Provided is, for example, a compound excellent in light fastness and storage stability. The compound is characterized by having a structure represented by the following formula (1) or (2). ##STR00001##

Provided are a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet capable of providing a print having pearly designability and a method for producing a print.

A thermal transfer image-receiving sheet 100 including a layer constituted only by a receiving layer 2 or two or more layers including a receiving layer provided on one surface of a support 1, the receiving layer 2 being located on the outermost surface, wherein any one of layers constituting the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet contains an inorganic pigment, and when light is allowed to enter the surface on the side of the receiving layer at an incident angle of 45°, λL* between receiving angles of 110° and 15° with respect to the specular reflection angle of the incident light is 25 or more and 50 or less.

A thermal transfer ribbon comprising a dye layer and a transferable protective layer repeatedly formed on one surface of a substrate, the transferable protective layer having a first layer formed on the substrate, and a second layer formed on the first layer. The first layer comprises an acrylic resin (X) containing methyl methacrylate, an acrylic resin (Y) containing a styrene resin, and a polyester resin (Z). X has a weight average molecular weight of 120000 or more, the mass ratio of X and Y is within the range of 1:9 to 9:1, and the mass of Z is 1% or more and 3% or less of the total mass of X and Y.

A method for manufacturing a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet support that can be used to obtain a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet that maintains its gloss and that has excellent handleability and high condition uniformity while preventing the formation of air bubbles in an adhesive layer. A resin is supplied to one side of a substrate, which is passed between a cooling roller A and a rubber roller A. A porous film is stacked on another side of the substrate through a resin, and the substrate is passed between a cooling roller B and a rubber roller B. The cooling rollers A and B have surfaces with a ten-point average roughness (Rz) of 5 to 30 m and 0 to 20 m, respectively. The rubber rollers A and B have a rubber hardness (durometer (Type A)) of 60 to 95 and 50 to 80, respectively.

The present invention relates to a printing method for transferring printing substance from an ink carrier to a substrate, in which the printing substance undergoes a change in volume and/or position with the aid of an energy-emitting device that emits energy during a process time in the form of electromagnetic waves wherein the printing substance comprises a high molecular weight binder. In addition, the present invention describes a printing substance for carrying out the method and the use thereof.

A thermal transfer recording medium comprises a heat-resistant lubricating layer laminated on a first surface of a substrate, and an undercoat layer and a dye layer laminated in this order on a second surface of the substrate. The dye layer contains, as binders, a polyvinyl acetal resin, a phenoxy resin, and a graft copolymer having a main chain comprising polycarbonate and a side chain comprising a vinyl-based polymer, and also contains Compounds I, II, and III as cyan dyes.

An example of an imaging medium includes an image-receiving substrate, a donor ribbon attached to the image-receiving substrate, and a registration mark. The donor ribbon includes a donor ribbon substrate, a release layer disposed on the donor ribbon substrate, and a color-forming layer disposed on the release layer. The color-forming layer includes a repeated pattern. A repeat of the pattern includes at least three adjacent color-forming stripes including a cyan-forming stripe, a magenta-forming stripe, and a yellow-forming stripe, or a grid of four color-forming sections including i) a color-forming section selected from the group consisting of black-forming, cyan-forming, light cyan-forming, yellow-forming, magenta-forming, and light magenta-forming, ii) a cyan-forming section, iii) a magenta-forming section, and iv) a yellow-forming section. The color-forming layer is in contact with the image-receiving substrate.

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.

An example of an imaging medium includes an image-receiving substrate, a donor ribbon attached to the image-receiving substrate, and a registration mark. The donor ribbon includes a donor ribbon substrate, a release layer disposed on the donor ribbon substrate, and a color layer disposed on the release layer. The color layer includes a repeated pattern. A repeat of the pattern includes at least adjacent color stripes including a cyan stripe, a magenta stripe, and a yellow stripe, or a grid of four color sections including i) a colored section selected from the group consisting of black, cyan, light cyan, yellow, magenta, and light magenta, ii) a cyan section, iii) a magenta section, and iv) a yellow section. The color layer is in contact with the image-receiving substrate.

The present invention relates to a preparation comprising a light stabilizer, its use for the production of a transfer medium, a process making the same, as well as a transfer medium and its use.