There is provided a transfer sheet with improvement in smudges and blurs of a transfer sheet when printed matters are produced. A transfer sheet according to the present invention comprises a substrate, and in the order a peel layer and a transfer layer on the substrate, wherein the peel layer contains a binder resin containing an acrylic-based resin of more than 0 mass and 49 mass % or less and a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate resin of 51 mass % or more and less than 100 mass %.

Proposed are a thermal transfer ribbon and a sticker printing method using the same, which can form not only full-color images formed by a color ink part but also points, such as pearl, fluorescent, luminous, sparkling, glass, and metal glitters. The thermal transfer ribbon includes: a color ink part having a yellow ink part (Y), a magenta ink part (M), and a cyan ink part (C); an overlay part forming an overlay layer to protect a printed surface; and at least one point ink part provided between the color ink part and the overlay part.

Micro characters are expressed by a thermal fusion transfer technique. In a printed matter manufacturing method, a printed matter is manufactured by heating a thermal transfer sheet in accordance with image data, the thermal transfer sheet including a base member, a release layer disposed on the base member and containing a wavelength conversion material that emits visible light with excitation by invisible light, and a thermally fusible ink layer disposed on the release layer, and by transferring the thermally fusible ink layer to a transfer-receiving body. In this method, the image data includes a first pattern and a second pattern. The second pattern is disposed on the first pattern and has a maximum width of a predetermined value or less.

A thermal transfer ribbon includes a carrier layer, a release layer, and a thermally transferable ink layer. The ink layer includes an active ink having a chemistry that is configured, responsive to the occurrence of an environmental, physical or biological condition, to undergo a chemical or physical state change causing a change in the color state of the active ink.

Methods, systems, and apparatus for thermal transfer printing include, in at least one aspect, a printing apparatus including: a band (105) to hold hot melt ink; rollers (110) to hold and transport the band with respect to a substrate (120); a printhead (125) to thermally transfer a portion of hot melt ink from the band to the substrate; an ink feed device (135) to add hot melt ink to the band, a heating device (140) to heat the hot melt ink on the band, and a rigid blade (155) to control ink thickness of the hot melt ink on the band; a meniscus sensor (245) to monitor a meniscus of melted hot melt ink on the band; and a controller (160) communicatively coupled with the meniscus sensor and the ink feed device, wherein the controller can cause the ink feed device to add hot melt ink to the band based on data from the meniscus sensor.

There is provided a thermal transfer sheet having satisfactory peelability when a transfer layer is peeled off without being affected by a peeling environment when the transfer layer is peeled off. A thermal transfer sheet 100 includes a substrate 1 and a transfer layer 10 provided on one surface of the substrate 1, in which the peeling force in a stable period is in the range of 4.6 g/cm or more and 23 g/cm or less when the transfer layer 10 is peeled off at a peeling temperature in the range of 30° C. or more and 70° C. or less and at a peeling angle of 90° while the surface of the transfer layer 10 on the side opposite to the substrate 1 is made to serve as a peeling interface.

A heat transfer system is provided with a first heating element that transfers ink in an ink layer to a transfer-receiving body in a first pattern, a winding part that winds an ink ribbon having ink transferred therein on the downstream side of the first heating element in such a manner that a back surface layer is positioned outside the ink layer, a second heating element that transfers ink in the ink layer to the back surface layer inside the ink layer in a second pattern near the winding part, and a controller that controls the heating elements, and the controller controls the first heating element to transfer ink corresponding to the first pattern by transferring a portion of the ink layer, and controls the second heating element to transfer ink corresponding to the second pattern by transferring the ink layer as a whole.

Provided is a combination of a thermal transfer sheet and a seal-type printing sheet, the combination being capable of preventing occurrence of wrinkles in a print. In a combination of a thermal transfer sheet including a substrate and a colorant layer provided on one surface of the substrate and a seal-type printing sheet including a releasing substrate and a printing paper sheet with a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer provided on a portion of one surface of the releasing substrate, the difference between the dynamic friction coefficient between the colorant layer in the thermal transfer sheet and the printing paper sheet with a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer in the seal-type printing sheet and the dynamic friction coefficient between the colorant layer in the thermal transfer sheet and the releasing substrate in the seal-type printing sheet is 1.0 or less.

Provided is a combination of a thermal transfer sheet and a seal-type printing sheet, the combination being capable of preventing occurrence of wrinkles in a print.

In a combination of a thermal transfer sheet including a substrate and a colorant layer provided on one surface of the substrate and a seal-type printing sheet including a releasing substrate and a printing paper sheet with a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer provided on a portion of one surface of the releasing substrate, the difference between the dynamic friction coefficient between the colorant layer in the thermal transfer sheet and the printing paper sheet with a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer in the seal-type printing sheet and the dynamic friction coefficient between the colorant layer in the thermal transfer sheet and the releasing substrate in the seal-type printing sheet is 1.0 or less.

A laminated film is provided which has excellent shape appearance at winding and also excellent processability and is capable of achieving higher glossiness of printed objects, the laminated film containing a substrate layer (layer A) composed of a biaxially oriented polyester film and a coating layer (layer B) on at least one side of the layer A, wherein the crystal size of the (100) plane of the layer A obtained by an X-ray diffraction measurement is 4.5 nm or more and less than 6.0 nm, a higher heat shrinkage ratio of the laminated film at 150 C. for 30 minutes between a heat shrinkage ratio in the longitudinal direction and a heat shrinkage ratio in the width direction at 150 C. for 30 minutes is 0.5 to 2.5%, the layer B is located on at least one outermost surface layer, and a surface opposite to the surface having the layer B has a center line average roughness (SRa) of 5 to 15 nm.