Solid ink compositions comprising crystalline-amorphous mixtures

• US 8,506,040 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2011
• Issued: 08/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Belelie, Jennifer L., Odell, Peter G., Drappel, Stephan V., Chopra, Naveen, Breton, Marcel P., Iftime, Gabriel, Allen, C. Geoffrey, Carlini, Rina, Morimitsu, Kentaro
• Primary Examiner(s): Qian, Yun
• Application Number:
  US13/095,636
• Publication Number:
  US 20120274699A1
• Time in Patent Office: 839 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 347/20
• CPC Class Codes: C09D 11/34 Hot-melt inks

Abstract

A solid ink composition comprising an amorphous component, a crystalline material, and optionally, a colorant, which are suitable for ink jet printing, including printing on coated paper substrates. In embodiments, the solid ink formulation comprises a blend of an amorphous and crystalline components which provides a solid ink with excellent robustness when forming images or printing on coated paper substrates.

Claims

1. A phase change ink comprising:

at least a crystalline component having a viscosity of less than 12 cps at a temperature of 140°

C. and a viscosity of greater than 1×

10⁶ cps at room temperature; and

at least an amorphous component having a viscosity of less than 100 cps at a temperature of 140°

C. and a viscosity of greater than 1×

10⁶ cps at room temperature, wherein the crystalline component is selected from the group consisting of

2. The phase change ink of claim 1, wherein the crystalline and amorphous components are blended in a weight ratio of from 65:

35 to 95;

5, respectively.

3. The phase change ink of claim 2, wherein the crystalline and amorphous components are blended in a weight ratio of from 70:

30 to 90;

10, respectively.

4. The phase change ink of claim 1, wherein the crystalline component has a viscosity of from 0.5 to 10 cps at a temperature of 140°

C.

5. The phase change ink of claim 4, wherein the crystalline component has a viscosity of from 1 to 10 cps at a temperature of 140°

C.

6. The phase change ink of claim 1, wherein the crystalline component exhibits crystallization (T_crys) and melting (T_melt) peaks according to differential scanning calorimetry and the difference between the peaks (T_melt−

T_crys) is less than 55°

C.

7. The phase change ink of claim 1, wherein the crystalline component has a melting point of above 65°

C.

8. The phase change ink of claim 7, wherein the crystalline component has a melting point of from 65 to 130°

C.

9. The phase change ink of claim 1, wherein the amorphous component has a viscosity of from 1 to 100 cps at a temperature of about 140°

C.

10. The phase change ink of claim 1, wherein the amorphous component has a viscosity at least 10⁶ cps at room temperature.

11. The phase change ink of claim 1, wherein the amorphous component has a molecular weight of less than 1000 g/mol.

12. The phase change ink of claim 11, wherein the amorphous component has a molecular weight of from 300 to less than 1000 g/mol.

13. The phase change ink of claim 1, wherein the amorphous component has a glass transition temperature (T_g) value of from 10 to 50°

C.

14. The phase change ink of claim 13, wherein the amorphous component has a glass transition temperature (T_g) value of from 10 to 40°

C.

15. A phase change ink comprising:

at least a crystalline component having a viscosity of less than 12 cps at a temperature of 140°

C. and a viscosity of greater than 1×

10⁶ cps at room temperature; and

at least an amorphous component having a viscosity of less than 100 cps at a temperature of 140°

C. and a viscosity of greater than 1×

10⁶ cps at room temperature, wherein the amorphous component is selected from the group consisting of