Ink set, ink jet recording method, recorded matter, and ink jet recording apparatus

Abstract

An ink set includes an oil-based ink composition containing a metallic pigment; and at least one oil-based ink composition selected from the group consisting of a chromatic color ink composition containing a chromatic color oil dye, a black ink composition containing a black oil dye, and a colorless and transparent ink composition that does not contain a colorant.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]1. Technical Field[0002]The present invention relates to an ink set, an ink jet recording method, a recorded matter recorded by the ink jet recording method, and an ink jet recording apparatus. In particular, the invention relates to an ink set, an ink jet recording method, a recorded matter recorded by the ink jet recording method, and an ink jet recording apparatus in which a printed surface having a metallic gloss of any color tone can be formed.[0003]2. Related Art[0004]Hitherto, in order to form a printed surface having a metallic gloss on a printed matter, a printing method using a printing ink containing a gold powder or a silver powder which is prepared from brass particles, aluminum particles, or the like as a pigment, a foil stamping printing method using a metal foil, a thermal transfer method using a metal foil, or the like has been employed.[0005]However, as for a printed surface obtained by using a printing ink containing a gold powder or a silver powde...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to provide an ink set that can form a printed surface having a metallic gloss with any color tone on a printed matter by focusing an attention to aluminum as a relatively inexpensive metal material, and constituting an ink set including an ink composition having high metallic specular gloss.

[0013]On the basis of the above finding, the inventors of the invention have found the following: In order to obtain a printed matter having a metallic gloss of any color tone, an ink set includes an oil-based ink composition containing a specific metallic pigment for forming metallic glossiness and an ink composition for forming the color tone, wherein the ink composition for forming the color tone is an oil-based ink composition containing an oil dye as a colorant or an oil-based ink composition not containing a colorant. In this case, a printed matter having metallic glossiness of any color tone in which the colorant does not interfere with the metallic glossiness and transparency is improved can be formed, as compared with a case where an oil-based ink composition containing a pigment is used. This finding led to the realization of the invention.

[0036]According to an ink set, an ink jet recording method, a recorded matter recorded by the ink jet recording method, and an ink jet recording apparatus according to some aspects of the invention, by using an ink composition containing a metallic pigment, an image having high metallic gloss can be formed on a recording medium. Furthermore, an ink set is constituted by combining the ink composition containing a metallic pigment with at least one oil-based ink composition selected from the group consisting of a chromatic color ink composition containing a chromatic color oil dye, a black ink composition containing a black oil dye, and a colorless and transparent ink composition that does not contain a colorant, thereby forming an image that has not been realized with a known ink set, that is, an image having metallic glossiness of any color tone in which the colorant does not interfere with the metallic glossiness and transparency is improved.

Problems solved by technology

However, as for a printed surface obtained by using a printing ink containing a gold powder or a silver powder, the average particle diameter of a metal powder used is large; in the range of 10 to 30 μm, and thus matte metallic gloss can be obtained but it is difficult to obtain specular gloss.

Furthermore, the number of steps in the production increases, and pressure or heat is applied during the production steps.

Accordingly, it is inevitable that an apparatus and a production process are complicated in this respect, and the recording medium is also limited.

However, when the particle diameter of such a noble metal colloid is decreased to several nanometers to several tens of nanometers so as to give a priority to dispersion stability, coloring due to plasmon absorption occurs and metallic gloss for an ink composition cannot be obtained.

On the other hand, when the particle diameter is increased in order to give a priority to metallic gloss, dispersion stability decreases, and thus problems such as aggregation and precipitation inevitably occur.

In addition, obviously, using a noble metal as a material significantly increases the cost of the ink composition, and such an ink composition is used only for a high-value added application, which is disadvantageous in terms of the cost.

Such a problem may result in printing defects such as color loss in which only the colorant is absorbed in a recording medium and only the metallic pigment remains on a surface, and the formation of a non-uniform image having unevenness.

In addition, the method in which a metallic pigment is mixed with a colorant and the resulting mixture is used as an ink composition has a problem that the expression of a metallic color is limited.

For example, it is very difficult to express silver using an ink composition prepared by adding a yellow pigment to a metallic pigment so as to express gold.