FAST-DRYING, RADIOFREQUENCY-ACTIVATABLE INKJET INKS AND METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR THEIR USE

• US 20090189930A1
• Filed: 04/07/2009
• Published: 07/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BASF Corporation (BASF SE)
• Original Assignee: BASF Corporation (BASF SE)
• Inventors: Chylla, Richard W. JR., Gorbold, Johnathan M., Campbell, J. David, Brotton, David E., Debling, Jon A., Gorbold, Timothy D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,061,832 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/6
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 11/002 Curing or drying the ink on the copy materials, e.g. by heating or irradiating
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 11/00216 using infrared [IR] radiation or microwaves
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17593 Supplying ink in a solid state
• CPC Class Codes: C09D 11/30 Inkjet printing inks
• CPC Class Codes: C09D 11/34 Hot-melt inks
• CPC Class Codes: C09D 11/40 Ink-sets specially adapted for multi-colour inkjet printing
• CPC Class Codes: D06P 1/5221 Polymers of unsaturated hydrocarbons, e.g. polystyrene polyalkylene
• CPC Class Codes: D06P 1/5257 (Meth)acrylic acid
• CPC Class Codes: D06P 5/2011 Application of vibrations, pulses or waves for non-thermic purposes
• CPC Class Codes: D06P 5/2066 Thermic treatments of textile materials
• CPC Class Codes: D06P 5/2083 heating with IR or microwaves
• CPC Class Codes: D06P 5/30 Ink jet printing

Abstract

The present invention provides methods of drying radiofrequency-activatable inkjet inks, methods for customizing the radiofrequency parameters of an RF source based on pre-selected printing conditions, and methods for selecting or formulating an RF inkjet ink composition based on pre-selected printing conditions and/or printing equipment. The invention further provides radiofrequency-activatable inks having customized radiofrequency susceptibility profiles and to sets of such radiofrequency-activatable inks.

Claims

1. A system for customizing inkjet ink selection for a printing apparatus having an RF source, the system comprising:

receiving information about at least one RF parameter of the RF source;

receiving information about at least one ink application parameter; and

selecting or formulating an RF inkjet ink composition having a desirable RF susceptibility profile based on the at least one RF parameter and the at least one ink application parameter.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the RF susceptibility profile includes information about a dielectric loss value of the RF inkjet ink composition at a given radiofrequency.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one ink application parameter is selected from the group consisting of volumetric rate of ink droplet discharge, printing speed and substrate type.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one RF parameter is selected from the group consisting of frequency, power output, load impedance match, and RF field configuration.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the system comprises formulating the RF inkjet ink composition having the desirable RF susceptibility profile based on the at least one RF parameter and the at least one ink application parameter.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the formulating comprises:

providing a first inkjet ink comprising a first RF susceptor, the first inkjet ink having a first RF susceptibility; and

modifying the RF susceptibility of the first inkjet ink by adding an effective amount of a second RF susceptor to the first inkjet ink to provide the RF-activatable ink having the desirable RF susceptibility profile.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the RF inkjet ink composition comprises a colorant, and a polar carrier, and further wherein the total amount of RF susceptor is present in the second inkjet ink in an amount of about 0.1 to 10 wt. %.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the second RF susceptor comprises a RF-activatable acrylic acid copolymer.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the dielectric loss value at a given radiofrequency is 1000-20,000 at 30 MHz.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein the dielectric loss value at a given radiofrequency is 200-5,000 at 60 MHz.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein the dielectric loss value at a given radiofrequency is 1000-20,000 at 30 MHz.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the second RF susceptor is an ionomer.

13. The system of claim 6, wherein the first RF susceptor and the second RF susceptor are the same.

14. The system of claim 6, wherein the first RF susceptor and the second RF susceptor are different.

15. A method of producing an RF inkjet ink composition, the method comprising printing an aqueous inkjet ink onto a substrate, the RF inkjet ink comprising water soluble RF susceptors, whereby the RF susceptors are dissolved in the printed inkjet ink to produce an RF-activatable inkjet ink.

16. A set of inkjet inks comprising a plurality of inks, wherein each ink of the set of inkjet inks is formulated to have substantially the same dielectric loss at a selected radiofrequency as the other inks in the set of inkjet inks.

17. A system for customizing the RF parameters of a printing apparatus having an RF source, the system comprising:

receiving an RF susceptibility profile for an RF inkjet ink composition;

receiving information about at least one ink application parameter; and

selecting at least one RF parameter of the RF source based on the RF susceptibility profile and the at least one ink application parameter.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the RF susceptibility profile includes information about the ink'"'"'s dielectric loss at a given radiofrequency.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one ink application parameter is selected from the group consisting of volumetric rate of ink droplet discharge, printing speed and substrate type.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one RF parameter is selected from the group consisting of frequency, power output, load impedence match and RF field configuration.