JP2003128294A - Conveyance belt - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conveyance belt and a manufacturing method therefor, which is used for a paper induction section of an OA apparatus such as a copying machine and has excellent non-transfer, conveyance and wear resistance properties. SOLUTION: This conveyance belt, consisting of a conveyance section constituted of rubber compound, a non-conveyance section, and a core layer constituted of a fiber material provided between both of them, includes at least a fine recessed section on a conveyance section surface. Using ethylene-α-olefinic elastomer as material rubber, the rubber compound includes sulfonylhydrazide series foaming agent of 1 to 10 mass part, foaming auxiliary of 1 to 10 mass part, and paraffin series plasticizer of 1 to 50 mass part against the material rubber of 100 mass part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a conveyor belt,
Specifically, it relates to a paper feed conveyor belt used in a paper introduction section of an electrophotographic apparatus such as a printer or a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a roller having a cored bar covered with an elastic body has been generally used as a paper feeding means in a paper introducing section of an OA device such as a printer or a copying machine. However, replacement of rollers with belts is being considered in consideration of the recent demand for downsizing of parts and the advantage of the degree of freedom in designing the paper feed path. With this replacement, in order to cope with the speeding up of printing or copying, it is required to improve the friction coefficient of the belt surface and the wear resistance for extending the life.

Further, for the purpose of preventing electrification of the material to be conveyed and improving the friction coefficient of the conveying portion, a conveying belt made of urethane rubber, silicone rubber, ethylene propylene diene rubber or the like foamed by adding a foaming agent. Alternatively, a carrying roller is known, and for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-165900 discloses an image forming apparatus using a foamed ethylene propylene diene rubber as a carrying belt or a carrying roller.

[0004]

However, in order to improve the abrasion resistance, it is unavoidable to increase the rubber hardness, and in particular in a low temperature environment where the hardness increases, the friction coefficient decreases and the paper feeding ability decreases. There is a problem that invites you. If the ozone resistance is inferior, the belt will crack due to the ozone generated in the copying machine, and the oil that oozes out from the rubber will contaminate the toner, and will be added to the printed surface as it is used. There is also a problem that the belt is contaminated by letters such as pencils and the stains are transferred to other paper.

Also, regarding the foamed rubber, if the amount of the foaming aid used together with the foaming agent is inappropriate, the foaming that should be performed simultaneously with the vulcanization of the rubber does not proceed well, and the foaming is insufficient. There was a problem that it became rubber. Further, even if a good foamed rubber is obtained, there is a problem that the concave portion due to foaming is not exposed on the surface of the belt or the roller.

Regarding the problem that the dirt adhering to the belt is transferred to other paper, there is a measure to provide a belt cleaning means separately, but when the belt cleaning means itself is dirty, a sufficient cleaning effect is not exhibited. There is also a problem that the existence of the belt cleaning means itself hinders downsizing of the apparatus.

The present invention solves such a problem, and provides a conveyor belt which is used in a paper introduction section of an OA device such as a copying machine and has excellent non-transferability, conveyance property and abrasion resistance. The purpose is to do.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] That is, according to the first aspect of the invention, there is provided a conveying section comprising a rubber compound, a non-conveying section, and a core layer made of a fibrous material provided between the two sections. In the belt, at least the surface of the conveyor has fine recesses, and the rubber compound is ethylene-α-
Using olefin elastomer as a raw material rubber, 1 to 10 parts by weight of a sulfonylhydrazide-based foaming agent, 1 to 10 parts by weight of a foaming aid, and 1 to 50 parts by weight of a paraffin-based plasticizer, relative to 100 parts by weight of the raw material rubber. A conveyor belt characterized by being a rubber compound added in part.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the ethylene-α
-The conveyor belt according to claim 1, wherein the olefin elastomer is ethylene propylene diene rubber.

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the fine recesses on the surface of the transport unit reduce the contact area between the transport unit and the paper, which is the object to be transported, and suppress the amount of dirt adhering to the surface of the transport unit. Further, even if dirt is attached, the effect of preventing the transfer of the dirt to the paper is obtained by taking the adhered dirt into the belt.

The invention according to claim 3 is the conveyor belt according to claim 2, wherein the ethylene content of the ethylene propylene diene rubber is 60% or more.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the non-transferability, the conveyor belt has an ethylene propylene diene rubber having an ethylene content of 60% or more.
It has an effect of imparting excellent transportability and wear resistance.

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the fine recesses are obtained by polishing the surface of the rubber compound forming the conveying part. It is a conveyor belt.

According to the invention as set forth in claim 4, the fine recesses are obtained by polishing the surface of the rubber compound forming the conveying part. By using a conveyor belt, in addition to the above-mentioned non-transferability, it has an effect of imparting excellent conveying properties and abrasion resistance.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The conveyor belt of the present invention will be described in detail below. FIG. 1 shows a partial side view of the conveyor belt of the present invention. The conveyor belt 1 is an endless belt composed of a conveyor 3 and a non-conveying section 4 made of a rubber compound so as to sandwich the core layer 2, and conveys the paper 5 in the arrow direction. The conveyor belt 1 is a conveyor belt used in a paper introducing section of a copying machine or the like so that a non-conveying section 4 (not shown) abuts a plurality of pulleys 11 including a drive shaft as shown in FIG. .

Both the conveying section 3 and the non-conveying section 4 are made of a rubber compound containing ethylene-α-olefin elastomer as a raw material rubber. The ethylene-α-olefin elastomer is, for example, ethylene propylene rubber (EPM) or ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM), and examples of the diene monomer constituting EPDM include
Examples thereof include dicyclopentadiene, methylene norbornene, ethylidene norbornene, 1,4-hexadiene and cyclooctadiene.

When the ethylene-α-olefin elastomer is EPDM, ozone resistance and abrasion resistance are remarkably improved by using EPDM having an ethylene content of 60% or more in the constituents of EPDM. It It should be noted that EPDM alone is preferred as the raw rubber, but EP
Natural rubber (N
R), butyl rubber (BR), or styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) may be mixed appropriately.

At least the conveying section 3 should be included in the rubber compound.
A sulfonyl hydrazide type foaming agent is added to the rubber compound used in. The sulfonyl hydrazide type foaming agent is, for example, benzene sulfonyl hydrazide (BS
H), p, p'-oxybis (benzenesulfonyl hydrazide) (OBSH), toluene sulfonyl hydrazide (TSH), etc., but OBSH is most preferable. Further, examples of the foaming assistant added at the same time include salicylic acid and urea compounds, and urea compounds are preferable. By adding these foaming agents and foaming aids,
By heating during the vulcanization of the rubber compound, the added foaming agent is decomposed and foams, and innumerable fine voids having a size corresponding to the particle diameter of the foaming agent can be formed inside the rubber compound.

The addition amount of the sulfonyl hydrazide type foaming agent is preferably 1 to 10 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the raw rubber. If the amount added is less than 1 part by mass, good foaming cannot be obtained, while if it exceeds 10 parts by mass, voids are excessively formed, which adversely affects the strength and abrasion resistance of the conveyor belt.

The amount of the foaming aid added is also preferably 1 to 10 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the raw rubber. If the amount added is less than 1 part by mass, the foaming timing of the foaming agent will be delayed during vulcanization, so good foaming will not be obtained, while if it exceeds 10 parts by mass, the timing of foaming of the foaming agent will be accelerated during vulcanization. Therefore, similarly, there is a problem that good foaming cannot be obtained. Here, good foaming is evaluated from the ratio of the specific gravities of the rubber compounds before and after vulcanization, and the value is preferably around 1.2.

Further, by polishing the surface of the foamed rubber on the side where the conveying section 3 is formed, voids existing in the vicinity of the rubber surface are exposed in the form of recesses on the surface of the conveying section 3.
The concave portion reduces the contact area between the transport unit and the paper that is the transported object to suppress the amount of dirt adhering to the surface of the transport unit 3, and even if dirt adheres, the adhered dirt is taken into the inside. It has the function of preventing transfer to paper. The voids generated during vulcanization are determined by the particle diameter of the foaming agent before addition, and the void diameter is preferably 1 to 30 μm for effective expression of the function.

The rubber compound forming at least the conveying part 3 of the rubber compound has a paraffin content of 50% or more,
Preferably, 70% or more of the plasticizer is added in an amount of 1 to 50 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the raw material rubber. Addition of this plasticizer results in a rubber compound that does not dissolve the toner. The compounding amount is effective when it is 1 part by mass or more, but if it exceeds 50 parts by mass, a problem that the belt is softened occurs.

Although the foaming agent is not required for the rubber forming the non-conveying section 4, it may contain the foaming agent and the foaming auxiliary agent like the rubber forming the conveying section 3.

The core layer 2 is a fiber material selected from ropes, knits, woven fabrics, non-woven fabrics, etc., for example, natural fibers such as cotton and hemp, metal fibers, inorganic fibers such as glass fibers, or polyamide. Any of organic chemical fibers such as polyester, polyester, polyethylene and the like can be used, and polyester is most preferable.

The conveyor belt of the present invention comprises an unvulcanized rubber sheet forming the non-conveying portion 4, a fiber material forming the core layer 2, and the conveying portion 3 in a cylindrical mold having a flat outer peripheral surface. Unvulcanized rubber sheets are sequentially wound and vulcanized under a predetermined temperature and pressure. It can be obtained by polishing the outer peripheral surface of the obtained molded body with a grinder and slicing it into a predetermined width. The polishing is performed by winding the cylindrical molded body around a biaxial system including a drive shaft and a driven shaft, and bringing a grinder into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical molded body while driving the drive shaft. The grinder is not particularly limited, and a grinder used for polishing an ordinary toothed belt or a flat belt is used as it is.

If the rubber sheet forming the conveying section 3 is well foamed, a sufficient number of voids will be exposed on the surface as recesses even with slight polishing, and therefore the polishing amount is not particularly limited, and the equipment used. Accordingly, the recesses are exposed on the surface of the transport unit 3 at the same time by polishing for finely adjusting the belt thickness.

The cylindrical molded body whose outer peripheral surface has been polished is wound around another biaxial system including a drive shaft, and while the drive shaft is driven, a cutter is brought into contact with each other with a predetermined width to cut into rings. Get the conveyor belt.

[0028]

EXAMPLES The conveyor belt of the present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples. Example 1 A sulfonylhydrazide having a particle size of 10 μm (median size) was used as a foaming agent, and a rubber composition having a composition shown in Table 1 was prepared to form a non-conveying portion and a rubber sheet having a thickness of 0.5 mm. A core wire made of polyester that constitutes the core layer, and a rubber sheet having a thickness of 1.0 mm that forms the transport section are wound around a cylindrical mold in order, and 170 ° C. × 1.0
Vulcanization was performed under the conditions of MPa × 20 minutes to produce a cylindrical molded body. The cylindrical molded body was wound around a biaxial system including a drive shaft, and a grinder was brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical molded body while rotating the drive shaft to polish the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical molded body. The obtained molded body is sliced into 1.5 mm
A belt of thickness × 10 mm width × 300 mm circumference was obtained.

[0029]

[Table 1]

Table 2 shows the specific gravity of the belt after vulcanization. The foaming ratio was determined by comparing this value with the specific gravity of the belt before vulcanization. The results are shown in Table 2. The specific gravity before and after vulcanization is not particularly limited, but the value of the expansion ratio is most preferably about 1.2. (Friction coefficient) φ with paper 22 wound around as shown in FIG.
While rotating the 60 mm roller 21 at 15 rpm,
A sample 23 made of a rubber sheet, which forms a conveyor section with a load of 3.9 N applied to its lower end, is fixed so that the conveyor section contacts the paper 22 in the layout shown in the figure, and the friction coefficient is measured to measure the friction coefficient of the conveyor belt. The coefficient of friction of the transport section was evaluated.
The results are shown in Table 2. (Amount of Belt Wear) The amount of belt wear due to conveyance was evaluated by measuring the sample weight after rotating the roller for 1 hour in the layout shown in FIG. 3 and comparing it with the sample weight before the test. The results are also shown in Table 2. (Non-transferable) 10 mm x 10 m written with a pencil on A4 paper
The belt was rubbed against the square of m, and the portion of the belt was pressed against another paper, and the presence or absence of stains due to pencil dust was observed to evaluate the non-transferability. The results are also shown in Table 2. In the table, a circle indicates that transfer was not recognized. (Toner Contamination) The belt is buried in a container containing black toner and left in a high temperature and high humidity tank of 40 ° C x 90% for 1 week.
The presence or absence of discoloration of the toner near the belt was observed. The results are also shown in Table 2. In the table, the mark ◯ indicates that discoloration of the toner was not recognized. (Ozone resistance) The belt was left in an ozone tank having an ozone concentration of 10 ppm for 20 days, and the presence or absence of cracks was observed.
The results are also shown in Table 2. In the table, ○ indicates that no crack was found.

[0031]

[Table 2]

Comparative Examples 1 to 7 Belts were produced under the same conditions as in Example 1 with the respective formulations shown in Table 1. However, in Comparative Example 7, the surface of the transport section was not polished.

As shown in Table 2, in Example 1, E
Since PDM has an ethylene content of 65%, it has excellent wear resistance. Further, due to the effect of adding an appropriate amount of the foaming auxiliary agent, the timing of foaming and vulcanization coincided with each other, so that good foaming property was obtained, and higher friction coefficient and excellent non-transfer property were simultaneously achieved.

On the other hand, Comparative Example 1 has a good foaming state,
Excellent in non-transferability, but E with ethylene content less than 60%
Since PDM is used, the amount of wear is large. In Comparative Example 2 with a small amount of foaming aid, the timing of foaming during vulcanization was delayed, while in Comparative Example 3 with a large amount of foaming aid, the timing of foaming during vulcanization was promoted, and a good foaming state was obtained. As a result, the friction coefficient was low, and at the same time the non-transferability was poor.

In Comparative Example 4, the amount of the foaming agent added was too small to cause almost no foaming. In Comparative Example 5, the amount of the foaming agent added was too large, resulting in a large amount of wear. In Comparative Example 6, since the aroma plasticizer was used, the toner was discolored. In Comparative Example 7, since no polishing was performed, no concave portion was formed on the surface of the transport portion, resulting in poor non-transferability.

[0036]

As described above, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the fine recesses on the surface of the conveyor section of the conveyor belt reduce the contact area between the conveyor section and the paper which is the object to be conveyed. As a result, the amount of dirt attached to the surface of the transport unit is suppressed, and even if dirt is attached, the dirt that has adhered is taken into the belt to prevent transfer of dirt to paper.

According to the third and fourth aspects of the invention, there is an effect of imparting excellent transportability and abrasion resistance to the transport belt in addition to the non-transferability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a conveyor belt of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a usage state of the conveyor belt of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an apparatus for measuring the coefficient of friction and the amount of wear of the conveyor belt of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 conveyor belt 2 core layers 3 transport section 4 Non-transport section

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A conveying section, a non-conveying section made of a rubber compound,
And a core belt made of a fibrous material provided between the two, in which at least the surface of the conveyor has fine recesses, and the rubber compound is a raw material of ethylene-α-olefin elastomer. As the rubber, a rubber obtained by adding 1 to 10 parts by mass of a sulfonylhydrazide-based foaming agent, 1 to 10 parts by mass of a foaming aid, and 1 to 50 parts by mass of a paraffin-based plasticizer to 100 parts by mass of the raw material rubber. A conveyor belt characterized by being a compound. 2. The conveyor belt according to claim 1, wherein the ethylene-α-olefin elastomer is ethylene propylene diene rubber. 3. The conveyor belt according to claim 2, wherein the ethylene propylene diene rubber has an ethylene content of 60% or more. 4. The conveyor belt according to claim 1, wherein the fine recesses are obtained by polishing the surface of the rubber compound forming the conveyor.