JP3229308B2 - Image formation method - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates generally to imaging with toners, and more particularly to fusing developed images.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In known electrostatic image forming methods, a light image of an original to be copied is recorded on a photoconductive member in the form of an electrostatic latent image. next,
By applying toner particles in finely divided solid or liquid form, a developed image can be obtained from the latent image.

In dry electrostatic imaging using a powdered solid toner, it is known to pass the substrate, on which the developed image has been formed, between (for example) a pair of opposing rollers. One or both rollers are heated so that the image on the substrate is heated and thereby melted and fixed on the substrate as long as the image particles flow, at least to some extent, into the fibers or holes of the substrate. Prior art patents in the field of fusing and fixing developed images include U.S. Pat.Nos. 3,249,738 and 3,637,9
No. 76, No. 3,667,742, No. 3,718,116, and No. 4,689,47
Reference is made to the specification of No. 1 (their descriptions are incorporated herein by reference).

In the dry electrostatic image forming method as described above, the developed image may be unintentionally transferred to one of the rollers. The transfer occurs using a roller coated with polytetrafluoroethylene or silicone rubber, to which a release agent such as silicone oil is applied, and the release agent clearly forms an interface between the roller surface and the toner image on the substrate. It is known that it can be reduced by forming.

As indicated above, electrostatic image forming methods based on liquid toners are known. The basic steps of the liquid toner method are as follows: 1. Charge a corona discharge onto a photoconductive surface, such as a sensitized plate or cylinder, to produce light in the form of an object image. Exposure dissipates the charge in the exposed area to generate an electrostatic latent image.

2. The latent image is developed by contact with a liquid dispersion (toner) of fine particles that are attracted to charged areas in the positive method and are attracted to uncharged areas in the reverse method.

3. Remove excess liquid toner and particles from background areas.

4. Transfer the image to a substrate such as paper, for example, under the influence of an electric field.

5. Fix the image on the substrate by melting the particles with the substrate.

6. Clean the plate or cylinder for reuse.

In this connection, the following U.S. patents are referenced in the field of electrophotography: 3,990,696, 4,233,381, 4,253,656, 4,2.
No.56,820, No.4,269,504, No.4,278,884, No.4,286,03
No. 9, 4,302,093, 4,326,644, 4,326,792,
No. 4,334,762, No. 4,350,333, No. 4,355,883, No. 4,3
No. 62,297, No. 4,364,460, No. 4,364,657, No. 4,364,66
No. 1, No. 4,368,881, No. 4,378,422, No. 4,392,742,
No. 4,396,187, No. 4,400,079, No. 4,411,976, No. 4,4
No. 12,383, No. 4,413,048, No. 4,418,903, No. 4,420,24
No. 4, No. 4,435,068, No. 4,439,035, No. 4,454,215,
No. 4,460,667, No. 4,473,865, No. 4,480,824, No. 4,5
01,486, 4,522,484, 4,531,825, 4,538,89
No. 9, No. 4,582,774, No. 4,585,329, No. 4,586,810,
No. 4,589,761, No. 4,598,992, No. 4,603,766, No. 4,6
20,699, 4,627,705, and 4,678,317 (all of which are incorporated herein by reference).

Following development, excess liquid toner and particles are removed from the image by a process often referred to as metering. This process is performed by using an electrically biased counter-rotating roller, which also scrapes off any floating portions of the image area and squeezes or squeezes the image area so that it can be transferred. . During the transfer stage, the image is susceptible to some smearing, stickiness, or crushing, which reduces quality. If heat and pressure are applied to the liquid toner image, as described above for the solid toner method, in the fusing and fusing process, the liquid image may be similarly susceptible to soiling, stickiness or crushing. Will be recognized.

In U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,651 (Landa et al.) (The description of which is incorporated herein by reference)
The use of fibrous toner particles made as follows imparts some crush resistance to the developed image: the thermoplastic polymer (and pigment) is a non-polar liquid, preferably raised. Plasticized at an elevated temperature to form a sponge, the sponge was broken, a non-polar liquid was added, and the broken sponge pieces were wet-milled into particles, and the milling was continued to break the particles. Pull apart to form fibers that extend from it (the particles preferably have a diameter of less than 5μ). Finally, charge dir
ector) to impart a charge of a predetermined polarity to the toner particles.

The method of U.S. Pat.No. 4,794,651 involves applying crush resistance to the image, but nevertheless applies the liquid on the substrate in the same manner as applying heat and pressure in a dry electrostatic imaging process. It may be desirable to fix the image, but as noted above, this has not been possible previously because liquid toner-based images are particularly susceptible to soiling, stickiness, or crushing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a molded article that, when heated, can be used to fuse and fix an image developed by electrostatic imaging.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a composition for use in the manufacture of shaped articles.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method of reducing the adhesion of a molded article surface at elevated temperatures.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved process in which heat and pressure are applied to fuse and fuse images developed in dry electrostatic imaging.

Still another object of the present invention is an electrostatic image forming method using a liquid toner, which is capable of forming a developed liquid toner image while minimizing the possibility of dirt, stickiness, or crushing of the developed image. And to provide a fusing and fusing step that involves applying heat and pressure.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for heating an electrostatic image forming process wherein heat and pressure are applied to fuse and fuse the developed image on the substrate while minimizing image transfer. To provide a molded article that can

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an image forming method including a step of developing an image with a liquid toner including a liquid carrier and applying and applying energy to the image to fuse and fix the image is at least applied by fusing and fixing. An improved imaging method is provided that includes pre-selecting conditions for energy and liquid carrier properties such that the liquid carrier is not substantially removed by fusing and melting.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the electrostatic image is developed with a liquid toner comprising at least colored thermoplastic polymer particles and a liquid carrier, the developed image is transferred to a substrate, and the developed image on the substrate is then transferred. Fusing and fixing by applying heat to the image from the surface of the elastomer-coated first roller, although the surface is lubricated and the substrate is
In an electrostatic imaging method that moves through a nip defined by a portion of a surface of a first roller and a portion of a surface of a second elastomer-coated roller located on a backside of a substrate, at least the following conditions: An improved electrostatic image that includes pre-selecting the temperature at which fusing and fusing occurs, the speed of movement of the substrate, and the nature of the liquid carrier such that the liquid carrier is not substantially all removed from the substrate supporting image. A forming method is provided.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method comprises the step of transferring the image to a substrate.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the transferring step comprises a sub-step of first transferring the image to an intermediate surface and transferring from the intermediate surface to a substrate.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the improvement comprises pre-selecting at least the conditions such that a majority of the liquid carrier is not removed by fusing and melting.

Further, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, at least about 50% by weight, or a substantial portion, of the liquid carrier does not evaporate upon fusing and melting.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the application of energy is performed by applying a heated surface to the image or by applying a flash of radiation to the image.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the heated surface is the surface of an elastomer-coated roller or the surface of a continuous belt.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the substrate is passed through the nip defined by the surface of the elastomer-coated roller defined as the first roller and a portion of the surface of the second elastomer-coated roller located on the backside of the substrate. Moving, the second roller coating has a lower Shore A hardness than the first roller coating.

Further according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the coating of the second roller has a greater thickness than the coating of the first roller.
Preferably, the ratio of the coating thickness of the first roller to the coating thickness of the second roller is less than 1:10.

In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, comprising (A) a release agent-coated silicone polymer, and (B) a soft silicone rubber compound having a Shore A hardness of about 50 or less, wherein the weight of (A) versus (B) is The ratio is about 1: 1.5 to about 1:20, preferably about 1: 3 to
Compositions in the range of about 1: 6 are provided.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, component (B) comprises (i) from about 1 to about 4 parts by weight of a curable silicone oil containing a curing agent, and (ii) about 10 parts by weight of a hard rubber-forming room temperature curable silicone polymer. And (iii) sufficient silicone polymer curing agent to effect the curing of component (ii).

Further according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the component ratio (i):
(Ii): (iii) is about 1-4: about 10: about 0.8-1.2 parts by weight.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in an apparatus for fusing and fixing a developed image formed thereon by a liquid toner electrostatic image forming method and then transferred to a substrate, the first movable member comprising: A first movable member having a material that serves to substantially prevent the transfer of the developed image that moves in contact with the first contact surface; a second movable member defining a second contact surface; A second contact movable member, wherein a portion of the portion defines a nip with a portion of the first contact surface, increasing the temperature of the developed image as it passes in contact with the first contact surface; A mechanism for causing at least partial fusing and fusing of the developed image, and applying a force through the nip to effect at least partial fusing and fusing of the developed image with the first movable surface and the second movable surface. Pass between It has a mechanism for causing the time, also natural, the material which serves to prevent substantial transfer is given by a device formed from the composition described above.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the device also includes a mechanism for wetting the first contact surface with the wetting liquid.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, formed from the composition,
A molded article is provided that defines one surface, at least the surface being formed from the composition.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, forming an electrostatic latent image on a first substrate, developing the latent image with toner, transferring the developed image to a second substrate, Providing an electrostatic image forming method comprising the steps of applying heat and pressure to a curved surface of a thermoformed article formed from the composition to apply heat and pressure thereto to fuse and fix the image on the substrate. Can be

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method includes an additional step of wetting the curved surface with a wetting liquid.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the fusing and fixing step, the second substrate is placed between the curved surface of the heated molded article and the further curved surface defined by the molded article formed from the soft rubber compound. Pass through.

Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ratio of the thickness of the molded article formed from the composition to the thickness of the molded article formed from the soft rubber compound is in the range of about 1:30 to 80.

Further, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the toner comprises a powder solid toner or a liquid phase toner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings. In the drawings, FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electrostatic image forming apparatus configured and operated according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed schematic structural view of an apparatus for fusing and fixing a developed image on a carrier sheet used in the apparatus of FIG.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an electrostatic imaging apparatus using liquid toner. The device comprises a metal cylinder (2), which has a photoconductor (4) and is attached to a shaft (8) by a disk (6). The disk is secured with its key (10) to its axis (8) so that the illustrated cylindrical assembly provided in a light-tight enclosure (not shown) rotates with the axis (8). Operate.

The axis (8) is driven in a suitable manner (not shown) in the direction of the arrow (9) and passes through a corona discharge device (12) which serves to charge the surface of the photoconductor (4). The image to be copied is projected by the optical system (14) onto the charged photoconductor. The axis (8) is grounded at (15), the disc (6) is conductive and the area exposed to light passes the charge or a part of it to ground, thereby electrostatically charging the photoconductor. Form a latent image.

Liquid toner is circulated from a suitable source (not shown) through tube (16) to the developing dish (18), from which the tube (2
Withdrawn through 0) and recycled. Appropriately biased development electrodes (22), as known to those skilled in the art, promote toner adhesion as the electrostatic latent image comes into contact with toner.

Since the amount of liquid on the photoconductor surface is usually too high for sufficient transfer after the developed image, the roller (24) whose surface moves in the direction opposite to the direction of the photoconductor surface is provided by a spacer ( 25) and is spaced from the photoconductor surface and serves to scrape excess liquid from the developed image without disturbing it. An example of a roller is U.S. Pat.
No. 907,423, the description of which is incorporated herein by reference.

The rollers (24) are typically driven by a drive belt (26), which in turn is driven by a suitable known speed control motor mechanism (not shown). The rollers are kept clean by the wiping blade (28).

A pair of alignment rollers (32) and (34) form a carrier sheet (100) that receives the developed image as a whole (44).
It serves to supply to the transfer location indicated by. Transcription location (4
In 4), the corona discharge device (46) is activated to apply a charge of opposite polarity to the polarity of the toner particles forming the developed image behind the carrier sheet. This causes the developed image to be drawn towards the carrier sheet.

Rollers (32) and (34) are connected to shafts (36) and (3
8) and fixed to rotate with it. The shafts are driven synchronously so that there is no relative displacement between the closest points of the rollers (32) and (34) to each other. Alternatively, if desired, only one of the registration rollers may be driven.

The release member (48) helps to separate the carrier sheet with the developed image from photoconductivity. Rollers (50) working in tandem with a plurality of flexible bands (52) mounted on a plurality of rollers (54) direct the carrier sheet to a fusing device, generally indicated at (64). Device (64) is described in more detail below in connection with FIG.

The cleaning roller (56), which may be formed of a suitable synthetic resin known in the art, is driven in a direction of rotation opposite to the photoconductor and rubs its surface.
To aid this effect, an insulating non-polar liquid may be supplied to the surface of the cleaning roller (56) through the tube (58).
The wiping blade (60) completes the cleaning of the photoconductor surface. The residual charge remaining on the photoconductive cylinder is dissipated by flooding the photoconductor surface with light from a lamp (62).

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a fusing and fixing apparatus constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The carrier sheet (100) is fed in the direction of the arrow (66) and with the help of the guide member (99) between the heated roller (68) and the pressure roller (70) (first)
See also figure).

In the embodiment shown, the roller (68) is driven by suitable means (not shown), which
While rotating in the direction shown in 2), it also serves to cause rotation of the roller (70) by friction. Roller (68) typically has a hollow metal cylindrical core, in which a heating source (69) is provided, wherein the carrier sheet is drawn between rollers (68) and (70) Sometimes it helps to fuse the developed image held by the sheet.

The metal core of the roller (68) is coated with a thin layer (71) of a synthetic material having the composition described below. Layer (71)
It is a feature of the present invention that the composition of the synthetic material that forms the layer is such that the development of developed image in contact with the layer is negligible.

Roller (70), Shore A, on metal core (74)
A sheath of synthetic material having a hardness value of about 50 or less (76)
Is attached. A typical synthetic material is silicone rubber. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ratio of the thickness of layer (71) to the thickness of sleeve (76) is typically 1:
There is a range of 30-80. For example, layer (71) may be 0.4 mm thick and sleeve (76) may be 20 mm thick.

Due to the thickness difference between the layer (71) and the sleeve (76), the roller (68) is much harder than the roller (70). Therefore, the roller (70) is moved along the axis (77) by the roller (68).
When pressed against, the surface of the roller (70) is depressed and a long continuous contact, a nip, is formed between the rollers, between the two points indicated by arrows A and B.

It is acknowledged that it is important that when the carrier sheet is pulled into the nip, the effective fusing and fixing of the image on the sheet takes place without causing the image to become dirty, sticky or crushed. Will be. Accordingly, a device is provided for adjusting the pressure between rollers (68) and (70).

The roller (68) preferably rotates about a fixed axis, while the roller (70) is mounted for rotation on an adjustable axis (78) supported by a support arm (80). ing. The support arm (80) is mounted at one end (81) so that it can rotate around a fixed axis (82), and is further supported at the other end (83) by a spring (84). Have been. It will be seen that the stronger the spring, the greater the pressure exerted by roller (70) on roller (68).

When the carrier sheet is drawn between rollers (68) and (70), along with the pressure applied to the sheet by those rollers, it is effective at fusing and fixing the developed image on the sheet. Heat is applied to the sheet from the source (69). According to the illustrated embodiment, the sheet is fed between the rollers such that the developed image, generally designated (101), contacts the surface of the rollers (68). It is believed that some transfer of the developed image to the roller (68) occurs in known electrostatic imaging methods.

In accordance with the present invention, layer (71) has a material composition that substantially eliminates transitions when used in a liquid toner process, without causing collapse, smearing, or tackiness of the developed image. Although transfer of the image to the roller (68) is expected to be negligible, a stripper (85) is still provided to remove any small transfer deposits that have occurred and to ensure proper paper removal.

As a composition according to the invention, a layer of roller (68) (7
For 1) a soft silicone rubber formulation is used, consisting of a mixture of: (i) about 1 to about 4 parts by weight of a curable silicone oil containing a curing agent, (ii) about 10 parts by weight of a hardened silicone oil. Rubber-forming silicone polymer curable at room temperature,
And (iii) a silicone polymer curing agent sufficient to effect curing of component (ii), with a component ratio of (i) :( ii) :( ii)
i) is preferably about 1-4: about 10: about 0.8-1.2 parts by weight.

Examples of components (i), (ii) and (iii) are as follows.

(I) RTV910 (manufactured by General Electric (USA)) (ii) RTV615A, RTV630A (iii) RTV615B, RTV630B Such components can be used, for example, in a weight ratio of about 2: 10: 1.

An example of a release coated silicone polymer provided on a roller (68) is Syl-Off 7600 (Syl-Off 7601 or Syl-Off 7048, manufactured by Dow Corning, USA). Especially about 200: 1
Ratio of sill off 7600 to sill off 7601, or about 500: 1
With a ratio of 7600 sill off to 7048 sill off. These ratios are substantially higher than those recommended by the manufacturer.

Generally, a weight ratio of release agent-coated silicone polymer to soft silicone rubber formulation in the range of about 1: 1.5 to about 1:20 is generally considered effective, but a ratio of 1: 3 to 1.6 is preferred. Given the results, it is presently preferred to use a weight ratio of about 1: 4.

In accordance with the present invention, when the composition of the present invention as defined herein is formed into a molded article, the surface of the article adheres at elevated temperatures as compared to the surface of such an article from a flexible silicone rubber formulation alone. Sex has declined. Such articles have a particularly curved surface and can be used on rollers (6
Useful for forming rollers as in 8) or for forming annular bands used in various electrostatic imaging processes.

As already indicated above, the application of heat and pressure during the fusing and fixing steps of an electrostatic imaging method using solid powdered toner can (particularly) cause the curved surface of the molded article to come into contact with the developed image. If the developed image is transferred to a heated roller (68) that provides the required nip together with the pressure roller (70), for example as described above, the copy may be undesirable due to It has the disadvantage of saying.

However, according to the present invention, when the coating on the roller (68) is made from the composition of the present invention, the surface that comes into contact with the toner image when heated is more than when using the known composition for this purpose. Much less likely to transfer.

Applying heat and pressure in the fusing / fixing step of the electrostatic image forming method using the liquid phase toner causes the liquid toner image to become dirty,
Although previously found to be impractical because of its susceptibility to stickiness or crushing, the compositions of the present invention now provide the liquid phase toner method for the first time in a corresponding step of the powder solid toner method. In the same manner as described above, a step including heating and applying pressure can be introduced.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an electrostatic latent image is formed on photoconductor (4), and the latent image is developed with liquid toner from a developing dish (18). The transferred image is transferred to a carrier sheet (100), and the transferred image on the substrate is passed through a roller (68), preferably formed from the novel composition of the present invention, and a roller (70). And a process for fusing and fixing by applying pressure.

According to another aspect of the invention, the latent image may be developed with a powdered solid toner.

2, there is also provided an apparatus for wetting the heating roller (68) with a silicone oil such as 350F. Wetting of the roller (68) has been found to be important to prevent drying of the upper coating (71) due to leaching of the non-crosslinked silicone oil used therein from the rubber composition, for example, RTV910. Would.

The wetting device shown has a wetting roller (86) mounted on an adjustable shaft (88), a roller (86) that operates to rotate with the heating roller (68). A spring-maintained arm (90) is also provided, which applies contact between the wetting roller (86) and the roller (68), pressure on the axis (88) in the direction of the roller (68) Maintain by doing.

The wetting roller (86) communicates with the tank (94) and is maintained in contact with the roller (86), a liquid absorbent material (92)
To keep it moist. The blank (92) may comprise, for example, a layer of velvet mounted on a support. The tank (94) is typically supplied with silicone oil to a depth sufficient to keep the material (92) sufficient to wet the wetting roller (86).
Press the doctor blade (110) against the roller (86) to reduce the liquid thickness, preferably to about 7μ. Liquid is supplied from an external storage tank (96) to a tank (94) by a pump (98) and an inlet pipe (102), from which it is pumped at a very slow rate. Excess liquid in the tank (94) drips from there and is discharged from the reservoir (9) by an outlet conduit (104).
Returned to 6).

A toner solution suitable for the method of the present invention may be manufactured as follows. Elvacs (ELVAX) II5720 (DuPont) (1000 g) and Isopar (ISOPAR) L (Exxon) (500 g) were linked to Ross (double plaque).
netary) Mix together for 1 hour at a temperature of (90) ± 10 ° C. using a mixer. Carbon black [Mogul L
Cabot, 250g] and Isopearl (500g)
And mixing is continued for 1 hour. Add Isopearl L (2000 g), previously heated to 110 ° C., and continue mixing for another hour. The heat source was removed and mixing continued until the temperature dropped below 40 ° C. 3050 g of the obtained mixture is cylindrically shaped.
Milled with Isopearl L (4000 g) in a Sweco M18 vibrating mill containing 5 ″ alumina at a temperature of 40 ± 2 ° C. for about 22 hours. The product has a solids concentration of 12.5%. A working dispersion was obtained by diluting with 1.5% solids content with Isopearl L. In the following example, a Savin 870 photographic copier required 1.5 kg of this working solution, 10% with lecithin in Isopearl L
Savin V45 photocopier requires 0.8 kg of this working solution, whereas 7-8 ml of solution was added as a charge designator.
And 3.5% 10% solution of lecithin in Isopearl L
44 ml was added as a charge designator.

The following examples illustrate the invention, but do not limit it.

Example 1 As described above, a Sabin V45 photocopier modified to incorporate a heating roller system at an optimum temperature of 120 ± 10 ° C. in the fusing and fixing steps to minimize the transition was applied at a substrate speed of about 314 mm / sec. A 6 kg pressure applied to each one of a pair of rollers was operated using the liquid toner prepared as described above. The nip length was about 4-6 mm. Under these conditions, melting and fixing were achieved while most of Isopearl L in the toner image was maintained therein.

Example 2 Copies were made on paper using the Sabin 870 photographic copier with the internal fuser disabled, using the drop toner produced as described above. Then copy them about 0.75
A joule / cm ² flash illumination was applied for 400 μs pulse time. Under these conditions, most of the Isopearl L in the toner image was retained therein while fusing and fixing were achieved.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described above. The present invention is limited only by the claims.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-56-87073 (JP, A) JP-A-62-255982 (JP, A) JP-A-62-260174 (JP, A) (58) Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 13/10-13/11 G03G 13/20 G03G 15/10-15/11 G03G 15/20

Claims (10)

(57) [Claims] A step of developing an image with a liquid toner including a liquid carrier and toner particles to form a developed image; and a step of transferring the developed image to an image holding surface of a substrate. Fusing and fixing by applying energy and pressure to the transferred image, wherein at least 50% of the liquid carrier in the transferred image remains after the fusing and fixing step. As described above, at least the energy applied in the fusing and fixing steps and the characteristics of the liquid carrier are selected. 2. A step of developing an electrostatic image with a liquid toner containing at least pigment-containing heat-fusible polymer particles and a liquid carrier to form a developed image, and transferring the developed image to a substrate. Transporting the substrate through a nip defined by a portion of a surface of a first roller and a portion of a surface of a second roller coated with an elastomer; and a surface of the first roller. By applying heat from
Fusing and fixing the transferred image supported by the substrate, wherein at least 50% of the liquid carrier in the transferred image supported by the substrate does not evaporate therefrom, at least
An image forming method comprising selecting a temperature at which the melting and fixing occur, a transport speed of a substrate, and characteristics of a liquid toner. 3. The image according to claim 2, wherein said transferring step includes a step of first transferring said developed image to an intermediate surface, and a step of subsequently transferring said developed image from said intermediate surface to a substrate. Forming method. 4. The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the application of energy and pressure is performed by applying a heated surface to a transferred image. 5. The image forming method according to claim 4, wherein the heated surface is a surface of a first roller coated with an elastomer. 6. The image forming method according to claim 4, wherein said heated surface is a surface of a continuous belt. 7. A portion of the surface of the first roller coated with the elastomer facing the image bearing surface of the substrate and a portion of the surface of a second roller coated with the elastomer. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the substrate is transported through a nip, and wherein the elastomeric coating of the second roller is softer than the elastomeric coating of the first roller. 8. A portion of the surface of the first roller coated with the elastomer facing the image bearing surface of the substrate and a portion of the surface of a second roller coated with the elastomer. The image forming method according to claim 5, wherein the substrate is transported between the nips, and a thickness of the elastomer coating of the second roller is larger than that of the first roller. 9. The image of claim 8, wherein the ratio of the thickness of the elastomeric coating of the first roller to the thickness of the elastomeric coating of the second roller is less than 1:10. Forming method. 10. An image according to claim 1, wherein said particles are plasticized by said liquid carrier during fusing and fixing of said image to said substrate. Forming method.