Heat-Sensitive Imaging Member for Reversible Lithography
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional lithography techniques require costly image plates with permanent hydrophobic and hydrophilic areas, limiting their suitability for short-run and variable-data printings due to high temperature requirements and slow state reversals.
Innovation Solution
An imaging member with a surface layer made of a heat-sensitive material, such as an acrylamide polymer and silicon block copolymer or core-shell particles, that reversibly switches between hydrophilic/hydrophobic or oleophilic/oleophobic states in response to small temperature changes, enabling quick changes compatible with offset press speeds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional image plates with permanent hydrophobic and hydrophilic areas are used, then reliable ink adhesion is achieved, but high cost and long setup time result
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the surface properties of the imaging member changeable rather than fixed. The polymethylsilsesquioxane coating can reversibly switch between hydrophobic and hydrophilic states through temperature changes, allowing the same surface to dynamically adapt its ink adhesion properties for different printing regions without requiring separate permanent plates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by altering the temperature to control the surface energy and wettability of the polymethylsilsesquioxane coating. By changing temperature, the surface transitions between states that favor ink adhesion and states that favor solution adhesion, enabling versatile printing without physical plate changes.
2Adaptability or versatility
If heat-sensitive materials are used to enable digital variable-data printing, then adaptability is improved, but high temperature requirements and slow state reversal speed worsen productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs parameter changes by utilizing small temperature variations (rather than high temperatures) to trigger rapid transitions between hydrophobic and hydrophilic states of the polymethylsilsesquioxane coating. This enables fast state reversal that matches offset press speeds, resolving the productivity limitation of conventional heat-sensitive materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes conventional high-temperature thermal processing with a lower-temperature phase transition mechanism specific to polymethylsilsesquioxane materials. This replacement enables faster response times and state reversals that are compatible with high-speed printing processes.
3Stability of the object's composition
If high temperatures are applied to change hydrophilic/hydrophobic states, then state switching is achieved, but energy consumption increases and print speed decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by utilizing small temperature changes rather than high temperatures to induce phase transitions in the polymethylsilsesquioxane coating. This approach achieves reliable hydrophilic/hydrophobic state switching while dramatically reducing energy consumption compared to conventional high-temperature methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent exploits phase transitions of the polymethylsilsesquioxane coating that occur at relatively low temperatures. The material undergoes reversible transitions between hydrophobic and hydrophilic phases through minimal temperature variations, enabling state switching without the high energy input required by conventional approaches.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient digital-direct or digital-offset lithography with reduced energy requirements and improved print speed, allowing for rapid image creation and ink transfer without the need for high temperatures, thus enhancing the versatility and cost-effectiveness of printing processes.
Implementation Method 1
The polymer is responsive to a change in temperature from below about 40° C. to above about 40° C., or vice versa, by switching from a hydrophilic state to a hydrophobic state, or vice versa
Implementation Method 2
At temperatures below the LCST, the polymer chains are in an extended conformation and are hydrophilic due to hydrogen bonding between the polymer chains and water molecules
Data Source
AI summary
An imaging member is disclosed having a surface layer comprising a heat-sensitive material whose surface compatibility to printing agents, such as toners and inks, can be substantially reversed in response to small changes in temperature. The imaging member is suitable for use in lithographic and printing applications, permitting reversible switching between compatibility states of printing agents, such as between hydrophilic and hydrophobic states or oleophilic and oleophobic states, and enabling rapid production of images on a recording medium. The heat-sensitive material comprises an acrylamide polymer and a silicon material.