Recording ink as well as ink media set, ink cartridge, ink recorded matter, inkjet recording apparatus and inkjet recording method

Abstract

A recording ink containing at least a solid component which contains a colorant and a resin and is a solid at 25° C., a liquid component which has a higher boiling point than that of water and is a liquid at 25° C. and water, wherein the total content of the liquid component in the recording ink is 20% by mass or less, the total content of the solid component in the recording ink is 20% by mass or more, and the total content of a resin component in the solid component is 40% by mass to 95% by mass relative to a total amount of the solid component is provided.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a recording ink which is suitable for inkjet recording, as well as an ink media set, an ink cartridge, an ink record, an inkjet recording apparatus and an inkjet recording method using the recording ink. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] An inkjet recording method is the method to perform printing by ejecting small liquid drops of an ink to adhere onto a recording medium such as paper. As the ink used for this inkjet recording method, those in which colorants of various dyes and pigments have been dissolved or dispersed in water or water and an organic solvent having a high boiling point and a wetting agent composed of the organic solvent having the high boiling point has been abundantly contained for keeping a moisturizing property are used. Such a wetting agent composed of the organic solvent having the high boiling point contributes to preventing nozzles from being d...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0022] The present invention aims at providing a recording ink by which the image having a high image density, a low backside density, good color formation and no bleeding is obtained when printed on the plain paper and the sharp image close to printed matters, having no problem in drying speed is obtained even when printed on smooth papers for printing having a low water absorbing capacity, as well as an ink cartridge, an ink media set, an ink record, an inkjet recording apparatus where no clogging of nozzles occurs when stopped for a long time, and an inkjet recording method using the recording ink.

Problems solved by technology

Meanwhile, on the papers such as non-porous substrates such as offset coated papers for printing, plastic films, plastic laminate papers and plastic coated papers which have a low water-absorbing capacity, it takes a long time for drying because the wetting agent is hardly evaporated, which is impractical.

However, in this proposal, since no resin is contained in the ink, a fixing property of the image is inferior particularly when a pigment ink is used.

However, in this proposal, no resin is added, electrolytes are considerably abundantly contained, the fixing property of the image is inferior, and an ejecting system which is essentially different from the inkjet of a piezoelectric system is employed.

However, the wax having the wetting property tends to be inferior in fixing property and drying.

In the ink in this proposal, since the wetting agent content is low but a concentration of an entire solid content is low, there are problems in that the sufficient image density and color formation are not obtained.

However, it is not described to record on non-porous medium such as plastic films.

When printed on an unabsorbable recording medium such as polyester films, generally the ultraviolet ray curable ink is used because the usual ink is inferior in fixing property and drying property (see JP-A No. 2000-117960).

However, since strong ultraviolet light is required and the apparatus is grown in size due to storage stability of the ink, the apparatus is not common as a printer.

Meanwhile, the methods of enhancing the drying property and the fixing property by oil-based inks are available, but the solvent is the organic solvent, and thus, they can not be generally used in places such as offices where odor is avoided.

This proposal is the non-water-based ink, and is not suitable for the use in the office in terms of environmental problem such as odor.

When the solid content is low in this way, the amount of the wetting agent is large and the amount of the adhered ink having the relatively low viscosity is large per unit area, unevenness of the image density due to liquid flow referred to as beading and liquid bias easily occurs particularly in solid images.

When seen in Examples, the amount of wetting agent in the ink is large, the solid content is low which is 10% by mass or less, and thus it is speculated that the drying is necessarily slow and no good image is obtained unless drying is performed by heating.

Thus it is speculated that the resin in a large amount can not be added.

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