Manufacturing method for fabric prints

Abstract

This invention provides a method for easily manufacturing fabric prints in which the ink adheres well to the material, resulting in a soft appearance and feel, as well as excellent clarity at the ink boundaries. [Solution] The method for manufacturing a fabric print 101 according to this disclosure includes (S1) dispensing ultraviolet-curable ink onto a fabric material 1 to print a desired advertising image, and (S2) curing the dispensed ink by irradiating it with ultraviolet light. Furthermore, the ultraviolet-curable ink contains an organic solvent. The finished fabric print 101 is secured by pressing its end into the groove 9 of a rectangular fabric frame 7 while applying tension, thereby creating a fabric advertisement, which is a type of billboard advertisement.

Description

[[Technical Field]]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for producing a printed fabric used for fabric advertisements. [[Background Art]]

[0002] A fabric advertisement is a type of billboard advertisement produced by pressing the ends of a printed fabric, in which an advertisement image is printed on a fabric material, into a groove of a rectangular frame called a fabric frame to secure it while applying tension to the printed fabric. Similar to billboard advertisements installed in railway stations and other locations in Japan, a bright advertisement can be realized even at night by applying illuminating light from the back side of the advertising medium.

[0003] To print an advertisement image on a fabric material, it is common to use a UV inkjet printer that ejects ultraviolet-curable ink (referred to as "UV ink") and immediately irradiates ultraviolet light to cure the ink. A UV inkjet printer is loaded with color inks such as yellow, magenta, cyan, and black as UV inks (see Patent Document 1). Compared to latex inks and solvent inks used in the same inkjet method, UV inks dry quickly, cause less damage to print media, and result in less shrinkage during printing, so they are preferably used for fabric advertisements.

[0004] On the other hand, for materials that require flexibility such as "nobori" banners, UV ink, which makes the printed matter too hard to be folded, is unsuitable, and thermal transfer ink has generally been used. Unlike UV ink, which has a visually hard and brittle texture, thermal transfer ink blends well with the material and provides a visually soft texture, but it has the disadvantage that the boundaries between ink areas become blurred. For this reason, thermal transfer ink is also not preferred for fabric advertisements. [[Prior Art Documents]] [[Patent Documents]]

[0005] [[Patent Document 1]] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2019-081867 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0006] The inventors of this application, while experimenting with the production of various fabric prints, found that when they set UV ink containing organic solvents in an inkjet printer and printed on fabric material, it adhered well to the material and produced a visually soft texture, similar to thermal transfer ink. Moreover, they found that the advantage of UV ink, such as the clear and sharp boundaries of the ink, was retained, unlike prints made with thermal transfer ink. In other words, it was expected that fabric advertisements, with their new texture, would attract the attention of viewers as billboard advertisements and enhance the effectiveness of advertising.

[0007] This invention, based on the present inventor's discovery, aims to provide a method for easily manufacturing fabric printed materials in which the ink adheres well to the material, has a soft appearance, and exhibits excellent clarity at the ink boundaries. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] To achieve the above objective, a first aspect of the present invention is a method for manufacturing a fabric print used in fabric advertising, comprising: (A) dispensing an ultraviolet-curable ink onto a fabric material to print a desired advertising image; and (B) curing the dispensed ink by irradiating it with ultraviolet light. Furthermore, the ultraviolet-curable ink contains an organic solvent.

[0009] This configuration, by incorporating an organic solvent into the UV-curing ink, allows the ink to adhere well to the material, resulting in a fabric print with a soft, tactile feel. Furthermore, the use of UV-curing ink maintains the advantage of sharp, clear ink boundaries. In other words, by using a UV inkjet printer, fabric prints with a new texture that attract the attention of viewers and enhance the effectiveness of advertising can be easily manufactured. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] As described above, the present invention provides a method for easily manufacturing fabric printed materials in which the ink adheres well to the material, has a soft appearance, and exhibits excellent clarity at the ink boundaries. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram illustrating a fabric print produced by a fabric print manufacturing method according to one embodiment of the present invention and a method for using the same fabric print. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart illustrating the procedure for manufacturing a fabric print according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] This is a schematic diagram illustrating how to use a UV inkjet printer to perform the procedure shown in Figure 2. [Figure 4] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the UV inkjet printer shown as an example. [Figure 5] Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the cross-sectional structure of a fabric print manufactured using the UV inkjet printer shown as an example. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0012] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a fabric print produced by a fabric print manufacturing method according to one embodiment of the present invention and a method of using the fabric print. The fabric print 151 illustrated in Figure 1(a) is a conventional print produced by printing an advertising image onto a fabric material 1 using conventional UV-curable color ink 2. Depending on the image to be printed, various colors of ink at various concentrations are applied to the fabric material 1, which is the printing substrate to be printed.

[0013] The UV color ink 2 used by the inventor of this application is "LUS-170 Magenta" (an example of magenta) manufactured by Mimaki Engineering Co., Ltd. According to its Safety Data Sheet (SDS), taking "magenta" as an example, acrylic acid ester accounts for 70-80% by weight. The main component, "acrylic acid ester," is a material that undergoes a polymerization reaction and hardens when exposed to light, and is the basis for UV curing; it is not an organic solvent. This UV color ink 2 does not contain organic solvents. When an advertising image is printed on fabric material 1 using conventional UV color ink 2 that does not contain organic solvents, as schematically illustrated in Figure 1(a), the advantage of clear and sharp ink boundaries is recognized, but the resulting fabric print 151 has a hard and brittle feel.

[0014] The fabric print 101 illustrated in Figure 1(b) is an example of a fabric print manufactured by a fabric print manufacturing method according to one embodiment of the present invention. In this fabric print 101, an advertising image is printed on the fabric material 1 using an ultraviolet-curable color ink 3 containing an organic solvent.

[0015] The UV color ink 3 used by the inventor of this application is "INK EFI 3M SUPERRANGE XF+ MAGENTA" (magenta example) manufactured by Electronics for Imaging. According to its Safety Data Sheet (SDS), taking "magenta" as an example, 2-phenoxyethyl acrylate accounts for 35-40% by weight. "2-phenoxyethyl acrylate" is an organic solvent. When an advertising image is printed on fabric material 1 using UV color ink 3 containing an organic solvent, as schematically illustrated in Figure 1(b), the printed material 101 does not appear hard and brittle, but rather the UV color ink 3 adheres well to the fabric material 1, resulting in a printed material 101 with a soft appearance. Moreover, because a UV-curing ink is used, the advantage of clear and sharp ink boundaries is maintained, just like in printed material 151.

[0016] As illustrated in Figure 1(c), the finished fabric print 101 is secured by applying tension to its edges and pushing them into grooves 9 of the rectangular fabric frame 7, thereby creating a fabric advertisement, which is a type of billboard advertisement. LED illuminators (not shown) are placed inside the fabric frame 7, and by illuminating the back of the fabric print 101, which is the advertising medium, a brightly visible advertisement is realized even at night.

[0017] Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure for manufacturing a fabric print according to one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating how to use a UV inkjet printer to implement the procedure illustrated in Figure 2.

[0018] To begin the procedure described, first, the advertising image data 13 is set in the UV inkjet printer 11 (step S1). The advertising image data 13 can be created using a computer 15 on which image data creation software, such as CAD software, is installed. The advertising image data 13 can be set by sending the completed advertising image data 13 from the computer 15 to the UV inkjet printer 11.

[0019] The advertisement image data 13 corresponds to print data that defines printing performed by the UV inkjet printer 11 using UV curable color ink 3. The UV inkjet printer 11 controls the ejection amount of the color ink 3, the number of times of repeatedly scanning the same scanning line, and the like based on the print data.

[0020] When the setting of the advertisement image data 13 is completed, printing by the UV inkjet printer 11 is started. Printing is performed by performing curing of the ejected color ink 3 (step S5) subsequent to ejection of the color ink 3 (step S3). These processes (steps S3 and S5) are repeated (No in step S7) until printing is completed (Yes in step S7). When viewed for the same position on the fabric material 1 that serves as the printing substrate, the processes of steps S3 and S5 are performed in this order at any position.

[0021] FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the UV inkjet printer 11 illustrated in FIG. 3. An advertisement image can be printed on the fabric material 1 by using the UV inkjet printer 11. The UV inkjet printer 11 includes a color ink head 19 and an ultraviolet irradiation head 21.

[0022] The color ink head 19 ejects multicolor color ink 3. In the illustrated example, the color ink 3 includes four color inks: black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. The ultraviolet irradiation head 21 cures the color ink 3 by irradiating ultraviolet rays onto the color ink 3 ejected from the color ink head 19 onto the fabric material 1.

[0023] These heads 19 and 21 move together in the main scanning direction. As the fabric material 1, which is the printing substrate, moves continuously in the direction of the arrows shown in the figure (i.e., the heads 19 and 21 move continuously in the sub-scanning direction), the heads 19 and 21 repeatedly move in the main scanning direction. Looking at the same position on the fabric material 1, the ejection of the color ink 3 (step S3) and the curing of the color ink 3 (step S5) are performed in this order. Even if the UV inkjet printer 11 is a line printer type and the heads 19 and 21 extend in the main scanning direction and do not require movement in the main scanning direction, steps S3 and S5 will still be performed in this order for the same position on the fabric material 1.

[0024] Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the cross-sectional structure of a fabric print 101 manufactured using a UV inkjet printer 11. In the illustrated example, layers of various colored inks 3 are formed on a fabric material 1, which is the printing substrate. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0025] 1 fabric material, 2,3 UV color ink, 7 fabric frame, 9 grooves, 11 UV inkjet printer, 13 advertising image data, 15 computer, 19 color ink head, 21 UV irradiation head, 101,151 fabric prints.

Claims

[Claim 1] A method for manufacturing fabric printed materials used in fabric advertising, The process involves ejecting UV-curing ink to print the desired advertising image onto a fabric material, The method includes curing the dispensed ink by irradiating it with ultraviolet light, A method for manufacturing a fabric print, wherein the aforementioned ultraviolet-curable ink contains an organic solvent.

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