JP2007106080A - Mold for forming developer quantity regulating blade, and developer quantity regulating blade formed by using it - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mold for forming a developer quantity regulating blade, which can bring about good image quality even in the low-temperature and low-humidity environment, and the developer quantity regulating blade which is formed by using the mold. <P>SOLUTION: This mold 10 for forming the developer quantity regulating blade includes a plate arranging space 14 for arranging a metal plate, and a strip-shaped cavity 15 for molding an elastic member, which is adjacent to the space 14; graining is applied to at least a partial surface 20a, of the width-direction cross section of the cavity, of a cavity surface 20 for defining the cavity 15; and surface roughness Ry of the grained surface is set at 10 μm or less. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a mold for forming a blade for regulating the amount of developer on the periphery of a developing roller used in an image forming apparatus, and a developer amount regulating blade formed thereby, in particular, an image forming apparatus. It is related with what improves the quality of the image formed by.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a color laser printer, in order to visualize a latent image formed on a photosensitive drum, color toner (developer) is supplied using a non-magnetic developing roller. The image forming apparatus develops the color toner 93 held on the circumference of the developing roller 92 by rotating the developing roller 92 disposed so as to contact the photosensitive drum 91 as shown in a conceptual diagram in FIG. It is configured to be transferred from the roller 92 to the photosensitive drum 91.

In order to obtain a good image, it is important to set the toner amount and the toner charge amount on the circumference of the developing roller 91 as desired. The current agent amount regulating blade 94 is disposed so as to be close to the peripheral surface of the developing roller 92, controls the supply amount by regulating the layer thickness of the toner 93 on the circumference of the developing roller 92, and frictionally charges the toner. And the charge amount is adjusted. Such a developer amount regulating blade 94 is composed of a metal plate 96 supported on one side by a holder 95 and an elastic member 97 bonded to the metal plate 96 (see Patent Document 1). ).
JP 2005-274646 A

  However, with the conventional developer amount regulating blade 94, images in a low-temperature and low-humidity environment are not always of good quality, and there is a need for improvement. As a countermeasure, an attempt has been made to improve the image quality by optimizing the surface roughness of the elastic body close to the developing roller, but that is not always sufficient.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and is a mold for forming a developer amount regulating blade capable of improving the image quality even in a low temperature and low humidity environment, and a mold formed thereby. Another object is to provide a developer amount regulating blade.

<1> is a mold for forming a developer amount regulating blade formed by adhering an elastic member to a strip-shaped metal plate in a direction parallel to the metal plate.
A plate arrangement space for arranging the metal plate and a belt-like cavity for forming the elastic member adjacent to the plate arrangement space, and at least a part of a cavity surface defining the cavity in a section in the cavity width direction This is a mold for forming a developer amount regulating blade in which the surface roughness Ry of the textured surface is 10 μm or less.

  Here, “texture processing” means that after the basic pattern of the texture pattern is drawn with acid-resistant ink on the cavity definition surface of the mold, the cavity definition surface is corroded using an acidic station or the like. Then, the glossiness is adjusted with sand blast or glass beads if necessary, and the process of forming irregularities on the cavity surface by these processes. There are various kinds of texture patterns such as leather patterns, but not particularly limited.

  <2> is the method according to <1>, wherein the embossing is performed only on one side having a point on the cavity surface as a boundary in the cross section in the cavity width direction, and the surface roughness Ry of the other cavity surface is 1.5 μm. The developer amount regulating blade forming mold is as follows.

<3> In <2>, when the point P is the point closest to the developing roller in the mounting posture when mounting the developer amount regulating blade on the elastic member to the apparatus,
A developer amount regulating blade forming mold in which one point on the cavity surface serving as the boundary is arranged in a range of −2 mm to 2 mm from the point on the cavity surface corresponding to the point P in the cross section in the cavity width direction. .

  <4> is a mold for forming a developer amount regulating blade in which the surface roughness Ry of the textured surface is 0.5 to 5.0 μm in any one of <1> to <3>.

  <5> is a developer amount regulating blade formed using the developer amount regulating blade forming mold according to any one of <1> to <4>, and is at least one in the cross section in the width direction of the elastic member. 4 is a developer amount regulating blade in which the embossed transfer pattern is formed on the exposed surface of the part.

  According to <1>, at least a part of the cross section in the cavity width direction is subjected to a texture process, and the surface roughness Ry of the textured surface is set to 10 μm or less. When the formed developer amount regulating blade is mounted on a printer for printing, a good image can be obtained even in a low temperature and low humidity environment.

  According to <2>, the embossing is performed on one side having a point on the cavity surface as a boundary in the cross section in the cavity width direction, and the developer amount regulating blade formed by this mold in a low-temperature and low-humidity environment. While maintaining the image improvement effect, the surface roughness Ry of the cavity surface on the other side is 1.5 μm or less, so that the corresponding surface of the molded elastic member is smoothed and generated on the elastic member in the inspection process Scratches can be easily detected.

  <3> According to <3>, the elastic member is mounted on the elastic member in the mounting posture when the developer amount regulating blade is attached to the apparatus at the boundary between the transfer pattern forming part of the embossing process of the mold and the smooth surface part. Because it is located in the vicinity of the point closest to the developing roller, that is, in the most dominant region for both regulation of the developer amount and adjustment of the charge amount, scratches with a large influence on the image are made easier. Can be detected.

  <4> is that the surface roughness Ry of the textured surface is 0.5 to 5.0 μm, and when Ry is less than 0.5 μm, the amount of toner transported is too large and the image becomes dark. On the other hand, if it exceeds 5.0 μm, there is a possibility that the amount of toner transported is too small and the image may become thin, which is not preferable in either case.

  According to <5>, since the developer amount regulating blade is formed using the developer amount regulating blade forming mold of any one of <1> to <4>, the above-described effects are achieved. be able to.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a view showing a developer amount regulating blade formed by a mold according to the present invention, FIG. 2 (a) is a perspective view, FIG. 2 (b) is a plan view, and FIG. It is width direction sectional drawing. The developer amount regulating blade 1 is composed of a strip-shaped thin metal plate 2 and an elastic member 3 bonded to one surface of the metal plate 2, and is provided in a cavity of a mold in which a metal plate coated with an adhesive is inserted. For example, it is formed by filling and curing a material such as liquid silicone rubber.

    As the metal plate 2, it is preferable to use a thin plate of aluminum, stainless steel, copper or the like having a thickness of 0.05 to 0.5 mm, and this satisfies the range of flexibility and strength required for the metal plate 2. Can do. Also, in the figure, reference numeral 7 is a tab formed by a tab forming portion for rectifying the flow of the molding material that exits from the gate toward the cavity, and reference numeral 8 indicates the developer amount regulating blade 1. An attachment hole for attaching to the holder of the image forming apparatus. In the cross section in the width direction, the side attached to the holder is referred to as a base side, and the opposite side is referred to as a tip side.

  In FIG. 2C, which is a cross-sectional view in the width direction, a point P is a point closest to the developing roller in the mounting posture when the developer amount regulating blade 1 is mounted on the image forming apparatus (hereinafter referred to as “developing roller recent time”). In the case of the example shown in the figure, it is a point on the ridge line between the straight line portion and the curved portion, but the characteristics of the area in the vicinity of this point P have a great influence on the amount of developer and the charge amount. Therefore, this area is strictly inspected for scratches.

  And the area | region 5 of the exposed surface in the cross section of the width direction of the elastic member 3 is comprised by the embossing transcription | transfer surface to which the embossing process given to the metal mold cavity surface mentioned later was transcribe | transferred, and the remaining area | region 4 is The smooth surface is finished, and the boundary 6 between the textured transfer surface region 5 and the smooth surface region is disposed in the vicinity of the developing roller closest point P. In the case of the example illustrated in FIG. 2, the textured transfer surface area 5 is disposed at the front end side of the developer amount regulating blade at the boundary 6.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a single die that forms the developer amount regulating blade 1 in a closed state, and FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view in the width direction of the die. (B) is sectional drawing corresponding to the bb arrow of FIG. 3 (a). In the figure, PL represents a parting line of the mold, and the upper mold 11 located on one side of the PL has a plate arrangement space 14 in which the metal plate 2 is arranged in the lower mold 12 located on the other side. , A strip-shaped cavity 15 is provided, and a tab forming portion 13 corresponding to the tab 7 is disposed adjacent to the cavity 15, and a runner 16 for supplying a material is connected to the tab forming portion 13. Has been.

  In FIG. 3A, which is a sectional view in the cavity width direction, at least the surface 20a on one side having the boundary 21 on the cavity surface 20 as a boundary is subjected to a texture processing so that the surface roughness Ry is 10 μm or less. . The entire surface of the cavity surface 20 defining the cavity 15 can be subjected to texturing, but it is preferable to apply texturing to only a part of the surface, in which case the other surface 20b across the boundary 21 is smoothed. The surface roughness should be 1.5 μm or less.

  It is preferable that the surface roughness Ry of the surface 20a on one side subjected to the graining be 0.5 to 5.0 μm. Further, the boundary point (boundary point) 21 is in the vicinity of the point Q on the cavity surface 20 corresponding to the developing roller closest point P on the elastic member 6, preferably in the range of −2 mm to 2 mm from the point Q. In this way, both the texture transfer surface region 5 and the smooth surface region 4 exist on the elastic member 6 in the vicinity of the developing roller closest point P, and the toner characteristics. The development performance in the region near the point P, which has the greatest effect on determining the image quality, is improved by the textured transfer surface, and the smooth surface can facilitate the detection of scratches in the region near the point P. It is possible to achieve both improvement of the image quality and ease of detection of scratches.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a developer amount regulating blade 1A formed of a mold according to another embodiment. The developer amount regulating blade 1A also has a structure in which an elastic member 3A is bonded to a metal plate 2. FIG. The metal plate is the same as the developer amount regulating blade 1 in the embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 2, and the elastic member 3A also has the same cross-sectional shape in the width direction as the elastic member 3. Although there is no change in that a part of the exposed surface is composed of a textured transfer surface area 5A, the textured transfer surface area 5A has a developer amount restriction from the boundary 6A with the smooth surface area 4A. The difference is that it is arranged on the blade base side. However, in this case as well, both the texture transfer surface area 5A and the smooth surface area 4A are present in the vicinity of the developing roller closest point P, which improves development performance and facilitates detection of scratches. It is possible to achieve both.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a developer amount regulating blade formed of a mold having a different cross-sectional shape in the width direction of the cavity from the mold for forming the developer amount regulating blade 1 or 1A. The agent amount regulating blade 1B includes an elastic member 3A having a cross-sectional shape in the width direction different from that of the developer amount regulating blades 1 and 1A. However, also in this case, the textured transfer surface region 5B is disposed on one side of the boundary 6B located in the vicinity of the developing roller closest point on the elastic member 3A, and the smooth surface region 4B is disposed on the other side of the boundary 6B. It is arranged.

  FIG. 6 is also a perspective view showing a developer amount regulating blade 1C formed of a mold having a cavity having a different cross-sectional shape in the width direction from the mold forming the developer amount regulating blades 1, 1A, 1B. In the developer amount regulating blade 1C, the cross-sectional shape of the elastic member 3C is different from any of the elastic members 3, 3A, 3B, but one side of the boundary 6C located in the vicinity of the developing roller closest point on the elastic member 3C. However, there is no change in that the textured transfer surface area 5C is disposed and the smooth surface area 4C is disposed on the other side of the boundary 6C.

  A developer amount regulating blade is prototyped using the mold 10 having the cross section in the width direction shown in FIG. 3 to be a first embodiment, and the blade is mounted on a corresponding image forming apparatus to perform image evaluation, and an elastic member. In the cross section in the width direction, scratches crossing the closest point P of the developing roller were visually inspected, and the detection rate of the scratches was measured. The results are shown in Table 1.

  In the image evaluation, paper printed on a black solid or white solid is visually judged, and “○” indicates that the paper has passed, “×” indicates that the paper has clearly failed, and “×” indicates that the image is Although not bad, those which failed were shown as “Δ” in Table 1.

  The scratch detection rate is determined by dividing the number of scratches detected by visual inspection by the number of scratches detected by detailed inspection using a microscope and a surface roughness meter. The case of exceeding 10 is represented by “◯”, the case of less than 10% is represented by “×”, and the case of 10% to 90% is represented by “Δ”.

  In both cases, the cross section in the width direction is the same as in Example 1, but the developer amount regulating blade formed by using a mold in which the entire cavity surface has been subjected to embossing is referred to as Example 2, and the entire cavity surface is A developer amount regulating blade formed using a mold having a mirror-finished surface with a surface roughness Ry of 0.2 μm or less is referred to as Comparative Example 1, and the entire cavity surface has a surface roughness Ry of 0.2 to A developer amount regulating blade formed using a mold having a machined surface with a finish of 1.5 μm is used as Comparative Example 2, and these Example 2 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2 are also compared to Example 1. Image evaluation performed in the same manner as that performed, and calculation of the detection rate of scratches were performed, and these results are also shown in Table 1.

  The developer amount regulating blade used in the evaluation is that in both Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2, the metal plate material is SUS, the thickness is 0.1 mm, and the elastic member material is silicone. For rubber, the thickness and width were 1.5 mm and 4 mm, respectively. Further, the image evaluation was performed by mounting it on a printer as shown in FIG.

  In the above table, L / L environment (low temperature and low humidity environment) is a temperature of 10 ° C and humidity is 15%. H / H environment (high temperature and high humidity environment) is a temperature of 28 ° C and humidity is 85%. The white solid evaluation is to evaluate whether a black part appears on the paper in the case of a latent image where the entire paper surface is completely white. Is for evaluating whether a portion where the black color is thin appears on the paper in the case of a latent image in which the entire paper is black.

  As is clear from Table 1, the image evaluation results of Examples 1 and 2 are good even in the L / L environment. When these are compared with Comparative Examples 1 and 2, at least a part of the mold is obtained. It can be seen that this is realized by making the textured transfer surface and the surface roughness Ry 10 μm, and in Example 1, the smooth surface area is present in the vicinity of the closest contact point of the developing roller. It can be seen that even a scratch having a depth of 3 μm can be visually inspected with a high detection rate, which is preferable.

  The developer amount regulating blade of the present invention can be applied to various sizes.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows the attachment aspect of a developer amount regulation blade. FIG. 3 is a perspective view, a front view, and a cross-sectional view showing a developer amount regulating blade formed by a mold according to the present invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the metal mold | die which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the developer amount regulation blade formed of the metal mold | die of another aspect. It is a perspective view which shows the developer amount regulation blade formed with the metal mold | die of aspects other than the above. Furthermore, it is a perspective view showing a developer amount regulating blade formed by a mold of a mode other than the above.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Developer amount regulation blade 2 Metal plate 3, 3A, 3B, 3C Elastic member 4, 4A, 4B, 4C Smooth surface area 5, 5A, 5B, 5C Textured transfer surface area 6, 6A, 6B, 6C Elastic member Upper, boundary between the textured transfer surface area and the smooth surface area 7 Tab 8 Mounting hole 10 Mold 11 Upper mold 12 Lower mold 13 Tab forming portion 14 Plate placement space 15 Cavity 16 Runner 20a Textured cavity surface 20b Smooth Surface finished cavity surface 21 Boundary between embossed region and smooth surface region on cavity surface 91 Photosensitive drum 92 Developing roller 93 Toner 94 Developer amount regulating blade 95 Holder 96 Metal plate 97 Elastic member PL Parting line P Development Roller closest point Q Point on the cavity surface corresponding to point P

Claims (5)

In a mold for forming a developer amount regulating blade formed by adhering an elastic member to a strip-shaped metal plate in a direction parallel to the metal plate,
A plate arrangement space for arranging the metal plate and a belt-like cavity for forming the elastic member adjacent to the plate arrangement space, and at least a part of a cavity surface defining the cavity in a section in the cavity width direction A mold for forming a developer amount regulating blade that is subjected to a textured surface and the surface roughness Ry of the textured surface is 10 μm or less.   2. The development according to claim 1, wherein the embossing is performed only on one side having a point on the cavity surface as a boundary in the cross section in the cavity width direction, and the surface roughness Ry of the other cavity surface is 1.5 μm or less. Die for forming dose control blade. When the point P is the point closest to the developing roller in the mounting posture when mounting the developer amount regulating blade on the apparatus on the elastic member,
3. The developer amount regulating blade according to claim 2, wherein one point on the cavity surface serving as the boundary is arranged in a range of −2 mm to 2 mm from the point on the cavity surface corresponding to the point P in the cross section in the cavity width direction. Mold for forming.   The mold for forming a developer amount regulating blade according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the textured surface has a surface roughness Ry of 0.5 to 5.0 µm.   A developer amount regulating blade formed using the developer amount regulating blade forming die according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein at least a part of the exposed surface of the elastic member in a cross section in the width direction is formed. A developer amount regulating blade formed with the textured transfer pattern.

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