Ink

Abstract

An aqueous ink including: from 0.1 to 8 parts by weight of a self-dispersible pigment which comprises a carboxy-functional dispersant crosslinked around a pigment core by a crosslinking agent having at least two groups selected from oxetane, carbodiimide, hydrazide, oxazoline, aziridine, isocyanate, N-methylol, keteneimine, isocyanurate and epoxy groups; from 10 to 25 parts by weight of a first solvent selected from one or more of the group consisting of ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, dipropylene glycol and triethylene glycol; from 2 to 10 parts by weight of a second solvent selected from one or more of the group consisting of 2-pyrrolidone, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, N-ethyl-2-pyrrolidone, N-cyclohexyl-2-pyrrolidone and N,N-dimethylacetamide; from 20 to 45 parts by weight of glycerol; from 4 to 12 parts by weight of a styrene butadiene latex binder and/or a polyurethane latex binder; from 0.1 to 2 parts by weight of an acetylenic surfactant; from 0 to 2 parts by weight of 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one; and the balance to 100 parts by weight water. Also ink-jet printing processes, printed materials, ink containers and ink-sets.

Claims

1. An aqueous ink comprising: (a) from 0.1 to 8 parts by weight of a self-dispersible pigment which comprises a carboxy-functional dispersant crosslinked around a pigment core by a crosslinking agent having at least two groups selected from oxetane, carbodiimide, hydrazide, oxazoline, aziridine, isocyanate, N-methylol, keteneimine, isocyanurate and epoxy groups; (b) from 10 to 25 parts of a first solvent selected from one or more of the group consisting of ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, dipropylene glycol and triethylene glycol; (c) from 2 to 10 parts of a second solvent selected from one or more of the group consisting of 2-pyrrolidone, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, N-ethyl-2-pyrrolidone, N-cyclohexyl-2-pyrrolidone and N,N-dimethylacetamide; (d) from 20 to 45 parts of glycerol; (e) from 4 to 12 parts of a styrene butadiene latex binder and/or a polyurethane latex binder; (f) from 0.1 to 2 parts of an acetylenic surfactant; (g) from 0 to 2 parts of 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one; and (h) the balance to 100 parts water.

2. The ink of as claimed in claim 1 wherein the self-dispersible pigment comprises one or more of Carbon Black; Pigment Blue 15:3; Pigment Yellow 74, Pigment Yellow 155, Pigment Blue 60, Pigment Red 122 and Pigment Red 254.

3. The ink as claimed in claim 1 wherein the carboxy-functional dispersant is a copolymer comprising benzyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid.

4. The ink as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first solvent, component (b), comprises from 10 to 20 parts of triethylene glycol and/or propylene glycol.

5. The ink as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first solvent, component (b), comprises from 10 to 20 parts by weight of triethylene glycol.

6. The ink as claimed in claim 1 wherein, component (d), glycerol, is present in the range of from 24 to 34 parts by weight.

7. The ink as claimed in claim 1 wherein component (e) comprises a styrene butadiene latex binder.

8. The ink as claimed in claim 1 wherein component (e) comprises a polyurethane latex binder.

9. The ink as claimed in claim 1 wherein component (e) is present in the range of from 6 to 10 parts by weight.

10. The ink as claimed in claim 1 wherein component (f) is 2,4,7,9-tetramethyl-5-decyne-4,7-diol.

11. The ink as claimed claim 1 comprising: (a)i from 2 to 6 parts by weight of a self-dispersible pigment which comprises a carboxy-functional dispersant crosslinked around a pigment core by a crosslinking agent having at least two groups selected from oxetane, carbodiimide, hydrazide, oxazoline, aziridine, isocyanate, N-methylol, keteneimine, isocyanurate and epoxy groups; (b)i from 12 to 20 parts by weight of triethylene glycol; (c)i from 3 to 7 parts by weight of 2-pyrrolidone; (d)i from 24 to 34 parts by weight of glycerol; (e)i from 6 to 10 parts by weight of a styrene butadiene latex binder; (f)i from 0.01 to 1.5 parts by weight of 2,4,7,9 tetramethyl-5-decyne-4,7-diol; (g)i from 0.005 to 0.1 parts by weight of 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one; and (h)i the balance to 100 parts by weight of water.

12. The ink as claimed claim 1 comprising: (a)ii from 2 to 6 parts by weight of a self-dispersible pigment which comprises a carboxy-functional dispersant crosslinked around a pigment core by a crosslinking agent having at least two groups selected from oxetane, carbodiimide, hydrazide, oxazoline, aziridine, isocyanate, N-methylol, keteneimine, isocyanurate and epoxy groups; (b)ii from 12 to 20 parts by weight of triethylene glycol; (c)ii from 3 to 7 parts by weight of 2-pyrrolidone; (d)ii from 24 to 34 parts by weight of glycerol; (e)ii from 6 to 10 parts by weight of a polyurethane latex binder; (f)ii from 0.01 to 1.5 parts by weight of 2,4,7,9 tetramethyl-5-decyne-4,7-diol; (g)ii from 0.005 to 0.1 parts by weight of 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one; and (h)ii the balance to 100 parts by weight of water.

13. An ink-jet printing process wherein the ink of claim 1 is printed onto a textile substrate using an ink jet printer with single-pass print-head followed by curing of the printed textile substrate.

14. A textile printed by the ink-jet printing process according to claim 13.

15. An ink-jet printer ink container containing the ink of claim 1.

16. An ink-set comprising two or more different coloured inks where at least one of the inks is the ink of claim 1.

Description

EXAMPLES

(1) Ink and Comparative Ink Examples

(2) The self-dispersible pigment used were Pro-Jet APD 4000 Black (K) (Carbon Black) and Pro-Jet APD 4000 Magenta (M) (Pigment Red 122). The Pro-Jet APD 4000 pigment dispersions are available from FUJIFILM Imaging Colorants Limited.

(3) Surfynol 440 is an acetylenic surfactant from Air Products.

(4) Rovene 4170 is a styrene butadiene dispersion from Mallard Creek Polymers. The Tg of Rovene 4170 is 4 C. and the acid number is 50mgKOH/g.

(5) 1,2-Benzisothazolin-3-one was obtained as Proxel GXL (20% solution) from Lonza.

(6) Polyurethane latex binder 1 (PU Binder 1) is Bayhydrol UH2606 from Covestro.

(7) Polyurethane latex binder 2 (PU Binder 2) is Dispecoll U42 from Covestro.

(8) PEG 20 is polyethylene glycol 20,000.

(9) EG is ethylene glycol.

(10) TEG is triethylene glycol.

(11) PG is propylene glycol.

(12) 2-P is 2-pyrrolidone.

(13) Example Inks 1 to 3 and Comparative Example Inks C1 to C3 were prepared as shown below in Table 2.

(14) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Ink 1 Ink 2 Ink 3 Ink C1 Ink C2 Ink C3 ProJet ADP 4000 K 4 4 4 4 4 ProJet ADP 4000 M 4 PEG 20 5.2 3 1 EG 1.25 TEG 18 15 10 15 PG 15 2-P 5 5 5 5 5 5 Glycerol 30 27 28 3.75 10 18.5 Surfynol 440 0.52 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.4 0.5 Proxel GXL 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 Rovene 4170 8 PU Binder 1 8 8 8 8 8 Water to 100 parts
Properties of the Example Inks and Comparative Example Inks

(15) The properties of Example Inks 1 to 3 and Comparative Example Inks C1 to C3 are shown below in Table 3

(16) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Ink 1 Ink 2 Ink 3 C Ink 1 C Ink 2 C Ink 3 Viscosity at 12.24 12.3 12.96 12.84 12.46 11.94 32 C. (cP) Surface Tension at 36.24 35.6 35.75 36.17 36.03 35.31 25 C. (mN/m) pH 8.53 8.36 8.36 8.46 8.33 8.31

(17) Surface tension was measured at 25 C. using a Kruss K-11 Tensiometer (Wilhelmy Plate Method).

(18) Viscosity was measured at 32 C. using a Brookfield DV-II or DV-II+ digital viscometer with UL-adapter and water jacket and spindle SOO at 3 rpm.

(19) Ink Performance

(20) Example Inks 1 to 3 and Comparative Inks 1 to 3 were printed through a SG1024 SA single-pass recirculating print-head mounted on a JetXpert imaging rig. Small, medium and large drops were printed at 8 kHz and 19 kHz frequency.

(21) Example inks 1 to 3 all fired reliably through all the nozzles and caused only minimal face-plate wetting.

(22) However, the Comparative Inks all failed to fire reliably and they all caused significant face-plate wetting.

(23) Thus although all the inks display similar properties, as shown in Table 3, only those inks according to the present invention display acceptable performance and would be suitable for use in an industrial single-pass ink-jet printer.

(24) Example Ink Set

(25) Table 4 shows an ink-set according to the present invention able to give a full scope of color when printed on a range of Textile substrates. In addition to the components used above, ProJet ADP 1000 Black (Carbon Black), ProJet ADP 1000 Cyan (Pigment Blue 15:3), ProJet ADP 1000 Yellow LF (Pigment Yellow 155), ProJet ADP 1000 Red (Pigment Red 254) and ProJet ADP 1000 Blue (Pigment Blue 60) were also used. Pro-Jet APD 1000 pigment dispersions are available from FUJIFILM Imaging Colorants Limited.

(26) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Ink-Set Example Cyan Ink Magenta Ink Yellow Ink Black Ink Red Ink Blue Ink ProJet ADP 1000 Cyan 4 ProJet ADP 4000 Magenta 4 ProJet ADP 1000 Yellow LF 4 ProJet ADP 1000 Black 4 ProJet ADP 1000 Red 4 ProJet ADP 1000 Blue 4 TEG 15 18 15 15 15 15 2-P 5 5 5 5 5 5 Glycerol 30 30 29 27 30 31 Surfynol 440 0.4 0.52 0.35 0.5 0.5 0.5 Proxel GXL 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 Rovene 4170 8 8 8 8 8 PU Binder 2 8 Water to 100 parts Ink Properties Viscosity at 25 C. cp 15.1 15.7 14.26 15.8 14.18 12.66 Viscosity at 32 C. cp 11.82 12.2 11.04 12.4 11.02 10.01 Surface Tension at 25 C. mN/m 37.52 36.2 38.28 35.9 36.24 35.05 pH 8.66 8.5 8.61 8.4 8.53 8.45