JPH11133757A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device capable of increasing the efficiency of the transfer of an ink image to a record medium, obtaining a high density image, suppressing the futile consumption of ink and further, simply removing the ink remaining after the transfer with a cleaning means. SOLUTION: This image forming device is provided with a latent image forming means 2 for forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface of an image carrier 1, an ink developing device 4 for supplying hardenable ink held on an ink carrier to the surface of the image carrier 1, to form the ink image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the image carrier 1, a hardening means 5 for hardening the image carrier side of the ink image held on the surface of the image carrier 1 and a transfer means 6 for transferring the ink image to the record medium. Further, the image forming device is provided with an intermediate transfer body to which the ink image formed on the surface of the image carrier 1 is transferred and which holds the ink image on the surface, a hardening means for hardening the intermediate transfer body side of the ink image held on the surface of the intermediate transfer body and a transfer means for transferring the ink image to the record medium.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of an image carrier, supplies ink to the electrostatic latent image to form an ink image, and transfers the ink image onto a recording medium. hand,
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of an image carrier like an electrophotographic copying machine, and after developing the electrostatic latent image, the image is transferred onto a recording medium such as paper. 2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium by using an image forming method is used. As one of such electrophotographic image forming apparatuses, there is known an apparatus using a liquid developer in which colored resin particles (toner particles) are dispersed in a carrier liquid as a developer for developing an electrostatic latent image. Have been.

An image forming apparatus using such a liquid developer is advantageous in resolution and the like, but does not provide an image having a sufficient image density on a recording medium or does not form an electrostatic latent image. There is a problem that the toner adheres to the image carrier and is transferred to the recording medium, and the image formed on the recording medium is fogged.

As shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-45494, ink is supplied to an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier to form an ink image, and this ink image is transferred onto a recording medium. An image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium has been proposed.

In this image forming apparatus, when an ink image formed on an image carrier is transferred to a recording medium, there is a problem that the transfer efficiency is poor and a high-density image cannot be obtained. In addition, there is a problem that the ink is wasted because the amount of ink remaining on the surface of the image carrier without being transferred is large, and a cleaning device with good performance is required to sufficiently remove the ink from the image carrier. As a result, there is a problem that the cost is increased.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an image forming method in which an ink is supplied to an electrostatic latent image to form an ink image, and this ink image is transferred onto a recording medium to form an image on the recording medium. An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problem in the forming apparatus.

That is, according to the present invention, the transfer efficiency of an ink image to a recording medium is improved, a high-density image is obtained, wasteful consumption of ink is suppressed, and ink remaining after transfer is easily removed by a cleaning device. It is an object to provide an image forming apparatus that can be removed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus having excellent transfer efficiency even when a sheet having a large surface roughness is used as a recording medium.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a latent image forming means for forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface of an image carrier, and a method for supplying curable ink held on an ink carrier to the surface of the image carrier. Developing means for forming an ink image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the image carrier, curing means for curing the image carrier side of the ink image held on the surface of the image carrier, and recording the ink image on a recording medium. And a transfer unit that transfers the image to the image forming apparatus.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a latent image forming means for forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface of an image carrier, and supplying the curable ink held on the ink carrier to the surface of the image carrier to provide an electrostatic latent image. An ink developing unit that forms an ink image corresponding to the surface of the image carrier, an intermediate transfer body that transfers the ink image formed on the surface of the image carrier and holds the ink image on the surface, The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a curing unit that cures an intermediate transfer body of a held ink image and a transfer unit that transfers the ink image to a recording medium.

In an image forming apparatus for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier using ink, a photocurable ink or a thermosetting ink is used as the ink, and the ink is cured at the time of transfer. Then, the transfer efficiency of the ink from the image carrier to the transfer paper is improved.

Further studies on such a technique have revealed that the surface roughness is relatively small, such as commonly used printing coated paper (ten-point average surface roughness of about 2 to 3 μm) such as art paper or coated paper. Although effective when a recording medium is used, transfer paper having a large surface roughness, such as high-quality paper (ten-point average surface roughness of about 10 μm), copying machine paper (ten-point average surface roughness of about 15 μm), newsprint (10-point average surface roughness of 20 μm or more) When｝ was used as the recording medium, it was found that the effect of improving the transfer efficiency was sometimes small.

The present invention has been made based on such knowledge, and provides an image forming apparatus which achieves excellent transfer efficiency even when a recording medium having a large surface roughness is used.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Embodiment 1) In an image forming apparatus according to this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a dielectric drum 1 having a conductive layer and a dielectric layer formed on the surface thereof is used as an image carrier 1. At the same time, as a latent image forming means 2 for forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the image carrier 1, a discharge electrode 2 formed in a multi-stylus is used. To form an electrostatic latent image.

Here, the image carrier 1 may be any as long as a dielectric layer is formed on a conductive substrate, and its shape is not particularly limited. For example, it may be an endless belt shape.

The material constituting the conductive substrate in the image carrier 1 is, for example, aluminum, iron,
In addition to metals such as copper, nickel, SUS, gold, silver, chromium, platinum, tin, and titanium, and alloy materials thereof, those obtained by dispersing these conductive materials in a resin can be used. When the conductive material is dispersed in the resin as described above, the resin may be polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl acetate, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, polymethyl methacrylate, polycarbonate, polystyrene, acrylonitrile. -Methyl acrylate copolymer, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, poly (ethylene terephthalate), polyurethane elastomer, polyamide, polyimide and the like can be used.

On the other hand, as a material constituting the dielectric layer provided on the conductive substrate, for example, polyester, polypropylene, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl acetate, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, polymethyl methacrylate,
Polycarbonate, polystyrene, acrylonitrile-
Methyl acrylate copolymer, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, poly (ethylene terephthalate),
Polyurethane elastomer, viscose rayon, cellulose nitrate, cellulose acetate, cellulose triacetate, cellulose propionate, cellulose acetate butyrate, ethyl cellulose regenerated cellulose, polyamide (nylon 6, nylon 66, nylon 11, nylon 12, nylon 46)
Etc.), polyimide, polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polyvinyl chloride, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer, polyvinylidene chloride, vinylidene chloride-vinyl chloride copolymer, vinyl nitrile rubber alloy, polytetrafluoroethylene, polychlorofluoro Resins such as ethylene, polyvinyl fluoride, polyvinylidene fluoride, and Al ₂ O
_3, the inorganic material from SiO _2, TiO ₂ or the like of ceramics can be used, it is also possible to use a combination of such a dielectric material of two or more.

In the first embodiment, a light irradiating device 5 described later is disposed inside the image carrier 1 to irradiate the ink image formed on the outer surface of the image carrier 1 with light. It is necessary to use a transparent (light transmitting) dielectric drum 1 as the image carrier 1, but in other embodiments described later, it is not always necessary to use a transparent dielectric drum.

The image carrier 1 may have a structure in which an elastic layer made of an elastic material is formed on a conductive substrate and a dielectric layer is formed thereon. By using the image carrier 1 having such a configuration, the developing nip width can be increased when the ink developing unit 4 develops the electrostatic latent image.

As a latent image forming means 2 for forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface of a dielectric drum 1 as an image carrier, an image carrier 1
The surface is not limited to the above, and various means can be used as long as the surface can be selectively charged to form an electrostatic latent image. For example, a latent image forming means of an ion flow type in which a photosensitive member is exposed by an exposure means and discharge is performed from the photosensitive member may be used.

Next, when the release material 32 is applied to the surface of the dielectric drum 1 on which the electrostatic latent image is formed as described above by the release agent application device 3 which is a release material application unit,
A silicone oil 32 is used as the release material 32, a part of the oil application roller 31 is immersed in the silicone oil 32, the oil application roller 31 is rotated, and the silicone oil 32 on the surface of the oil application roller 31 is rotated. The amount was regulated by an oil regulating blade 33, and silicone oil 32 was applied from the oil application roller 31 to the surface of the dielectric drum 1 on which the electrostatic latent image was formed so as to have an appropriate thickness.

Here, a known material can be used as the release material 32, but silicone oil is preferred from the viewpoint of ease of handling and the like.
A 0 cp silicone oil (SH200: manufactured by Dow Corning Toray Silicone Co., Ltd.) was used.

When the amount of the release material 32 applied to the surface of the dielectric drum 1 is small, when the ink 42 held on the surface of the ink carrier 41 is brought into contact with the surface of the dielectric drum 1, There is a possibility that fogging may occur in an image formed by supplying the ink 42 even to a portion where the electrostatic latent image is not formed. Conversely, if the coating amount of the release material 32 becomes too large, the electrostatic latent image may not be formed. The ink 42 is applied to the formed portion.
May not be supplied properly, and the density of the formed image may be reduced, and an appropriate image may not be obtained. For this reason, when applying the release material 32 to the surface of the dielectric drum 1, it is preferable to apply the release material 31 so that the thickness of the release material 31 on the surface of the dielectric drum 1 is in the range of 0.1 to 10 μm.

Then, as described above, the silicone oil 32
When the ink 42 is supplied to the portion of the surface of the dielectric drum 1 on which the electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the dielectric drum 1 on which the ink is formed, the ink provided in the ink developing device 4 as the ink developing means is provided. The thickness of the ink 42 on the surface of the carrier 41 is adjusted by the ink regulating blade 43 so as to be in the range of 1 to 50 μm, and the ink carrier 41 is rotated to rotate the dielectric drum 1 coated with the silicone oil 32. The ink 42 held on the ink carrier 41 is brought into contact with the surface thereof, and the ink 42 held on the ink carrier 41 is supplied to the portion of the electrostatic latent image formed on the dielectric drum 1 to form a dielectric material. An ink image was formed on the surface of the drum 1. The means for forming the thin layer of the ink 42 on the ink carrier 41 is not particularly limited, and any conventionally known means such as a regulating roller other than the regulating blade can be used.

Here, as the ink 42, a curable ink such as a photocurable ink or a thermosetting ink is used. In this embodiment, among the curable inks, an ultraviolet curable ink which is a photocurable ink is used. By using the curable ink in this way,
Transfer efficiency in the transfer step can be improved, and the amount of ink remaining after transfer is reduced, so that cleaning can be easily performed.

In the present invention, the curable ink contains at least a coloring material and a cured resin component, and may contain other additives as necessary.

Here, as a coloring material, an organic pigment, an extender, carbon black, titanium white, metal powder and the like are used.

As the cured resin component, a radical polymerizable prepolymer or a radical polymerizable monomer can be used. As such a prepolymer, a (meth) acrylic prepolymer is preferable, and epoxy acrylates such as epoxidized drying oil acrylate, bisphenol A diglycidyl acrylate, modified bisphenol A epoxy acrylate, novolak type epoxy acrylate and aliphatic epoxy acrylate; Polyurethane acrylates such as polycarbonate acrylates; hydroxyl group-containing acrylates; reaction products of diisocyanates and hydroxyl group-containing products (alkyds, drying oils, polyesters, etc.); acryloyl groups based on oils, modified alkyds, modified polyesters Polyester acrylate, alkyd acrylate, polyether acrylate, and the like which are introduced and further urethanized are used.

The monomer is preferably a (meth) acrylic monomer, such as hydroxyethyl acrylate, hydroxyethyl methacrylate, hydroxybutyl acrylate, dicyclopentadiene acrylate, 1,6-hexanediol monoacrylate, and cyclohexyl acrylate. Meth) acrylates; di (meth) acrylates such as 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate, neopentyl glycol diacrylate, triethylene glycol diacrylate, ethylene glycol diacrylate, trimethylolpropane diacrylate, and tripropylene glycol diacrylate; ; Trimethylolpropane triacrylate,
Tri (meth) acrylates such as pentaerythritol triacrylate and the like are used. In addition to acrylic monomers, methacrylates, vinyl ethers, itaconic esters and the like are also used. Among them, as the thermosetting resin component, a long oil alkyd resin modified with linseed oil fatty acid or dehydrated castor oil fatty acid is preferable.

In the case of a photocurable ink, a photopolymerization initiator is contained. As the photopolymerization initiator, benzophenone and its derivatives are used as an allylketone type as a standard for an ultraviolet curable ink, and amine or thiol is hydrogen. It is added as a donor. As the visible light curable ink, those having an absorption in a visible light region of 400 nm or more are used as a photopolymerization initiator. For example, α-diketones such as camphorquinone, benzyl and 4,4′-dimethoxybenzyl are used. , Trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide, 2,4-diethylthioxanthone and the like.

As additives, mist inhibitors, slip agents, antioxidants, drying agents, wetting agents, viscosity improvers, waxes and the like are used.

Here, when the ink 42 held on the ink carrier 41 is brought into contact with the surface of the dielectric drum 1 coated with the silicone oil 32, the ink 42 on the surface of the ink carrier 41 is Thickness 1 ~
When the thickness is in the range of 50 μm, the supply of the ink 42 to the portion of the dielectric drum 1 where the electrostatic latent image is not formed is suppressed, and a sufficient amount of the ink 42 is supplied only to the portion where the electrostatic latent image is formed. Become so.

Next, when the ink image thus formed on the surface of the image carrier 1 is transferred to the transfer paper 7 as the recording medium 7 by the transfer means 6, the transfer paper accommodated in the paper feed tray is used. 7 is introduced between the image carrier 1 on which the ink image is formed as described above and the transfer roller 6 as the transfer means 6, and is a curing means for curing the ink image from inside the image carrier 1 prior to transfer. The light irradiating device 5 irradiates light to cure the ink 42 of the ink image formed on the image carrier 1 to a certain extent by the light. 7 was transferred.

When the transfer was performed in this manner, excellent transfer efficiency could be achieved even when the transfer paper 7 having a large surface roughness was used. 2 and 3 for this reason.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram when the entire ink image 45 formed on the dielectric drum 1 is cured (increased in viscosity). In this case, the entirety of the ink image 45 is a cured portion (viscosity increasing portion) 46. In this case, when the ink image 45 is cured, an internal strain is generated at the interface between the dielectric drum 1 and the ink image 45, the adhesive force between the ink image 45 and the dielectric drum 1 is reduced, and the ink image 45 The transfer efficiency is improved due to easy separation from the body drum.

However, it was found that when transfer paper having a large surface roughness was used, the effect of improving transfer efficiency was not sufficiently achieved. This is because if the surface roughness of the transfer paper is large,
If the contact side of the ink image 45 with the transfer paper is cured (increased in viscosity), it is considered that the adhesive force between the ink image 45 and the transfer paper is reduced, and the transfer efficiency is reduced.

On the other hand, in the present invention schematically shown in FIG. 3, a hardened portion (high viscosity portion) 46 is formed on the side of the dielectric drum 1 of the ink image 45 to transfer the ink image 45 to the transfer paper. A non-cured portion (non-viscosified portion) 47 is formed on the side.
Therefore, the adhesive force between the ink image 45 and the dielectric drum 1 is reduced, and the presence of the uncured portion 47 ensures a sufficient anchor effect of the ink even on transfer paper having a large surface roughness. It is thought that efficiency is improved.

From these viewpoints, recording media that can be used in the present invention include print-coated papers such as art paper and coated paper (ten-point average surface roughness of about 2-3 μm, small liquid absorbing property), and high-quality papers. (10-point average surface roughness of about 10 μm, large liquid absorption), copier paper (10-point average surface roughness of about 15 μm, large liquid absorption), newsprint (10-point average surface roughness of 20 μm or more, large liquid absorption) ) And the like. Particularly, according to the present invention, high quality paper having a large surface roughness,
Excellent transfer efficiency can be achieved even when a recording medium such as copying machine paper or newsprint is used.

In FIG. 1, when only the image carrier 1 side of the ink image 45 thus formed on the image carrier 1 is cured to some extent and transferred onto the transfer paper 7, the surface roughness becomes large. Even when the transfer paper 7 is used, the ink 42 is efficiently transferred from the image carrier 1 to obtain a high-density image, and the ink 42 remaining on the image carrier 1 without being transferred is obtained.
Was significantly reduced.

The light irradiation conditions for curing the ink include:
The light irradiation amount is preferably 30 to 80 mW / cm ² , and the integrated light amount is preferably about 30 to ²⁰⁰ mJ / cm ² . The image carrier side of the ink image may be in a hardened state or a highly viscous state.

Here, since the ultraviolet curable ink was used as the ink 42 as described above, the light irradiation device 5 was used.
Used was an ultraviolet irradiation device 5 having a peak wavelength at 365 nm. When a visible light curable ink is used as the ink, a visible light irradiation device such as a halogen lamp, a xenon lamp, or a fluorescent lamp can be used as the light irradiation device 5.

Then, the ink image is transferred to the transfer paper 7 as described above.
After the transfer, the transfer paper 7 is conveyed and discharged, while the ink 42 remaining on the surface of the image carrier 1 after the transfer is removed from the surface of the image carrier 1 by the cleaning device 8. The electrostatic latent image remaining on the surface of the image carrier 1 is neutralized by the neutralization means 9, and the above operation is repeated to form an image. The static eliminator 9 is a grounded static elimination roller, which is provided so as to be able to contact and separate from the dielectric drum. The charge removing means 9 is not limited to a roller shape but may be, for example, a brush.

When the image is formed in this manner, the occurrence of fogging on the transfer paper 7 is suppressed, and a good image having a sufficient image density can be obtained.
The ink 4 remaining on the surface of the image carrier 1 after the transfer
2 can be easily removed by the cleaning device 7.

(Embodiment 2) Next, FIG. 4 shows Embodiment 2 in which the present invention is applied to a full-color image forming apparatus.

In the full-color image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 4, an image forming means Y using yellow ink as the ink 42 is provided along the transport belt 10 for transporting the transfer paper 7.
An image forming unit M using magenta ink, an image forming unit C using cyan ink, and an image forming unit K using black ink are sequentially arranged. Each of the image forming units has the same configuration as that described in FIG. 1, and includes an image carrier, a discharge electrode, a release agent coating device, an ink developing device, a light irradiation device, a transfer roller, a cleaning device, and an eraser. It has. Each transfer roller 6 of each image forming unit is pressed against each image carrier 1 via a transport belt 10.

First, the transfer paper 7 is guided between the image carrier 1 and the transfer roller 6 in the image forming means Y by the conveyor belt 10, and the image carrier 1 is cured under light irradiation from the light irradiation means 5. The transferred yellow ink image is transferred onto the transfer paper 7, and a yellow image is formed on the transfer paper 7. Next, the transfer paper 7 is guided to the image forming means M, where the magenta image is superimposed on the yellow image on the transfer paper 7, the cyan image is guided by the image forming means C, and finally, the image is guided to the image forming means K. The black image is superimposed to form a full-color image. The details of the image forming process in each image forming unit are the same as those described with reference to FIG.

(Embodiment 3) Next, FIG. 5 shows Embodiment 3 in which the present invention is applied to an image forming apparatus provided with an intermediate transfer member.

The image forming apparatus of FIG. 5 is different from the image forming apparatus of Embodiment 1 in that a transparent intermediate transfer member 11 and a cleaning device 12 for the intermediate transfer member are provided. It has the same configuration except that it is arranged inside. The intermediate transfer member 11 has the same configuration as the dielectric drum 1.

First, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the dielectric drum 1 by the electrostatic latent image forming means 2, and a silicone oil 32 is applied to the surface of the dielectric drum 1 on which the electrostatic latent image has been formed. Thereafter, the electrostatic latent image is developed by the ink developing means 4 to form an ink image, and the ink image is pressure-transferred at a pressure contact portion (first transfer area) between the dielectric drum 1 and the intermediate transfer body 11.

The ink image held on the intermediate transfer member 11 is irradiated with light from a light irradiating device 5 disposed inside the intermediate transfer member 11, and a cured portion (viscosity increasing portion) is provided on the intermediate transfer member side of the ink image. ) To form a non-cured portion on the surface side of the ink image. The transfer paper 7 was guided to a pressure contact portion (second transfer area) between the intermediate transfer body 11 and the transfer roller 6, and the ink image was transferred onto the transfer paper 7. The surface of the intermediate transfer body 11 after the transfer is cleaned by the cleaning device 12. In this case, the transfer efficiency from the intermediate transfer body 11 to the transfer paper 7 was approximately 100%.

In the above-described embodiment, a single color ink image is formed by one developing unit 4. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the developing unit 5 may include a yellow ink, a magenta ink, and a cyan ink. The four developing means 5 containing black ink may be arranged between the release agent applying means 3 and the first transfer area to form a full-color image.

(Fourth Embodiment) Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention using a thermosetting ink as the ink will be described with reference to FIG.

The image forming apparatus of FIG. 6 differs from the image forming apparatus of Embodiment 1 in that a thermosetting ink (metal champion (black): manufactured by Dainippon Ink) instead of the photocurable ink is used.
Having the same configuration except that an aluminum drum is used as a conductive substrate of the dielectric drum 1 and a heating device 13 is used instead of the light irradiation device 5 as a curing means. I have. Here, as the heating device 13, a heating roller having an elastic layer made of silicone rubber on the surface of an aluminum roller containing a heating element made of a halogen lamp was used.

First, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the dielectric drum 1 by the electrostatic latent image forming means 2, and a silicone oil 32 is applied to the surface of the dielectric drum 1 on which the electrostatic latent image has been formed. Thereafter, the electrostatic latent image is developed by the ink developing means 4 to form an ink image, and the ink image is heated by a heating device 13 disposed inside the dielectric drum 1 to form a dielectric drum of the ink image. On one side, a hardened portion (high viscosity portion) is formed, and on the surface side of the ink image, a non-hardened portion is formed. Next, the transfer paper 7 was guided to the pressure contact portion (transfer area) between the dielectric drum 1 and the transfer roller 6, and the ink image was transferred onto the transfer paper 7. Also in this case, excellent transfer efficiency could be achieved even with the transfer paper 7 having a large surface roughness.

[0056]

According to the present invention, the transfer efficiency of an ink image to a recording medium is improved, a high-density image is obtained, wasteful consumption of ink is suppressed, and ink remaining after transfer is removed by a cleaning device. An image forming apparatus that can be easily removed can be provided.

Further, according to the present invention, excellent transfer efficiency can be achieved even when transfer paper having a large surface roughness is used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a case where the entire ink image is cured.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a case where only an image carrier side of an ink image is cured.

FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view of an image forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view of an image forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory diagram of an image forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: image carrier, 2: latent image forming means, 3: release agent applying means, 4: ink developing means, 5: curing means, 6: transfer means, 7: transfer paper, 8: cleaning means, 9: static elimination Means, 10: conveyor belt, 11: intermediate transfer member, 12: cleaning means, 13: heating means.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A latent image forming means for forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface of an image carrier, and a curable ink held on an ink carrier is supplied to the surface of the image carrier to cope with the electrostatic latent image. Ink developing means for forming an ink image on the image carrier surface, curing means for curing the image carrier side of the ink image held on the image carrier surface, and transfer means for transferring this ink image to a recording medium, An image forming apparatus comprising: 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the curable ink is a photocurable ink, and the curing unit is a light irradiator installed on an ink image via an image carrier.
The image forming apparatus as described in the above. 3. The image according to claim 1, wherein the curable ink is a thermosetting ink, and the curing unit is a heating device installed on the ink image via an image carrier. Forming equipment. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a release agent applying unit for uniformly applying a release agent to the surface of the image bearing member on which the electrostatic latent image is formed. apparatus. 5. A latent image forming means for forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface of an image carrier, and a curable ink held on an ink carrier is supplied to the surface of the image carrier to support an electrostatic latent image. An ink developing unit that forms an ink image on the surface of the image carrier; an intermediate transfer body that transfers the ink image formed on the surface of the image carrier and holds the ink image on the surface; Curing means for curing the intermediate transfer body side of the ink image,
An image forming apparatus comprising: a transfer unit configured to transfer the ink image to a recording medium.