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Image forming method, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge

An imaging method and imaging device technology, applied in electrography, optics, instruments, etc., can solve the problems of reduced charging characteristics, wear, and increased cost of photoconductors

Inactive Publication Date: 2009-01-21
RICOH KK
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0007] Since the small particle size toners produced by the polymerization process are spherical and have a smaller diameter than the small particles produced by the conventional pulverization process, they have the following disadvantages: they cannot be easily removed from the photoconductor, thus causing Cleaning troubles such as toner escape and black spots
However, remaining problems include: decrease in photoconductor charging characteristics due to the presence of silicone resin, and increased cost due to the need to coat the photoconductor with a protective layer
However, it is practically impossible to place the cleaning aid in the desired position; the cleaning aid generally replaces the toner and undesirably wipes off the photoconductor, making it difficult to stably form the aid layer
[0013] In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2003-208035, the contact pressure of the cleaning blade to the photoconductor is very high, which causes them to wear out rapidly
In addition, there is a problem that so-called "filming" may occur because the toner is rolled between the photoconductor and the cleaning blade, causing toner components to adhere to the photoconductor
However, these cleaning methods and techniques still have problems regarding cleaning ability, photoconductor wear and filming; thus, there are still problems to be solved before achieving toner particle size reduction and providing spherical toner

Method used

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  • Image forming method, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge
  • Image forming method, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge
  • Image forming method, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

Embodiment A-1～A-8 and comparative example A-1～A-5

[0238] (Preparation of cleaning blade and toner)

[0239] A flat-shaped cleaning blade made of polyurethane was prepared. The characteristics of the cleaning blade are shown in Table 1. Toners with different particle sizes and average circularities were also prepared by the polymerization process, and their characteristics are also shown in Table 1.

[0240] The physical characteristics of particle size and average circularity of the cleaning blade and toner were measured by a flow particle imager FPIR-100.

[0241] Table 1

[0242]

[0243] (external additive)

[0244] To prepare an external additive for toner, 1.5 parts by weight of spherical silica fine particles having a particle size shown in Table 2 was added to 100 parts by weight of toner by a wet method.

[0245] The particle size of the external additive, SF-1 and SF-2, and the friction coefficient of the photoconductor can be determined by the following procedure. Specifically, more than 500 particle images ...

Embodiment B-1

[0277] A photoconductor on which a 5 μm-thick protective layer containing 25% by mass of alumina fine particles (manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Lt., trade name AA-03, average particle diameter 0.3 μm) was attached to the cleaning characteristic evaluation device .

[0278] Each unit in the apparatus (for example, a developing unit and a cleaning unit) is arranged so that the electrophotographic process can be repeatedly established; in particular, the cleaning unit is designed so that the cleaning unit can be pressed against the photoconductor under various conditions.

[0279] The evaluation of the cleaning ability was performed under the following conditions.

[0280] The evaluation was performed at a temperature of 20° C. and a relative humidity of 65%.

[0281] The electrostatic latent image is visualized on the photoconductor using toner by applying a developing bias.

[0282] The amount of toner used for development was set so that the optical reflection densit...

Embodiment B-2

[0307] The evaluation of the cleaning ability of the cleaning blade is carried out under the same conditions as in Example B-1, except that the polyurethane rubber part used has the following elastic characteristics: hardness=67 degrees; resilience=62%; loss tangent (tan δ) peak temperature= -15°C.

[0308] The displacement amount of the tip surface of the cleaning blade was 150 μm.

[0309] Evaluation of Cleaning Ability As described above, the cleaning blade provided excellent cleaning ability, and the concentration of remaining toner particles after cleaning was 0.01 expressed in terms of light reflection density.

[0310] In addition, the same evaluation of the cleaning ability was performed on the cleaning blade under low temperature and low humidity conditions (ie, a temperature of 10° C. and a relative humidity of 15%). The concentration of the remaining toner particles after cleaning was 0.03 in terms of light reflection density, and no difficulty in cleaning was obse...

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PUM

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Abstract

Provided is an image forming method including: forming a latent electrostatic image on a photoconductor; developing the latent electrostatic image using a toner to form a visible image; transferring the visible image onto a recording medium; fixing the transferred visible image to the recording medium; and removing toner particles remained on the photoconductor by means of a cleaning blade, wherein the toner comprises an external additive, and the toner has an average circularity of 0.94 or more, and wherein the cleaning blade has a rebound resilience of 60% or more at 23 DEG C., and the contact pressure of the cleaning blade against the photoconductor is 0.2 N / cm or less.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to an image forming method using an electrophotographic process, an image forming apparatus, and a process cartridge using a cleaning blade. Background technique [0002] In a conventional image forming method using a transfer process, which is exposed according to a pattern of a document image, a latent image of the document image is formed on a photoconductor or a latent image bearing member whose surface is uniformly charged by a charging unit, and then the toned image is formed using a developing unit. Toner adheres to this latent image, making it visible as a toner image. The toner image is then transferred to transfer paper or an intermediate transfer medium by a transfer unit, and residual toner particles on the photoconductor are removed by a cleaning unit. In this way, the photoconductor is repeatedly used. [0003] For this type of cleaning unit, for example, there are various known cleaning units: (1) a cleani...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Patents(China)
IPC IPC(8): G03G13/00G03G21/10G03G15/00G03G21/18
Inventor 梅村和彦左近洋太高桥宏明内海知子
Owner RICOH KK