JPH05249753A - Developing method for insulating magnetic one-component toner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a developing method in which image density is stable even in long-term consecutive printing as to the development of contact magnetic one-component toner capable of PPC. CONSTITUTION:This is a developing method for insulating magnetic one- component toner in which the magnetic one-component toner which includes at least thermoplastic resin, magnetic powder, and electrostatic charging stabilizer and colorant as necessary, and whose volume resistivity is >=about 1X10<14>OMEGAcm is held on a toner carrier 2 whose surface is conductive at least in a developing field by using magnetic force, and the magnetic one-component toner is brought into contact with an electrostatic latent image formed on an electrostatic charge, image carrier to visualize the latent image and remaining toner on the toner carrier 2 is scraped from the toner carrier 2, and AC voltage 7 is impressed on a toner scraping member 6 so that charge having the same polarity as the charge of the latent image accumulated in the toner is removed, thereby contributing to reuse.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developing method for developing an electrostatic latent image by an electrophotographic method, an electrostatic recording method or the like using an insulating magnetic one-component toner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in the electrophotographic developer widely used not only in copying machines but also in printers, facsimiles and the like, the dry type is the mainstream because of its ease of handling. Further, the dry type developer includes a two-component developer which is used by mixing carrier particles and toner particles and a one-component developer which does not require a carrier. Development method using two-component developer (2
The component development method) has the most proven results and is most widely used at present, and the image quality is relatively good, but it has the following drawbacks.

(1) Since the developer consumes only toner during development, a toner replenishing means and an adjusting mechanism for keeping the toner density constant are required, which makes the machine large and complicated. (2) In order to triboelectrically charge the toner and the carrier, the developer must be agitated sufficiently and quickly, large power is required, and the developing device becomes large. (3) The life of the developer is short due to contamination of the carrier surface by the toner. (4) Due to the problem of (3) above, it is necessary to replace the developer from time to time, and it is easy for stains inside the machine to occur due to toner scattering due to a decrease in the toner charge amount, and sometimes extensive cleaning inside the machine is necessary. Therefore, maintenance by a person with specialized knowledge is essential. (5) The triboelectrification property of the toner is easily affected by environmental humidity, and problems such as fog generation and image density reduction are likely to occur.

However, in recent years, electrophotographic copying machines,
Due to the rapid progress of miniaturization and personalization of printers, facsimiles, etc., they are small, simple, and do not require the above-mentioned maintenance, and are stable in any usage environment, especially in high temperature and high humidity. It is becoming more and more important to establish a one-component developing method capable of obtaining an image. Further, when the two-component developing method is used for a large-sized machine or a high-speed machine, the development mechanism becomes more complicated and larger,
Replacing the developer during maintenance becomes very difficult,
Due to this, the increase in downtime becomes a major obstacle to use, and there is a growing demand for these improvements.

The one-component toner containing no carrier particles includes a magnetic one-component toner containing magnetic powder therein and developed by a magnetic brush developing method, and a non-magnetic one-component toner containing no magnetic powder inside. The non-magnetic one-component toner has a feature that it can be a vivid color toner, and various developing methods have already been proposed, but it is difficult to always maintain a stable toner charge amount and image quality, and the toner and the developing There is a drawback that the life of the container is short even though it is a one-component developing system.

On the other hand, the magnetic one-component toner is also relatively widely used because a high-quality image can be obtained by the conventional magnetic brush developing method. At first, as the magnetic one-component toner, a conductive magnetic toner as disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,639,245 and 3,909,258 was used. This is because development is performed by using the electric charge induced by the electric field based on the electrostatic induction action, so (1) the effect of image deterioration due to humidity can be eliminated, and (2) uniform charge can be given to the toner. Image with excellent resolution can be obtained with less background stain, (3) The structure of the developing device can be simplified because the friction charging mechanism is not required, and (4) normal development with the same toner, reverse development Although it has many advantages such as being able to perform both development, it is difficult to transfer toner to plain paper because it is not possible to use a plain paper copier (PPC) or a facsimile, and currently large-scale, low-efficiency adhesive transfer is possible. The reality is that it is rarely used except for those that use the method in combination.

Therefore, in order to enable PPC, an attempt was made to improve the transferability by increasing the electric resistance of the toner, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 50-92137. However, as the electric resistance of the toner increases, polarization due to electrostatic induction or dielectric polarization of the toner becomes insufficient and the developability deteriorates. Particularly, when it exceeds 10 ¹² Ωcm, it is not practical at all. Therefore, magnetic one-component development method
In order to make possible the above, an attempt has been made to utilize triboelectric charging or charge injection, rather than simply increasing the toner resistance and using charges by electrostatic induction or dielectric polarization.

[0008] Among them, the developing mechanism is well understood because a method of forming a thin layer of toner on a toner carrier and utilizing frictional charge with the toner carrier, toner layer thickness regulating member, electrodes and the like. Most commonly used. A developing method utilizing such triboelectric charging is, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
Developing method called "magnetic jumping developing method" as disclosed in JP-A-18656, etc.
There is a "FEED developing method" disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 14163, etc. These developing methods actually provide a small-sized, simple and maintenance-free developing device, which is an advantage of the above-described one-component developing method. However, since they use triboelectric charging for development, the toner charge amount becomes insufficient especially under high humidity, and the charge amount tends to increase under low humidity, so that a stable image is always obtained regardless of the use environment. Is still not enough for that purpose.

On the other hand, there is a developing system in which the toner layer is made thicker than that of the above system and brought into contact with the electrostatic latent image (hereinafter referred to as contact magnetic one-component development). For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-4462.
There is a developing method called "BMT developing method" disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 7 and the like, and a developing method disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,931. The former is based on the development model in which the magnetic powder and binder resin exposed on the toner surface are frictionally charged between the toner particles, and the latter development mechanism is described in Field, "A MODEL TO DESCRIBE ERE".
CTROGRAPHIC DEVELOPMENT OF RESISTIVE ONE-COMPONENT
TONER SYSTEMS ", IEEE / IAS Conference Records p.973
However, charge injection from a toner carrier is mainly used. However, the idea that only a single charging mechanism actually contributes to development and the others have no influence at all has become dominant recently. That is, for example, even when toner having the same prescription is used, frictional charging becomes dominant and charge injection becomes dominant due to changes in the structure of the developing device and the developing conditions. Further, as a contact magnetic one-component developing system utilizing electrostatically induced charge capable of PPC, for example, JP-A-54-1
There is a method disclosed in 34640. This developing method uses a toner having a surface in which charge transferable regions such as carbon black are mainly scattered in an insulating main region, and an insulating carrier is used as a toner carrier constituting the developing unit. The toner used is in a chargeable state in which it can be developed by the latent image charge in the image area. The developing mechanism will be described in more detail below. Considering two toner particles in which exposed carbon parts contact each other in the electric field of the developing field using magnetic toner particles in which a conductor such as carbon is dispersed, electrostatic discharge of each toner particle Positive and negative charges are induced in the carbon part. Thus, the toner particles in the charged state capable of contributing to the development develop the latent image when they come into contact with the latent image. The fact that the toner charge is not due to the charge injection (from the sleeve) is also clear from the fact that the developing unit uses an insulating carrier as the toner carrier.

As described above, in the contact magnetic one-component development, it cannot be generally discussed which charging mechanism is dominant for toner charging depending on the setting of the developing conditions, but triboelectrification Since charging other than the above is also used, it is possible to obtain an extremely stable image even in the environment of use.

However, in the contact magnetic one-component developing method, there is often a phenomenon that the image density is lowered by actually performing continuous printing for a long period of time. At this time, when the surface potential of the toner layer is measured when the magnetic toner carrier and / or the magnet roll in the toner carrier as disclosed in JP-A-57-58162 is rotated, the printing results. It can be seen that the potential rises or the polarity is reversed compared to the initial stage. This is because the balance of the number of positive and negative polarity toner particles is broken from the initial state in any of the concepts of mutual friction of toner, electrostatic induction or dielectric polarization, and charge injection. In such a state, the number of toner particles contributing to the development is reduced and the image density is lowered. In some cases, the toner particles having a charge having a polarity opposite to that of the electrostatic latent image are not consumed and the toner carrier is kept forever. Remains on the toner carrier, the toner adheres strongly to the toner carrier due to a mirror image charge or the like, causing unevenness in image density. Therefore, there is a method of mechanically scraping off the toner from the toner carrier or devising the magnetic pole arrangement inside the toner carrier so that the toner can be easily separated from the toner carrier. However, this method alone is not always sufficient under the condition that, for example, an image having many solid black portions is printed for a long period of time.

Therefore, although the purpose is slightly different, in such a case, a second electric means for forcibly removing the electric charge of the toner is installed as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-130764. There is a need. However, in the above publication, since the electrode is simply brought into contact with the toner layer,
The static elimination effect is not sufficient, and the same problem occurs under the condition that an image having many solid black portions is printed for a long period of time as described above.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of developing a contact magnetic one-component toner capable of PPC in which the image density is stable even during continuous printing for a long period of time.

[0014]

The present invention comprises at least a thermoplastic resin, a magnetic powder, and optionally a charge stabilizer,
A magnetic one-component toner containing a colorant and having a volume resistivity of about 1 × 10 ¹⁴ Ωcm or more is held on a toner carrier whose surface is conductive at least in the developing field by using a magnetic force, and The magnetic one-component toner is brought into contact with the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the toner to visualize the latent image. The present invention relates to a method for developing an insulating magnetic toner, which comprises applying a voltage to remove a charge having the same polarity as the latent image charge accumulated in the toner and reusing the charge.

The volume resistivity of the toner and toner composition used in the present invention is measured as follows. Commercial tablet molding machine for measuring infrared absorption spectrum (molding internal cross section is 20
mm circle) 2 in a constant temperature / humidity bath at 23 ° C / 50% RH
Approximately 0.8 g of the toner left for 4 hours is put therein and pressurized at 400 kg / cm ² using a hydraulic press machine to prepare a circular cylindrical pellet having a thickness of about 2 mm and both end faces having a diameter of 20 mm.
10mm diameter in the center of both circular end faces of this pellet
Apply silver paste to the main electrode of (1) and bring it into close contact, and ground one end to the ground. Next, a guard electrode with one end grounded to the ground is provided along the outer periphery of the pellet, a DC voltage is applied to the main electrode, and the current flowing between the main electrodes is directly read with an ammeter. Calculate the specific resistance value. The applied voltage is adjusted so that the electric field strength between the electrodes is about 500 to 1000 V / cm. When the electric field intensity is higher than this, the observed volume specific resistance value shows electric field dependence and may not be uniquely determined.

The method for producing the insulating magnetic one-component toner used in the present invention includes a binder component containing a thermoplastic resin as a main component, a magnetic powder, a colorant, a charge stabilizer, and other components added as necessary. Is melted and kneaded by using a kneader such as a twin-screw extrusion kneader, a two-roll mill and a pressure kneader, cooled and solidified, and finely pulverized by a pulverizer such as a jet mill. It is common to adjust the particle size distribution of In recent years, various methods for directly producing toner particles have been proposed by a suspension polymerization method, an emulsion polymerization method, etc., and a toner manufactured by these methods can also be used. The toner has a volume-based average particle size of 5 to 15 μm.
It must be m. If the upper limit is exceeded, the image will become rough, and if it is less than the lower limit, the replenishment property will deteriorate significantly due to the deterioration of the fluidity of the toner in a normal developing device / developing method.

The thermoplastic resin may be any of those usually used for toners, for example, polystyrene type, styrene and acrylic acid ester or methacrylic acid ester, acrylonitrile or maleic acid ester copolymer system containing styrene, Examples thereof include polyacrylic acid ester-based, polymethacrylic acid ester-based, polyester-based, polyamide-based, epoxy-based, phenol-based, hydrocarbon-based, and petroleum-based resins.

As the magnetic powder, known ones such as various ferrites, magnetites and hematites can be used, and various shapes such as cubic crystal, regular octahedron, spherical and acicular can be used, but they are dispersed in the toner. Due to problems such as uneven distribution of magnetic powder among toner particles and generation of free magnetic powder, the particle size is 1 μm.
The following is desirable. In terms of magnetic properties, the saturation magnetization is not particularly limited as long as it is about 50 emu / g or more, but the coercive force is preferably 200 Oe or less mainly because of the problem of the mobility of toner particles on the toner carrier. Further, it is desirable that it is 120 Oe or less and 40 Oe or more. Also, there is no problem if the magnetic powder is used as it is,
You may surface-treat with a fatty acid, a silane coupling agent, etc. as needed. Regarding the amount of the magnetic powder to be added, a necessary amount is added depending on the strength of the magnetic field on the toner carrier in order to give a magnetic force for holding the toner particles on the toner carrier, but it is restricted to the toner carrier. From the relationship between the force and the attractive force to the electrostatic latent image, 20 to 60% by weight with respect to the toner is desirable.

As the charge stabilizer, which is not always essential, various ones are used from among various charge control agents which have been used in various developing methods using conventional triboelectric charging.

The charge stabilizer used in the contact magnetic one-component development has a particle size such that the toner particles are not separated from the toner particles when they are melt-kneaded and dispersed in the toner, and then pulverized and classified. Is given. Examples of such substances include nigrosine-based oil-soluble dyes,
Examples thereof include crystal violet, triphenylamine, quaternary ammonium salt, azo-based metal complex salt, metal complex salt dye such as balatin dye, orazole dye and the like. Further, various pigments conventionally used as colorants, for example, various non-ferrous metal oxides, zinc white, yellow iron oxide, Hansa Yellow,
Disazo yellow, quinoline yellow, permanent yellow, red iron oxide, lysole red, watchcan red calcium salt, watchcan red manganese salt, pyrazolone red, lake red C, lake red D, brilliant carmine 3B, dark blue, phthalocyanine blue,
Titanium oxide and the like can also be a charge stabilizer in some cases.

The colorant is not always necessary because the magnetic powder is black, brown or dark blue, but commonly used pigments and dyes can be used. For example, carbon black other than iron black, which is the magnetic powder, can be used. , Various non-ferrous metal oxides, zinc oxide, yellow iron oxide, Hansa yellow, disazo yellow, quinoline yellow, permanent yellow, red iron oxide, resole red, watchyan red calcium salt, watchyan red manganese salt, pyrazolone red, lake red C, A pigment such as lake red D, brilliant carmine 3B, navy blue, phthalocyanine blue, titanium oxide, or an oil-soluble dye can be used.

Other necessary components include lubricants such as various waxes. If necessary, hydrophobic silica or the like is added to the toner mainly for improving fluidity.

The toner carrier 2 has a magnet roll 1 having a plurality of magnetic poles inside, as shown in FIG. 1, for example, and the toner is regulated by the doctor blade 3 by the rotation of a conductive cylinder. The mechanism for conveying the layers is the most common. The internal magnet roll 1 may be fixed or rotatable. This toner carrier 2 is preferably electrically grounded. Further, in the organic and inorganic photoconductors, when there is a residual potential in the background portion due to insufficient exposure amount, a DC bias of the same polarity as the electrostatic latent image is applied by the electric means 4 for the purpose of preventing scumming. Must be applied.

The gap between the toner carrier 2 and the doctor blade 3 and the distance between the toner carrier 2 and the electrostatic image carrier (not shown) are such that the toner layer is in contact with the electrostatic image carrier or is very close to it. Need to be adjusted. Since the actual set value changes depending on the material of the blade (whether magnetism is present or not), the optimum value is selected by experiment. Increasing the gap between the toner carrier and the doctor blade, and the gap between the toner carrier and the electrostatic charge image carrier can make the dimensional accuracy of the machine rough, which reduces the manufacturing cost and makes it possible for a copier with an ultra-large screen. It is extremely advantageous. Further, since there is no need for precise adjustment, there is an advantage that the performance between machines becomes constant and stable.

As a method for forming an electrostatic latent image on an electrostatic charge image carrier, an Se-based or a-silicon-based inorganic photoreceptor,
Also, after the electrostatic charge image carrier such as an organic photoconductor is not exposed to light, it is charged using corona discharge to evenly distribute the charge, and then image information is exposed to form an electrostatic latent image. The most common is to In addition, a method of directly recording an electrostatic latent image on electrostatic recording paper or the like by a needle electrode, an ion flow recording, or the like may be used. After that, when a toner carrier holding toner is brought into contact with this electrostatic latent image by, for example, magnetic force, the toner selectively adheres to the electrostatic latent image and is developed by the mechanism.

In the toner layer immediately after the toner layer formed on the toner carrier comes into contact with the electrostatic image carrier and develops the electrostatic image, whatever mechanism the toner charging mechanism is as described above. The toner charge balance is lost. In other words, in a model using mutual friction and electrostatic induction of toner, only toner particles having a polarity opposite to that of the latent image are developed in principle, so that the latent image and the toner having the same polarity remain at the same time. Also, in the charge injection model, the existence of both positive and negative polarities in the upper layer of the toner layer is confirmed. The toner charge having the same polarity as that of the electrostatic charge image thus generated needs to be quickly eliminated before the toner carrier again returns to the developing field. Even if a developing device having no special measures as shown in FIG. 1 is used in a state where many toner particles having a charge that does not contribute to the development actually exist, the toner charge that does not contribute to a certain extent is obtained. Are removed. This is probably because the toner is exchanged in the toner reservoir 5 in FIG. Further, in the mechanism for separating the toner particles by making the magnetic poles of the same polarity face each other as shown in FIG. 2, the exchange of toner and the removal of electric charge are further promoted. However, in such a mechanism, the charge is not positively removed, so in long-term continuous printing, the charge neutralization rate cannot exceed the accumulation rate, and the image density also decreases. I will end up.

An example of the developing method relating to the present invention is shown in FIG. By the conductive toner scraping member 6 in contact with the toner carrier 2, all the toner on the toner carrier 2 is once separated from the toner carrier and then reduced to the toner reservoir 5. At this time, the scraping member 6 is connected to an AC power source for removing charges having the same polarity as the electrostatic charge image accumulated in the toner. The AC voltage is experimentally determined in the range of 100 to 2000 V and the frequency is in the range of 10 to 1000 Hz. Further, a DC voltage may be superimposed on the AC voltage as needed. Here, the electrostatic charge image and the opposite polarity charge are
In the case of regular development, it is the same polarity as the uniformly charged charge given to the electrostatic image carrier, and in the case of reversal development, it is the charge opposite to the uniformly charged charge given to the electrostatic image carrier.

As the scraping member, for example, a thin plate of aluminum, stainless steel, brass or the like is the easiest to use, and the surface may be plated. Further, rubber or urethane in which a conductive filler is dispersed may be used.
The scraping member needs to have a certain degree of flexibility, and has a sufficient width to scrape off all the residual toner on the toner carrier. When the scraping member is in the form of a plate as described above, the mounting angle is experimentally determined, but it is better to set it at about 5 to 45 degrees from the tangent line of the sleeve.

Further, it is desirable that the AC voltage application portion of the scraping member is electrically insulated from the conductive toner carrier. When electrically connected, it may act as an AC bias to the toner carrier as well as to impart a charge to the toner, which may cause a change in developability. For that purpose, for example, there is a method of covering the surface of the toner scraping member in contact with the toner carrier with an insulator. Further, when the scraping member has a plate shape, it is also effective to separately configure the scraping member into an insulating scraping portion and a conductive AC voltage applying portion as shown in FIG. In the case where the insulating member is not covered, it is necessary to adjust the voltage applied to the scraping member so that the image quality does not change due to the above problem. As other scraping members,
For example, a fur brush made of conductive fibers in which a conductive filler is kneaded, a porous (or sponge-like) elastic roller, or the like may be used.

[0030]

【Example】

Production Example of Insulating Magnetic Toner Toner raw materials having the following formulations were premixed. Parts represent parts by weight. Styrene-acrylic resin (trade name: ALMATEX PA-201, manufactured by Mitsui Toatsu Kagaku Co., Ltd.) 63.0 parts Magnetite (trade name: MG-WMK, manufactured by Mitsui Metal Industry Co., Ltd.) 35.0 parts Charge Stabilizer (trade name: Spron Black TRH, Hodogaya Chemical Co., Ltd.) 2.0 parts 3 kg of the above raw material, 20 liter mixer (trade name:
Henschel mixer, manufactured by Mitsui Miike Seisakusho Co., Ltd., 15
Mix for 5 minutes at 00 rpm. After melt-kneading this with a twin-screw extrusion kneader (trade name: PCM-30, manufactured by Ikegai Tekko Co., Ltd.), it was pulverized with a jet mill and classified with an air stream classifier, with a volume-based average particle size of about 11 μm. 5μ or less and 20μ
A toner sample that does not substantially contain the above is used. To improve the fluidity of the toner, 0.3 parts of hydrophobic silica was added to 100 parts by weight of the toner and dry mixed.

Example of Prototype of Copy Testing Machine The above toner was actually subjected to a printing test by using an experimental machine obtained by modifying a commercially available copying machine (using a positively charged selenium (surface potential + 800V) photoconductor). The structure and setting conditions of the developing device are as follows. Basic mechanism of developing device: ・ Internal magnetic pole: 8 poles, 1000 gauss, rotate at 600 rpm in the direction opposite to the photoconductor ・ Conductive sleeve: Diameter 24 mmφ, rotate at the peripheral speed of 13 cm / sec in the same direction as the photoconductor ・ Doctor blade- Conductive sleeve gap: 0.3mm ・ Photoconductor-conductive sleeve gap: 0.2mm ・ DC bias + 100V applied to sleeve

Example 1 Below the sleeve of this developing unit, a scraping member having an aluminum plate attached 5 mm away from the tip of a urethane blade having a thickness of about 1.5 mm was attached to the tangent line of the sleeve circumference with 2
It was pressed at an angle of 0 degree, and a 50 Hz alternating current of 1 kV was applied to the aluminum portion. Toner into developing device 2
When a continuous printing test was carried out with 00 g, the reflection density of solid black portion of the initial image was 1.34.
It showed a good stability of 2 (reflection densitometer Macbeth RD-918 was used for reflection density).

Comparative Example 1 In the developing unit used in Example 1, a similar experiment was conducted with the toner scraping member removed, and the result was about 100.
When printing on one sheet, the solid black image density decreased to 0.9.

Comparative Example 2 About 100 sheets were continuously printed in Example 2 and the solid black image density was 0.
After decreasing to 9, it was left for about 1 hour to print again, but no increase in solid black density was observed.

Comparative Example 3 When the printing test was conducted again after leaving it for 2 weeks after Example 2, the solid black density returned to 1.33. However, after that, the solid black density was 0.
It dropped to 75.

Example 2 Using a negative-positive reversal image, direct current +700 V was applied to the toner carrier to perform reversal development. When a 50 Hz alternating current of 1 kV was applied to the toner scraping member in the same developing device as in Example 1, the initial image showed a solid black portion reflection density of 1.28, showing good stability of 1.32 after 1500 sheets. It was

[0037]

According to the method for developing an insulating magnetic one-component toner of the present invention, it is possible to perform reliable contact magnetic one-component development with stable image density and image quality even during long-term continuous printing.

[0038]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional developing device.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a conventional developing device.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the developing device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the scraping member.

[0039]

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Magnet Roll 2 Toner Carrier 3 Doctor Blade 4 Bias Applying Voltage 5 Toner Reservoir 6 Toner Scraping Member 7 AC Power Supply

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic one-component toner containing at least a thermoplastic resin, magnetic powder and, if necessary, a charge stabilizer and a colorant and having a volume resistivity of about 1 × 10 ¹⁴ Ωcm or more, at least on the surface of a developing field. Is held on a conductive toner carrier using magnetic force, and the magnetic one-component toner is brought into contact with the electrostatic latent image formed on the electrostatic charge image carrier to visualize the latent image. While scraping off the remaining toner from the toner carrier, by applying an AC voltage to the toner scraping member, the latent image charge accumulated in the toner and the same polarity charge are removed and the toner is reused. And a method for developing an insulating magnetic one-component toner.