Continuous inkjet ink composition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11208569-B2
Application number	US-201816756654-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2018
Priority date	Oct 16, 2017
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate to ink compositions suitable for applications in the printing industry, for example continuous inkjet printing, including ultra-high speed continuous inkjet printing. The ink compositions use volatile organic solvents, a colorant, and one or more binder resins including a resin that is a phenolic resole resin, wherein the ink composition is free of methanol, halogens, halogenated compounds and bisphenol-A. A phenolic resole resin of the ink composition preferably contains less than 0.1% by weight of free formaldehyde. The one or more binder resins including the phenolic resole resin may be present in an amount that is from about 5% to about 30% by weight of the ink composition.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A continuous inkjet ink composition, comprising:
one or more volatile organic solvents;
one or more binder resins including a phenolic resole resin; and
one or more colorants;

wherein the ink composition is free of or substantially free of, halogens, halogenated compounds and bisphenol-A and free of methanol, and
wherein the ink composition is heat curable after printing.

2. The ink composition of claim 1 , wherein less than 0.1% by weight of the ink composition is free formaldehyde.

3. The ink composition of claim 2 , wherein the one or more binder resins includes a first phenolic resole resin that contains less than 0.1% by weight of free formaldehyde and a second phenolic resole resin that contains more than 0.1% by weight of free formaldehyde.

4. The ink composition of claim 3 , wherein the second phenolic resole resin has between 0.1% and 0.6% by weight of free formaldehyde.

5. The ink composition of claim 1 , wherein a phenolic resole resin is one of the one or more binder resin and the phenolic resole resin contains less than 0.1% by weight of free formaldehyde.

6. The ink composition of claim 1 , wherein the phenolic resole resin is a first binder resin and the ink composition comprises one or more second binder resins selected from the group consisting of acrylic, polyacetal, polyvinyl alcohol, poly(styrene-co-allyl alcohol), poly(vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate), poly (vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene), melamine resin, epoxy resin, cellulose esters, cellulose ethers, nitrocellulose resin, styrene-acrylic copolymers, and any other hydroxyl or acidic resin and any combinations thereof.

7. The ink composition of claim 6 , wherein the polyacetal can be polyvinyl butyral, or polyvinyl formal.

8. The ink composition of claim 1 , wherein the solvent is present in an amount of about 60% or greater by weight of the ink composition.

9. The ink composition of claim 1 , wherein the solvent is present in an amount of about 70% or greater by weight of the ink composition.

10. The ink composition of claim 1 , wherein phenolic resole resin is present in amount of about 15% to about 22% by weight of the ink composition.

11. The ink composition of claim 1 , wherein the phenolic resole resin is a first binder resin and the ink composition further comprises a second binder resin and a combination of the first binder resin and the second binder resin is present in amount of about 5% to about 30% by weight of the ink composition.

12. The ink composition of claim 11 , wherein a combination of the one or more first binder resin and one or more second binder resin is present in amount of about 5% to about 30% by weight of the ink composition.

13. The ink composition of claim 11 , wherein a combination of the one or more first binder resin and one or more second binder resin is present in an amount of about 15% to about 22% by weight of the ink composition.

14. A method of continuous inkjet printing on a substrate, comprising: directing a stream of droplets of an ink composition of claim 1 onto a substrate, and then heating the printed ink on the substrate to a predetermined temperature to heat cure the ink on the substrate.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the substrate is nonporous.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of glass, ceramic, polymer films, metals and alloys.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the printed ink is heat cured at 150° C. for 30 minutes or at 110° C. for 2 hours after printing.

18. The continuous inkjet ink composition of claim 1 , wherein the colorant is a dye.

19. The continuous inkjet ink composition of claim 1 , wherein the ink composition is heat cured at 150° C. for 30 minutes or at 110° C. for 2 hours after printing.

20. A continuous inkjet ink composition, comprising:
one or more volatile organic solvents;
one or more first binder resins including a phenolic resole resin;
one or more second binder resins, wherein the combination of the one or more first binder resins and one or more second binder resins is present in an amount from about 5% to about 30% by weight of the ink composition; and
one or more colorants;

wherein the ink composition is free of methanol, halogens, halogenated compounds and bisphenol-A, and
wherein the ink composition is heat curable.

21. The ink composition of claim 20 , wherein the phenolic resole resin has less than 0.1% by weight of free formaldehyde, and the concentration of free formaldehyde in the ink composition is less than 0.1%.

22. The ink composition of claim 21 , wherein the one or more second binder resins include a phenolic resole resin that has more than 0.1% by weight of free formaldehyde.

23. The ink composition of claim 20 , wherein the one or more second binder resins selected from the group consisting of acrylic, polyacetal, polyvinyl alcohol, poly(vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate), poly (vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene), melamine resin, epoxy resin, cellulose esters, cellulose ethers, nitrocellulose resin, styrene-acrylic copolymers, and any other hydroxyl or acidic resin and any combination thereof.

24. The ink composition of claim 20 , wherein the solvent is present in an amount of 60% or greater by weight of the ink composition.

25. The ink composition of claim 20 , wherein the solvent is present in an amount of 70% or greater by weight of the ink composition.

26. The ink composition of claim 20 , wherein the combination of the one or more first resin and one or more second binder resin is present in amount of about 15% to about 22% by weight of the ink composition.

27. The continuous inkjet ink composition of claim 20 , wherein the colorant is a dye.

28. The continuous inkjet ink composition of claim 20 , wherein the ink composition is heat cured at 150° C. for 30 minutes or at 110° C. for 2 hours after printing.

Assignees

• Videojet Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Weng Wei
• Xiao Fengfei
• Deng Godwin
• Zhu Linfang

Classifications

• B41J2/01

  Ink jet · CPC title

• C09D11/103 Primary

  of aldehydes, e.g. phenol-formaldehyde resins · CPC title

• B41J2/02

  generating a continuous ink jet · CPC title

• C09D11/328

  characterised by dyes · CPC title

• B41M5/0023

  Digital printing methods characterised by the inks used (inks per se C09D11/00) · CPC title