Ink Composition Crystallinity Control for Color and Light Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Inkjet printers face challenges in achieving good color reproducibility, abrasion resistance, durability, light resistance, and gloss with current inks, as dye-based inks lack water resistance and pigment inks suffer from color degradation and inferior gloss compared to dye inks.
Innovation Solution
An ink composition using a pigment with reduced crystallinity, maintained crystalline structure, and specific particle size, combined with a hydrosoluble solvent and water, is developed, utilizing a microreactor for pigment precipitation and a dispersing agent to enhance dispersion stability and inkjet printing performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If pigment is used as coloring agent to improve light resistance and water resistance, then durability is improved, but coloring quality deteriorates due to beam coherence and multiple reflections
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by precisely controlling the crystallinity of the pigment particles. By adjusting the crystallinity index to a specific range (0.15-0.35), the invention optimizes the balance between light resistance and coloring quality. This parameter optimization reduces unwanted light scattering while maintaining the pigment's inherent durability advantages.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite materials by combining pigment particles with specific crystallinity characteristics and resin coatings. The resin coating serves multiple functions: it protects the pigment particles, enhances dispersion stability, and modifies optical properties to reduce beam coherence effects, thereby improving coloring quality while preserving light resistance.
2Stability of the object's composition
If pigment particulates coated with resin are used to improve fixing property and gas resistance, then dispersion stability is improved, but gloss deteriorates compared to dye ink
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the resin coating thickness and composition parameters to achieve the desired balance. By controlling the resin content and molecular weight, the invention maintains adequate dispersion stability while minimizing the negative impact on gloss. The resin layer is optimized to be thin enough to allow light penetration for gloss while providing sufficient protection for dispersion stability.
3Illumination intensity
If pigment crystallinity is reduced to improve coloring quality, then color saturation is improved, but light resistance and gas resistance deteriorate drastically
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by precisely controlling the crystallinity index within a specific range (0.15-0.35). This optimized crystallinity level is sufficient to improve coloring quality by reducing beam coherence effects, while maintaining enough crystalline structure to preserve the pigment's light resistance and gas resistance properties. The resin coating further protects the pigment particles, ensuring durability is maintained even at reduced crystallinity.
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
The ink composition achieves improved color quality, light resistance, and image gloss without degrading pigment characteristics, enabling high-saturation and bright images on various paper types.
Implementation Method 1
the coloring of the pigment ink is degraded by coherence of beams of light having different wavelengths and phases produced by multiple reflections of the beams of light within the pigment
Implementation Method 2
utilizing a microreactor for pigment precipitation
Implementation Method 3
a pigment represented by the following chemical formula 1; a hydrosoluble solvent; and water. The pigment satisfies the following relation 1: 0.040 < Y/X ≤ 0.15, where X is peak intensity at a diffraction angle 2θ of from 26.5° to 27.5° and Y is peak intensity at a diffraction angle 2θ of from 11.0° to 11.5° in a CuKα X-ray diffraction spectrum
Implementation Method 4
a dispersing agent to enhance dispersion stability and inkjet printing performance
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
An ink composition contains a pigment represented by the following chemical formula 1; a hydrosoluble solvent; and water, wherein the pigment satisfies the following relation 1: 0.040 < Y/X < 0.200 (Relation 1), where, in a CuKa X-ray diffraction spectrum having a wavelength of 1.541 Å, X represents a peak intensity at a Bragg (2θ ± 0.2 °) angle in a range of 2θ of from 26.5 ° to 27.5 ° and Y represents a peak intensity at a Bragg (2θ ± 0.2 °) angle in a range of 2θ of from 11.0 ° to 11.5 °: