Abstract:
Disclosed is an aqueous ink containing water, a water-insoluble colorant and a plurality of water-soluble organic solvents. The water-soluble organic solvents contain a good solvent and poor solvent for the water-insoluble colorant in a specific ratio, and the water-soluble solvent having the largest Ka value among the water-soluble organic solvents is a poor solvent. When such an aqueous ink is in contact with a specific reactive liquid, the dissolution state or dispersion state of the water-insoluble colorant in the ink is destabilized, thereby having a sufficiently large area factor even with a small amount of ink droplet and enabling to obtain an image which is excellent in the image density, bleed resistance and fixability. This aqueous ink is also excellent in shelf life stability.
Abstract:
Provided herein is an aqueous ink, which is excellent in both image density and fixing ability irrespective of the kind of a recording medium even when the volume of an ink droplet is small and has such excellent properties that white stripes are not caused even when high-speed recording is conducted. The aqueous ink comprises at least water, a water-soluble organic solvent, a water-insoluble coloring material, a surfactant and a poor medium for the water-insoluble coloring material and/or a salt. The dynamic surface tension of the aqueous ink at a lifetime of 50 milliseconds determined by a maximum bubble pressure method is higher than 47 mN/m, and the dynamic surface tension at a lifetime of 5,000 milliseconds determined by the maximum bubble pressure method is 38 mN/m or lower.
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:
A liquid for head fed to efficiently eliminate any ink residue, etc. adhering to the surface of inkjet head furnished with a discharge orifice for discharging a colorant-containing ink. When a nonvolatile solvent, such as glycerol, is used as the liquid for head, the nonvolatile solvent due to moisture absorption exhibits an extremely large mass change, thereby causing the amount of liquid fed to disperse. As for this problem, it has been found that reduction of mass change as compared with that in the moisture absorption in the nonvolatile solvent alone can be realized by premixing water in the nonvolatile solvent. Thus, a mixture of nonvolatile solvent and water made at appropriate given ratio is used as the liquid for head.
Abstract:
A method for cleaning the surface (ejection surface) of an inkjet head provided with an ink ejection opening, in which the cleaning is made by supplying head liquid to the ejection surface and performing wiping operation. In the method, the relative relationship of surface tension between the ejection surface, ink, and the head liquid is appropriately determined and an ink residue is efficiently and reliably removed from the ejection surface to achieve sufficient cleanliness. When the head liquid is supplied to the ink residue on the ejection surface, they are mixed and the ink residue is taken into the head liquid. Because both the ink and the head liquid used have higher surface tension than the ejection surface, wetness of the dissolved ink residue on the ejection surface is reduced and the dissolved ink residue is smoothly moved by wiping operation.
Abstract:
Disclosed is a cyan ink used for an ink set comprising a plurality of aqueous inks respectively containing at least water, a water-insoluble colorant and a plurality of water-soluble organic solvents including a good solvent for the water-insoluble colorant and a poor solvent for the water-insoluble colorant. The ratio between the good solvent and the poor solvent contained in the cyan ink is within a specific range, and the water-soluble solvent having the largest Ka value among the water-soluble organic solvents is a poor solvent. In addition, the ratio between the good solvent and the poor solvent contained in an arbitrary aqueous ink other than the cyan ink in the ink set and the ratio between the good solvent and the poor solvent in the cyan ink satisfy a certain relation.
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 method for cleaning the surface (ejection surface) of an ink jet head provided with an ink ejection opening by supplying a head liquid to the ejection surface and performing wiping operation. In the method, ink residue on the ejection surface is removed efficiently and surely, thus sufficient cleaning is performed. Application and stirring/mixing of the head liquid are carried out efficiently by performing first wiping operation such that the body portion of a wiper (9A) slides on the ejection surface while bending the wiper significantly. Mixture of the head liquid and the ink residue is then scraped efficiently by performing second wiping operation such that an edge portion at the forward end of a wiper (9B) slides on that surface.