Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Yoshihiko Hiyoshi

Youji Ide

Tetsuji Kunitake

Kumi Surizaki

Nobuyuki Maeda

Tadafumi Tatewaki

Masanaka Nagamoto

Keiichi Shiokawa

Shigeru Miyajima

Masahiro Sato

Yuichi Taka

Moriyasu Nagai

Keishi Taniguchi

Shigeyuki Harada

Yoji Ide

Takeshi Yuyama

Mihoko Akiyama

Yohji Ide

A thermal image transfer recording medium composed of a support, a thermofusible ink layer formed thereon, which contains as the main components a thermofusible material and a coloring agent, and a resin layer formed on the thermofusible ink layer, which has a structure with minute craters thereon.

Thermal image transfer recording medium

A thermal image transfer recording medium is composed of a support, and a thermofusible ink layer formed on the support, the thermofusible ink layer containing a thermofusible material with a loaded needle penetration of 2 or less at 25.degree. C., and a coloring agent, and having a shearing strength of 8 to 20 gf/cm at 20.degree. C., and an adhesion strength of 1.0 to 2.0 gf/cm with respect to the support. The thermofusible ink layer can be composed of a first ink layer formed thereon, comprising finely-divided particles of a thermofusible material with a loaded needle penetration of 2 or less at 25.degree. C. and an average particle diameter in the range of 0.5 to 3.0 .mu.m, with a voidage of 5 to 30 vol. %, and a second ink layer formed on the first ink layer, composed of a thermofusible material with a loaded needle penetration of 2 or less at 25.degree. C., which may be in the form of finely-divided particles, and a coloring agent.

A thermal image transfer recording medium, containing a support, a thermal image transfer ink layer formed on the support, and a heat-resistant protective layer formed on the back side of the support, opposite to the thermal image transfer ink layer with respect to the support, the heat-resistant protective layer having a tensile strength effective to prevent the protective layer from adhering to a thermal head and to prevent loss of flexibility of the protective layer, the heat-resistant protective layer, containing an amount of each of (i) an amino-modified polysiloxane, (ii) a polyisocyanate and (iii) a reaction product of the amino-modified polysiloxane and the polyisocyanate effective for obtaining the tensile strength in the heat-resistant protective layer.

A multiple-use thermal image transfer recording medium is composed of a heat-resistant support, a thermal image transfer layer formed on the heat-resistant support, which thermal image transfer layer is composed of a plurality of thermofusible ink layers overlaid on the heat-resistant support, and a porous resin layer formed on the thermal image transfer layer. The thermal image transfer layer contains a thermofusible ink component containing as the main components a coloring agent and a thermofusible material. The melt viscosity of the thermofusible ink component in each of the thermofusible ink layers is in such a relationship that the melt viscosity increases toward the heat-resistant support.

Multiple-use thermal image transfer recording medium

A thermal image transfer recording medium is composed of a support and a thermofusible ink layer formed on the support, with the water-content ratio of the recording medium excluding the support being in the range of 0.3 to 4.0 wt. % of the total weight of the recording medium excluding the support.

A thermal image transfer recording medium is composed of a support and a thermofusible ink layer formed thereon, and the thermofusible ink layer contains as the main components a coloring agent, a wax component and a rubber elastomer component which is discontinuously dispersed in the form of layers in the thermofusible ink layer, or is composed of a first ink layer containing a wax component and a rubber elastomer and a second ink layer containing a coloring agent, a wax component and a binder resin, which is overlaid on the first ink layer.

A thermosensitive image transfer recording medium is disclosed, which comprises a support and a thermofusible ink layer formed thereon, comprising a thermofusible material, a coloring agent, and a filler, with the difference between the refractive index of the filler and the refractive index of the thermofusible material being 0.15 or less.

Thermosensitive image transfer recording medium

A thermosensitive image transfer recording medium is disclosed, which comprises (a) a support, (b) a peel-off layer formed on the support, which comprises as the main component a thermofusible material, and has a melt viscosity A, and (c) a transparent thermofusible ink layer comprising a plurality of different color thermofusible ink sections, formed side by side in the form of a repeating unit on the peel-off layer, each thermofusible ink section comprising as the main components a thermofusible resin and a coloring agent and having a melt viscosity B which is larger than the melt viscosity A of the peel-off layer, with the melt viscosity A of the peel-off layer being in the range of 10 cps to 10,000 cps at 110.degree. C., and the melt viscosity B of the thermofusible ink layer being in the range of 100 cps to 500,000 cps at 110.degree. C.

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Shizuoka, Japan

Yoshihiko Hiyoshi