymethacrylate;

a dispersant, 0-10% (by weight)

A humectant 0-20 wt%

The colorant, specifically, a colored pigment, is 1 to 10% by weight.

This composition of the preferred ink 4 has a particularly good effect on the coating liquid, which is produced by a pretreatment of the solvent 3 with the following composition:

a solvent, specifically water, in an amount of 80 to 100% by weight;

1-50% by weight of an initiator such as an inorganic and/or organic acid, in particular, for example, a monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric acid, in particular, a mono-or polyfunctional carboxylic acid;

a surfactant such as a monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric surfactant, in particular an anionic, cationic, amphoteric or nonionic surfactant, in an amount of from 0 to 25% by weight.

The amino resin in the ink 4, specifically melamine formaldehyde resin, is polymerized by an acid initiator, and the ink 4 is bonded with the coating liquid 3 or the substrate 1 and/or the carrier material 2, optionally, the thermal acceleration, controllable leveling state and the rapid reduction of the fluidity of the ink 4 are also provided. For this reason, printed text or prints printed with the ink 4 on any desired substrate 1 or support material 2 are achieved by the coating liquid 3, in particular pre-coated, with very high stability, strong adhesive capacity, high resistance and little discoloration.

Dr.Peter Weiss.DIPL.-ING.A.BRECHT&

DIPL.-FORSTW.PETRA ARAT

Patent agency

European patent agency

File reference: P3280/PCT date: 1/20 days B/HU 2006

Reference number table

1	Substrate	34		67
						2	Carrier material	35		68
3	Pretreatment solution and/or coating solution	36		69
						4		37		70
5		38		71
						6		39		72
7		40		73
						8		41		74
9		42		75
						10		43		76
11		44		77
						12		45		78
13		46		79
						14		47
15		48
						16		49
17		50
						18		51
19		52
						20		53
21		54
						22		55
23		56
						24		57
25		58
						26		59
27		60
						28		61

29		62
						30		63
31		64
						32		65
33		66

Claims (48)

1. A pre-treatment of a nonabsorbent substrate (1) for ink printing with a water-based ink (4) with a pre-treatment solution (3),

at least one initiator is added to said substrate (1) by means of a pre-treatment solution (3), said initiator giving a defined ink distribution by rapidly reducing the fluidity of said ink (4) physically or chemically by reducing the solubility of at least one component of said ink, so as to prevent the inks from intermixing.

2. The pretreatment according to claim 1, characterized in that the pretreatment solution (3) consisting of at least one initiator is applied to the surface of the substrate (1) by a non-atomizing coating method selected from dip coating, roll coating, casting, flooding or printing, or by a spraying method or a powder coating method.

3. The pretreatment according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a pretreatment solution (3) consisting of at least one initiator is applied in a time-dependent or space-dependent manner before the ink (4) is applied to the substrate (1).

4. The pretreatment according to claim 1, wherein said pretreatment is a pre-coating, said pretreatment solution (3) is a coating solution, said ink printing is an inkjet printing, and said non-absorbent substrate (1) is a non-absorbent support material (2).

5. The pretreatment according to claim 4, wherein the non-absorbed carrier material (2) is plastic, metal or glass.

6. The pretreatment according to claim 4, wherein the ink (4) applied to the coated substrate (1) is combined with the substrate (1) and a coating solution which is soluble in the applied ink (4).

7. The pretreatment of claim 4, wherein said coating solution is comprised of at least one initiator.

8. The pretreatment of claim 4, wherein said coating solution is completely or partially volatile.

9. The pretreatment of claim 4, wherein said coating solution comprises a surface active material which is a monomeric or polymeric surfactant.

10. The pretreatment of claim 4, wherein said coating solution comprises a surface active material which is a hydrocolloid.

11. The pretreatment according to claim 9 or 10, wherein an anionic surfactant, a cationic surfactant, an amphoteric surfactant or a nonionic surfactant is used as the surfactant.

12. The pretreatment of claim 9 or 10, wherein an emulsifier, a wetting agent, and a dispersing agent are used as the surfactant.

13. The pretreatment of claim 1, wherein a polyvalent metal salt selected from the group consisting of calcium dichloride and calcium hydroxide is used as said initiator.

14. The pretreatment according to claim 1, wherein a monomeric, oligomeric or polymeric acid is used as an initiator for the pretreatment solution (3).

15. The pretreatment of claim 14, wherein said initiator has a pKa value between-6 and 15.

16. The pretreatment of claim 14, wherein a mono-or multifunctional carboxylic acid is used as said initiator.

17. The pretreatment according to claim 4, wherein said coating solution reduces the solubility of at least one component of said ink (4).

18. The pre-treatment according to claim 4, characterized in that said coating liquid reduces the solubility of at least one polymeric component of said ink (4).

19. The pre-treatment according to claim 4, characterized in that said coating liquid reduces the solubility of at least one color-imparting component of said ink (4).

20. The pre-treatment according to claim 4, characterized in that said coating liquid causes flocculation or agglomeration of at least one polymeric component of the ink (4) applied to said substrate (1).

21. The pretreatment according to claim 4, characterized in that said coating liquid causes flocculation or agglomeration of at least one pigment component of the ink (4) applied to said substrate (1).

22. The pretreatment according to claim 4, wherein said coating solution causes partial polymerization of the ink (4) applied to said substrate (1).

23. The pretreatment according to claim 4, wherein said coating solution causes complete polymerization of the ink (4) applied to said substrate (1).

24. The pretreatment according to claim 4, wherein said coating liquid polymerizes partially or completely the ink (4) applied to said substrate (1), wherein the polymerization of the ink (4) applied to the coating liquid of said substrate is or is not affected by heating.

25. The pretreatment of claim 2, wherein said spray coating is compressed gas spray coating, vacuum or high pressure spray coating, electrostatic spray coating.

26. The pretreatment of claim 9 or 10, wherein said polymeric surfactant is an oligomeric surfactant.

27. A pre-treatment solution composition for pre-coating, said pre-treatment solution being applied to a nonabsorbent substrate (1) in a time-dependent or time-independent application of ink printing with a water-based ink (4), characterized in that said composition comprises:

80-99.9% by weight of a solvent;

0.1 to 50% by weight of an initiator,

the initiator causes the fluidity of the ink (4) to decrease rapidly, either physically or chemically, by reducing the solubility of at least one component of the ink.

28. The composition of claim 27 wherein from 0 to 25 weight percent of a monomeric or polymeric surfactant is added to said composition.

29. The composition of claim 27 wherein said initiator is an inorganic or organic acid.

30. The composition of claim 27, wherein the solvent is water and/or an alcohol.

31. The composition of claim 27, wherein the pre-treatment solution is a coating solution, the ink printing is ink jet printing, and the nonabsorbable substrate (1) is a nonabsorbable support material (2).

32. The composition of claim 28 wherein said polymeric surfactant is an oligomeric surfactant.

33. An ink (4) composition to be applied to a substrate (1) in a time-dependent or time-independent application of ink printing with water-based inks (4) and to be used in combination with the pretreatment solution composition of claim 27, characterized in that said ink composition comprises:

10-98.9% by weight of a solvent;

0.1 to 50% by weight of an amino resin; and

1-10% by weight of a dye.

34. The composition of claim 33, wherein the amino resin is a melamine formaldehyde resin.

35. The composition of claim 33 wherein said dye is a colored pigment.

36. The composition of claim 33 wherein the solvent is water.

37. The composition according to claim 33, wherein the ink printing is an inkjet printing and the substrate (1) is a non-absorbent carrier material (2).

38. A composition according to any one of claims 33 to 37 wherein 0 to 20% by weight of humectant is added to the composition.

39. A composition according to any one of claims 33 to 37, wherein 0 to 5% by weight of a biocide selected from a bactericide or a fungicide is added to the composition.

40. A composition according to any one of claims 33 to 37, wherein 0 to 10% by weight of a dispersant is added to said composition.

41. An ink (4) composition to be applied to a substrate (1) in a time-dependent or time-independent application of ink printing with a water-based ink (4), characterized in that the ink composition comprises:

10-98.9% by weight of a solvent;

0.1 to 15% by weight of polyacrylate and/or polymethacrylate;

1-10% by weight of a colorant; and

0.1 to 50% by weight of an amino resin.

42. A composition according to claim 41, wherein said colorant is a colored pigment.

43. The composition according to claim 41, wherein the ink printing is ink jet printing and the substrate (1) is a non-absorbent carrier material (2).

44. The composition as defined in claim 41, wherein said solvent is water.

45. The composition as defined in claim 41, wherein said amino resin is a melamine formaldehyde resin.

46. A composition according to any one of claims 41 to 45, wherein 0 to 20% by weight of a humectant is added to the composition.

47. A composition according to any one of claims 41 to 45, wherein 0 to 5% by weight of a biocide selected from a bactericide or a fungicide is added to the composition.

48. A composition according to any one of claims 41 to 45, wherein 0 to 10% by weight of a dispersant is added to said composition.