Aqueous pigment dispersion, water-soluble resin, production process of the resin, and equipment suitable for use with the dispersion

摘要

An aqueous pigment dispersion is formed of a pigment, an aqueous medium and a dispersant resin. The dispersant resin contains a hydrophobic moiety and a hydrophilic moiety in its molecule. The hydrophobic moiety is a polyester linkage chain formed of ester linkages as primary linkages. The hydrophilic moiety is a water-soluble resin containing sulfonic groups or their salts. The water-soluble resin can be produced, for example, by reacting a polyol with maleic acid and/or fumaric acid to synthesize an unsaturated polyester resin and then adding acid sulfurous acid or its salt to the unsaturated polyester resin to form groups represented by the following formula (I): <CHEM> wherein M<1> represents a hydrogen atom, an alkali metal, an ammonium group or a lower aliphatic quaternary ammonium group. The aqueous pigment dispersion is useful as a water-based ink for writing or recording equipments such as writing instruments, printers, copying machines, fax machines and printing machines.