JP2003122162A - Image forming method and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming method by which an omission of characters and the missing of highlight caused by insufficient fixing are eliminated and the deterioration of transfer image quality to an image on material to be recorded, faulty fixing and a recess and the rupture of the surface layer of the material to be recorded are not caused. SOLUTION: This image forming method, in which the image forming device having an image adding stage for adding an image to the material to be recorded and a thermal fixing stage for thermally fixing the material to be recorded to which the image is added is used, and thermal fixing is performed in a state where the material to be recorded is attached on a cylinder, is characterized in that the thermal fixing stage includes a heating and pressurizing stage having a heating pressuring member pressuring the recording material simultaneously with heating it, a preliminary contact stage for bringing the heating pressurizing member into contact with a member to be contacted before performing fixing by the heating pressurizing stage, and further a dust removing stage for preventing dust or the like on the surface of the heating member from passing through and/or accumulating it by pressing a dust removing means on the surface of the heating member.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic apparatus or an ink jet apparatus, in which an image formed on a recording material such as a recording sheet or a printing plate made of paper, resin, etc. And a fixing device for uniformly fixing regardless of size.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The heat-fixing technique is widely used in printers, facsimiles, plate-making machines and the like which use techniques such as electrophotography, ionography and ink-jet for externally adding an image to a recording material. For example, in an electrophotographic copying machine, a drum-shaped photoconductor is charged and exposed to form an electrostatic latent image, and the electrostatic latent image is developed with dry or wet toner, and transferred to a recording paper. An image is formed by performing heat fixing.

In ionography, an electrostatic latent image is formed like an image on a recording medium having a charge retention ability by using an ion radiation head, and the electrostatic latent image is developed with a dry or wet toner. After that, heat fixing is performed to form an image. On the other hand, in an ink jet printer, it is usual that ink is ejected from a recording head onto a recording paper, the ink is naturally dried to form an image, and fixing is not performed. However, with an inkjet using a wax ink, it is difficult for the ink to soak into the recording medium, and therefore heat fixing is performed to ensure image adhesion to the recording medium. Also, in recent years, due to the increase in printing speed of inkjet technology, it is necessary to accelerate the drying of ink,
Measures have been taken such as irradiating UV light after drawing with UV ink, or accelerating the drying of the ink solvent by a heating device or the like. On the other hand, in order to satisfy the requirements of light resistance or hue, the colorant fine particles in the ink may be coated with a resin or the like. In that case, the same image fixing as that of an electrophotographic copying machine is required, and heat fixing is performed. Is preferably used. Further, in a system for making a printing plate used for printing other than the case of directly printing on a recording sheet as a recording medium such as a printer / facsimile as described above, a heat fixing technique is used for the purpose of improving printing durability. Is used.

The heat-fixing technique is widely used in printers, facsimiles, plate-making machines and the like which use techniques such as electrophotography and ink-jet for externally adding an image to a recording material. For example, in an electrophotographic copying machine, a drum-shaped photoconductor is exposed to form an electrostatic latent image, the electrostatic latent image is toner-developed, transferred to a recording paper, and then heat-fixed. A copied image is formed. Further, in a printer using an inkjet or an electrostatic inkjet, a series of operations are completed by ejecting ink from a recording head onto recording paper, drying the ink, and then fixing the ink. Also the printer,
In addition to printing by facsimile and the like, heat fixing technology is used and is incorporated in a system for making a printing plate used for printing.

In the fixing by the lamp heater, it takes time from the application of voltage until stable output supply from the heating element is obtained, and it takes time until the output is stabilized. This effect mainly appears at the leading end of the recording material, and at the leading end, the fixing temperature is lowered at the time of fixing, resulting in poor fixing, resulting in deterioration of the obtained image quality. The reasons why the output is not stabilized include various reasons such as the time required for the lamp heater to rise, and the need to heat the environment around the lamp heater.

Therefore, conventionally, a heat roller having a heat source has been used in the heat fixing device to fix the resin on the recording material added from the outside. However, in order to obtain sufficient fixability in a short time when the heat roller nips the recording medium, it is necessary to hold the heat roller at a high temperature and perform fixing. Therefore, the heat roller is significantly deteriorated and its life is short. Further, in recent years, due to the demand for high-speed image formation, it has become necessary to perform fixing in a shorter time even in a heat fixing device, and in that case, the above-mentioned demands on the heat roller become more severe. . The heat roller has a control mechanism that keeps the surface temperature of the roller constant, and when the surface temperature falls below the specified temperature, the output of the heating element of the heat roller is increased, and conversely, the surface temperature falls below the specified temperature. If the temperature rises, reduce the output of the heating element. However, when fixing starts and the heat roller comes into contact with the recording material, the surface temperature of the roller decreases. At this time, in the heat roller, a mechanism that keeps the surface temperature constant acts to increase the power supplied to the heating element, but it takes time for the temperature of the roller to return to the set value, and during that time Will lower the fixing temperature. In order to prevent this, there is a method to increase the output of the heat roller at first, but if the output is simply increased, the fixing temperature will rise at the place where the surface temperature has dropped and the fixability will be good, but the fixing temperature will not fall. In the high places, fixing becomes excessive, resulting in poor image reproduction.

Further, due to demands for downsizing and space saving of the image forming apparatus, the number of cases where fixing is performed with the recording material placed on the cylinder is increasing. Also in this case, there is a problem that the fixing of the image becomes unstable because the heat of the heat roller is taken by the cylinder, and the temperature uniformity is significantly impaired in the length direction (fixing direction), which hinders the image fixing. Will cause As a means for dealing with the above problem, there is a means for controlling the heat generation of the heat roller, but the control becomes complicated.

When printing is performed by an electrophotographic copying machine, an ink jet printer or the like, image defects such as missing characters and highlight highlights occur due to defective fixing, especially on a recording material having a low heating temperature. On the other hand, when the fixing is excessive, image defects and deformation of the recording material are observed, and the device is apt to malfunction. In addition, even when this fixing technology is applied to a plate making machine using technology such as electrophotography and ink jet, fixing failure occurs at places where the heating temperature is low, resulting in missing characters and highlight highlights in printed matter. Image defects,
Problems such as deterioration of printing durability occur.

The heat roller is in a non-contact state except when the recording material is fixed. However, in the circumferential direction of the heat roller, spatial anisotropy may occur due to the mechanical structure, and the state of heat diffusion may be different. Therefore,
In the non-contact state, the temperature becomes uneven in the circumferential direction of the heat roller, and the fixing temperature becomes uneven when fixing is performed. As a result, the above-mentioned image reproduction failure occurs.
In addition, dust, paper powder, fiber dust, or fine powder from the surface of the recording material easily accumulates on the heat roller, which causes transfer to the image on the recording material, resulting in deterioration of image quality, and further accumulation when the accumulation increases. Defects, dents in the surface layer of the recording material, and breakage may occur.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and makes it possible to make the fixing temperature of a recording material uniform when performing high-speed fixing on a cylinder, thereby forming a high-quality image. The goal is to be simple, inexpensive, and long-term.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of an image forming method according to claim 1 is an image adding step of adding an image on a recording material, and the image-added recording object. In an image forming method in which an image forming apparatus having a heat fixing step for heat fixing a material is used to perform heat fixing with the recording material mounted on a cylinder, the heat fixing step includes heating the recording material. A heating / pressurizing step having a heating / pressurizing member for simultaneously applying pressure; a pre-contact step of bringing the heating / pressurizing member into contact with a contacted member before fixing by the heating / pressurizing step; and further, the surface of the heating member. And a dust removing step of blocking and / or accumulating dust and the like on the surface of the heating member by pressing the dust removing means against the. The invention of the image forming apparatus according to claim 2 is
A cylinder, a recording material mounting means for mounting a recording material on the cylinder, an image adding means for adding an image onto the recording material mounted on the cylinder by the recording material mounting means, and the image applying In an image forming apparatus having a heat fixing unit that heat-fixes a recording material on which an image has been applied by a means mounted on the cylinder, the heat-fixing unit heats the recording material on which the image is applied. At the same time, it has a heating / pressurizing means for applying a pressure, and a pre-contact means for bringing the heating / pressurizing means into contact with the contacted member before fixing by the heating / pressurizing means. It is characterized in that it has a dust removing means for pressing a cleaning pad against the surface to prevent the dust and the like on the surface from passing through and / or accumulating by the cleaning pad. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, the cleaning pad is composed of a material layer including a continuous air layer. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the third aspect, the material layer is a felt-like, non-woven fabric-like, porous, sponge-like simple substance, a mixture, or a multi-layered body. . According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the material layer is made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), perfluoroalkoxy (PFA), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), or polydimethylsiloxane resin. It is characterized by containing at least one of them. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the cleaning pad includes the material layer and a base, and the base has a sponge made of the same material as the material layer or a material including a part thereof. It is characterized by being a single layer, a multi-layer or a mixed layer of a material selected from a filter, nylon felt, silicone rubber or sponge, urethane rubber or sponge.

The present invention can also have the following configurations. (1) In the above image forming apparatus, the cleaning pad has an adhesive layer between a material layer including a continuous air layer and a substrate. (2) In the image forming apparatus, the adhesive layer has heat resistance. (3) In the image forming apparatus, the heat roller surface layer is made of the same material as the material layer including a continuous air layer and / or a material including a part thereof. (4) In the above image forming apparatus, the surface of the heat roller is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE),
Contains at least one of perfluoroalkoxy (PFA), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), and polydimethylsiloxane resin, and has a thickness of 1 μm to 2 m
m, more preferably from 20 μm to 1 mm. (5) In the image forming apparatus, the heat roller has rubber elasticity. (6) In the image forming apparatus, the cleaning pad has a mechanism capable of coming into contact with the surface of the heat roller. (7) In the image forming apparatus, the heating / pressurizing unit is a heat roller. (8) In the image forming apparatus, the contacted member is the cylinder or the recording material mounted on the cylinder. (9) In the image forming apparatus, when the heat roller is not in contact with the recording material, the heat roller is idled. (10) In the image forming apparatus, the contacted member is a cylinder or a recording material mounted on the cylinder.

As described above, according to the present invention, in an image forming apparatus for adding an image to a recording material mounted on at least a cylinder and performing heat fixing, fixing is performed by a heating and pressurizing means for applying pressure simultaneously with heating. The surface of the heating and pressurizing means is previously cleaned and preliminarily contacted for lowering the temperature. As an image forming method according to the present invention, an image is formed on a recording material such as electrophotography, ionography and ink jet. Any method can be used as long as it is an image forming method added from the outside, and the above method can be applied,
It can also be suitably used in a combined system. Thus, according to the present invention, by an inexpensive and simple means,
It is possible to obtain a clear and high-quality image.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below. FIG. 1 is an example in which the present invention is applied to an electrophotographic copying machine, and shows a sectional view of the electrophotographic copying machine. In the image forming apparatus 1 of the electrophotographic copying machine shown in FIG. 1, the platen 4 is arranged on the apparatus main body 2 as in the case of a general electrophotographic copying machine. The scanning device 3 reads an image of a document set on the platen 4 and applies an image pattern corresponding to the document image to the photoconductor drum 5 as an exposure pattern. An image forming mechanism using a general electrophotographic system is arranged around the photosensitive drum 5.
That is, first, the surface of the photosensitive drum is uniformly charged by the charging corotron 6, and the pattern read from the original is scanned and exposed to form an electrostatic latent image. Next, toner is supplied from the developing device 7 to adhere the toner to the electrostatic latent image, and a toner image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image is formed. Here, the case of performing dry development is described, but the development method is not limited to this, and wet development may be used. The toner image formed on the photoconductor drum is transferred onto the recording material mounted on the cylinder 8 by applying a voltage between the photoconductor drum 5 and the cylinder 8 by a power source (not shown). Here, the recording material P is fed into the cylinder 8 from the paper feeding unit 15 in a sheet-like manner, but the feeding method is not limited to this, and for example, a paper feeding roll may be provided. After the transfer of the toner image, the toner and the like remaining on the upper surface of the photosensitive drum are removed by the cleaning device 9.

The sheet conveying path 12 is provided just before the image transfer section.
An aligning device 13 for aligning the sheets is provided at the end of the sheet. That is, the sheet supplied from the sheet feed tray is aligned, and the sheet is sent toward the image transfer portion at a predetermined timing in accordance with the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum.

The sheet on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 11 and enters the fixing section. The fixing unit is equipped with a heat roller 21 that pressurizes and heats the copy sheet. A cleaning pad 21 a for the heat roller 21 is provided on the heat roller 21. The paper on which the toner image is transferred is pressed by the heat roller 21 while being heated, so that the toner on the paper is pushed into the paper in a softened or melted state to promote the fixing property.

As the central material of the heat roller 21, Si silicon rubber is usually used from the viewpoint of heat resistance, but a fluorine or NBR rubber roller may be used, or another material may be used. Absent. Further, from the viewpoints of protecting the heat roller surface and preventing offset of the image forming substance from the non-recording material, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), perfluoroalkoxy (PFA), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), It is preferable to coat with a thin film containing a polydimethylsiloxane resin and having a thickness of 1 μm to 2 mm (more preferably 20 μm to 1 mm).

However, dust, paper powder, fiber dust, or fine powder from the surface of the recording material is likely to accumulate on the heat roller 21 due to electrostatic force or contact, and is transferred to the image of the recording material to deteriorate the image quality. If this is caused, or if a large amount of accumulated material is generated, fixing failure may occur, and the surface layer of the recording material may be dented or destroyed. That is, when an image is externally added to the recording material, the recording material is pressed and heated by the heat roller 21,
It is fixed. Generally, dust, paper dust, fiber dust, fine powder from the surface of the recording material, or the like floating around or adhering to the recording material easily accumulates on the heat roller 21. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, in an image forming apparatus having at least a step of adding an image on a recording material and a step of performing heat fixing, a heat roller 21 is provided and a heat fixing portion for performing pressure / heating is provided. It has been found that the above obstacle can be prevented by pressing a cleaning pad against the roller surface and blocking and / or accumulating dust and the like on the roller surface by a material layer including a continuous air layer.

A detailed view of the cleaning pad according to the present invention is shown in FIG. FIG. 7A is a perspective view of the cleaning pad, and FIG. 7B is a vertical sectional view thereof. The cleaning pad 71 is composed of a material layer 71a including a continuous air layer, a heat-resistant adhesive 71b, and a substrate 71c, and is adhered to an adhesive 72 surface and a support 73 such as bakelite. The installation position of the cleaning pad 71 is shown as 21a in FIGS.

The material layer 71a including the continuous air layer of the cleaning pad 71 is particularly preferably in the form of felt, nonwoven fabric, porous or sponge. The material and shape of the base 71c may be a single layer and / or multiple layers of nylon felt, PTFE, PFA, FEP sponge and / or filter, silicone rubber and / or sponge, urethane rubber and / or sponge. The entire cleaning pad 71 may be a mechanism that is mounted on a support and can be brought into and out of contact with the surface of the heat roller. When the heat roller 21 is not in contact with the recording material, the heat roller 21
It is preferable that the roller is idled by an appropriate means in order to keep the surface temperature of the roller constant. Further, by making the surface material of the cleaning pad 71 the same as or equivalent to that of the heat roller 21, dust, paper powder, fiber dust, fine powder from the surface of the recording material, etc. due to the provision of a continuous air layer on the pad surface. In addition to the action of accumulating in this, the surface of the heat roller becomes more difficult to be scratched,
It is also possible to prevent the heat roller from extending its life, and preventing image quality deterioration and fixing failure. Pad surface material layer 71
The volume porosity of a is 20% to 95%, more preferably 30% to 90%, although it varies depending on the form such as felt, nonwoven fabric, sponge, or filter. The thickness is determined depending on the situation, that is, the usage time, the expected amount of dust, etc., but is 0.1 mm to 20 mm, more preferably 1 mm to 10 mm. As the material, PTFE having an extremely small friction coefficient and high heat resistance is preferable, but since it is relatively expensive, this should be taken into consideration regarding the thickness, and it is preferable to use it in combination with the base 71c.

The pad surface material is preferably adhered to the base 71c with an adhesive 71b. Since the roller surface temperature usually exceeds 100 ° C. in many cases, it is preferable that the adhesive has heat resistance, and further, it is necessary that the adhesive be flexible enough to follow the curvature of the roller surface. It is preferable to provide a heat-resistant adhesive layer suitable for a pad surface material on at least one surface of a highly heat-resistant support such as a polyimide film, polyaramid nonwoven fabric, or glass cloth. The base 71c needs to have heat resistance and flexibility, and has a thickness of 0.5 mm to 30 mm, preferably 2 mm to 20 mm. Silicon rubber sponge, nylon felt and the like are particularly preferable as the material and form.
Of course, it may be the same as or similar to the pad surface material. The supporting tool for supporting the cleaning pad 71 is made of heat-resistant nylon, bakelite, or the like, which is appropriately processed and used. The pressure when the cleaning pad 71 is pressed against the roller is 0.001 MPa to 100 MP
a, more preferably 0.005 MPa to 10 MPa. Here, the nip pressure of the heat roller 21 with respect to the recording medium is 0.05 MPa in order to obtain sufficient fixability.
~ 250 MPa, more preferably 0.1 MPa to 20
It is MPa.

The heat roller 21 is constructed so that the surface temperature becomes constant, and the output is controlled by the surface temperature obtained by a surface temperature detecting means (not shown) to keep the surface temperature constant. Although the output is controlled by the time for which the voltage is applied, the control method is not limited to this. For example, there is a means for modulating the voltage applied to the heating element, or these may be combined. In addition, although it has been described here that the surface temperature is detected and the temperature control is performed, the temperature may be controlled by adjusting the supply amount without temperature detection after calculating the supply amount of the required voltage in advance. Good.
When the heat roller 21 comes into contact with the recording material, the surface temperature of the roller decreases, and until the temperature is recovered, the heat roller 2
The fixing temperature of 1 becomes low. For this reason, a preliminary contact mechanism is provided before fixing.

There are two preliminary contact methods as shown in FIG. One is a method of using a transfer roller as a contact member as shown in FIG. In the figure, 8
Is a transfer roller for mounting a recording material, 21 is a heat roller,
21a is a cleaning pad. As shown in the drawing, the heat roller 21 is brought into contact with the transfer roller 8 before fixing. For example, the first rotation of the transfer roller 8 is preheated and preliminarily contacted, and the fixing is performed after the second rotation. It is something to do.

The other method is to use a contact member separately provided as shown in FIG. 2 (B). In the figure, 8 is a transfer roller for mounting a recording material, 21 is a heat roller, and 2 is a heat roller.
3 is a contact member, and 21a is a cleaning pad. In this way, the contact member 23 is separately provided in the vicinity of the heat roller 21, and the heat roller 21 is preliminarily brought into contact with the contact member 23 before fixing, so that the number of times of application of heat and pressure to the recording material P on the transfer roller can be increased. You may reduce it.

The cylinder used here is equipped with a heat insulating material. The materials that can be used for the cylinder are
For example, metals such as iron, stainless steel, copper and aluminum, and combinations thereof are mainly used. Although the metal cylinder can be used alone, the energy required for fixing is suppressed by using a heat insulating material. Any heat insulating material may be used as long as it has a heat insulating effect, and specifically, inorganic fibers such as glass wool and rock wool, polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyester, polyethylene, Teflon (registered trademark), and polyvinyl alcohol.・ Polyacetal, nitrocellulose, nylon, ethyl cellulose, epoxy resin, alkyd resin, melamine resin, urea resin, ABS resin, acrylic resin, polyurethane, neoprene, cellulose acetate, beech S, beech N, natural rubber, phenolic resin, silicon resin, Materials such as epoxy resin, silicone rubber, polycarbonate, polypropylene, neoprene, vinyl chloride resin, butyl rubber, etc. and foam materials using these, or
These are used in combination. Further, although the contact member 23 is also composed of a metal roller, it is sufficient if it is effective as a preliminary contact, and it is not necessary to use the heat insulating layer described above, but the surface layer has the same thermal conductivity as the cylinder. Is preferable.

The heat roller 21 is in a non-contact state with other members except for performing preliminary contact / fixing. At that time, the heat roller 21 idles to make the temperature of the roller uniform in the circumferential direction. I am trying to In the circumferential direction, the environment of the device causes anisotropy in the environment, resulting in uneven heat conduction, air flow, and the like. Therefore, if the heat roller 21 is not idled when it is not in contact, the surface temperature may change in the circumferential direction and uniform fixing may not be possible.

It is desirable to carry out fixing at an early timing after the end of preliminary contact, and the time from the end of preliminary contact to the start of fixing is within 10 seconds, more preferably within 6 seconds. In addition to the preliminary contact, the heat roller 21 is rotated while being in contact with the preliminary contact member to bring the entire surface of the roller into contact.
After that, the copy paper on which the fixing process is performed is separated by the separation claw 17
Then, it is removed from the cylinder and discharged to the discharge tray 14. In order to supply a sheet toward the image transfer section of the main body 2 of the image forming apparatus 1, a paper feeding section 15 is provided below the main body 2 of the apparatus.
Is arranged, and the sheet is sent out by using the conveyance roller device 16. The size of the paper applied to this apparatus is A3, A4, A5, B4, B5, but this fixing technique is effective regardless of the paper size.
In addition to large sizes such as 2, B1, B2, A3w size,
It is also effective for postcards and envelope printing.

The above-mentioned image forming method can be applied to both dry toner development and wet toner development. However, when it is applied to wet development, in order to remove the solvent evaporated in the machine, the hermeticity in the machine is increased and the solvent is removed. A mechanism is provided. Solvent recovery method, for example, by sucking the air in the machine containing the solvent,
A mechanism for liquefying by cooling this is provided, but the solvent recovery method is not limited to this, and any method that can separate the solvent such as a method of adsorbing the solvent using a solvent adsorbent is applied. it can.

In the above-described embodiment, the fixing method of the present invention is applied to the case where electrophotography is applied as an image providing means. However, in addition to the electrophotographic system, printers and facsimiles using techniques such as ionography and ink jet are used. It can be applied to a plate making machine or the like. In particular,
Inkjet technology can be used regardless of the ink ejection method and ink type. For example, the ejection method is
It can be used for any of heat, piezo, electrostatic, and the like, and a method in which these are appropriately combined can also be used.

<Examples 1 and 2> Next, the present invention was applied to the above-mentioned copying machine to perform heat fixing. The heat roller is made of aluminum cored bar with 3mm silicon rubber layer.
It was formed with a thickness of. Further, the surface of the rubber roller was covered with a PFA resin tube having a thickness of 60 μm. 3 mm as the surface layer material for the cleaning pad 21a
Heat resistant double sided adhesive tape made of DIC of non-woven fabric substrate type using Teflon felt with 70% porosity of different thickness (custom-made product)
Was used to adhere to a silicone rubber sponge substrate having a thickness of 7 mm. This was attached to a heat-resistant nylon support using an aramid nonwoven fabric double-sided adhesive tape (custom-made product) made by Yoshioka Seisakusho. The pressing pressure against the heat roller 21 is 0.0
It was set to 1MP.

Based on Table 1 below, the preliminary contact of the heat roller 21, the surface temperature of the recording material and the image reproducibility are verified.

[0032]

[Table 1] The output of the heat roller 21 was adjusted so that the temperature on the recording material was about 110 ° C. at the center in the width direction. The contact number of the heat roller 21 was set to 3 rotations or more. In both the example and the comparative example, the heat roller 21 was cleaned using a cleaning pad. In Example 1, the preliminary contact time was set to 3 seconds, and the heat roller was idled. In Comparative Example 1, the preliminary contact in Example 1 was not performed, and only the idle rotation of the heat roller was performed. In Example 2, the preliminary contact time was set to 2 seconds, and the heat roller was idly rotated. Comparative Example 2 is the same as Example 2 except that the preliminary contact time in Example 2 was reduced by 1 second to 1 second. In Comparative Example 3,
Example 2 is the same as Example 2 except that the heat roller was not idled. In Comparative Example 4, the preliminary contact time was set to 1 second, and the heat roller was not idled. As a result, the image reproducibility after fixing was excellent in Example 1, and comparative example 1
No, no good in Example 2, good in Comparative Examples 2 and 3, and bad in Comparative Example 4. From the above results, it was possible to make the fixing temperature uniform by preliminarily contacting the heat roller 21. Furthermore, regarding the heat roller 21,
By idle rotation in the non-contact state excluding fixing and preliminary contact,
The fixing temperature could be made uniform. At this time, the reproducibility of the fixed image on the paper was good, and characters were not missing or highlights were skipped due to insufficient fixing. on the other hand,
If the preheating, pre-contact, and idle rotation were insufficient, image defects such as missing characters and highlight highlights were found on the paper. Under this condition, 100,000 sheets were recorded, but the drawing image quality remained high from the beginning to the end. Very shallow and narrow grooves were observed on the surface of the heat roller, but there was no effect on the image as described above.

On the other hand, when a test was conducted under the conditions of Example 1 without using a cleaning pad, fixing failure occurred on 10,000 sheets, many deep scratches were seen on the heat roller surface, and paper fibers were the main constituent. Many possible dust particles were attached to the roller surface.

In each of the examples, when a plastic such as polyethylene which does not contain a continuous air layer is used as the cleaning pad, the dust is removed, but the dust is collected at the plastic-recording material interface and the recording is performed. This may damage the material or hinder the smooth transportation of the recording material.

<Embodiment 3> Next, an example applied to an ink jet printer is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows a cross section of an image recording apparatus having an inkjet recording apparatus. At the bottom of the ink jet recording apparatus, a recording paper and a cassette 41 containing a recording material P which is a resin sheet are loaded. A conveyance roller pair 43 is provided on the downstream side in the recording material conveyance direction.
And a carriage 45 on which the recording head 451 is mounted. The recording head 451 is a share mode 500-channel piezo inkjet device (Xa
Xaar Jet500S manufactured by ar Co. was used, and an oil-based ink (manufactured by the same company) was used. The drawing resolution was 720 dpi, and the dot size was changed in 8 steps to control the gradation. The recording material is conveyed by the conveying roller 43 to the drawing drum 46.
The dust is removed prior to this.
The dust removal method is a method of adsorbing dust on the surface by the adhesive roller 44, but the method is not limited to this.
For example, it may be removed by an air flow. The recording material is then conveyed below the recording head, and drawing is performed. When the drawing is completed, the heat roller 21 makes one rotation while being in contact with the drawing drum 46 or the recording material on the drawing drum 46. Usually, the rotation speed of the drawing drum at this time is made faster than the speed at the time of fixing, and the temperature is not sufficiently raised by the preheating / preliminary contact and the fixing is not performed. Next, the fixing operation is started and the fixing is performed. After that, the recording material on the drawing drum is separated from the drawing drum 46 by the separation claw (not shown), and the conveying roller 4
It is discharged to the discharge tray 48 by 7.

By the drawing and fixing operations, the solvent in the ink is vaporized and the inside of the machine is filled. Therefore, in the area surrounded by the broken line, the hermeticity is improved and a solvent recovery mechanism is provided to recover the vaporized solvent in the machine. The collecting method is to send the air inside the machine to the solvent collecting mechanism 49, cool it with a refrigerant to separate the solvent, and send the separated air back into the machine. The recording head 451 ejects ink while moving in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface by the carriage 45, and draws an image according to the image signal. At this time, an image with a constant width is drawn on the recording material. That is, each time the drawing of one line is completed on the recording material, the recording material is conveyed by one line by the conveying roller pair and the drawing of the next line is performed. Such operation is repeated. Here, the carriage (recording head) is moved during drawing in the sub-scanning direction, but the carriage may be fixed and the recording material may be conveyed in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface.

Although the method of directly drawing and fixing on the recording material has been described above, the image forming method is not limited to this, and a transfer drum as shown in FIG. 4 can be used to form on the drawing drum. The image may be transferred to the recording material. The recording material may be supplied by means other than the cassette, for example, by a roll. FIG. 4 shows a cross section of an image recording apparatus including a transfer drum. A drawing drum 56 as an image bearing member is formed of metal, plastic, glass, ceramics or the like, and may have an elastic layer in order to improve the adhesion to the recording material P. The recording head 551 of the carriage 55 has an inkjet recording device, which forms an image on the surface layer of the drawing drum 56. At this time, when the image is formed on the surface layer of the drawing drum 56, the transfer drum 52 is retracted so as not to contact the drawing drum 56. After forming the image on the drawing drum 56, the transfer drum 52 is brought close to the drawing drum 56 and brought into contact with the drawing drum 56 at a predetermined pressure. Then, the recording material P is taken out from the cassette 51, and is sandwiched between the drawing drum 56 and the transfer drum 52, so that the recording material P is brought into contact with the drawing drum 56 to perform the transfer (FIG. 4 shows this state. Is shown).
When the image is formed on the surface of the drawing drum 56, the surface temperature of the drawing drum 56 is heated in the range of 30 ° C. to 40 ° C. Therefore, when the drawing drum 56 and the recording material P are brought into contact with each other, heat is generated. Is applied, the image on the surface of the drawing drum 56 is transferred to the recording material P, and the image transferred to the recording material P is surely combined with the contact pressure between the drawing drum 56 and the recording material P. Retained. When the transfer is completed, the heat roller 21 rotates once while being in contact with the recording material or the drawing drum. Normally, the rotation speed of the drawing drum at this time is
The fixing speed is set higher than that at the time of fixing, and the temperature is not sufficiently raised by the preliminary heating / preliminary contact and fixing is not performed. After that, the fixing operation is started and the fixing is performed. By fixing the image transferred to the recording material P in the fixing step according to the present invention, the image holding power of the recording material P is further increased. After that, the recording material on the drawing drum is separated from the transfer drum 52 by a separation claw (not shown), and is discharged to the discharge side by the conveyance roller 57.

Based on Table 2 below, the relationship between the preliminary contact condition of the heat roller 21 and the image reproducibility will be verified.

[0039]

[Table 2]

The temperature on the recording material is about 9 at the center in the width direction.
The output of the heat roller was adjusted so as to be 0 ° C. The number of times of contact with the heat roller was 3 rotations or more.
In both the example and the comparative example, the heat roller 21 was cleaned using a cleaning pad. In Example 3, the pre-contact time was set to 2 seconds, and the heat roller was idled. In Comparative Example 5, the preliminary contact time in Example 3 was set to 1
Same as Example 3 except that the number of seconds is reduced to 1 second.
In Comparative Example 6, the preheating time in Example 3 was reduced by 1 second to 1 second, and the idle rotation of the heat roller was not performed. Comparative Example 7 is the same as Example 3 except that the heat roller was not idled. As a result, the image reproducibility after fixing was good in Example 3, bad in Comparative Example 5, bad in Comparative Example 6, and good in Comparative Example 7. From the results of heat low or higher so that the temperature on the recording material becomes approximately 90 ° C. in the widthwise central portion, a cleaning pad is used for the heat roller 21 and the heat roller 21 is pre-contacted to make the fixing temperature uniform. We were able to. Further, with respect to the heat roller 21, it was possible to make the fixing temperature uniform by idling in the non-contact state other than fixing and preliminary contact. At this time, the reproducibility of the fixed image on the paper was good, and characters were not missing or highlights were skipped due to insufficient fixing. On the other hand, if preheating, precontact, and idle rotation were insufficient, image defects such as missing characters and highlight highlights were found on the paper. Under this condition, 100,000 sheets were recorded, but the drawing image quality remained high from the beginning to the end. Very shallow and narrow grooves were observed on the surface of the heat roller, but there was no effect on the image as described above.

On the other hand, when a test was conducted under the conditions of Example 3 without using a cleaning pad, fixing failure occurred on 10,000 sheets, a large number of deep scratches were observed on the heat roller surface, and paper fibers were the main constituent. Many possible dust particles were attached to the roller surface.

In each of the examples, when a plastic such as polyethylene which does not contain a continuous air layer is used as the cleaning pad, the dust is removed, but the dust is collected at the plastic-recording material interface and the recording is performed. This may damage the material or hinder the smooth transportation of the recording material.

<Embodiment 4> Next, a piezo type ink jet apparatus (Epson's Carario PM750C), Xa
Drawing was performed on the plate material using an oil ink manufactured by ar.
As the plate material, a paper plate material provided with a hydrophilic image receiving layer shown below was used.

As the paper plate material, a water resistant layer containing polyvinyl alcohol, SBR latex, kaolin, and melamine resin as main components was provided on both sides of high quality paper (100 g / m ² ). Further, an image-receiving layer was provided on the support so that the coating amount after drying of the dispersion liquid prepared as described below was 5 g / m ² , to prepare a paper plate material.

[0045] ・ Dispersion A   Gelatin (Wako Pure Chemicals first grade) 2g   Colloidal silica (Nissan Chemical: Snowtex C, 20% aqueous solution) 13g   Silica gel (Fuji Silysia Chemical: Sylysia # 310) 5g   Hardener 0.3g   67 g of distilled water   Preparation method Add glass beads and disperse with a paint shaker for 10 minutes.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a diagram in which the above-described piezo type ink jet device head and the fixing unit are mounted on a single-sided monochrome printer. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 60 is an on-press drawing single-sided single-color printing machine.
One blanket cylinder 62 and one impression cylinder 63 are provided, and the blanket cylinder 62 for transfer is arranged so as to be in pressure contact with the plate cylinder 61 when performing planographic printing.
2, an impression cylinder 63 for transferring the printing ink image transferred onto the recording material P to the recording material P is arranged so as to be in pressure contact. The ejection head 64 corresponds to the image data and corresponds to the plate cylinder 61.
The dedicated oil-based ink 65 is ejected onto the plate material 69 mounted on the upper surface to form an image area. The on-machine drawing single-sided monochrome printer 60 further includes a dampening water supply device 66 and a printing ink supply device 6 for supplying dampening water to the hydrophilic portions (non-image portions) on the plate material 69.
7 and a fixing device 11 for strengthening the oil-based ink image drawn on the plate material 69. Therefore, first, the plate material 69 is attached to the plate cylinder 61, main scanning is performed by the rotation of the plate cylinder 61, and the ejection head 64 is rotated every one rotation of the plate cylinder 61.
Is moved in the axial direction of the plate cylinder to discharge the oil-based ink from the discharge head 64 onto the plate material 69 mounted on the plate cylinder 61. As a result, a halftone dot image is drawn on the plate material 69 with the oil-based ink according to the shading of the print document. This operation continues until an oil ink image for one color of the printing original is formed on the plate material 69 and a printing plate is completed. The formed oil-based ink image is reinforced by heating or the like in the fixing device 11 according to the present invention. The printing process after the printing plate is formed is the same as the known lithographic printing method. The printing ink and dampening water are applied to the printing material 69 on which the oil-based ink image is drawn to form a printing image, and the printing ink image is printed. 61
The printing ink image on the blanket cylinder 62 is transferred onto the blanket cylinder 62 rotating with the blanket cylinder 62, and then transferred onto the recording material 50 passing between the blanket cylinder 62 and the impression cylinder 63 to print one color. Is done. After the printing is completed, the plate material 69 is removed from the plate cylinder 61, and the blanket on the blanket cylinder 62 is cleaned by the blanket cleaning device 68 to be ready for the next printing. The gap of the on-press single-sided monochrome printer 60 is adjusted to 1.5 mm, the image data is transmitted to the arithmetic control unit, the plate cylinder 61 is rotated using 32 channels, and the ejection head 64 is used.
Was moved to discharge and draw ink on the paper plate 69 loaded on the plate cylinder 61. (Drawing resolution 720 dpi)

Further, according to the present invention, the image was solidified by heating with a heat roller (manufactured by Hitachi Metals, Ltd.) fixing 21 to prepare a printing plate. Then, in order to protect the ink jet head, the ink jet recording apparatus together with the sub-scanning means is moved away from the area near the plate cylinder by 70 mm, after which printing ink and dampening water are applied to print the printing ink image with the plate cylinder. The printing coat 10 that is transferred onto the cylinder and passes between the blanket cylinder 62 and the impression cylinder 63.
Printing was performed by transferring the printing ink image on the blanket cylinder 62 onto the paper.

Based on Table 3, the preliminary contact of the heat roller from the edge of the recording material, the surface temperature of the recording material and the image reproducibility will be verified. The effects of the pre-contact time of the heat roller and the presence or absence of idle rotation during non-contact were examined. The plate was passed so that the temperature of the plate surface was about 100 ° C. at the central portion in the width direction.

[0049]

[Table 3] The output of the heat roller was adjusted so that the temperature on the recording material was about 100 ° C. in the central portion in the width direction. The number of times of contact with the heat roller was 3 rotations or more. In both the example and the comparative example, the heat roller 21 was cleaned using a cleaning pad. In Example 4, the preliminary contact time was set to 2 seconds, and the heat roller was idled. Comparative Example 8 is the same as Example 4 except that the preliminary contact time in Example 4 was reduced by 1 second to 1 second. Comparative Example 9 is the same as Example 4 except that the heat roller was not idled. In Comparative Example 10, Example 4
The preliminary contact time in 1 was reduced by 1 second to 1 second, and the heat roller was not idled. As a result, the image reproducibility after fixing was good in Example 4, good in Comparative Examples 8 and 9, and bad in Comparative Example 10. As described above, when the preliminary contact time is 2 seconds or more as a result of passing the plate surface temperature so as to be approximately 100 ° C. in the central portion in the width direction, the image reproducibility after fixing is good, but it is less than 2 seconds. If not,
The image reproducibility after fixing is deteriorated. Further, it was found that when the preliminary contact of the heat roller was omitted, the temperature after the tip portion was lowered and the fixability was poor.

As described above, the fixing temperature can be made uniform in the length direction (fixing direction) by pre-contacting the heat roller for an appropriate time. Further heat roller 2
With respect to No. 1, the fixing temperature can be made uniform by idling in the non-contact state other than fixing and preliminary contact. At this time, the reproducibility of the fixed image on the printing plate was good, and the printed matter obtained using this printing plate had missing characters or highlights due to insufficient fixing even after 10,000 sheets were passed. I didn't. On the other hand, if preheating, precontact, and idle rotation were insufficient, image defects such as missing letters and highlight highlights were found on the printed matter. 10 in this condition
Although we recorded 10,000 sheets, the drawing quality remained high from the beginning to the end. Very shallow and narrow grooves were observed on the surface of the heat roller, but there was no effect on the image as described above.

On the other hand, when a test was conducted under the conditions of Example 4 without using a cleaning pad, fixing failure occurred at 20,000 sheets, a large number of deep scratches were seen on the heat roller surface, and paper fibers were the main constituent. Many possible dust particles were attached to the roller surface.

Further, in each of the examples, when a plastic such as polyethylene which does not contain a continuous air layer is used as the cleaning pad, the dust is removed, but the dust is collected at the plastic-recording material interface and the recording is performed. This may damage the material or hinder the smooth transportation of the recording material.

<Embodiment 5> FIG. 6 shows a toner jet recording apparatus provided with a fixing device according to the present invention. In FIG. 6, the toner jet recording apparatus includes a recording unit 51 and a thermal fixing unit 11 according to the present invention. The toner jet recording apparatus is provided with a paper feed cassette 31 for loading the recording paper P and a paper ejection tray 38 for taking out the recording paper P. Recording unit 51
In, the image is recorded on the paper P that is inserted from the paper feed cassette 31 and is conveyed by the pair of conveyance rollers 32. Then, the image recorded on the paper P is fixed in the thermal fixing unit 11 with the paper P mounted on the drawing drum 59. Further, the sheet P is sent to the take-out port 38 via the pair of transport rollers 37.

The recording section 51 includes a rotatable brush roller 52 having a brush for charging the toner T, an aperture electrode 53, and an opposing electrode provided facing the aperture electrode 53 at a predetermined interval. It is composed of a drawing drum 59 having a function. The drawing drum 59 is connected to the power source E2 (minus). The heat fixing unit 11 includes a heat roller 21, the paper P is attached to the drawing drum,
When the drawing is finished, it is arranged so that it can pass under the heat roller 21 and be fixed.

Around the brush roller 52, a supply roller 54 which is rotatable according to the rotation direction of the brush roller 52 and supplies the toner T to the brush roller 52, and the toner T attached to the brush of the brush roller 52 is repelled. And a scraping member 55 for contacting the brush roller 52. Further, the toner T
A supply blade 56 for supplying a uniform thickness to the supply roller 54 is provided in contact therewith. This supply blade 5
Toner T is stored on top of 6. Supply roller 54
The supply blade 56 is covered with the case K. The aperture electrode 53 is provided above the brush roller 52.

When a well-known image forming signal and image data are input from an external device (not shown), the paper P inserted from the insertion cassette 31 is recorded by the feed roller 32 to the recording unit 51.
Be transported to. In the recording unit 51, the supply blade 5
The toner T is pressed against the supply roller 54 by 6 and carried on the surface of the supply roller 54. Supply roller 5
By the rotation of 4, the toner T is supplied to the brush roller 52. At this time, the toner T is, for example, positively (+) charged by friction with the brush while being in contact with the supply roller 54 and the brush roller 52. The positively charged toner T is carried on the brush roller 52.

In the vicinity of the aperture electrode 53, the scraping member 55 scrapes the brush of the brush roller 52 as the brush roller 52 rotates. Then, when the brush returns to its original position due to elasticity, the toner T carried in an appropriate amount on the brush is
Bounce up to form a cloud shape, and the aperture electrode 53
Is supplied to. At this time, the voltage applied from the signal source S to each control electrode layer of the aperture electrode 53 is controlled according to the input image signal, and the flow of the toner T is modulated. The modulated and positively (+) charged toner T is attracted to the negative (-) power source E2 connected to the counter electrode and flies toward the counter electrode. Then, the toner T is attracted to the paper P mounted on the drawing drum 59. After that, the paper P with the toner T attached is conveyed to the thermal fixing unit 11 while being mounted on the drawing drum 59. According to the present invention, the image is fixed by heating by heat roller fixing.
Then, the fixed sheet P is conveyed to the sheet ejection tray 38 via the conveyance roller 37 and is ejected.

Based on Table 4 below, the preliminary contact of the heat roller 21 and the image reproducibility of the recording material will be verified.

[0059]

[Table 4]

The temperature on the recording material is about 1 at the center in the width direction.
The output of the heat roller was adjusted so as to be 20 ° C. The number of times of contact with the heat roller was 3 rotations or more.
In both the example and the comparative example, the heat roller 21 was cleaned using a cleaning pad. In Example 5, the preliminary contact time was set to 2 seconds, and the heat roller was idled. Comparative Example 11 is the same as Example 5 except that the preliminary contact time in Example 5 was reduced by 1 second to 1 second. Comparative Example 12 is the same as Example 5 except that the heat roller was not idled. In Comparative Example 13, the preliminary contact time in Example 5 was reduced by 1 second to 1 second, and the heat roller was not idled. As a result, the image reproducibility after fixing was good in Example 5, good in Comparative Examples 11 and 12, and bad in Comparative Example 1. As described above, the plate surface temperature is about 12 at the center in the width direction.
As a result of passing it at 0 ° C, the preliminary contact time was 2
If it is 2 seconds or more, the image reproducibility after fixing is good,
If it is less than 2 seconds, the image reproducibility after fixing is deteriorated.
Further, it was found that when the preliminary contact of the heat roller was omitted, the temperature after the tip portion was lowered and the fixability was poor.

As described above, by pre-contacting the heat roller for an appropriate time, the fixing temperature can be made uniform in the length direction (fixing direction). Further heat roller 2
With respect to No. 1, the fixing temperature can be made uniform by idling in the non-contact state other than fixing and preliminary contact. At this time, the reproducibility of the fixed image on the printing plate was good, and the printed matter obtained using this printing plate had missing characters or highlights due to insufficient fixing even after 10,000 sheets were passed. I didn't. On the other hand, if preheating, precontact, and idle rotation were insufficient, image defects such as missing letters and highlight highlights were found on the printed matter. 10 in this condition
Although we recorded 10,000 sheets, the drawing quality remained high from the beginning to the end. Very shallow and narrow grooves were observed on the surface of the heat roller, but there was no effect on the image as described above.

On the other hand, when a test was conducted under the conditions of Example 5 without using a cleaning pad, fixing failure occurred at 20,000 sheets, a large number of deep scratches were observed on the heat roller surface, and paper fibers were the main constituent. Many possible dust particles were attached to the roller surface.

Further, in each of the examples, when a plastic such as polyethylene which does not contain a continuous air layer is used as the cleaning pad, the dust is removed, but the dust is collected at the plastic-recording material interface, and the recording is performed. This may damage the material or hinder the smooth transportation of the recording material. Although the above description has been made with the plastic as an example of the cleaning pad, not only the plastic but also the removed dust gathers at the plastic-recording material interface as long as the material does not contain a continuous air layer, which causes the above-mentioned problem. . However, when a cleaning pad containing a continuous air layer is used, dust is removed and the removed dust enters the continuous air layer, so that the recording material is damaged or the recording material is not smoothed. It no longer interferes with transportation.

[0064]

In the image forming method as described above, the heating and fixing step includes a heating and pressing step having a heating and pressing member for applying pressure to the recording material at the same time as heating, and fixing is performed by the heating and pressing step. A pre-contact step of bringing the heating and pressurizing member into contact with the contacted member, and a dust that prevents and / or accumulates dust and the like on the surface of the heating member by further pressing the dust removing means against the surface of the heating member. By having a removal process, the fixing temperature can be made uniform, the reproducibility of the fixed image on the paper is good, and the characters are missing due to insufficient fixing, the highlights are blown, dust on the heat roller surface, paper Since the powder, fiber scraps and the like are cleaned, the quality of the transferred image on the image of the recording material is not deteriorated, the fixing is not defective, and the surface layer of the recording material is not dented or destroyed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an electrophotographic copying machine including a fixing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing two specific methods of preliminary contact.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an image recording apparatus having an inkjet recording apparatus including a fixing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a transfer drum type image recording apparatus provided with a fixing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a single-sided monochrome printer equipped with a fixing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a toner jet recording apparatus including a fixing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a detailed view of the cleaning pad, FIG. 7 (a) is a perspective view of the cleaning pad, and FIG. 7 (b) is a vertical sectional view thereof.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Image forming device for electrophotographic copying machine 2 Image forming device body 3 scanning device 4 Platen 5 photoconductor drum 6 charged corotron 7 Developing device 8 Transfer roller 9 Cleaning device 11 Fixing device 12 Paper transport path 13 Matching device 14 Ejection tray 15 Paper feeder 16 Conveyor roller device 17 separate nails 21 heat roller 21a cleaning pad 23 Contact member 40 Recording material 41 cassettes 43 Conveyor roller pair 451 recording head 45 carriage 46 drawing drum 44 Adhesive roller 47 Conveyor roller 48 output tray 50 Recording material 55 carriage 551 recording head 56 drawing drum 57 Conveyor roller 60 On-press drawing single-sided monochrome printer 61 plate cylinder 62 blanket body 63 impression cylinder 64 ejection head 65 Dedicated oil-based ink 66 Damping water supply device 67 printing ink supply device 68 Blanket cleaning device 69 plate material 71 cleaning pad 71a Material layer 71b Heat-resistant adhesive 71c base 72 Adhesive 73 Support P Recording material

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus having an image adding step of adding an image onto a recording material and a heat fixing step of heating and fixing the recording material to which the image is added, wherein the recording material is placed on a cylinder. In the image forming method in which heat fixing is performed in a state where the recording medium is mounted, the heat fixing step includes a heat pressurizing step having a heat pressurizing member that applies pressure to the recording material at the same time as heating, and fixing is performed by the heat pressurizing step. A pre-contact step of bringing the heating / pressurizing member into contact with the contacted member before performing, and dust that prevents and / or accumulates dust and the like on the surface of the heating member by further pressing the dust removing means on the surface of the heating member. An image forming method comprising a removing step. 2. A cylinder, a recording material mounting means for mounting a recording material on the cylinder, and an image adding means for adding an image onto the recording material mounted on the cylinder by the recording material mounting means. And an image forming apparatus having heat fixing means for performing heat fixing in a state where the recording material on which the image is applied by the image applying means is mounted on the cylinder,
The heating / fixing means has a heating / pressurizing means for applying a pressure to the recording material having an image applied thereto at the same time as heating the recording material, and the heating / pressurizing means is brought into contact with the contacted member before the fixing is performed by the heating / pressurizing means. And a dust removing unit that presses a cleaning pad against the surface of the heating and pressing unit to block and / or accumulate dust on the surface by the cleaning pad. Image forming apparatus. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cleaning pad is made of a material layer including a continuous air layer. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the material layer is a felt-like, non-woven fabric-like, porous, sponge-like simple substance, mixture, or multilayer. 5. The material layer is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), perfluoroalkoxy (PFA),
The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the image forming apparatus contains at least one of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) and polydimethylsiloxane resin. 6. The cleaning pad comprises the material layer and a substrate, and the substrate is a sponge or filter made of the same material as the material layer or a material containing a part thereof, or
The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image forming apparatus is a single layer, a multilayer, or a mixed layer of materials selected from nylon felt, silicone rubber or sponge, urethane rubber or sponge.