JPH11179921A - Surface treatment method for liquid jet recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a hydrophilic processing in a shorter time in a case where a peripheral area of an ejection port is subjected to hydrophilic processing prior to a water-repellent treatment of the peripheral area of the ejection port in an ejection port plate of a liquid jet recording head. To provide a surface treatment method for a liquid jet recording head capable of performing the following. SOLUTION: A resin top plate 1 having a discharge port 4 and a liquid flow path 2 communicating with the discharge port 4 is bonded to an element substrate provided with a discharge energy generating element corresponding to the liquid flow path 2. In the liquid jet recording head to be manufactured, as a pre-treatment for making the recording surface of the ejection port 4 water-repellent so as to stably eject the recording liquid from the ejection port 4, a dielectric barrier discharge excimer is formed on the ejection port forming surface. By irradiating the lamp to impart hydrophilicity, the adhesion between the water repellent and the resin discharge port plate is improved, and the conventional performance such as water repellency of the discharge port formation surface and its durability is maintained. This enables the hydrophilic treatment in a shorter time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surface treatment method for a liquid jet recording head which performs recording on a recording medium by discharging a recording liquid such as ink from a discharge port as fine droplets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording apparatus which discharges a recording liquid such as ink as fine droplets from an ejection port (orifice) provided in a liquid jet recording head and adheres the recording liquid to a recording medium such as paper to perform recording is known. It is known as an excellent recording apparatus in terms of low noise, high speed recording, and the like. Various types of recording systems of this type have been proposed so far, further improved, and put to practical use.

A general liquid jet recording head is disclosed in
The schematic configuration of a liquid jet recording head is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. In FIG. 2, the liquid ejecting recording head includes an element substrate 7 provided with an ejection energy generating element, a common liquid chamber 5 for containing a recording liquid such as ink, and a liquid flow path 2 joined to the element substrate 7. A top plate 1 having a concave portion,
The top plate 1 integrally has a discharge port plate 3 having a discharge port (orifice) 4 for discharging the recording liquid in communication with the liquid flow path 2. The element substrate 7 is fixed to a support substrate (base plate) 8 with an adhesive or the like, and the top plate 1 is arranged such that the liquid flow path 2 of the top plate 1 matches the ejection energy generating elements arranged on the element substrate 7. The discharge port plate 3 of the top plate 1 is positioned and adhered to the element substrate 7, and is disposed on the front end surface of the support substrate 8 like a forward hang. Then, a recording liquid such as ink is supplied from the liquid supply member 9 to the common liquid chamber 5 through a liquid supply port 6 formed on the top plate 1.

[0004] The recording head body thus configured is
As shown in FIG. 3, the recording liquid sub-tank 2 is mounted on the recording head cartridge and is adjacent to the recording head body.
The sub tank 20 and the recording head main body are supported by a support 21. Further, reference numeral 30 denotes a cartridge main body, and 31 denotes a lid member of the cartridge main body. A storage tank for the recording liquid is built in the cartridge main body 30, and the recording liquid is supplied to the sub tank 20 as appropriate.

In the liquid jet recording head having such a configuration, the physical properties (physical characteristics) of the surface of the ejection port plate 3 forming the ejection port 4 are such that the recording liquid is constantly supplied from the ejection port 4 of the ejection port plate 3. This is extremely important for stable ejection. In other words, when the recording liquid wraps around the outer peripheral surface of the discharge port 4 (peripheral edge of the discharge port) and a liquid pool occurs even in a part of the recording liquid, the recording liquid in the liquid flow path 2 is discharged from the discharge port 4. At that time, the flight direction is disturbed,
As a result, stable liquid ejection cannot be performed and good print recording cannot be performed.

Further, when the entire outer surface of the discharge port 4 (peripheral portion of the discharge port) is covered with the recording liquid, a so-called splash phenomenon occurs and the recording liquid is scattered, so that stable recording cannot be performed. Further, when the liquid pool covering the outer surface of the discharge port 4 becomes large, the liquid discharge of the recording head may even become impossible.

As described above, in the conventional liquid jet recording head, when a liquid pool of the recording liquid occurs at the periphery of the ejection port 4, stable ejection cannot be performed. Moreover,
This tendency is particularly prominent when performing high-definition printing by increasing the nozzle density or performing high-speed printing driven at a high frequency, and this is a major problem in improving the performance of the liquid jet recording head. It has become.

Therefore, a so-called water-repellent treatment is applied to at least the periphery of the discharge port of the discharge port plate 3 to form a water-repellent layer which repels a recording liquid such as ink, so as to solve the above-mentioned problems. Many proposals have been made in the past, for example, JP-A-56-89569, JP-A-62-55154, and JP-A-2-153744.
No. 6,009,036. As the water-repellent agent used in the water-repellent treatment, for example, various compounds such as a silicon-based polymer or oligomer, and a fluorine-based polymer or oligomer are mentioned.

Further, in order to improve the adhesion between the water-repellent agent and the discharge port plate of the top plate, there is a proposal for performing a hydrophilic treatment on the peripheral portion of the discharge port as a pretreatment for the water-repellent treatment.
It is disclosed in JP-A-2-141565.

[0010]

In forming the water-repellent treatment layer in the conventional liquid jet recording head as described above,
In order to improve the adhesion between the water-repellent agent and the discharge port plate of the top plate, as a pretreatment of the water-repellent treatment, hydrophilicity is usually imparted by irradiation with a low-pressure mercury lamp, and then a water-repellent layer is formed. ing. However, in the conventional method of performing the hydrophilization treatment of the discharge port plate using the low-pressure mercury lamp,
Due to the nature of the low-pressure mercury lamp, the time required for use and the time required for the hydrophilization treatment are long, so that a reduction in time is required in the manufacturing process of the liquid jet recording head.

In view of the above, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned unsolved problems of the prior art, and has been made in a short time when a discharge port plate of a liquid jet recording head is subjected to a hydrophilic treatment. It is an object of the present invention to provide a surface treatment method for a liquid jet recording head capable of performing the following.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a surface treatment method for a liquid jet recording head according to the present invention comprises a discharge port, a liquid flow path communicating with the discharge port, and a liquid passage corresponding to the liquid flow path. In the method for manufacturing a liquid jet recording head including the provided ejection energy generating element, hydrophilicity is imparted to a discharge port forming surface of a processing member constituting the discharge port using a dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp, and thereafter, A water-repellent treatment is performed on the discharge port forming surface.

In the surface treatment method for a liquid jet recording head according to the present invention, it is preferable to use a dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp having an emission center wavelength of 172 nm in order to impart hydrophilicity to the ejection port forming surface.

[0014]

A liquid jet recording head manufactured by joining a resin top plate having a discharge port and a liquid flow path communicating with the discharge port, and an element substrate provided with a discharge energy generating element corresponding to the liquid flow path. In the above, as a pre-treatment for water-repellent treatment of a discharge port forming surface (particularly, a peripheral portion of the discharge port) for performing stable discharge of the recording liquid from the discharge port, a dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp is formed on the discharge port formation surface. Especially, the emission center wavelength is 172 nm.
Irradiation using a dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp to impart hydrophilicity, improve the adhesion between the water-repellent agent and the resin-made discharge port forming surface, and increase the water repellency of the discharge port forming surface Further, it is possible to perform the hydrophilic treatment in a shorter time while maintaining the conventional performance such as durability.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of a top plate constituting a liquid jet recording head to which the surface treatment method for a liquid jet recording head of the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, a top plate 1 constituting a liquid jet recording head has a liquid flow path 2 communicating with a common liquid chamber 5 and a discharge port 4 formed in a discharge port plate 3 and communicating with the liquid flow path 2. Are provided in a desired number (only two are shown in FIG. 1 for simplicity), and the discharge port plate 3 is provided integrally. A discharge energy generating element (for example, an electrothermal conversion element) for generating liquid discharge energy and an Al wiring for supplying an electric signal to the top plate 1 are formed on a Si substrate by a film forming technique. The liquid jet recording head main body is configured by positioning each liquid flow path 2 on the element substrate corresponding to each of the ejection energy generating elements and joining them together.

The top plate 1 is made of a resin such as polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polyphenylene oxide, or polypropylene having excellent ink resistance, and is integrally formed with the discharge port plate 3 by injection molding or the like.

Next, the surface treatment method for a liquid jet recording head according to the present invention will be described.

In the discharge port plate 3 of the resin top plate 1 in which the discharge ports are not formed and formed, at least the peripheral portion of the discharge port formation planned portion of the discharge port plate 3 is subjected to the water repellent treatment prior to the water repellent treatment. , A dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp having a light emission center wavelength of 172 nm (HOYA-SCHOT
T (manufactured by T Co., Ltd.) for about 20 seconds to perform a hydrophilization treatment on the portion.

Although the discharge port plate can be hydrophilized by a dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp having an emission center wavelength of 185 nm, irradiation by a dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp having an emission center wavelength of 172 nm can be performed. However, since a large number of excited oxygen atoms are generated, a high hydrophilization treatment ability can be obtained.

Thereafter, the top plate 1 subjected to the hydrophilic treatment is
Amino silane coupling agent (for example, A1110γ
-After immersion in aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (manufactured by Nippon Unicar Co., Ltd.), excess silane coupling agent is removed in pure water, and a uniform monolayer of silane coupling agent is formed around the discharge port. Form.

Next, after air drying, a water repellent treatment is performed. CTX-CZ5AP5 (manufactured by Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.) is used as the water-repellent agent, and is applied by brush coating. It should be noted that, in addition to this, the coating can be similarly performed by a method such as a casting method. Then, a heat drying treatment is performed at 150 ° C. for 5.5 hours.

Thereafter, the liquid flow path 2 is formed on the portion of the top plate 1 where the liquid flow path is to be formed, and the discharge port 4 is formed on the discharge port plate 3 where the discharge port is to be formed. By exposing an excimer laser beam to the liquid flow channel formation site and the discharge port formation site on the top plate 1 formed of a resin having a shape without the liquid flow channel and the discharge port, respectively, the liquid flow channel and the discharge port are formed. Can be formed. The liquid flow path 2 is formed at the same time as the top plate 1 is formed using a mold in which fine grooves having a pattern opposite to the liquid flow path are formed by cutting or the like during resin molding of the top plate 1. The road 2 can be formed in advance.

Next, the characteristics of a liquid jet recording head manufactured by performing a hydrophilic treatment and a water-repellent treatment based on the surface treatment method of the present invention and a liquid jet recording head manufactured by a conventional method will be compared.

First, based on the surface treatment method of the present invention,
A dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp (HOYA-SCHOTT) having an emission center wavelength of 172 nm is provided at least on the periphery of the discharge port plate of the discharge port plate on the top plate.
(Manufactured by Co., Ltd.), and the top plate subjected to the hydrophilic treatment of the relevant portion, and the top plate subjected to the same hydrophilic treatment using a low-pressure mercury lamp based on the conventional method, When the contact angle was evaluated by measuring the advancing angle and the receding angle of each using water, the excimer of the present invention was processed with a conventional top plate using a low-pressure mercury lamp, although a processing time of 10 minutes was required. In the top plate using a lamp,
A surface wettability almost equivalent to the former top plate is obtained with a treatment time of 20 seconds, and the hydrophilic treatment time can be reduced to about 1/30 of the conventional time by performing the hydrophilic treatment using an excimer lamp. Was confirmed.

Next, based on the surface treatment method of the present invention,
A dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp having a light emission center wavelength of 172 nm (HOYA-SCHOTT Co., Ltd.) is provided at least on the periphery of the discharge port forming portion of the discharge port plate on the top plate.
) To perform a hydrophilization treatment of the relevant portion, and thereafter, an amino-based silane coupling agent (for example,
A1110 γ-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (manufactured by Nippon Unicar Co., Ltd.), then removing excess silane coupling agent in pure water to form a uniform silane coupling agent monomolecule on the periphery of the discharge port. Form a layer, and
After air drying, CTX-CZ5A is used as a water-repellent treatment agent.
Using P5 (manufactured by Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.), the composition was applied by brush coating to perform a water-repellent treatment, and then subjected to a heat-drying treatment at 150 ° C. for 5.5 hours to produce a top plate. On the other hand, after performing the hydrophilization treatment of the peripheral portion of the discharge port formation scheduled portion using a low-pressure mercury lamp based on the conventional method, water-repellent treatment is performed by the same process to produce a top plate, and these top plates are prepared. Each of them was used to produce a liquid jet recording head, and the liquid contact property and the printing evaluation of each were evaluated.

As an evaluation of the liquid contact property, each liquid jet recording head was immersed in an ink manufactured by Canon Inc., left at 60 ° C. for 20 days, and the contact angle was measured with the ink. As a result of the evaluation, both of the liquid jet recording heads showed almost the same water repellency even after the liquid contact test, and the ink was 1
The water-repellent layer was not peeled off even after rubbing 00 times, and it was confirmed that the same adhesion was maintained.

Then, each of the liquid jet recording heads is mounted on a recording apparatus to perform actual printing, and the quality of the printing state is determined by judging the printing state by both the measurement of the deviation of the dot landing point and the visual inspection. As a result, no ejection failure was observed in any of the recording heads, and it was confirmed that the print state was good.

As described above, according to the surface treatment method for a liquid jet recording head of the present invention, the surface on which the discharge port for forming the discharge port is formed is irradiated with the dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp to impart hydrophilicity. Then, by performing the water-repellent treatment on the relevant portion, the hydrophilic treatment can be performed in a shorter time while maintaining the conventional performance such as the water-repellent property of the discharge port forming surface of the discharge port plate and its durability. As a result, manufacturing tact time can be improved.

Further, the present invention provides an excellent effect particularly in a so-called ink jet recording type recording head and recording apparatus in which a flying liquid droplet is formed by using thermal energy in a liquid jet recording type and recording is performed. To bring.

The typical structure and principle are described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740.
No. 796, and the present invention is preferably performed using these basic principles. This recording method can be applied to both on-demand type and continuous type.

The recording method will be briefly described. A driving circuit discharges a sheet holding a recording liquid (ink) or an electrothermal transducer which is a discharge energy generating element disposed corresponding to a liquid flow path. Supplying a signal, that is, the recording liquid (ink) exceeds the nucleate boiling phenomenon in accordance with the recording information,
By applying at least one drive signal to provide a rapid temperature rise that causes a film boiling phenomenon,
Thermal energy is generated, causing film boiling on the heat-acting surface of the recording head. As described above, since bubbles corresponding to the drive signal applied to the electrothermal converter from the recording liquid (ink) can be formed one-to-one, it is particularly effective for an on-demand type recording method. The recording liquid (ink) is ejected through an ejection port by the growth and contraction of the bubble to form at least one droplet. When the drive signal is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are immediately and appropriately performed, and therefore, the ejection of the recording liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, US Pat.
Those described in 463359 and 4345262 are suitable. In addition, U.S. Pat.
By employing the conditions described in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 124, even better recording can be performed.

As the configuration of the recording head, a configuration combining a discharge port, a liquid flow path, and an electrothermal converter as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications (linear liquid flow path or right-angled liquid flow path)
In addition, the present invention is also effective in a device having a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bent region as disclosed in US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and US Pat. No. 4,459,600. .

In addition, JP-A-59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge port of an electrothermal transducer for a plurality of electrothermal transducers, or absorbs pressure waves of thermal energy. The present invention is also effective in a device having a configuration based on JP-A-59-138461, which discloses a configuration in which an opening corresponds to a discharge portion.

Further, as a recording head in which the present invention is effectively used, there is a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium on which a recording apparatus can record. The full line head may be a full line configuration by combining a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above specification, or may be a single full line recording head formed integrally.

In addition, the print head is replaceable with a print head of a replaceable chip type, which can be electrically connected to the main body of the apparatus or supplied with ink from the main body of the apparatus, or integrated with the print head itself. The present invention is also effective when a cartridge-type recording head provided in a fixed manner is used.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head and preliminary auxiliary means because the recording apparatus can be further stabilized. To be more specific, capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suction means, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element, or a combination thereof, for recording head, recording It is also effective to add a preliminary ejection mode means for performing another ejection to perform stable printing.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to a mode for recording only a mainstream color such as black, and may be a mode in which a recording head is integrally formed or a combination of a plurality of recording heads. However, the present invention is extremely effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of multiple colors of different colors or full color by mixing colors.

In the above description, the ink is described as a liquid. However, an ink which solidifies at room temperature or lower and which becomes soft or liquid at room temperature, or which is generally used in ink jet printing. It may be softened or liquid in a temperature range of 30 ° C. or more and 70 ° C. or less, which is a temperature range for temperature adjustment. That is,
It is sufficient that the ink is in a liquid state when the use recording signal is applied. In addition, the temperature rise due to thermal energy can be positively prevented by using it as energy for changing the state of the ink from a solid state to a liquid state, or the ink that solidifies in a standing state to prevent evaporation of the ink can be used. In any case, thermal energy such as one in which ink is liquefied and ejected as an ink liquid by application in accordance with a recording signal of thermal energy, or one which already starts to solidify when reaching a recording medium, etc. It is also possible to use an ink that liquefies for the first time. In such a case, as described in JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-71260, the ink is held in a liquid state or a solid state in the concave portion or through hole of the porous sheet. It is good also as a form which opposes an electrothermal transducer. The most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as the form of the ink jet recording apparatus, in addition to the one used as an image output terminal of an information processing apparatus such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, and a facsimile apparatus having a transmission / reception function can be used. It may be taken.

[0042]

As described above, according to the surface treatment method of the liquid jet recording head of the present invention, the conventional performance such as the water repellency and durability of the peripheral portion of the discharge port of the discharge port plate is maintained. The hydrophilic treatment can be performed in a short time, and the production tact can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of a top plate constituting a liquid jet recording head to which a surface treatment method for a liquid jet recording head of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view illustrating a configuration of a liquid jet recording head.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a recording head cartridge of the liquid jet recording head.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Top plate 2 Liquid flow path 3 Discharge port plate 4 Discharge port (orifice) 5 Common liquid chamber 7 Element substrate

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Haruhiko Terai 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing a liquid jet recording head comprising: a discharge port; a liquid flow path communicating with the discharge port; and a discharge energy generating element provided corresponding to the liquid flow path, wherein the discharge port is formed. Surface treatment of a liquid jet recording head, wherein hydrophilicity is imparted to a discharge port forming surface of a processed member using a dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp, and thereafter, the discharge port forming surface is subjected to a water-repellent treatment. Method. 2. A surface treatment method for a liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein a dielectric barrier discharge excimer lamp having an emission center wavelength of 172 nm is used to impart hydrophilicity to the ejection port forming surface. .