JP2013020010A - Image forming apparatus and process cartridge, and image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus that applies the fixed amount of metal soap in applying metal soap to a photoreceptor, and has excellent image quality and quality of reliability; and a process cartridge; as well as an image forming method.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus comprises: a photoreceptor 1 that rotates in a predetermined rotation direction; charging means 2; exposure means; developing means 4; transfer means 5, 6; cleaning means for removing toner remains on the photoreceptor 1; and lubricant supply means 11 for supplying lubricant 12 containing metal soap to the surface of the photoreceptor 1. The cleaning means is provided with a plurality of cleaning members; at least one of the plurality of cleaning members has non-woven fabric 10; the non-woven fabric 10 among the plurality of cleaning members is not arranged most upstream in the predetermined rotation direction of the photoreceptor 1, and is arranged in contact with the photoreceptor 1; the lubricant supply means 11 is arranged downstream the non-woven fabric 10 relative to the predetermined rotation direction of the photoreceptor 1.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image while supplying a lubricant containing a metal soap to a photoreceptor, a process cartridge that is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus, and an image forming method.

As electrophotographic photoreceptors used in electrophotographic methods widely used in copying machines, printers, etc. (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as photoreceptors), because of advantages such as low cost, mass productivity, and non-pollution, Organic photosensitive materials have been widely used. However, the organic photoreceptor has lower abrasion resistance than the inorganic photoreceptor and is inferior in durability.
Further, in recent years, there has been a demand for full-color and high-speed electrophotographic systems, and tandem full-color image forming apparatuses having a photoreceptor for each color have been put into practical use. In order to reduce the size of the tandem image forming apparatus, it is essential to reduce the diameter of the photoconductor. However, as the diameter is reduced, the number of printed sheets per unit length of the photoconductor increases, so the wear resistance of the photoconductor is increased. There has been a strong demand for improvement in mechanical durability mainly.

As a method for improving the wear resistance of an organic photoreceptor, a method in which a protective layer containing a filler made of a metal or a metal oxide is provided is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-170951.
In addition to improving the wear resistance of the photoreceptor itself by providing a protective layer on the photoreceptor surface, a method for reducing the surface energy of the photoreceptor with a lubricant is known. As a method for supplying the lubricant to the photoreceptor, a solid lubricant is applied by an application means such as a brush (Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-162881), and a lubricant is externally added to the toner and supplied to the photoreceptor. Various methods are known (Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent No. 2859646). Further, by reducing the surface energy of the photoconductor with the lubricant, not only the wear of the photoconductor can be reduced, but also the transfer rate can be improved, and the occurrence of abnormal images such as omission in transfer can be prevented.

By applying metal soap to the surface of the photoconductor with a lubricant application mechanism, it is possible to reduce the surface energy of the photoconductor, further protect the photoconductor from intense charging loads such as corona charging, and reduce wear. is there.
However, it has been found that the image forming apparatus for applying metal soap has the following problems that need to be solved.
It is desirable that the amount of metal soap applied be constant from the initial use of the image forming apparatus to the end of its life. However, the amount of metal soap applied and the amount of consumption have changed due to changes in the image area ratio and usage environment, and image quality such as transfer dropout and transfer rate that occurs during transfer, photoconductor wear, and metal soap Reliability quality, such as exchange frequency, may be reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and stabilizes the amount of metal soap applied when applying metal soap to a photoreceptor, and the image forming apparatus and process are excellent in image quality and reliability quality. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cartridge and an image forming method.

As a result of various studies, the present inventors have found that if there are toners or toner external additives that cannot be cleaned by the cleaning means, they enter the area where the metal soap is supplied, and greatly affect the amount of metal soap applied. More specifically, when the image area ratio to be imaged changes or the environment of the image forming apparatus changes, the performance of the cleaning means in front of the area where the metal soap is applied fluctuates and can be removed by the cleaning means. The amount of slipping toner and the amount of slipping external additive vary. Since these enter the area where the metal soap is supplied next, the amount of metal soap that can be supplied from the metal soap also changes when the amount of slip-through toner changes.
Reducing the variation in the amount of slipping toner has a great effect on reducing the variation in the amount of supply from the metal soap supply means. Further, fibers are randomly arranged for cleaning the slipping toner and the slipping-out external additive. The inventors have found that the cleaning power when the non-woven fabric is in contact is effective, and have completed the present invention.

  In order to solve the above problems, the image forming apparatus, the process cartridge, and the image forming method according to the present invention specifically have the technical features described below.

  That is, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a photoconductor that rotates in a predetermined rotation direction, a charging unit that charges the photoconductor, an exposure unit that exposes the photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image, and A developing unit that develops the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image, a transfer unit that transfers the toner image from the photoconductor to a transfer material, and the toner image is transferred to the photoconductor by the transfer unit. Cleaning means for cleaning the toner remaining on the photoreceptor later, and lubricant supply means for supplying a lubricant containing metal soap to the surface of the photoreceptor, the cleaning means comprising a plurality of cleaning members. At least one of the plurality of cleaning members includes a nonwoven fabric, and the nonwoven fabric is disposed most upstream with respect to a predetermined rotation direction of the photoreceptor among the plurality of cleaning members. And, wherein it is in contact disposed on the photosensitive member, the lubricant supplying means is characterized by comprising located downstream from said non-woven fabric for a given rotational direction of the photosensitive member. However, in the predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor, the arrangement position of the charging unit is the most upstream, and the position immediately before the photoconductor rotates by one round from the upstream is the most downstream.

  In addition, a process cartridge according to the present invention is a process cartridge that is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus, and includes at least a photosensitive member, and a cleaning member having a non-woven fabric disposed in contact with the photosensitive member, It is characterized by providing.

  Further, the image forming method according to the present invention includes a charging step of charging a photosensitive member rotating in a predetermined rotation direction, an exposure step of exposing the photosensitive member to form an electrostatic latent image, and the electrostatic latent image. A developing step for developing the toner image to form a toner image, a transfer step for transferring the toner image from the photoconductor to a transfer material, and the photoconductor after the toner image is transferred to the photoconductor by the transfer step. A cleaning process for cleaning toner remaining on the surface, and a lubricant supply process for supplying a lubricant containing metal soap to the surface of the photoconductor, wherein the cleaning process remains on the photoconductor with a plurality of cleaning members. At least one of the plurality of cleaning members has a non-woven fabric, and the non-woven fabric has a predetermined rotation method of the photoreceptor in the plurality of cleaning members. The lubricant supply step is arranged downstream of the nonwoven fabric with respect to a predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor. It is characterized by. However, in the predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor, the arrangement position of the charging unit is the most upstream, and the position immediately before the photoconductor rotates by one round from the upstream is the most downstream.

  According to the present invention, the lubricant is stably supplied to the photoconductor, and the image quality such as transfer omission and transfer rate, and the reliability quality such as the photoconductor wear amount and the replacement frequency of the metal soap are dramatically improved. An image forming apparatus, a process cartridge, and an image forming method can be provided.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration in a first embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram which shows the structure in 2nd Embodiment of the image forming apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram which shows the structure in 3rd Embodiment of the image forming apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram which shows the structure in 4th Embodiment of the image forming apparatus which concerns on this invention. (A) It is a top view of the nonwoven fabric roller 10. FIG. (B) It is an expanded sectional view of the nonwoven fabric roller 10 in the IIb-IIb sectional line shown to Fig.5 (a). It is a figure which shows the pattern of the image imaged in the Example.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a photosensitive member 1 rotating in a predetermined rotation direction, a charging unit 2 for charging the photosensitive member 1, and an exposure unit for exposing the photosensitive member to form an electrostatic latent image. Developing means 4 for developing the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image, transfer means 5 and 6 for transferring the toner image from the photosensitive member 1 to a transfer material, and the toner by the transfer means 5 and 6. Cleaning means 9 and 10 for cleaning toner remaining on the photoconductor 1 after the image is transferred to the photoconductor 1, and lubricant supply means for supplying a lubricant 12 containing metal soap to the surface of the photoconductor 1. 11, the cleaning means 9, 10 includes a plurality of cleaning members, at least one of the plurality of cleaning members includes a nonwoven fabric 10, and the nonwoven fabric 10 includes the plurality of cleaning members. in The lubricant supply means 11 is not arranged on the most upstream side with respect to the predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor 1 and is in contact with the photoconductor 1, and the lubricant supply means 11 is arranged in the predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor 1. On the other hand, it is arranged downstream of the nonwoven fabric 10. However, in the predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor 1, the arrangement position of the charging unit 2 is the most upstream, and the position immediately before the photoconductor 1 rotates one round from the most upstream is the most downstream.

  The image forming method according to the present invention includes a charging step of charging a photosensitive member rotating in a predetermined rotation direction, an exposure step of exposing the photosensitive member to form an electrostatic latent image, and the electrostatic latent image. A developing step for developing the toner image to form a toner image, a transfer step for transferring the toner image from the photoconductor to a transfer material, and the photoconductor after the toner image is transferred to the photoconductor by the transfer step. A cleaning process for cleaning toner remaining on the surface, and a lubricant supply process for supplying a lubricant containing metal soap to the surface of the photoconductor, wherein the cleaning process remains on the photoconductor with a plurality of cleaning members. At least one of the plurality of cleaning members has a non-woven fabric, and the non-woven fabric has a predetermined rotational direction of the photoconductor in the plurality of cleaning members. On the other hand, the lubricant is not disposed on the most upstream side and is disposed in contact with the photoreceptor, and the lubricant supplying step is disposed downstream of the nonwoven fabric with respect to a predetermined rotation direction of the photoreceptor. Features. However, in the predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor, the arrangement position of the charging unit is the most upstream, and the position immediately before the photoconductor rotates by one round from the upstream is the most downstream.

Next, the image forming apparatus, the process cartridge, and the image forming method according to the present invention will be described in more detail.
Although the embodiments described below are preferred embodiments of the present invention, various technically preferable limitations are attached thereto, but the scope of the present invention is intended to limit the present invention in the following description. Unless otherwise described, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

<Image forming apparatus and image forming method>
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
In the image forming process, first, the photosensitive member 1 rotating in a predetermined rotation direction (counterclockwise arrow direction in FIG. 1) is charged by a charging roller 2 as a charging means (charging process).
Subsequently, an electrostatic latent image is formed by exposure with writing light 3 emitted from an exposure means (not shown) (exposure process), and the electrostatic latent image is developed as a toner image by the developing roller 4 as a developing means (development process). ).
The toner image on the photosensitive member 1 is transferred onto the intermediate transfer member 6 by a transfer roller 5 serving as a transfer unit, and further transferred onto a transfer paper (transfer material) (not shown) (transfer process).
The transfer paper on which the toner image is placed is conveyed to a fixing unit (not shown), and the toner image is fixed on the transfer paper (fixing step) to obtain an image.

Residual toner that has not been transferred from the photosensitive member 1 to the intermediate transfer member 6 is cleaned by a cleaning blade 9 that is one of a plurality of cleaning members. Next, since the nonwoven fabric 10 which is another one of the plurality of cleaning members is disposed in contact with the photosensitive member, residual toner and toner external additives that could not be cleaned by the cleaning blade 9 are further cleaned by the nonwoven fabric 10. (The cleaning process). In the example shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning means is constituted by two cleaning members composed of the cleaning blade 9 and the nonwoven fabric 10.
A lubricant application brush 11 which is a lubricant supply means holding a lubricant containing a metal soap is brought into contact with the photoreceptor 1 on the surface of the photoreceptor 1 cleaned in this manner, and the lubricant 12 is rubbed and rubbed. A lubricant is supplied to the surface of the body 1 (lubricant supply step).
Finally, the residual charge on the photosensitive member is removed by irradiating with a QL lamp 13 as a charge eliminating means (charge eliminating step) to prepare for the next image formation.

  In this image forming process, the lubricant has a lubricating function for improving the toner cleaning property of the photosensitive member, a protective function for protecting the photosensitive member from a load due to charging, and a toner releasing function for improving the toner transferability from the photosensitive member. It is a thing. For this reason, lubricants play a very important role in image formation in the recent trend of higher image quality.

  In the configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1, since the nonwoven fabric 10 is disposed in contact at the end of the cleaning process, the nonwoven fabric 10 removes toner and toner external additives that have passed through the cleaning blade 9. It can be configured. As a result, the lubricant application brush 11 is prevented from being contaminated with toner or toner external additives, the amount of lubricant 12 consumed, the amount of lubricant supplied to the photoreceptor 1, the application state of the lubricant 12 on the photoreceptor 1, The coverage can be stabilized. Especially when the image density of the original is different, such as when the original to be imaged has a very high image density or low image density, or when the rubber properties of the cleaning blade change due to the low temperature of the image forming device. The effect can be demonstrated.

  In the image forming process of the present invention, it is preferable that the image forming process flows in the order of charging, exposure, development, transfer, cleaning, lubricant application, and charge removal as necessary. Therefore, the arrangement position of the charging roller 2 is the most upstream in the image forming process, and becomes the most upstream in the next image forming process when the photoreceptor 1 is rotated once by the image forming process. That is, the arrangement position of the charging roller 2 is the most upstream, and the position immediately before the position rotated once in the rotation direction of the photosensitive member 1 from the most upstream position is the most downstream.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
The cleaning means has a three-member configuration including a cleaning brush 8, a cleaning blade 9, and a nonwoven fabric roller 10.
The nonwoven fabric roller 10 is disposed at the final position of the cleaning means and immediately before the lubricant application brush 11. In the example of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the nonwoven fabric is in contact with the photoreceptor 1 in the form of a roller. When the nonwoven fabric is in the form of a roller, the area of the nonwoven fabric that can be contacted with the photoreceptor can be made larger than that in the plate-like form, so that the cleaning performance and durability performance can be improved.
The nonwoven fabric roller 10 having a cylindrical metal shaft with a diameter of 5 to 30 mm covered with a nonwoven fabric with a thickness of 1 to 30 mm is suitable because it is easy to adjust the pressing force and nip to the photoreceptor. .

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
The cleaning means is constituted by three members: a cleaning brush 8, a cleaning blade 9, and a nonwoven fabric belt 10. In the configuration of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 3, the pre-cleaning exposure is performed by the PCL lamp for the purpose of assisting the cleaning means.
The non-woven belt 10 is disposed at the final position of the cleaning means and immediately before the lubricant application roller 11. With the configuration of the nonwoven fabric belt 10, the area that can be brought into contact with the photoreceptor 1 can be increased, and the cleaning performance and durability performance can be improved more easily than the roller configuration of FIG.

  The non-woven fabric roller shown in FIG. 2 and the non-woven fabric belt shown in FIG. 3 are rotating bodies, and the direction of rotation may be forward with respect to the photoreceptor 1 or opposite to the photoreceptor. In the forward direction, it is preferable to provide a peripheral speed difference from the photoreceptor.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
The cleaning means is composed of four members: a cleaning brush 8, a cleaning blade 9, a nonwoven fabric brush 10a, and a nonwoven fabric brush 10b.
The nonwoven fabric brush 10b is disposed at the final position of the cleaning means and immediately before the lubricant supply roller 11.

  When the nonwoven fabric brush has a two-stage configuration, the nonwoven fabric fiber materials of the nonwoven fabric brush 10a and the nonwoven fabric brush 10b are preferably different. For example, if the binder resin on the outermost layer of the photoreceptor is a polycarbonate resin, the nonwoven fabric brush 10a uses fibers having a positive charge column on the positive side of polycarbonate such as polymethyl methacrylate, wool, and nylon, and the nonwoven fabric brush 10b. In this case, it is preferable to use a fiber having a negative charge column on the negative side of polycarbonate such as polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, vinyl chloride, and Teflon (registered trademark). In this way, even if the residual toner and the residual external additive have different polarities, good cleaning performance can be obtained.

[Nonwoven fabric]
Next, the nonwoven fabric according to the present invention will be described.
The nonwoven fabric according to the present invention is a fiber sheet, web or vat, in which fibers are oriented in one direction or randomly, and the fibers are bonded by alternating current and / or fusion and / or adhesion. . In the present invention, shredded felt is also regarded as a nonwoven fabric.

The nonwoven fabric has a porous structure and has basic characteristics such as air permeability, filterability and heat retention. In addition, this non-woven fabric brings out this feature to enhance its function according to the purpose and application, and can be made into various shapes such as cloth, leather, cotton, paper, etc. by combining various raw materials and manufacturing methods, and supple It is a thing that can be made from things to strong ones. In other words, the greatest feature is that functions and shapes can be freely designed as needed.
In the present invention, the arrangement of the fibers of the nonwoven fabric is random, which is effective for cleaning toner and external additives in various fiber directions.

The fiber materials used for the nonwoven fabric according to the present invention include natural fibers such as cotton, wool, hemp, kenaf, bamboo, banana, pulp and silk, and chemical fibers such as nylon, polyester, polypropylene, acrylic fiber, vinylon and aramid fiber. Glass fiber etc. can be used.
Natural fibers and synthetic fibers as well as glass, metals, ceramics, pulp and carbon fibers can be used as raw materials, and almost all synthetic fibers such as polyester are generally used.
Various fibers can also be used in the present invention.

Further, as described above, it is preferable to select fibers from a charge train having a polarity opposite to the charge train of the toner or external additive remaining on the photoreceptor.
Furthermore, when the nonwoven fabric has a two-stage structure and the binder resin on the outermost layer of the photoreceptor is a polycarbonate resin or a similar resin, one nonwoven fabric may be made of polymethyl methacrylate, wool, nylon, etc. Use fibers with a positive side of the charge column than polycarbonate, or use fibers with a negative side of the charge column than polycarbonate such as polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, vinyl chloride, and Teflon (registered trademark) for the other non-woven fabric. I can do it. In this way, even if the residual toner and the residual external additive have different polarities, good cleaning performance can be obtained.

  The manufacturing process of the nonwoven fabric includes two steps: (1) fleece formation and (2) interfiber bonding. First, a fiber accumulation layer called a fleece is formed, and then the fibers are bonded together.

(1) Fleece formation There are three formation methods for fleece formation: a dry method, a wet method, and a spunbond method.
In the dry method, short fibers (15 to 100 mm) are formed in a certain direction or randomly by a machine called a card or an air flow called an air array.
In the wet method, as in the case of making paper, very short fibers (6 mm or less) such as glass fibers and pulp raw materials are dispersed in water and rolled up on a net-like net to form a fleece. When formed by this method, the thickness is uniform, and the basis weight (mass per unit area) can be freely changed.
The spunbond method is a method in which a melted raw resin is directly eluted and spun from the tip of a nozzle to form a fleece with continuous long fibers. It has features that can be used for wide width and high-speed production.

(2) Bonding between fibers There are four methods for bonding between fibers: a chemical bond method, a thermal bond method, a needle punch method, and a hydroentanglement method.
In the chemical bond method, an adhesive adhesive resin of emulsion type is attached to the fleece by a method such as impregnation or spraying, and heated and dried to bond the intersections of the fibers. It is characterized by flexibility and drape.
The thermal bond method is a method in which a fleece mixed with a low-melting-point heat-sealing fiber is hot-pressed through a hot roll, or hot air is applied to bond the fibers together. Since no adhesive is used, the characteristics of the fibers tend to be maintained after bonding.
The needle punch method is a method in which a fleece is repeatedly pierced with a needle (needle) that moves up and down at high speed, and fibers are entangled by protrusions called barbs carved in the needle. It is rich in bulk and has no separation between fibers.
The water entanglement method is a method in which fibers are entangled by jetting a high-pressure water flow into a fleece in a columnar shape. It is flexible, draped and has no fuzzing characteristics.

  In the present invention, the wet thickness method is suitable for forming the fleece and the thermal bond method is suitable for bonding between the fibers because the thickness uniformity of the nonwoven fabric and the characteristics of the single fiber can be utilized.

The fineness of the fiber used for the nonwoven fabric according to the present invention is determined by the following procedure.
First, vapor deposition is performed so that the cut surface of a test piece sampled from 10 arbitrary parts of the fiber fleece can be observed, and 10 arbitrary fibers cut almost at right angles to the direction crossing the fiber axis with a scanning electron microscope. Take a photo about. Subsequently, a diameter is calculated | required from the cross section of each fiber, and those values are averaged and the diameter of a fiber is computed. Using this diameter and the solid density of the fiber, the weight at a length of 10,000 m can be calculated to determine the fineness (dtex: decitex).

The fineness is preferably 0.1 to 20 dtex (in the case of a fiber having a specific gravity of 1.1 g / cm ³ , the fiber diameter is 3 to 50 μm). When the fineness is less than 0.1 dtex, the durability of the fiber is low, and the nonwoven fabric tends to wear due to repeated use, and the nonwoven fabric itself generates dust, which is not preferable for the image forming apparatus. On the other hand, if the fineness exceeds 20 dtex, the cleaning properties of the residual toner and particularly external additives such as silica of about 10 nm which are externally added to the toner are lowered, and the effect of the present invention is lowered.

With reference to FIG. 5, the nonwoven fabric roller 10 as a cleaning member is demonstrated more concretely.
Fig.5 (a) is a top view of the nonwoven fabric roller 10, FIG.5 (b) is an expanded sectional view of the nonwoven fabric roller 10 in the IIb-IIb sectional line shown to Fig.5 (a).

As shown in FIG. 5A, the nonwoven fabric roller 10 includes a core material 110 and a coating layer 120 that covers the core material 110. Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the coating layer 120 includes a surface layer 120 a constituting the surface of the coating layer 120, and a base layer 120 b formed between the surface layer 120 a and the core material 110. And is composed of.
An adhesive layer (not shown) is provided between the surface layer 120a and the base layer 120b and between the core material 110 and the base layer 120b.

  The surface layer 120a is in contact with the surface of the photoreceptor 1 and scrapes off residual toner adhering to the surface of the photoreceptor 1, external additives that control the fluidity and chargeability of the toner, and fine particles such as paper dust. It captures and captures and is constituted by the above-described nonwoven fabric.

Further, since the surface layer 120a is formed by winding a sheet-like woven fabric around the base layer 120b, a seam T1 is formed on the surface of the surface layer 120a.
If it is a problem that the seam is simultaneously brought into contact with the photoconductor, the nonwoven fabric may be cut into a long and thin shape, and the seam may be spirally wound around the base layer 120b. I can do it. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the joint T1 is formed in a straight line.

The underlayer 120b is formed as necessary, and the purpose of the underlayer is formed when adjustments such as the pressing force, nip, and biting amount on the photoreceptor are necessary.
In the example shown in FIG. 5, the foundation layer acts as a cushion layer and is made of urethane having flexibility. Specifically, a polyisocyanate and a polyol (polyether type or polyester type polyol) are reacted to initiate a polymer formation reaction and a foaming reaction at the same time. Can also be used.
In addition, as a polyisocyanate and a polyol, the kind in particular is not restrict | limited. For example, as the polyisocyanate, TDI (toluene diisocyanate), MDI (diphenylmethane-4,4'-diisocyanate), a mixture of TDI and MDI, or the like can be used. Examples of the polyol include polyether polyols to which alkylene oxide is added, polyester polyols obtained by polycondensation of carboxylic acid and glycol, addition polymerization type polyester polyols obtained by ring-opening polymerization, and the like.

[Metal soap]
Next, the process of supplying a lubricant containing metal soap will be described.
The image forming method according to the present invention includes a lubricant application step. As shown in FIG. 1, the lubricant application brush 11 is in contact with the photosensitive member 1 and the lubricant 12 at the same time, and rotates in the forward direction with a reverse rotation or a peripheral speed difference from the photosensitive member 1 when the photosensitive member 1 rotates. In this way, the lubricant 12 is scraped off by the lubricant application brush 11, held on the lubricant application brush 11, and then the lubricant 12 is supplied to the photoreceptor 1. Since the lubricant 12 should be brought into contact with the lubricant application brush 11 uniformly and at the same pressure even after repeated use, the lubricant application brush 11 is not shown in FIG. It is preferable to have a pressing mechanism such as a leaf spring on the side opposite to the side.

The metal soap according to the present invention refers to a metal salt of a fatty acid and a metal other than an alkali metal. The nature of the metal soap is determined by both the fatty acid and the metal, and has both physical properties related to hydrophobic bonds between fatty acid molecules and physical properties and chemical properties related to intermetallic bonds.
The purpose of the metal soap in the present invention is to protect the photoreceptor by coating and to improve the releasability by lowering the surface energy of the photoreceptor, so that the fatty acid of the metal soap has a long chain of C18 or more. In addition, as for the metal, a metal salt having a high contact angle such as Ba, Al, Zn or the like is preferable.

  Since the lubricant application step has the above-described configuration, it is preferable that the lubricant application brush is always in the same state. In other words, mixing of toner or toner external additives that cannot be cleaned into the lubricant application area (lubricant application brush) affects the scraping power and application ability of the metal soap, so the nonwoven fabric is immediately before the lubricant application brush. The configuration existing in is particularly effective.

In the present invention, a photoreceptor, toner, a charging member (charging means), a developing member (developing means), a transfer member (transfer means), a cleaning member (cleaning means) other than a non-woven fabric, a static elimination member (static elimination means) and the like are conventionally used. To publicly known techniques.
Further, the above-described image forming apparatus may be configured to include a process cartridge that includes at least a photoconductor and a cleaning member having a non-woven fabric that is disposed in contact with the photoconductor in a detachable manner. In addition, the process cartridge may further include one or more selected from a charging unit, an exposure unit, a developing unit, a transfer unit, a lubricant supply unit, and other cleaning members (such as a cleaning blade).

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples.

[Example 1]
A nylon fiber having a fineness of 2 dtex and a fiber length of 51 mm was formed by a wet method and then bonded between fibers by a thermal bond method to obtain a nonwoven fabric having a basis weight of 1000 g / m ² and a thickness of 5 mm.
The nonwoven fabric was cut into a width of 10 mm and a length of 320 mm to obtain a cleaning member.
The obtained nonwoven fabric cleaning member was incorporated as the nonwoven fabric 10 of the image forming apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 to obtain an image forming apparatus.

[Example 2]
A nylon fiber having a fineness of 2 dtex and a fiber length of 51 mm is formed with a fleece by a wet method, followed by interfiber bonding by a thermal bond method to obtain a nonwoven fabric having a basis weight of 500 g / m ² and a thickness of 2.5 mm. Then, it was cut into a long strip shape having a length of 800 mm.
Next, a stainless steel cylindrical core member having a diameter of 6 mm and a length of 40 mm was prepared, and a double-sided adhesive tape was pasted thereon.
Finally, the above-described long-striped nonwoven fabric was spirally wound on the cylindrical core member without a gap to obtain a nonwoven fabric roller.
The obtained nonwoven fabric roller was incorporated as the nonwoven fabric roller 10 of the image forming apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 to obtain an image forming apparatus.

Example 3
A nylon fiber having a fineness of 2 dtex and a fiber length of 51 mm is formed by fleece by a wet method, and then interfiber bonding is performed by a thermal bond method to obtain a nonwoven fabric having a basis weight of 600 g / m ² and a thickness of 3 mm. The sheet was cut into a sheet of 250 mm.
Two sides of 320 mm of this sheet-like nonwoven fabric were joined and joined by braiding to obtain a nonwoven fabric belt having a width of 320 and a circumferential length of 250 mm.
The obtained non-woven belt was incorporated as the non-woven belt 10 of the image forming apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 3 to obtain an image forming apparatus.

Example 4
A nylon fiber having a fineness of 0.05 dtex and a fiber length of 51 mm is formed with a fleece by a wet method, and then interfiber bonding is performed by a thermal bond method to obtain a nonwoven fabric having a basis weight of 500 g / m ² and a thickness of 2.5 mm. It was cut into a long strip shape having a width of 10 mm and a length of 800 mm.
Next, a stainless steel cylindrical core member having a diameter of 6 mm and a length of 40 mm was prepared, and a double-sided adhesive tape was pasted thereon.
Finally, the above-described long-striped nonwoven fabric was spirally wound on the cylindrical core member without a gap to obtain a nonwoven fabric roller.
The obtained nonwoven fabric roller was incorporated as the nonwoven fabric roller 10 of the image forming apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 to obtain an image forming apparatus.

Example 5
An image forming apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 4 except that the fineness was changed to 0.1 dtex.

Example 6
An image forming apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 4 except that the fineness was changed to 5 dtex.

Example 7
An image forming apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 4 except that the fineness was changed to 20 dtex.

Example 8
An image forming apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 4 except that the fineness was changed to 50 dtex.

Example 9
2 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 2 except that the fiber material was changed from nylon to polyester.

Example 10
A nylon fiber having a fineness of 1 dtex and a fiber length of 51 mm is formed by fleece by a wet method, and then interfiber bonding is performed by a thermal bond method to obtain a nonwoven fabric having a basis weight of 500 g / m ² and a thickness of 2.5 mm. Then, it was cut into a long strip shape having a length of 800 mm.
Next, a stainless steel cylindrical core member having a diameter of 6 mm and a length of 40 mm was prepared, and a double-sided adhesive tape was pasted thereon.
Finally, the above-mentioned long-striped nonwoven fabric was spirally wound on this cylindrical core member without a gap to obtain a nylon fiber nonwoven fabric roller.
Further, a polyester fiber having a fineness of 1 dtex and a fiber length of 51 mm is formed with a fleece by a wet method, and then interfiber bonding is performed by a thermal bond method to obtain a nonwoven fabric having a basis weight of 500 g / m ² and a thickness of 2.5 mm. It was cut into a long strip shape having a width of 10 mm and a length of 800 mm.
Next, a stainless steel cylindrical core member having a diameter of 6 mm and a length of 40 mm was prepared, and a double-sided adhesive tape was pasted thereon.
Finally, the above-mentioned long-striped nonwoven fabric was spirally wound on this cylindrical core member without a gap to obtain a polyester fiber nonwoven fabric roller.
The obtained nonwoven fabric roller was incorporated with a nylon fiber nonwoven fabric roller as the nonwoven fabric roller 10a and a polyester fiber nonwoven fabric roller as the nonwoven fabric roller 10b of the image forming apparatus configured as shown in FIG. 4 to obtain an image forming apparatus configured as shown in FIG. .

Example 11
A 50% nylon fiber with a fineness of 1 dtex and a fiber length of 51 mm and a 50% polyester fiber with a fineness of 1 dtex and a fiber length of 51 mm are formed into a fleece by a wet mixing method, and then fiber-to-fiber bonding is performed by a thermal bond method, with a basis weight of 500 g / ^{m 2,} to obtain a thickness of 2.5mm of the nonwoven fabric. Furthermore, this nonwoven fabric was cut into a long strip shape having a width of 10 mm and a length of 800 mm.
Next, a stainless steel cylindrical core member having a diameter of 6 mm and a length of 40 mm was prepared, and a double-sided adhesive tape was pasted thereon.
Finally, the above-described long-striped nonwoven fabric was spirally wound on this cylindrical core member without a gap to obtain a nonwoven fabric roller made of nylon / polyester fibers.
The obtained nonwoven fabric roller was incorporated as the nonwoven fabric roller 10 of the image forming apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 to obtain an image forming apparatus.

Example 12
The nylon fiber of Example 11 was changed to wool having a fineness of about 10, the polyester fiber was changed to vinyl chloride having a fineness of 5 and a fiber length of 5.1 mm, and the basis weight was 320 g / m ² . An image forming apparatus having the structure shown in FIG. 2 was obtained in the same manner as in Example 11 except that the thickness was changed to 3 mm.

[Comparative Example 1]
An image forming apparatus was obtained in exactly the same manner as in Example 2 except that the nonwoven fabric roller 10 was not incorporated.

[Comparative Example 2]
The eight cleaning brushes and the nonwoven fabric roller 10 of Example 2 were replaced and attached, and an image forming apparatus in which the nonwoven fabric roller and the cleaning brush were arranged at the beginning of the cleaning process was obtained.

  Table 1 summarizes the configurations of the image forming apparatuses created in the examples and comparative examples.

A copying test was conducted using the image forming apparatus obtained as described above. In the test mode, an image shown in FIG. 6 is used as an original, an image is formed in the direction of the arrow, and an accelerated deterioration test in which the image density is different in three stages from the front side to the back side in the longitudinal direction of the photosensitive member. .
Configurations and test conditions other than those described in the above-described Examples and Comparative Examples were as follows.

(Configuration of image forming apparatus and test conditions)
Photosensitive member: An organic photosensitive member in which an undercoat layer, a charge generation layer, and a charge transport layer are laminated in this order on an aluminum support. The binder of the charge transport layer is polycarbonate charging: Contact charging method in which DC is superimposed on AC charging: 780 nm LD
Development: Two-component development system toner: Polymerized toner, silica having an average particle size of 5.3 μm, circularity of 0.991, and average particle size of 10 nm External transfer: When there is a polyimide intermediate transfer belt type cleaning brush: Polyester brush Cleaning brush: Urethane rubber blade lubricant Application: Polyester brush lubricant: Zinc stearate 8 × 8 × 320mm Block shape Static electricity removal: Wavelength 660nm LED
System linear velocity: 400mm / sec
Print image: A4 size Fig. 6 Image pattern Number of prints: 1000 Print environment: 15 ° C 30%

The above print test was evaluated as follows.
Insect-eating transfer: Is normal character image printed after 1000 sheets, and missing characters are generated?
Cleaning property: After a print test for 1000 sheets, whether the photosensitive member is taken out from the image forming apparatus and observed on the portion of the photosensitive member after the cleaning process, and whether a cleaning failure has occurred.
Lubricant consumption status: Is the lubricant taken out after a 1000-sheet print test, and whether the consumption (remaining lubricant thickness) is biased in the longitudinal direction due to the print image density difference. In addition, it is a level that can withstand actual use as long as there is a slight bias.
Photoconductor uneven wear: Is the photoconductor removed after a 1000-sheet print test, and is there a bias in the wear (residual film thickness) of the photosensitive layer due to the difference in print image density in the longitudinal direction?

  The above evaluation results are shown in Table 2 below.

As is clear from the above, the image forming apparatuses of Examples 1 to 12 according to the present invention have a stable cleaning quality even in a low temperature environment and under severe cleaning conditions in which a significant difference in image density is continuously given. Therefore, it can be seen that the supply of the lubricant in the next process is stable, and therefore, a worm-eaten transfer image, a poor cleaning, and the like hardly occur and a good image is shown. Since uneven consumption of the lubricant and uneven wear of the photosensitive member due to the difference in image density are suppressed, long-term reliability can be ensured.
Moreover, it turned out that the fineness of a nonwoven fabric has the favorable range of 0.1-20 dtex.
Furthermore, it is preferable that the nonwoven fabric is disposed at the final position of the cleaning process and immediately before the lubricant application. The cleaning brush, the cleaning blade, and the cleaning nonwoven fabric should be disposed so that the cleaning strength gradually increases in this order. It can be seen that this is a more stable method.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photoconductor 2 Charging roller (charging means)
3 Writing light 4 Developing roller (developing means)
5 Transfer roller (part of transfer means)
6 Intermediate transfer member (part of transfer means)
7 PCL lamp 9 Cleaning blade (part of cleaning means)
10 Nonwoven fabric (part of cleaning means)
11 Lubricant application brush (lubricant application means)
12 Lubricant 13 QL lamp (static elimination means)
110 Core material 120 Cover layer 120a Surface layer 120b Underlayer T1 Seam

JP-A-1-170951 JP 2000-162881 A Japanese Patent No. 2859646

Claims (10)

A photoconductor rotating in a predetermined rotation direction;
Charging means for charging the photoreceptor;
Exposure means for exposing the photoreceptor to form an electrostatic latent image;
Developing means for developing the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image;
Transfer means for transferring the toner image from the photoreceptor to a transfer material;
Cleaning means for cleaning toner remaining on the photoconductor after the toner image is transferred to the photoconductor by the transfer means;
A lubricant supply means for supplying a lubricant containing metal soap to the surface of the photoreceptor,
The cleaning means includes a plurality of cleaning members,
At least one of the plurality of cleaning members has a nonwoven fabric,
The non-woven fabric is not arranged upstream of the predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor among the plurality of cleaning members, and is arranged in contact with the photoconductor,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lubricant supplying unit is disposed downstream of the nonwoven fabric with respect to a predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor.
However, in the predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor, the arrangement position of the charging unit is the most upstream, and the position immediately before the photoconductor rotates by one round from the upstream is the most downstream.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the non-woven fabric is disposed downstream of the plurality of cleaning members with respect to a predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nonwoven fabric has a fineness of 0.1 to 20 dtex.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nonwoven fabric is a nonwoven fabric roller member in which an outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical metal shaft is covered with a nonwoven fabric.   5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nonwoven fabric is mainly composed of a fiber having a negatively charged triboelectric series with a resin constituting the surface layer of the photoreceptor.   5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the non-woven fabric is mainly composed of fibers having a plus side of a triboelectric charge train with a resin constituting the surface of the photoreceptor. Two cleaning members among the plurality of cleaning members both have a nonwoven fabric and are arranged in contact with the photoreceptor,
The non-woven fabric that one side has as a main component is a fiber that has a plus side frictional charge train with the resin that constitutes the surface layer of the photoreceptor,
5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nonwoven fabric provided on the other side is mainly composed of a fiber having a negatively charged triboelectric series with the resin constituting the surface of the photoreceptor.   The nonwoven fabric includes two types of fibers: a fiber having a plus frictional charge train with the resin constituting the photoreceptor surface layer and a fiber having a minus friction friction train with the resin constituting the photoreceptor surface layer. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus includes the image forming apparatus. A process cartridge that is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
A process cartridge comprising: at least a photosensitive member; and a cleaning member having a non-woven fabric disposed in contact with the photosensitive member. A charging step for charging a photoreceptor rotating in a predetermined rotation direction;
An exposure step of exposing the photoreceptor to form an electrostatic latent image;
A developing step of developing the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image;
A transfer step of transferring the toner image from the photoreceptor to a transfer material;
A cleaning step of cleaning toner remaining on the photoconductor after the toner image is transferred to the photoconductor in the transfer step;
A lubricant supply step for supplying a lubricant containing metal soap to the surface of the photoreceptor,
The cleaning step cleans toner remaining on the photoconductor with a plurality of cleaning members,
At least one of the plurality of cleaning members has a nonwoven fabric,
The non-woven fabric is not arranged upstream of the predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor among the plurality of cleaning members, and is arranged in contact with the photoconductor,
The image forming method, wherein the lubricant supplying step is arranged downstream of the non-woven fabric with respect to a predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor.
However, in the predetermined rotation direction of the photoconductor, the arrangement position of the charging unit is the most upstream, and the position immediately before the photoconductor rotates by one round from the upstream is the most downstream.