U.S. patent application number 14/938609 was filed with the patent office on 2016-03-10 for release agent composition for improved coefficient of friction.
The applicant listed for this patent is Xerox Corporation. Invention is credited to Santokh S. Badesha, James M. Chappell, Joanne L. Lee, Jason M. LeFevre, Paul J. McConville, Rachael L. McGrath.
Application Number | 20160067956 14/938609 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 54333978 |
Filed Date | 2016-03-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160067956 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
LeFevre; Jason M. ; et
al. |
March 10, 2016 |
Release Agent Composition For Improved Coefficient of Friction
Abstract
A functional amine release agent displaying reduced coefficient
of friction as compared to standard silicone oils, comprises a
polydimethylsiloxane oil and a functional amine selected from the
group consisting of pendant propylamines and pendant
N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl. The concentration of functional
amine to polydimethylsiloxane oil is approximately less than 0.0001
meq/g. According to certain embodiments, the functional amine
release agent is operable to impart a coefficient of friction of
about 0.5 or more to the print media, resulting in improved
finishing and converting equipment interaction. The release agent
may have a viscosity of about 50 cSt.
Inventors: |
LeFevre; Jason M.;
(Penfield, NY) ; McConville; Paul J.; (Webster,
NY) ; Chappell; James M.; (Webster, NY) ; Lee;
Joanne L.; (Rochester, NY) ; McGrath; Rachael L.;
(Churchville, NY) ; Badesha; Santokh S.;
(Pittsford, NY) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Xerox Corporation |
Norwalk |
CT |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
54333978 |
Appl. No.: |
14/938609 |
Filed: |
November 11, 2015 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
14260659 |
Apr 24, 2014 |
9221245 |
|
|
14938609 |
|
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|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
347/103 |
Current CPC
Class: |
C10M 169/04 20130101;
C10M 2215/04 20130101; C10M 133/04 20130101; C10M 107/50 20130101;
C10N 2030/06 20130101; B41J 11/0015 20130101; B41J 2/2114 20130101;
C10N 2040/06 20130101; C10M 2229/0415 20130101; B41J 2/0057
20130101; C09D 11/00 20130101 |
International
Class: |
B41J 2/005 20060101
B41J002/005 |
Claims
1-4. (canceled)
5. The method of claim 8, wherein the print media is paper.
6-7. (canceled)
8. A method for printing an image in a solid ink jet printer having
an intermediate imaging member, comprising; applying a functional
amine release agent to the intermediate imaging member, the release
agent comprising a polydimethylsiloxane oil and a functional amine
selected from the group consisting of pendant propylamines and
pendant N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl; and printing an image on a
print media using the intermediate imaging member, whereby a
resulting print surface has a coefficient of friction greater than
about 0.5.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the concentration of functional
amine to polydimethylsiloxane oil is approximately less than 0.0001
meq/g.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the functional amine release
agent has a viscosity of about 50 cSt.
11. The method of claim 8, wherein the intermediate imaging member
includes a spreader drum onto which the release agent is applied,
and the method further comprises heating the spreader drum to no
more than 48.degree. C.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] Solid inkjet imaging systems generally use an electronic
form of an image to distribute ink melted from a solid ink stick or
pellet in a manner that reproduces the electronic image. In some
solid inkjet imaging systems, the electronic image may be used to
control the ejection of ink directly onto a media sheet. In other
solid inkjet imaging systems, the electronic image is used to
operate printheads to eject ink onto an intermediate imaging
member. A media sheet is then brought into contact with the
intermediate imaging member in a nip formed between the
intermediate member and a transfer roller. The heat and pressure in
the nip help transfer the ink image from the intermediate imaging
member to the media sheet, which is transported from the system and
deposited in a paper tray.
[0002] In solid ink imaging systems having intermediate imaging
members, ink is loaded into the system in a solid form, either as
pellets or as ink sticks, and transported through a feed chute by a
feed mechanism for delivery to a melting device. The melting device
heats the solid ink to its melting temperature and the liquid ink
is delivered to a printhead for jetting onto an intermediate
imaging member. In the print head, the liquid ink is typically
maintained at a temperature that enables the ink to be ejected by
the printing elements in the print head, but that preserves
sufficient tackiness for the ink to adhere to the intermediate
imaging member. In some cases, however, the tackiness of the liquid
ink may cause a portion of the ink to remain on the intermediate
imaging member after the image is transferred onto the media sheet
and the residual ink may later degrade other ink images formed on
the intermediate imaging member.
[0003] In continuous-web, direct-to-media printing, a fixing
assembly is used after the ink is ejected onto the print media or
web to fix the ink to the web. The fixing assembly used depends on
the type of ink. For example, when using melted phase change ink to
form images, the fixing assembly may include a pair of rollers that
defines a nip for applying pressure to the ink and web to spread
the ink on the web as the web passes through the nip, as depicted
in FIG. 5. The function of the pair of rollers, also referred to
herein as a spreader, is to transform a pattern of ink drops
deposited onto a web by flattening and spreading the ink drops to
make a more uniform and continuous layer. The spreader uses
pressure and heat to reduce the height of the ink droplets and fill
the spaces between adjacent drops.
[0004] One difficulty faced in the operation of the spreader is
providing the web and the ink deposited on the web to the spreader
at a temperature that enables the ink deposited on the web to be
spread uniformly for high image quality. Due to very fast
processing speeds at which some continuous feed imaging devices
operate, the ink deposited on the web at the print station may be
above a suitable temperature range as the image passes through the
nip. This high ink temperature results in the ink bleeding into the
web and possibly showing through to the opposite side of the media
web. Conversely, if the ink cools below the suitable temperature
range prior to reaching the spreader, the ink may not be malleable
enough to allow for sufficient line spread or adherence to the web.
In addition, the ink ejected by the printheads is generally much
hotter than the print medium, and, consequently, areas imaged with
high ink coverage may exit from the print zone at higher
temperatures than the areas of the media web where little or no ink
was ejected. Ink that enters the spreader at varying temperatures
can cause inconsistent and non-uniform line spread on the web,
reducing image quality. Thus, improved media and ink temperature
equalization is desirable. For optimum spreader performance, ink
and web temperatures are substantially equalized prior to entering
the nip to within a target temperature range that promotes
adherence of the melted ink to the web, minimizes visibility of
printed ink from the opposite side of the media ("show-through"),
maximizes ink dot spread, and reduces image defects on the opposite
side of the media in a duplex printing process. The target
temperature range for the ink and web prior to entering the nip can
also be referred to as the pre-spreading temperature range. In one
embodiment, the pre-spreading temperature range is between about
50.degree. C. and about 55.degree. C. The pre-spreading temperature
range, however, can be any suitable range of temperatures suitable
for spreading ink on a web depending on factors such as the ink
formulation, web substrate material, web velocity, and the
like.
[0005] To address and/or prevent the accumulation of ink on an
intermediate imaging member or on a spreader, which may be in the
form of a drum, solid ink imaging systems may be provided with a
drum maintenance unit (DMU), as shown in FIG. 5, that releases an
oil or an oil blend that lubricates the image receiving surface of
the intermediate imaging member before each print cycle, thereby
preventing ink offset to the spreader drum. Typically, these DMU
oils are silicone oils that may contain additives to allow for
proper lubrication and release characteristics.
[0006] However, use of known DMU oils often results in imparting a
coefficient of friction to the media being printed that is
significantly lower than that of the native media. As such, the
printed media is more slippery than native media, which can
interfere with many downstream production finishing or converting
equipment that is used, for example, to handle, cut, fold, insert
(as in mail-envelope inserters) or collate the printed material
leaving the print engine. Specifically, production finishing or
converting equipment is typically calibrated to handle media having
the coefficient of friction similar to native paper. Therefore,
imparting printed media with a lower coefficient of friction
through the use of DMU oils often results in feeding failures
and/or production failures with production finishing or converting
equipment.
[0007] As such, a DMU oil formulation for use in solid ink jet
color web-press printers is desirable that provides sufficient
lubrication to an image receiving surface of the intermediate
imaging member and image fixing members (i.e. a spreader drum)
without imparting a coefficient of friction to the printed media
that interferes with production finishing or converting
equipment.
SUMMARY
[0008] According to certain embodiments, the present application
relates to a functional amine release agent comprising: a
polydimethylsiloxane oil and a functional amine selected from the
group consisting of pendant propylamines and pendant
N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl whereby the ratio of functional
amine to polydimethylsiloxane oil is approximately 0.0001 meq/g.
The release agent may have a viscosity of about 50 cSt. According
to certain embodiments, the functional amine release agent is
operable to impart a coefficient of friction of not less than about
0.4 to a print media when placed in contact with said media. In
other optional embodiments, the functional amine release agent is
operable to impart a coefficient of friction of not less than about
0.5 to a print media when placed in contact with said media.
[0009] According to at least one embodiment, the present
application relates to method for printing an image in a solid ink
jet color web-press printer, comprising: providing an ink jet
printer selected from the group consisting of: a solid ink jet
color web-press printer having an intermediate imaging member and a
solid ink jet color web-press that prints using the direct-to-paper
process; providing a functional amine release agent comprising a
polydimethylsiloxane oil and a functional amine selected from the
group consisting of pendant propylamines and pendant
N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl; and printing an image on a print
media, whereby a resulting print surface has a coefficient of
friction greater than about 0.3. In certain optional embodiments,
the concentration of functional amine to polydimethylsiloxane oil
is approximately 0.0001 meq/g.
[0010] According to one aspect, the printing process is performed
using image fixing members, such as a spreader drum and a pressure
roll, and the release agent of the present invention allows
reduction of certain print process offset threshold temperatures
for these components for simplex printing. In one embodiment, the
release agent disclosed herein permits a reduction in the simplex
offset threshold to a temperature that is 5.degree. C. lower than
the standard silicone DMU oil.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0011] FIG. 1 is a graph of coefficient of friction as a function
of amine percentage in a release agent.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a graph of spreader drum offset level as a
function of temperature and release agent composition.
[0013] FIG. 3 is a graph of pressure roll offset level as a
function of temperature and release agent composition.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a graph showing a comparison of ink spreading as a
function of temperature.
[0015] FIG. 5 is a diagram of a fixing assembly in a print
machine.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0016] For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the
principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the
embodiments described in the following written specification. It is
understood that no limitation to the scope of the invention is
thereby intended. It is further understood that the present
invention includes any alterations and modifications to the
illustrated embodiments and includes further applications of the
principles of the invention as would normally occur to one skilled
in the art to which this invention pertains.
[0017] According to certain embodiments of the present application,
a release agent composition for solid inkjet imaging systems is
disclosed. As discussed above, release agent compositions for solid
inkjet imaging systems are typically administered by an
intermediate imaging member via a delivery mechanism such as a drum
maintenance unit ("DMU") delivery roll that may be at least
partially immersed in a sump containing one or more release agent
compositions. In certain embodiments, a release agent composition
of the present application is provided to the intermediate imaging
member in an amount of from about 1 mg per sheet of blank A4 sized
paper to about 4 mg per sheet of blank A4 paper, and about 4 mg per
sheet of blank A4 paper to about 10 mg per sheet of A4 paper for
100% solid-fill. The system by which a release agent composition is
provided to an intermediate imaging member is well known, and may
be accomplished in a continuous or semi-continuous manner.
[0018] In certain embodiments, a release agent according to the
present invention comprises a silicone oil and at least one
functional amine group, resulting in a composition that does not
impart a significant negative reduction in the coefficient of
friction to print media that might come in contact with the release
agent. In particular, it has been found that utilizing a release
agent which imparts a coefficient of friction of less than about
0.4, less than about 0.3, or less than about 0.2 to the print media
results in increasing degradation in performance in high speed
production finishing and production equipment. As such, according
to at least one exemplary embodiment, a release agent composition
for solid inkjet imaging systems comprises approximately 99.9999%
by mole % non-functional silicone oil, and approximately 0.0001% by
mole % functional amine.
[0019] According to certain exemplary embodiments, a release agent
comprises an amino functionalized polydimethylsiloxane release
agent created by utilizing an amine-containing polydimethylsiloxane
concentrate and subsequently diluting with nonfunctional
polyorganosiloxane oil to provide a release agent with a relatively
consistent distribution of amines in a large volume of
polydimethylsiloxane oil. In producing the amine-containing
polydimethylsiloxane concentrate, an end blocker, amino siloxane,
catalyst and octamethyltetracyclosiloxane are reacted in a vessel
at elevated temperature (of from about 100 to about 210.degree. C.,
or from about 145 to about 185.degree. C.), for a desired time (of
from about 2 to about 15 hours, or from about 5 to about 10 hours).
The resulting reaction product is then diluted with non-functional
polydimethylsiloxane for use as a release agent composition for
solid inkjet imaging. In accordance with the present disclosure,
the amount and concentration of the non-functional
polydimethylsiloxane may be adjusted depending upon the initial
coefficient of friction of the print media, but should result in a
composition which does not impart a coefficient of friction (COF)
that is less than about 0.4, and preferably not less than about 0.5
to the paper or media being printed upon by the solid inkjet
printer. It will be appreciated that blending may be performed
according to blending techniques provided by Wacker Silicones Corp.
of Adrian Mich. According to other certain embodiments, the amount
and concentration of the non-functional polydimethylsiloxane may be
adjusted depending upon the initial coefficient of friction of the
print media, but should result in a composition which does not
reduce the coefficient of friction to the paper or media being
printed upon by the solid inkjet printer by more than about
0.2.
[0020] According to certain exemplary embodiments, suitable
amino-functional release agents include pendant propylamines and
pendant N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl functional groups. For
example, according to certain embodiments, a pendant propylamine
release agent include those having the following structure:
##STR00001##
[0021] Further, according to certain embodiments, a pendant
N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl release agent include those having
the following structure:
##STR00002##
[0022] Alternatively, a blend of two amino-functional release agent
materials can be used as the release agent composition. For
example, a blend of two or more of the above-described
amino-functional release agents can be used. In certain
embodiments, the blend comprises two different release agent
materials of the above structures. In other embodiments, a blend of
two or more different amino-functional release agents having the
above amine concentrations can be used.
[0023] According to certain alternative embodiments, amine
stabilizers are utilized, such as hindered amine light stabilizers
including 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl piperidine and its derivatives.
[0024] As can be seen by the following exemplary embodiments, the
use of amino-functional release agents according to the disclosure
herein results in an increased coefficient of friction with respect
to standard polydimethylsiloxane oils.
Example 1
[0025] According to one exemplary embodiment, a pendant
N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl release agent was created according
to the above system by adding an amine-containing
polydimethylsiloxane concentrate and subsequently diluting with
polydimethylsiloxane to a concentration of approximately 0.0001
meq/g. Thereafter, the pendant N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyl
release agent was administered to a solid ink jet color web-press
printer, and the printer was used to process print jobs as compared
to a standard silicone oil. In this instance, the standard silicone
oil used was Copy-Aid 270; 72 cSt, 0.01 meq/g functional amine
(available from Wacker Silicones; Adrian, MI., USA). The graph of
FIG. 1 shows a comparison of the COF for the release agent of the
present invention (0.0001 meq/g) as compared to the COFs for virgin
substrate, the standard silicone oil (0.01 meq/g) and an
intermediate release agent (0.0006 meq/g). This graph demonstrates
that the release agent disclosed herein (0.0001 meq/g) results in a
COF of greater than 0.4 and greater than 0.5, whereas the other
release agents produces significantly lower COFs approaching half
the COF of the virgin substrate.
[0026] The above testing substantiates that the reduction in number
of amine molecules present on the substrate leads to a
corresponding increase in COF of the printed output. In accordance
with the present invention, a 100.times. reduction in amine
molecules from the standard DMU release agent to the 0.0001 meq/g
value of the present disclosure can provide a significant advantage
over the prior release agents, particularly in conjunction with
demanding finishing equipment requirements. However, the release
agent of the present invention allows reduction of certain print
process offset threshold temperatures. FIG. 2 is a graph of
spreader drum offset levels as a function of spreader drum
temperature for simplex printing. FIG. 3 is a similar graph for
pressure roll offset levels in duplex printing. As reflected in
FIG. 2, the lower meq/g release agent drops the simplex offset
threshold to 53.degree. C. (at offset level 1.0), which delivers a
spreader drum recipe temperature of 48.degree. C. that is 5.degree.
C. lower than the standard silicone DMU oil. FIG. 3 shows a similar
5.degree. C. decrease for duplex operation in which the pre-spread
web temperature is about 50.degree. C. vs. the 55.degree. C.
temperature for the standard oil. It has been found in the testing
that in the apex mode, the upper turn roll offset threshold is
generally unchanged with the release agent of the present
disclosure.
[0027] The graph of FIG. 4 illustrates the effect of the 5.degree.
C. decrease in threshold temperatures. In particular, this graph
shows that the reduced temperature does not result in a significant
decrease in the amount of ink spread (as measured by line width)
delivered in the spreader system. In practical terms, use of the
release agent of the present disclosure will not negatively impact
the image quality in any print mode
[0028] While the invention has been described in detail with
reference to specific and preferred embodiments, it will be
appreciated that various modifications and variations will be
apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. All such
modifications and embodiments as may readily occur to one skilled
in the art are intended to be within the scope of the appended
claims.
* * * * *