JPS61159545A - Aluminum alloy for precision working, and tubing and photo-conductive member by use of it - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the alloy suitable for component members requiring precision working such as photo-conductive members, etc., by providing an aluminum alloy having aluminium as matrix and containing silicon by a specific quantity or less and by limiting the size of the inclusions in the alloy to the specific value or below. CONSTITUTION:The aluminum alloy for precision working has aluminium as matrix and contains silicon by <=0.5wt%, in which the size of the inclusions is limited to <=10mu; Iron (<=2,000ppm), 0.5-10wt% magnesium, or 0.5-10wt% copper may further be added. This aluminum alloy is subjected to drawing to produce, e.g., photo-conductive members.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an aluminum alloy suitable as a component of electrical or electronic devices that require precision processing, including photoconductive members, and an aluminum alloy that uses this aluminum alloy. This invention relates to tubing and photoconductive members.

[Conventional technology]

Aluminum alloys are widely used in various structures such as building materials and automobile parts, but their use is increasing in particular as components of electrical and electronic devices that require precision processing, such as supports for photoconductive members. .

However, general-purpose aluminum alloys standardized by Japan Industrial Standards (JIS), such as those for wrought materials, castings, and die-gas, contain Mg, Cu, Mn, Si, and Zn.
Various impurity components are contained together with various compositional components such as actively added components, and these may precipitate in the structure as inclusions. In particular, silicon is difficult to form a solid solution with aluminum, and Si, 5i02. Al-5i
Compounds, Al-Fe-3i compounds, Al-51-Mg compounds, and A1 as Al2O3 are present in the aluminum structure in the form of islands, etc., and these form precipitates near the surface during machining. These hard spots impair workability during precision machining, and eventually deteriorate the characteristics of electronic components made of aluminum alloy.

To explain this situation in more detail using a photoconductive member as an example, for example, an electrophotographic photoreceptor is usually constructed by providing a photoconductive layer on the surface of a cylindrical support made of an aluminum alloy. .

Various organic and inorganic photoconductive substances are used as materials for the photoconductive layer. For example, amorphous silicon whose dangling bonds are modified with a monovalent element (hereinafter referred to as a-
3i) is expected to be used as a material for photoconductive layers due to its excellent light guiding properties, vibration resistance, and heat resistance. In order to put this a-5i into practical use, in addition to the photoconductive layer of a-5i, a charge injection blocking layer for blocking charge injection from the support, a surface protective layer such as SiN or SiC, etc.
x It is necessary to use a protective layer and create a multi-layered structure depending on the purpose. In this case, the uniformity of the photoconductive member is extremely important, and if there are defects such as uneven photoconductive properties or pinholes, not only will it not be possible to provide a beautiful image, but it will also be impractical. Become.

In particular, it is known that the morphology of the film of a-3i is largely influenced by the surface shape of the support. Particularly in large-area electrophotographic photoreceptor drums that require substantially uniform photoconductive properties over most parts.

The surface condition of the support is extremely important; the presence of defects on the support surface impairs the uniformity of the film, resulting in the formation of columnar structures and spherical protrusions, resulting in photoconductive non-uniformity.

Therefore, when using an aluminum alloy tube material as a support, in the process of performing various precision cutting or polishing processes such as mirror finishing or embossing on the surface, the various inclusions mentioned above may occur, such as hard spots. If a part is present, for example in the process of mirror polishing by cutting.

It acts as cutting resistance against the cutting tool, causes defects on the surface of the aluminum cylinder, and causes cracks of about 1 to 10 gm, rough scratches, and even minute irregularities and streak scratches on the surface of the aluminum support. It has become.

Therefore, the present inventors focused on inclusion components in aluminum alloys, and in particular, by regulating the size of inclusions caused by oxides of alloy component 1 contained in the aluminum alloy,
The inventors have found that the above-mentioned conventional problems can be solved and have completed the present invention.

[Purpose and outline of the invention]

A first object of the present invention is to provide an aluminum alloy in which structural abnormalities caused by inclusions are suppressed and which is suitable for use in precision machining.

A second object of the present invention is to provide precision processing that suppresses surface defects after precision processing and is particularly suitable for use in structural members of electrical or electronic devices such as photoconductive members where an accurate surface shape due to precision processing is desired. Our objective is to provide aluminum alloys for

A third object of the present invention is to provide an aluminum alloy tube material in which tissue abnormalities due to inclusions are suppressed and the forming method is optimized, thereby making the tube material more adaptable to precision processing.

A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a material suitable for precision machining of tubular structural members of electrical or electronic devices such as supports for electrophotographic photosensitive drums, which require an accurate surface shape and high dimensional accuracy through precision machining. Our objective is to provide aluminum alloy tubing.

A fifth object of the present invention is that surface defects of the support are suppressed,
The object of the present invention is to provide a photoconductive member with excellent uniformity of electrical, optical, and photoconductive properties.

A sixth object of the present invention is to provide a photoconductive member that can produce high-quality images with fewer image defects.

The first and second objects of the present invention are to provide an aluminum alloy having aluminum as a substrate and having a silicon content of less than 0.5% by weight, wherein the size of inclusions is 1OBm or less. This is achieved by the aluminum alloy for precision machining of the invention (hereinafter referred to as the aluminum alloy of the invention).

The third and fourth purposes are to use aluminum as a substrate,
This is achieved by the aluminum alloy tube material of the present invention, which is formed by drawing an aluminum alloy having a silicon content of less than 0.5% by weight and a size of inclusions of 1OILm or less.

The fifth and sixth objects are a photoconductive member having a photoconductive layer on a support, wherein the support is provided with a photoconductive layer.

This is achieved by the photoconductive member of the present invention, which is made of an aluminum alloy that uses aluminum as a substrate, has a silicon content of less than 0.5% by weight, and contains inclusions with a size of 110 μm or less.

[Detailed description and examples of the invention]

General-purpose aluminum alloys generally contain precipitates and inclusions caused by alloying ingredients that are actively added as needed and impurities that are unavoidably mixed in during processes such as refining and government manufacturing. Abnormal growth occurs at grain boundaries, etc., and hard parts called hard spots occur within the alloy structure, impairing workability during precision machining, and causing deterioration of the characteristics of electronic components etc. obtained by precision machining. As mentioned above,
For example, silicon forms a solid solution with aluminum, <<, St, 5
i02. Al-Si compound, Al-Fe-Si compound,
As Al-51-Mg compound, At is also Al2O3
As such, they are present in the aluminum structure in the form of islands, for example. Further, Fe, Ti, etc. also appear as hard grain boundary precipitates or hard spots as oxides. In particular, Si is a sheet metal with 0
．． Even if it is contained at a low concentration of less than 5% by weight, it is difficult to form a solid solution with At and is hard (especially 5i02), so it greatly contributes to improving the physical properties of A1 alloy, but it is difficult to process it with a precision mirror finish using a cutting tool. Occasionally, it gets caught by cutting tools such as diamond bits, resulting in surface defects.

In the present invention, especially in aluminum alloys having a silicon content of less than 0.5% by weight, the size of the various inclusions described above (the particle diameter represented by the maximum length of the inclusion particles) is 10%.
gm or less, the workability during precision machining and the properties of electronic components obtained by precision machining are unexpectedly improved, and the present invention has been completed. A more preferable size of the inclusions is 5 gm or less. A specific method for suppressing the size of inclusions in an aluminum alloy within the range specified in the present invention includes, for example, using a ceramic/cutter with a small opening diameter to be used when melting the aluminum alloy, and A method is used to make full use of the effect of the filter under sufficient control, and specifically, the loft used is used at the point when the filter is clogged to some extent. Furthermore, □, measures to prevent mixing of melting furnace materials,
Methods include increasing the thickness of the slag surface.

In this way, Mizuhiki stipulates the size of inclusions contained in aluminum alloys, but there are no particular restrictions on other alloy components, including the substrate aluminum, and the types and composition of the components are not limited. Can be selected arbitrarily. Therefore, the aluminum alloy of the present invention has 1
Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS), AA Standards, BS Standards, DIN
Pure aluminum type, At-Cu type, Al-Mn type, Al-3t type, Al-Mg type, which are standardized or registered as wrought material, casting material, die casting, etc. in standards, international alloy registration, etc. , AI-Mg-3i system, Al-Zn-
Alloys with compositions such as Mg-based, Al-Cu-Mg-based (duralumin, super duralumin, etc.), A1-Cu-3
i-based (Rautal, etc.), Al-Cu-Ni-Mg-based (Y alloy, RR gold alloy), aluminum powder sintered body (SA
P) etc. are included.

In order to select the composition of the aluminum alloy in the present invention, the composition may be appropriately selected by considering the properties depending on the purpose of use, such as mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, workability, heat resistance, dimensional accuracy, etc. When precision machining involves mirror cutting, etc., the free machinability of the aluminum alloy is improved by coexisting magnesium and copper in the aluminum alloy. The content of magnesium or copper is preferably in the range of 0.5 to 10% by weight, particularly preferably in the range of 1 to 7% by weight. -/If the content of magnesium or copper is too high, intergranular corrosion may occur at grain boundaries. It is undesirable to add more than 10% by weight since this tends to occur.

Also, iron contained in aluminum alloys.

Aluminum and silicon coexist with Fe-Al system and Fe-
An Al-5i-based intermetallic compound is formed and appears as a hard spot in the aluminum matrix. In particular, these hard spots rapidly increase when the iron content increases beyond 2000 ppm, and have a negative effect on mirror cutting, for example. Therefore, the preferred iron content in the aluminum alloy of the present invention is 2000 ppm or less, and even more. is 11,000 pp or less.

Furthermore, the hydrogen contained in the aluminum alloy causes vacancies (
This causes tissue abnormalities such as B 1 ist er), impairs workability during precision machining, and causes deterioration of the characteristics of electronic components etc. obtained by precision machining. Such inconveniences are especially caused by the hydrogen content in the aluminum alloy being 1.0% per 100 grams of aluminum. This can be solved by suppressing it to less than Occ, more preferably less than 0.7CC.

The iron content contained in the aluminum alloy is 2000p.
As a specific method for suppressing the amount to pm or less, a highly pure At base metal as the W material, for example, one that has been repeatedly electrolytically refined, is used. Another method is to thoroughly control each process of melting and casting.

A specific method of suppressing the amount of hydrogen contained in the aluminum alloy to 1.0 cc or less per 100 grams of aluminum is to blow chlorine gas into the molten metal as a degassing step when melting the A1 alloy, which is present in the alloy structure. A method for removing H2 gas as HCI or dissolved A1
Examples include a method in which the alloy is held in a vacuum furnace for a certain period of time and H2 gas present in the alloy structure is diffused and removed into the vacuum.

Incidentally, the specific composition of the aluminum alloy of the present invention is illustrated below.

(AI-Mg system) Mg 0.5-1O heavy basket% Si O, 5% by weight or less Fe 2000ppm or less Cu O, 04-0.2% by weight M n 0 , 01-1, 0% by weight Cr O
, 05-0.5 wt% Zn 0.03-0.25 wt% Ti Tr or 0.05-0.20tIL view%H2
1.0 cc or less AI per 1100 grams of A1 Substantially the balance (AI-Mn system) M n 0 , 3 to 1, 5% by weight SiO,
5% by weight or less Fe 2000ppm or less Cu O, 05-0.3% by weight Mg 0.2-1.3% by weight Cr O or 0.1-0.2% by weight Zn O,
1 to 0.4 wt% Ti Tr or about 0.1 wt% 1.0 cc or less AI per 100 grams of H2Al Substantially the remainder [Al-Cu system] Cu 1.5 to 6.0 wt% Si O,5 wt% or less Fe 2000 ppm or less Mn O or 0.2-1.2 wt% Mg O or 0.2-i, a wt% Cr O or 0.1 wt%
Degree Zn 0.2-0.3 wt% Ti Tr or 0.15-0.2 wt% H2Al1
1.0cc or less per 00g AI Substantially the balance [pure aluminum type] Mg 0.02-0.5% by weight Si O, 3% by weight or less Fe 2000ppm or less Cu O, 03-0.1% by weight Mn 0.02-0.05fii% Cr Tr Zn O, 03-0.1 wt% Ti Tr or 0.03-0.1 wt% H2Al1
1.0 cc or less of AI per 00 grams (However, the above Tr means a trace amount when not actively added.) The aluminum alloy of the present invention is suitable for plastic working such as rolling and extrusion. After that, precision processing is performed using mechanical methods such as cutting or polishing, or chemical or physical methods such as chemical etching, and heat treatment, heat refining, etc. are combined as necessary to meet the intended use. 0 For example, when shaping a tubular component that requires strict dimensional accuracy such as an electrophotographic photoreceptor drum, 1 A boathole extruded tube obtained by ordinary extrusion processing or mandrel extrusion tube,
Furthermore, it is preferable to use a drawn tube obtained by cold drawing. The features of the aluminum alloy of the present invention are particularly apparent when precision processing involving chemical or physical methods such as etching is performed.

The aluminum alloy of the present invention is ideal for supports for photoconductive members such as electrophotographic photoreceptors, magnetic disk substrates for computer memories, and polygon mirror substrates for laser scanning. Surface roughness under the rough pin, preferably R,...
It is useful as a constituent member of various electrical or electronic devices that can be finished with a flatness of 8=0.05 ILm or less.

Hereinafter, using the aluminum alloy of the present invention as a support,
Regarding a photoconductive member for electrophotography using a-3i as a photoconductive material, an example of the structure of the photoconductive member of the present invention will be described.

Such a photoconductive member has a structure in which, for example, a charge injection blocking layer, a photoconductive layer (photosensitive layer), and a surface protection layer are sequentially laminated on a support.

The shape of the support is determined depending on the requirements, but for example, if it is used for electrophotography, it is preferable to use an endless belt or a cylindrical shape for continuous high-speed copying.The thickness of the support is is determined as appropriate so that the desired photoconductive member is formed, but if flexibility is required as a photoconductive member, it is possible as long as the function as a support is fully exhibited. It is made as thin as possible. However, even in such a case, from the viewpoint of manufacturing and handling of the support, as well as mechanical strength, etc., the amount is usually set to 10 uLm or more.

The surface of the support is mirror-finished by, for example, mirror cutting to maintain the uniformity of the photoconductive member, and digital image information using coherent monochromatic light such as a laser beam with the photoreceptor as a light source is applied to the surface of the support. When used for recording, in order to prevent interference fringes, for example, regular or irregular patterns such as a spiral pattern can be formed by mechanical precision processing such as diamond cutting using a lathe or milling machine, or precision processing such as chemical etching. Fine irregularities of the shape are added.

The charge injection blocking layer is composed of a-3T containing, for example, hydrogen atoms and/or halogen atoms, and as a substance governing conductivity, it is composed of a substance from Group 1II of the periodic table or Group 1II of the periodic table, which is usually used as an impurity in semiconductors. Contains atoms of elements belonging to group V. The thickness of the charge injection blocking layer is preferably 0.01 to 1 OJL m, more preferably 0.05 to 8
It is desirable that ILm is optimally set to 0.07 to 5 ILm.

1, e.g. Al2O, instead of the charge injection blocking layer.

A barrier layer made of an electrically insulating material such as S i02 , S i3 Nm or polycarbonate may be provided, or a charge injection blocking layer and a barrier layer may be used together.

The photoconductive layer is composed of a-3L containing, for example, hydrogen atoms and halogen atoms, and optionally contains a substance governing conductivity different from that used in the charge injection blocking layer. The thickness of the photoconductive layer is preferably 1 to 100 m, more preferably 1 to 80 m, most preferably 2 to 50 m.

etc., and the layer thickness is preferably 0. O1~10#L
m, more preferably 0.02-5ILm, optimally 0.0
It is desirable that the thickness be 4 to 5 μm.

In the present invention, in order to form a photoconductive layer etc. composed of a-3i, for example, a glow discharge method, a sputtering method,
Alternatively, a vacuum deposition method utilizing various conventionally known discharge phenomena such as an ion blating method may be applied.

Next, an example of a method for manufacturing a photoconductive member using a glow discharge decomposition method will be described.

FIG. 1 shows an apparatus for manufacturing photoconductive members using the glow discharge decomposition method. A deposition tank 1 is composed of a base plate 2, a tank wall 3, and a top plate 4, and the salt 11 ml contains:
A drum-shaped support 6 made of an aluminum alloy having a specific composition on which an a-5i deposited film is formed is installed in the center of the cathode electrode 5, and a drum-shaped support 6 is provided with a cathode electrode 5.
It also serves as a node electrode.

To form an a-5i deposited film on a drum-shaped support using this manufacturing apparatus, first, close the raw material gas inflow valve 7 and leak valve 8, open the exhaust valve 9, and open the deposition tank 1.
Exhaust the inside. Vacuum gauge 10 reads approximately 5 X I O-
When the temperature reaches @t o r r, the raw material gas inflow valve 7
The opening is opened, and a raw material mixed gas such as SiH* gas, Si2H6 gas, SiF4 gas, etc., which has been adjusted to a predetermined mixing ratio in the mass flow controller ti, flows into the deposition tank l.

At this time, the pressure of the exhaust valve 9 is adjusted while checking the reading of the vacuum gauge 10 so that the pressure in the deposition tank 1 reaches a desired value. After confirming that the surface temperature of the drum-shaped support 6 is set to a predetermined temperature by the heating heater 12, the high frequency power source 13 is set to the desired power and the deposition tank is turned on.
It causes a glow discharge inside.

Further, while one layer is being formed, the drum-shaped support 6 is rotated at a constant speed by the motor 14 in order to ensure uniform layer formation. In this way, on the drum-shaped support 6,
An a-5i deposited film can be formed.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail based on Examples.

Examples 1-3, Comparative Example 1.2 Lathe with air damper for precision cutting (PNEUMOPRECISION INC.

A diamond cutting tool with a tip curvature of 0.01 (sll-1) was set on the rotating shaft flange of this lathe with a diamond cutting tool set to obtain a negative rake angle of 5° with respect to the cylinder center angle. Five types of Al-Mg-based aluminum alloy cylinders (Si
The content is less than 0.5fi1% in all cases, and the Mg content is 4 in all cases.
(weight% and Fe content are both lo00 ppm or less), while using a combination of white kerosene spray from an attached nozzle and suction of cuttings from the same attached vacuum nozzle,
Circumferential speed 1000 (m/m1n), feed speed 0.01 (m
Mirror cutting was performed under the conditions of (m/R) so that the outer diameter was 80 mmΦ. For cylinders that have been mirror-finished in this way, visually check the surface defects (egre-like scratches, cracks, and streak-like scratches) that occur after mirror-finishing. The specimens were examined using an I-microscope and their numbers were determined. The amount of hydrogen contained in Cylinder E was measured by cutting out a part of the produced cylinder, using this as a sample, and using Model RH-IE manufactured by Laboratory Equipment Corporation in accordance with its specifications.

Next, on each of these mirror-finished aluminum alloy cylinders, using the photoconductive member manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, according to the glow discharge decomposition method detailed above,
A photoconductive member was produced under the following conditions.

Compilation! * Ill stacking order Raw material gas used Film thickness (pm
>■Charge injection blocking layer S i Ha / 0,
6BzH et al ■Photoconductive layer S i H420 ■Surface protective layer 5iHa/0. I2H4 Aluminum cylinder temperature: 250°C Deposition chamber internal pressure during M film formation: 0.3 Torr Discharge frequency:
13.56 MHz Deposited film formation rate: 20 A/sec Discharge electric crab 0.18 W/Cm2 Each of the electrophotographic photosensitive drums thus obtained was installed in a Canon Co., Ltd. 400RE copying machine to perform image printing. Evaluation of point-like image defects (0.3 mmΦ or more) was performed. These evaluation results are shown in Table 1.

The electrophotographic photoreceptor drums of Examples 1 to 3 were further subjected to a durability test of 1 million sheets at 23°C/relative humidity 5.
0%, 30℃/90% relative humidity, 5℃/20% relative humidity
It was confirmed that there was no increase in image defects, especially defects such as white spots, and that the image had good durability.

Examples 4-6. Comparative Examples 3 to 5 AI-M instead of A 1-Mg-based aluminum alloy
The same aluminum alloy cylinder and photoconductive member as in Example 1 were produced, except that n-based, Al-Cu-based, and pure aluminum-based aluminum alloys (all Fe contents were 1100 Opp or less) were used.

The thus obtained cylinder was evaluated for the number of hard spots, the number of defects generated during the mirror-finishing process, and image defects when imaged in the same manner as in Example 1, and the results are shown in Table 2.

Example 7 - IQ The same Al-Mg-based aluminum alloy cylinder and photoconductive member as in Example 1 were produced except that the Fe content was set to the value shown in Table 3.

The thus obtained cylinder was evaluated for the number of hard spots, the number of defects generated during the mirror-finishing process, and image defects when imaged in the same manner as in Example 1, and the results are shown in Table 3.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the aluminum alloy of the present invention, structural abnormalities such as hard spots caused by inclusions are suppressed or completely eliminated, and a decrease in workability due to precision processing and deterioration of desired properties of processed products are suppressed. , component parts of electrical or electronic devices that require precision processing, especially photoconductive members that require accurate surface shapes through precision processing, magnetic disk substrates for computer memory, polygon mirror substrates for laser scanning, etc. is suitable as a component of an electronic device.

In addition, the tubular material obtained by drawing this aluminum alloy has a precise surface shape and high dimensional accuracy, so it is especially suitable for constructing precise tubular components such as supports for electrophotographic photosensitive drums. It is.

Furthermore, the photoconductive member using the aluminum alloy of the present invention as a support has excellent uniformity of electrical, optical, and photoconductive properties, and particularly, when used for electrophotography, has few image defects. , high quality images can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an apparatus for manufacturing a photoconductive member using a glow discharge method. 1.+1-Deposition tank, 21. Base plate, 3. Tank wall, 4. Top plate, 5.. Cathode electrode, 6. Drum-shaped support, 7. Raw material gas inflow valve. , 8 fist/fist leak valve. 9...Exhaust valve. 10. Vacuum gauge, 11-- Mass flow controller. 12・O・Heating heater, 13...High frequency power supply, 14th・Motor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Aluminum is used as a substrate and silicon content is 0.5
An aluminum alloy for precision machining, characterized in that the size of inclusions is less than 10 μm by weight. (2) The aluminum alloy for precision machining according to claim (1), which has an iron content of 2000 ppm or less. (3) The aluminum alloy for precision machining according to claim (1) or (2), wherein the magnesium content is 0.5 to 10% by weight. (4) The aluminum alloy for precision machining according to any one of claims (1) to (3), wherein the copper content is 0.5 to 10% by weight. (5) The aluminum alloy for precision machining according to any one of claims (1) to (4), wherein the amount of hydrogen contained is 1.0 cc or less per 100 grams of aluminum. (6) An aluminum alloy tube material, characterized in that it is formed by drawing an aluminum alloy that uses aluminum as a substrate, has a silicon content of less than 0.5% by weight, and contains inclusions with a size of 10 μm or less. (7) The aluminum alloy tube material according to claim (6), wherein the tube surface is subjected to cutting or polishing. (8) In a photoconductive member having a photoconductive layer on a support, the support has aluminum as a substrate, has a silicon content of less than 0.5% by weight, and contains inclusions of 10 μm or less in size. A photoconductive member characterized by being made of an aluminum alloy. (9) The photoconductive member according to claim (8), wherein the photoconductive layer includes a layer made of an amorphous material containing silicon atoms.