Fujicopian Co., Ltd.

Manabu Ikemoto

Hideki Suematsu

Hitomi Kawabata

Yoshiyuki Obata

Yuriko Kameda

Atsuo Saiki

A thermal transfer medium is disclosed which is useful in a method for forming a color image by selectively melt-transferring at least two of a yellow heat-meltable ink layer, a magenta heat-meltable ink layer and a cyan heat-meltable ink layer onto a receptor having a microporous surface layer. The thermal transfer medium includes a foundation having thereon a yellow heat-meltable ink layer, a magenta heat-meltable ink layer and a cyan heat-meltable ink layer, a non-transferable undercoat layer being provided between the foundation and the respective ink layers, each of the ink layers comprising a coloring agent and a vehicle comprising a wax as a major ingredient, each of the ink layers having a melt viscosity of 20 to 200 cps/90 .degree. C., the undercoat layer comprising a resin exhibiting a strong adhesion to a wax. The thermal transfer medium gives highly fine color images excellent in gradation quality and color reproducibility on the basis of subtractive color mixture of yellow, magenta and cyan.

Thermal transfer medium

A thermal transfer material is disclosed which is useful in a method for forming a color image comprising selectively melt-transferring at least one of a yellow heat-meltable ink layer, a magenta heat-meltable ink layer and a cyan heat-meltable ink layer onto a receptor having a multiplicity of micropores in the surface layer thereof to enter each ink in a molten state into the micropores, thereby forming a color image comprising at least one of (A) at least one color region of single color of yellow, magenta and cyan, and (B) at least one color region developed on the basis of subtractive color mixture of at least two of yellow, magenta and cyan. The thermal transfer material comprises at least one of a yellow heat-meltable ink layer, a magenta heat-meltable ink layer and a cyan heat-meltable ink layer provided on a foundation or foundations, each ink layer having a melt viscosity of 20 to 200 cps/90.degree. C. and a coating amount of 0.5 to 2.5 g/m.sup.2, the foundation having a thickness of 1.0 to 4.5 .mu.m and the thermal transfer material having an overall thickness of 2.5 to 7.0 .mu.m. The thermal transfer material gives color images excellent in both color reproducibility and resolution.

Thermal transfer material

A transfer printing method is provided which comprises the steps of: selectively melt-transferring at least one of heat-meltable ink layers Y, M and C containing heat-migrating dyes for respective colors onto a foundation to form an ink image on the foundation, selectively melt-transferring a heat-meltable layer T containing a readily dyeable heat-meltable resin onto the ink image, giving a master sheet, and placing the master sheet on an image receptor and heating the resulting assembly under pressure to form a dyed image on the image receptor. The transfer printing method gives a clear dyed image, especially a clear full-color dyed image, on any image receptor regardless of the kind thereof.

Transfer printing method and heat-melt transfer medium usable in the

Disclosed is a transfer printing method including the steps of: with use of a thermal transfer ink sheet wherein a heat-meltable ink Y containing a sublimation dye for yellow, a heat-meltable ink sublimation M containing a dye for magenta and a heat-meltable ink C containing a sublimation dye for cyan are applied on a single foundation or separate foundations respectively, selectively melt-transferring at least two of the sublimation inks Y, M and C onto a master sheet to form a master image in which at least two of respective images of the sublimation inks Y, M and C are superimposed one on the other; and transferring the sublimation dyes contained in the superimposed images onto an image receptor, wherein the sublimation inks Y, M and C are transferred onto the master sheet in the order of ink C, ink M and ink Y with an optional skipping-over of untransferred sublimation ink to the succeeding one. With this method a color dyed image can be obtained with a good color reproducibility, especially for an achromatic color.

Transfer printing method

In a sublimation transfer method wherein a heat-meltable ink layer containing a sublimation dye is melt-transferred to give a master having an image of the ink, and the sublimation dye in the ink image is heat-transferred to form a dyed image on a substrate, there is used a heat-melt transfer medium wherein a release layer comprising a wax-like substance as a major component is provided between a foundation and the ink layer, or an adhesive layer comprising a wax-like substance as a major component is provided on the ink layer, or both the release layer and the adhesive layer are provided. The releasability of the ink layer from the foundation and the adhesiveness of the ink layers with each other are good. The method is especially useful to form a full-color dyed image.

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Osaka, Japan

Manabu Ikemoto