Title of Invention

LACQUER COMPATIBLE DECALS FOR MOTOR VEHICLES AND THE PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME

Abstract

Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles and the process for manufacturing the same comprises of (a) pressure sensitive adhesive coated vinyl film / metallised polyester film where the adhesive side is protected with silicone coated release liner is slit to desired width, (b) the non adhesive side of the said film is printed with U V curable screen printable inks and followed by curing under medium pressure mercury vapour lamp(s), metal halide lamps, Iron or Gallium doped mercury vapour lamps.; (c) printing U V curable screen printable tie-coat on printed decal followed by curing under medium pressure mercury vapour lamp(s), metal halide lamps, Iron or Gallium doped mercury vapour lamps.; alternatively, printing solvent based screen printable tie-coat based on vinyl resins on printed decal followed by drying under Infra Red lamps and/or in air circulating ovens at high temperature., (d) Punching of printed decal by conventional punching technique(s) and removal of scrap from sides; (e) Lamination of film based transparent application tape by use of conventional lamination machine; (f) cutting the decal as per shape and size and separating final decals from the sheet manually.

Full Text

FORM 2 THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 of 1970) COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See Section 10) Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles and the process for manufacturing the same PRS Solutions Private Limited, a Company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 and having its office at 63, Bombay Samachar Marg, Mumbai - 400 001 Maharashtra State, India. The following specification particularly describes the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed FIELD OF THE INVENTION : This invention relates to lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles and the process of manufacturing the same. These decals have unique combination of flexibility, conformability, high adhesion to painted surface, easy for application in mass production line, aesthetics on one hand and facet like lacquer compatibility and high gloss on the other hand. Once applied on the motor vehicles such as motor bike fuel tank and/or plastic components a layer of clear glossy lacquer comprising of polyurethane and/or acrylic type varnish can be applied by spray technique and baked at high temperature to give *Brand Labels' or 'Decorative permanent labels'. The said lacquering decals are weather resistant and suitable for 5 to 7 years outdoor use. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR-ART : In India, automobile industry is on growth path. Manufacturers of motor vehicles are constantly looking for incorporating new features thereon and coming out with new models to attract their customers. Decals / graphics which have now become an essential component for any motor vehicle not only distinguishes different models but also enhances the asthetics of the vehicle and helps in enhancing the brand immage of the manufacturer. Traditionally, decals and/or graphics used by almost all two wheeler manufacturers are based on screen printed adhesive coated Vinyl film or metallised Polyester film and solvent based screen printing inks. These solvent based screen printing inks primarily contain vinyl resin as the main polymer and pigments suitable for outdoor weathering. These solvent based vinyl inks are based on organic solvents such as 2 Isophoron, Cyclohexanone, Diacetone Alcohol, Cellosolve acetate etc. As all these solvents are of very high boiling point and slow evaporation rate, graphics printed with them require long drying cycle time. This not only delays the total manufacturing cycle time but also consumes huge amount of electrical energy which is used for heating the graphics during manufacturing stage to remove solvents present in the inks. It also has the disadvantage of emission of excessive volatile organic compounds (VOC) which pollutes the environment. Further, vinyl resin which is the main ingredient in the ink deteriorates faster when exposed to outdoor use resulting in loss of shade and gloss earlier than customer expectation. Ultra Voilet (U V) curable inks are now used extensively for screen printable decals as they are free from VOC, rich in shades, flexible and exhibit longer outdoor weathering property. These inks are based on Polyuretane acrylate monomers and oligomers with suitable photo initiators. Once exposed to U V radiation these inks have the capability to cure instantly thereby eliminating the need for subsequent drying/curing operation. However, till date these U V curable screen inks are not used for making decals for motor vehicles where decals after application on painted metal require lacquering with solvent based varnish followed by baking. This is primarily due to the fact that U V curable inks are not compatible with solvent based varnish which are used for lacquering. SUMMARY OF INVENTION In the present invention an attempt has been made to manufacture lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles such as two wheelers 3 using pressure sensitive adhesive coated vinyl film or metallised polyester film printed with U V curable screen printing inks. The multi coloured graphics after printing of various colours as per the design of the customer are printed on top by tie-coat which is a transparent screen printable ink based on Polyuretane acrylate monomers and oligomers that can be of U V curable type or heat curable solvent based ink type. The manufacturing of the lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles comprises of (a) vinyl/ metallised polyester film coated with pressure sensitive adhesive, where adhesive side protected with a silicone coated release liner is cut to the desired width by using conventional slitting techniques (b) Printing non adhesive coated side of the adhesive coated film with screen printable U V curable inks as per the customer specific shade and design by roll to roll screen printing machine and/or by sheet fed flat screen printing machines followed by exposure of ink printed side to U V lamps such as medium pressure mercury vapour lamp(s), metal halide lamps, Iron or Gallium doped mercury vapour lamps etc. of 80 to 150 W/cm at a speed so as to give an exposure of U V dose of 200mj/cm2 to 350mj/cm2 (c) Printing printed sheets with U V curable tie-coat as a final print by conventional screen printing technique using a screen mesh of about 90/cm to 180/cm followed by exposure of tie -coat printed side to U V lamps as mentioned above of 80 to 150 W/cm at a speed so as to give a total U V dose of about 200 mj/cm2 to 350 mj/cm2 or printing with a solvent based screen printable tie-coat by conventional screen printing techniques followed by drying at 60°C for 60 minutes (d) punching the decal so as to cut the film and adhesive as per the design using conventional punching machines (e) lamination of transparent application tape based on transparent film like 4 polypropelene (PP) / polyethylene (PE), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) by using conventional laminating machine and (f) cutting the decals as per shape and size by conventional punching machines and separating final decals from the sheet manually. The lacquer compatible decal for motor vehicles thus obtained has the following features: 1] It is highly flexible and conformable, hence, can be applied on highly contoured surfaces. 2] It is supplied with a transparent application tape for easy and faster application. 3] It is lacquer compatible and can withstand high temperature of curing after lacquering. 4] After lacquering decal gives very high gloss and is suitable for 5 to 7 years outdoor use without significant loss of gloss or change of shade. 5] It is Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) compliance. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS: //////////////////////// Transparent Application Tape //////////////////////// Tie-coat for lacquer //////////////////////// U V curable inks as per design //////////////////////// PVC/metallised polyester film //////////////////////// Synthetic acrylic adhesive //////////////////////// Silicone coated paper liner - 5 - WE CLAIM : 1. Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles and the process for manufacturing the same comprises of the following steps:- (a) Pressure sensitive adhesive coated vinyl film / metallised polyester film where the adhesive side is protected with silicone coated release liner is slit to desired width by conventional slitting methods (b) the non adhesive side of the film is printed with U V curable screen printable inks and followed by curing under medium pressure mercury vapour lamp(s), metal halide lamps, Iron or Gallium doped mercury vapour lamps.; (c) printing U V curable screen printable tie-coat on printed decal followed by curing under medium pressure mercury vapour lamp(s), metal halide lamps, Iron or Gallium doped mercury vapour lamps.; alternatively, printing solvent based screen printable tie-coat based on vinyl resins on printed decal followed by drying under Infra Red (IR) lamps and/or in air circulating ovens at high temperature. (d) Punching of printed decal by conventional punching technique(s) and removal of scrap from sides; (e) Lamination of film based transparent application tape by use of conventional lamination machine; - 6 - (f) cutting the decal as per shape and size by conventional punching machines and separating final decals from the sheet manually. 2. Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein the adhesive coated film used is made out of PVC or metallised polyester film having thickness ranging from 20 to 100 micron and adhesive side is protected by silicone coated release liner. 3. Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein pressure sensitive adhesive used is synthetic acrylic adhesive of dry adhesive deposition of 20 to 30 g/m2. 4. Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein inks used for printing were ultra violet curable inks commercially available in the market by use of roll to roll or flat bed screen printing machine. 5. Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein the inks were cured under 80 to 150 W/cm medium pressure mercury vapour lamp(s), metal halide lamps, Iron or Gallium doped mercury vapour lamps 6. Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tie-coat used is a U V curable or solvent based heat dried transparent medium. 7. Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein U V curable tie-coat is cured under 80 to 150 W/cm medium - 7 - pressure mercury vapour lamp(s), metal halide lamps, Iron or Gallium doped mercury vapour lamps. 8. Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein solvent based tie-coat is dried under Infra Red lamps and/or air circulating ovens. 9. Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles as claimed in claim 1 wherein the application tape used is made out of PP/PE/PVC film with rubber based pressure sensitive adhesive. 10. Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles and the process for manufacturing the same as claimed in claims 1 to 9 by which lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles areobtained. Dated this 29th day of March, 2007 (Shah Bharat S.) Duly Constituted Attorney - 8 - ABSTRACT Lacquer compatible decals for motor vehicles and the process for manufacturing the same comprises of (a) pressure sensitive adhesive coated vinyl film / metallised polyester film where the adhesive side is protected with silicone coated release liner is slit to desired width , (b) the non adhesive side of the said film is printed with U V curable screen printable inks and followed by curing under medium pressure mercury vapour lamp(s), metal halide lamps, Iron or Gallium doped mercury vapour lamps.; (c) printing U V curable screen printable tie-coat on printed decal followed by curing under medium pressure mercury vapour lamp(s), metal halide lamps, Iron or Gallium doped mercury vapour lamps.; alternatively, printing solvent based screen printable tie-coat based on vinyl resins on printed decal followed by drying under Infra Red lamps and/or in air circulating ovens at high temperature., (d) Punching of printed decal by conventional punching technique(s) and removal of scrap from sides; (e) Lamination of film based transparent application tape by use of conventional lamination machine; (f) cutting the decal as per shape and size and separating final decals from the sheet manually. Dated this 29th day of March, 2007 (Shah Bharat S.) Duly Constituted Attorney - 9 -

Documents:

603-mum-2007-abstract.doc

603-mum-2007-abstract.pdf

603-MUM-2007-CLAIMS(AMENDED)-(26-11-2012).pdf

603-MUM-2007-CLAIMS(AMENDED)-(5-6-2012).pdf

603-mum-2007-claims.doc

603-mum-2007-claims.pdf

603-mum-2007-correspondence 1(6-2-2009).pdf

603-mum-2007-correspondence 2(12-4-2008).pdf

603-MUM-2007-CORRESPONDENCE(26-2-2010).pdf

603-MUM-2007-CORRESPONDENCE(30-9-2011).pdf

603-mum-2007-correspondence-received.pdf

603-mum-2007-description (complete).pdf

603-mum-2007-form 18(15-4-2008).pdf

603-mum-2007-form 9(30-1-2008).pdf

603-mum-2007-form-1.pdf

603-mum-2007-form-2.doc

603-mum-2007-form-2.pdf

603-mum-2007-form-26.pdf

603-mum-2007-form-3.pdf

603-mum-2007-form-5.pdf

603-MUM-2007-OTHER DOCUMENT(26-11-2012).pdf

603-MUM-2007-REPLY TO EXAMINATION REPORT(26-11-2012).pdf

603-MUM-2007-REPLY TO EXAMINATION REPORT(5-6-2012).pdf