Ink composition, set of ink composition and ink container, ink container, and recording apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9605172-B2
Application number	US-201414461910-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 18, 2014
Priority date	Aug 19, 2013
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

An ink composition adapted to be poured into an ink container including an ink chamber, the ink chamber partitioned by a wall, refillable with the ink composition via an ink poring port, and communicating with external air, the ink composition comprising a pigment, a resin and an organic solvent, wherein the ink composition has a static contact angle of 10° or more to a member constituting an inner side of the wall.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ink composition adapted to be poured into an ink container including a first ink chamber and a second ink chamber, the first and second ink chambers being partitioned by a wall, the first ink chamber having a greater volume than the second ink chamber, and the ink container refillable with the ink composition via an ink pouring port, and always communicating with external air via an air introduction portion that is formed in the first ink chamber and is located downstream from an air chamber that always communicates with the external air, the ink composition comprising:
a pigment;
a resin; and
an organic solvent,
wherein the ink composition has a static contact angle of 10° or more to a member constituting an inner side of the wall.

2. The ink composition according to claim 1 , further comprising water,
wherein the ink composition satisfies following conditions (1) and (2),
10°≦CA 0 , and 10°≦CA 1   Condition (1):

0°≦CA 0 −CA 1 ≦5°  Condition (2):

where
CA 0 is a static contact angle between the ink composition before moisture evaporation and the member constituting the inner side of the wall, and
CA 1 is a static contact angle between the ink composition when 1% by mass of moisture with respect to a total mass (100% by mass) of the ink composition before moisture evaporation evaporates and the member constituting the inner side of the wall.

3. The ink composition according to claim 1 ,
wherein the ink composition has a surface tension of 20 mN/m or more and 50 mN/m or less.

4. The ink composition according to claim 1 ,
wherein the content of the organic solvent is 5% by mass or more and 40% by mass or less.

5. The ink composition according to claim 1 ,
wherein the organic solvent includes
glycerin, and
at least one selected from the group consisting of polyhydric alcohols excluding the glycerin, nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds, urea, and urea derivatives.

6. The ink composition according to claim 1 ,
wherein the glass transition temperature of the resin is 25° C. or lower.

7. The ink composition according to claim 1 ,
wherein the ink composition has a receding contact angle of 5° or more to the member constituting the inner side of the wall.

8. The ink composition according to claim 1 ,
wherein the ink composition satisfies two or more of the following conditions (3-1), (3-2), and (3-3), or all the following conditions (4-1) to (4-3),
γ M1 −γ M0 >0(mN/m)  Condition (3-1):

γ M2 −γ M0 >0(mN/m)  Condition (3-2):

γ M3 −γ M0 >0(mN/m)  Condition (3-3):

γ M1 −γ M0 >—0.05(mN/m)  Condition (4-1):

γ M2 −γ M0 >−0.05(mN/m)  Condition (4-2):

γ M3 −γ M0 >−0.05(mN/m)  Condition (4-3):

where
γ M0 is an initial surface tension of the ink composition,
γ M1 is a surface tension when 3.5% by mass of the solvent in the ink evaporates,
γ M2 is a surface tension when 7% by mass of the solvent in the ink evaporates, and
γ M3 is a surface tension when 12% by mass of the solvent in the ink evaporates.

9. The ink composition according to claim 1 ,
wherein the content of the organic solvent is more than one time and 10 times or less of a total of the content of the pigment and the content of the resin.

10. A set comprising:
the ink composition according to claim 1 ; and
the ink container.

11. A recording apparatus comprising:
the ink container according to claim 1 .

12. The ink composition according to claim 1 , wherein the second chamber is located downstream from the first chamber.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Aoki Katsuko
• Nakano Tomohito
• Kasahara Shoki

Classifications

• C09D11/324

  containing carbon black · CPC title

• B41J2/17513

  Inner structure · CPC title

• B41J2/175

  Ink supply systems {; Circuit parts therefor} · CPC title

• C08K5/053

  Polyhydroxylic alcohols · CPC title

• C09D11/10

  based on artificial resins · CPC title