Microcapsules and processes for producing the same

Abstract

A microcapsule is produced by dispersing a liquid organic dispersion in an aqueous medium to form a capsule particle in the aqueous medium, the liquid organic dispersion containing an acid group-containing resin, a colored particle and an organic solvent, and the capsule particle comprising a disperse system containing the liquid organic dispersion, and a wall encapsulating the disperse system, wherein the acid group of the resin has been at least partly neutralized with an alkanolamine. The wall comprises the resin, and the resin may be crosslinked or cured with a crosslinking agent. Moreover, the process may comprise crosslinking or curing the resin constituting the wall with the crosslinking agent, and further crosslinking or curing the residual crosslinking agent with a polyfunctional compound. Such a process can produce a microcapsule has a small and uniform particle size while encapsulating a disperse system dispersed a colored particle in an oil phase.

Description

[0001] This application is a Divisional of co-pending application Ser. No. 11 / 007,233, filed on Dec. 9, 2004, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference and for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. § 120.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to microcapsules (or particles encapsulating ink) useful for applying to electrophoretically image-displayable apparatuses (or devices), and to processes for producing the same. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Microencapsulation techniques have been widely applied as one of means for enclosing (or sealing) various materials (or core materials) such as a dye, a perfume (aromatic or flavoring agent), a crystalline liquid, an enzyme, a catalyst, and an adhesive. The advantages of such techniques are in that the handleability of these core materials can be improved and that the functions of the core materials can be maintained or retained for a long period of time. [0004] On the other hand, displa...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013] Another object of the present invention is to provide a microcapsule whose wall thickness is large and which is excellent in stability and durability along with mechanical strength, and a process for producing the microcapsule.

[0014] It is still another object of the present invention to provide a microcapsule which is capable of displaying a sharp and uniform image independent on a disperse state (or dispersiveness) of a core material in the case where a colored particle is electrophoretically movable, and a process for producing the microcapsule.

[0015] It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process for certainly and effectively producing a microcapsule having a controlled particle size in a simple manner by inhibiting gelation and formation of a non-encapsulated particle without an emulsifying and dispersing agent.

[0016] The inventor of the present invention made intensive studies to achieve the above objects and finally found that utilization of an acid group-containing resin, whose acid group has been at least partly neutralized with an alkanolamine, in emulsification / dispersion (dispersion with emulsification) or phase inversion emulsification (emulsification with phase inversion), ensures to inhibit gelation of microcapsule, efficiently encapsulate a disperse system (or core material) in which a colored particle is dispersed in an oil phase, and obtain a uniform microcapsule (or encapsulated ink) having a small particle size even without using a dispersion stabilizer. Moreover, the inventor also found that crosslinking or curing of a resin constituting the wall of the capsule particle with a crosslinking agent, or further crosslinking or curing of the residual crosslinking agent with a polyfunctional compound ensures to increase the thickness of the microcapsule wall, and to improve mechanical strength of the microcapsule accordingly. The present invention was accomplished based on the above findings.

Problems solved by technology

Although this method is applied in a wide field, use of gelatin being a natural product causes variation of quality as a membrane material and deteriorates water resistance of the capsule, as a result the application is limited.

Moreover, it is impossible to inhibit the formation of a core material-free coacervate particle / drop (as the core material, e.g., a coloring agent dispersed in oil), or the by-production of a capsule enclosing a plurality of core materials.

Further, the coacervation method itself is a method for forming a capsule wall and fails to control the particle size of the resulting particles, and the particle size distribution of the particles depends on the dispersiveness of the core material.

Therefore, according to the coacervation method, it is difficult to obtain a microcapsule encapsulating a disperse system in which a coloring agent is dispersed in an oil phase in high yield, while controlling the particle size and the particle size distribution.

However, in the interfacial polymerization, unreacted monomers remain in the oil phase and the aqueous phase, and electrophoretic properties of the colored fine particles is deteriorated due to highly polar isocyanate monomers remaining in the oil phase in use as an encapsulated ink for an electrophoretic display material.

Moreover, crosslinking of the resin deteriorates the fixing property of the toner.

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