Decorated leather manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12070964-B2
Application number	US-201917262367-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 7, 2019
Priority date	Aug 10, 2018
Publication date	Aug 27, 2024
Grant date	Aug 27, 2024

Abstract

A manufacturing method for decorating natural leather including the steps of: jetting a decorative image with one or more radiation curable inkjet inks on a leather surface; and curing the radiation curable inkjet inks jetted on the leather surface; wherein the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks include a colorant and a polymerizable composition containing 0.5 to 15.0 wt % of one or more polyfunctional polymerizable compounds and at least 85.0 wt % of one or more monofunctional polymerizable compounds with the weight percentages based on the total weight of the polymerizable composition; wherein the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks include 0 to 35.0 wt % of organic solvent; and at least 85.0 wt % of one or more monofunctional polymerizable compounds; and wherein the glass transition temperature of the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks (I) is less than 25° C.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing a decorated natural leather comprising the steps of:
jetting one or more radiation curable inkjet inks on a base coat present on a natural leather surface to form a decorative image; and
curing the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks;
wherein
the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks comprise a colorant and a polymerizable composition comprising about 0.5 wt % to about 15.0 wt % of one or more polyfunctional polymerizable compounds and at least about 85.0 wt % of one or more monofunctional polymerizable compounds based on the total weight of the polymerizable composition;
the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks comprise no organic solvent or up to about 35.0 wt % of organic solvent based on a weight of the radiation curable inkjet ink; and
the glass transition temperature of the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks as calculated by Formula (I) is less than 25° C.,

Ink
⁢

Tg

=

∑

i
=
1

n

⁢
wt
⁢

%
⁢

PC
⁡
(
i
)

∑

i
=
1

n

⁢

wt
⁢

%
⁢

PC
⁡
(
i
)

273.
1
⁢
5

+

T
⁢
g
⁢
P
⁢

C
⁡
(
i
)

⁢

-
2

73.15

Formula
⁢

(
1
)

wherein
i and n are integers;
n is a total number of the monofunctional polymerizable and the polyfunctional polymerizable compounds in a radiation curable inkjet ink;
TgPC(i) is a glass transition temperature in degree Celsius of a polymerizable compound PC(i); and
wt % PC9(i) is a weight percentage of the polymerizable compound PC(i) based on the weight of the radiation curable inkjet ink.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein one of the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks includes a white pigment in an amount greater than about 16 wt % based on the total weight of the radiation curable inkjet ink.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the white pigment comprises titanium dioxide.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymerizable composition comprise about 1 wt % to about 10 wt % of the one or more polyfunctional polymerizable compounds, and the one or more polyfunctional polymerizable compounds are selected from the group consisting of polyethylene glycol diacrylate, ethoxylated bisphenol A diacrylate, caprolacton-modified neopentylglycolhydoxypivalate diacrylate, ethoxylated hexanediol diacrylate, and combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least about 95 wt % of the monofunctional and polyfunctional polymerizable compounds are selected from the group consisting of monomers, oligomers, polymerizable photoinitiators, polymerizable co-initiators, polymerizable surfactants, polymerizable inhibitors, and combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the radiation curable inkjet ink comprises a photoinitiator comprising one or more acylphosphine oxides.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the natural leather surface is a crusted leather surface.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the base coat comprises a polymer or copolymer based on polyurethane.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a protective topcoat to the decorative image after at least partially curing the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the protective top coat comprises a polymer or copolymer based on polyurethane.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising a heat pressing step or an embossing step.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first of the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks is a blue inkjet ink comprising C.I. Pigment Blue 15:3, C.I. Pigment Blue 15:4, and mixed crystals thereof.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein a second of the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks is a yellow inkjet ink comprising a pigment selected from the group consisting of C.I. Pigment Yellow 120, C.I. Pigment Yellow 139, C.I. Pigment Yellow 150, C.I. Pigment Yellow 151, C.I. Pigment Yellow 155, C.I. Pigment Yellow 180, C.I. Pigment Yellow 213, and mixed crystals thereof.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein a third of the one or more radiation curable inkjet inks is a magenta or a red inkjet ink comprising a pigment selected from the group consisting of C.I. Pigment Violet 19, C.I. Pigment Red 122, C.I. Pigment Red 176, C.I. Pigment Red 202, C.I. Pig

Assignees

• Agfa Nv

Inventors

• Courtet Vincent
• Lenaerts Jens
• Li Yiru

Classifications

• C08G71/04

  Polyurethanes · CPC title

• C14C11/006

  using polymeric products of isocyanates (or isothiocyanates) with compounds having active hydrogen · CPC title

• C09D175/04

  Polyurethanes · CPC title

• C09D11/322 Primary

  Pigment inks · CPC title

• C09D11/101

  Inks specially adapted for printing processes involving curing by wave energy or particle radiation, e.g. with UV-curing following the printing · CPC title