A thermal transfer recording medium includes a base, a release layer disposed on or above the base, and a thermally fusible ink layer disposed on or above the release layer. The release layer includes wax and ethylene-propylene-ethylidene norbornene rubber.

Provided are a combination of a thermal transfer sheet and an intermediate transfer medium which is capable of accurately transferring only a transfer layer of the intermediate transfer medium desired to be transferred onto a transfer receiving article in the production of a print, and a thermal transfer sheet which is used in combination with an intermediate transfer medium. Also provided are a method for producing a print, comprising accurately transferring only a transfer layer of an intermediate transfer medium desired to be transferred onto a transfer receiving article, and a thermal transfer printer which is used in this method for producing a print. In the thermal transfer sheet which is used in combination with an intermediate transfer medium, inhibit layer 2 is disposed on substrate 1, and the inhibit layer 2 contains a carnauba wax.

An object is to provide a thermal transfer sheet that can prevent the occurrence of layer detachment and has high transferability for preventing the occurrence of transfer defects such as delamination trace and tailing. The thermal transfer sheet of the invention is characterized in that it includes a substrate, a release layer, and a transfer layer in that order, and the release layer contains at least one of alumina and alumina hydrate, and a binder resin.

In one aspect, the present invention relates to a thermosensitive recording medium comprising at least: —a support layer; —a thermosensitive colouring layer over the support layer, the thermosensitive colouring layer containing a leuco dye; and —a protective layer over the thermosensitive colouring layer; wherein the thermosensitive colouring layer comprises a developer having the general formula (I) below: wherein R.sub.1 to R.sub.3 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a C1-C6 alkyl group, a C1-C6 alkoxyl group, a C1-C6 fluoroalkyl group; characterized in that the protective layer comprises particles of wax with an average particle size of at least 0.05 μm and at most 2.0 μm. In further aspects, the present invention relates to a label for attachment to a product comprising the thermosensitive recording medium of the invention, and to a consumer product package to which a thermosensitive recording medium or a label of the invention has been attached. ##STR00001##

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a thermosensitive recording material that achieves high recording density and excellent preservability of a recorded part, or to provide a thermosensitive recording material that achieves high recording density, and excellent heat resistant and resistance to thermal background fogging property in a high temperature environment, as well as excellent sticking resistance and resistance to dirt adhesion of head. The present invention is a thermosensitive recording material having a thermosensitive recording layer containing at least a leuco dye and a developer on a support; the thermosensitive recording material containing, as the developer, a sulfonamide compound represented by general formula (1); (a) the thermosensitive recording material further having a protective layer on the thermosensitive recording layer; the protective layer containing at least one type of adhesive agent selected from the group consisting of water soluble adhesive agents and water dispersible adhesive agents; and at least one of the thermosensitive recording layer or the protective layer containing a water resistance-imparting agent; or (b) the thermosensitive recording layer further containing saturated fatty acid amide represented by general formula (2).

There is provided a transfer sheet with improvement in smudges and blurs of a transfer layer when printed matters are produced even after storing the transfer sheet under high temperatures. The 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, a silicone oil and/or a wax component and the total contents of the silicone oil and the wax component in the peel layer is 0.1 mass % or more and 15 mass % or less, based on the solid content of mass of the binder resin.

To provide a thermal transfer sheet enabling production of a print having extremely good abrasion resistance and a print having extremely good abrasion resistance.

A thermal transfer sheet 100 in which a transfer layer 10 is provided on one surface of a substrate 1, wherein the transfer layer 10 has a single-layer structure composed only of a protective layer 5 or a layered structure including a protective layer 10 located nearest from a side of the substrate, and the protective layer 5 contains an acrylic resin and an ethoxylated alcohol.

The present invention relates to thermal recording materials comprising (in order): a support (base) layer; one or more “undercoat” layers; a thermal layer (thermosensitive coloring layer); and one or more “protective” layers, wherein the thermal recording material contains an aminocarboxylic and/or phosphorus-based chelating agent.

The thermal (thermosensitive) recording materials of the invention show enhanced plasticizer resistance and/or preprint uniformity.

A thermosensitive recording medium includes a base material; a thermosensitive recording layer; and an under layer disposed between the base material and the thermosensitive recording layer and containing a non-thermally-expandable hollow filler. The thermosensitive recording medium includes a hydrocarbon, where an amount of the hydrocarbon having from 3 through 16 carbon atoms is 0.2 mg/m.sup.2 or more, relative to an area of the thermosensitive recording medium.

Provided is a thermal transfer sheet that can form a good image on both a transfer object made of a polyethylene terephthalate and a transfer object made of a polypropylene, as well as can form an image with high alcohol resistance. The thermal transfer sheet of the present invention includes a substrate, and a transfer layer including a colored layer and an adhesive layer, in which the adhesive layer has a phase-separated structure formed by a polyester and a polyolefin that are incompatible with each other, and in which the percentage of the region formed by one of the polyester and the polyolefin to the total area (100%) of the adhesive layer is 55% or more and 85% or less.