JP2009265320A - Intermediate transfer body, and transfer device and image forming apparatus including it - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an intermediate transfer body, acquiring the thickness of a substrate layer where an elastic member layer is stacked on the surface thereof without breaking work such as cutting in a manufacturing process, restraining the occurrence of a color shift due to uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer body, and executing image formation with high quality. <P>SOLUTION: In this image forming apparatus 1, a transfer device 30 includes an intermediate transfer belt 31 as an intermediate transfer body once supporting a toner image, and the intermediate transfer belt 31 includes a colored substrate layer 31a and a transparent elastic member layer 31b stacked on the surface of the substrate layer 31a. As a result, light is passed through the elastic member layer 31b to be applied to the substrate layer 31a. Thus, a transmission densitometer is used to measure the transmission density of the substrate layer 31a, so that the thickness is derived from the transmission density. Therefore, the thickness of a portion rather closer to the center than the end part is obtained as well as the thickness of the substrate layer 31a at the end of the intermediate transfer belt 31. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an intermediate transfer member that temporarily supports a toner image of an image formed on a sheet, which can be applied to an image forming apparatus represented by a copying machine or a printer. The present invention also relates to a transfer device and an image forming apparatus provided with the intermediate transfer member.

  In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, a photosensitive drum is widely used as an image carrier. A general image forming operation using the photosensitive drum is as follows. The surface of the photosensitive drum is uniformly charged with a predetermined potential by a charging device, and the potential is partially attenuated by irradiating the LED light of the exposure device, etc., to form an electrostatic latent image of the original image. Is done. The electrostatic latent image is developed with a developing device, whereby a toner image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum. This toner image is transferred to the sheet when the sheet is inserted into a transfer region formed by bringing the photosensitive drum and the transfer member into contact with each other or close to each other.

  The image forming apparatus includes a type in which a toner image is directly transferred from a photosensitive drum, which is an image carrier, onto a sheet, and a toner image is once carried on an intermediate transfer body and then transferred from the intermediate transfer body to a sheet. There is also. The intermediate transfer member is often found in an image forming apparatus for color printing such as a so-called tandem type image forming apparatus in which image forming units corresponding to a plurality of colors of toner are arranged in a line. Examples of such an image forming apparatus can be found in Patent Documents 1 and 2.

  Here, generally, the intermediate transfer member has uneven thickness. As a result, the distance between the center axis of the driving roller of the intermediate transfer member and the surface of the intermediate transfer member also becomes uneven. Accordingly, since the surface speed is further uneven, when toner images of a plurality of colors are overlapped, their positions fluctuate and there is a possibility that a positional deviation, that is, a color deviation occurs. In this regard, in the image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1, in order to eliminate the color misregistration caused by the uneven thickness of the transfer belt (intermediate transfer member), the exposure start timing of each of the four colors is set according to the color misregistration amount. It has been corrected.

  However, color misregistration caused by uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer member is prevented at the manufacturing stage of the member by thoroughly controlling the thickness of the intermediate transfer member itself, not by controlling the completed image forming apparatus. Is desirable. As a result, it is not necessary to incorporate control related to correction of color misregistration due to uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer member into the image forming apparatus, so that the number of manufacturing steps can be suppressed and the cost can be reduced. In addition, it is not necessary to perform correction of color misregistration due to uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer body during printing, so that it is possible to improve printing speed and reduce power consumption.

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 2, the thickness and hardness of the base layer of the intermediate transfer member and the elastic member layer laminated on the surface thereof are set in advance in order to prevent unevenness in image density and color misregistration. It stipulates.
JP 2001-337504 A (page 5-6, FIG. 4) JP 2002-162833 A (page 4, FIG. 2, FIG. 5)

  Of the base material layer of the intermediate transfer member or the elastic member layer laminated on the surface thereof, the thickness unevenness of the intermediate transfer member is caused by the influence of the base material layer having a high Young's modulus. Therefore, it is important to manage the thickness of the base material layer. In addition, since the thickness may change when laminating | stacking an elastic member layer on the surface, it is necessary to measure thickness after laminating | stacking an elastic member layer. For this reason, the thickness of the base material layer must be measured from the end section of the intermediate transfer member.

  However, the method of measuring the thickness of the base material layer from the end section of the intermediate transfer member is troublesome and can only grasp the thickness of the base material layer at the end portion of the intermediate transfer body. The thickness of the portion of the base material layer near the center from the end of the intermediate transfer member cannot be grasped. In order to know the thickness of the base layer from the end of the intermediate transfer member to the center, it is necessary to cut the intermediate transfer member, which is difficult to measure in the manufacturing process. As a result, color misregistration caused by uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer member may occur, and image quality may be deteriorated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and in an intermediate transfer body that once carries a toner image of an image to be formed on a sheet, an elastic member layer is formed on the surface without breaking work such as cutting in the manufacturing process. Provided is an intermediate transfer member capable of grasping the thickness of the laminated base material layer, suppressing occurrence of color misregistration due to uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer member, and performing high-quality image formation. For the purpose. It is another object of the present invention to provide a transfer device and an image forming apparatus provided with such an intermediate transfer member.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is an intermediate transfer member that once carries a toner image of an image to be formed on a paper, and is laminated on the surface of the colored base layer and the base layer. And a transparent elastic member layer.

  Further, in the intermediate transfer member having the above configuration, the base material layer is formed of a synthetic resin.

  In the present invention, the intermediate transfer member having the above-described configuration is mounted on a transfer device.

  In the present invention, the intermediate transfer member having the above configuration is mounted on the image forming apparatus.

  According to the configuration of the present invention, the intermediate transfer member that once carries the toner image of the image to be formed on the paper includes the colored base material layer, and the transparent elastic member layer laminated on the surface of the base material layer. Therefore, the base material layer can be irradiated with light through the elastic member layer. Thereby, by using a transmission densitometer, the transmission density of the base material layer can be measured, and the thickness can be derived from the transmission density. Therefore, it is possible to grasp not only the thickness of the base material layer at the end of the intermediate transfer member but also the thickness of the portion closer to the center from the end. In this way, the thickness of the base material layer with the elastic member layer laminated on the surface can be grasped without performing a destructive operation such as cutting in the manufacturing process, so thorough management of the thickness of the base material layer is required. As a result, the occurrence of color misregistration caused by uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer member is suppressed, and an intermediate transfer member capable of performing high-quality image formation can be obtained.

  In addition, an intermediate transfer member provided with a base material layer formed of a synthetic resin is widely used in image forming apparatuses because the base material layer has excellent mechanical properties and is not easily deformed even when pressed between opposing rollers. It has been adopted. However, on the other hand, unless the thickness control of the base material layer is thoroughly performed, there is a problem that the characteristic that is difficult to deform tends to adversely affect the color shift. Therefore, by combining the base material layer formed of the synthetic resin with the intermediate transfer member of the present invention, not only the thickness of the base material layer at the end of the intermediate transfer member but also the thickness of the portion closer to the center from the end portion. This makes it possible to grasp the image and suppress the occurrence of color misregistration, thereby achieving high-quality image formation.

  In the present invention, since the intermediate transfer member is mounted on the transfer device, the base layer of the intermediate transfer member in which the elastic member layer is laminated on the surface without performing a breaking operation such as cutting in the manufacturing process. It is possible to provide a transfer device capable of grasping the thickness, suppressing occurrence of color misregistration due to uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer member, and performing high-quality image formation.

  In the present invention, since the intermediate transfer body is mounted on the image forming apparatus, the base material layer of the intermediate transfer body in which the elastic member layer is laminated on the surface without performing a breaking operation such as cutting in the manufacturing process. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus capable of performing high-quality image formation with the occurrence of color misregistration caused by uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer member being suppressed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, an image output operation of an image forming apparatus including an intermediate transfer belt, which is an intermediate transfer body according to an embodiment of the present invention, will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional front view of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged vertical sectional view around the intermediate transfer belt shown in FIG. This image forming apparatus is of a color printing type in which a toner image is transferred onto a sheet using an intermediate transfer belt.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a paper feed cassette 3 is disposed below the inside of the main body 2 of the image forming apparatus 1. The paper feed cassette 3 stores and accommodates paper P such as cut paper before printing. The sheets P are separated and sent one by one toward the upper left of the sheet cassette 3 in FIG. The paper feed cassette 3 can be pulled out horizontally from the front side of the main body 2.

  A first paper transport unit 4 is provided inside the main body 2 and to the left of the paper feed cassette 3. The first paper transport unit 4 is formed substantially vertically along the left side surface of the main body 2. Then, the first paper transport unit 4 receives the paper P sent out from the paper feed cassette 3 and transports it to the secondary transfer unit 33 vertically upward along the left side surface of the main body 2.

  A manual paper feed unit 5 is provided above the paper feed cassette 3 at a location on the right side which is the side opposite to the left side of the main body 2 where the first paper transport unit 4 is formed. Yes. In the manual sheet feeder 5, paper P of a size that is not contained in the paper cassette 3, thick paper, and OHP sheets that are to be fed one by one are placed.

  A second paper transport unit 6 is provided on the left side of the manual paper feed unit 5. The second paper transport unit 6 is located immediately above the paper feed cassette 3, extends substantially horizontally from the manual paper feed unit 5 to the first paper transport unit 4, and joins the first paper transport unit 4. Then, the second paper transport unit 6 receives the paper P or the like sent from the manual paper feed unit 5 and transports it to the first paper transport unit 4 substantially horizontally.

  On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 1 receives document image data from an external computer (not shown). The information of the image data is sent to a laser irradiation unit 7 that is an exposure unit disposed above the second paper transport unit 6. The laser irradiation unit 7 irradiates the image forming unit 20 with laser light L controlled based on the image data.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a total of four image forming units 20 are used above the laser irradiation unit 7, and an intermediate transfer member is used in the form of an endless belt above each image forming unit 20. A transfer device 30 provided with an intermediate transfer belt 31 is provided. The intermediate transfer belt 31 of the transfer device 30 is supported by being wound around a plurality of rollers, and is rotated clockwise in FIG. 2 by a driving device (not shown).

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the four image forming units 20 are arranged in a row from the upstream side in the rotational direction to the downstream side in the rotational direction of the intermediate transfer belt 31 in a so-called tandem system. is there. The four image forming units 20 are, in order from the upstream side, a magenta image forming unit 20M, a cyan image forming unit 20C, a yellow image forming unit 20Y, and a black image forming unit 20B. These image forming units 20 are replenished with a developer (toner) by a developer supply container and a conveying unit (not shown) corresponding to each color. In the following description, the identification symbols “M”, “C”, “Y”, and “B” are omitted unless particularly limited.

  In each image forming unit 20, an electrostatic latent image of a document image is formed by the laser light L irradiated by the laser irradiation unit 7 serving as an exposure unit, and the toner image is developed from the electrostatic latent image. The toner image is primarily transferred onto the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 31 by the primary transfer unit 32 of the transfer device 30 provided above each image forming unit 20. As the intermediate transfer belt 31 rotates, the toner image of each image forming unit 20 is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 31 at a predetermined timing, so that the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 31 is magenta, cyan, yellow, and black. A color toner image is formed by superimposing the color toner images.

  The transfer device 30 includes a secondary transfer unit 33 in which a secondary transfer roller 34 is provided at a position where the intermediate transfer belt 31 is suspended on the sheet conveyance path. The color toner image once carried on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 31 is formed by the intermediate transfer belt 31 and the secondary transfer roller 34 being in pressure contact with the paper P sent in synchronization by the first paper transport unit 4. Is transferred at the secondary transfer nip portion.

  After the secondary transfer, deposits such as toner remaining on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 31 are cleaned for the intermediate transfer belt 31 provided upstream of the intermediate transfer belt 31 in the rotation direction of the magenta image forming unit 20M. It is cleaned and collected by the device 8.

  A fixing unit 9 is provided above the secondary transfer unit 33 of the transfer device 30. The sheet P carrying the unfixed toner image in the secondary transfer unit 33 is sent to the fixing unit 9 where the toner image is heated and pressed by the heat roller and the pressure roller to be fixed.

  A branching unit 10 is provided above the fixing unit 9. The paper P discharged from the fixing unit 9 is discharged from the branching unit 10 to the paper discharge unit 11 provided at the upper part of the image forming apparatus 1 when double-sided printing is not performed.

  The discharge port portion from which the paper P is discharged from the branch unit 10 toward the paper discharge unit 11 functions as the switchback unit 12. When performing duplex printing, the switchback unit 12 switches the transport direction of the paper P discharged from the fixing unit 9. Then, the sheet P is sent downward through the branching unit 10, the left side of the fixing unit 9, and the left side of the secondary transfer unit 33, and again passes through the first sheet transport unit 4 to the secondary transfer unit 33. Sent.

  Next, a detailed configuration around the image forming unit 20 and the intermediate transfer belt 31 of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 3 in addition to FIG. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged vertical sectional view showing the periphery of the image forming unit. Since the four color image forming units 20 have the same structure, the identification symbols “M”, “C”, “Y”, and “B” are omitted as described above.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming unit 20 includes a photosensitive drum 21 that is an image carrier at the center thereof. In the vicinity of the photosensitive drum 21, a charging device 40, a developing device 50, a charge removal device 60, and a drum cleaning device 70 are arranged in this order along the rotation direction. The primary transfer unit 32 is provided between the developing device 50 and the charge removal device 60 along the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 21.

  The photoconductor drum 21 extends in the paper width direction perpendicular to the paper conveyance direction in the image forming apparatus 1, that is, the depth direction of the paper surface in FIG. The photosensitive drum 21 is an inorganic photosensitive drum in which an amorphous silicon photosensitive layer, which is an inorganic photoconductive material, is provided on the outer side of a conductive roller-shaped substrate made of aluminum or the like by vacuum deposition or the like, and has a diameter of 30 mm. It is. The photosensitive drum 21 is rotated by a driving device (not shown) so that the peripheral speed thereof is substantially the same as the paper conveyance speed (150 mm / s). Note that the four image forming apparatuses 20 shown in FIG. 2 are rotated by individual drive devices each including a DC motor and a gear.

  The charging device 40 includes a charging roller 42 in contact with the photosensitive drum 21 inside the housing 41. The charging roller 42 is in pressure contact with the photosensitive drum 21 with a predetermined pressure, and rotates according to the rotation of the photosensitive drum 21. The charging roller 42 uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 21 with a predetermined polarity and potential. The charging potential at this time is normally plus 350V. In the housing 41, a cleaning brush 43 is provided at a position separating the charging roller 42 from the photosensitive drum 21, and the surface of the charging roller 42 is cleaned by the cleaning brush 43.

  The developing device 50 includes a developing roller 52 and a supply screw 53 inside the housing 51. The developing roller 52 is provided in the vicinity of the photosensitive drum 21 with a developing method being contact or non-contact. A bias having the same polarity as the charging polarity of the photosensitive drum 21 is applied to the developing roller 52. The developing roller 52 charges the toner, which is a developer, and moves it to the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 21 to develop the electrostatic latent image.

  The developing device 50 uses a two-component toner obtained by mixing a magnetic carrier and a non-magnetic toner as a developer, but may be of a type using a magnetic or non-magnetic one-component toner. Absent. Further, in order to clean the surface of the photosensitive drum 21 by polishing, a small amount of powder such as titanium oxide or silica is mixed in the toner as an external additive. The toner is accommodated in a developer supply container (not shown), conveyed to a location of the developing device 50 by a conveying means (not shown), and replenished inside the housing 51 by a supply screw 53.

  The primary transfer unit 32 is provided with a primary transfer roller 35 that comes into contact with the photosensitive drum 21 via the intermediate transfer belt 31. The primary transfer roller 35 is a roller having a diameter of 20 mm, in which a metal shaft having a diameter of 8 mm is provided with an EPDM (ethylene propylene diene rubber) foam having a thickness of 6 mm. The primary transfer roller 35 rotates according to the rotation of the intermediate transfer belt 31 by contacting the intermediate transfer belt 31 without having a driving device. Further, a negative primary transfer bias having a polarity different from the charging polarity of the photosensitive drum 21 and the toner is applied to the primary transfer roller 35 as necessary.

  The neutralization device 60 is disposed on the downstream side of the primary transfer unit 32 along the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 21. The static eliminator 60 includes an LED (light emitting diode) 61 and a reflection plate 62. The LED 61 is attached to the upper surface of the housing 71 of the cleaning device 70. Instead of the LED 61, an EL (electroluminescence) light source, a fluorescent lamp, or the like can be used. The reflection plate 62 is provided above the LED 61 so as to cover the LED 61. The neutralization device 60 irradiates the photosensitive drum 21 with the neutralization light from the LED 61 to remove the charged charges on the surface thereof, and prepares for the charging process in the next image forming operation.

  The cleaning device 70 is arranged further downstream of the primary transfer unit 32 and the charge removal device 60 along the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 21. The cleaning device 70 includes a cleaning roller 72, a cleaning blade 73, a toner receiving member 74, a transport paddle 75, and a toner discharge screw 76 inside the housing 71. The cleaning roller 72 and the cleaning blade 73 are in pressure contact with the photosensitive drum 21, and remove adhered matters such as toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 21 for cleaning. The toner removed from the surface of the photosensitive drum 21 is temporarily stored inside the toner receiving member 74, and the overflowed toner is sent to the toner discharge screw 76 via the transport paddle 75. Thus, the waste toner is discharged by the toner discharge screw 76 to a waste toner collection container (not shown) outside the cleaning device 70.

  Next, a detailed configuration of the intermediate transfer belt 31 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 in addition to FIG. FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged vertical sectional view of the intermediate transfer belt, and FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the thickness of the base material layer of the intermediate transfer belt and its transmission density.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the intermediate transfer belt 31 is wound around and supported by a plurality of rollers. As shown in FIG. 4, the intermediate transfer belt 31 is an elastic endless belt provided by laminating an elastic member layer 31 b on the surface of a base material layer 31 a. The toner image is once transferred to the surface of the elastic member layer 31b.

  For the base material layer 31a of the intermediate transfer belt 31, PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) resin, which is a synthetic resin having a thickness of 100 μm, is mainly used. Furthermore, the base material layer 31a is colored by mixing non-conductive carbon black of 3% by weight with respect to the PVDF resin.

  A polyurethane rubber having a thickness of 150 μm is used for the elastic member layer 31 b of the intermediate transfer belt 31. The polyurethane rubber of the elastic member layer 31b is transparent, and the light received on the surface reaches the base material layer 31a.

  In addition, although the base material layer 31a is colored with carbon black, it does not completely block light, but transmits a little. The graph of FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the light transmittance of the base material layer 31a and its thickness. The horizontal axis of the graph indicates the thickness of the base material layer 31a, and the vertical axis indicates the transmission density of the base material layer. The transmission density was measured using a color transmission densitometer X-Rite 310 (manufactured by X-Rite). According to FIG. 5, it can be seen that there is a correlation between the thickness of the base material layer 31a and its transmission density.

  As described above, the intermediate transfer belt 31 that is an intermediate transfer member that once carries the toner image of the image formed on the paper P is laminated on the colored base layer 31a and the surface of the base layer 31a. Since the transparent elastic member layer 31b is provided, the base member layer 31a can be irradiated with light through the elastic member layer 31b. Thus, the transmission density of the base material layer 31a can be measured by using a transmission densitometer, and the thickness can be derived from the transmission density as shown in FIG. Therefore, not only the thickness of the base material layer 31a at the end of the intermediate transfer belt 31 but also the thickness of the portion closer to the center from the end can be grasped. Thus, since the thickness of the base material layer 31a having the elastic member layer 31b laminated on the surface can be grasped without performing a destructive operation such as cutting in the manufacturing process, the thickness management of the base material layer 31a is possible. As a result, the occurrence of color misregistration due to uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer belt 31 is suppressed, and the intermediate transfer belt 31 capable of performing high-quality image formation can be obtained.

  In addition, an intermediate transfer belt having a base material layer formed of a synthetic resin is widely used in image forming apparatuses because the base material layer has excellent mechanical properties and is not easily deformed even when pressed between opposing rollers. It has been adopted. However, on the other hand, unless the thickness control of the base material layer is thoroughly performed, there is a problem that the characteristic that is difficult to deform tends to adversely affect the color shift. Therefore, by combining the base material layer 31a formed of synthetic resin with the intermediate transfer belt 31 of the present invention, not only the thickness of the base material layer 31a at the end portion of the intermediate transfer belt 31 but also from the end portion toward the center. The thickness of the part can also be grasped, and the occurrence of color misregistration can be suppressed and high-quality image formation can be performed.

  In the present invention, since the intermediate transfer belt 31 is mounted on the transfer device 30, the base material layer of the intermediate transfer belt 31 in which the elastic member layer 31b is laminated on the surface without performing a breaking operation such as cutting in the manufacturing process. It is possible to provide the transfer device 30 that can grasp the thickness of 31a, suppress the occurrence of color misregistration due to the uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer belt 31, and perform high-quality image formation.

  In the present invention, since the intermediate transfer belt 31 is mounted on the image forming apparatus 1, the base material of the intermediate transfer belt 31 having the elastic member layer 31 b laminated on the surface without performing a breaking operation such as cutting in the manufacturing process. It is possible to provide the image forming apparatus 1 that can grasp the thickness of the layer 31a, suppress the occurrence of color misregistration due to the uneven thickness of the intermediate transfer belt 31, and perform high-quality image formation. it can.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  For example, in the embodiment of the present invention, the intermediate transfer member is the intermediate transfer belt 31 in the form of an endless belt. However, the type of the intermediate transfer member is not limited to this, and a drum-shaped intermediate member is used. It may be a transfer body.

  Further, the materials used, the thickness, the coloring material, and the coloring method of the base material layer 31a and the elastic member layer 31b of the intermediate transfer belt 31 are not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, and do not depart from the gist of the invention. Can be changed to other configurations.

  The present invention can be applied to an intermediate transfer member that once supports a toner image of an image to be formed on a sheet, which can be applied to an image forming apparatus.

1 is a schematic vertical sectional front view of an image forming apparatus including an intermediate transfer belt according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of a vertical cross section around an intermediate transfer belt shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a vertical cross section around the image forming unit shown in FIG. 2. 3 is a partially enlarged vertical sectional view of an intermediate transfer belt. FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the thickness of a base material layer of an intermediate transfer belt and its transmission density.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image forming apparatus 2 Main body 8 Cleaning device (for belt)
20 Image forming unit 21 Photosensitive drum (image carrier)
30 Transfer Device 31 Intermediate Transfer Belt (Intermediate Transfer Member)
31a Base material layer 31b Elastic member layer

Claims (4)

An intermediate transfer member that once carries a toner image of an image to be formed on paper,
An intermediate transfer member comprising: a colored base material layer; and a transparent elastic member layer laminated on the surface of the base material layer.   The intermediate transfer member according to claim 1, wherein the base material layer is formed of a synthetic resin.   A transfer apparatus comprising the intermediate transfer member according to claim 1.   An image forming apparatus comprising the intermediate transfer member according to claim 1.

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