JP2006337737A - Method for recycling rubber roller, rubber roller recycled by the method, process cartridge having rubber roller, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for recycling a roller which has a desired smoothness, is excellent in dimensional precision of an outside diameter or the like, is excellent in durability, and can output a satisfactory image for a long period of time. <P>SOLUTION: The rubber roller has at least one elastic layer on the periphery of a shaft core body or has at least one resin layer formed on the periphery of the outermost elastic layer. The recycling method for the rubber roller is characterized by using a ring type application head when re-forming the elastic layer and the resin layer after the removal of the circumferential surface of at least the outermost layer, and discharging a material used for re-forming the elastic layer and the resin layer from the ring type application head. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for regenerating a rubber roller disposed around a photosensitive drum in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic apparatus, a printer, or an electrostatic recording apparatus. The present invention also relates to a rubber roller reproduced by the reproducing method, a process cartridge having the rubber roller, and an image forming apparatus.

  A conventional electrophotographic apparatus will be described below. An image forming unit is installed inside the main body of the apparatus, and an image is formed through processes of cleaning, charging, latent image, development, transfer, and fixing. The image forming unit includes a photosensitive drum as an image carrier, and includes a cleaning unit, a charging unit, a latent image forming unit, a developing unit, and a transfer unit. The image on the photosensitive drum formed by the image forming unit is transferred to a recording material by a transfer member, conveyed, and then heated and pressed by a fixing unit, and output as a fixed recorded image.

  Next, among the cleaning, charging, latent image, development, transfer, and fixing processes, the charging, latent image formation, development, and transfer processes will be described.

  The charging member performs a primary charging process on the surface of the photosensitive drum so that the potential is uniform with a predetermined polarity. After being uniformly charged by the charging member, the target image information is exposed to form an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the target image on the surface of the photosensitive drum. This electrostatic latent image is visualized as a developer image by a developing device. The visualized developer image is transferred to the recording material by applying a voltage from the back surface of the recording material by the transfer means under the photosensitive drum. Thereafter, the recording material is conveyed to a fixing unit, subjected to image fixing, and output as an image formed product.

  In the developing device in the image forming apparatus such as the electrophotographic apparatus described above, since the contact with the photosensitive drum is good, the charging member, the developing member for visualizing the latent image, the transfer unit, etc. are made of an elastic material. A rubber roller is used.

  Conventionally, in the above-mentioned various rubber rollers, defective products generated at the time of manufacture cannot be used for the products and are discarded without being repaired. Further, most of the various rubber rollers are used up, and are hardly reused.

  This is because when various rubber rollers are repeatedly used in the electrophotographic process, their electrical characteristics and surface conditions change, and there is a problem that they do not exhibit the same level of characteristics as the initial stage. This may be due to wear due to contact with the photosensitive drum or surface degradation due to the influence of ozone or the like generated by discharge during charging. Further, the deterioration due to repeated use was particularly remarkable in the elastic layer and the resin layer provided on the outer periphery of the shaft core body to impart elasticity to the roller.

  Furthermore, depending on the application used, powder developer (toner) and paper powder adhere to the entire outermost layer and the entire circumference during repeated use.

  When such various rubber rollers are reused as they are after use without using cleaning means, the above-mentioned changes in electrical characteristics and the like may cause the image defect without exhibiting the performance that the rubber roller should originally have. It becomes.

  However, in recent years, ecology has been spreading worldwide. For this reason, from the viewpoints of saving earth resources and protecting the environment, it has been desired that various rubber rollers provided in the electrophotographic apparatus can be recycled and reused by some method. For this reason, various methods for regenerating the rubber roller have been conventionally considered.

  For example, a method is proposed in which the surface layer of a rubber roller is removed by mechanical polishing, and a tube is coated on the polished surface, or a new layer is formed using a dipping method or a roll coating method. (See Patent Document 1). In another proposal, a method of newly covering an elastic layer using an extrusion method or the like in addition to dipping or coating a tube after polishing the surface of a conductive member has been reported (Patent Document 2). ). In addition, a method of forming a new layer containing at least a spherical particle having a number average particle size of 0.3 to 30 μm and a binder resin on the sleeve surface after use as a developer carrier and reusing it has been reported. . Moreover, the dipping method, the spray method, etc. are mentioned as the coating method used by this proposal (refer patent document 3).

  However, when the reproduction is performed using the methods as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, it is necessary to perform polishing very accurately when removing the surface of the roller before the reproduction. This is because, when the above-described reproducing method is used in a state where the surface state is poor and a layer is formed thereon, it is difficult to obtain the desired roller characteristics because the bad surface state is reflected as it is in the newly formed layer. Because there was a case.

  Furthermore, in the method of covering the tube among the above regeneration methods, there is no mention of the adhesion between the surface layer of the roller that needs to be regenerated and the tube. In addition, when the dipping method is used, surface irregularities appear as they are on the surface of the roller after reproduction, and there are cases where the required specifications are not satisfied in a roller that requires smoothness.

Further, in the method of coating a new layer as shown in Patent Document 3, the roller diameter may be slightly increased each time reproduction is performed once. Since various types of rubber rollers used in electrophotography have a very fine outer diameter, it may be difficult to regenerate them many times using this method.
JP-A-8-171264 JP-A-9-311518 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-174819

  As described above, in the reproduction methods of Patent Documents 1 to 3, it is difficult to maintain the smoothness and outer diameter accuracy of the newly reproduced layer to the same level as the original roller. When used in an apparatus, there may be a problem in terms of durability and image accuracy.

  Therefore, the present inventors conducted extensive studies, and when the roller becomes unusable due to long-term use, either or both of the elastic layer and the resin layer that greatly affect the roller characteristics are removed or removed. The surface is removed, and after removal or removal treatment, one or both of an elastic layer and a resin layer are formed using a ring-type coating head, thereby having a desired smoothness, an outer diameter, etc. It was discovered that a roller with excellent dimensional accuracy can be regenerated. The roller regenerated by this method is excellent in durability and can output an excellent image in the long term.

The present inventors have intensively studied to solve the above-mentioned problems, and have reached the present invention. That is, the present invention provides a method for regenerating a rubber roller having at least one elastic layer on the outer periphery of a shaft core body.
(A) a step of removing the circumferential surface of the elastic layer;
(B) A ring-type coating head is arranged on the outer peripheral side of the elastic layer subjected to the removal treatment so as to be concentric with the shaft core body, and a rubber roller having the elastic layer subjected to the removal treatment is disposed on the ring. After applying an elastic layer material on the outer periphery of the elastic layer that has been removed from the coating head while moving in the axial direction relative to the mold coating head, the elastic layer material is cured to be elastic. And a step of forming a layer.

Further, the present invention provides a method for regenerating a rubber roller having at least one elastic layer on the outer periphery of the shaft core and at least one resin layer on the outer periphery of the elastic layer.
(C) removing the resin layer;
(D) a step of removing the circumferential surface of the elastic layer;
(E) A ring-type coating head is arranged on the outer peripheral side of the elastic layer subjected to the removal treatment so as to be concentric with the shaft core body, and a rubber roller having the elastic layer subjected to the removal treatment is disposed on the ring. After applying an elastic layer material on the outer periphery of the elastic layer that has been removed from the coating head while moving in the axial direction relative to the mold coating head, the elastic layer material is cured to be elastic. And (f) a step of forming a resin layer on the outer periphery of the elastic layer after the step (e).

  Further, in the present invention, a ring-type coating head is arranged on the outer peripheral side of the elastic layer so that the step of forming the resin layer in the step (f) is concentric with the shaft core body, and the elastic layer Applying a resin layer material on the outer periphery of the elastic layer from the coating head while moving the rubber roller having an axial direction relative to the ring-type coating head, and then curing the resin layer material It is preferable that

Further, the present invention provides a method for regenerating a rubber roller having at least one elastic layer on the outer periphery of the shaft core and at least one resin layer on the outer periphery of the elastic layer.
(G) removing the resin layer and removing the circumferential surface of the elastic layer, or removing the circumferential surface of the resin layer; and (h) on the outer peripheral side of the layer subjected to the removing treatment of the rubber roller. The ring-type coating head is arranged so as to be concentric with the shaft core body, and the rubber roller is removed from the coating head while moving in the axial direction relative to the ring-type coating head. And a step of applying a resin layer material on the outer periphery of the treated layer and then curing the resin layer material to form a resin layer.

Furthermore, in the present invention, it is preferable that the resin layer material includes urethane rubber.
Furthermore, in the present invention, it is preferable that the application of the resin layer material is performed by discharging a certain amount of the resin layer material from the coating head per unit time when the coating head is moved.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, it is preferable that the elastic layer material is applied by discharging a certain amount of the elastic layer material from the coating head per unit time when the coating head is moved.

Further, in the present invention, the application of the elastic layer material is
(I) applying an elastic layer material on the outer periphery of the elastic layer that has been removed from the coating head when the coating head is moved;
(J) A ring-shaped member that is larger than the shaft core body and has an inner diameter smaller than the roller coated with the elastic layer material in the step (i) is arranged so as to be concentric with the shaft core body, and the elastic layer It is preferable to include a step of scraping off the excess elastic layer material by moving the rubber roller coated with the material in the axial direction relative to the ring-shaped member.

Furthermore, in the present invention, it is preferable that the elastic layer material contains the same component as the elastic layer subjected to the removal treatment.
In the present invention, it is preferable that the elastic layer material includes urethane rubber or silicone rubber.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, it is preferable that the removal process of the circumferential surface is performed by cutting or polishing.

The present invention also relates to a rubber roller that is regenerated by the method for regenerating the rubber roller.
In the present invention, it is preferable that the rubber roller is a fixing roller or a pressure roller.
Furthermore, in the present invention, it is preferable that the rubber roller is a conductive roller.
Furthermore, in the present invention, it is preferable that the conductive roller is a developing roller, a charging roller, or a transfer roller.

The present invention also provides a charging roller that contacts a rotatable photosensitive drum to supply charges to the surface of the photosensitive drum, an exposure unit that records image information on the surface of the photosensitive drum, and a photosensitive roller that contacts the photosensitive drum. In an electrophotographic process cartridge having a developing roller for supplying a developer to the drum surface,
The present invention relates to the electrophotographic process cartridge, wherein at least one of the developing roller and the charging roller is the rubber roller.

The present invention also provides a charging roller that contacts a rotatable photosensitive drum to supply charges to the surface of the photosensitive drum, an exposure unit that records image information on the surface of the photosensitive drum, and a photosensitive roller that contacts the photosensitive drum. A developing roller for supplying a developer to the drum surface, a transfer roller for transferring the developer to a transfer material, a fixing roller, a nip portion with the fixing roller, and the transfer material being pressed against and conveyed by the nip portion In an image forming apparatus having a pressure roller
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, wherein at least one roller selected from the group consisting of a charging roller, a developing roller, a transfer roller, a fixing roller, and a pressure roller is the rubber roller.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the rubber roller after a long time use and the rubber roller with an image defect can be recovered | restored and reused, and it leads to the effective use of earth resources.

  Further, according to the present invention, the outer diameter of the rubber roller after use can be accurately reproduced, so that it can be used for various industrial rubber rollers that require outer diameter accuracy.

  In addition, the rubber roller of the present invention can suppress variations in electrical resistance and surface roughness within the rubber roller, and can sufficiently ensure electrical characteristics and surface properties as a rubber roller in an electrophotographic apparatus. It is possible to output stably.

  Further, in the present invention, when removing a defective portion of the rubber roller (all of the elastic layer, the resin layer, or the surface portion), even if a circumferential runout occurs in the removed rubber roller, the circumferential runout is corrected to some extent and reproduced. Therefore, the accuracy required for the removal process is relaxed, and the rubber roller can be easily regenerated.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

  The rubber roller regenerated by the regenerating method of the present invention can be used as various rollers used in an image forming apparatus. For example, it can be used for a fixing roller, a pressure roller, a developing roller, a transfer roller, a charging roller, and the like. Hereinafter, an example of these rollers will be described.

(Development roller)
An example of the developing roller regenerated by the regenerating method of the present invention is shown in FIG. FIG. 1A shows a cross section parallel to the longitudinal direction of the developing roller, and FIG. 1B shows a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the developing roller has at least one elastic layer 12 formed around the shaft core body 11. A resin layer is formed around the elastic layer 12 to optimize the roller surface. The resin layer does not need to be a single layer, and may be a multilayer.

  The shaft core 11 of the developing roller of the present invention may be any material as long as it is conductive, and can be appropriately selected from carbon steel, alloy steel, cast iron, conductive resin, and the like. Here, examples of the alloy steel include stainless steel, nickel chrome steel, nickel chrome molybdenum steel, chrome steel, chromium molybdenum steel, nitriding steel to which Al, Cr, Mo, and V are added, but from the viewpoint of strength. Metal is preferable. Furthermore, as a countermeasure against rust, the shaft core material can be plated and oxidized. As the type of plating, both electroplating and electroless plating can be used, but electroless plating is preferable from the viewpoint of dimensional stability. Examples of the electroless plating used here include nickel plating, copper plating, gold plating, Kanigen plating, and other various alloy platings. Examples of the nickel plating include Ni—P, Ni—B, Ni—WP, and Ni—P—PTFE composite plating. Each film thickness is preferably 0.05 μm or more, more preferably 0.1 to 30 μm.

  The developing roller needs to have an electric resistance value of the semiconductor region. Further, the developing roller is always in pressure contact with the photosensitive drum, the developing blade, the toner, and the like. For this reason, in order to reduce the damage given to these members, it is important to obtain a good image by using a material having a low hardness and a small compression set. Further, it is desirable that the surface of the developing roller has wear resistance and the like and has high durability. For this reason, the developing roller used in the present invention has a configuration having an elastic layer around the shaft core 11, and may further have a resin layer. In the developing roller of the present invention, the characteristics of the elastic layer and the resin layer greatly affect the roller characteristics, and when the roller is used for a long time, the elastic layer and the resin layer are deteriorated. For this reason, when the roller is regenerated by the regenerating method of the present invention, it is necessary to regenerate the elastic layer, the resin layer, or the elastic layer and the resin layer according to the layer structure of the roller.

  At this time, the hardness of the elastic layer is desirably Asker C hardness of 10 to 80 degrees for the above reason. If the hardness of the elastic layer is a low hardness of less than 10 degrees, the photosensitive drum may be contaminated. Further, when the hardness of the elastic layer is higher than 80 degrees, the toner may be damaged when contacting the toner, and the image quality of the output image may be deteriorated. Further, the elastic layer 12 does not have to be a single layer, and may be a multilayer.

  Examples of the material used for the elastic layer 12 include epoxy rubber, diallyl phthalate rubber, polycarbonate rubber, fluoro rubber, polypropylene rubber, urea rubber, melamine rubber, silicon rubber, polyester rubber, styrene rubber, vinyl acetate rubber, phenol rubber, polyamide rubber, Examples thereof include fiber base rubber, urethane rubber, silicone rubber, acrylic urethane rubber, and water-based rubber. These materials can be used alone or in combination. Furthermore, foams of these materials may be used for the elastic layer.

  In addition, a resin layer may be formed on the outer periphery of the elastic layer in order to improve wear resistance and the like as in the developing roller used in the present invention. Similarly to the elastic layer, the resin layer does not have to be a single layer, and may be a multilayer. Even in the case where the roller having the resin layer provided on the elastic layer is used for a long time, the elastic layer is deteriorated through the resin layer. For this reason, in this case, it is necessary to regenerate the resin layer or the elastic layer and the resin layer by the reproducing method of the present invention.

  In the present invention, after the rubber portion where the developing roller has failed or deteriorated is removed, the elastic layer 13 and the resin layer 14 are newly formed to restore the electrical characteristics and surface characteristics as the developing roller. be able to. As a result, it can be reused as a developing roller.

  Examples of the roller recycling method of the present invention include the following methods (1) to (3) depending on the layer structure of the roller and which layer is to be recycled.

  (1) When the roller is composed of a shaft core and an elastic layer, first, the surface of the elastic layer is removed (step (a)). Various methods can be used as a method for removing the elastic layer surface, but it is preferable to perform a cutting process or a polishing process because the removal process can be easily performed without causing uneven thickness. The cutting process is a process method for scraping the surface of the elastic layer using a knife or the like, for example. The polishing process is a method of shaving the surface of the elastic layer by pressing against the surface of the elastic layer while rotating a grindstone or the like, for example.

  Next, an elastic layer material is applied onto the outer periphery of the removed elastic layer from a ring-type coating head disposed so as to be concentric with the shaft core on the outer peripheral side of the elastic layer. Thereafter, the applied elastic layer material is cured to form an elastic layer (step (b)). As the curing treatment, desired methods and conditions can be used depending on the type of elastic layer material such as heating and ultraviolet irradiation.

  (2) When the roller is composed of a shaft core, an elastic layer, and a resin layer, the resin layer is removed (step (c)) and the elastic layer surface is removed (step (d)). As a removal processing method, it is preferable to use the cutting and polishing used in (1). Thereafter, regeneration of the elastic layer (step (e)) and regeneration of the resin layer (step (f)) are performed. At this time, it is preferable to use the same technique as in step (b) of (1) for the regeneration of the resin layer and the elastic layer. In the curing process, the same method as in step (b) of (1) can be used.

  (3) When the roller is composed of a shaft core, an elastic layer, and a resin layer, the resin layer is removed, or the resin layer is removed and the elastic layer surface is removed (step (g)). Thereafter, the resin layer is regenerated (step (h)). Moreover, it is preferable to use the same method as the above (1) and (2) for the removal treatment method and the regeneration of the resin layer.

  In the present invention, as a method of regenerating the elastic layer 13 and the resin layer 14 as described above (steps (b), (e), (f), (h)), a coating method using a ring-type coating head is used. suggest. Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an apparatus to which the coating method of the embodiment of the present invention is applied. As an example, in the coating apparatus of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a column 202 is attached substantially vertically on the gantry 201, and a precision ball screw 203 is attached substantially vertically to the gantry 201 and the column 202. Yes. Two linear guides 214 are attached to the column 202 in parallel with the precision ball screw 203.

  The LM guide 204 is connected to a linear guide 214 and a precision ball screw 203 so that a rotary motion is transmitted from a servo motor 205 via a pulley 206 so that the LM guide 204 can move up and down.

  A ring-type coating head 208 that discharges the coating liquid is attached to the column 202 on the outer peripheral surface of the developing roller that performs regeneration.

  Further, a bracket 207 is attached to the LM guide 204, and a lower work holding shaft 209 for holding and fixing the developing roller shaft core 11 is attached to the bracket 207 substantially vertically, and the opposite developing roller shaft core 11 is attached. The center axis of the workpiece upper holding shaft 210 is attached to the upper portion of the bracket 207, and the workpiece upper holding shaft is disposed so as to be substantially concentric facing the workpiece lower holding shaft 209 to hold the shaft core body. Yes. Further, the center axis of the ring-shaped coating head 208 is supported so as to be parallel to the moving direction of the workpiece lower holding shaft 209 and the workpiece upper holding shaft 210. Further, when the workpiece lower holding shaft 209 and the workpiece upper holding shaft 210 are moved up and down, the central axis of the discharge port formed in an annular slit opened inside the coating head 208, the workpiece lower holding shaft 209, and the workpiece upper holding shaft 210 are arranged. The center axis is adjusted to be substantially concentric. With such a configuration, the center axis of the discharge port formed as an annular slit of the coating head 208 can be aligned substantially concentrically with the center axis of the shaft core body, and the inner peripheral surface of the ring type coating head and the shaft core A uniform gap is formed between the outer peripheral surface of the body 11.

  The coating solution supply port 211 is connected to a material supply valve 213 via a coating solution transporting pipe 212. The material supply valve 213 includes a mixing mixer, a material supply pump, a material fixed amount discharge device, a material tank, and the like in front of the material supply valve 213, and can continuously discharge a constant amount (a constant amount per unit time) during coating. It has become.

  When the reproduction is performed using a ring-type coating head, the raw material is applied to the outer periphery of the roller with a certain thickness using the coating head as shown in FIG. There is a method of performing regeneration by scraping off the excessively applied raw material later using a coating head as shown in FIG.

  When the coating head of FIG. 3A is used, the raw material (elastic layer material, resin layer material) injected from the material injection port 31 is a material flow path between the coating head upper part 32 and the coating head lower part 33. 34 is discharged from a discharge port 35 inside the ring. Simultaneously with the start of the discharge of the raw material, the roller relatively moves in the ring-type coating head, so that reproduction is performed by applying a certain thickness of material around the roller.

  In the case of using a coating head as shown in FIG. 3B, a sufficient amount of raw materials (elastic layer material, resin layer material) or one of them is sufficient to regenerate the roller inside the ring type coating head. Once the part is held, the roller moves through the ring-type coating head, so that the excess material is applied to the roller while the scraping ring is placed on the coating head. By scraping with the (ring-shaped member) 36, a roller having a constant outer diameter that matches the inner diameter of the scraping ring 36 can be regenerated. At this time, the scraping ring 36 has an inner diameter that is at least smaller than the inner diameter of the upper part of the coating head. In the present invention, the excess raw material is scraped by using a scraping ring, but the scraping method is not limited to this. Further, a regeneration method may be used in which the distance between the scraping ring 36 and the coating head is increased, and after the raw material is excessively applied to the roller, the scraping is performed.

  In the present invention, the elastic layer material and the resin layer material are applied using the ring-type coating head as described above. Further, at the time of this application, the distance between the roller to be applied and the application head in the radial direction is fixed by an apparatus as shown in FIG. For this reason, it is possible to uniformly apply the elastic layer material and the resin layer material.

  When the elastic layer 13 and the resin layer 14 are regenerated, the moving speed of the roller passing through the ring type coating head is preferably 5 to 110 mm / sec. If it is less than 5 mm / sec, the regeneration time for one roller becomes long, which is not preferable from the viewpoint of cost. On the other hand, if it exceeds 110 mm / sec, the supply of raw materials cannot catch up and it becomes difficult to obtain a roller with good dimensional accuracy.

When the elastic layer material or the resin layer material is applied from the coating head, a roller having a higher dimensional accuracy such as an outer diameter can be regenerated by discharging a certain amount per unit time. Preferably the discharge amount of the elastic layer material is 50~15000mm ³ / sec, more preferably 100~10000mm ³ / sec. Preferably the discharge amount of the resin layer material is 1~10000mm ³ / sec, more preferably 10~3000mm ³ / sec. When the discharge amounts of the elastic layer material and the resin layer material are within these ranges, it is possible to apply a layer with good dimensional accuracy at a high application speed.

  Further, in order to control the outer diameter of the roller to be regenerated when the coating head shown in FIG. 3A is used, the feed rate of the raw material and the gap (slit width) between the inner surface of the coating head and the outer peripheral surface of the roller are adjusted. It ’s fine. When the coating head shown in FIG. 3B is used, the outer diameter of the regenerating roller can be controlled by adjusting the inner diameter of the scraping ring.

  When a coating machine having a ring-type coating head is used, the elastic layer 13 having a small circumferential deflection is obtained by properly using the above-described regeneration method in accordance with the degree of circumferential deflection of the elastic roller after polishing. In addition, the resin layer 14 can be regenerated. When a ring-type coating head is used, liquid rubber having a Mooney viscosity of 1 or less as defined in JIS K 6300-1 is used as an elastic layer material from the viewpoint of easy control of the thickness of the layer to be formed. It is desirable to use it. From this point, examples of materials that can be used for the elastic layer 13 include silicone rubber (Q), polysulfide rubber (T), urethane rubber, and diene rubber. These materials can be used alone or in combination of two or more.

  When the elastic layer is regenerated in this way, the material of the elastic layer 12 of the original developing roller is analyzed by FT-IR or the like, and the same material as the elastic layer 12 of the original developing roller or the elastic layer 12 is analyzed. It is preferable to perform the regeneration using a material having the same component as that contained in. Thus, by reproducing the elastic layer containing the same material or the same component as the original elastic layer, the same performance as the original roller can be exhibited. Further, sufficient adhesion between the surface of the elastic layer after the removal treatment and the regenerated elastic layer can be expected.

  The “same material” or “same component” means that the basic structural unit is the same. For example, if the original elastic layer is silicone rubber or urethane rubber, the basic structural unit is the same if the newly regenerated elastic layer is silicone rubber or urethane rubber, respectively. It can be said that the layer contains a component having dimethylpolysiloxane, and in the case of urethane rubber, the original elastic layer and the regenerated elastic layer contain a component having urethane bond —NHCOO—. It should be noted that the original elastic layer and the newly regenerated elastic layer need not have the same materials or components, and the components outside the basic structural unit may be different.

When the roller regenerated by the regenerating method of the present invention is used as a developing roller, the elastic layer contains a conductive agent and is made of a rubber material having a volume resistivity of 1 × 10 ⁴ to 1 × 10 ¹⁰ Ω · cm. Is preferred. Here, if the volume resistivity of the elastic layer material is 1 × 10 ⁴ to 1 × 10 ¹¹ Ω · cm, it is possible to obtain uniform charge controllability for the toner. The volume resistivity is more preferably 1 × 10 ⁴ to 1 × 10 ⁹ Ω · cm.

  When measuring the volume resistivity, an appropriate heat treatment is performed according to the material, a test piece having a thickness of 10 mm is molded, and the measurement is performed. When using a silicone material, a test piece was prepared under the following conditions and measured.

  A test piece is placed in an oven at 130 ° C and heated for 20 minutes to form a rubber sheet with a thickness of 10mm, and then subjected to secondary vulcanization in an oven at 200 ° C for 4 hours, using Hiresta IP (manufactured by Mitsubishi Yuka Co., Ltd.). And measured by applying a voltage of 100V.

Further, when the roller regenerated by the reproducing method of the present invention is a transfer roller, the resistance value of the elastic layer is equal to or greater than the resistance value of the recording material, and a required charge amount can be imparted to the recording material 1 × 10 ^5. A medium resistance of ˜1 × 10 ¹¹ Ω · cm is suitable. This is because if the resistance is too low, the resistance of the transfer material becomes high, especially at low humidity, so that a sufficient charge cannot be given to the recording material, resulting in a transfer defect. Needless to say, even if the resistance is too high, the charge imparted to the recording material is insufficient.

  As described above, as a means for making the elastic layer material conductive in accordance with the use, a method of making the material conductive by adding a conductivity imparting agent based on an ionic conduction mechanism or an electronic conduction mechanism to the material is widely known.

Examples of the conductivity-imparting agent based on the ionic conduction mechanism include LiCF ₃ SO ₃ , NaClO ₄ , LiClO ₄ , LiAsF ₆ , LiBF ₄ , NaSCN, KSCN, NaCl and other group 1 metal salts, NH ₄ Cl, (NH ₄ ) Ammonium salts such as ₂ SO ₄ and NH ₄ NO ₃ , salts of Group 2 metals of the periodic table such as Ca (ClO ₄ ) ₂ and Ba (ClO ₄ ) ₂ , these salts and 1,4-butanediol , Complexes with polyhydric alcohols such as ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol, polypropylene glycol and their derivatives, their salts and ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether, polyethylene glycol monoethyl ether Complex with monools, etc., 4th Examples include cationic surfactants such as quaternary ammonium salts, anionic surfactants such as aliphatic sulfonates, alkyl sulfate esters, and alkyl phosphate esters, and amphoteric surfactants such as betaines.

  In addition, as a conductivity imparting agent by an electronic conduction mechanism, carbon-based materials such as carbon black and graphite, metals or alloys such as aluminum, silver, gold, tin-lead alloy, copper-nickel alloy, zinc oxide, titanium oxide, oxidation Examples thereof include metal oxides such as aluminum, tin oxide, antimony oxide, indium oxide, and silver oxide, and materials obtained by applying conductive metal plating such as copper, nickel, and silver to various fillers. These conductivity-imparting agents based on the ion conduction mechanism and the electron conduction mechanism can be used alone or in a mixture of two or more in the form of powder or fiber. Among these, carbon black is often used from the viewpoint of easy control of conductivity and economy, and in the present invention, a method using an electronic conduction mechanism is used.

  When the resin layer 14 is regenerated, the materials used are epoxy resin, diallyl phthalate resin, polycarbonate resin, fluorine resin, polypropylene resin, urea resin, melamine resin, silicon resin, polyester resin, styrene resin, vinyl acetate resin, Examples include phenolic resins, polyamide resins, fiber-based resins, urethane resins, silicone resins, acrylic urethane resins, and water-based resins. It is also possible to use a combination of two or more of these. Among these, it is particularly preferable to use a nitrogen-containing compound such as a urethane resin or an acrylic urethane resin because the toner can be stably charged.

  The urethane resin used here is obtained from an isocyanate compound and a polyol.

  Diisocyanate-4,4′-diisocyanate, 1,5-naphthalene diisocyanate, 3,3′-dimethylbiphenyl-4,4′-diisocyanate, 4,4′-dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate, p-phenylene diisocyanate as isocyanate compounds Isophorone diisocyanate, carbodiimide-modified MDI, xylylene diisocyanate, trimethylhexamethylene diisocyanate, tolylene diisocyanate, naphthylene diisocyanate, paraphenylene diisocyanate, hexamethylene diisocyanate, polymethylene polyphenyl polyisocyanate and the like can be used. Moreover, these mixtures can also be used and the mixing ratio may be any ratio.

  In addition, as the polyol used here, as a divalent polyol (diol), ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, 1,4-butanediol, hexanediol, neopentyl glycol, 1,4-cyclohexanediol 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol, xylene glycol, triethylene glycol, etc., and trivalent or higher polyols include 1,1,1-trimethylolpropane, glycerin, pentaerythritol, sorbitol, etc. be able to. Furthermore, polyols such as high molecular weight polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, and ethylene oxide-propylene oxide block glycol obtained by adding ethylene oxide and propylene oxide to diol, triol, and the like can also be used. Moreover, these mixtures can also be used and the mixing ratio may be any ratio.

  Further, as a method for regenerating the resin layer 14, generally known coating methods such as a ring coating method, a dipping method, a roll coating method, and a spray coating method can be used, but the thickness of the resin layer 14 can be easily controlled. For reasons such as the above, the ring coating method (a method in which a ring-type coating head is arranged on the outer peripheral side of the roller so as to be concentric with the shaft core, and a resin layer material is applied and cured on the outer periphery of the elastic layer: It is preferred to use the same method as in step (b). At this time, the resin layer material can be used as a material that can be used in the ring coating method. In the ring coating method, it is preferable to use a material having a viscosity of 5 to 500 cps. When the viscosity is less than 5 cps, it is difficult to obtain a desired shape because the material flows until it is cured after being discharged. Further, when the viscosity exceeds 500 cps, it becomes difficult to stably discharge from the coating head, so that it is difficult to control the thickness and shape.

  When using the dipping method, it is preferable to use a material having a viscosity of 5 to 50 cps. If the viscosity is less than 5 cps, the shape collapses until the material is cured and stabilized, and the specifications as a developing roller are not satisfied. Further, when the viscosity of the material exceeds 50 cps, it becomes difficult to uniformly form the resin layer 14 on the surface of the regenerated elastic layer 13.

  Furthermore, the resin layer 14 can be used by imparting conductivity. As a method for imparting conductivity, it is possible to use a method similar to the above-described method for making the elastic layer conductive.

  Furthermore, the thickness of the resin layer 14 is preferably 1 to 500 μm. More preferably, the thickness of the resin layer 14 is 1 to 50 μm. If the resin layer 14 is too thin, the durability may be lowered. If the resin layer 14 is too thick, the developing roller becomes hard and causes toner fusion, which is not preferable. Further, when the thickness unevenness of the resin layer 14 is large in the developing roller, the characteristics vary depending on the location, so that it becomes difficult for the entire developing roller to have uniform performance, and may appear as an image defect. Here, the thickness unevenness refers to a value obtained by 1- (minimum thickness of resin layer / maximum thickness of resin layer). The thickness unevenness of the resin layer 14 in the developing roller is desirably 0 to 0.4. More preferably, the thickness unevenness is 0 to 0.2.

  In addition, the smaller the electrical resistance unevenness of the entire developing roller, the more stable the toner transporting force and the more uniformly charged toner can be sent from the developing roller to the photosensitive drum. And a good image can be obtained. Here, resistance unevenness refers to a value obtained by 1- (minimum resistance value of developing roller / maximum resistance value of developing roller). The resistance unevenness in the developing roller is preferably at least 0 to 0.7. More preferably, the resistance unevenness is suppressed to 0 to 0.3.

  When the circumferential deviation of the developing roller is large, there is a case where light and shade is generated on the image due to a large variation in the nip width between the developing roller and the photosensitive drum within the circumference of the developing roller. In order to prevent this, it is better that the circumferential deviation of the developing roller is smaller. Specifically, the difference (maximum value) − (minimum value) between the (maximum value) and the (minimum value) of the distance from the center of the shaft core to the developing roller surface in one rotation of the developing roller is 0 to 50 μm. If this is the case, it is desirable to suppress the shading on the image. Furthermore, if the value of (maximum value) − (minimum value) is 0 to 30 μm, the density on the image is almost uniform, and an excellent image quality can be output.

  The roughness on the surface of the developing roller greatly affects the toner conveying force. Therefore, it is desirable that the Ra of the developing roller surface in the standard of JIS B 0601: 1994 surface roughness is 0.5 to 3.0 μm. If it is less than 0.5 μm, the toner conveying force is small and the image density is not sufficiently obtained. Conversely, if it exceeds 3.0 μm, the toner conveying force becomes large, so that the toner is conveyed more than necessary. The toner remains on the photosensitive drum and the image is deteriorated. Further, since it is possible to output an image having a uniform density when the roughness unevenness is smaller, the roughness unevenness in the developing roller is desirably 0 to 0.6. More preferably, the roughness unevenness is in the range of 0 to 0.3. Here, the roughness unevenness refers to a value obtained by subtracting the minimum roughness from the maximum roughness in the developing roller.

(Charging roller)
Next, an example of the charging roller regenerated by the present invention is shown in FIG. FIG. 1C illustrates a cross section parallel to the longitudinal direction, and FIG. 1D illustrates a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. This charging roller can be regenerated by the same method as the developing roller.

  The charging roller desirably has an appropriate elasticity in order to ensure good uniform adhesion to the photosensitive drum. Therefore, the charging roller used in the present invention has a configuration in which an elastic layer is provided around the shaft core body 15 as in the developing roller. The hardness of the elastic layer used for the charging roller is desirably Asker C hardness of 20 to 40 degrees for the purpose of ensuring adhesion. At this time, the elastic layer does not have to be one layer like the developing roller, and may be a multilayer. In addition, when the conductivity is imparted to the elastic layer as in the developing roller, the conductivity of the elastic layer is adjusted by adding a conductive agent such as carbon black. In the charging roller of the present invention, the characteristics of the elastic layer and the resin layer greatly affect the roller characteristics, and when the roller is used for a long time, the surface of the elastic layer and the resin layer are deteriorated. For this reason, when the roller is regenerated by the reproducing method of the present invention, it is necessary to regenerate the elastic layer, the resin layer, or the elastic layer and the resin layer depending on the layer structure of the roller.

  Further, a resin layer may be provided on the surface of the elastic layer in order to maintain the slipperiness and smoothness of the charging roller surface. Similarly to the elastic layer, this resin layer does not have to be a single layer, and may have a multilayer structure. Even in the case where the roller having the resin layer provided on the elastic layer is used for a long time, the resin layer and the elastic layer are deteriorated. For this reason, in this case, it is necessary to regenerate the resin layer or the elastic layer and the resin layer by the regenerating method of the present invention.

  Specific materials for the elastic layer used in the charging roller include, for example, natural rubber, ethylene propylene diene methylene rubber (EPDM), styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), silicone rubber, urethane rubber, epichlorohydrin rubber, isoprene rubber (IR). ), Synthetic rubbers such as butadiene rubber (BR), nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) and chloroprene rubber (CR), as well as polyamide rubber and fluorine rubber. These materials can be used alone or in combination. Moreover, you may use the foam of these materials for an elastic layer.

  In the regenerating method of the present invention, as in the case of developing roller regeneration, a portion where the above-described charging roller has failed or a deteriorated rubber portion (for example, the surface of the elastic layer 16, the surface of the resin layer 17, or the resin layer 17 and the elastic layer 16) The surface). After that, by newly forming an elastic layer or a resin layer, the electrical characteristics and surface characteristics as a charging roller are recovered, and reuse as a charging roller becomes possible. In addition, as a method for regenerating the elastic layer, reproduction is performed using a ring-type coating head as with the developing roller. For the same reason as that for the developing roller when regenerating, materials that can be used for the elastic layer include silicone rubber (Q), polysulfide rubber (T), urethane rubber, and diene rubber. Further, as in the case of the developing roller, it is desirable that the elastic layer to be newly regenerated uses the same material as the original elastic layer 16 or contains the same components as the original elastic layer. Furthermore, it is also possible to use a combination of two or more of these materials.

  Examples of the material used for the resin layer include polyamide resins, urethane resins, acrylic resins, fluororesins, and silicone resins, as well as epichlorohydrin resins, chloroprene resins, and acrylonitrile resins. These materials can be used alone or in combination. As a coating method of the resin layer material, a coating method such as a ring coating method, a dipping method, a roll coating method, and a spray coating method can be used similarly to the developing roller. However, it is preferable to use a ring coat method in order to control the thickness of the resin layer to obtain desired characteristics.

  Regardless of whether the charging roller and the photosensitive drum are in contact or non-contact, if the surface of the charging roller is rough, subtle uneven charging occurs due to the unevenness. As a result, image defects may occur. Therefore, the surface of the charging roller is preferably smoother, and it is desirable that Rz in the standard of JIS B 0601 surface roughness is 0 to 30 μm. In particular, the thickness is desirably 15 μm or less.

  The thickness of the resin layer is desirably 1 to 500 μm. If the thickness of the resin layer is less than 1 μm, there is a possibility that it cannot withstand friction with the photosensitive drum. Moreover, when the thickness of the resin layer exceeds 500 μm, it is difficult to make full use of the function of the elastic layer.

  In addition, when the electrical resistance unevenness of the entire charging roller is smaller, the photosensitive drum can be uniformly charged, so that a good image can be obtained. Here, resistance unevenness refers to a value obtained by 1- (minimum resistance value of charging roller / maximum resistance value of charging roller). The resistance unevenness in the charging roller is preferably at least 0 to 0.4. More preferably, the resistance unevenness is suppressed to 0 to 0.2.

  When the circumferential runout of the charging roller is large, the variation in the nip width between the charging roller and the photosensitive drum within the circumference of the charging roller becomes large, so that the photosensitive drum may not be uniformly charged. In order to prevent this, it is better that the circumferential deflection of the charging roller is smaller. Specifically, the difference (maximum value) − (minimum value) between the (maximum value) and the (minimum value) of the distance from the center of the shaft core to the charging roller surface in one rotation of the charging roller is 0 to 50 μm. For example, since the shading on the image can be suppressed, the value of (maximum value) − (minimum value) is preferably within this range. Further, if the value of (maximum value) − (minimum value) is 0 to 30 μm, the photosensitive drum can be charged almost uniformly.

In addition, when the roller regenerated by the regenerating method of the present invention is used as a charging roller, it is important to function as an electrode, and it is elastic and obtains a sufficient contact state, and at the same time charges a moving charged object. It is necessary to have a sufficiently low resistance. However, on the other hand, it is necessary to prevent voltage leakage in the case where a defect site such as a pinhole exists in the member to be charged. Therefore, when an electrophotographic photosensitive drum is used as the member to be charged, a resistance of 1 × 10 ³ to 1 × 10 ⁹ Ω · cm is required as the resistance value of the elastic layer in order to obtain sufficient chargeability and leakage resistance. It is desirable to have.

  FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the roller regenerated by the present invention. FIG. 4 shows a roller having only an elastic layer. Even in the case of regeneration of a roller having only an elastic layer, the above-described materials and the above-described regeneration methods can be used.

  Next, an outline of an electrophotographic process cartridge and an image forming apparatus incorporating the developing roller and charging roller of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  The surface of the photosensitive drum 501 is charged by the charging roller 502 so that the electric potential is uniform with a predetermined polarity, and then subjected to exposure 503 of target image information. An electrostatic latent image corresponding to is formed. This electrostatic latent image is visualized as a toner image by the toner 505 supplied by the developing roller 504 of the present invention. The visualized toner image is transferred to the recording material 507 by applying a voltage from the back surface of the recording material 507 conveyed by the paper supply roller 506 by the transfer roller 508, and is configured by the fixing roller 509 and the pressure roller 510. It is conveyed to the fixing unit, undergoes image fixing, and is output as an image formed product. The photosensitive drum 501 is cleaned by a cleaning unit 511 in order to remove toner, dust, and the like remaining on the photosensitive drum 501, neutralized by a neutralizing member (not shown), and proceeds to the charging process again. Note that the toner removed by the cleaning unit 511 is collected in a waste toner container 512. In addition, a cleaning roller can be used as a member of the cleaning unit 511.

  On the other hand, the surface of the developing roller 504 is supplied with toner from the toner storage tank 514 by the toner supply roller 513, and the toner supply roller 513 and the developing blade 515 are in contact with each other so that the developing blade 515 has a uniform thickness. . Toner that is not used when developing the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum on the developing roller 504 is scraped off from the developing roller 504 once by the toner supply roller 513. The charging roller 502, the developing roller 504, and the transfer roller 508 are applied with a necessary voltage by a bias application power source. The electrophotographic process cartridge is a unit in which members such as those described here, excluding the transfer roller and the fixing unit, are integrated.

  In addition, by arranging four color electrophotographic process cartridges of black, magenta, cyan, and yellow, transferring each toner to a recording material, and performing image fixing, a color image formed product can be output. .

The present invention can be applied to rubber rollers such as a fixing roller, a pressure roller, a toner supply roller, a cleaning roller, a paper feeding roller and a developing roller, a transfer roller, and a charging roller used in an electrophotographic apparatus. Even if it is adopted for an industrial rubber roller, a good effect can be obtained.
Examples of the rubber roller regenerated by the regenerating method of the present invention are shown below, but the regenerating method and rubber roller of the present invention are not limited to the following examples.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by way of examples.

Example 1
The developing roller was regenerated by the following procedure.

[Preparation of developing roller for recycling]
The developing roller serving as the base of this example was used to print 10,000 images with a laser beam printer (LBP5500 manufactured by Canon Inc.) having a process cartridge (EP-85 toner cartridge manufactured by Canon Inc .: nominal life of 8000 sheets). It was taken out from the process cartridge.
The developing roller had an elastic layer and a resin layer. The outer diameter of the developing roller was measured. The outer diameter was 16 mm, the shaft core diameter was 8 mm, and the roller rubber length was 236 mm.
When the elastic layer and the resin layer were analyzed in advance using FT-IR, it was confirmed that the elastic layer contained silicone rubber and the resin layer contained urethane resin.

[Preparation of elastic roller]
The developed developing roller is rotated in the circumferential direction, the circumferential surface of the cylindrical grindstone is brought into contact with the surface of the developing roller with an appropriate pressing force, and further, the grindstone is rotated in the circumferential direction of the grindstone, while being 50 mm / long in the roller longitudinal direction. The surface of the developing roller was polished by moving in seconds. Thereafter, the shavings and the like were removed by air blowing to obtain an elastic roller consisting only of an elastic layer. By the treatment, the resin layer and the elastic layer were combined and shaved by 2.5 mm, and the outer diameter of the elastic roller after the treatment was 11 mm. Further, the circumferential runout of the elastic roller was measured and found to be 30 μm.

[Preparation of elastic layer material]
The elastic layer material was prepared by the following procedure.
One-component urethane (Nipporan 4653 made by Nippon Polyurethane Industry) 86% by mass
Carbon black (Ketjen Black International Ketjen Black EC) 14% by mass
The above blend was mixed and defoamed for 30 minutes with a planetary mixer to obtain a urethane rubber base material.

[Elastic layer regeneration]
Using a ring-type coating head having an inner diameter of 16.8 mm (FIG. 3A), the elastic layer material is discharged at 1060 mm ³ / sec and the elastic roller is moved through the ring-type coating head by 10 mm in the longitudinal direction. The elastic layer material was applied by passing it at / sec. The roller coated with the elastic layer material is immediately moved to the heater, rotated at 30 rpm in a horizontal state, and heated and cured for 10 minutes with an infrared heater (HYL25, manufactured by Hybeck: work heater distance 60 mm, output 780 W). The elastic layer was regenerated. Thereafter, heat treatment was carried out at 180 ° C. for 2 hours in an electric furnace for the purpose of stabilizing physical properties of the elastic layer material and removing reaction residues and unreacted low molecular components in the elastic layer material to obtain a recycled rubber roller. .

[Preparation of resin layer material]
100 parts by mass of polyurethane polyol prepolymer (Takelac TE5060 manufactured by Mitsui Takeda Chemical Co., Ltd.), 77 parts by mass of isocyanate (2521 Nippon Polyurethane Co., Ltd. coronate) and carbon black (Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation MA100) 24 parts by mass were mixed. Methyl ethyl ketone was added and dispersed with a sand mill for 1 hour. Methyl ethyl ketone was further added so that the solid content after dispersion was 20 to 30% by mass to obtain a resin layer material.

[Regeneration of resin layer]
A recycled rubber roller was immersed in the resin layer material to coat the resin layer, and then pulled up and air dried. Next, the coated resin layer material was cured by heat treatment at 140 ° C. for 60 minutes, and the conductive resin layer was laminated on the outer peripheral surface of the regenerated elastic layer to obtain the developing roller of the present invention. .
The developing roller obtained by the above regeneration method was evaluated as follows, and the results are shown in Table 1.

○ Evaluation of outer diameter accuracy after applying elastic layer material About the recycled rubber roller obtained by the procedure of [Regeneration of elastic layer], 30 mm from both ends of the rubber roller by a laser length measuring machine (manufactured by Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd., PULCOM opto60B-600). And the outer diameter of the central portion in the longitudinal direction of the rubber roller were measured, and the average value of the three points was taken as the outer diameter of the rubber roller. Further, in order to evaluate the outer diameter accuracy, the value of (target rubber roller outer diameter) − (recycled rubber roller outer diameter) is calculated. If the absolute value is less than 30 μm, ◎,
○ if it is 30 μm or more and less than 50 μm,
If it is 50 μm or more, it was evaluated as Δ.
In the developing roller, the evaluation was performed with the target outer diameter of the rubber roller being 16.00 mm. Table 1 shows the results.

○ Development roller resistance and resistance unevenness measurement / evaluation method Details will be described with reference to FIG. A load of 500 g is applied to both ends of the shaft core body of the developing roller, which is the conductive roller 61, and pressed against the metal drum 62 rotating at 60 rpm, and a voltage of 100 V is applied between the metal drum 62 and the shaft body of the developing roller 61. After application, the resistance value of the developing roller is calculated from the value of the current flowing through the 10 kΩ resistor connected in series with the developing roller, and the average value of the maximum value and the minimum value of the developing roller resistance in one round is calculated as The resistance value of the developing roller. Also, the maximum and minimum resistance values in one rotation of the developing roller are taken, and the value of 1- (minimum resistance value / maximum resistance value) is defined as uneven resistance of the developing roller.
If the resistance unevenness is 0 or more and less than 0.3, ◎,
When resistance unevenness is 0.3 or more and less than 0.7, ○,
When the resistance unevenness was 0.7 or more and 1 or less, the evaluation was made as Δ.

○ Measurement and evaluation method for circumferential runout of developing roller At each point where the developing roller is equally divided into 6 parts in the longitudinal direction, the developing roller is rotated in steps of 1 ° around the shaft core, from the center of the shaft to the surface of the developing roller Is measured with a laser length measuring instrument (manufactured by Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd., PULCOM opto60B-600). After rotating the developing roller once, the value obtained by subtracting the minimum distance value from the maximum distance value at the obtained 360-point distance is taken as the value of the circumferential deflection at each longitudinal position of the developing roller. Of the five points in the direction, the maximum circumferential shake value is set as the circumferential runout value of the developing roller.
When the circumferential deflection value is 0 μm or more and less than 30 μm, ◎,
When the circumferential runout is 30 μm or more and less than 50 μm,
When the circumferential deflection value was 50 μm or more, the evaluation was made as Δ.

○ Measurement and evaluation method for developing roller circumferential runout correction value (development developing roller circumferential runout after reproduction)-(elastic roller circumferential runout) is taken as the circumferential runout correction value. At this time, the circumferential runout value of the elastic roller is the same as the method of measuring the circumferential runout of the developing roller.

The circumferential shake correction value is
◎ if less than -5 μm,
If it is -5 μm or more and less than 5 μm,
If it is 5 μm or more, it was evaluated as Δ.

O Developing roller roughness and roughness unevenness measurement / evaluation method Using a surface roughness meter SURFCOM 3000A manufactured by Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd. according to JIS B0601: 1994, the surface roughness Ra of the developing roller was measured in accordance with JIS regulations. The reference line length was 2.5 mm. At a point 5 mm from both ends of the developing roller and the central part in the longitudinal direction, the roughness is measured for a total of 9 points of 0 °, 120 ° and 240 °, and the minimum value is subtracted from the maximum value of the roughness at these 9 points. The unevenness is made uneven.
When the roughness unevenness is 0 μm or more and less than 0.3 μm, ◎,
When the roughness unevenness is 0.3 μm or more and less than 0.6 μm,
When the roughness unevenness was 0.6 μm or more, it was evaluated as Δ.

○ Development roller resin layer thickness and resin layer thickness unevenness measurement / evaluation method Before and after coating the resin layer, the outer diameter of the roller is measured by a laser length measuring machine (PULCOM opto60B-600, manufactured by Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd.) The resin layer thickness is obtained by subtracting the outer diameter of the regenerative elastic roller before coating from the outer diameter of the developing roller after coating the layer and dividing by 2. Next, the resin layer thickness is measured at a point 5 mm from both ends of the developing roller and the central portion in the longitudinal direction, and 1- (minimum value of resin layer thickness / maximum value of resin layer thickness) is determined as unevenness in resin layer thickness of the developing roller. To do.
If the resin layer thickness unevenness is 0 or more and less than 0.2, ◎,
If the resin layer thickness unevenness is 0.2 or more and less than 0.4, ○,
When the resin layer thickness unevenness was 0.4 or more, evaluation was made as Δ.

○ Development roller image evaluation method The image of the obtained development roller was evaluated by incorporating the development roller into a process cartridge (EP-85 toner cartridge manufactured by Canon Inc.) and incorporating the process cartridge into an electrophotographic laser printer (manufactured by Canon Inc.). LBP5500) was used and output, and an image for evaluation was output, and the image was visually evaluated. The electrophotographic laser printer is for A4 output, and the output speed of the recording medium is 17 rpm. Then, 8000 sheets were continuously output, and then an evaluation image was output and used for image evaluation.

For continuous output of 8000 sheets, an image in which a horizontal line having a width of 2 dots and an interval of 50 dots is drawn in the direction perpendicular to the rotation direction of the photosensitive member is used, and the evaluation image is perpendicular to the rotation direction of the photosensitive member. An image in which a horizontal line with a width of 1 dot and an interval of 2 dots was written was used. After that, if the appropriate density comes out visually, and the image quality is good, ◎
○ If the concentration is slightly low, but there is no practical problem at all,
The image evaluation after durability was evaluated as Δ if the image density was low.

○ Comprehensive evaluation method
If the number of ◎ is 5 or more and there is no △,
If the number of ◎ is 4 or less and there is no △,
When there was an item of △, the evaluation was made as △.

(Example 2)
The developing roller was regenerated by the following procedure.
[Preparation of developing roller for recycling]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic roller]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.

[Preparation of elastic layer material]
The elastic layer material used for reproduction was prepared by the following procedure.
Liquid silicone rubber (molecular weight Mw = 100000) 70% by mass
Quartz (Min-USil manufactured by Pennsylvania Glass Sand) 13% by mass
Carbon black (Denka black powder made by Denki Kagaku Kogyo) 3% by mass
Carbon black (MA-11, manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical) 7% by mass
Silica (AEROSIL50 manufactured by Nippon Aerosil) 7% by mass.

  The above blend was mixed and defoamed with a planetary mixer for 30 minutes to obtain a silicone base material. Furthermore, 0.02 parts by mass of an isopropyl alcohol solution of chloroplatinic acid (platinum content: 3% by mass) is added to 100 parts by mass of this base material to obtain a mixture A, and an organohydrogenpolysiloxane having a viscosity of 10 cps (SiH content) 1% by mass) 1.5 parts by mass was added and mixed to obtain a mixture B. The mixtures A and B are set in the raw material tanks 1 and 2 attached to the coating machine, respectively, sent to a static mixer using a pressure feed pump, and the mixtures A and B are mixed at a ratio of 1: 1 to obtain an elastic layer material. Got.

[Elastic layer regeneration]
Using a ring-type coating head having an inner diameter of 16.8 mm (FIG. 3A), the elastic layer material is discharged at 1060 mm ³ / sec and the elastic roller is moved through the ring-type coating head by 10 mm in the longitudinal direction. The elastic layer material was applied by passing it at / sec. The roller to which the elastic layer material is applied is immediately moved to the heater, rotated at 30 rpm in a horizontal state, and heated and cured for 4 minutes with an infrared heater (HYL25 manufactured by Hybeck: work heater distance 60 mm, output 780 W). A recycled rubber roller was obtained. Thereafter, heat treatment was performed at 200 ° C. for 4 hours in an electric furnace for the purpose of stabilizing the physical properties of the elastic layer material and removing reaction residues and unreacted low molecular components in the elastic layer material to obtain a recycled rubber roller. .

[Preparation of resin layer material]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Regeneration of resin layer]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.

  Measurement and evaluation of the developing roller regenerated by the above method were performed in the same procedure as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 1.

  By using an elastic layer material having the same component as that of the elastic layer before reproduction, the adhesion of the reshaped elastic layer was increased, and a durable image superior to (Example 1) was obtained.

(Example 3)
The developing roller was regenerated by the following procedure.
[Preparation of developing roller for recycling]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic roller]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic layer material]
The same method as in Example 2 was performed.
[Elastic layer regeneration]
The same method as in Example 2 was performed.

[Preparation of resin layer material]
A coating liquid in which 22 parts by mass of carbon black (Asahi Carbon Co., Ltd. # 35, manufactured by Asahi Carbon Co., Ltd.) as a conductive filler was dispersed by ball mill for 2 hours with respect to 100 parts by mass of urethane was used as the resin layer material.

[Regeneration of resin layer]
Using the ring-type coating head having an inner diameter of 16.8 mm (FIG. 3A), the resin layer material is discharged at 100 mm ³ / sec, and the recycled rubber roller is moved in the longitudinal direction in the ring-type coating head. The resin layer material was applied by passing it through 10 mm / sec. Thereafter, the developing roller of the present invention was obtained by heat-treating the roller coated with the resin layer material at a temperature of 100 ° C. for 2 hours.

  Measurement and evaluation of the developing roller regenerated by the above method were performed in the same procedure as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 1. By using a resin layer material having the same components as the resin layer before regeneration, the same effect as in Example 2 was obtained.

Example 4
The developing roller was regenerated by the following procedure.
[Preparation of developing roller for recycling]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic roller]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic layer material]
The same method as in Example 2 was performed.

[Elastic layer regeneration]
The elastic roller is set on a ring-type coating head (FIG. 3B) having a scraping ring with an inner diameter of 16.0 mm, the elastic layer material is discharged, and 9000 mm ³ is below the ring-type coating head. Held on. Thereafter, while passing the elastic roller after the treatment through the ring-shaped coating head in the longitudinal direction at 10 mm / sec, while supplying the elastic layer material from the coating head at 1060 mm ³ / sec from the material injection port, The elastic layer material was applied and the elastic layer material applied excessively was scraped off. The roller to which the elastic layer material is applied is immediately moved to the heater, rotated at 30 rpm in a horizontal state, and heated and cured for 4 minutes with an infrared heater (HYL25 manufactured by Hybeck: work heater distance 60 mm, output 780 W). A recycled rubber roller was obtained. Thereafter, heat treatment was performed at 200 ° C. for 4 hours in an electric furnace for the purpose of stabilizing the physical properties of the elastic layer material and removing reaction residues and unreacted low molecular components in the elastic layer material to obtain a recycled rubber roller. .

[Preparation of resin layer material]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Regeneration of resin layer]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.

Measurement and evaluation of the developing roller regenerated by the above method were performed in the same procedure as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 1. By using an elastic layer material having the same component as that of the elastic layer before reproduction, the same effect as in Example 2 was obtained.
Further, by using the coating head shown in FIG. 3B, the effect of circumferential runout correction was obtained, and the circumferential runout value was improved as compared with the elastic roller before reproduction.

(Example 5)
The developing roller was regenerated by the following procedure.
[Preparation of developing roller for recycling]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic roller]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic layer material]
The same method as in Example 2 was performed.
[Elastic layer regeneration]
The same method as in Example 4 was performed.
[Preparation of resin layer material]
The same method as in Example 3 was performed.
[Regeneration of resin layer]
The same method as in Example 3 was performed.

  Measurement and evaluation of the developing roller regenerated by the above method were performed in the same procedure as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 1.

By using an elastic layer material having the same component as that of the elastic layer before reproduction, the same effect as in Example 2 was obtained.
Moreover, the same effect as (Example 4) was acquired by using the coating head of FIG.3 (B) in the case of application | coating of an elastic layer material.

(Example 6)
The developing roller was regenerated by the following procedure.
[Preparation of developing roller for recycling]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.

[Preparation of elastic roller]
The developed developing roller is rotated in the circumferential direction, the peripheral surface of the cylindrical grindstone is brought into contact with the developing roller surface with an appropriate pressing force on the outer circumferential surface of the developing roller, and further the grindstone is rotated in the circumferential direction of the grindstone. The surface of the developing roller was polished by moving the roller at 150 mm / sec in the longitudinal direction of the roller. Thereafter, the shavings and the like were removed by air blowing to obtain an elastic roller consisting only of an elastic layer. The resin layer and the elastic layer were combined and scraped by 2.5 mm by the above treatment, and the outer diameter of the elastic roller after the treatment was 11 mm. Further, when the circumferential runout of the elastic roller was measured, it was 60 μm.

[Preparation of elastic layer material]
The same method as in Example 2 was performed.
[Elastic layer regeneration]
The same method as in Example 4 was performed.
[Preparation of resin layer material]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Regeneration of resin layer]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.

Measurement and evaluation of the developing roller regenerated by the above method were performed in the same procedure as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 1. By using an elastic layer material having the same component as that of the elastic layer before reproduction, the same effect as in Example 2 was obtained.
Moreover, the same effect as (Example 4) was acquired by using the coating head of FIG.3 (B) in the case of application | coating of an elastic layer material.

(Example 7)
The developing roller was regenerated by the following procedure.

[Preparation of developing roller for recycling]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.

[Preparation of elastic roller]
The developed developing roller is rotated in the circumferential direction, the peripheral surface of the cylindrical grindstone is brought into contact with the developing roller surface with an appropriate pressing force on the outer circumferential surface of the developing roller, and further the grindstone is rotated in the circumferential direction of the grindstone. The surface of the developing roller was polished by moving the roller in the longitudinal direction of the roller at 50 mm / sec. Thereafter, the shavings and the like were removed by air blowing to obtain an elastic roller consisting only of an elastic layer. The resin layer and the elastic layer were cut together by 0.05 mm by the above treatment, and the outer diameter of the elastic roller after the treatment was 15.9 mm. Further, the circumferential runout of the elastic roller was measured and found to be 30 μm.

[Preparation of elastic layer material]
Not done.
[Elastic layer regeneration]
Not done.
[Preparation of resin layer material]
The same method as in Example 3 was performed.
[Regeneration of resin layer]
The same method as in Example 3 was performed.
Measurement and evaluation of the developing roller regenerated by the above method were performed in the same procedure as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 1.

(Example 8)
The developing roller was regenerated by the following procedure.
[Preparation of developing roller for recycling]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.

[Preparation of elastic roller]
The developed developing roller is rotated in the circumferential direction, the blade is brought into contact with the developing roller surface with an appropriate pressing force on the outer circumferential surface of the developing roller, and moved at 50 mm / sec in the longitudinal direction of the roller, thereby Cutting was performed. Thereafter, dust or the like on the roller surface was removed by air blowing to obtain an elastic roller consisting only of an elastic layer. By the treatment, the resin layer and the elastic layer were combined and shaved by 2.5 mm, and the outer diameter of the elastic roller after the treatment was 11 mm. Further, the circumferential runout of the elastic roller was measured and found to be 30 μm.

[Preparation of elastic layer material]
The same method as in Example 2 was performed.
[Elastic layer regeneration]
The same method as in Example 2 was performed.
[Preparation of resin layer material]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Regeneration of resin layer]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.

Measurement and evaluation of the developing roller regenerated by the above method were performed in the same procedure as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 1.
By using an elastic layer material having the same component as that of the elastic layer before reproduction, the same effect as in Example 2 was obtained.

Example 9
The charging roller was regenerated by the following procedure.
[Preparation of charging roller used for regeneration]
A charging roller was used as the rubber roller serving as the base of the present invention. The charging roller of the present invention was taken out from the process cartridge after 6000 images were printed by a laser beam printer (HP Color LaserJet 3700) having a process cartridge (HP print cartridge).

  Further, when the outer diameter of the charging roller was measured, the outer diameter was 8.5 mm, the shaft core diameter was 6 mm, and the roller rubber length was 230 mm.

[Preparation of elastic roller]
The removal process of the surface of the taken-out charging roller was performed. While rotating the charging roller in the circumferential direction, bring the circumferential surface of the cylindrical grindstone into contact with the charging roller surface with an appropriate pressing force on the outer circumferential surface of the charging roller, and further rotating the grindstone in the circumferential direction of the grindstone. The surface of the charging roller was polished by moving it in the longitudinal direction at 50 mm / sec. After that, by removing shavings and the like by air blow, an elastic roller consisting only of an elastic layer having an outer diameter of 7.5 mm was obtained. Further, the circumferential runout of the elastic roller was measured and found to be 30 μm.

[Preparation of elastic layer material]
The same method as in Example 2 was performed.
[Elastic layer regeneration]
Using the ring-type coating head (FIG. 3A) having an inner diameter of 8.4 mm, the elastic roller material is ejected 130 mm ³ / sec at a time in the longitudinal direction inside the ring-type coating head. The elastic layer material was applied by passing it at 10 mm / sec. Thereafter, the roller coated with the elastic layer material is immediately moved to the heater, rotated at 30 rpm in a horizontal state, and heated and cured for 4 minutes with an infrared heater (HYL25, manufactured by HYBEC, work heater distance 60 mm, output 780 W). A recycled rubber roller was obtained. Thereafter, heat treatment was performed at 200 ° C. for 4 hours in an electric furnace for the purpose of stabilizing the physical properties of the elastic layer material and removing reaction residues and unreacted low molecular components in the elastic layer material to obtain a recycled rubber roller. .

[Preparation of resin layer material]
137 parts by mass of a lactone-modified acrylic polyol (Dacel Chemical Industries, Ltd. PLACCEL DC2016 (hydroxyl value 80 KOHmg / g)) was dissolved in 463 parts by mass of MIBK (methyl isobutyl ketone) to obtain a solution having a solid content of 16.0% by mass. 41.6 parts by mass of conductive tin oxide powder (SN-100P manufactured by Ishihara Sangyo Co., Ltd.) and silicone oil (SH-28PA manufactured by Toray Dow Corning Silicone Co., Ltd.) with respect to 200 parts by mass of this acrylic polyol solution 0.01 parts by mass, 0.96 parts by mass of fine particle silica (primary particle size 0.02 μm), 200 parts by mass of glass beads having a diameter of 0.8 mm are added, and the mixture is placed in a 450 ml glass bottle. Used and dispersed for 22 hours.

  Furthermore, 330 parts by mass of this dispersion were mixed with 23.3 parts by mass of isophorone diisocyanate block-type isocyanurate-type trimer (IPDI) (Degusa Huls, Bestanate B1370) and hexamethylene diisocyanate isocyanurate-type trimer ( HDI) (Duranate TPA-B80E, manufactured by Asahi Kasei Kogyo Co., Ltd.) was mixed with 14.9 parts by mass, stirred for 1 hour with a ball mill, and finally the solution was filtered through a 200-mesh net to obtain a dip solution.

[Regeneration of resin layer]
Next, the dipping solution was applied to the surface of the recycled rubber roller by a dipping method. Thereafter, it was dried at 160 ° C. for 1 hour to obtain a regenerative charging roller.
The obtained charging roller was evaluated by the following method. The results and the results of durability image evaluation are shown in Table 2.

○ Evaluation of outer diameter accuracy after applying elastic layer material About the recycled rubber roller obtained by the procedure of [Regeneration of elastic layer], 30 mm from both ends of the rubber roller by a laser length measuring machine (manufactured by Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd., PULCOM opto60B-600). And the outer diameter of the central portion in the longitudinal direction of the rubber roller were measured, and the average value of the three points was taken as the outer diameter of the rubber roller. Further, in order to evaluate the outer diameter accuracy, the value of (target rubber roller outer diameter) − (recycled rubber roller outer diameter) is calculated. If the absolute value is less than 50 μm, ◎,
○ if it is 50 μm or more and less than 100 μm,
If it is 100 μm or more, it was evaluated as Δ.
In addition, the charging roller was evaluated with the target rubber roller having an outer diameter of 8.50 mm. Table 2 shows the results of measuring the outer diameter of the recycled rubber roller.

○ Measurement / Evaluation Method of Charging Roller Resistance and Resistance Unevenness The same measurement as that of the developing roller was performed except that the evaluation criteria were the following criteria.
If the resistance unevenness is 0 or more and less than 0.2, ◎,
When the resistance unevenness is 0.2 or more and less than 0.4, ○,
When the resistance unevenness was 0.4 or more and 1 or less, the evaluation was made as Δ.

○ Charging roller circumferential runout measurement / evaluation method The same measurement / evaluation as the developing roller was performed.
○ Measurement and Evaluation Method for Charging Roller Runout Correction Value The same measurement and evaluation as the developing roller were performed.
○ Measurement / Evaluation Method for Charging Roller Roughness and Roughness Unevenness The same measurement / evaluation as the developing roller was performed.
○ Charging roller resin layer thickness and resin layer thickness unevenness measurement / evaluation method The same measurement / evaluation as the developing roller was performed.

○ Charging roller image evaluation method Image evaluation of the obtained charging roller was performed by incorporating the charging roller into a process cartridge (HP print cartridge) and incorporating the process cartridge into an electrophotographic laser printer (HP Color LaserJet 3700). Used, an image for evaluation was output, and the image was visually evaluated. The electrophotographic laser printer is for A4 output, and the output speed of the recording medium is 16 rpm. Then, 6000 sheets were continuously output, and then an evaluation image was output and used for image evaluation.

For continuous output of 6000 sheets, an image that draws a horizontal line with a width of 2 dots and an interval of 50 dots in the direction perpendicular to the rotation direction of the photoconductor is used, and the evaluation image is in a direction perpendicular to the rotation direction of the photoconductor. An image in which a horizontal line with a width of 1 dot and an interval of 2 dots was written was used. After that, if there is almost no shading in the image visually, and the image quality is good, ◎
○ If the image has a slight shading, but is at a level that does not cause any practical problems,
The image evaluation after endurance was evaluated as Δ if the image quality was such that the image was shaded.

○ Comprehensive evaluation method The method was the same as for the developing roller.
(Example 10)
The charging roller was regenerated by the following procedure.
[Preparation of charging roller used for regeneration]
The same method as in Example 9 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic roller]
The same method as in Example 9 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic layer material]
The same method as in Example 2 was performed.

[Elastic layer regeneration]
The elastic roller was set on a ring-type coating head having a scraping ring with an inner diameter of 8.5 mm (FIG. 3B), and an elastic layer material of 6000 mm ³ was held on the ring-type coating head. . Thereafter, the elastic layer material was applied while the elastic roller after the removal treatment was passed through the ring-type coating head in the longitudinal direction at 10 mm / sec. Thereafter, the roller coated with the elastic layer material is immediately moved to the heater, rotated at 30 rpm in a horizontal state, and heated and cured for 4 minutes with an infrared heater (HYL25, manufactured by Hybek: work heater distance 60 mm, output 780 W). A recycled rubber roller was obtained. Thereafter, heat treatment was performed at 200 ° C. for 4 hours in an electric furnace for the purpose of stabilizing the physical properties of the elastic layer material and removing reaction residues and unreacted low molecular components in the elastic layer material to obtain a recycled rubber roller. .

[Preparation of resin layer material]
The same method as in Example 9 was performed.
[Regeneration of resin layer]
The same method as in Example 9 was performed.
The charging roller regenerated by the above method was measured and evaluated in the same procedure as in Example 9. The results are shown in Table 2.
The effect similar to (Example 4) was acquired by using the coating head of FIG. 3 (B).

(Comparative Example 1)
The developing roller was regenerated in the following procedure.
[Preparation of developing roller for recycling]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic roller]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.

[Preparation of elastic layer material] and [Regeneration of elastic layer]
Silicone rubber (DY32-9351U manufactured by Toray Dow Corning Silicone Co., Ltd.) was extruded as an elastic layer material with an extruder to obtain a tubular molded product. This molded product was vulcanized in a vulcanizing can under conditions of 140 ° C. × 30 minutes to obtain a tubular molded body having an inner diameter of 10 mm. The molded body is cut in a longitudinal direction of 236 mm, and compressed air is blown into the inside, so that the elastic roller is inserted while expanding the tubular molded body in the radial direction, and then the compressed air is stopped to form a tubular molded body. A recycled rubber roller was obtained by shrinking.

[Preparation of resin layer material]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Regeneration of resin layer]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
Measurement and evaluation of the developing roller regenerated by the above method were performed in the same procedure as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 1.

(Comparative Example 2)
The developing roller was regenerated in the following procedure.
[Preparation of developing roller for recycling]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic roller]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.

[Preparation of elastic layer material] and [Regeneration of elastic layer]
100 parts by mass of EPDM (Mitsui Petrochemical Co., Ltd., EPT4045) as an elastic layer material, 10 parts by mass of carbon black (Lion Corporation, Ketjen Black EC) as a conductivity-imparting agent, 2 parts by mass of sulfur as a plasticizer, vulcanization accelerator And adding 1.5 parts by mass of tetramethylthiuram disulfide (manufactured by Sanshin Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Sunseller TT) and 2.5 parts by mass of an anti-aging agent (manufactured by Ouchi Shinsei Chemical Co., Ltd., NS-6), Extrusion was performed with an extruder to obtain a tubular molded product. This molded product was vulcanized in a vulcanizing can under conditions of 140 ° C. × 30 minutes to obtain a tubular molded body having an inner diameter of 10 mm. The molded body is cut in a longitudinal direction of 236 mm, and compressed air is blown into the inside, so that the tube-shaped molded body is expanded in the radial direction and the elastic roller is inserted. A recycled rubber roller was obtained by shrinking.

[Preparation of resin layer material]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
[Regeneration of resin layer]
The same method as in Example 1 was performed.
Measurement and evaluation of the developing roller regenerated by the above method were performed in the same procedure as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 1.

(Comparative Example 3)
The charging roller was regenerated by the following procedure.
[Preparation of charging roller used for regeneration]
The same method as in Example 9 was performed.
[Preparation of elastic roller]
The same method as in Example 9 was performed.

[Preparation of elastic layer material] and [Regeneration of elastic layer]
100 parts by mass of epichlorohydrin rubber (Epichromer CG102 manufactured by Daiso Corporation), 45 parts by mass of calcium carbonate as a filler, 2 parts by mass of SRF carbon (Asahi Carbon 50 Asahi # 50) as a reinforcing material for improving polishing properties, zinc oxide 5 parts by mass, 10 parts by mass of a plasticizer (di-octyl phthalate), 1 part by mass of stearic acid, 2 parts by mass of quaternary ammonium chlorate, and an antioxidant (tetrakis [methylene-3- (3,5-di- t-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl) propionate methane]) 1 part by mass with an open roll for 30 minutes, 1 part by weight of a vulcanization accelerator (dibenzothiazyl disulphide), a part of vulcanization accelerator (Tetramethylthiolamum monosulfide) 0. As 5 parts by mass and vulcanizing agent Adding yellow 1 part by mass, and kneaded by an additional 15 minutes open roll.

  The obtained kneaded product was extruded into a cylindrical shape with a rubber extruder, cut into a length of 230 mm, and vulcanized with steam at 160 ° C. for 40 minutes in a vulcanizing can to obtain a tubular molded body having an inner diameter of 6.5 mm. . The molded body is cut in a longitudinal direction of 230 mm, and compressed air is blown into the inside, so that the tube-shaped molded body is expanded in the radial direction and the elastic roller is inserted, and then the compressed air is stopped to form a tubular molded body. A recycled rubber roller was obtained by shrinking.

[Preparation of resin layer material]
The same method as in Example 9 was performed.
[Regeneration of resin layer]
The same method as in Example 9 was performed.
The charging roller regenerated by the above method was measured and evaluated in the same procedure as in Example 9. The results are shown in Table 2.

(Example 11)
The pressure roller was regenerated by the following procedure.
[Preparation of pressure roller used for regeneration]
A pressure roller was used as the rubber roller serving as the base of this example. When the outer diameter of the pressure roller was measured, the outer diameter was 14 mm, the shaft core diameter was 6 mm, and the roller rubber length was 235 mm.

[Preparation of elastic roller]
The removed pressure roller surface was removed. The pressure roller is rotated in the circumferential direction, and the circumferential surface of the cylindrical grindstone is brought into contact with the pressure roller surface with an appropriate pressing force on the outer peripheral surface of the pressure roller, and the grindstone is further rotated in the circumferential direction of the grindstone. However, the pressure roller surface was polished by moving in the longitudinal direction of the roller at 50 mm / sec. Then, by removing the shavings and the like by air blowing, an elastic roller consisting only of an elastic layer having an outer diameter of 9 mm was obtained. Further, the circumferential runout of the elastic roller was measured and found to be 30 μm.

[Preparation of elastic layer material]
Liquid silicone rubber (Molecular weight Mw = 100000) 63% by mass
Quartz (Min-USil manufactured by Pennsylvania Glass Sand) 12% by mass
Silica (Aerosil 50 from Nippon Aerosil) 25% by mass.

  The above blend was mixed and defoamed with a planetary mixer for 30 minutes to obtain a silicone base material. Furthermore, 0.02 parts by mass of an isopropyl alcohol solution of chloroplatinic acid (platinum content: 3% by mass) is added to 100 parts by mass of this base material to obtain a mixture A, and an organohydrogenpolysiloxane having a viscosity of 10 cps (SiH content) 1 part by mass) 1.5 parts by mass were added and mixed to obtain a mixture B. The mixture A and B are set in the raw material tanks 1 and 2 attached to the coating machine, respectively, sent to a static mixer using a pressure feed pump, and the mixture A and B are mixed at a ratio of 1: 1 to obtain an elastic layer material. Got.

[Elastic layer regeneration]
Using the ring-type coating head having an inner diameter of 14.7 mm (FIG. 3A), the elastic layer material is discharged at a rate of 910 mm ³ / sec, and the elastic roller is moved in the longitudinal direction in the ring-type coating head. The elastic layer material was applied by passing it at 10 mm / sec. After that, the roller coated with the elastic layer material is immediately moved to the heater, rotated at 30 rpm in a horizontal state, and heated and cured for 4 minutes with an infrared heater (HYL25 manufactured by HYBEC, work heater distance 60 mm, output 780 W). A recycled rubber roller was obtained. Thereafter, heat treatment is performed at 200 ° C. for 4 hours in an electric furnace for the purpose of stabilizing physical properties of the elastic layer material and removing reaction residues and unreacted low molecular components in the elastic layer material. A regenerative pressure roller was obtained.

  The obtained pressure roller was measured for roughness, roughness unevenness, and circumferential runout of the roller by the following method. The roughness and roughness unevenness measuring method are the same as the roughness and roughness unevenness measuring method of (Example 1). As a result of image evaluation of the pressure roller, a good image quality was obtained.

○ Measurement and evaluation method for circumferential runout of pressure roller At each point where the pressure roller is equally divided into 6 parts in the longitudinal direction, the pressure roller is rotated about the core bar in 1 ° increments, and pressure is applied from the center of the shaft core body. The distance to the roller surface is measured with a laser length measuring machine (manufactured by Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd., PULCOM opt 60B-600). After rotating the pressure roller once, the value obtained by subtracting the minimum distance value from the maximum distance value with respect to the measured distance of 360 points is the value of the circumferential deflection at each longitudinal position of the pressure roller. And the maximum circumferential deflection value among the five points in the longitudinal direction is taken as the circumferential deflection value of the pressure roller. As a result, the circumferential deflection of the pressure roller was 31 μm.

○ Pressure roller roughness and roughness unevenness measurement / evaluation method The measurement position and measurement conditions are the same except that the developing roller in Example 1 is changed to a pressure roller. As a result, the roughness unevenness of the pressure roller was 0.25.

  As a result of image evaluation of the pressure roller having the above physical properties, good image quality could be obtained.

(Example 12)
The fixing roller was regenerated in the following procedure.
[Preparation of fixing roller used for regeneration]
A fixing roller was used as the rubber roller serving as the base of the present invention. When the outer diameter of the fixing roller was measured, the outer diameter was 25 mm, the shaft core diameter was 10 mm, and the roller rubber length was 236 mm.

[Preparation of elastic roller]
The removed pressure roller surface was removed. The pressure roller is rotated in the circumferential direction, and the circumferential surface of the cylindrical grindstone is brought into contact with the pressure roller surface with an appropriate pressing force on the outer peripheral surface of the pressure roller, and the grindstone is further rotated in the circumferential direction of the grindstone. However, the pressure roller surface was polished by moving in the longitudinal direction of the roller at 50 mm / sec. Then, by removing the shavings and the like by air blowing, an elastic roller consisting only of an elastic layer having an outer diameter of 20 mm was obtained. When the circumferential runout of this elastic roller was measured, it was 30 μm.

[Preparation of elastic layer material]
Liquid silicone rubber (Molecular weight Mw = 100000) 56% by mass
Quartz (Min-USil manufactured by Pennsylvania Glass Sand) 10% by mass
Silica (Aerosil 50 from Nippon Aerosil) 34% by mass.

  The above blend was mixed and defoamed with a planetary mixer for 30 minutes to obtain a silicone base material. Furthermore, 0.02 parts by mass of an isopropyl alcohol solution of chloroplatinic acid (platinum content: 3% by mass) is added to 100 parts by mass of this base material to obtain a mixture A, and an organohydrogenpolysiloxane having a viscosity of 10 cps (SiH content) 1% by mass) 1.5 parts by mass was added and mixed to obtain a mixture B. The mixtures A and B are set in the raw material tanks 1 and 2 attached to the coating machine, respectively, sent to a static mixer using a pressure feed pump, and the mixtures A and B are mixed at a ratio of 1: 1 to obtain an elastic layer material. Got.

[Elastic layer regeneration]
Using the ring-type coating head having an inner diameter of 26.2 mm (FIG. 3A), the elastic roller material is discharged in the longitudinal direction in the ring-type coating head while discharging the elastic layer material by 1800 mm ³ / sec. The elastic layer material was applied by passing it at 10 mm / sec. After that, the roller coated with the elastic layer material is immediately moved to the heater, rotated at 30 rpm in a horizontal state, and heated and cured for 4 minutes with an infrared heater (HYL25 manufactured by HYBEC, work heater distance 60 mm, output 780 W). A recycled rubber roller was obtained. Thereafter, for the purpose of stabilizing the physical properties of the elastic layer material and removing reaction residues and unreacted low molecular components in the elastic layer material, heat treatment is performed at 200 ° C. for 4 hours in an electric furnace, and the outer diameter is 24.01 mm. A regenerative fixing roller was obtained.

  The obtained fixing roller was measured for roller runout, roughness, and roughness unevenness by the following method. The roughness and roughness unevenness measuring method are the same as the roughness and roughness unevenness measuring method of (Example 1). Further, as a result of image evaluation of the fixing roller, it was possible to obtain a good image quality.

○ Fixing roller circumferential runout measurement and evaluation method For each point where the fixing roller is equally divided into 6 parts in the longitudinal direction, the fixing roller is rotated in steps of 1 ° around the core metal, and the distance from the shaft core center to the fixing roller surface Is measured by a laser length measuring machine (manufactured by Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd., PULCOM opt 60B-600). After making one rotation of the fixing roller, a value obtained by subtracting the minimum distance value from the maximum distance value with respect to the measured distance of 360 points is set as a circumferential shake value at each longitudinal position of the fixing roller. Of the five points in the longitudinal direction, the maximum circumferential deflection value is taken as the circumferential deflection value of the fixing roller. As a result, the circumferential runout of the fixing roller was 26 μm.

○ Fixing Roller Roughness and Roughness Unevenness Measurement / Evaluation Method The same measurement position and measurement conditions except that the developing roller in Example 1 was changed to a fixing roller. As a result, the roughness unevenness of the fixing roller was 0.25. As a result of image evaluation of the fixing roller having the above physical properties, good image quality could be obtained.

(Example 13)
The transfer roller was regenerated by the following procedure.
[Preparation of transfer roller for regeneration]
A transfer roller was used as the rubber roller serving as the base of the present invention. When the outer diameter of the transfer roller was measured, the outer diameter was 16 mm, the shaft core diameter was 8 mm, and the roller rubber length was 236 mm.

[Preparation of elastic roller]
The removed transfer roller surface was removed. Rotate the transfer roller in the circumferential direction, bring the peripheral surface of the cylindrical grindstone into contact with the transfer roller surface with an appropriate pressing force on the outer peripheral surface of the transfer roller, and then rotate the grindstone in the circumferential direction of the grindstone. The transfer roller surface was polished by moving in the longitudinal direction at 50 mm / sec. Then, by removing the shavings and the like by air blowing, an elastic roller consisting only of an elastic layer having an outer diameter of 11 mm was obtained. When the circumferential runout of this elastic roller was measured, it was 30 μm.

[Preparation of elastic layer material]
Liquid silicone rubber (molecular weight Mw = 100000) 72% by mass
Quartz (Min-USil manufactured by Pennsylvania Glass Sand) 13% by mass
Carbon black (Denka black powder made by Denki Kagaku Kogyo) 3% by mass
Carbon black (MA-11 manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical) 4% by mass
Silica (Aerosil 50 from Nippon Aerosil) 8% by mass.

  The above blend was mixed and defoamed with a planetary mixer for 30 minutes to obtain a silicone base material. Furthermore, 0.02 parts by mass of an isopropyl alcohol solution of chloroplatinic acid (platinum content: 3% by mass) is added to 100 parts by mass of this base material to obtain a mixture A, and an organohydrogenpolysiloxane having a viscosity of 10 cps (SiH content) 1% by mass) 1.5 parts by mass was added and mixed to obtain a mixture B. The mixtures A and B are set in the raw material tanks 1 and 2 attached to the coating machine, respectively, sent to a static mixer using a pressure feed pump, and the mixtures A and B are mixed at a ratio of 1: 1 to obtain an elastic layer material. Got.

[Elastic layer regeneration]
Using the ring-type coating head (FIG. 3A) having an inner diameter of 16.8 mm, the elastic roller material is discharged in the longitudinal direction in the ring-type coating head while discharging the elastic layer material by 1060 mm ³ / sec. The elastic layer material was applied by passing it at 10 mm / sec. After that, the roller coated with the elastic layer material is immediately moved to the heater, rotated at 30 rpm in a horizontal state, and heated and cured for 4 minutes with an infrared heater (HYL25 manufactured by HYBEC, work heater distance 60 mm, output 780 W). A recycled rubber roller was obtained. Thereafter, heat treatment is performed at 200 ° C. for 4 hours in an electric furnace for the purpose of stabilizing physical properties of the elastic layer material and removing reaction residues and unreacted low molecular components in the elastic layer material. A regenerative transfer roller was obtained.

  The obtained transfer roller was measured for the roller runout, roughness and roughness unevenness by the following method. The roughness and roughness unevenness measuring method are the same as the roughness and roughness unevenness measuring method of (Example 1). Further, as a result of image evaluation of the transfer roller, it was possible to obtain a good image quality.

Measurement and evaluation method for transfer roller resistance and resistance unevenness Measurement was performed under the same measurement conditions except that the developing roller in Example 1 was changed to a transfer roller. As a result, the resistance unevenness of the reproduction transfer roller was 0.23.

○ Transfer roller circumferential runout measurement and evaluation method For each point where the transfer roller is equally divided into six in the longitudinal direction, the transfer roller is rotated in steps of 1 ° around the core metal, and the distance from the shaft core center to the transfer roller surface Is measured by a laser length measuring machine (manufactured by Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd., PULCOM opt 60B-600). After rotating the transfer roller once, a value obtained by subtracting the minimum distance value from the maximum distance value with respect to the measured distance of 360 points is set as a circumferential shake value at each longitudinal position of the transfer roller. Of the five points in the longitudinal direction, the maximum circumferential deflection value is taken as the circumferential deflection value of the transfer roller. As a result, the circumferential runout of the transfer roller was 27 μm.

○ Transfer Roller Roughness and Roughness Unevenness Measurement / Evaluation Method The measurement positions and measurement conditions are the same except that the developing roller in Example 1 is changed to a transfer roller. As a result, the roughness unevenness of the transfer roller was 0.22. As a result of image evaluation of the transfer roller having the above physical properties, good image quality could be obtained.

It is sectional drawing which shows an example of the developing roller and charging roller of this invention. (A) Developing roller longitudinal direction, (B) Developing roller axial direction, (C) Charging roller longitudinal direction, (D) Charging roller axial direction It is a coating machine having a ring-type coating head used in the present invention. It is the schematic of the ring type coating head used by this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows another example of this invention. (A) Longitudinal direction, (B) Axial direction 1 is a schematic view showing an outline of an image forming apparatus of the present invention. It is the schematic of the apparatus which measures the resistance of the rubber roller of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

11 Shaft core (Developing roller)
12 Elastic layer (developing roller)
13 Regenerated elastic layer (developing roller)
14 Recycled resin layer (developing roller)
15 Shaft core (charging roller)
16 Elastic layer (charging roller)
17 Regenerated elastic layer (charging roller)
18 Recycled resin layer (charging roller)
201 Mounting base 202 Column 203 Precision ball screw 204 LM guide 205 Servo motor 206 Pulley 207 Bracket 208 Coating head 209 Workpiece holding shaft 210 Workpiece holding shaft 211 Application liquid supply port 212 Application liquid conveyance pipe 213 Material supply valve 214 Linear Guide 31 Material injection port 32 Coating head upper part 33 Coating head lower part 34 Material flow path 35 Discharge port 36 Scraping ring 41 Shaft core 42 Elastic layer 43 Regenerated elastic layer 501 Photosensitive drum 502 Charging roller 503 Exposure 504 Development roller 505 Toner 506 Feed roller 507 Recording material 508 Transfer roller 509 Fixing roller 510 Pressure roller 511 Cleaning unit 512 Waste toner container 513 Toner supply roller 514 Toner storage tank 515 Developing blade 61 Conductive roller 62 Metal drum

Claims (17)

In a method for regenerating a rubber roller having at least one elastic layer on the outer periphery of a shaft core body,
(A) a step of removing the circumferential surface of the elastic layer;
(B) A ring-type coating head is arranged on the outer peripheral side of the elastic layer subjected to the removal treatment so as to be concentric with the shaft core body, and a rubber roller having the elastic layer subjected to the removal treatment is disposed on the ring. After applying an elastic layer material on the outer periphery of the elastic layer that has been removed from the coating head while moving in the axial direction relative to the mold coating head, the elastic layer material is cured to be elastic. And a step of forming a layer. In a method of reclaiming a rubber roller having at least one elastic layer on the outer periphery of the shaft core and at least one resin layer on the outer periphery of the elastic layer,
(C) removing the resin layer;
(D) a step of removing the circumferential surface of the elastic layer;
(E) A ring-type coating head is arranged on the outer peripheral side of the elastic layer subjected to the removal treatment so as to be concentric with the shaft core body, and a rubber roller having the elastic layer subjected to the removal treatment is disposed on the ring. After applying an elastic layer material on the outer periphery of the elastic layer that has been removed from the coating head while moving in the axial direction relative to the mold coating head, the elastic layer material is cured to be elastic. Forming a layer;
(F) A step of forming a resin layer on the outer periphery of the elastic layer after the step (e).   In the step of forming the resin layer in the step (f), a ring-type coating head is arranged on the outer peripheral side of the elastic layer so as to be concentric with the shaft core body, and a rubber roller having the elastic layer is provided It is a step of curing the resin layer material after applying the resin layer material on the outer periphery of the elastic layer from the coating head while moving in the axial direction relative to the ring type coating head. The method for regenerating a rubber roller according to claim 2. In a method of reclaiming a rubber roller having at least one elastic layer on the outer periphery of the shaft core and at least one resin layer on the outer periphery of the elastic layer,
(G) removing the resin layer and removing the circumferential surface of the elastic layer, or removing the circumferential surface of the resin layer; and (h) on the outer peripheral side of the layer subjected to the removing treatment of the rubber roller. The ring-type coating head is arranged so as to be concentric with the shaft core body, and the rubber roller is removed from the coating head while moving in the axial direction relative to the ring-type coating head. A method of reclaiming a rubber roller, comprising: applying a resin layer material on an outer periphery of a treated layer, and then curing the resin layer material to form a resin layer.   The rubber roller recycling method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the resin layer material contains urethane rubber.   The application of the resin layer material is performed by discharging a certain amount of the resin layer material per unit time from the coating head when the coating head is moved. The method for reclaiming the rubber roller according to the item.   The elastic layer material is applied by discharging a predetermined amount of the elastic layer material per unit time from the coating head when the coating head is moved. The method for reclaiming the rubber roller according to the item. Application of the elastic layer material
(I) applying an elastic layer material on the outer periphery of the elastic layer that has been removed from the coating head when the coating head is moved;
(J) A ring-shaped member that is larger than the shaft core body and has an inner diameter smaller than the roller coated with the elastic layer material in the step (i) is arranged so as to be concentric with the shaft core body, and the elastic layer The method further comprises a step of moving a rubber roller coated with a material in an axial direction relative to the ring-shaped member and scraping off an excessive elastic layer material. A method for regenerating a rubber roller as described in 1.   The rubber roller regeneration method according to claim 1, wherein the elastic layer material contains the same component as that of the elastic layer subjected to the removal treatment.   The rubber roller regeneration method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and 7 to 9, wherein the elastic layer material contains urethane rubber or silicone rubber.   The rubber roller regeneration method according to claim 1, wherein the circumferential surface removal process is performed by cutting or polishing.   A rubber roller that is regenerated by the method for regenerating a rubber roller according to claim 1.   The rubber roller according to claim 12, wherein the rubber roller is a fixing roller or a pressure roller.   The rubber roller according to claim 12, wherein the rubber roller is a conductive roller.   The rubber roller according to claim 14, wherein the conductive roller is a developing roller, a charging roller, or a transfer roller. A charging roller that contacts a rotatable photosensitive drum to supply charges to the surface of the photosensitive drum, an exposure unit that records image information on the surface of the photosensitive drum, and a developer that contacts the photosensitive drum and contacts the surface of the photosensitive drum. In an electrophotographic process cartridge having a developing roller for supplying
The electrophotographic process cartridge according to claim 12, wherein at least one of the developing roller and the charging roller is a rubber roller according to claim 12. A charging roller that contacts a rotatable photosensitive drum to supply charges to the surface of the photosensitive drum, an exposure unit that records image information on the surface of the photosensitive drum, and a developer that contacts the photosensitive drum and contacts the surface of the photosensitive drum. A developing roller that supplies the developer onto a transfer material, a fixing roller, a pressure roller that forms a nip portion with the fixing roller, and presses and conveys the transfer material by the nip portion; In an image forming apparatus having
The image forming apparatus according to claim 12, wherein at least one roller selected from the group consisting of the charging roller, the developing roller, the transfer roller, the fixing roller, and the pressure roller is the rubber roller according to claim 12.

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