JP2006305946A - Manufacturing method of large diameter tubular matter, tubular matter and sheet-like matter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize the easy manufacturing of tubular matters, the sizes of which are different from one another, especially a large sized tubular portion without employing a die. <P>SOLUTION: The method for manufacturing a large diameter tubular matter equipped with a surface layer made of an elastomeric composition on the surface of a flexible belt base material includes a process for adjusting the interval between end rollers, around which the belt base material is wound and the interval between which is freely adjustable, so as to bring the belt base material into a stretched held state under tension in response to the size of the belt base material, a coating process of the liquefied elastomeric composition on the outer peripheral surface of the belt base material with a dispenser under the condition that the belt base material wound around the rollers are kept on being rotated by rotating the rollers and a process for curing the coated elastomeric composition by heating or drying. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a large-diameter tubular article, and a large-diameter tubular article and a sheet-like article produced by the method. More specifically, a large-sized tubular article having a different size can be easily obtained without using a mold. It is a method that can be manufactured, and is suitably used for large blankets for intaglio offset printing, large intermediate transfer belts used in electrophotography, and the like.

  Conventionally, the color filter for liquid crystal display panels and the electrodes for plasma display panels have been manufactured by applying photolithography to the entire glass substrate with color filter ink or electrode paste on the entire glass substrate, and removing excess areas. Has been.

However, recently, in order to reduce the cost, the electrode has begun to be manufactured using an intaglio offset printing method.
Intaglio offset printing can easily print color filter ink and electrode paste applied on the surface of a blanket at a predetermined position on a glass substrate. Therefore, it is more expensive than photolithography. And the amount of electrode paste used can be significantly reduced.
In this intaglio offset printing, the ink or paste supplied to the intaglio is temporarily transferred to a blanket and then transferred to a glass substrate. Silicone rubber that can transfer 100% of the ink or paste to the subject is printed on the surface. A blanket provided as is preferably used.

  In recent years, in the manufacture of liquid crystal display panels and plasma display panels, the size of glass substrates used has been increasing for mass production and increased efficiency. Correspondingly, the size of intaglio offset printing presses is increasing, and the size of blankets used is also increasing. For example, the required specifications of the silicone blanket are extremely strict, with a width of 1600 mm or more (in the future, 2000 mm or more), a circumferential length of 2000 mm or more, a thickness accuracy of ± 10 μm, and a surface property of a mirror surface. It is a request.

  On the other hand, in electrophotographic copying machines and printers, an intermediate transfer belt for receiving toner from a photoconductor and transferring it to paper is used with the recent colorization. Similar to the blanket, the intermediate transfer belt is required to have thickness accuracy and surface property, and has an endless shape. Although the diameter of the intermediate transfer belt of current OA equipment or the like is relatively small up to about 300 mm, if a large intermediate transfer belt can be manufactured, further application development of the electrophotographic system can be achieved.

  As a method for producing a silicone blanket, a method for injecting silicone rubber into a mold and molding has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-112981 (Patent Document 1). Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-136856 (Patent Document 2) proposes a method in which a silicone rubber is applied on a substrate, the coating layer is held horizontally and self-leveling and then cured.

However, in the method described in Patent Document 1, an accurate blanket can be obtained if the blanket is a small size. However, in the case of a blanket having a peripheral length exceeding 1000 mm, it is necessary to prepare a large mold having excellent surface properties. And the metal mold | die according to size must be produced separately, respectively, and installation cost increases. In addition, there is a problem in that the mold is distorted during casting and the thickness accuracy of the blanket is deteriorated.
In the method described in Patent Document 2, a large blanket can be formed by preparing a large coating apparatus. However, since it is necessary to control the thickness by self-leveling of silicone rubber, maintenance of peripheral devices, There was a problem that management became complicated.

On the other hand, as a method for producing an intermediate transfer belt, conventionally, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-292655 (Patent Document 3), liquid silicone rubber is injected into the inner surface of a cylindrical mold and is heated and cured while rotating the mold. Therefore, a centrifugal molding method for molding a belt has been proposed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-263562 (Patent Document 4) proposes a method in which an endless belt base is arranged and held in a cylindrical shape by a sleeve, and the endless belt base is rotated to apply a coating liquid onto the outer peripheral surface. Has been.

However, even in the methods described in Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4, if the belt has a small size up to about 300 mm, the belt diameter can be accurately formed, but if a large size belt is to be formed However, there is a problem that it is necessary to prepare a large mold, and the handling thereof requires labor and is inferior in mass productivity.
Further, the method described in Patent Document 4 has a problem that a complicated mechanism such as a sleeve for arranging and holding the belt base in a cylindrical shape and a belt fixing means is necessary.

JP-A-8-112981 JP 2003-136856 A JP 2002-292655 A JP 2002-263562 A

  The present invention can be manufactured even if the size of the tubular product is different without using a mold, and in particular, a tubular product excellent in thickness accuracy and surface property even in a large size that has not been conventionally used. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a large-diameter tubular product that can be used.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is a method for producing a large-diameter tubular article comprising a surface layer made of an elastomer composition on the surface of a flexible belt base material,
A step of adjusting a distance between rollers at least at both ends around which the belt base material is wound, and adjusting the roller distance so that the belt base material is stretched and held by the roller according to the size of the belt base material When,
Next, rotating the roller and rotating the belt base material wound around these rollers, applying the liquid elastomer composition to the outer peripheral surface of the belt base material with a dispenser;
There is provided a method for producing a large-diameter tubular article, comprising a step of curing the coated elastomer composition by heating or drying.

  One of the rollers at both ends is a rotational driving roller, the other is a driven roller for tension load, and the rotational driving roller and the driven roller support one end side in the axial direction and are on the other end side. Freely cantilevered, the belt base material is inserted into the roller side from the other end side and wound around the roller, and the driven roller is moved away from the rotational drive roller to be fixed to stretch the belt base material. It is preferable to mount.

The rotation driving roller may be fixed to itself, and the rotation shaft may be directly driven to rotate by driving means, or may be configured to be slidably driven by a roller rotated by the driving means. .
The roller on the other end side is a roller that moves according to the size of the belt base material, and the roller is driven as the belt base material is circulated by the rotation drive roller.

  An intermediate tension roller for holding tension may be rotatably provided between the rollers at both ends so as to support the opposite surfaces of the belt substrate with a required interval in the length direction. Further, it is preferable to provide a tension fine adjustment mechanism at both ends in the axial direction of the driven roller for tension load in order to prevent the belt base material from being displaced during the circulation running. The mechanism comprises a mechanism in which both ends of the driven roller in the axial direction are set on a slide guide and the roller is fixed by finely adjusting the tension at both ends by pushing a bolt.

The dispenser for applying the liquid elastomer composition to the surface of the belt base material is disposed at an upper position on one side of the roller located at both ends of the belt base material, and moves in the width direction perpendicular to the belt circulation direction. It is preferable to apply the liquid elastomer composition to the outer peripheral surface of the substrate with a required thickness.
The application method by the dispenser is not limited to the above method, but by making the movement speed of the dispenser and the belt base material constant, respectively, a surface layer made of an elastomer composition can be formed on the surface of the belt base material with a uniform thickness, If the predetermined thickness is 100%, the thickness accuracy can be increased by setting the variation within ± 3%.
Moreover, it can apply | coat so that a nozzle discharge port may contact | connect the surface of a belt base material, and can prevent the occlusion of the air at the time of application | coating, As a result, an application | coating speed can be raised.

According to the manufacturing method of the present invention, since the roller interval at both ends can be adjusted, even if the size of the tubular product to be manufactured is changed or increased in size, it can be handled by widening the roller interval. Various sizes, in particular, large-sized tubular objects can be manufactured with one manufacturing facility. Since the diameter of the roller is determined by the thickness and size of the belt base material, it is necessary to prepare a plurality of rollers having different roller diameters.
In addition, a conventionally used mold is not required, and it is not necessary to individually manufacture the mold according to the size of the tubular object, so that the cost can be greatly reduced. Furthermore, it is possible to solve the problem that the thickness accuracy that has occurred due to the use of the mold is deteriorated and the problem that the surface has an exotic defect, and it is possible to produce a large-diameter tubular product having excellent thickness accuracy and surface properties. it can.

The belt base material is composed of an endless belt or a belt formed by jointing both end portions of a sheet, and may be a single layer or a plurality of layers.
As the belt substrate, the following (1) or / and (2) are preferably used.
(1) Resin belt base material selected from polyimide, polyamideimide, polycarbonate, or polyethylene terephthalate, polyetheretherketone, polyetherimide;
(2) A metal belt base material selected from iron, stainless steel, aluminum, trunk, and nickel.
In the resin belt base material (1), those having a tensile strength of 80 MPa or more are preferably used. If this is less than 80 MPa, loosening tends to occur when the size is increased, and a surface layer having excellent thickness accuracy cannot be formed. Preferably, it is 100 MPa or more.
In the case of the metal belt base material (2), the thickness is 0.1 mm or more and 0.5 mm or less. If the thickness is less than 0.1 mm, the thickness is low and the handling is difficult, and the folding and deformation are likely to occur. On the other hand, if it exceeds 0.5 mm, it is too thick, and it becomes difficult to form a belt of an appropriate size.

As a belt base material,
Rubber sheet selected from NBR, fluoro rubber, chloroprene rubber, acrylic rubber, urethane rubber,
Polyester, rayon, Kepler, glass fiber, cotton, or fiber cloth made of any blend of these,
Paper and the like can also be used in appropriate combinations.

In particular, the belt base material is suitably used for a large belt base material having a diameter of 300 mm or more, further 500 mm or more, and a width perpendicular to the length of 300 mm or more, further 500 mm or more in a state of being a perfect circle. .
That is, in the present invention, the large-diameter tubular product refers to a tubular product having a diameter of 300 mm or more.

As the elastomer composition, silicone rubber, urethane, and fluorine are preferably used.
As the liquid elastomer composition to be applied by a dispenser, a liquid silicone rubber, a material obtained by adding silicone oil to adjust viscosity, or the like is used. Liquid silicone rubber includes RTV (room temperature curing type) and HTV (heat curing type). There are two liquid types consisting of one liquid type and a main agent and a curing agent. The liquid elastomer composition used in the present invention may be any type.
In addition, when used as an intermediate transfer belt for electrophotographic printing, it is necessary to add an electroconductive agent such as carbon black, zinc oxide, potassium titanate, silver powder, nickel powder, or chain nickel powder, or an ionic conductive agent. Conductivity is imparted.
Moreover, before apply | coating a liquid elastomer composition to a belt base material, adhesiveness with a liquid elastomer composition can be improved by apply | coating a primer to the surface of a belt base material.

The liquid elastomer composition preferably has a viscosity of 10 Pa · s to 600 Pa · s at 25 ° C. before curing.
If this is less than 10 Pa · s, the liquid elastomer composition tends to flow to the surroundings, whereas if it exceeds 600 Pa · s, it is difficult to obtain thickness accuracy.
The coating thickness is preferably in the range of 0.1 to 4 mm. If this is less than 0.1 mm, the thickness accuracy will not be achieved if air is entrained at the time of application, and if it exceeds 4 mm, liquid dripping tends to occur when applied as a liquid elastomer composition, and the outer periphery and inner periphery are cured. Is likely to be uneven.

After applying the liquid elastomer composition to the outer peripheral surface of the belt base material, as a means for heat curing, a far infrared heater may be disposed on both the upper and lower sides of the belt base material circulated in the horizontal direction. The substrate may be placed in an oven together with a roller for rotationally driving and supporting and cured by heating.
About heating temperature and heating time, suitable temperature and time for hardening are suitably set according to the kind etc. of an elastomer composition. For example, in the case of a liquid silicone rubber, it is preferably heated at 20 ° C. or higher and 200 ° C. or lower for 30 minutes to 240 minutes, preferably 40 ° C. or higher and 120 ° C. or lower for 60 minutes to 180 minutes.
The reason why the heating temperature is in the above range is that if the heating temperature is lower than the above range, it takes time to cure the silicone rubber. If the heating temperature is higher than the above range, the silicone rubber deteriorates or cools. This is because it takes time and is not preferable. Further, the heating time is set in the above range because when the heating time is shorter than the above range, the curing of the silicone rubber tends to be insufficient, and when the heating time is longer than the above range, the silicone rubber is easily deteriorated. It is to become.

Secondly, the present invention provides a tubular product manufactured by the manufacturing method described above.
The tubular product is used as an intermediate transfer belt to be mounted on an electrophotographic printing apparatus while being in a belt shape, and is also suitably used as a blanket for covering a cylindrical body for intaglio offset printing.

  Furthermore, the tubular product manufactured by the above-described manufacturing method is preferably used as a rectangular sheet-shaped product that is cut open and developed. In addition, when a tubular material is cut open and used as a sheet, even a base material that is difficult to obtain as an endless base material is jointed at both ends of the sheet base material to form a belt base material, and this joint portion is deleted and used as a sheet-like material. Can do. The sheet is suitably used as a blanket for flat intaglio offset printing.

  When used as a blanket for the intaglio offset printing, silicone rubber is most preferably used as the elastomer composition.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, by allowing the roller interval to be arbitrarily adjusted, it can be used in common according to the size of the tubular product to be manufactured. Large diameter tubular objects can be easily manufactured by widening the roller interval.
Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the need for manufacturing molds that have been conventionally required, and to greatly reduce the manufacturing cost. And the problem that the thickness precision which had arisen by metal mold use can be solved, and a large diameter tubular thing excellent in thickness precision and surface property can be manufactured.

In addition, when the large-diameter tubular product obtained by the production method of the present invention is used on a blanket cylinder of a large-diameter concave offset printing, since it has good thickness accuracy and excellent surface properties, fine printing Can be applied with high accuracy. In particular, when the color filter of a large liquid crystal display panel or the electrode of a plasma display panel is formed by the intaglio offset printing method provided with the blanket of the present invention, a high-quality color filter or electrode can be manufactured at low cost.
In addition, since an intermediate transfer belt equipped in an electrophotographic printing machine such as a copy or a fax machine has a good thickness accuracy and a good surface property, it is possible to realize an accurate color display.

  Further, when the large-diameter tubular product obtained by the manufacturing method of the present invention is cut open and developed into a rectangular sheet, it can be used as a blanket for flat intaglio offset printing, Similar to the blanket, the color filter of the large liquid crystal display panel and the electrode of the plasma display panel can be manufactured with high quality and at low cost.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 3 show a manufacturing apparatus according to a first embodiment used in a method for manufacturing a large-diameter tubular article, and includes a rotation driving roller 2 and a driven roller 3 that stretch a belt base material 1. The rotational driving roller 2 and the driven roller 3 are arranged in parallel with the axis line in the horizontal direction, and the belt base 1 is stretched between the rotational driving roller 2 and the driven roller 3 so that the upper and lower surfaces are circulated in the horizontal direction. I have to.

  The rotational driving roller 2 is stationary, and the driven roller 3 is moved close to and away from the rotational driving roller 2 in the direction indicated by the arrow. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, a ball screw 4 is laid from a position away from the rotational drive roller 2 by a required dimension, and the bearing material 5 of the driven roller 3 is moved along the ball screw 4 by a servo motor. I can stop it. In the present embodiment, the dimension L between the rotational driving roller 2 and the driven roller 3 is set to be adjustable in the range of 300 mm to 1000 mm.

The rotary drive roller 2 and the driven roller 3 are cantilever types and can be moved up and down by the air cylinders 21 and 22. The rotary drive roller 2 is supported by the bearing material 9 and the driven roller 3 is supported by the bearing material 5 when lowered. I am doing so.
The belt substrate 1 is attached to the rotation driving roller 2 and the driven roller 3 and stretched. In order to prevent the rotation roller 2 and the driven roller 3 from being tilted or dropped from the bearing material 9 due to the substrate tension, the rotation driving roller 2 The pressing rollers 24 and 25 are arranged inside the driven roller 3.
Further, the fine adjustment of the tension applied to the belt substrate 1 is performed by adjusting the tension with ball screws at both ends of the driven roller 3.

  In the present embodiment, the rotational driving roller 2 itself is not directly driven by the driving means, and a pair of left and right disk-shaped driving rollers 10 and 11 are disposed below both ends of the rotational driving roller 2 in the axial direction. The drive rollers 10 and 11 are configured to slide the rotation drive roller 2 and follow the rotation drive roller 2. The drive rollers 10 and 11 are synchronously driven at the same rotational speed, and the rotational speed can be adjusted steplessly from a low speed to a high speed.

A dispenser 13 for applying the liquid elastomer composition 30 is installed at an upper position of the rotary drive roller 2, and a discharge nozzle 14 is detachably attached to one end in the axial direction of the dispenser 13.
As shown in FIG. 3, the nozzle 14 is attached so as to be in contact with one end of the upper surface 1 a of the belt base 1 that travels in the horizontal direction. The nozzle 14 has a rectangular cross section, and has a tapered discharge port 14a at the tip, and the discharge port 14a is disposed with a gap corresponding to the final coating thickness from the upper surface 1a of the belt substrate 1 for application. It is configured not to generate air bite.

  The dispenser 13 is moved by the motor 15 in the axial direction of the rotational drive roller 2 as indicated by the arrow direction, and the liquid elastomer composition from one end side to the other end side in the width direction with respect to the outer peripheral surface of the belt base 1. The liquid elastomer composition is applied to the entire outer peripheral surface of the belt substrate 1 with a uniform thickness. The application is performed only once in one direction and is applied once to a predetermined thickness, and no overcoating is employed to prevent the occurrence of air bite.

  Further, a far-infrared heater 16 for heating is installed between the rotary drive roller 2 and the driven roller 3 and on both upper and lower sides of the belt base 1 stretched by these rollers. After the liquid elastomer composition 30 is applied to the outer peripheral surface of the heater, the heater 16 is turned on and heated.

Next, a method for manufacturing a tubular product using the manufacturing apparatus will be described.
The belt substrate 1 is prepared in advance. As described above, the belt substrate 1 includes a single-layer or multiple-layer resin belt, a single-layer metal belt, and a multiple-layer belt in which a resin layer is laminated on a metal belt, depending on the tubular product to be manufactured. . In this embodiment, the belt base material 1 is a resin-made pelt-like base material, and has a large size with a peripheral length of 2000 mm, a width of 1500 mm, and a thickness of 0.25 mm.

The belt substrate 1 is inserted from the free side X (shown in FIG. 1) of the rotational driving roller 2 and the driven roller 3 held in a cantilever manner so as to cover the rotational driving roller 2 and the driven roller 3.
At that time, the driven roller 3 is not in a state where the belt base material 1 is stretched, but can be easily wound around the rollers 2 and 3 by being inserted in a slightly bent state.
Next, the driven roller 3 is moved to the side opposite to the rotation driving roller 2 and stopped in a state where the upper and lower surfaces 1a and 1b of the belt base material 1 are stretched in a straight line, and are positioned and fixed.

As described above, after the belt base material 1 is stretched without slack, the rotation driving roller 2 is rotationally driven to circulate the belt base material 1 and clean the outer peripheral surface of the belt base material 1.
Thereafter, the liquid elastomer composition 30 is applied to the outer peripheral surface of the belt substrate 1 from the nozzle 14 of the dispenser 13. In this embodiment, a two-component addition type liquid silicone rubber is used as the liquid elastomer composition 30.
The dispenser 13 moves the outer peripheral surface of the belt base material 1 in the width direction, applies liquid silicone rubber to the upper surface of the belt base material 1 that circulates, and applies a uniform thickness to the entire outer peripheral surface of the belt base material 1. A surface is formed.

  After the application is completed, the heater 16 is turned on to heat the applied liquid silicone rubber. Also during the heating, the rotational driving roller 2 is rotated at a low speed, and the entire surface of the liquid silicone rubber applied to the outer peripheral surface of the belt base 1 is heated and cured uniformly.

  By curing the liquid silicone rubber, a large-diameter tubular product 40 having an elastic layer 41 made of silicone rubber on the surface of the belt substrate 1 is manufactured. The large-diameter tubular object 40 is extracted from the free side X of the rotary drive roller 2 and the driven roller 3.

  The large-diameter tubular member 40 shown in FIG. 4 manufactured as described above is formed into a perfect circle and is fitted and fixed to a cylindrical blanket cylinder for intaglio offset printing, and used as a blanket for an intaglio offset printing press. Alternatively, an intermediate transfer belt of an electrophotographic printing machine (copier) can be used.

FIG. 5 shows the second embodiment. A large-diameter tubular object 40 manufactured in the same manner as in the first embodiment is cut in the width direction and incised, and expanded in this state, thereby forming a rectangular sheet-like object 45. Yes.
In this case, a belt base material having a belt shape formed by bonding both ends of the sheet is used, and the bonding portion P is cut.
The sheet 45 is fixed to a blanket cylinder of a flat intaglio offset printing press, thereby forming a flat intaglio offset printing press blanket.

FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment, in which two intermediate tension rollers 50 and 51 are arranged with a gap between the rotation driving roller 2 and the driven roller 3. These intermediate tension rollers 50 are in a fixed position, and the driven roller 3 is arranged so as to be movable outward from the intermediate tension roller 51.
The diameters of the intermediate tension rollers 50 and 51 are the same as those of the rotational driving roller 2 and the driven roller 3, and are inscribed in the upper and lower surfaces of the belt base 1 around which both ends are wound around the rotational driving roller 2 and the driven roller 3. The slack does not occur in the middle part.
Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  Hereinafter, the Example of the manufacturing method of the large diameter tubular article of this invention and a comparative example are explained in full detail.

Example 1
A large-diameter tubular product was manufactured using the manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS.
As the belt substrate 1, a polyethylene terephthalate sheet formed as a long sheet was used. Both ends of the sheet were jointed to provide a PET belt. Both ends of the PET were joint-processed to obtain a belt substrate 1 having a width of 1600 mm × a circumference of 2300 mm (diameter 732 mm) × a thickness of 0.25 mm.
The belt base material 1 was inserted into the rotational driving roller 2 and the driven roller 3 from the free side X, and the PET belt was put on the rotational driving roller 2 and the driven roller 3. Next, the driven roller 3 was moved to stretch the belt substrate 1 without slack.

In this state, first, the surface of the PET belt was wiped with acetone, and a primer (manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) was applied.
The dispenser 13 was charged with a silicone rubber solution (KE1603A, KE1603B, blending ratio KE1603A: KE1603B = 1: 1, manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.), and the nozzle 14 was attached to the dispenser 13 after vacuum degassing.

  While rotating the PET belt at a rotation speed of 1150 mm / sec and moving the dispenser 13 at a movement speed of 30 mm / min, a silicone rubber solution is continuously and quantitatively extracted from the nozzle 14 and applied to the entire outer surface of the PET belt. It was.

After the application was completed, the heater 16 was turned on while rotating the PET belt at a low speed, and the silicone rubber was cured by heating at 60 ° C. for 120 minutes.
After the silicone rubber was cured, the belt was taken out from the rotary drive roller 2 and the driven roller 3.
The joint part was cut to obtain a silicone blanket having a width of 1600 mm and a length of 2300 mm.
The surface of the obtained silicone blanket was leveled to be a mirror surface, the thickness was 0.897 mm to 0.905 mm, and the thickness variation was only 0.008 mm.

(Example 2)
A nickel sleeve (width 1200 mm × circumferential length 1500 mm (diameter 478 mm) × thickness 0.10 mm) was used as the belt substrate 1, and was stretched between the rotary drive roller 2 and the driven roller 3 in the same manner as in Example 1.
In this state, first, the surface of the nickel sleeve was wiped with acetone, and a primer (manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) was applied. A silicone rubber solution (KE1603A, KE1603B, manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) added with chain nickel powder (manufactured by Sumitomo Electric Industries) as a conductive agent is added to the dispenser 13 at a blending ratio of KE1603A: KE1603B: silicone oil: chain nickel powder = 45. 1: 45.1: 9.0: 0.8), and set in the nozzle 14 after vacuum degassing.

While rotating the nickel sleeve at a rotational speed of 750 mm / sec and moving the dispenser 13 at a moving speed of 30 mm / min, the silicone rubber solution is continuously and quantitatively extracted from the nozzle 14 and applied to the entire outer surface of the nickel sleeve. It was.
After the application was completed, the silicone sleeve was cured by heating at 80 ° C. for 90 minutes with the heater 16 while the nickel sleeve was rotated at a low speed.
After the silicone rubber was cured, the belt was taken out from the rollers 2 and 3 to obtain a silicone intermediate transfer belt having a width of 1200 mm and a circumferential length of 1500 mm (diameter 478 mm).

The surface of the obtained silicone intermediate transfer belt was leveled to be a mirror surface, and the thickness was 0.893 mm to 0.907 mm.
Further, when the volume resistivity was measured under the conditions of an applied voltage of 250 V and an applied time of 10 seconds using a Hiresta UP and URS probe (manufactured by Dia Instruments), the volume resistivity of the obtained silicone intermediate transfer belt was 1.2. × 10 ⁹ , indicating good conductivity.

(Comparative Example 1)
Prepare a 500 mm square mold with the inner surface of the upper mold mirror-finished, set 0.25 mm thick PET as a base material in the lower mold, wipe the PET surface with acetone, and primer (Shin-Etsu Chemical) Was applied. After attaching rubber packing to the four sides of the PET and fixing the upper mold and the lower mold by bolting, silicone rubber having the same composition as in Example 1 was cast. After casting, the silicone rubber was cured at room temperature to obtain a silicone blanket having a silicone rubber size of 500 mm square.
Although the surface of the obtained silicone blanket was a mirror surface, it had many exotic defects, the thickness was 0.885 mm to 0.913 mm, and the variation was 0.018 mm.

The silicone blanket and the silicone intermediate transfer belt obtained in Example 1 and Example 2 were excellent in surface properties and thickness accuracy while having a large diameter of 300 mm or more.
On the other hand, the silicone blanket obtained in Comparative Example 1 had many exotic defects on the surface, and the thickness accuracy was slightly worse than in the Examples.

  The method for producing a large-diameter tubular article of the present invention can be suitably used when producing an intaglio offset printing blanket, or an electrophotographic intermediate transfer belt used in office automation equipment such as a copying machine or a printer.

(A) is a schematic perspective view which shows the manufacturing apparatus used for the manufacturing method of 1st Embodiment of this invention, (B) is a schematic side view. It is a schematic perspective view which shows a roller space | interval adjustment mechanism. (A), (B), and (C) are perspective views showing the positional relationship between the nozzle and the belt substrate. It is a perspective view which shows the large diameter tubular thing manufactured by the manufacturing method of 1st Embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows 2nd Embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows 3rd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Belt base material 2 Rotation drive roller 3 Follower roller 13 for tension load Dispenser 14 Nozzle 40 Large-diameter tubular thing 45 Sheet-like thing

Claims (10)

A method for producing a large-diameter tubular product comprising a surface layer made of an elastomer composition on the surface of a flexible belt substrate,
A step of adjusting a distance between rollers at least at both ends around which the belt base material is wound, and adjusting the roller distance so that the belt base material is stretched and held by the roller according to the size of the belt base material When,
Next, rotating the roller and rotating the belt base material wound around these rollers, applying the liquid elastomer composition to the outer peripheral surface of the belt base material with a dispenser;
The manufacturing method of the large diameter tubular thing characterized by including the process of hardening the apply | coated said elastomer composition by heating or drying.   One of the rollers at both ends is a rotational driving roller, the other is a driven roller for tension load, and the rotational driving roller and the driven roller support one end side in the axial direction and are on the other end side. Freely cantilevered, the belt base material is inserted into the roller side from the other end side and wound around the roller, and the driven roller is moved away from the rotational drive roller to be fixed to stretch the belt base material. The method for producing a large-diameter tubular article according to claim 1, wherein   The dispenser is disposed at an upper position on one side of the roller located at both ends of the belt base material, moves in a width direction orthogonal to the belt circulation direction, and has a required thickness on the outer peripheral surface of the belt base material. The manufacturing method of the large diameter tubular thing of Claim 1 or Claim 2 which has apply | coated the liquid elastomer composition.   The large-diameter tubular according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the belt base material is a belt-like shape obtained by jointing both end portions of an endless belt or a sheet and having a diameter of 300 mm or more. Manufacturing method.   The large-diameter tubular article according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the belt base material is made of a resin film having a tensile strength of 80 MPa or more, or a metal plate having a thickness of 0.1 mm or more and 0.5 mm or less. Manufacturing method. The elastomer composition is selected from silicone rubber, urethane, fluorine,
The said belt base material is a manufacturing method of the large diameter tubular thing of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 5 which consists of a single | mono layer or multiple layers which consists of following (1) or / and (2).
(1) A resin belt substrate made of a resin composition selected from polyimide, polyamideimide, polycarbonate, or polyethylene terephthalate, polyetheretherketone, polyetherimide;
(2) A metal belt base material selected from iron, stainless steel, aluminum, trunk, and nickel.   The tubular thing manufactured by the manufacturing method of any one of Claim 1 thru | or 6.   The tubular article according to claim 7, which is used as a blanket for intaglio offset printing or as an intermediate transfer belt mounted on an electrophotographic printing apparatus.   The sheet-like thing which cut and opened the tubular thing manufactured by the manufacturing method of any one of Claims 1 thru | or 6.   The sheet-like material according to claim 9, which is used as a blanket for intaglio offset printing.

Images