JP2019028184A - Fixing member and method for manufacturing fixing member - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a fixing member that can achieve suppressing uneven fusing of a toner by improving followability to a rough profile of paper fibers, improving fixability by improving thermal conductivity of a fluorocarbon resin release layer, suppressing reduction of glossiness in an output image by maintaining smoothness of a fixing member surface, and suppressing cracks in a longitudinal direction accompanying increase in the number of sheets subjected to thermal fixing, and to provide a method for manufacturing a fixing member that ensures the above performances.SOLUTION: The fixing member has at least a base layer, a fluorocarbon resin release layer, and an elastic layer containing a filler located between the base layer and the fluorocarbon resin release layer, in which the fluorocarbon resin release layer has an orientation degree of 35% or less. The surface of the fixing member has an arithmetic average roughness Ra of 0.05 μm or less.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a fixing member and a method for manufacturing the fixing member.

  In general, in a heat fixing device used for an electrophotographic system such as a copying machine or a laser printer, a pair of heated rollers and rollers, a film and a roller, a belt and a roller, a belt and a belt, and the rotating bodies are pressed against each other. . A recording medium carrying an image (hereinafter, also referred to as “unfixed toner image”) formed of unfixed toner on a pressure contact portion (hereinafter also referred to as “fixing nip portion”) formed between the rotating bodies. Then, the unfixed toner is heated and melted to be fixed on the recording medium.

  A rotating body that contacts an unfixed toner image held on a recording medium is referred to as a fixing member, and is referred to as a fixing roller, a fixing film, a fixing belt, or the like depending on its shape.

  With recent colorization and higher image quality, it is necessary to wrap and fuse and mix multicolor toners in the fixing nip portion. Therefore, these fixing members are composed of a heat-resistant elastic layer such as silicone rubber formed on the outer surface of the base layer, and a fluororesin release layer having good releasability of toner such as fluororesin on the outer surface. A formed fixing member having a multilayer structure is widely used.

  The fixing member having the above structure is wrapped and melted without excessively crushing the toner image in the fixing nip due to the excellent elastic deformation of the silicone rubber elastic layer, and also follows the unevenness of the fiber of the paper as the recording medium, This has the effect of preventing the occurrence of toner melting unevenness.

  However, the fluororesin release layer as the release layer on the outer surface of the silicone rubber elastic layer has a higher elastic modulus than the silicone rubber elastic layer and is rigid. For this reason, depending on the thickness and elastic modulus of the fluororesin release layer, the surface hardness of the fixing member may increase, and the above-described advantageous effects brought about by the elastic deformation of the silicone rubber elastic layer may not be sufficiently exhibited. Therefore, it is useful to take measures such as reducing the flexibility of the silicone rubber elastic layer by thinning the fluororesin release layer or reducing the elastic modulus.

  Therefore, Patent Document 1 discloses a fixing member using a surface layer coated with a fluororesin of 10 to 15 μm as a release layer from the viewpoint of thinning the surface layer.

  Patent Document 2 discloses that PFA having a perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE) ratio of 3.0 mol% or more and 5.8 mol% or less has crystallinity from the viewpoint of lowering the elastic modulus of the surface layer. It is described that it exhibits a soft rubber state at a low temperature at the time of heat fixing, for example, at a temperature of 150 ° C.

JP 2013-130731 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-95475

  The thin film fluororesin coating of Patent Document 1 has a problem that the strength of the release layer after film formation is weaker than the fluororesin tube, and the surface smoothness is poor.

  As described in Patent Document 2, PFA having a perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE) ratio of 3.0 mol% or more and 5.8 mol% or less is very flexible, and this is used as a release layer. The fixing member used in the above can be said to be preferable in that the surface thereof can follow the unevenness of the paper surface well.

  By the way, as a method of obtaining a fixing member having a release layer composed of PFA (hereinafter also referred to as “soft PFA”) having a PAVE ratio of 3.0 mol% or more and 5.8 mol% or less, the PFA is used. A method is conceivable in which a fluororesin tube formed by extrusion molding is bonded to the surface of the elastic layer using a silicone rubber adhesive.

  In the fluororesin tube formed by extrusion, the molecular chains of PFA are oriented in a direction parallel to the extrusion direction. Therefore, the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction is lower than the thermal conductivity in the direction parallel to the extrusion direction, and cracks may occur in the longitudinal direction of the fluororesin tube as the number of heat-fixed sheets increases. there were. This tendency becomes more prominent because the thinner the PFA, the easier it is to align molecules in a direction parallel to the extrusion direction.

  Therefore, as a result of intensive studies by the present inventors, the PFA extruded tube including soft PFA is annealed at a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point to relax the molecular chain orientation in the extrusion direction, thereby increasing the thickness. It has been found that the thermal conductivity in the direction can be improved and the occurrence of cracks in the longitudinal direction can be suppressed. However, when a PFA tube bonded to the surface of an elastic layer containing silicone rubber through a thin silicone rubber adhesive is annealed, PFA heated to the melting point or more has fluidity. Depending on the surface state of the underlying elastic layer, it has been found that there is a new problem that the smoothness of the surface of the completed fixing belt may be impaired by the unevenness of the surface state of the elastic layer. .

  The present invention suppresses toner melting unevenness by improving the followability of paper fiber irregularities, improves fixability by improving the heat transfer property of the fluororesin release layer, suppresses gloss reduction of the output image by maintaining the smoothness of the fixing member surface, And it aims at providing the fixing member which can implement | achieve the crack suppression of the longitudinal direction accompanying the increase in the number of heat fixing sheets. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a fixing member that ensures these performances.

The above object is achieved by the fixing member and the manufacturing method thereof according to the present invention. According to an aspect of the present invention, a fixing member and a method for manufacturing the fixing member having the following characteristics are provided.
(Feature 1)
At least the base layer (1b), the fluororesin release layer (1f),
A fixing member (1) having an elastic layer (1d) containing a filler positioned between the base layer (1b) and the fluororesin release layer (1f),
The degree of orientation of the fluororesin release layer (1f) is 35% or less,
And the arithmetic mean roughness Ra of the surface of the fixing member (1) is 0.05 μm or less,
A fixing member (1) characterized in that:
(Feature 2)
The fluororesin release layer (1f) described in Feature 1 is
A tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA),
A fixing member (1), wherein a polymerization ratio of perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether in the tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA) is from 3.0 mol% to 5.8 mol%.
(Feature 3)
The fixing member (1), wherein the average particle size of the total filler contained in the elastic layer (1d) according to Feature 1 or 2 is 10 μm or less and the average sphericity is 0.8 or more.
(Feature 4)
A method of manufacturing a fixing member (1) according to any one of features 1 to 3,
After forming the elastic layer (1d) having an arithmetic average roughness Ra of 1.7 μm or less,
Covering the fluororesin tubular shaped body (1f),
A method for producing a fixing member (1), comprising a step of heating to a melting point of the fluororesin or higher.
(Feature 5)
A method for manufacturing the fixing member (1) according to Feature 4,
The tubular molded body (1f) of the fluororesin is
A tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA),
The method for producing a fixing member (1), wherein a polymerization ratio of perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether in the tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA) is 3.0 mol% or more and 5.8 mol% or less. .
(Feature 6)
A method for manufacturing the fixing member (1) according to the feature 4 or 5,
The elastic layer (1d) is formed by applying a liquid uncured material to which a filler is added to at least the outer side of the base layer (1b) and curing it, and the average particle diameter of the total filler contained in the liquid uncured material Is 10 μm or less, and the average sphericity is 0.8 or more. A method for producing a fixing member (1).
(Feature 7)
The method for producing a fixing member (1) according to any one of features 4 to 6, wherein the elastic layer (1d) is formed by applying a liquid uncured product to at least the outer side of the base layer (1b) and curing it. And forming the surface of the elastic layer by smoothing the surface of the elastic layer.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress toner melting unevenness by improving the followability of the paper fiber to the unevenness, improve the fixing property by improving the heat transfer property of the fluororesin release layer, and gloss the output image by maintaining the smoothness of the fixing member surface. There is provided a fixing member capable of suppressing reduction and suppressing cracking in the longitudinal direction accompanying an increase in the number of heat-fixed sheets. In addition, a method for manufacturing a fixing member ensuring these performances is provided.

Schematic cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a fixing member according to the present invention The figure which shows the example of the relationship between the thickness of the fluororesin release layer and the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a fixing device using a fixing member according to the present invention. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus using a fixing member according to the present invention.

  The fixing member, the heat fixing device, and the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below based on a specific configuration, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to only this form, and the gist of the present invention. What was changed in the range which does not impair this is also contained in this invention.

(1) Outline of Configuration of Fixing Belt FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a fixing member according to the present invention. In the fixing belt 1 as a cylindrical fixing member, an inner surface sliding layer 1a is arranged on the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical base material 1b. The inner surface sliding layer is provided to improve the slidability between the fixing belt 1 and the pressing member, and the inner surface sliding layer 1a is omitted when the slidability is not particularly required to be improved. Sometimes it is done.

  An elastic layer 1d is provided on the substrate. Specifically, the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical base material 1b is covered with a silicone rubber elastic layer 1d disposed via the primer layer 1c. A fluororesin release layer 1f is disposed on the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d via a silicone rubber adhesive layer 1e. Each member will be specifically described below.

(2) Cylindrical Substrate Since the fixing belt 1 is required to have heat resistance, it is preferable to use a cylindrical substrate 1b in consideration of heat resistance and bending resistance. For example, as the metal substrate, a nickel electroformed substrate or the like can be used as disclosed in JP-A No. 2002-258648, International Publication No. 05/054960, and JP-A No. 2005-121825. . As the heat resistant resin substrate, polyimide resin, polyamideimide resin, polyether ether ketone resin, etc. can be used as disclosed in JP-A-2005-300915 and JP-A-2010-134094.

(3) Inner surface sliding layer and method for forming the inner surface For the inner surface sliding layer 1a, a resin having high durability and high heat resistance such as polyimide resin, polyamideimide resin, and polyether ether ketone resin is suitable. In particular, polyimide resin is preferable from the viewpoints of ease of production, heat resistance, elastic modulus, strength, and the like. The polyimide resin layer can be formed as follows. That is, a polyimide precursor solution obtained by reacting an approximately equimolar amount of an aromatic tetracarboxylic dianhydride or a derivative thereof and an aromatic diamine in an organic polar solvent, is applied to the inner surface of the cylindrical substrate, It can be formed by drying, heating, and dehydrating ring closure reaction.

  As a coating method, a ring coating method or the like can be used. After the polyimide precursor solution is applied to the inner surface of the cylindrical substrate 1b, the inner surface-coated cylindrical substrate is left to dry in, for example, a 60 ° C. hot air circulating furnace for 30 minutes. Thereafter, this is left to stand for 10 to 60 minutes in a hot-air circulating furnace at 200 ° C. to 240 ° C. for baking, whereby a polyimide inner surface sliding layer can be formed by a dehydration ring-closing reaction.

(4) Silicone rubber elastic layer and formation method thereof The silicone rubber elastic layer 1d functions as an elastic layer carried on the fixing member in order to apply a uniform pressure to the toner image and the unevenness of the paper during fixing. In developing such a function, the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to cure the addition-curable silicone rubber in view of processability.

  In general, addition-curable silicone rubbers contain an organopolysiloxane having an unsaturated aliphatic group, an organopolysiloxane having an active hydrogen bonded to silicon, and a platinum compound as a crosslinking catalyst.

  The organopolysiloxane having active hydrogen bonded to silicon forms a cross-linked structure by reaction with an alkenyl group of an organopolysiloxane component having an unsaturated aliphatic group by the catalytic action of a platinum compound.

  The silicone rubber elastic layer 1d contains a filler for improving the thermal conductivity, reinforcement, and heat resistance of the fixing member.

  In particular, for the purpose of improving thermal conductivity, the filler preferably has high thermal conductivity. Specific examples include inorganic substances, particularly metals and metal compounds.

Specific examples of the high thermal conductive filler include silicon carbide (SiC), silicon nitride (Si ₃ N ₄ ), boron nitride (BN), aluminum nitride (AlN), alumina (Al ₂ O ₃ ), zinc oxide (ZnO), Examples thereof include magnesium oxide (MgO), silica (SiO ₂ ), copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), silver (Ag), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), and the like. These can be used alone or in admixture of two or more.

  The average particle diameter of the high thermal conductive filler is preferably 10 μm or less in order to suppress the arithmetic average roughness Ra of the fixing belt 1 after the surface layer annealing step described later to 0.05 μm or less. Further, the shape is spherical, pulverized, plate-like, whisker-like, etc., but spherical is preferred from the viewpoint of surface smoothness and dispersibility, and more preferably sphericity of 0.8 or more. .

  From the contribution to the surface hardness of the fixing member and the efficiency of heat conduction to the unfixed toner at the time of fixing, the preferred range of the thickness of the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d is 100 μm or more and 500 μm or less, particularly 200 μm or more and 400 μm or less. Is preferred.

  As for the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d, a molding method, a blade coating method, a nozzle coating method, a ring coating method, and other processing methods are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2001-62380 and 2002-213432. Widely known. The silicone rubber elastic layer 1d can be formed by heating and crosslinking the raw material mixture supported on the substrate by these methods.

  In order to improve the adhesion between the cylindrical base material 1b and the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d, it is desirable that the cylindrical base material 1b is previously primed. The primer used at this time is required to have better wettability with the cylindrical substrate 1b than the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d. Examples of such a primer include a hydrosilyl (SiH) silicone primer, a vinyl silicone primer, and an alkoxy silicone primer. Further, the thickness of the primer layer 1c is good enough to exhibit adhesion performance while reducing unevenness, and is preferably about 0.5 μm or more and 3 μm or less.

  In order to suppress the arithmetic average roughness Ra of the fixing belt 1 after the below-described surface layer annealing step to 0.05 μm or less, the arithmetic average roughness Ra of the silicone rubber elastic layer 1 d is required to be 1.7 μm or less. In order to reduce the arithmetic average roughness Ra to 1.7 μm or less, for example, regarding the filler that causes the surface of the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d to be rough, the sphericity and the particle size are restricted. Can be achieved. More specifically, this can be achieved when the average particle size of the filler blended in the cured silicone rubber is 10 μm or less and the average sphericity is 0.8 or more. It can also be achieved by forming a silicone rubber elastic layer 1d and then smoothing it with a wrapping film or the like.

(5) Fluororesin release layer and method for forming the same The fluororesin release layer 1f is a layer having an important function for ensuring image uniformity together with the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d. The fluororesin release layer 1f is a layer made of a fluororesin.

  As the fluororesin, a tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA) excellent in heat resistance is suitably used.

  As described above, the fluororesin is a material that has been used in the fixing member for the purpose of ensuring toner releasability. In general, a tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA) having a perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (hereinafter also referred to as PAVE) polymerization ratio of 2 mol% or less is frequently used. The PAVE skeleton inhibits the crystallization caused by the skeleton of the copolymer in tetrafluoroethylene (hereinafter also referred to as TFE). Therefore, the PAVE skeleton is mainly present in the amorphous part of PFA. Therefore, it is preferable that PAVE is set to a polymerization ratio of 3.0 mol% or more and 5.8 mol% or less because a large amount of amorphous parts can be formed. When PAVE is less than 3.0 mol%, a large number of crystal parts formed by the PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) skeleton are formed, so that flexibility is lowered, and as a result, followability to paper fibers is lowered. Moreover, when it exceeds 5.8 mol, the elastic modulus of PFA will become low too much and abrasion resistance will become low.

  The glass transition temperature of PFA is generally around 100 ° C., although it depends on its composition. At around 150 ° C., which is the actual use temperature range of the fixing member, PFA is higher than the glass transition temperature, and therefore exists as a so-called rubber state. PFA having a polymerization ratio of 3.0 mol% or more and 5.8 mol% or less of PAVE can be present more flexibly in the vicinity of the fixing temperature due to more amorphous parts than general PFA. Become. The configuration of the release layer (fluororesin release layer) is characteristic in combination with the configuration of the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d, so that it is possible to reduce toner melting unevenness.

  PAVE generally includes perfluoromethyl vinyl ether (PMVE), perfluoroethyl vinyl ether (PEVE), perfluoropropyl vinyl ether (PPVE), etc., but PEVE is more preferable. This is because PEVE is superior to PMVE and PPVE from the viewpoint of increasing the flexibility in the service temperature range without lowering the rigidity in the room temperature range, from the viewpoint of ease of synthesis, and from the viewpoint of cracking due to stress cracks.

  As a method for synthesizing PFA, a known technique can be used. For example, it can be synthesized by a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-161921.

  Examples of the means for forming the fluororesin release layer 1f include a method of covering the surface of the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d with the adhesive 1e with the fluororesin tube 1f formed into a tube shape by extrusion molding.

  Specifically, for example, the fluororesin release layer 1f can be formed as follows. That is, the addition-curable silicone rubber adhesive 1e is applied to the surface of the above-described silicone rubber elastic layer 1d. The outer surface is covered with a fluororesin tube 1f and laminated. Although the coating method is not particularly limited, a method of coating the addition type silicone rubber adhesive 1e as a lubricant, a method of coating while expanding the fluororesin tube 1f from the outside, or the like can be used.

  Using an appropriate means, the excess addition-curing silicone rubber adhesive 1e remaining between the cured silicone rubber elastic layer 1d and the fluororesin release layer 1f is removed by handling. The thickness of the adhesive layer 1e after being handled is preferably 10 μm or less so as not to impair heat conductivity. Addition-curing silicone rubber adhesive 1e is an addition-curing silicone rubber containing a self-adhesive component typified by a silane having a functional group such as acryloxy group, hydrosilyl group (SiH group), epoxy group or alkoxysilyl group. Including. Then, the addition curing type silicone rubber adhesive 1e is cured by heating with a heating means such as an electric furnace for a predetermined time to obtain an adhesive layer 1e.

  Prior to these adhering steps, the inner surface of the fluororesin tube 1f can be improved in adhesion by performing sodium treatment, excimer laser treatment, ammonia treatment, or the like in advance. Further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-244887, the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d may be appropriately subjected to ultraviolet treatment. The purpose of the ultraviolet treatment is to suppress the excessive penetration of the addition-curable silicone rubber adhesive 1e into the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d and maintain the elasticity of the lower silicone rubber elastic layer 1d, thereby increasing the surface hardness as a fixing member. It is to keep it moderate.

(6) Fluorine resin tube orientation relaxation treatment and maintaining the smoothness of the fixing member After coating the fluororesin tube 1f, the molecular orientation of the fluororesin tube 1f may be further relaxed by heating the fluororesin to a melting point or higher. is necessary. Because of the property that the fluororesin tube 1f is molded by extrusion molding, the thinner the fluororesin tube 1f, the more molecular orientation occurs in the longitudinal direction (MD) during molding. As a result, the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction decreases as shown by a triangle (Δ) plot in FIG. 2 (a graph showing an example of the relationship between the thickness of the fluororesin release layer 1f and the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction). It is. In addition, cracks in the molecular orientation direction are likely to occur. The thermal conductivity in the thickness direction can be increased as shown in the square (□) plot of FIG. 2 by relaxing the orientation during molding by heating the fluororesin tube 1f to the melting point or higher. Moreover, cracking can be suppressed by relaxing the orientation.

  However, depending on the surface state of the underlying elastic layer 1d by annealing, the PFA has fluidity during the annealing process and follows the irregularities of the surface state of the elastic layer 1d. The smoothness may be impaired. The surface smoothness of the fixing belt 1 is closely related to the gloss of the fixed image. If the arithmetic average roughness Ra of the surface of the fixing member is high, the gloss becomes low. Therefore, in order to obtain a high-gloss fixed image, it is important to set the arithmetic average roughness Ra of the fixing member surface to 0.05 μm or less. Therefore, in the present invention, as described above, the arithmetic average roughness Ra of the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d is set to 1.7 μm or less. As a result, the PFA has fluidity in the surface annealing process, and the arithmetic average roughness Ra of the fixing belt 1 can be suppressed to 0.05 μm or less even if the surface property is changed as compared with that before the annealing process.

  After covering with the fluororesin tube 1f and heating to above the melting point to relax the orientation of the fluororesin tube 1f, the fixing belt 1 can be obtained by cutting both ends to a desired length.

(7) Outline of configuration of fixing device;
FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the fixing device according to the present invention. The fixing device includes the above-described fixing member and a heating unit that heats the fixing member. As the heating means, a heating means known in the field of the fixing device, for example, an electric heater can be appropriately used. Here, the fixing belt 1 is a fixing member, and the fixing heater 2 is a heating means.

  The fixing device 100 includes the above-described fixing belt 1. A pressure roller 6 is disposed as a pressure member that forms a fixing nip portion 14 with the fixing belt 1. A fixing heater 2 is disposed as a nip portion forming member / heater, and a heat-resistant film guide / heater holder 4 is disposed. The fixing heater 2 is fixed to the lower surface of the film guide / heater holder 4 along the longitudinal direction of the film guide / heater holder 4 so that the fixing belt 1 and the heating surface of the fixing heater can slide. The fixing belt 1 is externally fitted to the film guide / heater holder 4 with a slight degree of freedom. The film guide / heater holder 4 is formed of a liquid crystal polymer resin having high heat resistance, and serves to hold the fixing heater 2 and to have a shape for separating the fixing belt 1 from the recording medium P. The pressure roller 6 has a multilayer structure in which a silicone rubber layer and a PFA resin tube are sequentially laminated on a metal core. Both ends of the metal core of the pressure roller 6 are rotatably supported by bearings between a side plate (not shown) on the back side and a front side of the apparatus frame 13. A fixing unit including the fixing heater 2, the film guide / heater holder 4, the fixing belt stay 5, and the fixing belt 1 is installed above the pressure roller 6. This fixing unit is installed in parallel to the pressure roller 6 with the fixing heater 2 facing downward. Both ends of the fixing belt stay 5 are urged toward the pressure roller 6 by a predetermined force (for example, 156.8 N (16 kgf), total pressure 313.6 N (32 kgf)) by a pressure mechanism (not shown). ing. As a result, the lower surface (heating surface) of the fixing heater 2 is brought into pressure contact with a predetermined pressing force against the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d of the pressure roller 6 via the fixing belt 1, and fixing with a predetermined width necessary for fixing. A nip portion 14 is formed. The thermistor 3 (heater temperature sensor) as temperature detection means is installed on the back surface (surface opposite to the heating surface) of the fixing heater 2 that is a heat source, and has a function of detecting the temperature of the fixing heater 2. The pressure roller 6 is rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow at a predetermined peripheral speed. The fixing belt 1 in pressure contact with this is driven by the pressure roller 6 and rotated at a predetermined speed. At this time, while the inner surface of the fixing belt 1 is in close contact with the lower surface of the fixing heater 2 and slides, the outer periphery of the film guide / heater holder 4 is rotated in the direction of the arrow.

  The inner surface of the fixing belt 1 is coated with a semi-solid lubricant (hereinafter referred to as grease) composed of a solid component (compound) and a base oil component (oil), and the sliding property between the film guide / heater holder 4 and the inner surface of the fixing belt 1 is applied. Is secured. Examples of the semi-solid lubricant compound include solid lubricants such as graphite and molybdenum disulfide, metal oxides such as zinc oxide and silica, and fluororesins such as PFPE (perfluoropolyether) and PTFE. Examples of the base oil component include heat-resistant polymer resin oils such as silicone oil and fluorosilicone oil. For example, PTFE powder fine particles (particle size: 3 μm) are used as the compound, and grease using fluorosilicone oil as the oil is used.

  The thermistor 3 is disposed so as to be in contact with the back surface of the fixing heater 2, and is connected to a control circuit unit (CPU) 10 as control means via an A / D converter 9. The control circuit unit (CPU) 10 is configured to sample the output from each thermistor at a predetermined period and reflect the temperature information thus obtained in the temperature control. That is, the control circuit unit (CPU) 10 determines the temperature control content of the fixing heater 2 based on the output of the thermistor 3. The heater drive circuit unit 11 serving as a power supply unit plays a role of controlling energization of the fixing heater 2 so that the temperature of the fixing heater 2 becomes a target temperature (set temperature). The control circuit unit (CPU) 10 is connected to the drive motor of the pressure roller 6 via the A / D converter 9. The fixing heater has an alumina substrate and a resistance heating element formed on the substrate by applying a conductive paste containing silver / palladium alloy in a uniform film thickness of about 10 μm by screen printing. Yes. Furthermore, a glass coat with a pressure-resistant glass is applied thereon to form a ceramic heater. The drive motor for the pressure roller 6 is driven by the motor drive circuit unit 12.

  The recording medium P on which the unfixed toner image t is formed is guided by the entrance guide 7, passes through the fixing nip portion 14, and is discharged from the fixing device 100 by the fixing discharge roller 8.

(8) Outline of Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to the present invention. Reference numeral 101 denotes a photosensitive drum as an image carrier, which is rotationally driven in a counterclockwise direction indicated by an arrow at a predetermined process speed (circumferential speed). The photosensitive drum 101 is charged to a predetermined polarity by a charging device 102 such as a charging roller during the rotation process. Next, an exposure process is performed on the charging process surface by the laser beam 103 output from the laser optical system 110 based on the input image information. The laser optical system 110 outputs a laser beam 103 modulated (on / off) in response to a time-series electric digital pixel signal of target image information from an image signal generation device such as an image reading device (not shown), and The surface of the drum 101 is scanned and exposed. As a result, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image information is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 101 by this scanning exposure. A deflection mirror 109 is used to deflect the output laser beam 103 from the laser optical system 110 to the exposure position of the photosensitive drum 101. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum is visualized (developed) with yellow toner by the yellow developing device 104Y of the developing device 104. The yellow toner image is primarily transferred onto the surface of the intermediate transfer drum 105 at a primary transfer portion T1 which is a contact portion between the photosensitive drum 101 and the intermediate transfer drum 105. The toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 101 is cleaned (cleaned) by the cleaner 107.

  The charging / exposure / development / primary transfer / cleaning process cycle described above includes a magenta toner image (developer 104M is activated), a cyan toner image (developer 104C is activated), and a black toner image (developer 104K is activated). ) Is repeated in the same manner. The toner images of the respective colors formed on the intermediate transfer drum 105 in this manner are successively transferred onto the recording medium P at the secondary transfer portion T2, which is a contact portion with the transfer roller 106. The The toner remaining on the intermediate transfer drum 105 is cleaned by the toner cleaner 108. The cleaner 108 can be brought into contact with and separated from the intermediate transfer drum 105, and is configured to be in contact with the intermediate transfer drum 105 only when the intermediate transfer drum 105 is cleaned. Further, the transfer roller 106 can also be brought into contact with and separated from the intermediate transfer drum 105, and is configured to be in contact with the intermediate transfer drum 105 only at the time of secondary transfer. The recording medium P that has passed through the secondary transfer portion T2 is introduced into a fixing device 100 as an image heating device, and undergoes fixing processing (image heating processing) of an unfixed toner image carried thereon. Then, the recording medium P that has undergone the fixing process is discharged out of the apparatus, and a series of image forming operations ends.

[Example 1]
A fixing member, particularly a fixing belt, having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 was produced. As the substrate, an endless cylindrical substrate having an inner diameter φ (diameter) of 30 mm, a thickness of 40 μm, and a length of 400 mm made of a nickel-iron alloy disclosed in International Publication No. 05/054960 was used.

  As a polyimide precursor solution, a solution obtained by diluting a polyimide precursor composed of 3,3 ′, 4,4′-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride and paraphenylenediamine 5 times (by mass) with N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone Prepared. This precursor solution was applied to the inner surface of the cylindrical base material by a ring coating method, and imidized by firing at 200 ° C. for 20 minutes to form an inner surface sliding layer having a thickness of 15 μm.

  The surface of the cylindrical base material is coated with a hydrosilyl silicone primer “Shin-Etsu Chemical; DY39-051 A / B (trade name)” and baked at 200 ° C. for 5 minutes to form a primer layer having a thickness of 1 μm. Obtained.

On the outside, a 300 μm thick addition-curable silicone rubber was applied and baked at 200 ° C. for 30 minutes. At this time, the stock solution of the addition curable silicone rubber is blended with the following materials (a) and (b) so that the ratio of the number of vinyl groups to Si-H groups (H / Vi) is 0.45. 40 vol% of spherical alumina having an average particle size of 8.0 μm and an average sphericity of 0.9 as a functional filler, 2 vol% of anatase-type titanium oxide as a radical trapping agent for imparting heat resistance, and a catalytic amount of a platinum compound Was obtained by adding The average sphericity and the average particle diameter were determined by the methods described later.
(A) Vinylated polydimethylsiloxane having two or more vinyl groups in one molecule (weight average molecular weight 100,000 (polystyrene conversion));
(B) Hydrogen organopolysiloxane (weight average molecular weight 1500 (polystyrene conversion)) having two or more Si—H bonds in one molecule.

  The arithmetic average roughness Ra of the endless belt formed up to the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d was confirmed by surface roughness measurement described later. Thereafter, the elastic layer 1d is irradiated with ultraviolet rays using an ultraviolet lamp installed at a distance of 10 mm from the surface while rotating the endless belt formed up to the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d in the circumferential direction at a moving speed of 20 mm / sec. I did it. As the ultraviolet lamp, a low-pressure mercury ultraviolet lamp (trade name: GLQ500US / 11; manufactured by Harrison Toshiba Lighting Co., Ltd.) was used, and irradiation was performed at 100 ° C. for 5 minutes in an air atmosphere.

  After this was cooled to room temperature, an addition-curing silicone rubber adhesive 1e (trade name: SE1819CV; “Equipment“ A liquid ”and“ B liquid ”manufactured by Toray Dow Corning Co., Ltd.) were mixed in an equal amount” was approximately 10 μm thick. The coating was applied almost uniformly to a degree.

  And the fluororesin tube 1f was covered on the circumference | surroundings. The fluororesin tube 1f is molded into a raw material of fluororesin pellet A (trade name: Teflon (registered trademark) PFA959HPPlus; manufactured by Mitsui / DuPont Fluorochemical Co., Ltd.) to a diameter of Φ29, a thickness of 20 μm, and a length of 400 mm by an extrusion molding method. It is a thing. The fluororesin pellet A is made of a tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA). The composition consists of a copolymer containing 4.2 mol% perfluoroethyl vinyl ether (PEVE) as perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE). The polymerization ratio of PAVE can be measured by the method described later.

  Thereafter, by handling the belt surface uniformly from above the fluororesin tube 1f, the excess adhesive 1e is handled between the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d and the fluororesin tube 1f so that the adhesive layer 1e becomes sufficiently thin. I put it out. Then, the adhesive 1e was cured by heating for 5 minutes in an electric furnace set to 200 ° C., and the fluororesin tube 1f was adhered and fixed on the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d. Further, as an annealing process, the orientation of the fluororesin tube 1f was relaxed by heating in an electric furnace set at 320 ° C. for 5 minutes. Then, both end portions of the endless belt were cut to obtain a fixing belt having a width of 343 mm. The arithmetic average roughness Ra of the fixing belt surface was confirmed by measuring the surface roughness described later.

  The fixing belt was mounted on an electrophotographic image forming apparatus (manufactured by Canon Inc., trade name: imageRUNNER-ADVANCE C5051), and a melting unevenness evaluation test, a fixing property evaluation test, a gloss evaluation test, and a durability test described later were performed. . Thereafter, the fixing belt was taken out, only the surface layer was isolated from the fixing belt, and molecular orientation was confirmed by molecular orientation measurement described later. In isolating the surface layer, the fluororesin tube 1f is peeled off from the fixing belt with the elastic layer 1d and the adhesive layer 1e attached, so as not to give as much stress as possible, and immersed in a 1-bromopropane solution. As a result, the elastic layer 1d and the adhesive layer 1e were dissolved and isolated.

  Various results are shown in Table 1. The image forming apparatus has the configuration shown in FIG. 4, and the fixing device has the configuration shown in FIG.

[Example 2]
In the annealing process of the surface layer in Example 1, the same conditions as in Example 1 except that the orientation of the fluororesin tube 1f was relaxed by heating for 1 minute in an electric furnace set at 320 ° C. as the heating condition. A fixing belt was prepared. The evaluation results for this fixing belt are also shown in Table 1.

[Example 3]
Copolymer containing 1.4 mol% of perfluoropropyl vinyl ether (PPVE) as perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE) in tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA) as fluororesin pellets to be used A fluororesin pellet B made of coalescence (trade name: Teflon PFA451HP-J; manufactured by Mitsui DuPont Fluorochemical Co., Ltd.) was used. This fluororesin pellet B was extruded to form a fluororesin tube 1f having a length of 400 mm, an inner diameter of 29 mm, and a thickness of 20 μm. A fixing belt was produced under the same conditions as in Example 1 except that this fluororesin tube 1f was used. The evaluation results for this fixing belt are also shown in Table 1.

[Example 4]
Fluororesin pellets D, which is a raw material for the release layer, are continuously fed with TFE as a main component and PEVE as a comonomer by an aqueous-based emulsion polymerization method disclosed in JP-A No. 2004-161921. The solution was prepared by stirring the liquid during the polymerization. A fluororesin tube 1f having a length of 400 mm, an inner diameter of 29 mm, and a thickness of 20 μm was formed by extrusion molding. The fluororesin pellet D is made of a tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA). As its constitution, it was confirmed by measurement of ¹⁹ F nuclei with a nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus that 5.8 mol% of perfluoroethyl vinyl ether (PEVE) was contained in the copolymer as perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE).

  Using this fluororesin pellet D, a fluororesin tube 1f having a length of 400 mm, an inner diameter of 29 mm, and a thickness of 20 μm was formed by extrusion molding. A fixing belt was produced under the same conditions as in Example 1 except that this fluororesin tube 1f was used. The evaluation results for this fixing belt are also shown in Table 1.

[Example 5]
In the step of forming the elastic layer 1d of Example 1, alumina having an average sphericity of 0.8 and an average particle size of 9.8 μm was used as a functional filler to be blended with the stock solution of the addition-curable silicone rubber. A fixing belt was produced under the same conditions as in Example 1 except that a silicone rubber elastic layer was formed using the stock solution. The evaluation results for this fixing belt are also shown in Table 1.

[Example 6]
In the step of forming the elastic layer 1d of Example 1, metallic silicon having an average sphericity of 0.7 and an average particle diameter of 8.0 μm was used as a functional filler to be blended in the stock solution of the addition-curable silicone rubber. The stock solution is applied to a cylindrical substrate and baked, and then the # 2000 wrapping film is brought into contact with the endless belt formed up to the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d while rotating at a moving speed of 20 mm / sec in the circumferential direction. The smoothing process was implemented by. Otherwise, a fixing belt was produced under the same conditions as in Example 1. The evaluation results for this fixing belt are also shown in Table 1.

[Comparative Example 1]
After the fluororesin release layer 1f was coated on the endless belt in Example 1, the surface annealing treatment was not performed. Otherwise, a fixing belt was produced under the same conditions as in Example 1. The evaluation results for this fixing belt are also shown in Table 1.

[Comparative Example 2]
In the step of forming the elastic layer 1d of Example 1, alumina having an average sphericity of 0.9 and an average particle size of 16.1 μm was used as a functional filler to be blended into the stock solution of the addition-curable silicone rubber. A fixing belt was produced under the same conditions as in Example 1 except that the silicone rubber elastic layer 1d was molded using the stock solution. The evaluation results for this fixing belt are also shown in Table 1.

[Comparative Example 3]
In Example 6, the surface smoothing treatment was not performed. Otherwise, a fixing belt was produced under the same conditions as in Example 6. The evaluation results for this fixing belt are also shown in Table 1.

≪Average sphericity≫
When the major axis of the target particle is A and the minor axis is B, the ratio (B / A) is represented, and the measurement is performed by taking an optical microscope or electron micrograph of the target particle, This is done by measuring the diameter of the photographed particles. 50 arbitrary particles were counted and obtained from the average value.

≪Average particle diameter≫
The average particle diameter is determined with a flow particle image analyzer (trade name: FPIA-3000; manufactured by Sysmex Corporation). Specifically, after crushing with a mortar or the like so that the filler becomes primary particles, this is dispersed in water to prepare a sample solution. This sample liquid is put into the flow type particle image analyzer, introduced into the imaging cell in the apparatus and passed therethrough, and the inorganic filler is photographed as a still image. The diameter of a circle (hereinafter also referred to as “equal area circle”) having the same area as the particle image projected on the plane (hereinafter also referred to as “particle projected image”) is defined as the diameter of the filler relating to the particle image. And the equal area circle of 1000 fillers is calculated | required and those arithmetic average values are made into the average particle diameter of a filler.

≪Measurement of polymerization ratio of perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE) ≫
The polymerization rate of perfluoroethyl vinyl ether (PAVE) can be measured using a nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus. The polymerization rate of perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE) in each Example and Comparative Example was measured using a nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus (product name: DSX400 type; manufactured by Bruker BioSpin). Specifically, NMR measurement was performed on ¹⁹ F nuclei under a room temperature environment with a MAS frequency of 30 kHz and a total of 256 conditions. From the obtained NMR chart, the ratio of the integrated value of the peak attributed to tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) and the integrated value of the peak attributed to perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether (PAVE) was determined, and the polymerization ratio of PAVE was confirmed from the ratio. In Table 1, this value is referred to as the PAVE ratio.

≪Measurement of orientation of fluororesin release layer≫
The degree of orientation of the fluororesin tube 1f isolated from the fixing belt of the example or the comparative example is obtained by calculating the degree of orientation by a wide angle X-ray diffraction method. Specifically, an oriented sample has an intensity distribution along the Debye ring, and an X-ray diffraction image is used to measure the degree of orientation. Using a fiber sample table, 2θ was fixed at a peak near 18 °, rotated 360 ° (β rotation), measured the intensity distribution along the Debye ring, and the degree of orientation was determined by the following equation.

H = [(360−ΣW / 360)] × 100 where H: degree of orientation, W: half-width crystallinity is calculated by the Randland method from the diffraction pattern obtained by the reflection method by the wide angle X-ray diffraction measurement. Yes. As the X-ray diffractometer, a rotating counter-cathode X-ray diffractometer RINT2500 (X-ray: CuKα) manufactured by Rigaku Corporation was used.

≪Measurement of surface roughness of fixing member surface≫
The arithmetic average roughness Ra of the fixing member surface and the endless belt formed up to the elastic layer 1d can be a known method. Arithmetic average roughness Ra in each Example and Comparative Example was measured with a contact-type roughness meter (trade name: SE-3500, manufactured by Kosaka Seisakusho). Various conditions in the measurement are as follows.
Cut-off: 0.8 mm, filter: Gaussian measurement length: 8.0 mm, scanning speed: 0.1 mm / s, leveling: straight line (entire area)
≪Melting unevenness evaluation test≫
By observing the melting state of the toner after fixing the toner image formed on the paper, it can be used as an index of the followability of the fixing member to the paper unevenness.

10 color unevenness evaluation images in a color laser printer equipped with a fixing belt (product name: imageRUNNER-ADVANCE C5051 manufactured by Canon Inc.) under an environment with a temperature of 10 ° C. and a relative humidity of 50% and an input voltage of 100 V. And fix. Paper is A4 size recycled paper (trade name: Recycled paper GF-R100; manufactured by Canon Inc., thickness 92 μm, basis weight 66 g / m ² , used paper content 70%, Beck smoothness 23 seconds (according to JIS P8119) Method))). The melting unevenness evaluation image is an image in which a 10 mm × 10 mm patch image formed with cyan toner and magenta toner at 100% density is arranged near the center of the paper surface.

  As a measure of the melting unevenness, the toner is melted and mixed by sufficiently applying heat and pressure in the image portion where the two colors are formed. In particular, when the pressure is not applied even when heat is applied to the concave portion of the paper asperity, the toner grain boundary remains after the fixing, and thus melt unevenness occurs in a state where the colors are not sufficiently mixed. When the fixing member cannot sufficiently follow the unevenness, the convex portion is mixed with pressure by applying pressure, but the color mixing is insufficient in the concave portion. Therefore, the determination of the ability to follow unevenness was confirmed by observing the melted state of the image forming area.

After ten images of melting unevenness evaluation were printed continuously, a tenth sample was taken out and the image forming portion was observed with an optical microscope to evaluate melting unevenness. The evaluation criteria are as follows (see “melting unevenness” in Table 1).
Evaluation rank A: The toner grain boundary is hardly seen even in the concave portion of the paper fiber, and the concave and convex portions are mixed in color.
B: A state in which toner grain boundaries are partially observed in the concave portions of the paper fiber, but the concave and convex portions are generally mixed in color.
C: A state in which only the convex portions of the paper fiber are mixed and many toner grain boundaries are observed in the concave portions.

≪Fixability evaluation test≫
The rubbing test is a method for evaluating how firmly the toner is fixed to the paper, and is an index of the high heat supply capacity from the fixing member to the toner. Tend to improve.

  With a color laser printer equipped with the fixing belt, 50 images for fixing property evaluation are continuously fixed at an input voltage of 100 V under an environment of a temperature of 10 ° C. and a relative humidity of 50%. The paper used is the same as that used in the melting unevenness evaluation test. The fixability evaluation image is an image in which nine patch images of 5 mm × 5 mm in which halftones of a checkered flag pattern of 2 × 2 dots are composed of a single black toner are arranged on a paper surface.

After 50 images of fixing property evaluation are printed continuously, a predetermined number (1, 10, 20, 50th) of samples are extracted from the 50 images. A weight of a predetermined weight (200 g) is placed on the image forming surface of the sample via Sylbon paper (trade name: Dasper K-3; manufactured by Ozu Sangyo Co., Ltd.). The weight placed on the Sylbon paper is rubbed 5 times on the image forming surface, and the reflection density of the image before and after the rubbing is measured. A densitometer (trade name: RD918; manufactured by Gretag Macbeth Co.) was used for the measurement of the reflection density.
Concentration reduction rate is
(Concentration before rubbing−Concentration after rubbing) / Concentration before rubbing × 100 (%)
Calculated as

  When the fixability is the best, that is, when the evaluation image is not lost at all, the density reduction rate is 0%. On the other hand, when the fixing property is the worst, that is, when all the evaluation images are lost, it becomes 100%. The larger the density reduction rate, the worse the fixability.

  As a standard for the numerical value of the toner fixing property, there is a possibility that the toner image is missing from the paper in the normal use environment when the density reduction rate is 30% or more in the environment of temperature 10 ° C. and relative humidity 50%. When the density reduction rate is 20% or more and less than 30%, no problem occurs in a normal use environment, but if the image surface is strongly bent, the toner image may be lost from the paper. When the density reduction rate is 10% or more and less than 20%, no problem occurs in a normal use environment, but there is a possibility that the density of the toner image is reduced when the image surface is rubbed strongly. When the density reduction rate is less than 10%, problems such as density reduction do not occur in a normal use environment.

Therefore, the determination of this fixing property evaluation was performed by obtaining the density reduction rate of nine images in the paper, adopting the worst value among them, and evaluating according to the following criteria. And in the item of “fixability” in Table 1, the evaluation rank is described for each example and each comparative example.
Evaluation rank A: The density reduction rate is less than 10%. → It is well established.
B: The density reduction rate is 10% or more and less than 20%. → Generally well established.
C: Density reduction rate is 20% or more. → Inadequate fixing.

≪Gross evaluation test≫
The solid black image was fixed with a color laser printer (manufactured by Canon Inc., trade name: imageRUNNER-ADVANCE C5051) equipped with a fixing belt. Paper is A4 size recycled paper (trade name: Recycled paper GF-R100; manufactured by Canon Inc., thickness 92 μm, basis weight 66 g / m ² , used paper content 70%, Beck smoothness 23 seconds (according to JIS P8119) Method))) was used. The 60 ° gloss of the output image was measured with a gloss meter (Nippon Denshoku Handy Gloss Meter PG-1M), and the average value was evaluated according to the following criteria. And the evaluation rank was described in the item of "Gloss" of Table 1 about each Example and each comparative example.
Evaluation rank A: The gloss is 10 or more. → High gloss and good image.
B: The gloss is 8 or more and less than 10. → It is generally a good image with high gloss.
C: The gloss is less than 8. → Low gloss.

≪Durability test≫
The fixing belt 1 of the example or the comparative example is incorporated in a fixing device of “iR ADVANCE C5051” which is a Canon full color copier, a pressure of 313.6 N (32 kgf), a fixing nip of 8 mm × 230 mm, a fixing temperature of 180 ° C., a process speed. A 500,000-sheet passing durability test was performed at 246 mm / sec.

As can be seen from Table 1, with respect to Examples 1 to 6, good results were obtained in all of the melt unevenness, fixability, gloss, and durability.
(Melting unevenness, fixability, gloss; evaluation ranks A to B, durability; no cracking at 500,000 sheets)
On the other hand, regarding Comparative Examples 1 to 3, unsatisfactory results were obtained in any one of melting unevenness, fixing property, gloss, durability, or a plurality of items.
(Melting unevenness, fixability, gloss; evaluation rank C, durability; cracking occurs in less than 500,000 sheets)

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fixing member (fixing belt), 1a Inner surface sliding layer, 1b Cylindrical base material,
1c primer layer, 1d silicone rubber elastic layer, 1e adhesive layer,
1f fluororesin release layer (fluororesin tube), 100 fixing device,
101 photosensitive drum, 102 charging device, 103 laser beam, 104 developing device,
105 intermediate transfer drum, 106 transfer roller, 107 toner cleaner,
108 toner cleaner, 109 deflecting mirror, 110 laser optical system,
T1 primary transfer portion, T2 secondary transfer portion, 1 fixing member (fixing belt),
2 pressing member (fixing heater), 3 thermistor, 4 film guide / heater holder,
5 fixing belt stay, 6 pressure member (pressure roller), 7 entrance guide,
8 fixing paper discharge roller, 9 A / D converter, 10 control circuit unit (CPU),
11 heater drive circuit section, 12 motor drive circuit section, 13 device frame,
14 fixing nip, t unfixed toner image, P recording medium

Claims (7)

At least the base layer (1b), the fluororesin release layer (1f),
A fixing member (1) having an elastic layer (1d) containing a filler positioned between the base layer (1b) and the fluororesin release layer (1f),
The degree of orientation of the fluororesin release layer (1f) is 35% or less,
And the arithmetic mean roughness Ra of the surface of the fixing member (1) is 0.05 μm or less,
A fixing member (1) characterized in that: The fluororesin release layer (1f)
A tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA),
2. The fixing member according to claim 1, wherein a polymerization ratio of perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether in the tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA) is 3.0 mol% or more and 5.8 mol% or less. (1). The fixing member (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the average particle size of the total filler contained in the elastic layer (1d) is 10 µm or less and the average sphericity is 0.8 or more. ). After forming the elastic layer (1d) having an arithmetic average roughness Ra of 1.7 μm or less,
Covering the fluororesin tubular shaped body (1f),
A method for producing a fixing member (1), comprising a step of heating to a melting point of the fluororesin or higher. The tubular molded body (1f) of the fluororesin is
A tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA),
The fixing member according to claim 4, wherein a polymerization ratio of perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether in the tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA) is 3.0 mol% or more and 5.8 mol% or less. The manufacturing method of (1). The elastic layer (1d) is formed by applying a liquid uncured material to which a filler is added to at least the outer side of the base layer (1b) and curing it, and the average particle diameter of the total filler contained in the liquid uncured material The method for manufacturing a fixing member (1) according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the average sphericity is 0.8 or more and 10 µm or less. The elastic layer (1d) is formed by applying a liquid uncured material to at least the outer side of the base layer (1b) and curing it, and then smoothing the surface of the elastic layer. The method for manufacturing a fixing member (1) according to any one of claims 6 to 6.