Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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IN~ JET DYEING N~THOD
BAC~GRO~ND OF ~H~ INV~N~ION
1. Fiel~ of the Invontion:
This invention relates to an ink jet dyeing
method for dyeing various designs clearly and effec-
tively on a surface of a woven, knit or non-woven
cloth of various fibers by ink jetting.
2. Desoription of tha Rel~ted Art:
A so-called ink jet dyeing method for dyeing
various designs effectively on the surface of a woven,
knit or non-woven cloth by ink jettlng, which was de-
veloped for printing on paper, is disclosed in, for
example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho
54-18957. Various developments for realizing the ink
jet method in the field of dyeing are going on.
For example, aktempts have been made to prevent
any spread of dye on the surfac~e of a cloth, which is
a matter of primary concern in ink jet dyeing on
cloth. Generally although it can be expected that the
spread o~ dye on the cloth surface will be reduced if
the viscosity of dye ink is increased, the ink tends
to stop in the ink jet nozzle so that management of
the nozzle would be complicated and smooth operation
is difficult to achieve.
Another attempt could be considered to prevent
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the spread of dye ink by instantaneously vaporiziny
the solvent upon arrival of the ink at the cloth sur-
face. In this case, however, the cloth must be heated
up to a high temperature be~ore dyeing, and as a
result, not only the cloth tends to be damaged but
also the dye would degenerate which might lead
deterioration of products.
Alternatively, a method of preventing the spread
of dye ink by applying an anti-spread agent, which ad-
heres to dye and retains it, onto the cloth surface
before dyeing is disclosed in, for example, Japanese
Patent Publication No. Sho 63-31594. Specifically, at
least one kind of compound selected from the group
consisting of a water-soluble high polymer, a water-
soluble salt and water-soluble inorganic minute parti-
cles, which are substantially unable to adhere to dye
and are able to retain the dye, is attached to the
cloth surface by 1 to 50% in th~e preparation process,
then dye ink is given by ink jetting, whereupon the
compound or compounds is heated to fix and is then
washed away.
The dyeing method disclosed in Japanese Patent
Publication No. Sho 63-31594 is effective as it is
free of nozzle jamming and deterioration of products.
However, though this publication is silent about any
mechanism for attaching to the cloth surface the dye
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retained by the anti-spread agent, there is no denying
the fact that the degree of exhaustion would be
lowered, compared to that in the case of one and the
same dye. Further, since the anti-spread agentl which
retains dye, is washed away after the dye is heated to
fix, the dye would be removed during washing, which
would lower the efficiency of adherence of dye further.
SUMMARY OF T~E INVENTION
it is an object of this invention to provide an
ink jet dyeing method which is free of any spread of
dye and deterioration of texture of a cloth and high
in degree of exhaustion and from which a secondary ef-
fect can be expected for the dyed products.
According to this invention, there is provided
an ink jet dyeing method for dyeing a cloth of fibers
by ink jetting, wherein a highly water-absorbing high
polymer is applied to the cloth before ink jetting.
This invention will now be described in detail
along with its mode of operation.
The ink jet method to be used in this invention
should by no means be limited to a particular form.
The typical conventional form is exemplified by a
electrostatic attraction method in which a typlcal
form, a strong electric field is given between a
nozzle and an accelerating electrode forwards of the
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nozzle and ink particles are jetted from the nozzle
according to an i.nformation signal, an ultrasonic os-
cillation method in which ink to be supplied under
high pressure is sprayed in minute particles from a
nozzle, which is vibrated by a cryskal vibrator, ac-
cording to an information signal, and a piezo compo~
ment method in which ink is sprayed ~rom a nozzle by
giving an electrical signal to a piezo component to
apply pressure to ink.
For ink, known dyes such as direct dye, acid
dye, chrome dye, reaction dye, dispersion dye or ca-
tion dye may be used, depending on the kind of cloth
fibers. Dye ink is prepared by adding, to the dye and
liquid, various kinds of additives such as an anti-dry
agent of, for example, glycol group, a dye solvent, a
characteristic adjust agent, an antiseptic, a
sterilizer and a chelating agent.
If a design was printed on a f.iber cloth with
only the above-prepared dye ink by ink jet method, the
dye would have spread horribly and so the resulting
product would have been a defect. Whereas in this in-
vention, it is possible to retard the spread of dye at
least until after the dye is attached to the cloth,
without damaging the texture of the cloth.
An anti-spread agent to be used in this inven-
tion is a high polymer compound which is insoluble
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with water and absorbs much water, i.e. a high polymersubstance called "hiyh water-absorbing resin". The
high water-absorbing resin is exemplified by vinyl al-
cohol acrylate, sodium acrylate copolymer, dextrin-
acrylate graft copolymer cure and cured polyacrylate
salt. Application of the anti-spread agent to the
cloth may be performed by a suitable means, such as
panting, soaking or spraying.
The indi~idual highly absorbing water-insoluble
high polymer compounds has such a characteristic as to
instantaneously absorb water tens to thousands times
the own weight to gel. Accordingly, if the highly ab~
sorbing high polymer compound is applied to the cloth
previously, the dye ink will be temporarily absorbed
and held by this highly absorbing high polymer com-
pound, and even a definitely small amount of highly
absorbing high polymer compound applied will suffice
to achieve the original purpose. When the dye is
fixed, the water temporarily absorbed by the highly
absorbing high polymer compound will be vapored and
the dye held by the same compound will be combined
with the fibers to develop a color while the compound
also will be attached to the cloth surface to fix.
Since the amount of highly absorbing high
polymer compound attached and fixed to the cloth surface
is small, the texture of the cloth is Xept free from
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heing impaired. As a secondary excellent effect, the
compound existing on the cloth surface does not allow
raindrops on the front surface to pass to the back
surface.
In general, af~er the development of color,
dyeing is finalized by the drying step. Also in the
drying st~p, the highly absorbing high polymer com-
pound ~ixed on the cloth and serving as an anti-spread
agent will not be removed from the cloth, staying in
inter~iber spaces to give an excellent waterproofness.
EXAMPLE~
This invention will now be described in detail
by examples.
Exa~ple l, Com~arative ExamPles 1 and 2
Three water solutions were prepared each con-
taining tens grams per liter of each of Sumika Gel
SP510 (Example 1, colloidal solution; vinyl alcohol
acrylate copolymer produced by Sumitomo Chemical Co.,
Ltd.), Arabia rubber (Comparative Example 1) and
montmorillonite ~Comparative Example 2). A cloth
woven of processed threads made from polyester fibers
was soaked in each of the three solutions and was
squeezed by 60~ using a pad, whereupon the cloth was
dried at 100C for ten minutes. The resulting cloth
was dyed under the following conditions.
(l) Preparation of Dispersion Dye Ink:
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10% by weight of Dianix Black FG-P (dispersion
dye produced by Mitsub.ishi Chemical-Hechist Co.,
Ltd.), 15% by weight of polyPthylene glycol (average
molecular weight: 400), 15% by weight of glycerine and
60% by weight of ion-exchange water were mixed togeth-
er, and this mixture was pulverized at room tempera
ture by a fine pulverizer such as a sand grinder or a
paint condition~r and was filtered by a glass filter
llP5VF (product by Iwaki Glass Co., Ltd., maximum pore
diameter: about 1.0 ~m).
(2) Ink Jet Print Conditions:
Type of ink jet method: on-demand
Nozzle diameter: 60 ~m
Dot density. 180 dots/inch (vertical,
horizontal)
Distance between nozæle and cloth: 1 mm
(3) Dyeing Conditions:
The printed cloth was treated to develop color
under the following conditions and was then treated by
reduction washing, whereupon washing by water,
neutralization, washing by water and drying were per-
formed.
Color development: dry heating at 200C for 3
minutes.
Reduction washing: Soaked at 90C for 20 minutes
in a bath prepared of hydro-
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sulfite and sodium hydroxideat proportion of 0.5 grams
per liter and 1.0 grams per
liter respectively.
Neutralization: Soaked in an acetic solution
t0-1 grams per liter) at 60C
for ten minutes.
(4~ Results:
Tablo 1
Spread L Value
Example 1 Nil 22.64
Comparative Example 1 Slightly 22.93
Comparative Example 2 Sllghtly 23.07 .^,~^
Spread~ judged by naked eye.
L Value: a value of brightness of cloth surface by
a colorimeter; the darker the color, the
smaller the value.~
Colorimeter: COLOR EYE MS-2020 produced by Macbeth
; Corp.
Table 1 shows that no spread came out in this
invention while spread was found in Comparative Exam-
ples, and that the L value in this invention was
smaller than those in Comparative Examples.
ExamPle 2, Com~arative Examples 3 and 4
Three water solutions were prepared each con-
taining tens grams per liter of each of Sanwet IM-
1000MPS (Example 2, dextrin-acrylate salt graft copoly-
mer cure produced by Sanyo Chemical Co., Ltd.), Arabia
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rubber ~Comparative Example 3) and montmorillonite
(Comparative Example 4)~ A cloth woven of processed
threads (cloth woven of viscose rayon threads) made
from cellulose fibers was soaked in each of the three
solutions and was squeezed by 60% using a pad,
whereupon the cloth was dried at 100C for ten
minutes. The resulting cloth was dyed under the fol-
lowing conditions.
(1) Preparation of Reactive Dye Ink:
10% by weight of C.I. Reactive Black 5 (reactive
dye), 15% by weight of polyethylene glycol (average
molecular weight: 400), 15% by weight of glycerine and
60% by weight of ion-exchange water were mixed togeth-
er, and this mixture was stirred at room temperature
and was filtered by a glass filter llP5VF (product by
Iwaki Glass Co., Ltd., maximum pore diameter: about
1.0 ~m).
(2) Ink Jet Print Conditions:
Type of ink ~et method: on-demand
Nozzle diameter: 60 ~m
Dot density: 180 dots/inch (vertical,
horizontal~
~ istance between nozzle and ~loth: 1 mm
(3) Dyeing Conditions:
The printed cloth was treated to develop color
by exposed to saturated vapor at 100C for 15 minutes,
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whereupon washing by water, neutralization by an
acetic solution (O.l grams per liter~ and washing by
hot water at 90C for 10 minutes, and finally washing
by water and drying were performed.
(4) Results:
Table 2
Spread L Value
Example 2 Nil 34.73
Comparative Example l Slightly 35.29
Comparative Example 2 Slightly 34.80 ;~
Table 2 also shows that in this invention it is
possible to prevent spread of dve ink better than in
Comparative Examples.
As is apparent from the foregoing description,
according to this invention, it is possible to per-
fectly prevent any spread of dye ink on a cloth by ap-
plying only a small amount of anti-spread agent to the
cloth before dyeing. In addition, because of such a
small amount of anti-spread agent, it is possible to
retain the texture of cloth and to give an excellent
degree of waterproofness even if the anti-spread agent
applied to the cloth was not removed by, for example,
washing.
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