Abstract:
Disclosed is an ink set (A) wherein a plurality of aqueous inks (a) are combined to be used together with an aqueous ink (B) containing a water-insoluble coloring material. Each aqueous ink (a) constituting the ink set (A) contains one or more water-soluble organic solvents which are poor solvents for the water-insoluble coloring material of the aqueous ink (B), and the vapor pressure of at least one of the water-soluble organic solvents contained in each aqueous ink (a) at 20˚C is lower than the vapor pressure of water at 20˚C. When such an ink set is used for combining a plurality of aqueous inks so as to form a full color image wherein different color regions are adjacent to one another, the resulting image can be suppressed in color mixture (bleeding) at the boundaries between different color regions.
Abstract:
Disclosed is an aqueous ink containing water, a plurality of water-soluble organic solvents and a colorant. The colorant is composed of a pigment, and at least one ionic group is bonded to the surface of a pigment particle directly or via an other atomic group. The water-soluble organic solvents contain a good solvent and a poor solvent for the pigment. The poor solvent does not solvate the pigment at all or does not substantially solvate the pigment. The ionic group is not dissociated at all or is not substantially dissociated in the poor solvent. Furthermore, a poor solvent has the largest Ka value, which is determined by the Bristow method, among the water-soluble organic solvents.
Abstract:
A water-based ink of the present invention comprises water, a plurality of different water-soluble organic solvents, and a water-insoluble coloring material, wherein the above water-soluble organic solvents consist of a good solvent to the above water-insoluble coloring material and a poor solvent to the above water-insoluble coloring material, and the total amount (% by mass) of the good solvents in the ink is represented by A and the total amount (% by mass) of the poor solvent in the ink is represented by B, the ratio of A to B ranges from 10:5 to 10:30 both inclusive, and when the respective Ka values of the above water-soluble organic solvents are determined by the Bristow method and compared with each other, a water-soluble organic solvent having the largest Ka value is the poor solvent. The pigment ink has a sufficiently large area factor even with a small amount of ink and provides an image of high OD.
Abstract:
Disclosed is an aqueous ink comprising at least water, a plurality of water-soluble organic solvents and a coloring material. The coloring material is a pigment, and, it contains a pigment particle having at least one ionic group bonded to a surface of the pigment particle directly or via another atomic group. The plurality of water-soluble organic solvents have a good medium or good mediums for the pigment and a poor medium or poor mediums for the pigment. The poor medium does not solvate perfectly or substantially the pigment. The ionic group undergoes perfectly or substantially no ionic dissociation in the poor medium. Also, among the respective Ka values of the plurality of water-soluble organic solvents as determined by the Bristow method, the Ka value of the poor medium is maximum.
Abstract:
Disclosed herein is a liquid discharging method, comprising using a liquid-discharge head equipped with a discharge opening from which a liquid is discharged, a first region to which a first liquid is supplied, a bubble-generating region containing a second liquid and generating bubbles in the second liquid, and a movable member which is displaceable between a first position opposite to the bubble-generating region and a second position within the first region and apart from the bubble-generating region and has a support part more upstream than its free end, in which the movable member is displaced from the first position toward the second position with the generation of a bubble in the bubble-generating region, and the bubble is guided to the discharge opening by the movable member, wherein the first liquid and the second liquid have no compatibility with each other.
Abstract:
An ink jet recording method and apparatus for performing recording by discharging ink onto a recording medium in accordance with recording data using a recording head having ink discharge ports for discharging the ink. The apparatus includes a scanning unit for scanning the recording head relative to the recording medium for discharging ink to record pixels on the recording medium, and a determining unit for determining whether the recording data includes non-discharge data for a predetermined number of successive pixels to be recorded by the recording head, and for generating a corresponding determination output signal. The apparatus further includes a control unit for controlling ink discharge in accordance with the determination output signal such that an amount of ink discharged for forming at least one pixel subsequent to the predetermined number of successive pixels is reduced from a predetermined recording amount, when the recording data is determined to include non-discharge data for the predetermined number of successive pixels.