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US 8,628,185 B1Granted
Printing process and ink for heat activated colorants
AssigneeSawgrass Technologies, Inc.
InventorsNathan Hale, Ming Xu, Kimberlee Thompson, Sukun Zhang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A reactive ink for printing. A reagent in the ink reacts with a second reagent. A resultant product of the reaction of said first reagent with said second reagent is a polymeric material that is present on the substrate. A heat activated colorant or colorants, such as a sublimation dyes, are applied to the substrate. The heat activated dye has an affinity for the polymeric material, and the heat activated dye binds to the polymeric material upon heat activation of said heat activated dye.
Claims12
A method of digital printing, comprising the steps of:
- preparing a reactive ink comprising a first reagent;
- supplying a digital printer with said reactive ink;
- digitally printing said reactive ink on a substrate, wherein said first reagent reacts with a second reagent, and wherein a product of reaction of said first reagent with said second reagent is a polymeric material that is present on the substrate;
- and
- digitally printing a heat activated colorant on said substrate, wherein said heat activated colorant has an affinity for the polymeric material, and the heat activated colorant binds to the polymeric material upon heat activation of said heat activated colorant.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.