Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Toru Nogiwa

Yoshihiko Hotta

Kunichika Morohoshi

Makoto Kawaguchi

Akira Suzuki

Yukio Konagaya

Fumihito Masubuchi

Atsushi Kutami

Tetsuya Amano

Akihide Itoh

Nobuo Yamada

Atushi Kutami

Yusuke Takeda

Keishi Kubo

Takao Igawa

Tsutomu Kagawa

Suzuki Kazumi

A reversible thermosensitive recording material containing a support which is composed of a first film, an adhesive layer formed on the first film and a second film formed on the adhesive layer, with the adhesive strength between the first film and the second film being 0.5 kgf/25 mm or more in terms of the average tensile load at an angle of 180.degree. measured in accordance with JIS K 6854, and a reversible thermosensitive recording layer formed on the support, capable of reversibly assuming a transparent state and a white opaque state depending on the temperature thereof, which recording layer contains a matrix resin and an organic low-molecular-weight mateiral dispersed in the form of finely-divided particles in the matrix resin.

Reversible thermosensitive recording material

An image recording method using a reversible thermosensitive recording material which is capable of assuming a transparent state when heated to a first temperature which is above room temperature, and a colored state when heated to a second temperature which is higher than the first temperature and then cooled, and a heating element, including the step of applying energy to the heating element for generating heat in such a manner as to form each picture element of an image to be formed in the recording material by a plurality of energy pulses applied thereto. An image recording apparatus for this image recording method is also described, which includes a pulse division device for dividing the energy to be applied to the heating element into the plurality of energy pulses, an ambient temperature measurement device for measuring the ambient temperature around the recording material, and a pulse-generation timing adjustment device for adjusting the timing for the generation of the plurality of energy pulses.

Image recording method using reversible thermosensitive recording

A reversible thermosensitive recording medium having a supporting substrate and a reversible thermosensitive recording layer formed on the supporting substrate, having the ratio, of two values of light intensity scattered by the recording layer at large angles and small angles, of more than or equal to two, the ratio of the two numbers of particles of low-molecular-weight organic material with the large size to small size, of more than or equal to 2%, and the ratio of the two numbers of the particles with the small size to the total particles, of more than or equal to 10%, is provided which has improved display quality and excellent durability for repeated recording and erasing cycles over an extended period of time.

Reversible thermosensitive recording medium and method for producing the

An image formation method of a reversible thermosensitive recording material capable of reversibly switching its transparency or color tone depending on the temperature thereof is disclosed, which includes the steps of recording images therein at a predetermined image forming temperature, erasing the recorded images from the recording material at a predetermined image erasing temperature, and cleaning the surface of the reversible thermosensitive recording material using cleaning means at substantially the same temperature as the image erasing temperature, with the image erasing step and the cleaning step being carried out substantially at the same time.

Image formation method using a reversible thermosensitive recording

A method of producing a reversible thermosensitive recording material composed of a support, and a reversible thermosensitive recording layer formed thereon, which contains a matrix resin and an organic low-molecular weight material dispersed in the matrix resin, and capable of reversibly assuming a transparent state and a white opaque state depending upon the temperature thereof, is composed of the steps of applying a solution or dispersion of the matrix resin and the organic low-molecular-weight material dissolved or dispersed in a solvent to the support, and drying the applied solution or dispersion with the application of heat thereto in such a manner that when the temperature of the solution or dispersion applied side of the support it t.sub.1, and the temperature of the back side surface of the support, opposite to the solution or dispersion applied side thereof, is t.sub.2, t.sub.1 is lower than t.sub.2 (t.sub.1 &lt;t.sub.2), with the back side surface of the support being heated immediately after the coating of the solution or dispersion.

Method for producing reversible thermosensitive recording material

A card processing method of recording information or displaying, rewriting or erasing recorded information in a card having a magnetic recording portion, and a rewritable display portion which employs a reversible thermosensitive recording material, in which the step (a) of reading recorded information in the magnetic recording portion and the step (b) of rewriting the recorded information in the magnetic recording portion are carried out prior to the step (c) of erasing recorded information from the rewritable display portion and the step (d) of writing information in the rewritable display portion.

Card processing method

A reversible thermosensitive recording material is composed of a support and a reversible thermosensitive recording layer formed thereon. The reversible thermosensitive recording layer is composed of a matrix resin, such as polyvinyl chloride or vinyl chloride copolymer, and an organic low-molecular-weight material dispersed in the form of finely-divided particles in the matrix resin, with the weight percentage Y of the vinyl chloride repeat in the matrix resin and the average polymerization degree X of the matrix resin satisfying the relationship:

An information memory and display medium comprising: (a) a support, (b) a magnetic recording layer formed on the support, (c) a thermosensitive recording layer formed on the magnetic recording layer, which comprises (i) a light reflection layer formed on the magnetic recording layer, and (ii) a reversible thermosensitive recording layer formed on the light reflection layer, comprising a matrix resin, and one or more organic low-molecular-weight compounds dispersed in the matrix resin, with the transparency thereof being reversibly changeable between a transparent state and an opaque state depending upon the temperature thereof, thereby capable of yielding thermally erasable images. The thermosensitive recording layer may further comprise a smoothing layer between the magnetic recording layer and the light reflection layer, and/or an overcoat layer on the reversible thermosensitive recording layer.

Information memory and display medium

A reversible thermosensitive recording material is composed of a support, and a reversible thermosensitive recording layer formed thereon, having a reversible temperature-dependent transparency, which contains a matrix resin and an organic low-molecular-weight material. The organic low-molecular-weight material is in the form of particles, and substantially covered by the matrix resin, and the content thereof in the reversible thermosensitive recording layer is increased from the surface side thereof toward the support side. This reversible thermosensitive recording material can be prepared by a method of coating a solution or dispersion of the matrix resin and the organic low-molecular-weight material on the support, which are dissolved or dispersed in a mixed solvent composed of at least two solvents, each having a different vapor pressure, and drying the solution or dispersion.

Reversible thermosensitive recording material and method of producing

A reversible thermosensitive recording material is composed of a support and a reversible thermosensitive recording layer formed on the support. The reversible thermosensitive recording layer includes a matrix resin and an organic low-molecular-weight material dispersed in the matrix resin, and has a temperature-dependent transparency. The matrix resin includes a resin component having a glass transition temperature of 90.degree. C. or more.

A reversible thermosensitive recording material is composed of a support and a reversible thermosensitive recording layer formed thereon, which is capable of recording and erasing images repeatedly by utilizing its property that the transparency can be changed reversibly from a transparent state to an opaque state, and vice versa, depending upon the temperature thereof. The reversible thermosensitive recording layer is composed of a reversible thermosensitive layer and a protective layer formed thereon and has a scratching intensity of 10 g or more and a coefficient of friction of 0.10 or less. Images are reversibly formed and erased on this reversible thermosensitive recording material.

Reversible thermosensitive recording material and image display method

A reversible thermosensitive recording material is disclosed, which comprises (i) a reversible thermosensitive recording layer which comprises as the main components a matrix resin and an organic low-molecular-weight material dispersed in the matrix resin, and (ii) a light reflection layer made of a metal thin film, which is preferably surface-treated to have a specular gloss of 70 to 250% in accordance with JIS Z8741 or a surface roughness of 0.5 to 10 .mu.m in terms of the ten-point average roughness defined in JIS B0601. This reversible thermosensitive recording material may further comprises a crystal-growth controlling agent in the reversible thermosensitive recording layer.

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Numazu, Japan

Toru Nogiwa