Latex polymer blends for improving the permanence of ink-jet inks

Abstract

Ink-jet inks for ink-jet printing are provided which include a vehicle and a colorant, the colorant associated with a primer core/shell polymer to form a primer/colorant combination, and the primer/colorant combination, upon printing on a print medium, encapsulated by a durable core/shell polymer. The primer core/shell polymer serves to promote adhesion of the durable core/shell polymer to the colorant and to disperse the colorant in the ink and the durable core/shell polymer serves to provide a smear-fast film upon drying of the ink on a print medium. The primer core/shell polymer comprises a hydrophobic core and a hydrophilic shell comprising a polar component, while the durable core/shell polymer comprises a hydrophobic core comprising a first T.sub.g component, which, when homopolymerized, has a glass trnnsition temperature, T.sub.g, between -150.degree. C. to +25.degree. C. and a second T.sub.g component, which, when homopolymerized, has a glass transition temperature above +25.degree. C. and a hydrophilic shell selected from the group consisting of neutral shells, cationic shells, and anionic shells.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.