| 摘要 |
PURPOSE:To permit a good printing without lowering the density of the surface of an ink transferred to a printing medium by coloring shell or thermally expandable substances in the same color as a thermally meltable ink layer. CONSTITUTION:An ink ribbon 400 is heated from the side of a base film 450 by the Joule heat generated by a heating resistor 366 formed on a thermal head 360. In doing so, the heat is transmitted through a base film 450 to a thermally meltable ink layer 410 to soften and melt this ink layer and, at the same time, expand microcapsules 420, enclosing therein thermally expandable substances 430, dispersed in the thermally meltable ink layer 410, whereby the molten ink is fused on the surface of recording paper P by the ink layer 410. In the image dot formed on the recording paper P after separation of the ink ribbon 400, even if the expanded microcapsules 420 are exposed on the ink surface of the image dot, its effect on the printing density can be reduced, since the microcapsules 420 (shell 440 and thermally expandable substance 430) and the ink layer 410 are colored in the same color. |
