JP2001350348A - Conductive endless belt and image forming device utilizing it - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conductive seamless belt provided with good strength, especially good durability against bending and to provide an image forming device utilizing it with respect to the resin film belt utilized in the image forming device of a tandem method, an intermediate transfer method and a tandem intermediate transfer method. SOLUTION: In the conductive seamless belt 10 for transfer and carrying of the tandem method where each toner image is sequentially transferred to a recording medium by circulating and driving the recording medium that is held by electrostatic attraction by a driving member 9, the substrate is made of a polymer alloy of a thermoplastic polycarbonate and a thermoplastic elastomer or of a polymer blend.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming method such as a latent image holding member having an electrostatic latent image on the surface in an electrostatic recording process in an electrophotographic apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer or an electrostatic recording apparatus. Conductive endless belt (hereinafter simply referred to as "belt") used when transferring a toner image formed by supplying a developer to a body surface onto a recording medium such as paper, and image forming using the same Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electrostatic recording process in a copying machine, a printer, or the like, first, a photosensitive member (latent image holding member)
Surface is uniformly charged, an image is projected from the optical system onto the photoreceptor to eliminate the charging of the light-exposed portion, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image. Is supplied to form a toner image by electrostatic adhesion of toner, and the toner image is transferred to a recording medium such as paper, OHP, or photographic paper, thereby performing printing.

In this case, even in a color printer or a color copying machine, printing is basically performed according to the above-described process. In the case of color printing, magenta, yellow, cyan, and black toners are used. In order to reproduce the color tone, it is necessary to perform a process of superposing these toners at a predetermined ratio to obtain a necessary color tone, and several methods have been proposed for performing this process.

First, similarly to the case of performing monochrome printing, when a toner is supplied onto a photoreceptor to visualize an electrostatic latent image, the four colors of magenta, yellow, cyan, and black are used. There is a multiple development system in which development is performed by sequentially superimposing toner to form a color toner image on a photoconductor. According to this method, it is possible to configure the apparatus relatively compact, but in this method, there is a problem that it is very difficult to control the gradation and high image quality cannot be obtained.

Second, by providing four photosensitive drums and developing the latent images of the respective drums with magenta, yellow, cyan, and black toners, respectively, a magenta toner image, a yellow toner image, and a cyan toner image And four toner images of a black toner image, the photosensitive drums on which these toner images are formed are arranged in a line, and each toner image is sequentially transferred to a recording medium such as paper, and is superimposed on the recording medium. There is a tandem system for reproducing a color image. In this method, although a good image is obtained, four photosensitive drums, and a charging mechanism and a developing mechanism provided for each photosensitive drum are arranged in a line, so that the apparatus becomes large and expensive. Becomes

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of a printing section of a tandem type image forming apparatus. A printing unit composed of the photosensitive drum 1, the charging roll 2, the developing roll 3, the developing blade 4, the toner supply roll 5, and the cleaning blade 6 corresponds to each of yellow Y, magenta M, cyan C, and black B toners. Drive rollers (drive members) 9
The toner is sequentially transferred onto the paper conveyed by the transfer conveyance belt 10 while being circulated by the printer to form a color image. Charging and charge elimination of the transfer conveyance belt are performed by a charge roll 7 and a charge elimination roll 8, respectively. An attraction roller (not shown) is used for charging the paper to attract the paper to the belt. By these measures, generation of ozone can be suppressed. The suction roller places the paper on the transfer conveyance belt from the conveyance path and performs electrostatic attraction to the transfer conveyance belt. Further, the sheet separation after the transfer can be performed only by the curvature separation by lowering the transfer voltage so as to weaken the attraction force between the sheet and the transfer conveyance belt.

The material of the transfer and transport belt 10 includes a resistor and a dielectric, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. Since the resistor belt retains electric charges for a short time, when used for tandem-type transfer, charge injection during transfer is small, and the voltage rise is relatively small even in continuous transfer of four colors. Electric charges are also discharged when repeatedly used for transferring the next sheet, so that an electrical reset is not required. However, since the resistance value changes due to environmental fluctuations, there are disadvantages in that the transfer efficiency is affected, and the sheet is easily affected by the thickness and width of the sheet.

On the other hand, in the case of a dielectric belt, there is no spontaneous emission of injected charges, and both injection and emission of charges must be controlled electrically. However, since the charges are stably held, the paper can be reliably absorbed and the paper can be transported with high accuracy. Since the dielectric constant has low dependence on temperature and humidity, the transfer process is relatively stable even in the environment. The disadvantage is that the charge is accumulated on the belt each time the transfer is repeated, which increases the transfer voltage.

Third, a recording medium such as paper is wound around a transfer drum and rotated four times, and magenta, yellow, cyan, and black on the photoreceptor are sequentially transferred to the recording medium for each revolution to reproduce a color image. There is also a transfer drum system that performs the transfer. According to this method, relatively high image quality can be obtained. However, when the recording medium is thick paper such as a postcard, it is difficult to wind it around the transfer drum, and the type of recording medium is limited. There is.

As compared with the above-mentioned multiple developing system, tandem system and transfer drum system, good image quality can be obtained, the apparatus is not particularly enlarged, and the type of recording medium is particularly limited. An intermediate transfer method has been proposed as a method without such a method.

That is, in this intermediate transfer system, an intermediate transfer member including a drum and a belt for temporarily transferring and holding a toner image on a photosensitive member is provided, and a magenta toner image, a yellow toner image, By arranging four photoconductors on which a cyan toner image and a black toner image are formed, and sequentially transferring the four color toner images onto the intermediate transfer member, a color image is formed on the intermediate transfer member. A color image is transferred onto a recording medium such as paper. Therefore, since the gradation is adjusted by superimposing the four color toner images, it is possible to obtain high image quality, and it is not necessary to arrange the photoconductors in a line as in the tandem method. In particular, there is no need to increase the size of the recording medium, and there is no need to wind the recording medium around the drum, so that the type of recording medium is not limited. There is also a tandem intermediate transfer system in which a tandem system and an intermediate transfer system are combined.

FIG. 3 illustrates an image forming apparatus using an endless belt-shaped intermediate transfer member as an intermediate transfer member as an apparatus for forming a color image by the intermediate transfer method.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 11 denotes a drum-shaped photosensitive member.
It rotates in the direction of the arrow in the figure. The photoconductor 11 is charged by the primary charger 12, and then the exposed portion is erased by image exposure 13, and an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the first color component is formed on the photoconductor 11,
Further, the electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing device 41 with the first color magenta toner M, and the first color magenta toner image is formed on the photoconductor 11. Next, the toner image is circulated and driven by the driving roller (driving member) 30 so that the photosensitive member 1 is driven.
The toner image is transferred to the intermediate transfer member 20 that rotates while circulating in contact with the intermediate transfer member 20. In this case, the transfer from the photoconductor 11 to the intermediate transfer member 20 is performed by a primary transfer bias applied from the power supply 61 to the intermediate transfer member 20 at a nip portion between the photoconductor 11 and the intermediate transfer member 20. This intermediate transfer member 2
After the magenta toner image of the first color is transferred to 0, the surface of the photoconductor 11 is cleaned by the cleaning device 14, and the development transfer operation of the photoconductor 11 in the first rotation is completed. Thereafter, the photoconductor rotates three times, and the developing device 42
The cyan toner image of the second color, the yellow toner image of the third color, and the black toner image of the fourth color are sequentially formed on the photoreceptor 11 by sequentially using No. to No. 44, and are superimposedly transferred to the intermediate transfer member 20 every rotation. Then, a composite color toner image corresponding to the target color image is formed on the intermediate transfer member 20. In the apparatus shown in FIG. 3, the developing units 41 to 44 are sequentially switched for each rotation of the photoconductor 11, so that development with the magenta toner M, the cyan toner C, the yellow toner Y, and the black toner B is performed sequentially. Has become.

Next, a transfer roller 25 contacts the intermediate transfer member 20 on which the composite color toner image is formed, and a recording medium 26 such as paper is fed from a paper feed cassette 19 to a nip portion thereof. At the same time, the secondary transfer bias is
The composite color toner image is transferred from the intermediate transfer member 20 onto the recording medium 26, and is fixed by heating to form a final image. After transferring the composite color toner image onto the recording medium 26, the transfer residual toner on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 20 is removed by the cleaning device 35, and the intermediate transfer member 20 returns to the initial state and prepares for the next image formation.

Conventionally, as such an endless belt-shaped intermediate transfer member 20, a semiconductive resin film belt and a rubber belt having a fiber reinforcement have been mainly used. Among these, as a semiconductive resin film belt, a blend of carbon black and polycarbonate is conventionally known, but recently, a polyalkylene terephthalate based on improved durability against bending has been used. Resin film belt as material (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-99374)
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-17 / 1999 and a resin film belt using a thermoplastic polyimide as a base material with improved elasticity.
No. 0389) has been proposed.

[0016]

In an image forming apparatus of a tandem system, an intermediate transfer system and a tandem intermediate transfer system using a conductive endless belt, the conductive endless belt is repeatedly used continuously in terms of mechanism. It is required to have endurable strength, especially bending durability.

Although some semiconductive resin film belts have been put to practical use so far, as the performance of the image forming apparatus has been improved, it is required that the belt satisfy the above-mentioned required characteristics better. Have been.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a resin film belt used in an image forming apparatus of a tandem system, an intermediate transfer system, and a tandem intermediate transfer system, which has good strength,
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a conductive endless belt having good bending durability and an image forming apparatus using the same.

[0019]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventors have made intensive studies on various synthetic resins in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and as a result, using a polymer alloy or a polymer blend of a thermoplastic polycarbonate as a base material of a conductive endless belt. As a result, it has been found that the above object can be achieved, and the present invention has been completed. That is, the present invention is as described below.

(1) A recording medium held by electrostatic attraction is circulated by a driving member and conveyed to four types of image forming bodies, and a tandem type transfer in which respective toner images are sequentially transferred to the recording medium. A conductive endless belt for conveyance, characterized in that the base material is a polymer alloy or a polymer blend of a thermoplastic polycarbonate and a thermoplastic elastomer.

(2) The toner image formed on the surface of the image forming member is temporarily transferred to its own surface by being circulated and driven by a driving member, disposed between the image forming member and the recording medium. Is an electroconductive endless belt for an intermediate transfer member for transferring an image to a recording medium, wherein the electroless endless belt is made of a polymer alloy or a blend of a thermoplastic polycarbonate and a thermoplastic elastomer as a base material.

(3) The conductive endless belt according to (1) or (2), wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is an acrylic elastomer.

(4) The conductive endless belt according to any one of the above (1) to (3), wherein a conductive material is added as a functional component.

(5) The conductive endless belt according to (4), wherein the conductive material is carbon black, and 0.1 to 100 parts by weight is added to 100 parts by weight of the resin component. is there.

(6) In the conductive endless belt according to any one of the above (1) to (5), the volume resistance value is 10 ⁶ to
The conductive endless belt has a resistance of 10 ¹³ Ω · cm.

(7) In the conductive endless belt according to any one of (1) to (6), a conductive endless belt having a fitting portion for fitting with the driving member is provided on a surface in contact with the driving member. It is a belt.

(8) In the conductive endless belt according to (7), the fitting portion is a conductive endless belt that is a protruding ridge continuously protruded along a rotation direction.

(9) An image forming apparatus using the conductive endless belt according to any one of (1) to (8).

The above-described conductive endless belt of the present invention has good strength, particularly good bending durability. Further, in the case where a fitting portion is provided for fitting the drive member and the conductive endless belt with each other, a phenomenon that the conductive endless belt stretched on two or more shafts is shifted in the width direction with rotation is prevented. can do. Further, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, a good image can be provided without causing a defect even when used for a long time.

[0030]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. The conductive endless belt is generally classified into a belt having a joint and a belt having no joint (a so-called seamless belt). In the present invention, any belt may be used. As described above, the conductive endless belt of the present invention can be used as a transfer member of a tandem system, an intermediate transfer system, and a tandem intermediate transfer system. When the conductive endless belt of the present invention is, for example, a transfer / conveying belt indicated by reference numeral 10 in FIG. 2, it is driven by a driving member such as a driving roller 9;
Along with this, the toner is sequentially transferred onto the recording medium conveyed, and a color image is formed.

When the conductive endless belt of the present invention is, for example, an intermediate transfer member indicated by reference numeral 20 in FIG. 3, it is circulated by a driving member such as a driving roller 30 to form a photosensitive drum (latent image). The photosensitive drum 11 is disposed between the holding member 11 and a recording medium 26 such as paper.
The toner image formed on the surface is temporarily transferred and held, and then transferred to the recording medium 26. The apparatus shown in FIG. 3 performs color printing by the intermediate transfer method as described above.

In the present invention, by using a polymer alloy or a polymer blend of a thermoplastic polycarbonate and a thermoplastic elastomer as the base material of the conductive endless belt, the strength, particularly the bending, which cannot be obtained by the thermoplastic polycarbonate alone, is obtained. A good conductive endless belt having excellent durability can be obtained.

The thermoplastic polycarbonate according to the present invention has features such as excellent heat resistance and impact resistance, high mechanical strength, and good dimensional stability during molding.
This engineering plastic is used in a wide range of applications such as mechanical parts, electrical insulating materials, and automotive parts. As such a thermoplastic polycarbonate, those in which most of the dihydroxy compounds to constitute the carbonate ester have two phenolic hydroxyl groups are preferable, and examples of such dihydric phenols include bisphenols, particularly bisphenol A. . Polycarbonate can be obtained by reacting this dihydric phenol with phosgene, bischloroformate, carbonic acid diester and the like. It can be easily obtained in the market. For example, Panlite K1300Y manufactured by Teijin Chemicals Limited, Iupilon E2 manufactured by Mitsubishi Engineering Plastics, Inc.
000, Teflon manufactured by Idemitsu Petrochemical Co., Ltd., and the like.

As the thermoplastic elastomer used in the present invention, a polymer having a Young's modulus of 98,000 N / cm ² or less, preferably 980 to 49000 N / cm ² , is known. Examples thereof include polyester, polyamide and polyether. And polyolefin-based, polyurethane-based, styrene-based, acrylic-based, and polydiene-based elastomers, and acrylic rubber is particularly preferred.
The addition of thermoplastic elastomers increases the number of foldings,
The durability against cracks can be increased.

A polymer alloy of a thermoplastic polycarbonate and a thermoplastic elastomer can be obtained on the market. For example, as a polymer alloy whose elastomer component is an acrylic elastomer, Idemitsu Petrochemical Co., Ltd.
Manufactured by Panlite SC-150.
In such a polymer alloy, the thermoplastic elastomer component is contained in an amount of preferably 0.5 to 100 parts by weight, more preferably 1 to 10 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the thermoplastic polycarbonate component. If the amount of the thermoplastic elastomer component is more than 100 parts by weight, the tensile elasticity decreases and the belt elongates, which is not preferable. On the other hand, if the amount is less than 0.5 part by weight, the improvement effect from the conventional polycarbonate alone is obtained. Is not preferred because sufficient is not obtained.

In addition, a conductive material is added to a polymer alloy or a polymer blend of a thermoplastic polycarbonate and a thermoplastic elastomer, which is a base material of the conductive endless belt, as a functional component to impart or adjust conductivity. Can be. In this case, as the conductive material,
There is no particular limitation, lauryl trimethyl ammonium, stearyl trimethyl ammonium, octadecyl trimethyl ammonium, dodecyl trimethyl ammonium,
Hexadecyltrimethylammonium, modified fatty acid / dimethylethylammonium perchlorate, chlorate, borofluoride, sulfate, ethosulfate, benzyl halide (benzyl bromide, benzyl chloride, etc.), etc. Cationic surfactants such as quaternary ammoniums; anionic surfactants such as aliphatic sulfonic acids, higher alcohol sulfates, higher alcohol ethylene oxide addition sulfates, higher alcohol phosphates;
Zwitterionic surfactants such as various betaines; antistatic agents such as nonionic antistatic agents such as higher alcohol ethylene oxide, polyethylene glycol fatty acid esters and polyhydric alcohol fatty acid esters; LiCF ₂ SO ₂ , Na
Group 1 metal salts of the periodic table such as ClO ₄ , LiBF ₄ and NaCl; metal salts of the group ₂ of the periodic table such as Ca (ClO ₄ ) ₂ :
And those in which these antistatic agents have at least one group having an active hydrogen (such as a hydrogen group, a carboxyl group, or a primary or secondary amine group) which reacts with isocyanate. Further, ions such as complexes of these with polyhydric alcohols (1,4-butanediol, ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol, etc.) or derivatives thereof, or complexes with ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, etc. Conductive agent; conductive carbon such as Ketjen black, acetylene black; SAF, ISAF, HAF, F
Rubber carbon such as EF, GPF, SRF, FT, MT; carbon for oxidation color ink, pyrolytic carbon, natural graphite, artificial graphite, etc .; tin oxide, titanium oxide, zinc oxide, nickel, copper, etc. Metals and metal oxides; conductive polymers such as polyaniline, polypyrrole, and polyacetylene;

The amount of the conductive material to be added to the substrate can be 0.1 to 100 parts by weight, preferably 1 to 50 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the resin component. The volume resistivity can be adjusted to 10 ⁶ to 10 ¹³ Ω · cm, preferably 10 ⁷ to 10 ¹² Ω · cm.

In the present invention, other functional components can be added in addition to the above components within a range not to impair the effects of the present invention. For example, various fillers, coupling agents, antioxidants , Lubricants, surface treatment agents, pigments, UV absorbers, antistatic agents, dispersants, neutralizers, foaming agents, crosslinkers,
A compatibilizer or the like can be appropriately blended.

The thickness of the conductive endless belt of the present invention is appropriately selected according to the form of the transfer / transport belt or the intermediate transfer member, but is preferably 50 to 20.
It is within the range of 0 μm.

The conductive endless belt of the present invention, as shown by a dashed line in FIG. 1, has a side which comes into contact with a driving member such as the driving roller 9 or the driving roller 30 in FIG. May be formed with a fitting part (not shown) formed on the driving member, and the conductive endless belt of the present invention is provided with such a fitting part. By running this by fitting it with a fitting portion (not shown) provided on the drive member, it is possible to prevent the conductive endless belt from shifting in the width direction.

In this case, the fitting portion is not particularly limited, but as shown in FIG. 1, is formed as a ridge continuous along the circumferential direction (rotation direction) of the belt, and this is formed by a driving roller or the like. It is preferable to fit into a groove formed along the circumferential direction on the peripheral surface of the driving member.

FIG. 1A shows an example in which one continuous ridge is provided as a fitting portion. However, this fitting portion has a large number of protrusions formed in the circumferential direction (rotation direction) of the belt. May be provided in a line along the line, and two or more fitting portions may be provided (FIG. 1B), or may be provided at the center in the width direction of the belt. Further, a groove is formed along the circumferential direction (rotational direction) of the belt as the fitting portion instead of the ridge shown in FIG. 1 and is formed along the circumferential direction on the circumferential surface of the driving member such as the driving roller. You may make it fit with the convex part which did.

Although the conductive endless belt of the present invention is not particularly limited, it has a surface roughness of 10 μm or less, particularly 6 μm or less, and more preferably 3 μm or less in terms of JIS 10-point average roughness Rz.
It is preferable that the thickness be not more than μm.

As an image forming apparatus of the present invention using the conductive endless belt of the present invention, a tandem type shown in FIG. 2, an intermediate transfer type shown in FIG. 3, or a tandem intermediate transfer type is used. However, the present invention is not limited to these. In the case of the apparatus shown in FIG. 3, a voltage can be applied from a suitable power supply 61 to the drive roller or drive gear for rotating the intermediate transfer member 20 of the present invention. Application conditions, such as application of alternating current, can be selected as appropriate.

The method for producing the conductive endless belt of the present invention is not particularly limited. For example, a resin component (a polymer alloy or a polymer blend of a thermoplastic polycarbonate and a thermoplastic elastomer) is mixed with a twin-screw kneader. Knead with functional components such as conductive materials,
It can be manufactured by extruding the obtained kneaded product using an annular die. Alternatively, a powder coating method such as electrostatic coating, a dipping method or a centrifugal casting method can be suitably adopted.

[0046]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on embodiments. Example Polymer alloy of thermoplastic polycarbonate and thermoplastic elastomer (PANLITE SC manufactured by Idemitsu Petrochemical Co., Ltd.)
-150, number average molecular weight 30,000) 100 parts by weight and F
EF carbon (manufactured by Asahi Carbon Co., Ltd.) (25 parts by weight) was kneaded with a biaxial kneader, and the resulting kneaded material was extruded to form an inner diameter of 245 mm, a thickness of 100 μm, and a width of 2 μm.
A conductive endless belt having a dimension of 50 mm was produced. The number of times the conductive endless belt was bent until it was broken was measured using an MIT anti-rubbing fatigue tester manufactured by Toyo Seiki Co., Ltd.

Comparative Example Polycarbonate resin (Panelite K1 manufactured by Teijin Chemicals Ltd.)
100 parts by weight of 300Y (number average 30,000) and 30 parts by weight of FEF carbon (manufactured by Asahi Carbon Co., Ltd.) are kneaded by a twin-screw kneader, and the obtained kneaded product is extruded to obtain the same dimensions as in the example. Was produced. The number of times the conductive endless belt was bent before breaking was measured in the same manner as in the example.

The volume specific resistivity of the conductive endless belts obtained in the above Examples and Comparative Examples was measured under the following conditions. Measurement environment: temperature 20 ° C., relative humidity 50% Measurement voltage: 100 V Measurement device: Advantest's resistance meter R8340A connected to sample chamber R12704A

The conductive endless belts of the above embodiment and the comparative example were mounted on a tandem type image forming apparatus using the transfer / conveying belt shown in FIG. 2, and the transfer operation was repeated to endure 100,000 sheets of A4 paper. The test was performed. The results of this test were evaluated for image quality. Table 1 below shows the above volume resistance values, the measured values of the number of times of bending, and the results of the durability test. In the table, the number of bendings is 100 in the example.
The above is an exponential representation as the number of breaks.

[0050]

[Table 1]

From the above measurement results, it was confirmed that the conductive endless belt of the example had a volume resistance value equivalent to that of the comparative example, but had remarkable advantages in terms of bending durability and image quality. Was done.

[0052]

As described above, the conductive endless belt of the present invention has excellent strength, especially excellent bending durability, and is excellent in both tandem type and intermediate transfer type image forming apparatuses. Can be used. Further, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention using the conductive endless belt of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a good image without any defect even in long-term use.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view in the width direction of a conductive endless belt according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a tandem type image forming apparatus using a transfer conveyance belt as an example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating an image forming apparatus of an intermediate transfer type using an intermediate transfer member as another example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photoconductor drum 2 Charging roll 3 Developing roll 4 Developing blade 5 Toner supply roll 6 Cleaning blade 7 Charging roll 8 Static elimination roll 9 Driving roller (driving member) 10 Transfer conveyor belt 11 Photoconductor 12 Primary charger 13 Image exposure 14, 35 Cleaning device 19 Paper feed cassette 20 Intermediate transfer member 25 Transfer roller 26 Recording medium 29, 61 Power supply 30 Drive roller 41, 42, 43, 44 Developing device

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G03G 15/00 550 G03G 15/00 550 15/01 114 15/01 114A F-term (reference) 2H030 AB02 BB42 BB44 2H032 AA05 AA15 BA09 BA18 BA23 2H071 BA42 CA02 CA05 DA09 DA16 DA23 4J002 AC022 BB012 BC022 BG002 BM003 CE003 CF002 CG011 CH002 CH023 CH053 CK022 CL002 CM013 DA026 DA036 DD056 DE046 DE196 DK006 EB126 EB136 EC046 EG016 EH316 EFD 136 EV136 FD006 136

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A tandem transfer and conveyance method in which a recording medium held by electrostatic attraction is circulated by a driving member and conveyed to four types of image forming bodies, and each toner image is sequentially transferred to the recording medium. A conductive endless belt for use as a conductive endless belt, comprising a polymer alloy or a polymer blend of a thermoplastic polycarbonate and a thermoplastic elastomer as a base material. 2. A toner image formed on a surface of the image forming member, which is disposed between the image forming member and a recording medium and is circulated by a driving member to temporarily transfer and hold the toner image formed on the surface of the image forming member. A conductive endless belt for an intermediate transfer member for transferring to a recording medium, wherein the conductive endless belt is based on a polymer alloy or a blend of a thermoplastic polycarbonate and a thermoplastic elastomer. 3. The conductive endless belt according to claim 1, wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is an acrylic elastomer. 4. The conductive endless belt according to claim 1, wherein a conductive material is added as a functional component. 5. The conductive endless belt according to claim 4, wherein the conductive material is carbon black, and 0.1 to 100 parts by weight is added to 100 parts by weight of the resin component. 6. The conductive endless belt according to claim 1, which has a volume resistance value of 10 ⁶ to 10 ¹³ Ω · cm. 7. The conductive endless belt according to claim 1, further comprising a fitting portion fitted on the driving member on a surface in contact with the driving member. 8. The conductive endless belt according to claim 7, wherein the fitting portion is a ridge continuously projecting along the rotation direction. 9. An image forming apparatus using the conductive endless belt according to claim 1. Description: