Pretreatment liquid for water-based ink printing applications

Abstract

A pretreatment liquid for applying to the upper surface of a recording media, prior to printing of printing applications using water-based ink, is provided. The liquid comprises a polyvalent metallic salt and at least one of a polymer swelling and a coalescence reagent.

1 . A pretreatment liquid for printing applications using water-based ink, said liquid comprising: 
 a polyvalent metallic salt and at least one of a polymer swelling reagent and a coalescence reagent.    
     
     
         2 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said liquid is a solution.  
     
     
         3 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said polymer swelling reagent is an organic phase emulsion in water, wherein at least one of said swelling reagent and said coalescence reagent are in said organic phase which is emulsified in water containing said polyvalent metallic salt.  
     
     
         4 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said polyvalent metallic salt includes at least one of divalent and trivalent metallic cations.  
     
     
         5 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said metallic cations are chosen from the group consisting of: Ca +2 , Zn +2 , Ba +2 , Mg +2 ,Al +3 , Fe +3  and Cr +3 .  
     
     
         6 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said metallic cations are chosen from the group consisting of: Ca +2  and Zn +2 .  
     
     
         7 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 6  wherein said calcium cation comprises between approximately 2% to approximately 25% of said pretreatment liquid.  
     
     
         8 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 6  wherein said calcium cation comprises between approximately 3% to approximately 20% of said pretreatment liquid.  
     
     
         9 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 6  wherein said zinc cation comprises between approximately 5% to approximately 20% of said pretreatment liquid.  
     
     
         10 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 6  wherein said zinc cation comprises between approximately 10% to approximately 17% of said pretreatment liquid.  
     
     
         11 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said polyvalent metallic salt is comprised of an anion from the group of: Cl − , I − , Br − , N 3   − , RCOO −  and SO 4   −2 .  
     
     
         12 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said polyvalent metallic salt is comprised of an anion from the group of: Cl −  and CH 3 COO − .  
     
     
         13 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said polymer swelling reagent is chosen from the group consisting of: N-methyl pyrrolidone, organic esters including, ethyl acetate, propyl acetate, butyl acetate, ethyl lactate, butyl lactate, ketones including acetone and methyl-ethyl-ketone and cyclic ethers including tetrahydrofuran.  
     
     
         14 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said polymer swelling reagent comprises between approximately 0.1% to approximately 15% by weight of said pretreatment liquid.  
     
     
         15 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said polymer swelling reagent comprises between approximately 0.5% to approximately 7.5% by weight of said pretreatment liquid.  
     
     
         16 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said coalescence reagent is chosen from the group consisting of: butyl glycol, butyl carbitol, glycol ethers including: di(propylene glycol) methyl ether, tripropylene glycol mono methyl ether, propylene glycol mono methyl ether, propylene glycol mono propyl ether, and dipropylene glycol dimethyl ether.  
     
     
         17 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said coalescence reagent comprises between approximately 0.1% to approximately 15% by weight of said pretreatment liquid.  
     
     
         18 . The pretreatment liquid of  claim 1  wherein said coalescence reagent comprises between approximately 0.5% to approximately 6% by weight of said pretreatment liquid.