Thermal transfer printing dyesheet and backcoat composition therefor

For a thermal transfer dyesheet, a protective backcoat is provided by polymerising acrylic functional groups in a composition comprising: an organic resin comprising at least one polyfunctional material having a plurality of pendant or terminal acrylic groups per molecule available for cross-linking, at least 10% by weight of the polyfunctional material having 4-8 such acrylic groups per molecule; at least one linear organic polymer soluble or partially soluble in the resin, and comprising 1-40% by weight of the resin/polymer mixture; a slip agent selected from derivatives of long chain carboxylic or phosphoric acids, long alkyl chain esters of phosphoric acid, and long alkyl chain acrylates; an antistatic agent soluble in the resin, and a solid particulate antiblocking agent less than 5 mu m in diameter. Resins having predominently 5-7 acrylic functional groups per molecule, are preferred for enhancing protection against the thermal head, especially when used in a mixture also containing molecules having only 2-4 such acrylic groups per molecule. The effect of using such mixtures to cross link molecules of both high and low acrylic functionalities in the presence of the linear polymers, is to enable good thermal protection to be provided by a durable low friction coating, which also cleans the thermal head during printing.