JP2003316037A - Electrophotographic photoreceptor, electrophotographic device and process cartridge having the electrophotographic photoreceptor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electrophotographic photoreceptor which is excellent in durability in high speed process and where faulty cleaning caused by the chipping of a blade and the turn-up of the blade are hardly caused, and to provide an electrophotographic device and a process cartridge using the photoreceptor. <P>SOLUTION: In the electrophotographic photoreceptor consisting of at least a conductive supporting body and a photosensitive layer, its surface layer is set so that relation between push-in stress Y (N/mm<SP>2</SP>) and push-in time X (seconds) in a push-in test using a Vickers indenter measured under environment 23°C and 50%RH satisfies a following expression (1) Y=-A×ln(X)+B (in the expression, A and B are constants and A is 3.5≤A≤6.5). Thus, the electrophotographic photoreceptor, and the electrophotographic device and the process cartridge using the photoreceptor are provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photosensitive member used in an electrophotographic apparatus having a blade cleaning means and having an electrophotographic photosensitive member having a process speed of 200 mm / sec or more, and the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electrophotographic apparatus and a process cartridge, the electrophotographic photoreceptor having a blade cleaning means and used in an electrophotographic apparatus having a process speed of 200 mm / sec or more, and a surface thereof. The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor having a specific dependency between indentation stress and indentation time in an indentation test using a Vickers indenter, and an electrophotographic apparatus and a process cartridge using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electrophotographic photoreceptors having a photosensitive layer containing various organic photoconductive compounds as main components have been actively developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,851 discloses a photoreceptor having a photosensitive layer comprising a charge generation layer and a charge transport layer containing triarylpyrazoline, and US Pat.
3871880 describes a photoreceptor having a photosensitive layer composed of a charge generation layer composed of a derivative of a perylene pigment and a charge transport layer composed of a condensation product of 3-propylene and formaldehyde. In general, an electrophotographic photoreceptor having a photosensitive layer containing such an organic photoconductive compound as a main component has not always been satisfactory in terms of durability.

As a matter of course, the electrophotographic photoreceptor has
As its original characteristics, it is required to have sensitivity, electrical characteristics, and optical characteristics according to the electrophotographic process applied. Further, in an electrophotographic photosensitive member that is repeatedly used, the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member is subjected to charging, image exposure, toner development, a transfer process, surface cleaning, etc., so that an electric external force and a mechanical external force are directly applied. Therefore, durability against them is required separately. Specifically, the electrophotographic photosensitive member surface is chemically deteriorated by ozone and nitrogen oxides during charging, and is discharged during charging.
It is required to have durability against electrical deterioration and mechanical deterioration in which the surface is worn or scratched by rubbing against the cleaning member. In particular, since an organic photoconductor containing an organic photoconductive compound as a main component, which is often soft in terms of material, has poor durability against mechanical deterioration, improvement in durability against mechanical deterioration is particularly desired. .

On the other hand, as a cleaning means for removing the toner remaining on the electrophotographic photosensitive member after the transfer step, a cleaning means using a fur brush, a magnetic brush, a blade, or the like is typical. The blade cleaning means is mainly used in terms of accuracy and device configuration.

[0005]

However, in an electrophotographic apparatus having a blade cleaning means, if the process speed of the electrophotographic photosensitive member increases with the downsizing and speeding up of the apparatus, the blade cleaning means for the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member. The mechanical load due to
In some cases, the amount of wear on the surface of the photoconductor is increased and the scratches are aggravated. Further, due to the increase in speed, the frictional force between the photoconductor and the blade cleaning means is increased, which may cause problems such as defective cleaning of the photoconductor due to chipping of the blade and curling of the blade. Such a phenomenon occurs remarkably when the process speed of the electrophotographic photosensitive member is 200 mm / sec or more.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic photosensitive member having excellent durability in a high-speed process, which is less likely to cause cleaning failure or blade curling due to blade breakage, and an electrophotographic photosensitive member thereof. An object is to provide an electrophotographic apparatus and a process cartridge using the.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, at least blade cleaning means for cleaning the surface of an electrophotographic photosensitive member is provided, and In an electrophotographic photosensitive member comprising at least a conductive support and a photosensitive layer, which is used in an electrophotographic apparatus having a process speed of the photographic photosensitive member of 200 mm / sec or more, the surface layer of the electrophotographic photosensitive member is 23 ° C. Indentation stress Y (N / m in the indentation test using a Vickers indenter measured in an environment of% RH
m ² ) and the pressing time X (seconds) have the following formula (1) Y = −A × ln (X) + B (1) (where A and B are constants, and A is 3.5). ≦ A ≦ 6.5
The present invention provides an electrophotographic photoreceptor, which is characterized by satisfying

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an electrophotographic apparatus comprising at least the above electrophotographic photosensitive member and blade cleaning means for cleaning the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member. Will be provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the above electrophotographic photosensitive member is charged with a charging means for charging the electrophotographic photosensitive member, and the electrostatic latent image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive member is toner. Is integrally supported together with at least one means selected from the group consisting of a developing means for developing with a developing means and a blade cleaning means for collecting the toner remaining on the electrophotographic photosensitive member after the transfer step, and is detachably attached to the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus. There is provided a process cartridge characterized by the above.

In the electrophotographic photosensitive member of the present invention, the surface layer located on the surface opposite to the support side has a specific dependency between the indentation stress and the indentation time in the indentation test using the Vickers indenter. By having this, while maintaining excellent durability even in a high-speed process with a process speed of 200 mm / sec or more, it also has well-balanced electrophotographic characteristics in which poor cleaning or blade curling due to blade breakage is unlikely to occur. is there.

The reason why such a remarkable effect is obtained is not clear. However, it is considered that the difference in the dependence of the indentation stress on the indentation time depends on the constitution of the surface layer of the electrophotographic photosensitive member, mainly due to the difference in the viscosity characteristics of the surface layer. If the film has a high viscosity (the time dependence of the indentation stress is large), it suppresses wear because it has a large effect of relaxing the external force against the phenomenon of deterioration caused by repeated application of a small external force such as wear. However, on the other hand, for phenomena such as scratches that destroy the film by applying an external force above a certain level, uneven scratches are likely to occur due to the difference in the time that the load is applied. It is estimated that unevenness and toner fusion are likely to occur.

Further, when the film has a large viscosity, the stress immediately after receiving an external force is large, and therefore when the photoconductor is used in a high-speed process, the frictional force between the photoconductor and the blade in the initial stage of driving the photoconductor is large. it is conceivable that. It is presumed that if the surface of the photoconductor deteriorates due to repeated use, the frictional force between the photoconductor and the blade remarkably increases, resulting in defective cleaning of the surface of the photoconductor or blade curling due to chipping of the blade.

That is, in the electrophotographic photosensitive member of the present invention, the surface has a specific viscous characteristic, so that the external force is moderated moderately, and the unevenness of scratches occurs and the blade at the initial stage of driving the photosensitive member and the photosensitive member. Since it is possible to suppress an increase in the frictional force between the blade and the roller, it is presumed that it has excellent durability in a high-speed process, and that it is unlikely to cause cleaning failure or blade curling due to blade breakage.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the relationship between indentation stress and indentation time when an indentation test using the Vickers indenter represented by the formula (1) in the present invention is conducted.

The relationship between the pressing stress and the pressing time of the surface layer of the electrophotographic photosensitive member represented by the formula (1) of the present invention is as follows:
It is measured by a surface hardness tester having a Vickers indenter. This measurement method is not a method of pressing the indenter into the surface of the coating like the conventional micro Vickers method and measuring the residual dent after unloading with a microscope to determine the hardness, but applying a load with the Vickers indenter stepwise. It is a method in which the indentation depth of the film is measured by electrically detecting the indentation depth when the indentation is applied to the surface and a load is applied.

The constant A in the equation (1) is measured by using the surface film hardness tester under a constant load at 23 ° C. and 50% RH while varying the indentation time. It is determined by plotting the result using the method of least squares. The range of the constant A is 3.5
It is preferably 6.5 or more and 6.5 or less, and more preferably 3.6 or more and 6.0 or less. When the constant A is less than 3.5, the effect of the surface layer to relieve the external force is insufficient, so that the amount of wear on the surface of the photoconductor tends to increase due to repeated use of the photoconductor. On the other hand, if the constant A exceeds 6.5,
Since the frictional force between the photoconductor and the blade when the photoconductor is driven becomes large, cleaning defects and blade curling due to chipping of the blade are likely to occur, especially due to repeated use, and the pressing time dependence of the stress is too large, resulting in unevenness due to scratches. Is likely to occur, resulting in image unevenness and toner fusion.

The range of the indentation time for measuring the indentation stress of the surface layer is from 1 second to 60 from the viewpoint of measurement accuracy.
Seconds are preferable, and particularly 2 seconds to 50 seconds are more preferable.

Further, as the pushing load, it is necessary to select a range in which variation in measurement due to unevenness of the surface of the photoconductor is suppressed and which is not affected by the lower layer. Specifically, depending on the constitution of the surface layer, 5 mN to 100 mN is preferable, and 10 mN to 50 mN is particularly preferable.

The constant B in the equation (1) is a pushing time of 1
It is a numerical value corresponding to the indentation stress in seconds, but in the present invention, it is more preferable to further define this range from the viewpoint of durability. Specifically, the constant B is 20
It is preferably 0 or more and 300 or less, and particularly 230
More preferably, it is 280 or less. B is 200
When it is smaller than the above range, the stress is small, so that image fogging due to film abrasion caused by scratches and image defects and toner fusion due to increase in surface roughness are likely to occur. On the other hand, 30
If it is greater than 0, film abrasion and increase in surface roughness are unlikely to occur, but surface degradation products are difficult to remove, and the increase in frictional force with the blade due to repeated use tends to increase, resulting in poor cleaning and blade curling. It will be easier.

In the present invention, the constitution of the surface layer is not particularly limited as long as the constant A of the formula (1) is 3.5 or more and 6.5 or less. As means for satisfying the constant A in the formula (1) of the present invention, for example, the kind and combination of the charge transport material and the binder resin contained in the surface layer, the content ratio thereof, the manufacturing conditions, etc. are optimized. Is mentioned.

The blade cleaning means used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it has a blade shape. Examples of the material used include polyurethane rubber, silicone rubber, nitrile rubber, chloroprene rubber and the like, but polyurethane rubber is preferable from the viewpoint of abrasion resistance and permanent deformation of the cleaning blade. Further, as the contact direction of the blade, it is preferable to contact the blade in the counter direction with respect to the rotation direction of the photoconductor from the viewpoint of cleaning property.

The electrophotographic photosensitive member of the present invention has a charging means having a contact charging member which is disposed in contact with the electrophotographic photosensitive member and which charges the electrophotographic photosensitive member by applying a voltage obtained by superimposing an AC voltage on a DC voltage. Even when used together, it has characteristics of excellent durability and less likely to cause defective cleaning or blade curling due to blade breakage.

As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-149668, this charging method is a method of improving charging stability by using a voltage obtained by superimposing an AC voltage on a DC voltage as an applied voltage. However, while the charging stability is improved, the amount of wear on the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member tends to increase due to the increase in the amount of discharge current. Furthermore, the process speed is 200mm
In a high speed process of not less than 1 sec / sec, the frictional force between the photoconductor and the blade is more likely to increase due to discharge deterioration of the surface of the photoconductor, so that defective cleaning of the photoconductor due to curling of the blade or chipping of the blade is likely to occur. However, even under such conditions, the electrophotographic photosensitive member of the present invention has such a characteristic that the problems such as the increase in the amount of wear on the surface of the photosensitive member, the cleaning failure of the photosensitive member, and the curling of the blade are unlikely to occur. .

The charging member used in the charging means may be in the form of a roller, a blade or a brush. The voltage applied to the charging member is preferably 200 to 2000 V in absolute value for DC voltage, and 400 to 4000 V for peak voltage and 200 to 3000 Hz for AC voltage.

Further, the electrophotographic photosensitive member of the present invention has excellent durability even when the outer diameter of the electrophotographic photosensitive member is reduced due to the downsizing of the electrophotographic apparatus, and further, the cleaning failure of the photosensitive member and the blade cleaning are performed. It has a characteristic that the blade of the means is unlikely to be rolled up.

When the outer diameter of the electrophotographic photosensitive member becomes smaller, the load applied from the charging member, the cleaning member, etc. becomes remarkably large due to repeated use. Therefore, the amount of wear on the surface of the photoreceptor and the increase in surface roughness with use become remarkable,
Further, cleaning failure of the photoreceptor and blade curling due to surface deterioration are likely to occur. However, the electrophotographic photosensitive member of the present invention is unlikely to cause an increase in the amount of wear on the surface and deterioration of scratches even under such conditions. Specifically, the outer diameter is less than 80 mm,
In particular, even a small electrophotographic photosensitive member formed by using a cylindrical support having a length of less than 40 mm has excellent durability, and further, the cleaning of the photosensitive member and the blade curling due to an increase in frictional force with the blade are prevented. It has a characteristic that is hard to occur.

The structure of the electrophotographic photosensitive member of the present invention will be described below. The electrophotographic photoreceptor of the present invention comprises at least a conductive support and a photosensitive layer. Even if the photosensitive layer is a single layer type containing a charge transport material and a charge generating material in the same layer, charge transport The charge transporting layer containing the material and the charge generating layer containing the charge generating material may be separated from each other, but a laminated photosensitive layer is preferable in terms of electrophotographic characteristics. Further, it is preferable that this laminated type photosensitive layer has a charge transport layer on the charge generation layer when viewed from the side of the conductive support, and the charge transport layer serves as a surface layer of the electrophotographic photoreceptor. The preferred embodiment will be described below as an example.

The conductive support to be used may be one having conductivity, and examples thereof include metals such as aluminum and stainless steel, or metals provided with a conductive layer, paper, plastic, and the like. Examples thereof include a cylindrical shape.

When the exposure is coherent light, another conductive layer may be provided on the conductive support for the purpose of preventing the generation of interference fringes due to scattering or covering scratches on the support. In this case, the conductive layer can be formed by dispersing conductive powder such as carbon black and metal particles in a resin. The thickness of the conductive layer is preferably 5 ~ 40μm, more preferably 10 ~ 30μ
m.

In the present invention, an intermediate layer having an adhesive function may be provided between the conductive support and the photosensitive layer. As the material of the intermediate layer, polyamide, polyvinyl alcohol,
Polyethylene oxide, ethyl cellulose, casein,
Examples include polyurethane and polyether urethane. These are dissolved in a suitable solvent and applied. The thickness of the intermediate layer is preferably 0.05 to 5 μm, more preferably 0.
3 to 1 μm.

The charge generation layer comprises a homogenizer, an ultrasonic disperser, a ball mill, a vibrating ball mill, a sand mill, a charge generation material together with 0.3 to 4 times the amount of a suitable binder resin and a solvent.
It is formed by applying a dispersion liquid uniformly dispersed by a method using an attritor, a roll mill, a liquid collision type high speed disperser or the like onto a conductive support, and then drying it.

Examples of the charge generating material used include selenium tellurium, pyrylium, thiapyrylium dyes, phthalocyanine, anthanthrone, dibenzpyrenequinone, trisazo, cyanine, disazo, monoazo, indigo, quinacridone and asymmetric quinocyanine pigments. In the high speed process as in the present invention, a phthalocyanine pigment is preferable from the viewpoint of sensitivity, and oxytitanium phthalocyanine is particularly preferable. The thickness of the charge generation layer is preferably 5 μm or less, more preferably 0.1 to 2 μm.

Examples of the binder resin used for forming the charge generation layer include polyvinyl butyral resin, polyester resin, acrylic resin, phenoxy resin, polycarbonate resin, polyvinyl acetal resin, polystyrene resin and polyarylate resin. To be

The charge transporting layer is a coating prepared by mainly selecting a charge transporting material and a binder resin so that the constant A in the formula (1) of the present invention is 3.5 or more and 6.5 or less and dissolving it in a solvent. It is formed by applying a liquid on the charge generating layer and drying.

Examples of the charge transport material used include triarylamine compounds, hydrazone compounds,
Examples thereof include stilbene compounds, pyrazoline compounds, oxazole compounds, triallylmethane compounds and thiazole compounds.

Examples of the binder resin used include acrylic resin, polyester resin, polyarylate resin, polyvinyl chloride resin, polycarbonate resin, polyvinyl butyral resin, and polymethacrylate resin. Therefore, it is preferable to use a polycarbonate resin.

The charge transporting material, the binder resin, and, if necessary, an additive such as an antioxidant are appropriately combined so that the constant A in the formula (1) becomes 3.5 or more and 6.5 or less. A charge transport layer is formed. The thickness of the charge transport layer is preferably 5 to 40 μm, more preferably 15 to 30 μm.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic structure of an electrophotographic apparatus having a process cartridge using the electrophotographic photosensitive member of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a drum-shaped electrophotographic photosensitive member, which is rotationally driven around a shaft 2 in a direction of an arrow at a predetermined peripheral speed. In the course of its rotation, the photoconductor 1 receives uniform charge of a predetermined positive or negative potential on its peripheral surface by the primary charging means 3, and then outputs from an exposing means (not shown) such as slit exposure or laser beam scanning exposure. The exposure light 4 that is emphasized and modulated corresponding to the time-series electric digital image signal of the target image information is received. In this way, electrostatic latent images corresponding to desired image information are sequentially formed on the peripheral surface of the photoconductor 1.

The formed electrostatic latent image is then developed by the developing means 5.
The toner is developed by the toner, and the transfer material 7 is taken out from a paper feeding section (not shown) between the photoconductor 1 and the transfer means 6 in synchronism with the rotation of the photoconductor 1 and is fed to the surface of the photoconductor 1. The formed and carried toner images are sequentially transferred by the transfer unit 6.

The transfer material 7 to which the toner image has been transferred is separated from the surface of the photoconductor and introduced into the image fixing means 8 to undergo image fixing, whereby it is printed out as an image formed product (print, copy) outside the apparatus. It

The surface of the photoconductor 1 after the image transfer is cleaned by the blade cleaning means 9 to collect and remove the residual toner after transfer, and is further cleaned by the pre-exposure light 10 from the pre-exposure means (not shown). After being subjected to static elimination processing, it is repeatedly used for image formation. If the primary charging means 3 is a contact charging means using a charging roller or the like, pre-exposure is not always necessary.

In the present invention, among the components such as the electrophotographic photosensitive member 1, the primary charging means 3, the developing means 5 and the blade cleaning means 9 described above, a plurality of components are housed in the process cartridge container 11 to form a process cartridge. The process cartridge is integrally connected, and the process cartridge is detachably attached to the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer. For example, at least one of the primary charging unit 3, the developing unit 5, and the blade cleaning unit 9 is integrally supported with the photosensitive member 1 to form a cartridge, and the cartridge can be detachably attached to the apparatus main body by using a guide unit 12 such as a rail of the apparatus main body. Process cartridge.

[0044]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below with reference to examples. "Parts" in the examples indicate parts by weight.

[0045]

Example 1 An aluminum cylinder having a diameter of 30 mm and a length of 357 mm was used as a support, and a coating material composed of the following materials was applied to the support by a dipping method and heat-cured at 140 ° C. for 30 minutes to obtain a conductivity of 15 μm. Layers were formed. Conductive pigment: SnO ₂ coated barium sulfate 10 parts Resistance adjustment pigment: Titanium oxide 2 parts Binder resin: Phenolic resin 6 parts Leveling material: Silicone oil 0.001 part Solvent: Methanol, methoxypropanol 0.2 / 0.8 20 parts

Next, a solution prepared by dissolving 3 parts of N-methoxymethylated nylon and 3 parts of copolymerized nylon in a mixed solvent of 65 parts of methanol and 30 parts of n-butanol was applied on the above conductive layer by a dipping method. A 0.5 μm intermediate layer was formed.

Next, 4 parts of oxytitanium phthalocyanine having a strong peak at a diffraction angle 2θ ± 0.2 ° of 27.1 ° in the X-ray diffraction spectrum of CuKα and polyvinyl butyral resin (trade name: S-REC BM2, manufactured by Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.) 2
And 60 parts of cyclohexanone were dispersed for 4 hours in a sand mill using glass beads having a diameter of 1 mm, and then 100 parts of ethyl acetate was added to prepare a charge generation layer dispersion liquid. This was applied onto the intermediate layer by a dipping method to form a charge generation layer of 0.2 μm.

Next, 6 parts of a compound having the following structural formula was used as a charge transport material.

[Chemical 1] And 1 part of the compound of the following structural formula

[Chemical 2] As a binder resin, 10 parts of a polycarbonate resin having the following structural units (viscosity average molecular weight 30,000)

[Chemical 3] And were dissolved in a mixed solvent of 70 parts of monochlorobenzene and 30 parts of dichloromethane.

This coating material was applied onto the charge generation layer by a dipping method and dried at 110 ° C. for 1 hour to form a 25 μm charge transport layer. Thus, an electrophotographic photosensitive member was manufactured.

Using this electrophotographic photosensitive member, the indentation time dependence of the indentation stress was measured by an indentation test using a Vickers indenter. For the measurement, a surface film hardness meter (trade name, Fisher Scope H-100V, manufactured by Fischer Instruments Co., Ltd.) was used under an environment of 23 ° C. and 50% RH with a pushing load of 15 mN and a pushing time of 2, 5,
The indentation stress was measured at 10, 25, and 50 seconds. When the constants A and B were obtained from the results by the least squares method, they were A = 4.6 and B = 259.

Next, the evaluation will be described. The apparatus is a Canon laser beam printer "Laser Shot LBP-95" having a blade cleaning means.
"0" was modified and used. In the modification, the process speed of the apparatus was set to 200 mm / sec, and the light amount was adjusted so that the light potential of each electrophotographic photosensitive member was -200V.

The previously prepared photoconductor is attached to this device.
Under the environment of 30 ° C. and 90% RH, the repeated durability test of intermittent paper passing once every two prints was performed on 30,000 sheets, and the durability characteristics of the photoconductor were evaluated. The image was A4, and a horizontal line pattern with a print rate of 2% was used. The evaluation was performed by confirming whether fogging or scratches were generated on the image after the 30,000-sheet durability test. Further, during the durability test, it was also confirmed whether the cleaning of the photoreceptor was defective or the blade of the blade cleaning means was curled. The results are shown in Table 1.

[0053]

Example 2 An electrophotographic photoreceptor was prepared and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 5 parts of the compound having the following structural formula was used as the charge transport material. The results are shown in Table 1.

[Chemical 4]

[0054]

Example 3 An electrophotographic photoreceptor was prepared and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the compound having the following structural formula was used as the charge transport material. The results are shown in Table 1.

[Chemical 5]

[0055]

Example 4 As a binder resin for the charge transport layer, a polycarbonate resin having the following structural units (viscosity average molecular weight 30
000) was used and an electrophotographic photosensitive member was prepared and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 2. The results are shown in Table 1.

[Chemical 6]

[0056]

Example 5 As a binder resin for the charge transport layer, a polycarbonate resin having the following constitutional units (viscosity average molecular weight 30
000) was used and an electrophotographic photosensitive member was prepared and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 1.

[Chemical 7]

[0057]

Example 6 Compound 8 having the following structural formula as a charge transport material
Department

[Chemical 8] And 3 parts of the compound of the following structural formula

[Chemical 9] An electrophotographic photosensitive member was prepared and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 5 except that was used. The results are shown in Table 1.

[0058]

[Table 1] In the table, “no occurrence” means that cleaning failure and blade curling did not occur.

[0059]

Comparative Example 1 An electrophotographic photosensitive member was prepared and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 4 except that the compound having the following structural formula was used as the charge transport material. The results are shown in Table 2.

[Chemical 10]

[0060]

Comparative Example 2 An electrophotographic photosensitive member was prepared and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 5 except that 9 parts of the compound having the following structural formula was used as the charge transport material. The results are shown in Table 2.

[Chemical 11]

[0061]

Comparative Example 3 An electrophotographic photosensitive member was prepared and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 6 except that the compound having the following structural formula was used as the charge transport material. The results are shown in Table 2.

[Chemical 12]

[0062]

Comparative Example 4 The process speed of the electrophotographic photosensitive member is 15
Evaluation was made in the same manner as in Comparative Example 1 except that it was set to 0 mm / sec. The results are shown in Table 2.

[0063]

[Table 2] In the table, “no occurrence” means that cleaning failure and blade curling did not occur.

[0064]

As described above, according to the present invention, even in an electrophotographic apparatus having a blade cleaning means and having a process speed of an electrophotographic photosensitive member of 200 mm / sec or more, the durability is excellent and the cleaning failure is poor. It has become possible to provide an electrophotographic photosensitive member and an electrophotographic apparatus in which the blade and the curl of the blade hardly occur.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a relationship between a pushing stress Y and a pushing time X in a pushing test using a Vickers indenter represented by the formula (1) of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of an electrophotographic apparatus having a process cartridge using the electrophotographic photosensitive member of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 photoconductor 2 axes 3 Primary charging means 4 exposure light 5 Developing means 6 Transfer means 7 Transfer material 8 Image fixing means 9 Blade cleaning means 10 pre-exposure light 11 process cartridge container 12 guidance means

Continued front page    F term (reference) 2H068 AA13 AA20 AA21 AA28 AA35                       AA37 AA54 AA58 BA22 BA24                       BB26 FA01 FA27 FC01 FC15                 2H134 GA01 GB02 HD02 HD19 KD07                       KD08 KF05 KG01 KG03 KG08                       KH01 KH02 KH15 KH16 QA02                 2H200 FA02 FA09 FA12 GA16 GA23                       GA34 GA44 GB12 HB12 HB22                       HB48 JA02 LA02 LA19 LA23                       LB13 LB35 MA03 MA20 NA06                       NA09 NA10

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. At least blade cleaning means for cleaning the surface of an electrophotographic photosensitive member,
Moreover, the process speed of the electrophotographic photosensitive member is 200 mm.
/ Sec or more, the electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising at least a conductive support and a photosensitive layer used in an electrophotographic apparatus, the surface layer of the electrophotographic photoreceptor is measured in an environment of 23 ° C. and 50% RH. The relationship between the indentation stress Y (N / mm ² ) and the indentation time X (seconds) in the indentation test using a Vickers indenter is the following equation (1) Y = -A x ln (X) + B (1) (Equation Where A and B are constants, and A is 3.5 ≦ A ≦ 6.5.
An electrophotographic photosensitive member characterized by satisfying the following. 2. The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive layer comprises a charge generation layer and a charge transport layer, and the charge transport layer is a surface layer. 3. The electrophotographic apparatus further comprises a charging means, the charging means is disposed in contact with the electrophotographic photosensitive member, and the electrophotographic photosensitive member is formed by applying a voltage obtained by superposing an AC voltage on a DC voltage. The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to claim 1, further comprising a charging member that charges the. 4. The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to claim 1, wherein the conductive support has a cylindrical shape with an outer diameter of less than 80 mm. 5. The constant B in the formula (1) is 200 ≦ B.
2. The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to claim 1, wherein ≦ 300. 6. An electrophotographic apparatus comprising at least the electrophotographic photosensitive member according to claim 1 and blade cleaning means for cleaning the surface of the electrophotographic photosensitive member. . 7. A charging means for charging the electrophotographic photosensitive member according to claim 1 with the electrophotographic photosensitive member,
At least one selected from the group consisting of a developing unit that develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the electrophotographic photosensitive member with toner and a blade cleaning unit that collects the toner remaining on the electrophotographic photosensitive member after the transfer step. A process cartridge which is integrally supported together with the means and is detachable from the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus.