Print medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9248685-B2
Application number	US-201314424078-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2013
Priority date	Sep 20, 2012
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

The present invention concerns a print medium and a method of producing such a print medium. In particular, the present invention is directed to a print medium comprising a substrate having a first and a reverse side, and at least one coating layer on of the substrate sides.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A print medium comprising a substrate having a first and a reverse side, wherein the substrate comprises at least on the first side at least one permeable coating layer comprising pigment particles,
wherein said pigment particles, when in form of a compacted bed,
have a monomodal pore diameter distribution,
a volume defined polydispersity expressed as full width at half maximum height (FWHM) from 40 to 80 nm, and
a volume defined median pore diameter from 30 to 80 nm.

2. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is selected from paper, cardboard, containerboard, plastic, cellophane, textile, wood, metal, or concrete.

3. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is selected from paper, cardboard, or containerboard.

4. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises at least one permeable coating layer on the first and the reverse side.

5. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is structured by at least two sublayers.

6. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is structured by three, five, or seven sublayers.

7. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is precoated with precipitated calcium carbonate, modified calcium carbonate, or ground calcium carbonate, or any mixture thereof.

8. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles are selected from calcium carbonate, plastic pigments, polystyrene-based plastic pigments, titanium dioxide, dolomite, calcined clay, non-calcined (hydrous) clay, bentonite, or any mixture thereof.

9. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles are calcium carbonate.

10. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles are precipitated calcium carbonate.

11. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles, when in form of a compacted bed, have a volume defined polydispersity expressed as full width at half maximum height (FWHM) from 45 to 75 nm.

12. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles, when in form of a compacted bed, have a volume defined polydispersity expressed as full width at half maximum height (FWHM) from 50 to 70 nm.

13. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles, when in form of a compacted bed, have a volume defined median pore diameter from 35 to 75 nm.

14. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles, when in form of a compacted bed, have a volume defined median pore diameter from 40 to 70 nm.

15. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles, when in form of a compacted bed, have an intruded total specific void volume from 0.20 to 0.50 cm 3 /g.

16. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles, when in form of a compacted bed, have an intruded total specific void volume from 0.25 to 0.48 cm 3 /g.

17. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles, when in form of a compacted bed, have an intruded total specific void volume from 0.30 to 0.55 cm 3 /g.

18. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles, when in form of a compacted bed, have an intruded total specific void volume from 0.35 to 0.40 cm 3 /g.

19. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles have a specific surface area from 10 to 30 m 2 /g.

20. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles have a specific surface area from 15 to 25 m 2 /g.

21. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles have a weight median particle size d 50 of ≦300 nm.

22. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles have a weight median particle size d 50 of from 20 to 250 nm.

23. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles have a weight median particle size d 50 of from 50 to 240 nm.

24. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the pigment particles have a weight median particle size d 50 of from 70 to 230 nm.

25. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer further contains a coating binder in an amount from 1 to 20 wt.-%, based on the total weight of the pigment particles.

26. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer further contains a coating binder in an amount from 3 to 15 wt.-%, based on the total weight of the pigment particles.

27. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer further contains a coating binder in an amount from 6 to 12 wt.-%, based on the total weight of the pigment particles.

28. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating binder is selected from starch, polyvinylalcohol, styrene-butadiene latex, styrene-acrylate latex, or polyvinyl acetate latex, or any mixture thereof.

29. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating binder is styrene-butadiene latex.

30. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer has a coat weight from 1 to 50 g/m 2 .

31. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer has a coat weight from 2 to 40 g/m 2 .

32. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer has a coat weight from 3 to 30 g/m 2 .

33. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer has a coat weight from 5 to 20 g/m 2 .

34. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer further comprises a rheology modifier in an amount of less than 1 wt.-%, based on the total weight of the pigment particles.

35. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer has a permeability of greater than 0.2×10 −17 m 2 .

36. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer has a permeability of from 0.3 10 −17 m 2 to 3.0×10 −17 m 2 .

37. The print medium of claim 1 , wherein the coating layer has a permeability of from 0.4 10 −17 m 2 to 2.5×10 −17 m 2 .

38. The print medium of claim 2 , wherein the print medium is a flexographic print medium.

39. A method for producing a print medium comprising the steps of:
a) providing a substrate having a first side and a reverse side, and
b) applying a coating composition comprising pigment particles and at least one coating binder on the first side of the substrate to form a permeable coating layer,
wherein said pigment particles, when in form of a compacted bed,
have a monomodal pore diameter distribution,
a volume defined polydispersity expressed as full width at half maximum height (FWHM) from 40 to 80 nm, and
a volume defined median pore diameter from 30 to 80 nm.

40. The method of claim 39 , wherein the coating composition is a liquid coating composition and the method further comprises a step c) of drying the coating layer.

41. The method of claim 39 , wherein steps b) and c) are also carried out on the reverse side of the substrate to manufacture a print medium being coated on the first and the reverse side.

42. The method of claim 39 , wherein steps b) and c) are carried out a second time using a different or the same liquid coating composition.

43. The method of claim 39 , wherein the coating composition is a dry coating composition and step b) is also carried out on the reverse side of the substrate to manufacture a print medium being coated on the first and the reverse side.

44. The me

Assignees

• Omya Int Ag

Inventors

• Weihs Jan Philipp
• Grossmann Oliver Patrick
• Buri Matthias
• Hunziker Philipp
• Gane Patrick A C
• Gantenbein Daniel

Classifications

• D21H21/52

  Additives of definite length or shape · CPC title

• C04B26/02

  Macromolecular compounds · CPC title

• B41N1/04 Primary

  metallic · CPC title

• B41M2205/34

  Both sides of a layer or material are treated, e.g. coated · CPC title

• C09D11/322

  Pigment inks · CPC title