Thermal mass transfer imaging system

Abstract

There is described a nanoporous receiver element for use in thermal mass transfer imaging applications. The receiver element comprises a substrate carrying an image-receiving layer comprising particulate material and a binder material. The substrate may comprise a material having a compressibility of at least 1% under a pressure of 1 Newton per mm2 (1 MPa). Optionally, there may be provided, between the substrate and the nanoporous receiving layer, a layer having a thickness of less than about 50 μm which is comprised entirely of a material having a compressibility of less than about 1% under a pressure of 1 MPa. Alternatively, the substrate may comprise only the material having a compressibility of less than about 1% under a pressure of 1 MPa, provided that the thickness of the substrate does not exceed about 50 μm. The image-receiving layer comprises particulate material and a binder material, has a void volume of from about 40% to about 70% and a pore diameter distribution wherein at least 50% of the pores having a diameter greater than about 30 nm have diameters less than about 300 nm and at least 95% of the pores having diameters greater than about 300 nm have diameters less than about 1000 nm.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.