US-12617224-B2 - Multi-layered revealable substrates and methods of producing and using said multi-layered substrates

US12617224B2US 12617224 B2US12617224 B2US 12617224B2US-12617224-B2

Abstract

Multi-layered revealable substrates and methods of producing and/or using said substrates are disclosed herein and comprise a first layer of a first opacifying material, a first color material disposed on a first side of the first layer of the first opacifying material, wherein the first layer of the first opacifying material covers the first color material, and a second layer of a second opacifying material disposed on a side of the first color material that is located opposite with respect to the first layer of the first opacifying material. The first opacifying material is configured to, upon application of first predetermined energy, change from the opaque state to a transparent state to reveal the first color material underneath the first opacifying material, and the second opacifying material is configured to, upon application of second different predetermined energy, change from the opaque state to a transparent state.

Inventors

John V. Guzzo

Assignees

VIRTUAL GRAPHICS, LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20231102

Claims (6)

1 . A multi-layered revealable substrate comprising: a first layer of a first opacifying material; a first color material disposed on a first side of the first layer of the first opacifying material, wherein the first layer of the first opacifying material covers the first color material and the first color material is at least one first ink comprising one or more first colors; a second layer of a second opacifying material disposed on a side of the first color material that is located opposite with respect to the first layer of the first opacifying material; and a second color material disposed on the second layer of the second opacifying material, wherein the second layer of the second opacifying material is disposed between the first color material and the second color material and the second color material is at least one second ink comprising one or more second colors, wherein the first opacifying material is configured to, upon application of first predetermined energy, change from the opaque state to a transparent state to reveal at least a portion of the first color material underneath the first opacifying material, the second opacifying material is configured to, upon application of second predetermined energy, change from the opaque state to a transparent state to reveal at least a portion of the second color material underneath the second opacifying material, and the first predetermined energy is a different predetermined energy than the second predetermined energy.
2 . The revealable substrate of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first predetermined energy and the second predetermined energy is predetermined light and/or laser energy.
3 . The revealable substrate of claim 1 , wherein both energies of the first predetermined and second predetermined energies are predetermined light and/or laser energies.
4 . The revealable substrate of claim 1 , wherein the second predetermined energy is greater than the first predetermined energy.
5 . The revealable substrate of claim 4 , wherein the first and second predetermined energies consist of light and/or laser energies.
6 . The revealable substrate of claim 1 , further comprising: a base substrate backing to which the second color material is coupled.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This non-provisional application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 63/382,807 filed on Nov. 8, 2022, and 63/537,287 filed Sep. 8, 2023, which are incorporated herein by reference. FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates to the field of printing and printable multi-layered substrates and improves upon the printing substrates and methods described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,054,323 and U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2021/0086542, both incorporated herein by reference, in their entireties. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to new multi-layered printing substrates, methods of producing and/or using said multi-layered printing substrates, and at least two opaque layers of said substrates that are disposed upon at least two colored materials or layers and are provided by one or more opaque polymers or polymer materials sensitive to at least one application of at least one selected from heat, pressure, light and/or laser energy, or a combination thereof. The one or more opaque polymers or polymer materials of the at least two opacifying layers may be induced to become transparent and reveal color material(s) (e.g., ink(s)) or thereunder. For example, a print head can transfer a first light/laser energy and/or thermal energy to portions of the multi-layered substrate to render at least one opaque polymer or polymer material of at least one opacifying layer of the at least two opacifying layers transparent at those portions, and thereby reveal a first color material or layer underlying the at least one opacifying layer at those portions. The print head may also transfer a second light/laser energy and/or thermal energy to portions of the multi-layered substrate to render the one or more opaque polymers or polymer materials of the at least two opacifying layers transparent that those portions, and thereby reveal at least one second color materials or layers underlying the at least two opacifying layer at those portions. As a result of the transfer of the first and second light/laser energies and/or thermal energies to the portions of the multi-layered substrate, a color mixture of the first color material or layer and the at least one second color materials or layers is revealed and displayed at the portions of the multi-layered substrate. In an embodiment, the first color material or layer may be blue, the at least one second color materials or layers may be yellow, and the color mixture may be green. The multi-layered substrates and methods disclosed herein may achieve improved color imaging and print head alignment, coordination, registration and/or re-registration by utilizing or implementing one or more of the systems and/or method described in U.S. Pat. No. 10,427,440 (hereinafter “the '440 patent”), incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure is directed to multi-layered revealable substrates and methods of producing and/or using the said multi-layered substrates. Additionally, the present disclosure is directed to multi-layered revealable substrates that have at least two opaque or opacifying layers comprising one or more opaque polymers or polymer materials that may be transitionally induced from an opaque state to a transparent state for revealing one or more color materials and/or one or more colored layers below or beneath one or more opaque polymers or polymer materials of at least one opaque or opacifying layer of the at least two opaque or opacifying layers. The one or more opaque polymer or polymer materials of the at least two opaque or opacifying layers may be induced by heat, pressure, light/laser energy, and/or chemical reaction to become transparent and thereby reveal the color material(s) (e.g., ink(s)) or color layer(s) thereunder. The one or more opaque polymers or polymer materials of the at least two opaque or opacifying layers may be sensitive to light and/or laser energy, thermal energy or heat, a chemical, and/or pressure to define at least two light/laser-sensitive, thermally-sensitive, chemically-sensitive, and/or pressure-sensitive substrates. The one or more opaque polymers or polymer materials of the at least two opaque or opacifying layers may be induced to become transparent by being exposed to predetermined light and/or laser energy (i.e., one or more predetermined frequencies, intensities, and/or amounts of light and/or laser energy; hereinafter “light/laser energy”), heated at high temperature or to an elevated temperature (i.e., a temperature higher than an ambient temperature or other threshold), subjected to an increased pressure (i.e., in excess of atmospheric pressure), chemically reacted, or changed, and/or other transparency induction methods. As a result of applications of predetermined and/or sufficient light/laser energy, heating, pressure application, and/or chemical change, one or more of the at least two opaque or opacifying l