Cleaning Blade Young's Modulus Gradient for Friction Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cleaning blades experience increased friction and wear, leading to noise and defective images due to high contact pressure, and attempts to reduce friction by varying Young's modulus across the blade's thickness have resulted in local abrasion and toner slipping through gaps formed by wear.
Innovation Solution
A cleaning blade with a Young's modulus profile that peaks inside the contact surface, with a higher modulus at the inner position and lower modulus at the contact and back surfaces, reducing friction and wear while maintaining elasticity to follow surface irregularities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If contact pressure of the cleaning blade is increased to prevent toner from slipping, then toner blockability is improved, but frictional force increases causing blade tip curling and noise
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning blade employs a gradient hardness structure where the contact surface has lower hardness than the inner layer. This local quality differentiation allows the contact surface to deform elastically under contact pressure, reducing frictional force and preventing blade tip curling, while the inner layer maintains structural integrity and toner blockability.
2Reliability
If contact pressure is increased to maintain cleaning effectiveness, then adhesive material blocking is improved, but wear of the cleaning blade accelerates
Solution Approach 1:
The blade structure differentiates hardness locally, with the inner layer having higher hardness to resist wear and the contact surface having lower hardness to reduce friction. This protects the blade from accelerated wear while maintaining cleaning effectiveness through proper contact pressure.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If the contact surface is made harder to reduce friction, then friction is reduced, but local abrasion occurs at the tip portion
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning blade inverts the conventional hardness gradient by making the contact surface softer than the inner layer. This soft contact surface reduces friction through elastic deformation, preventing blade tip curling, while the harder inner layer provides structural support and resistance to local abrasion, eliminating the problem of abrasion-induced toner leakage.
4Object-generated harmful factors
If Young's modulus is increased at the contact surface to reduce friction, then friction is reduced, but followability to surface irregularities decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning blade implements a hardness gradient where the contact surface has lower Young's modulus (softer) than the inner layer. This allows the contact surface to deform elastically and follow surface irregularities of the cleaning target member, maintaining good contact for cleaning effectiveness while the inner layer provides structural support.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively reduces friction, prevents curling and local abrasion, and enhances toner blockability, resulting in improved durability and image quality by dispersing stress and preventing peeling and chipping.
Implementation Method 1
a relationship of Ym > Yc > Yb holds, where Yc is a value of Young's modulus at the contact surface (Z = 0), Ym is the peak value of Young's modulus at the peak position (Z = Zm), and Yb is a value of Young's modulus at a position (Z = Zb) separated from the contact surface more than the peak position in the thickness direction
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3C
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a cleaning blade configured to be in contact with a cleaning target member and clean a surface of the cleaning target member. The cleaning blade has a contact surface configured to be in contact with the cleaning target member, and is formed such that (i) Young's modulus of the cleaning blade reaches a peak value at a peak position inside of the contact surface in a thickness direction of the cleaning blade, and (ii) a relationship of Ym > Yc > Yb holds, where Yc is a value of Young's modulus at the contact surface (Z = 0), Ym is the peak value of Young's modulus at the peak position (Z = Zm), and Yb is a value of Young's modulus at a position (Z = Zb) separated from the contact surface more than the peak position in the thickness direction.