JP2006267326A - Felt material for toner leakage prevention - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide felt materials to be applied for such a photographic image formation process or various working equipment as an electronic copying machine, a laser beam printer and a facsimile machine for achieving the leakage prevention of toner and the scraping of residual toner by bringing it close contact with the peripheral faces of a photoreceptor drum, developing roller and fixing roller or the like. <P>SOLUTION: This felt material is provided with a sheet layer obtained by integrating relatively thick sliding fiber whose fineness is 50 decitex or less and relatively thin rigid fiber whose fineness is 50 decitex or more by a needle punch, and erected hairs on the contact surfaces of the sheet layer are formed so as to be almost cut-shaped. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention mainly relates to a photographic image forming process such as an electronic copying machine, a laser beam printer, a facsimile machine, or various working devices, and it causes toner leakage by being in close contact with the peripheral surface of a photosensitive drum, a developing roller, a fixing roller, and the like. The present invention relates to a felt material that achieves prevention and scraping of residual toner.

  In electrophotographic image forming processes such as electrophotographic copying machines and laser beam printers, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-290405, etc., in order to reduce the number of maintenance and reduce the maintenance cost, there are currently photosensitive drums, developing rollers and others. In general, a user can perform maintenance by integrating the base material and making the cartridge detachable. In this process cartridge system, the cartridge replacement operation is simple and maintenance-free, so the usability is greatly improved.

  In this process cartridge, waste toner generated by the cleaning mechanism is discharged into a cleaning container and discarded at the same time when the cartridge is replaced. This cleaning mechanism scrapes the residual toner from the surface of the photosensitive drum after the primary transfer, and attaches a sealing material to both ends of the cleaning blade and the opening of the cleaning container so as to face the photosensitive drum, so that the residual toner is placed on both sides of the container. To prevent leakage. Such a cleaning mechanism is widely implemented in ordinary process cartridges.

  In the electrophotographic image forming process, the periphery of the photosensitive drum and the developing roller is higher than normal temperature and may temporarily reach around 100 ° C. Therefore, in the vicinity of the photosensitive drum and the developing roller, it is common to use a felt of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) fiber having excellent slidability and heat resistance as a sealing material. In addition, since these sealing materials are required to maintain smooth rotation of the operating member and to have high closeness, a two-layer structure of a sheet layer that contacts the photosensitive drum and a cushion layer that imparts elasticity is advantageous. And urethane foam is mainly used for the cushion layer.

As known examples of the sealing material for preventing toner leakage, there are JP-A-61-129664, JP-A-4-134374, and registered utility model No. 2537613. PTFE fiber felt includes needle punch felt, flocked sheet or There is a smoothing felt. If this PTFE fiber is a normal felt, it needs to be made considerably thick in order to develop a high sealing property even if a thick cushion layer is provided. It has also been proposed to apply a sealing material made of a dense pile-like woven fabric as disclosed in JP-A Nos. 11-61101 and 2003-223447.
JP 2001-290405 A JP 61-129664 A JP-A-4-134374 Registered Utility Model No. 2537613 JP-A-11-61101 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-223447

  With regard to the sealing material used in the electrophotographic image forming process, toner fine particles have been made finer to 10 μm or less in recent years, and the appearance of polymerized toner particles, etc., PTFE fiber felt alone can prevent toner leakage even if it is considerably thick. It has become difficult to fully develop the effect. PTFE fiber felt is very expensive, and there are certain limits to reducing its basic usage, and even if a cushion layer is installed on the back, it is extremely thin to maintain the original physical properties of PTFE fiber. I can't do it. On the other hand, ordinary natural or synthetic fibers do not have the same physical properties as PTFE fibers in terms of slidability. If special fibers such as polyetheretherketone fibers are used, they become the same as PTFE fibers. This is not a cost advantage, although it is possible.

  On the other hand, the pile fabric sealing material has a long moquette pile length of 3 to 4 mm, so it can be used as a cushion compared to PTFE fiber felt even if urethane foam or wool felt is not attached to the back side. High performance and sufficient sealing performance. This type of sealing material also solves the problem that it is difficult to prevent hair loss of PTFE fiber felt by weaving pile yarn into two layers of warp and weft yarns to prevent hair loss.

  On the other hand, this pile fabric sealing material requires two ground warps and two wefts to be fed into the loom at the same time in order to combine two layers of warp and weft. Instead, it becomes a custom-made machine and is very expensive. In addition, the amount of yarn used doubles and the manufacturing cost increases. In addition, even if a back coating layer is provided to prevent hair loss and the pile yarn weight is fully packed with a full gauge, voids are likely to remain at the base of the pile yarn after the raising process, and toner particles are gathered from the pile base. It cannot be avoided that the part leaks.

  The present invention has been proposed in order to improve the above-mentioned problems relating to the sealing material used mainly in the electrophotographic image forming process, and by blending slidable fibers and rigid fibers in the sheet layer, An object of the present invention is to provide a felt material that has a low friction property similar to that of PTFE fibers and has a high sealing property and exhibits an excellent toner leakage prevention performance. Another object of the present invention is to provide a felt material capable of effectively scraping off the toner remaining on the peripheral surface of a working member such as a photosensitive drum, because the nap on the contact surface of the sheet layer is almost cut. is there. Another object of the present invention is to provide a felt material capable of achieving oil supply for various types of work equipment such as rotating rollers and reciprocating members.

  The felt material according to the present invention is used to prevent the toner and oil from leaking to the outside in close contact with the surface of the operating member, and to maintain each member at a predetermined interval. In the felt material of the present invention, a relatively thick slidable fiber having a fineness of 50 dtex or less, that is, 7 to 50 dtex, and a relatively thin rigid fiber having a fineness of 5 dtex or more, that is, a 5-45 dtex, are integrated by a needle punch. A sheet layer is provided. In the felt material of the present invention, the nap on the contact surface of the sheet layer is substantially cut.

  The felt material according to the present invention is affixed to a sheet layer composed of 40 to 80% by weight of relatively thick slidable fibers and 20 to 60% by weight of relatively thin rigid fibers, and affixed to the back surface of the sheet layer. And a cushion layer that imparts elasticity of the above and an adhesive layer for fixing the seat layer and the cushion layer at predetermined positions. In the felt material of the present invention, the sheet layer intertwined with the needle punch is further subjected to another needle punch to form cut or looped napped surfaces on the surface.

  With respect to the felt material of the present invention, the nappings on the contact surface of the sheet layer are preferably cut or looped with an average height of 0.1 to 1.5 mm.

  The slidable fiber preferably has a fineness of 7 to 50 dtex, for example, fluorine fiber, polyimide fiber, polyamideimide fiber, fiber coated with fluorine resin, or fiber kneaded with fluorine or silicon resin powder. It is. The rigid fiber preferably has a fineness of 5 to 45 dtex, for example, a polyamide fiber such as meta-aramid fiber, para-aramid fiber, 66 nylon fiber, polyester fiber, liquid crystal polyester fiber, PPS fiber or polyolefin fiber.

  The present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. A felt material 1 (FIG. 5) according to the present invention is a process cartridge 10 (see FIG. 5) that is detachably accommodated in a laser beam printer, an electronic copying machine, a facsimile, etc., which are photographic image forming processes. Applies to FIG. This felt material can also be applied to toner cartridges of monochrome copying machines and four-color full-color electronic copying machines or fixing rollers that heat and fix toner on recording paper. It can also be used for maintaining the distance between the developing mechanism and the cleaning mechanism in the cartridge, and for hermetically supporting various rotating rollers and reciprocating members.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the sheet layer 2 (FIG. 5) in the felt material 1 includes a card wrap 6 made up of slidable fibers such as PTFE fibers 3 and rigid fibers such as aramid fibers 5. The card wrap is integrated with a needle punch. At this time, in order to increase the dimensional stability of the sheet layer, a base fabric of slidable fibers or rigid fibers is interposed between two equal card wraps, or arranged below a single card wrap. May be. The slidable fiber needs to have a finer diameter than that of the rigid fiber. If the slidable fibers are thicker than the rigid fibers, the napped fibers 7 having more rigid fibers can be substantially cut in another needle punch that forms the raised fibers 7 (FIG. 3).

  Therefore, the fineness of the slidable fiber is preferably 7 to 50 dtex, and more preferably 10 to 35 dtex. If the fineness of the slidable fiber is out of the range of 7 to 50 dtex, the slidable fiber has increased loop-like napping or the formation of napped 7 is inhibited. On the other hand, the rigid fiber preferably has a fineness of 5 to 45 dtex, more preferably 8 to 20 dtex. When the fineness of the rigid fiber is out of the range of 5 to 45 dtex, the rigid fiber may be cut non-uniformly so that no raised fibers are formed or the raised fibers of the rigid fiber are not cut.

  The sheet layer 2 is preferably composed of 40 to 80% by weight of slidable fibers and 20 to 60% by weight of rigid fibers. If the slidable fiber is less than 40% by weight of the entire sheet layer, it is difficult to obtain a desired slidability in a high temperature environment as the sheet layer 2 used in the felt material 1, and it is a problem in preventing toner leakage. Is likely to occur. On the other hand, if the slidable fiber exceeds 80% by weight, the cut surface of the sheet layer 2 is reduced and the scraping property of the toner is liable to be lowered, and the cost of the sheet layer 2 is increased for the cost increase. Physical properties do not improve.

  The slidable fiber generally has low fiber friction resistance, and the felt material 1 has excellent dimensional stability. Examples of suitable slidable fibers include fluorine fibers, polyimide fibers, polyamideimide fibers, fibers coated with a fluorine resin, or fibers kneaded with fluorine or silicon resin powder, preferably PTFE fibers or FEP Fluorine fibers such as (tetrafluoroethylene-hexafluoropropylene copolymer) fiber, PFA (tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoro copolymer) fiber, and ETFE (ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer) fiber. The PTFE fiber 3 can be obtained by mixing an aqueous dispersion of PTFE fine particles with a small amount of a matrix material, extruding it into a spinning solution in which the matrix material coagulates to form a fiber, and then thermally decomposing and removing the matrix material. Alternatively, PTFE fine particles may be mixed with an organic solvent such as naphtha, formed into a raw tape shape by extrusion, and further stretched / sintered, and then the obtained film may be split with a micro slitter to form a fiber.

  On the other hand, a rigid fiber is more rigid than a slidable fiber, and a cut fiber has a high sealing property and an excellent toner scraping effect. Further, the felt has a melting point of about 250 ° C. or higher or no melting point. When the material 1 is used in a high temperature environment, the sheet layer 2 is preferable because it has heat resistance. In this case, the non-melting fiber is a fiber whose melting point is difficult to measure because it has a decomposition temperature lower than the melting temperature at the time of heating, and this fiber usually does not thermally decompose even when heated to about 250 ° C. When the rigid fiber is not heat resistant, various rotating rollers and reciprocating members are used in a use environment at normal temperature or a high temperature environment where the temperature is relatively low.

  As rigid fiber, meta-aramid (poly-m-phenylene isophthalamide) fiber, para-aramid (poly-p-phenylene terephthalamide) fiber, polyamide fiber such as 66 nylon fiber, polyester fiber, liquid crystal polyester fiber, PPS (polyphenylene sulfide) fiber Or a polyolefin fiber etc. can be illustrated. Suitable rigid fibers are meta-aramid fibers, para-aramid fibers or polyester fibers.

In order to manufacture the sheet layer 2, as illustrated in FIG. 1, slidable fibers and rigid fibers are mixed with each other to form a web or a single web of each fiber. The card wrap 6 is formed by laminating a number of sheets, and then needle punching is performed. The card wrap 6 is integrated by a needle punch using a known locking needle to form a felt material 8 (FIG. 2). The number of needles in this needle punch should just be about 150-400 / cm < ² >, and you may perform a high-pressure water jet process after a needle punch as needed. The obtained felt material 8 has a thickness of 1.0 to 2.0 mm, preferably 1.2 to 1.7 mm, and a basis weight of 300 to 500 g / m ² , preferably 370 to 430 g / m ² . .

In FIG. 2, the felt material 8 is subjected to another needle punch at a punch depth of 6.5 to 9.5 mm and a number of needles of 400 to 800 / cm ² with a special needle 11 for raising, and the average height is 0. .1 to 1.5 mm raised hairs 7 (FIG. 3) are formed on the entire surface. As for the special needle 11, the front-end | tip part 12 is tapered in the shape of a pyramid, and it provides the notches 13 and 13 in a back side part, and makes it easy to hook a fiber. By this needle punch, fibers are raised on the felt surface, and at that time, many raised hairs 7 are cut into a cut shape, and a part is not cut and remains in a loop shape. In this specification, the height of the raised hairs 7 is an average of 0.1 to 1.5 mm, and is an “average” height. Therefore, raised hairs with a height of around 2 mm or raised hairs of less than 0.1 mm are very rare. Exists. Moreover, the cut-shaped thing about the napping 7 is 50% or more, and usually 70% or more of all napping is cut.

  When dense irregularities are formed on the surface of the sheet layer 2 by the nappings 7, the frictional resistance of the contact surface is reduced by being in close contact with a working member such as a photosensitive drum or a developing roller. When the napped 7 is cut, residual toner such as the drum surface can be scraped off more effectively. In order to further increase the density of the napped hairs 7, heat treatment may be performed in advance through a heating furnace.

  In FIG. 4, the sheet layer 2 has the napped hairs 7 lying in one direction by the heated roll presses 14 and 14 to be inclined hairs 16, thereby reducing the frictional resistance of the contact surface with the operation member such as the photosensitive drum and the developing roller. Reduce further. The obtained oblique hair sheet layer 2 preferably has a thickness of about 0.7 to 1.5 mm. When the bottom surface of the slanted hair sheet layer 2 is smoothed by additional heat press treatment, the fibers of the sheet layer 2 can be reliably fixed by the intervention of an adhesive (not shown) for attaching the cushion layer 18.

  As illustrated in FIG. 5, the felt material 1 may have a cushion layer 18 attached to the sheet layer 2 via a desired adhesive. The cushion layer 18 is made of polyurethane foam, wool felt, needle felt or the like, and preferably has a thickness of 1.0 to 3.0 mm. If the adhesive is a heat-sealing sheet, the fibers of the sheet layer 2 can be fixed with the sheet, and the hair loss of the fibers can be further reduced. The heat-sealing sheet is a nonwoven fabric or resin sheet of a single or copolymer polymer such as polyamide or polypropylene, and preferably has a melting point of about 80 to 170 ° C. On the other hand, a double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape may be used as the adhesive, and the double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape prevents fiber removal by pressure bonding when the sheet layer 2 is thin.

  If desired, a pressure-sensitive or heat-sensitive adhesive layer such as a double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 20 may be further provided on the lower surface of the cushion layer 18. This adhesive layer makes it possible to attach the felt material 1 to an appropriate part of an electrophotographic image forming process or a work machine having a rotating roller and a reciprocating member.

  The felt material according to the present invention is composed of a sheet layer composed of slidable fibers and rigid fibers, and has a slidability similar to that of felt of PTFE fiber alone, and also has a sealing property as compared with ordinary felts and pile fabrics. By being high, it is possible to effectively prevent toner leakage at a predetermined portion of the electrophotographic image forming process, or to achieve oil supply for various types of work equipment. In the felt material of the present invention, when a cushion layer and an adhesive layer are provided on the lower side of the sheet layer, a good toner in addition to a high sealing property is obtained even though the total amount of slidable fibers or rigid fibers is small. Demonstrates scraping properties, that is, cleaning properties.

  In the felt material of the present invention, the sheet layer is soft with improved heat shrinkability compared to the felt made of aramid fibers alone, and the contact with the roller or the like is not deteriorated due to the heat shrinkage. Stability is improved and long-term use becomes possible. The felt material of the present invention can reduce costs while maintaining desired physical properties, and can flexibly cope with the selling price of an electronic copying machine or a laser beam printer which is an embedded body. In addition to the electrophotographic image forming process, the felt material of the present invention is economical in that stable mechanical operation can be continued if it is attached to an appropriate part of a work machine having a rotating roller and a reciprocating member.

Next, the present invention will be described based on examples, but the present invention is not limited to the examples. In FIG. 1, 70% by weight of PTFE fiber 3 having a fineness of 33.3 dtex (manufactured by Nippon Mining Co., Ltd.) and 30% by weight of meta-aramid fiber 5 having a fineness of 14.4 dtex (made by Cornex, Teijin) are uniformly distributed. A card wrap 6 having a weight per unit area of 400 g / m ² is formed by blending and appropriately laminating the obtained web.

The card wrap 6 becomes a felt material 8 having a thickness of 1.2 to 1.5 mm by performing needle punching with a known number of needles at 750 needles / cm ² . As shown in FIG. 3, another needle punching is performed on the felt material 8 at a needle number of 600 / cm ² and a depth of 7.5 mm by using the special needle 11 for raising, and the raising 7 having an average height of 0.5 mm is formed on the surface. The entire surface is formed, and dense irregularities are provided on the felt surface. On the surface of the felt material 8, more rigid fibers are raised, and further, the raised fibers 7 are almost cut and are almost cut.

As shown in FIG. 4, the raised felt material 8 is heated at about 300 ° C. through a heating furnace, and then the raised hair is laid in one direction by a roll press 14, 14 at room temperature, and the basis weight is 370 ± 50 g / m. ^2. Thickness is set to 1.0 ± 0.2 mm. The obtained slanted hair sheet layer 2 (FIG. 5) is laminated with a cushion layer 18 made of polyurethane foam having a thickness of 2.2 mm through a polyamide-based heat-fusible nonwoven fabric (not shown). Paste through a pair of heat rollers. A double-sided adhesive tape 20 is further bonded to the lower surface of the cushion layer 18.

  The felt material 1 shown in FIG. 5 is cut as illustrated in FIG. 6 and is used as a seal material 1a, 1a and 1b, 1b (FIG. 7) in a part of the process cartridge 10 that is detachably stored in the laser beam printer. Adhere. In FIG. 7, the cartridge 10 includes a frame 24 having a photosensitive drum 21, a charging roller 22 and a cleaning mechanism 23, and a developing mechanism 26 having a developing roller 25, and the developing mechanism can be rotated with respect to the frame 24. Attach as shown. When the cartridge 10 is detachably housed in the printer main body, an exposure mechanism for irradiating a laser beam 27 to form an electrostatic latent image on the drum surface is disposed above the cartridge. Is contacted by a transfer roller 28 for primary transfer of the developed toner image. The transfer paper 30 passes between the photosensitive drum 21 and the transfer roller 28, and a fixing device (not shown) is disposed in front of the arrow that is the feeding direction of the transfer paper.

  The photosensitive drum 21 is provided with a photosensitive layer such as OPC on the outer peripheral surface of the aluminum cylinder body. In this printer, the photosensitive drum 21 is rotated at a predetermined peripheral speed in the direction of the arrow, and the drum comes into contact with the charging roller 22 for uniformly charging the drum surface according to the rotation, and then the laser beam 27 is sequentially applied. The exposure mechanism by irradiation, the developing roller 25 and the transfer roller 28 are contacted. As shown in FIG. 7, developing roller sealing materials 1b and 1b are attached to both ends of the developing roller 25 to prevent the toner 31 from leaking out.

  The photosensitive drum 21 is adjacent to a cleaning mechanism 23 that removes residual toner after transfer after temporarily transferring the toner image formed on the drum surface to the transfer paper 30 by the developing roller 25 of the developing mechanism. The photosensitive drum 21 is opposed to the opening 34 of the cleaning container 32 in the cleaning mechanism 23, and a cleaning blade 36 made of urethane rubber or the like is installed at the edge of the opening so that the edge of the blade is moved to the photosensitive drum 21. After the primary transfer, the remaining toner is scraped off from the surface of the photosensitive drum and sent into the cleaning container 32.

  In the cleaning mechanism 23, sealing materials 1 a and 1 a are attached to both ends of the cleaning blade 36 in accordance with the shape of the cleaning blade 36, and the felt material also contacts both ends of the surface of the photosensitive drum 21. The sealing materials 1a and 1a for the photosensitive drum are manufactured by cutting the felt material 1. This sealing material may be attached along the edge of the container opening 34. The cleaning mechanism 23 removes the toner remaining on the drum surface and accumulates it in the internal cleaning container 32. The felt materials 1 a and 1 a prevent the collected residual toner from leaking out from both sides of the container opening 34. The cleaning mechanism 23 has an excellent toner removal capability due to the presence of the felt materials 1 a and 1 a, and can be applied to the process cartridge 10.

  The felt material 1 as the sealing materials 1a, 1a and 1b, 1b has a slanted hair sheet layer 2 having a thickness of 1.0 ± 0.2 mm, and a predetermined portion, that is, a developing roller by a double-sided adhesive tape 20 on the lower side. 25, and affixed to both ends of the cleaning blade 36 and the opening 34 of the cleaning container 32 to prevent the toner from leaking outside. In the developing mechanism 26, since the sealing materials 1b and 1b function as a gap maintaining material, the minute gap between the developing roller 25 and the photosensitive drum 21 is always held constant, and a good image can be stably output. In the cleaning mechanism 23, the cleaning blade 36 and the container opening 34 can be lightly adhered to the drum surface due to the presence of the cushion layers 18 of the felt materials 1a and 1a at both ends.

  The felt material 1 has sufficient slidability and toner sealability as the sealing materials 1a, 1a and 1b, 1b. Accordingly, the felt material 1 is widely applicable to the process cartridge 10 because it has excellent toner drainage prevention and toner removal capability and high durability, and hardly damages the photosensitive drum 21 and the developing roller 25.

Comparative Example 1
A 100% PTFE fiber having a fineness of 6.7 dtex is uniformly mixed, and the obtained web is appropriately laminated to form a card wrap. This card wrap is processed in the same manner as in Example 1 to obtain a sheet layer having a thickness of 1.0 mm and a basis weight of 650 g / m ² . A cushion layer is laminated on this sheet layer in the same manner as in Example 1, and a double-sided adhesive tape is further adhered to produce a felt material.

  The felt material is appropriately cut and attached to the process cartridge 10 as a sealing material as in the first embodiment. This felt material causes toner leakage from a part of the cartridge 10 even if the slidability is relatively good.

Comparative Example 2
70% by weight of PTFE fiber having a fineness of 33.3 dtex and 30% by weight of meta-aramid fiber having a fineness of 2.2 dtex are uniformly mixed, and the obtained web is appropriately laminated to form a card wrap. This card wrap is processed in the same manner as in Example 1 to obtain a sheet layer having a thickness of 1.0 mm and a basis weight of 370 g / m ² . A cushion layer is laminated on this sheet layer in the same manner as in Example 1, and a double-sided adhesive tape is further adhered to produce a felt material.

  The felt material is appropriately cut and applied to the process cartridge 10 as a sealing material as in the first embodiment. This felt material is liable to cause toner leakage from a part of the cartridge 10 even if the slidability is good.

Comparative Example 3
70% by weight of PTFE fiber having a fineness of 33.3 dtex and 30% by weight of meta-aramid fiber having a fineness of 14.4 dtex are uniformly mixed, and the obtained web is appropriately laminated to form a card wrap. Although this card wrap is processed in the same manner as in Example 1, a smooth sheet layer having a thickness of 1.0 mm and a basis weight of 370 g / m ² is obtained without performing another needle punch using the special needle 11 for napping. . A cushion layer is laminated on this sheet layer in the same manner as in Example 1, and a double-sided adhesive tape is further adhered to produce a felt material.

  The felt material is appropriately cut and applied to the process cartridge 10 as a sealing material as in the first embodiment. This felt material is insufficient in both slidability and sealability and cannot be applied to the cartridge 10.

  A sheet layer 2 having a thickness of 1.0 mm is treated in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 50% by weight of PTFE fiber having a fineness of 33.3 dtex and 50% by weight of meta-aramid fiber having a fineness of 14.4 dtex are mixed. obtain. A cushion layer 18 is laminated on this sheet layer in the same manner as in Example 1, and a double-sided adhesive tape 20 is further adhered to produce a felt material.

  This felt material is appropriately cut to form a seal material, and is applied to a toner cartridge 38 for a monochrome copying machine as shown in FIG. In the cartridge 38, arc-shaped cutout portions 40 are formed on both lower side walls thereof, and the developing roller 42 is rotatably installed in the cutout portion, and the toner 44 is stored in the cartridge. Both end portions of the developing roller 42 are extended to the notch portions 40 on both side walls, and are attached to the notch portion 40 via the seal material 46 so as to be rotatable. Above the toner supply port, a charging blade 48 is held while being pressed against the surface of the developing roller 42.

  The developing roller 42 is, for example, an aluminum cylinder, rotates with a thin layer of toner attached to the surface thereof, and is disposed to face the photosensitive drum 50 of the copying machine main body. When the photosensitive drum 50 rotates in the direction of the arrow and the developing roller 42 rotates in the counterclockwise direction, the toner adheres to the surface of the developing roller 42 according to the strength of the electric field formed by the charge of the latent image on the drum surface. And is developed by being attached to the charged portion of the drum surface.

  Although this felt material has a slightly lower slidability as that of the seal material 46 than that of the first embodiment, it is at a sufficiently usable level, and the toner sealability is further improved. Therefore, this felt material can effectively prevent the toner 44 attached to the developing roller 42 in the cartridge 38 from leaking to the outside of the side wall.

  In Example 1, a sheet layer 2 having a thickness of 1.0 mm is obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that FEP fiber having a fineness of 40 dtex is used instead of PTFE fiber. A cushion layer 18 is laminated on this sheet layer in the same manner as in Example 1, and a double-sided adhesive tape 20 is further adhered to produce a felt material.

  This felt material has sufficient slidability and toner sealability as the seal material of Example 1. Therefore, this felt material is excellent in the toner leakage prevention and toner removal capability and has high durability, and can be widely applied to process cartridges and toner cartridges.

  In Example 1, a felt material having a sheet layer having a thickness of 1.0 mm was processed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 66 nylon fiber kneaded with 30% PTFE resin powder was used instead of PTFE fiber. Get. A cushion layer 18 is laminated on this sheet layer in the same manner as in Example 1, and a double-sided adhesive tape 20 is further adhered to produce a felt material.

  This felt material also has sufficient slidability and toner sealability as the seal material of Example 1. Therefore, this felt material is excellent in the toner leakage prevention and toner removal capability and has high durability, and can be widely applied to process cartridges and toner cartridges.

  In the fixing device 52 (FIG. 9) of a general four-color printer, the felt material 1 manufactured in Example 1 is applied to the cleaning roller 56 that contacts the peripheral surface of the silicon rubber of the heating roller 54 that heats the toner image surface. Applicable. The cleaning roller 56 is manufactured by winding the sheet-like felt material 1 around the roll core 58 and fixing it in a cylindrical shape.

  Although not shown, this color printer has a paper feed roller for pulling out the recording paper from the printer paper cassette, a transfer roller for retransferring the color toner image on the intermediate transfer drum to the recording paper, and the back surface of the recording paper is neutralized. A static eliminator that supports peeling from the intermediate transfer drum, and a fixing device 52 (FIG. 9) that thermally fixes the color toner image transferred onto the recording paper to the recording paper. The fixing device 52 has a heating roller 54 that heats the toner image surface of the recording paper and a heating roller 60 that heats the anti-toner image surface, and both the heating rollers are heated by a heater lamp inserted in the center. On the outer peripheral surface of the heating roller 54, a cleaning roller 56, an oil supply sheet 62, and an oil blade 64 that scrapes off excess oil are disposed in contact with each other. The silicon oil in the oil pan 66 is supplied from the oil bottle 68 by the consumed amount, and the silicon oil scraped off by the oil blade 64 is returned to the oil pan 66.

  In the fixing device 52, a part of the toner melted on the recording paper is easily transferred from the recording paper to the heating roller 54, and the transferred toner is retransferred to the recording paper, so that a photosensitive image is easily stained. In order to prevent such a phenomenon, a cleaning roller 56 is installed to remove residual toner from the peripheral surface of the heating roller 54 on the toner image surface, and silicon oil is applied to the peripheral surface of the roller 54. The surface layer of the heating roller 54 is made of silicon rubber 70 having a good affinity with silicone oil. By applying silicone oil, the surface of the heating roller 54 is releasable, and the toner melted on the recording paper is transferred to the heating roller 54. Suppress metastasis.

  The felt material 1 on the surface of the cleaning roller 56 has good slidability and scraping properties of residual toner, and has high heat resistance and low heat shrinkage. For this reason, the cleaning roller 56 hardly damages the heating roller 54, and has a high cleaning performance stably for a long period of time.

The felt material manufactured in the second embodiment can be applied to the oil supply sheet 62 in the fixing device 52 shown in FIG. In this case, the card wrap is divided into two equal parts, and an aramid fiber multifilament woven fabric having a basis weight of 80 g / m ² is interposed between them. An oil supply sheet 62 having a size of 2 mm and a basis weight of 500 g / m ² is manufactured.

  An oil supply sheet 62 that supplies oil to the peripheral surface of the heating roller 54 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the heating roller 54 to apply oil, and is screwed to a felt guide (not shown). With respect to the oil supply sheet 62, the lower end portion of the sheet is hung inside the oil pan 66, and the oil pan is filled with silicon oil.

  The oil supply sheet 62 has sufficient slidability and is also flame retardant. Therefore, even in a high temperature environment close to 300 ° C., the heat shrinkage rate after 2 hours is 5% or less, and deteriorates due to heat received from the heating roller 54. The oil application can be continued for a long period of time without leaving the peripheral surface of the heating roller 54 due to heat shrinkage. The oil supply sheet 62 has a strong capillary phenomenon due to a large number of nappings on the surface, and the contact with the heating roller 54 is also good. Further, the oil supply sheet 62 always secures a sufficient amount of oil when processed to an optimum density for sucking up oil, and can supply a sufficient amount of oil stably even without a conventional oil pump.

It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows an example of the card wrap used by this invention. It is a schematic explanatory drawing which shows the state which performs another needle punch with the special needle for napping with respect to the card | curd wrap of FIG. It is an expanded sectional view of the felt material raised. It is a schematic explanatory drawing which shows the state which carries out the oblique hair process of a napped felt material. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows an example of the felt material which concerns on this invention. (1) is a side view of the process cartridge shown with the developing mechanism and the photosensitive drum removed, and (2) is a side view of the photosensitive drum installed in the cartridge. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the use condition of the process cartridge of FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example in which a felt material is used as a seal material and installed in a toner cartridge for a monochrome copying machine. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the example which used the felt material for the fixing device as a cleaning material or an oiling sheet.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Felt material 2 Sheet layer 3 PTFE fiber 5 Aramid fiber 6 Card wrap 7 Napping 10 Process cartridge 18 Cushion layer 20 Double-sided adhesive tape 56 Cleaning roller 62 Oil supply sheet

Claims (5)

  A felt material for preventing toner or oil from leaking to the outside in close contact with the surface of the working member, a relatively thick slidable fiber having a fineness of 50 dtex or less and a relatively thin rigid fiber having a fineness of 5 dtex or more A felt material for preventing leakage of toner, etc., comprising a sheet layer integrated with a needle punch, and the nappings on the contact surface of the sheet layer are substantially cut.   A felt material for preventing toner and oil from leaking to the outside in close contact with the surface of the working member, which is 40 to 80% by weight of relatively thick slidable fibers and 20 to 60% by weight of relatively thin rigid fibers. A sheet layer composed of: a cushion layer that is attached to the back surface of the sheet layer to give a predetermined elasticity; and an adhesive layer that fixes the sheet layer and the cushion layer in a predetermined position. A felt material for preventing leakage of toner, etc., in which a relatively large number of cuts and a relatively small number of looped nappings are formed on the surface of the entangled sheet layer by further needle punching.   3. The felt material according to claim 1, wherein, on the contact surface of the sheet layer, the napping is cut or looped with an average height of 0.1 to 1.5 mm.   The slidable fiber has a fineness of 7 to 50 dtex, and is a fiber based on fluorine fiber, polyimide fiber, polyamideimide fiber, fiber coated with fluorine resin, or fiber kneaded with fluorine resin or silicon resin powder. The felt material according to 1 or 2. The rigid fiber has a fineness of 5 to 45 dtex, and is a polyamide fiber such as meta-aramid fiber, para-aramid fiber, 66 nylon fiber, polyester fiber, liquid crystal polyester fiber, PPS fiber, or polyolefin fiber. Felt material.

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