JP2964729B2 - Electrophotographic photoreceptor substrate and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate for an electrophotographic photosensitive member having a photosensitive layer using an organic photoconductive material and a method for producing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electrophotographic photosensitive member (hereinafter, referred to as an electrophotographic photosensitive member) used as an image forming member of an electrophotographic copying machine or printer.
The photosensitive member is simply composed of a conductive layer and a photosensitive layer provided thereon and containing a photoconductive material. Aluminum or an aluminum alloy is generally used as a material for the conductive substrate. In the case of an organic photoreceptor in which the photosensitive layer is formed of an organic material, the quality and shape of the substrate surface are determined by the adhesiveness of the photosensitive layer, It greatly affects the film thickness uniformity and film uniformity, and the electrical characteristics of the photoreceptor, fatigue, image quality (image scratches, black spots, white spots, density changes, occurrence of interference fringes, etc.),
As a countermeasure, the life of the substrate is adversely affected. As a countermeasure, the surface of the substrate is processed into a specific shape, a method of cleaning the surface of the substrate is devised, the surface of the substrate is anodized, or a special coating Is provided.

[0003]

As described above, the quality and shape of the surface of a substrate used to obtain a photoreceptor having excellent characteristics are greatly involved. It required a high level of technology and equipment, and took a long time to process. For example, in order to enhance the adhesion of the photosensitive layer, it is only necessary to increase the roughness of the substrate surface. However, if it becomes too rough, there is a problem that film formation unevenness occurs in the photosensitive layer and an image defect occurs. Has a problem that if it has periodicity, it will appear in the image, and it is important to uniformly and randomly roughen the substrate surface with appropriate roughness. I do.
Insufficient cleaning after the surface roughening causes uneven film formation on the photosensitive layer due to remaining stains, and furthermore, the surface of the substrate is deteriorated by the cleaning, thereby deteriorating the adhesion and adversely affecting the photoreceptor characteristics. Therefore, the cleaning method is also important. When a coating layer is provided on the surface of the substrate to improve the characteristics of the photoreceptor, it is difficult to select the material. In the case of a substrate made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, an anodic oxide film is formed on the surface to improve the adhesion of the photosensitive layer and the characteristics of the photosensitive member. It is difficult to select processing conditions. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides an electrophotographic photoreceptor substrate suitable for manufacturing a photoreceptor which can be obtained by an easier method than conventional and has excellent characteristics. It is an object to provide a manufacturing method.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided an aluminum or aluminum alloy having an anodic oxide film formed on a surface thereof, and
An electrophotographic photoreceptor having an anodized film whose surface is polished with abrasive grains and whose surface roughness is finely and randomly finished within a range of 0.4 μm to 0.8 μm in center line average roughness Ra. The problem is solved by using a base for the application. Such a substrate is formed by cutting the surface of a substrate made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy and then performing anodizing treatment, and polishing the surface of the formed anodized film with abrasive grains, or from aluminum or an aluminum alloy. After the surface of the base material is polished, anodizing treatment is performed, and the surface of the formed anodic oxide film is polished with abrasive grains. The material of the abrasive grains for polishing the surface of the anodic oxide film is preferably Al ₂ O ₃ .

[0005]

According to the present invention, the surface of the anodic oxide film, which is the outermost surface of the substrate for an electrophotographic photosensitive member, is polished by abrasive grains, and the performance of the substrate is determined by the surface formed thereby. Therefore, the surface of the substrate made of aluminum or aluminum alloy may be processed by general cutting or polishing, and the subsequent cleaning may be performed by a normal method. In addition, since residues and stains after the anodizing treatment are mostly mechanically removed by polishing, it is not necessary to perform precision cleaning as in the related art. Thus, a substrate suitable for a photoreceptor can be obtained technically easier and in a shorter time than conventionally. The surface of the anodic oxide film has a surface roughness Ra of 0.4 μm or more.
It is necessary to be polished and finished with abrasive grains so as to have a fine and random shape within a range of 8 μm or less. By using such a substrate, it becomes possible to obtain a photoreceptor having excellent characteristics.

[0006]

EXAMPLE The outer surface of a cylindrical substrate made of Al alloy was machined by cutting or polishing and washed, and then the film thickness was 5 μm on the surface.
An anodic oxide film of 10 to 10 μm is formed. The surface of the anodic oxide film is polished by the polishing apparatus shown in the conceptual diagram of FIG. In FIG. 4, FIG. 4 (a) shows a side view of the device,
FIG. 4B shows a top view of the apparatus. Reference numeral 108 denotes a tape polishing unit including a tape pressing roller 102, a tension roller 103, a tape supply reel 104, and a tape take-up reel 105; 101, a base; The oil supply nozzle 107 is a polishing tape. While rotating the cylindrical substrate 101 in the direction of arrow A, pouring the polishing oil from the polishing oil supply nozzle 106, the tape is sent out from the tape supply reel 104 to the surface thereof, and runs in the direction of arrow C to take up the tape take-up reel. The surface of the substrate 101 is polished by pressing the polishing tape 107 wound around 105 by the pressing roller 102 and moving the tape polishing unit 108 in the direction of arrow E. The tension roller 103 applies tension so that the polishing tape 107 does not loosen during polishing. With such a polishing apparatus, the surface of the anodic oxide film on the substrate is made to have a thickness of about 1 μm under the conditions shown in Table 1 below.
The surface is polished to have a randomly shaped surface having a roughness Ra of 0.4 μm to 0.8 μm.

[0007]

[Table 1]

The polishing tape is made of abrasive material Al ₂ O ₃ ,
A polishing particle diameter of 12 μm (Sumitomo 3M Co., Ltd .: Wrapping film # 1200) was used, and HS-5 manufactured by Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. was used as the polishing oil. FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the substrate before polishing, and FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of the substrate after polishing. Before polishing, as shown in FIG.
The surface of the anodic oxide film 1 and the surface of the anodic oxide film 12 are separated, but after polishing, as shown in FIG.
The surface of No. 2 is almost flat and almost flat.

A photosensitive layer is formed on the surface of the substrate prepared as described above, and A is formed as shown in the schematic sectional view of FIG.
By producing a photoreceptor having the photosensitive layer 2 on the substrate 1 composed of the substrate 11 and the anodic oxide film 12, a photoreceptor having excellent characteristics and capable of obtaining a good image can be obtained. FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of a different photoreceptor, in which a photosensitive layer 2 composed of a charge generation layer 21 and a charge transport layer 22 is provided on a substrate 1 composed of an Al substrate 11 and an anodic oxide film 12. is there. In such a function-separated type photoconductor,
The charge generation layer needs to be an extremely thin film,
Since the substrate according to the present invention has a substantially flat surface, a uniform charge generation layer having a uniform film thickness can be easily formed thereon, and the effect of the present invention is more remarkable.

Further, in order to see the effect of the present invention, a photoreceptor was produced using a substrate manufactured by changing the method of manufacturing the substrate as shown in Table 2 below, and the obtained image was evaluated. Table 2 also shows the results.

[0011]

[Table 2]

As shown in Table 2, the surface of the Al substrate is cut or polished, followed by anodic oxidation to form a film, and the surface of the anodic oxide film is polished by abrasive grains. Photoreceptor 3 manufactured using the
Reference numeral 6 denotes a photoreceptor having a very small number of image defects and excellent characteristics, and the effect of the present invention is clear.

[0013]

According to the present invention, the surface of a substrate made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy is cut or polished, then anodized, and the surface of the formed anodic oxide film is polished with abrasive grains. Thus, it is possible to easily produce a substrate suitable for producing a photoreceptor having excellent characteristics as compared with the related art. By using a substrate produced by such a method, the surface of which is finely and randomly finished within a range of 0.4 μm or more and 0.8 μm or less in center line average roughness Ra, an excellent surface roughness is obtained. It becomes possible to manufacture an electrophotographic photosensitive member having characteristics and capable of stably obtaining a high-quality image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of one embodiment of a photoreceptor of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a substrate before anodized film surface polishing.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a substrate after anodized film surface polishing.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of an example of a polishing apparatus used for polishing the surface of the anodic oxide film of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a different embodiment of the photoreceptor of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2 Photosensitive layer 11 Al substrate 12 Anodized film 21 Charge generation layer 22 Charge transport layer 101 Substrate 102 Tape pressing roller 103 Tension roller 104 Tape supply reel 105 Tape take-up reel 106 Polishing oil supply nozzle 107 Polishing tape 108 Tape polishing unit

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] An anodic oxide film is formed on the surface of an aluminum or aluminum alloy, and the surface of the anodic oxide film is polished with abrasive grains so that the surface has a center line average roughness Ra. A substrate for an electrophotographic photosensitive member, characterized in that the surface is finely and randomly finished in a range of 0.4 μm or more and 0.8 μm or less. 2. An anodizing treatment after cutting a surface of a substrate made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy,
A method for producing a substrate for an electrophotographic photoreceptor, wherein the surface of the formed anodic oxide film is polished with abrasive grains. 3. Anodizing treatment after polishing the surface of a substrate made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy,
A method for producing a substrate for an electrophotographic photoreceptor, wherein the surface of the formed anodic oxide film is polished with abrasive grains. 4. The method of claim 2 or 3 material of the abrasive grains to polish the surface of the anodized film is characterized in that it is a Al ₂ O ₃
The method for producing a substrate for an electrophotographic photosensitive member according to the above.