Field of the Invention

The invention pertains to a photoconductive composition useful in the fabrication of digital, laser- imaged offset printing plates. More particularly, the invention relates to low cost, photoconductive compositions exhibiting high sensitivity in the infrared ("IR") wavelength range, while containing very low amounts of the expensive IR-sensitive organic photoconductor composition.

Background of the Invention

The use of laser-imaged printing plates has become state of the art. Such plates are coated with infrared- sensitive organic photoconductors sensitive to light in the wavelength range of 700 - 900 nm. Typical inorganic photoconductors and a wide variety of organic photo¬ conductors do not ordinarily exhibit the required sensitivity in the infrared region.

Large amounts of the infrared-sensitive organic photoconductors are ordinarily required to produce plates with the requisite level of sensitivity. However, the cost of using such large amounts of infrared-sensitive organic photoconductors makes the cost of such plates prohibitively high.

It has now been found that an effective photo¬ conductive composition having the required sensitivity in the infrared region can be formulated with relatively modest amounts of the infrared-sensitive organic photoconductor.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The present invention embodies a photoconductive composition comprising a mixture of:

(a) an infrared-sensitive organic photoconductor sensitive to light in the wavelength range of 700 - 900 nm and present in an amount of about 0.1-2 wt.%? (b) a visible light-sensitive organic photoconductor sensitive to light in the wavelength range of 400 - 700 nm and present in an amount of about 10-20 wt.%, the ratio of the visible light- sensitive organic photoconductor to the infrared-sensitive organic photoconductor being in the range of about 8:1-200:1;

(c) an ultraviolet-sensitive organic photoconductor sensitive to light in the wavelength range of 300 - 400 nm and present in an amount of about 10-20 wt.%; and

(d) a binder, present in an amount of about 60-85 wt.%.

Preferably, the infrared-sensitive organic photoconductor is present in an amount of 0.5-1 wt.% and the ratio of the visible light-sensitive organic photo¬ conductor to the infrared-sensitive organic photo¬ conductor is in the range of 20:1-200:1.

The preferred infrared-sensitive organic photoconductor is an anthraquinone dye or phthalocyanine. A particularly preferred infrared-sensitive organic photoconductor is C.I. Vat Brown 22 having the formula:

The phthalocyanines of the following structure are also useful infrared-sensitive organic photoconductors:

wherein Z is selected from the group consisting of H ₂ , Ti=0, V=0, Al-Cl, Mg-Cl and Cu-Cl.

Preferably, the visible light-sensitive organic photoconductor comprises C.I. Pigment Orange 43 having the formula:

Alternatively, the visible light-sensitive organic photoconductor may be an anthanthrone compound having the formula:

(

wherein X, and X ₂ are the same or dif erent halogen atoms and n is an integer of 0 to 4.

Preferably, the ananthrone compound is Monolyte Red 2Y, also known as C.I. Pigment Red 168, having the formula:

The ultraviolet-sensitive organic photoconductor comprises an oxadiazole compound such as any of those described in U.S. Patent 4,868,079. The preferred oxadiazole comprises 2,5-bis(4-diethyl-aminophenyl)-l,3- 4-oxadiazole having the formula:

The ultraviolet-sensitive organic photoconductor may also be a triphenyl methane compound, especially one having the formula:

The binder may be any resin commonly employed in electrographic materials. Examples of suitable binder resins include acrylic resins, polyester resins, polycarbonate resins, polystyrene resins, phenolic resins, epoxy resins, urethane resins, phenoxy resins, styrene-butadiene copolymers, silicone resins, styrene- alkyd resins, soya-alkyd resins, polyvinylchloride, polyvinylidene chloride, ketone resins, polyamide resins, etc.

The photoconductive compositions of the present invention will typically have a speed, E _ft , of less than about 2 and a residual voltage, V _R of less than about 50 V. E^ was measured using a 788nm filter, 1 lux light source, on a Model SP-428 Kawaguchi Electrostatic Paper Analyzer.

This invention will be better understood with reference to the following example; unless otherwise indicated, all parts and percentages are on a weight basis.

Example 1

Several photoconductive compositions were prepared with the components described in the following Table I:

binder = vinyl acetate copolymer

UV = 2,5-bis(4-diethylaminophenyl)-1,3-4-oxadiazole

Vis #1 = C.I. Pigment Orange 43

IR #1 = C.I. Vat Brown 22

IR #2 = X-form metal-free phthalocyanine Vis #2 = Monolyte Red 2Y

Compositions A-G were tested for speed, E^, and residual voltage, V^; their values are presented in Table II below:

Table II

Compositions A oo 262.5 B 00 181.3 C 0.7 12.5 D 7. 0 214.8 E 1.8 31.3 F 2.0 50.0 G 1.8 25.0

As may be seen from Table II, compositions C, E and G exhibited E^ values of less than 2.0 and V _R values of

less than 50 and were therefore satisfactory. Note that composition C, however, achieved such values with the use of a high level of IR pigment (18.6 wt%) with no visible pigment being present. On the other hand, composition E achieved satisfactory results with only 0.63 wt.% IR pigment and 15.7 wt.% visible pigment present while composition G achieved satisfactory results with 1.61 wt.% of a different IR pigment and 14.5 wt.% of the same visible pigment. The advantage of incorporating the relatively cheap visible pigment with the expensive IR pigment is clearly shown in the case of composition D in which the IR pigment content was 0.93 wt.% (higher than in composition E) , but no visible pigment was present.

In the accompanying FIGURE, the E^ values (abscissa) for the compositions were plotted versus the pigment loading, in wt.%, of the infrared-sensitive organic photoconductor (ordinate) . Composition C is shown at the extreme left ("high cone, of IR pigment"), with composition D shown on the right at the highest point on the ordinate ("low cone, od IR pigment") and composition E is shown at the extreme right ("addition of visible pigment with low cone. of IR pigment") . Intermediate points, at 10 wt.% and 5 wt.% IR pigment loadings, are also shown on the curve, but are not stated in Table I or Table II.