Inkless printing method

摘要

The present invention relates to a method of marking a substrate that comprises a color forming material, comprising the steps of: activating a region of the substrate so as to transform it from an inactive, low reactive state to an active, high reactive state; irradiating a part of the activated region with an initial color changing radiation to effect an initial color change to a first color; and irradiating a part of the substrate that has been changed to the first color with a high power density beam of visible electromagnetic radiation to effect a further color change of the irradiated region to a second color.

主权项

1. A method of marking a substrate that comprises a colour forming material, said method comprising the steps of:
activating a region of the substrate so as to transform said colour forming material in said region from an inactive, low reactive state to an active, high reactive state, wherein the step of activating does not require a photoinitiator and does not effect a colour change, wherein the step of activating a region of the substrate involves heating the substrate above an activation temperature either by heating the substrate directly or by irradiating the region to be activated with suitable radiation; irradiating at least a part of the activated region with an initial colour changing radiation to effect an initial colour change to a first colour; and irradiating at least a part of the substrate that has been changed to the first colour with a high power density beam of visible electromagnetic radiation to effect a further colour change of the irradiated region to a second colour, wherein the method is self-terminating so that when a target temperature is reached the colour forming material becomes substantially transparent to the visible radiation.