JP2001255800A - Cleaning blade manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] Cleaning that can reduce the number of members to be aligned without preparing hot melt adhesives having different dimensions for each type of use, and is applicable to various types of models. A blade and a method for manufacturing the blade are provided. A cleaning blade used in an image forming apparatus by an electrostatic transfer process, comprising an elastic layer 12 on one entire surface of a high rigid resin support layer 9 and a hot melt adhesive layer 14 on the entire other surface. Let it be 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning blade for removing residual toner on the surface of a photoreceptor or a transfer belt in an electrostatic image forming apparatus such as a plain paper copier, a plain paper facsimile or a laser beam printer. And a method of manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electrostatic image forming apparatus, in order to wipe off and remove toner remaining on the surface of a photoreceptor after a toner image is transferred onto paper or the like, it is known that the thickness is about 1 to 3 mm. Cleaning blades formed by cutting from a polyurethane-based elastic sheet have been used.

[0003] Such an elastic cleaning blade performs cleaning by elastically contacting the photoreceptor by utilizing its bending elasticity in the width direction. Requires contact pressure. Therefore, since a certain thickness or more is required to provide rigidity, there is a limit to thinning. Further, the elastic material has a large compression set, and has a problem that the contact pressure with the photoreceptor decreases with long-term use.
In order to solve these problems, there is known a technique in which a cleaning blade having a two-layer structure including a highly rigid support and an elastic layer is used (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-159680, 1).
59681, JP-A-11-219082).

[0004]

The cleaning blade is temporarily fixed to a support member such as a metal fitting with an adhesive such as a hot melt adhesive, and is mounted by fixing the support member to the apparatus. Used by elastic contact with contact pressure. In other words, the cleaning blade itself is partially adhered to the support member along its long side, and is configured so as to increase the degree of freedom of deformation of the remaining so-called free ends (projections), thereby forming a cleaning member. The cleaning blade described in the above-mentioned known document also has a configuration in which a cleaning blade having a two-layer structure is fixed to a support member.

[0005] The length of the free end is set in consideration of the hardness, elastic modulus, thickness, design contact pressure and the like of the blade material to be used, and a cleaning blade having the same width is used. Even so, it differs for each applicable model. Therefore, conventionally, even when cleaning blades having the same width and the same thickness are used, hot melt adhesive tapes having different widths according to the length of the free end are prepared, and the cleaning blade and the support member are provided for each model. A cleaning member is manufactured by positioning a tape-like hot melt adhesive on one of them and placing or bonding the same, and then heating and bonding the remaining members after positioning.

[0006] In a few cases, a method of directly assembling a cleaning blade to an apparatus using a double-sided adhesive tape has been used. In this case, a double-sided adhesive tape having a predetermined width is prepared so as to have a predetermined free end length,
The assembly has been performed by aligning either the cleaning blade or the apparatus mounting portion, applying a double-sided adhesive tape, and then aligning and bonding the remaining members.

That is, in the case of the conventional cleaning blade using only the elastic member, the cleaning blade having the high rigidity and the elastic member are used.
Even when using a cleaning blade having a layer structure, it is necessary to prepare hot-melt adhesive tapes or double-sided adhesive tapes having different widths for each model, to perform at least two times of positioning and to perform the bonding process twice. And the process was complicated.

The cleaning blade described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-219082 has a structure in which a metal plate and an elastic body are laminated, and the metal plate serving as a support and the elastic layer must be separately bonded. There are also problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning apparatus which can reduce the number of members to be aligned without preparing hot melt adhesives of different sizes for each type of use, and which can be applied to various types of models. An object of the present invention is to provide a blade and a manufacturing method thereof.

[0010]

A cleaning blade used in an image forming apparatus by an electrostatic transfer process according to the present invention has an elastic layer on one surface of a high rigid resin support layer and a hot melt adhesive on the other surface. It is characterized by comprising at least three layers having an agent layer.

By providing a highly rigid support layer, the rigidity and flexibility of the blade are ensured, and permanent distortion can be almost eliminated. In addition, the thickness of the entire blade is thinner than that of a conventional elastic body alone, and it is possible to reduce the thickness to 1 mm or less while securing the contact pressure, thereby reducing the material cost. When a resin is used as the support layer, a sufficiently large raw material in which the elastic layer and the adhesive layer are laminated can be produced and cut as compared with the case where the metal is used as the support layer, The effect that the manufacturing process can be simplified can also be obtained.

Further, by providing a hot-melt adhesive layer on the entire surface of the bonding surface with the supporting member such as a metal fitting, the same cleaning blade can be used to adhere to the supporting member at an arbitrary free end length. It is not necessary to prepare a tape-shaped hot melt adhesive according to the bonding width, and the hot melt adhesive can be accurately positioned on one of the individual cleaning blades or support members in the bonding process. In this case, the step of attaching and bonding can be omitted, the number and number of members to be aligned are reduced, and the manufacturing process is simplified.

In the above-described cleaning blade,
That the elastic layer is a thermoplastic elastomer layer,
It is preferable because the support layer and the elastic layer can be easily laminated.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a cleaning blade used in an image forming apparatus by an electrostatic transfer process, wherein the cleaning blade includes an elastic layer on one entire surface of a high-rigidity resin support layer. An elastic layer forming step of applying an elastic solution to one surface of the high-rigid resin support layer and drying to form an elastic layer; It is characterized by having an adhesive layer forming step of forming a hot melt adhesive layer by melting and laminating the agent, and a cutting step of cutting into a predetermined shape.

In the above manufacturing method, the step of forming the elastic layer may be a step of forming an elastic layer by melting and laminating an elastic body on one surface of the high rigid resin support layer to form an elastic layer. .

In any of the production methods, a sufficiently large support layer is used, an elastic layer is formed on one side of the support layer, and a hot melt adhesive layer is formed on the other side. In order to form a cleaning blade, a hot melt adhesive layer is formed on one entire surface.

In a manufacturing method for forming an elastic layer by laminating a molten thermoplastic elastomer, a first extruder for extruding a hot melt adhesive and a second extruder for extruding a thermoplastic elastomer are used. A hot melt adhesive supply passage for supplying the hot melt adhesive in a molten state from a first extruder, a thermoplastic elastomer supply passage for supplying the thermoplastic elastomer in a molten state from a second extruder, and the high rigidity A die having a support guide slit for guiding a support is used, and while the high-rigid support is continuously supplied through the support guide slit, the hot melt adhesive layer is applied to one surface of the die, and It is possible to form an elastic body layer by laminating each in a molten state by using one die, and fabricating three layers of cleaning blade in one process. It can be, especially preferable. By cutting the raw material of the cleaning blade, the cleaning blade can be easily manufactured.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred materials for constituting each layer of the cleaning blade of the present invention are as follows.
The support layer constituent material is easily cut, and a sufficient contact pressure with the photoreceptor can be obtained even if it is thin, so that a highly rigid resin material can be used without limitation. Specifically, polyester resins such as polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene naphthalate, polyamide resins such as nylon-6,
Examples include polycarbonate, acrylic resin, aramid resin, and sheets and films of engineering plastics or super engineering plastics. The thickness of the support layer varies depending on the material used and the required properties, but is generally 50 μm.
About 500 μm. If it is too thick, the rigidity becomes too high, and if it is too thin, it becomes difficult to obtain a predetermined contact pressure.

It is a preferable embodiment that the support is subjected to a surface treatment for enhancing the adhesiveness with the elastic body and the hot melt adhesive, if necessary. Such surface treatments include corona discharge treatment, etching treatment with a chemical substance,
Examples include primer treatment.

As the resin constituting the elastic layer, resins conventionally used for cleaning blades can be used without limitation, and specific examples thereof include polyester elastomers, polyolefin elastomers, polyurethane elastomers, polyamide elastomers and the like. But
The use of a polyurethane elastomer is most preferred in terms of durability. The elastic body preferably has a Shore A hardness of 60 to 90. The thickness of the elastic layer is 10 to 800 μm.
m, more preferably 50 to 500 μm. If the thickness is too thin, the life of the cleaning blade is shortened. If the thickness is too thick, the effect of compression set of the elastic body appears.

The polyurethane elastomer may be either a reaction-curable polyurethane elastomer or a thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer, but the use of a thermoplastic elastomer is more preferable as described above.

As the thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer, known thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers can be used without limitation, and in addition to polyether-based polyurethane, polyester-based polyurethane, polycarbonate-based polyurethane, etc. And polyurethane using a copolymerized polyol. As a polyether polyol which is a constituent component of the polyether polyurethane, polyoxypropylene polyol, polyoxytetramethylene polyol, or the like is used. As the polyester polyol, adipic acid, aliphatic di- or polycarboxylic acid such as azelaic acid and ethylene glycol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,6-hexanediol, neopentyl glycol, spiro glycol,
Examples thereof include polyesters with polyhydric alcohols such as 1,4-cyclohexanediol and ring-opening polymer polyesters of ε-caprolactone (Iwata, Polyurethane Resin Handbook, (Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun)).

In the production of the thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer, the isocyanate group and the hydroxyl group are polymerized in an isocyanate excess of 1 or more, preferably about 1.05 to 1.20, and the isocyanate and the group remain in the polymer. It is preferable to use a so-called incomplete thermoplastic type polyurethane elastomer or a polymer obtained by polymerizing the equivalent ratio of isocyanate group to hydroxyl group at about 0.95 to 1 and then adding a polyisocyanate compound.

Such a thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer has a small amount of low molecular weight components remaining in the polymer, can suppress the generation of low molecular weight components during processing, and has a problem due to adhesion of the low molecular weight components to a photoreceptor or the like. Is prevented from occurring.

When a thermoplastic elastomer, especially a thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer, is laminated with a solution,
An appropriate organic solvent that dissolves the thermoplastic elastomer is used. Examples of such organic solvents include amides such as dimethylformamide, dimethylacetamide, N-methylpyrrolidone, ethers such as dioxane and tetrahydrofuran, ketones such as methyl ethyl ketone and cyclohexanone, esters such as n-butyl acetate, toluene, xylene and the like. Are exemplified. In addition to these, it is also a preferred embodiment to use alcohols and aliphatic or alicyclic hydrocarbons, which are poor solvents, in combination.

For coating, a known coater such as a roll coater, a comma coater or a doctor blade is used.

The reaction-curable polyurethane elastomer is also coated on a support member in the form of a solution of the above-mentioned polyurethane elastomer raw material as a reaction composition used in the so-called one-shot method, prepolymer method, semi-prepolymer method, and the like. It is cured to form an elastic layer. The solvent to be used is selected from those exemplified as the solvent for the thermoplastic elastomer.

The elastic layer made of the reaction-curable polyurethane elastomer can also be reacted with an isocyanate group and a hydroxyl group in an excess of isocyanate of 1 or more, preferably about 1.05 to 1.20, during polymerization. The remaining unreacted components and low molecular weight components are small, which is preferable.

The material for forming the hot melt adhesive layer is selected and used in consideration of the adhesiveness with the supporting member forming material and the adhesiveness with the elastic layer forming material. Specific examples of the resin constituting the hot melt adhesive include a polyester resin, a polyamide resin, a polyurethane resin, an EVA resin, and a polyolefin resin.

The relationship between the melting temperature (softening temperature) of the resin constituting the elastic body and the resin constituting the adhesive is such that the elastic layer must not be deformed when adhered to a support member such as a metal fitting. It is necessary to satisfy the relationship of the agent constituent resin.

FIG. 1 shows a cross section of a cleaning blade of the present invention having a three-layer structure and a cleaning member in which the cleaning blade is adhered to a support member. The cleaning blade 2 is, as shown in FIG.
The elastic layer 12 is provided on the entire surface of one surface of the substrate, and the hot melt adhesive layer 14 is provided on the entire surface of the other surface. The elastic layer makes elastic contact with the photoconductor. FIG.
The cleaning blade 2 shown in FIG.
3 shows the cleaning member 21 bonded and fixed. The length of the free end is indicated by L. E is an edge portion that comes into contact with the photoconductor in the case of the counter system. The cleaning blade can be used not only for the counter system but also for the trailing system.

The manufacturing method of the cleaning blade of the present invention will be described by taking as an example a method in which a thermoplastic elastomer is used as an elastic body and this is laminated on a high-rigid resin support layer in a molten state.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a method for manufacturing an original cleaning blade using a T-die. The extruder 31 for extruding the thermoplastic elastomer is equipped with a T-die 33. The support 9 is supplied to the vicinity of the molten resin discharge hole of the T-die 33 by the roll 35, and the thermoplastic elastomer melted by the extruder 31 is discharged and laminated on the support 9 from the T-die 33, and the elastic layer 14 is formed. Is formed into a two-layer raw material 3
It becomes 6. The raw material of the cleaning blade is manufactured by laminating a hot melt adhesive on the back side of the raw material 36 with a hot melt applicator or an extruder.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show another example of an apparatus for producing a raw material of a cleaning blade. FIG. 3A is a top view, and FIG. It is sectional drawing.

This manufacturing apparatus includes two extruders, a first extruder 3 and a second extruder 5, and is connected to a die 7. The die 7 is provided with a cavity La for supplying the hot melt adhesive in a molten state supplied from the first extruder in the width direction of the high rigid resin support layer to be laminated, and a molten state for the hot melt adhesive from the second extruder 5. L which is supplied in such a manner that the elastic body supplied in the step (a) is expanded in the width direction of the high rigid resin support layer to be laminated.
b are formed. Each cavity La, Lb is
The width is narrow in the direction of the outlet of the molten resin and substantially the same as the width of the high-rigidity resin support layer, and is finally formed to have a predetermined laminated thickness of the hot melt adhesive layer 12 and the elastic layer 14 respectively. ing.

The step of forming the adhesive layer and the step of forming the elastic layer include:
Almost simultaneously. That is, the high rigid resin support layer 9
It is continuously supplied from the raw material roll 10, and is continuously fed into the die 7 through a support guide slit 8 provided in the die 7. A hot melt adhesive layer 12 having a predetermined thickness is formed on one surface of the high rigid support 9 by the clearance Ca of the die 7, and an elastic layer having a predetermined thickness is formed on the other surface of the high rigid support 9 by the clearance Cb of the die 7. The body layer 12 is formed.

In this example, the elastic layer 12 and the hot melt adhesive layer 14 are laminated on the support 9 at the same position in the die 7, but the laminating positions may be different. .

The elastic layer 12 and the adhesive layer 14 are formed of a layer using a high-melting-point material, that is, forming the elastic layer 12 first has a lower temperature when the previously formed layer is laminated later. It is preferable because it is not affected and deformed.

By the above-described steps, a raw material of the cleaning blade is manufactured, and the cleaning blade is obtained by cutting the raw material into a predetermined size. The cutting method is not particularly limited, cutting with a rotating or non-rotating cutting blade, punching and cutting using a Thomson blade,
Cutting by a laser beam is exemplified.

Although the cutting step may be provided separately from the cleaning blade fabric manufacturing step, a slitter is provided following the fabric manufacturing step to form a ribbon-shaped product having a predetermined width of the cleaning blade, and this is cut into a predetermined length. It may be a step of cutting into pieces. When cutting is performed by a slitter, edge precision suitable for use in a counter method is obtained, which is preferable.

[0041]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments and the like specifically showing the configuration and effects of the present invention will be described below. In this example, the elastic layer was laminated with an extruder, and the hot melt adhesive layer was formed using a hot melt applicator.

[Preparation of Cleaning Blade] (Example 1) Using an extruder equipped with a T die, a width of 1 m,
250 μm thick polyester film (Lumirror E2
2, manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc., while pressing and laminating a thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer Elastran 1180A (manufactured by Takeda Bird Urethane Co.) on the surface thereof while extruding it in a molten state from the T-die to form an elastic layer having a thickness of 300 μm Formed and wound up.

Then, while unwinding the laminate, a polyester hot melt adhesive Macromelt 6801 (manufactured by Henkel) was laminated on the opposite surface of the elastic layer while being extruded with an extruder, and a hot-melt adhesive having a thickness of 100 μm was adhered. An agent layer was formed, and a cleaning blade material was obtained.

The raw cleaning blade was punched out using a Thomson blade and a pressing machine to prepare a cleaning blade sample 1 having a width of 1.5 cm and a length of 23.7 cm.

(Embodiment 2) In the same manner as in Embodiment 1, width 1
m and a 188 μm-thick polyester film (Lumirror E22, manufactured by Toray Co., Ltd.), and a silicon-modified thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (Shore A hardness 6)
5) was pressure-bonded and laminated to form an elastic layer having a thickness of 200 μm, and was wound up.

Next, while unwinding the laminate, a polyester hot-melt adhesive Cranbetter G-5 (manufactured by Kurabo Industries Co., Ltd.) was extruded and laminated on the opposite surface of the elastic layer by an extruder to obtain a hot-melt having a thickness of 100 μm. An adhesive layer was formed to obtain a cleaning blade material.

The raw cleaning blade was punched out using a Thomson blade and a press machine to prepare a cleaning blade sample 2 having a width of 1.5 cm and a length of 23.7 cm.

Comparative Example 1 A 2 mm-thick raw sheet (Shore A hardness: 65) made of a polyester-based thermosetting polyurethane was cut into the same size as in Example 1 to obtain a cleaning blade 3 as a comparative example. . This sheet is
It is manufactured by a centrifugal molding method using a reaction-curable polyurethane stock solution.

[Evaluation] The cleaning member shown in FIG. 4 was prepared, the tip of the cleaning blade was deformed by δ = 1 mm, and left at a temperature of 40 ° C. and a relative humidity of 95% for 3 days.
After the strain was released, it was left for 1 day at a temperature of 20 ° C. and a relative humidity of 50%, and the permanent strain δ ′ was measured as a residual strain.

The results are shown in Table 1. In addition, the production speed of the raw cleaning blade is also shown. The production speed is a line speed for continuous production in the present invention, and is a production speed per molding machine because the conventional polyurethane cleaning blade is performed by drum-shaped centrifugal molding. The cleaning blade of the present invention,
It can be seen that almost no permanent distortion occurs and the productivity is excellent. It is also clear that cleaning members with different free ends can be easily manufactured using the same cleaning blade.

[0051]

[Table 1]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a cleaning blade of the present invention and a structure bonded to a support member.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a manufacturing process of a cleaning blade material.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of another manufacturing apparatus for a raw cleaning blade and a manufacturing process using the same.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a method for measuring a permanent set of a cleaning blade.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Cleaning blade 9 Support layer 12 Elastic layer 14 Hot melt adhesive layer

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kozo Otani 1-17-18 Edobori, Nishi-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kaoru Inoue 1-17-18 Edobori, Nishi-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka No. Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2H032 BA09 BA18 BA30 2H034 BF01 BF03 BF05 BF06 4F006 AA22 AA35 AA36 AA38 AB13 AB15 AB35 AB37 AB38 BA11 CA08

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning blade used in an image forming apparatus by an electrostatic transfer process, wherein an elastic layer is provided on one entire surface of a high rigid resin support layer, and a hot melt adhesive layer is provided on the entire other surface. And a cleaning blade comprising at least three layers. 2. The cleaning blade according to claim 1, wherein said elastic layer is a thermoplastic elastomer layer. 3. A method of manufacturing a cleaning blade used in an image forming apparatus by an electrostatic transfer process, wherein an elastic solution is applied to one surface of the high-rigid resin support layer and dried to form an elastic layer. An elastic layer forming step, an adhesive layer forming step of melting and laminating the hot melt adhesive to form a hot melt adhesive layer, and a cutting step of cutting into a predetermined shape; A method for producing a cleaning blade comprising at least three layers, comprising an elastic layer and a hot melt adhesive layer on the entire other surface. 4. A method for manufacturing a cleaning blade used in an image forming apparatus by an electrostatic transfer process, wherein an elastic material is melted and laminated on one surface of the high rigid resin support layer to form an elastic material layer. A body layer forming step, an adhesive layer forming step of melting and laminating the hot melt adhesive to form a hot melt adhesive layer, and a cutting step of cutting into a predetermined shape; A method for producing a cleaning blade comprising at least three layers, comprising an elastic layer and a hot melt adhesive layer on the entire other surface.