JP3501438B2 - IMAGE REMOVAL PROMOTING LIQUID AND METHOD OF REPRODUCING RECORDED MATERIAL USING THE IMAGE REMOVAL PROMOTING LIQUID - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention reproduces a recording material by peeling and removing the hydrophobic image from a recording material having a hydrophobic image formed of a thermo-flexible or thermo-softening image forming substance. The present invention relates to an image removal promoting liquid used in the method, and a method for reproducing a recording material using the image removal promoting liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Due to the recent increase in OA, printer paper and copying paper have been used in large quantities, and the deforestation of forests to produce large quantities of paper has caused a problem of environmental deterioration on a global scale. There is. In addition, a large amount of waste paper is generated from the office, and most of it is wasted. In order to solve this problem and to recycle the paper, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-13383 discloses that at least a part of the paper material layer is composed mainly of cellulose fibers, and the paper material layer is thermoflexible. A recording material on which a hydrophobic image composed of ink (toner) is formed is impregnated with water or an image removal accelerating liquid such as an aqueous solution of a surfactant and / or a water-soluble polymer to form a hydrophobic image on an image peeling member. A method of reproducing a recording material by removing a hydrophobic image from a paper-based layer by transferring is disclosed. This reproducing method is a very effective method for reproducing a recording material because it can remove a hydrophobic image without damaging the recording material. However, since a large amount of an image removal promoting liquid is used, the reproduced recording material is regenerated. The material sometimes stretched and wrinkled, wavy, or curled.

As a method for solving such a problem,
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-281566 discloses a method of using an image removal promoting liquid composed of an aqueous solution containing a high concentration of a surfactant, and reducing the amount of the image removal promoting liquid applied to a recording material on which an image is formed. It is disclosed that the image-forming substance is peeled off from the recording material without stretching, wrinkling, waviness or curling of the reproduced recording material. However, when the image removal promoting liquid containing the high concentration of the surfactant is used, in some image formation, a hydrophobic image containing a colored polarity control agent is formed. It is eluted and the hydrophobic image is removed, and remains as a dyeing residual image on the reproduced recording material. Its optical density (OD) is 0.2 to 0.15 (GRETAG
This is a measurement with a densitometer), and when the reproduced recording material is used for recopying, there is a drawback that the reading of the copied image is disturbed. Then, as a method of eliminating this defect, it was found that the optical density (OD): 0.02 or less can be obtained by adding oxalic acid to the image removal promoting liquid. Applicant is proposing. However, the addition of oxalic acid causes the surfactant to hydrolyze due to its strong acidity, and if the image removal accelerating liquid is retained for a long period of time, for example, 6 months or more, there is a drawback that the performance is significantly deteriorated.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to transfer a recording material having a hydrophobic image formed of a heat-flexible or heat-softenable image-forming substance to a hydrophobic material. Of a hydrophobic image containing a part of a colored polarity control agent, which does not cause wrinkles, waviness or curling of the regenerated recording material. An image removal accelerating liquid capable of reducing the density of the residual image on dyeing caused by the removal and having no deterioration in performance even after being stored for a long period of time, for example, 6 months or more, and reproduction of a recording material using the image removal accelerating liquid. To provide a method.

[0005]

The above-mentioned object of the present invention is characterized by comprising an aqueous solution containing a surfactant, oxalic acid, a urea compound and / or a thiourea compound, a water-containing organic solution or an anhydrous organic solution. It was possible to solve the problems by providing an image removal promoting liquid and a method for reproducing a recording material using the image removal promoting liquid.

The image removal promoting liquid of the present invention can be easily obtained, for example, as described below. That is,
In the case of an aqueous solution, it can be obtained by adding a surfactant, oxalic acid, a urea compound and / or a thiourea compound to water or an organic solvent containing water and dissolving them.
Further, in the case of an anhydrous organic solution, it can be obtained by adding a surfactant, oxalic acid, a urea compound and / or a thiourea compound to an anhydrous organic solvent and dissolving them.

According to the present invention, a hydrophobic image can be sufficiently peeled and removed, and a recording material having no dyeing residual density, which is free from stretching, wrinkling, waviness, curling, etc., can be reproduced for a long period of time. The reason for this is as follows. The image removal accelerating liquid of the present invention maintains a liquid state in a heated state even when the water content is small, and therefore penetrates from the surface of the hydrophobic image under heating and pressurization to reach the interface between the hydrophobic image and the recording material. I will reach you. As a result, the adhesive force between the hydrophobic image and the recording material is weakened, the chance of re-adhesion is greatly reduced, and the action of the contained oxalic acid prevents the colored polar control agent from elution very little. Thus, the hydrophobic image is easily transferred to the peeling member, the residual density of dyeing is very small, and the hydrophobic image is sufficiently peeled from the recording material.
When the regenerated recording material is cooled to room temperature after the hydrophobic image is peeled off and removed, the reproduced recording material contains almost no water because the coating amount of the image removal accelerating liquid and the water concentration are small. Since it is not applied, it does not cause elongation, wrinkles, waviness, curl, etc. Further, the image removal accelerating solution of the present invention can be used for a long period of time because the urea compound and / or thiourea compound contained therein is in the form of inclusion state with oxalic acid, which results in the surface activity of oxalic acid. It is presumed that the storability of the accelerating agent is improved because the hydrolysis performance of the agent is significantly weakened.

The content of the surfactant in the image removal promoting liquid of the present invention is preferably 1 to 70% by weight, and particularly preferably 5 to 60% by weight. When the content of the surfactant is low, the peeling of the hydrophobic image becomes insufficient, and when it is high, the viscosity of the image removal accelerating liquid becomes high, and the hydrophobic image is not applied to the recording material. In addition, the amount of the surfactant remaining on the regenerated recording material after peeling and removing the hydrophobic image becomes large, and as a result, the reproduced recording material is subjected to image formation such as copying or recording. When reused as
The fixability of the formed image is adversely affected.
In particular, when an image removal accelerating liquid containing this surfactant dissolved in a high concentration of about 10 to 70% by weight is applied to a recording material having a hydrophobic image, the image removal is performed because the concentration of the surfactant is high. The accelerating liquid does not penetrate much into the recording material, and the image removing accelerating liquid adheres not only to the so-called fine image having a small image area of the hydrophobic image but also to the surface of a so-called solid image having a large image area. Therefore, excellent effects can be achieved.

The content of oxalic acid in the image removal promoting liquid of the present invention is preferably 1 to 50% by weight. If it is less than 1% by weight, there is almost no ability to prevent the elution of the colored polarity control agent, and if it exceeds 50% by weight, the penetrating ability of the surfactant is seriously disturbed and the quality of image peeling is remarkably deteriorated.

The urea compounds used in the present invention include:
For example, those represented by the following formula (I) can be mentioned.

[Chemical 3] (In the formula, R ₁ , R ₂ , R ₃ and R ₄ are the same as above.)

Examples of the thiourea compound used in the present invention include those represented by the following formula (II).

[Chemical 4] (In the formula, R ₁ , R ₂ , R ₃ and R ₄ are the same as above.)

The content of the urea compound and / or thiourea compound in the image removal promoting liquid of the present invention is preferably 5% by weight to 50% by weight. If it is less than 5% by weight, the ability of oxalic acid to deteriorate the surfactant cannot be weakened, and if it exceeds 50% by weight, the ability of oxalic acid to prevent dyeing residue is reduced, and the concentration of dyeing residue after image peeling is reduced. Deteriorates and makes quality worse.

According to the method for reproducing a recording material of the present invention, the image removal accelerating liquid is applied to the recording material having a hydrophobic image formed of a thermo-flexible or thermo-softening image-forming substance to give a hydrophobic property. It is characterized in that the image and the peeling member are brought into contact with each other under heating and pressure, and the hydrophobic image is transferred to the peeling member to peel and remove from the recording material. According to this method of reproducing the recording material, (1) the hydrophobic image can be sufficiently peeled and removed from the recording material,
Also, the dyeing density of the recording material can be reduced. (2) Since the amount of the image removal accelerating liquid used is small, the reproduced recording material is free from stretching, wrinkling, waviness, curling, or the like. (3) When the reproduced recording material is reused for image formation such as copying or recording, jam is not generated in the copying apparatus or recording apparatus, and the residual dyeing density is extremely high as described above. Since it is very small, it is possible to form a hydrophobic image having good fixability.

The surfactant used in the present invention may be any of anionic, cationic, nonionic and amphoteric surfactants. Specific examples thereof include:
For example, polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers, polyoxyethylene alkylphenyl ethers, polyoxyethylene alkyl esters, polyoxyethylene alkyl sorbitan esters, polyoxyethylene alkyl amines, glycerin fatty acid esters, decaglycerin fatty acid esters, poly Glycerin fatty acid esters, sorbitan fatty acid esters, propylene glycol fatty acid esters, porethylene glycol fatty acid esters, polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene alkyl ethers, polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene block polymers, perfluoroalkyl phosphate esters, Nonionic surfactants such as polyoxyethylene-modified polydimethylsiloxanes, higher fatty acid salts, N
-Acyl amino acid salt, polyoxyethylene alkyl ether carboxylate, acylated peptide, alkyl sulfonate, alkyl benzene sulfonate, alkyl naphthalene sulfonate, mono- or dialkyl sulfosuccinate, α-olefin sulfonate, N -Acyl sulfonate, alkyl sulfate, polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfate, polyoxyethylene alkyl aryl ether sulfate, alkyl amide sulfate, monoalkyl phosphate, dialkyl phosphate, trialkyl phosphate, monopolyoxyethylene alkyl Ether phosphates, bis polyoxyethylene alkyl ether phosphates, tris polyoxyethylene alkyl ether phosphates, polyoxyethylene alkyl aryl ether phosphates, perfluoroalkyl carboxylates Salts, perfluoroalkyl sulfonate, perfluoroalkyl alkenyl arylsulfonates,
N-perfluorooctanesulfonyl glutamate,
Perfluoroalkyl-N-ethylsulfonylglycine salt, 3- (ω-fluoroalkanoyl-N-ethylamino) -1-propanesulfonate, perfluoroalkylethyl phosphate ester salt, carboxylic acid-modified polydimethylsiloxane, sulfonic acid-modified Anionic surfactants such as polydimethylsiloxane, higher alkyl amine salts, higher alkyl quaternary ammonium salts, alkylbenzene amine salts, alkylbenzene quaternary ammonium salts, alkyl heterocyclic quaternary ammonium salts and other cationic surfactants , Amphoteric surfactants such as betaine and aminocarboxylic acid.

Of these, compounds having a sulfosuccinic acid alkyl ester structure are particularly excellent and preferable for peeling and removing the hydrophobic image from the recording material. Examples of such a compound include a surfactant having a mono- or dialkyl sulfosuccinic acid alkyl ester salt structure, or a compound having a sulfosuccinic acid alkyl ester structure isolated as an acid by exchange of counter ions of these surfactants. be able to. Specific examples thereof include sulfosuccinic acid ditridecyl ester sodium salt and acid, sulfosuccinic acid dioctyl ester sodium salt and acid, sulfosuccinic acid dihexyl ester sodium salt and acid, sulfosuccinic acid dicyclohexyl ester sodium salt and acid, sulfosuccinic acid diamyl ester sodium salt. Salts and acids, sulfosuccinic acid dibutyl ester sodium salt and acid, sulfosuccinic acid isodecanol ester sodium salt and acid, sulfosuccinic acid ethoxyalkyl ester sodium salt and acid, and the like, particularly sulfosuccinic acid dioctyl ester sodium salt and acid,
Sulfosuccinic acid dihexyl ester sodium salt and acid or sulfosuccinic acid diamyl ester sodium salt and acid are preferred.

In the present invention, to prepare a water-containing organic solution and an anhydrous organic solution containing a surfactant, oxalic acid and a urea compound and / or a thiourea compound, for example, a glycol as shown in Table 1 below. The kind is mentioned.

[0017]

[Table 1] However, the glycols that can be used in the water-containing organic solution and the anhydrous organic solution are not limited to those described in Table 1 above.

Further, the organic solvent is preferably an organic acid since it is water-soluble, and examples thereof include those described below. Glycolic acid, 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropionic acid, α-hydroxyvaleric acid, lactic acid, α-hydroxybutyric acid, α-hydroxycaproic acid, α-hydroxyenanthic acid, α-hydroxystearic acid, malic acid, α-hydroxy Caprylic acid, α-hydroxyglutaric acid, 1,2-hydroxycyclohexanecarboxylic acid,
Malonic acid, maleic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, camphoric acid, 9,10-dihydroxystearic acid, β, β-dimethylacrylic acid, α, β-cis-dimethylacrylic acid, α, β-trans-dimethylacrylic acid, Formic acid sodium salt, glyoxylic acid, 2-hydroxybutyric acid, 3
-Hydroxybutyric acid, α-hydroxy-iso-valeric acid,
Monomethyl oxalic acid, sulfoacetic acid dihydrate, 2-butyric acid, pivalic acid, methoxyacetic acid, acetoacetic acid, monocarboxylic acids such as crotonic acid and salts thereof, butylmalonic acid,
2,2-dimethylsuccinic acid, α-ethylglutaric acid, β
-Ethyl glutaric acid, ethyl malonic acid, ethyl succinic acid, glutaric acid, 3-hydroxy glutaric acid, citric acid monohydrate, α-methyl adipic acid, β-methyl adipic acid, α-methyl glutaric acid, β-methyl glutaric acid Acid, n
-Propylmalonic acid, iso-propylmalonic acid, n-
Examples thereof include propylsuccinic acid, methylsuccinic acid, sugar acid (saccharic acid), methoxysuccinic acid, 1-malic acid, α-ketoglutaric acid, citraconic acid, dicarboxylic acid such as methoxalic acid, or tricarboxylic acid.

The recording material used in the method for reproducing a recording material of the present invention is preferably a recording material having a layer on which at least a hydrophobic image forming surface is swollen by an image removal promoting liquid. Examples of the recording material include a recording material having at least a hydrophobic image forming surface made of a paper-like layer containing cellulose fibers as a main component. More specifically, commercially available paper such as general copying paper or recording paper containing cellulose fiber as a main component, or a plastic film on which a paper quality layer containing cellulose fiber as a main component is laminated on at least a hydrophobic image forming surface. Can be mentioned.

Further, as a hydrophobic image suitable for peeling and removal by the method for reproducing a recording material of the present invention, there are ordinary electrophotographic method, thermal transfer method, ink jet method using hot melt ink or printing method. And a hydrophobic image formed by using a heat-flexible or heat-softenable image formed product (dry toner or wet toner for electrostatic latent image development, heat-meltable ink sheet, hot-melt ink, etc.). A recording material having a hydrophobic image particularly suitable for reproduction by the method for reproducing a recording material of the present invention as described above,
It is a recording material having a hydrophobic image formed by using an electrophotographic toner.

The toner is mainly composed of a resin component, a colorant, a polarity control agent and the like, as conventionally known. The resin component is, for example, a styrene resin, an acrylic resin, a methacrylic resin, a styrene-acrylic copolymer resin, a styrene-butyl acrylic copolymer resin,
Styrene-methacrylic copolymer resin, styrene-butadiene copolymer resin, polyester resin, epoxy resin thermoplastic resin or thermosetting resin, or a mixture of two or more of these resins . These resins have a glass transition point of 55 to 70 ° C. and a softening point of 80 to 1
It is 40 ° C. and generally shows hydrophobicity which is insoluble in water.

As the colorant, various pigments and dyes are used. For example, black colorant is carbon black, copper oxide, manganese dioxide, aniline black, activated carbon, ferrite, magnetite, etc., and yellow colorant is cadmium yellow. Yellow lead, zinc yellow, mineral fast yellow, navel yellow, bunzer yellow G, bunzer yellow 10G, quinoline yellow lake, yellow iron oxide, nickel titanium yellow, naphthol yellow S, benzidine yellow G, benzidine yellow GR,
Permanent Yellow NCG, Tartrazine Lakey, etc. are used as red colorants such as red yellow lead, molybdenum orange, permanent orange GTR, pyrazolo orange,
Vulcan Orange, Indanthrene Brilliant Orange RK, Benzine, Orange R, Indanthrene Brilliant Orange GK, Bengala, Cadmium Red, Lead Tan, Permanent Red 4R, Resole Red, Pyrazolone Red, Watching Red, Lake Red C, Lake Red D, Brilliant Carmine 6B, Eosin Lake, Rhodamine Lake B, Alizarin Lake, Brilliant Carmine 3B, Balkan Fast Orange GG,
Permanent Red F4RH, Permanent Carmin F
B and the like, and as blue colorants, navy blue, cobalt blue, alkali blue lake, Victoria blue lake,
Phthalocyanine blue or the like is used.

The polarity control agents include positive charge control agents and negative charge control agents, and the positive charge control agents include nigrosine base EX, quaternary ammonium salts, polyamine compounds and imidazole compounds, and negative charge control agents. As the control agent, chromium complex salt type azo dye, copper phthalocyanine dye,
Known are chromium complex salts, zinc complex salts, aluminum complex salts, calixarene compounds, and the like. In particular, the chromium complex salt type azo dye is easily eluted by the stripping solution and causes a dyeing residue.

When the image removal promoting liquid as described above is applied to the recording material having the hydrophobic image as described above, the action of the surfactant in the image removal promoting liquid causes the main component to be, for example, cellulose fiber. The image removal accelerating liquid quickly and sufficiently penetrates into the interface between the recording material, which is a paper-like layer, and the hydrophobic image. As a result, even if the amount of the image removal accelerating liquid applied is small, the cellulose fibers are swollen and deformed rapidly by the image removal accelerating liquid, and the contact site or contact area between the cellulose fibers and the hydrophobic image is reduced, resulting in the hydrophobic property. Since the adhesive force between the image and the recording material is reduced, the hydrophobic image is easily peeled off from the recording material, and the recording material does not stretch, wrinkle, curl, etc. The hydrophobic image can be sufficiently peeled and removed. Further, the action of the contained oxalic acid prevents the colored polarity control agent from being eluted in a very small amount, so that the residual dyeing concentration of the reproduced recording material is very small. Further, due to the action of the urea compound and / or the thiourea compound, the above-mentioned object can be sufficiently achieved and the image peeling-off can be achieved even when the one stored for a long period of time, for example, 6 months or more is used. Therefore, when a toner image is formed again by copying or recording using the recording material regenerated by using the image removal accelerating liquid of the present invention, the toner image has good fixability and a new unused recording material. It is possible to obtain a toner image having the same quality as when the material is used.

The amount of the image removal promoting liquid applied to the recording material in the present invention is 0.05 to 0.6 g / A4 (A4
The weight of the liquid contained in the plate paper) is preferable, and particularly, 0.
1 to 0.5 g / A4 is preferable. When the amount of the image removal accelerating liquid applied is less than 0.05 g / A4, the peeling removal of the hydrophobic image becomes insufficient, and when it exceeds 0.6 g / A4, the components of the image removal accelerating liquid are not covered. As the amount of water accumulated and retained near the surface of the recording material increases, the water content also increases, and when the regenerated recording material is reused for image formation by copying or recording, the recording material stretches and wrinkles. It causes waviness, curling, or the like, and adversely affects the fixability of a hydrophobic image.

To apply the image removal promoting liquid to the recording material, for example, the image removing promoting liquid is sprayed or coated on the hydrophobic image forming surface of the recording material, or the image removing promoting liquid has a hydrophobic image. The recording material may be dipped. When the image removal promoting liquid becomes solid at room temperature by using the non-aqueous solvent which is solid at normal temperature, the image removing promoting liquid may be heated and applied to the recording material in a liquid state. Further, the image removal accelerating liquid containing the surfactant at a high concentration may be applied only once, or after the image removal accelerating liquid having a low concentration of the surfactant is applied to the recording material, the surface activity is continuously increased. The agent applies a high-concentration image removal-promoting liquid, or a high-concentration image removal-promoting liquid is applied to the recording material, and subsequently a low-concentration image removal-promoting liquid is applied. It may be given over times. According to the method of applying the image removal promoting liquid a plurality of times, even if the amount of the image removal promoting liquid applied is smaller,
The hydrophobic image can be sufficiently peeled and removed from the recording material, and the recording material can be reproduced without causing the recording material to stretch, wrinkle, curl, or the like.
Furthermore, by applying the image removal promoting liquid a plurality of times, the image removal promoting liquid can be uniformly applied to the hydrophobic image forming surface of the recording material, and the hydrophobic image can be peeled and removed from the recording material. It has the advantage of being easier.

Due to the components of the image removal promoting liquid accumulated and remaining near the surface of the recording material due to the application of the image removal promoting liquid,
If the reproduced recording material is electrically conductive and it is difficult to form an electrostatic latent image on the recorded material by electrophotography, the image fixability of the reproduced recording material may be reduced. In the case of adverse effects, as a post-treatment of the recording material from which the hydrophobic image has been removed, the recording material is treated with water or an aqueous solution to remove the residual components of the image removal accelerating liquid. Is desirable. Examples of the aqueous solution include alcohols such as methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol, glycols such as ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, and the like.
An aqueous solution containing less than or equal to wt% can be used. Further, in water or aqueous solution, sodium benzoate, sorbic acid and salts thereof, paraoxybenzoic acid esters,
Dehydroacetic acid, propionic acid, salts thereof and preservatives such as diphenyl, ortho-phenylphenol, thiabendazoles, imazalil and the like may be added. The amount of water or aqueous solution applied in this post-treatment is preferably such that the amount of water is 0.05 to 0.2 g / A4,
In particular, an amount that gives a water content of 0.08 to 0.1 g / A4 is preferable. Within this range, the remaining components of the image removal promoting liquid can be removed without causing the recording material to stretch, wrinkle, wavy, curl, or the like.

To treat the recording material with water or an aqueous solution, for example, sponge, cloth, felt or the like impregnated with water or an aqueous solution is applied to the surface of the recording material on which the image removal promoting liquid component remains. Contact, rotate, move,
Water or an aqueous solution may be applied to the recording material to dissolve the residual components and at the same time remove the residual components.
Alternatively, water or an aqueous solution may be applied to the recording material using a coating roller made of rubber, metal, plastic, or the like to dissolve and remove the residual components. Further, by heating the recording material from which the hydrophobic image has been peeled and removed, the residual components on the surface of the recording material are melted, and the residual components are permeated into the inside of the recording material to be removed from the surface of the recording material. You can By doing so, it is possible to form a hydrophobic image having good fixability when the reproduced recording material is reused for image formation by copying or recording.

The peeling member used in the method for reproducing the recording material of the present invention is preferably one having a hydrophobic image and a certain degree of adhesiveness or heat resistance. Examples of the material include isoprene rubber, neoprene rubber, Synthetic rubber such as chloroprene rubber, silicone rubber, butadiene rubber, and fluororubber, natural rubber, epoxy resin such as bisphenol-epichlorohydrin condensate, alkyd resin, urea formaldehyde resin, butyl urea formaldehyde resin, butylated melamine formaldehyde resin, benzoguanamine formaldehyde Amino resin such as resin, terpene phenol resin, phenol ether resin, phenolic thermosetting resin such as phenol resin, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, vinylidene chloride-acrylonitrile copolymer Vinyl chloride - vinyl acetate copolymer,
Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer, vinyl copolymer such as polyvinylidene fluoride, polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl formal, polypropylene, vinyl polymer such as polyethylene, polybutyl acrylate, polymethacrylic acid , Acrylic resin such as polymethylmethacrylate, polyimide, polyamide such as 6,6-nylon and 6-nylon, polycarbonate, polyether sulfone, polyether ether ketone, polyethylene terephthalate,
Polyethylene naphthalate, polyesters such as aromatic polyesters, thermoplastic or thermosetting synthetic resins such as polyphenylene sulfide, polyparavalanic acid, polyether nitrile and aramid, metals such as nickel, stainless steel, aluminum and their oxides, ceramic materials And so on.

These materials can be used alone, but can also be used in combination by laminating, alloying, adding other additives such as glass fiber, whiskers, carbon, silica, titanium oxide and the like. Repeated use of the peeling member is advantageous in various points such as reduction in recycling cost, and in that case, relatively high heat resistance and surface stability are required. Examples of particularly preferable peeling member from the image removing property and durability are polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, polyether ether ketone, polyphenylene sulfide, polyparavalic acid, polyether nitrile, aramid, polyimide, polyether imide, stainless steel, Examples include nickel and alumite.

Next, an example of an apparatus used in the method for reproducing the recording material of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of a recording material reproducing apparatus. Figure 1
In FIG. 1, a recording material having a hydrophobic image formed of a heat-flexible or heat-softening image forming substance is transferred from a paper feed tray 1 to a guide plate 3, a coating roller 7 and a conveyance roller 8 by a paper feed roller 2. Sent. The image removal promoting liquid 5 in the liquid container 4 is scooped up by the scooping roller 6 and applied to the hydrophobic image forming surface of the recording material by the coating roller 7. The recording material to which the image removal accelerating liquid has been applied is rotated in contact with the contacting roller 9, the plurality of heating rollers 13 to 17 continuously arranged in zigzag, the rotating bodies 18 to 21, and the separation roller 25. It is nipped and conveyed between the moving belt-shaped member 11, the contacting roller 10, the heating roller and the rotating body, and the belt-shaped peeling member 12 that rotates in contact with the separation roller 24.

The recording material having a hydrophobic image is closely sandwiched between the belt-shaped peeling member 12 and the belt-shaped member 11 so that a plurality of heating rollers 13 to 17 and rotating bodies 18 to 21 can be obtained.
Since the belt-shaped peeling member is conveyed while being wound around, it is naturally pressed by the tension of the belt-shaped peeling member and heated by a plurality of heating rollers, whereby the hydrophobic image is transferred to the peeling member. The heating may be performed by heating the atmosphere with the heaters 22 and 23. The recording material on which the hydrophobic image is transferred to the peeling member and the belt-shaped peeling member 12 are separated by the separating rollers 24 and 25, and the separating claw 2 is used.
Complete separation at 6,27. The belt-shaped peeling member 12 to which the hydrophobic image is attached by transfer is cleaned by the cleaning blade 37 and is used again for peeling the hydrophobic image.

The hydrophobic image-forming substance peeled from the peeling member by cleaning is accumulated in the container 38. on the other hand,
The surface of the recording material separated by the separation rollers 24 and 25 and the separation claws 26 and 27 is no longer having a hydrophobic image. The recording material reproduced in this manner is conveyed to the post-processing unit by the conveying roller 28, and the post-treatment liquid 30 in the post-treatment liquid container 29 is reproduced by the scooping roller 31 and the coating roller 32. Granted to.
As a result, the image removal promoting liquid component adhered / remaining on the reproduced recording material surface is removed from the recording material surface.
Next, the recording material is dried by the conveying roller 33 by the drying belt 34 if necessary (normally, it is not necessary to dry it), and is ejected to the ejection tray 36 by the ejection roller 35.
In this way, the hydrophobic image is sufficiently peeled and removed, and there is no stretching, wrinkling, waviness, curl, etc., and it is possible to form an image with good fixability when used again for copying or recording. The material is regenerated.

[0034]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

Example 1 40% by weight of glycolic acid in water, dialkylsulfosuccinic acid ester salt surfactant (trade name Aerosol OT-10)
35% by weight (manufactured by Mitsui Cytec Co., Ltd.) was dissolved by heating, and further 5% by weight of oxalic acid and 7% by weight of urea were dissolved to prepare an image removal promoting liquid. Then, 0.3 g of the above image removal accelerating liquid was applied to the toner image forming surface of the PPC copying paper having the toner image formed by the electrophotographic copying machine (manufactured by imagio-DA250T Ricoh Co., Ltd.) by using the reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. (Per A4 side) In the reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, a belt made of polyetheretherketone is used as the belt-shaped peeling member 12, the temperature of the heating roller 13 is set to 123 ° C., the temperatures of the heating rollers 14 to 17 are set to 93 ° C., and the image is removed. The above PP to which the accelerating liquid is applied
C copy paper is fed to belt-shaped member 11 and belt-shaped peeling member 12
The PPC copy paper is separated from the belt-shaped peeling member 12 by the separation rollers 24 and 25 and the separation claws 26 and 27, and water is used by the coating roller 32. 0.1 g of post-treatment liquid
After applying (per A4 surface) and performing post-treatment, the toner image is transferred to the peeling member and peeled off from the PPC copy paper, and paper stretch, wrinkle, wavy, curl, etc. do not occur, and the residual dyeing density is obtained. A PPC copy paper having an (OD) of 0.02 was obtained.

An electrophotographic copying machine (image-DA250T manufactured by Ricoh) using recycled PPC copying paper.
When a toner image was formed again by using, a toner image having a good fixability was obtained as in the case of using a new unused PPC copying paper. Further, an operation of forming a toner image with the electrophotographic copying machine using the regenerated PPC copying paper, applying the image removal accelerating liquid, and peeling and removing the toner image again was repeated five times. ,
The toner image is always sufficiently removed, no paper stretch, wrinkles, waviness, curl, etc. occur, and the residual dyeing density (OD) is 0.
Recycled 02-0.03 PPC copy papers and toner images of similar quality as with fresh, unused copy papers were obtained. Then, this liquid is stored at room temperature (18 to 25
When the copy paper was regenerated by the above-mentioned operation after being left for 6 months at (° C.), the same performance was obtained.

Comparative Example 1 40% by weight of glycolic acid in water, dialkyl sulfosuccinate ester surfactant (trade name Aerosol OT-10)
35% by weight (manufactured by Mitsui Cytec Co., Ltd.) was dissolved by heating, and an image removal accelerating solution was prepared by dissolving 5% by weight of oxalic acid. Next, an electrophotographic copying machine (image)
-DA250T (manufactured by Ricoh Co., Ltd.), the PPC copying paper having a toner image formed thereon is coated with the above-mentioned image removal accelerating liquid on the toner image forming surface using a reproducing apparatus shown in FIG.
g (per A4 side). In the reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, a belt made of polyetheretherketone is used as the belt-shaped peeling member 12, and the temperature of the heating roller 13 is set to 1
The temperature of the heating rollers 14 to 17 is set to 23 ° C., the temperature of the heating rollers 14 to 17 is set to 93 ° C., and the PPC copying paper to which the image removal promoting liquid is applied is sandwiched between the belt-shaped member 11 and the belt-shaped peeling member 12 and 32 mm / sec. The PPC copying paper is separated from the belt-shaped peeling member 12 by the separation rollers 24 and 25 and the separation claws 26 and 27, and the post-treatment liquid using water is 0.1 g (A4 surface). Hit)
When applied and subjected to post-treatment, the toner image is transferred to a peeling member and peeled off from the PPC copying paper, and paper stretch, wrinkles, waviness, curl, etc. do not occur, and the residual dyeing density (OD) is 0. A PPC copy paper of 0.02 was obtained. Then, after leaving this liquid at room temperature (18 ° C to 25 ° C) for 1 month,
When copying was performed by the above operation, the image could hardly be peeled off.

Example 2 20% by weight of malonic acid in water, dialkylsulfosuccinate ester surfactant (trade name Aerosol OT-100,
Mitsui Cytec) 35% by weight, thiourea 10% by weight
An image removal accelerating liquid in which was dissolved was prepared. Peeling removal and post-treatment of the toner image were carried out in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 0.25 g (per A4 side) of this image removal promoting liquid was applied, and the toner image on the PPC copying paper was transferred to the peeling member. The PPC copy paper was peeled off from the PPC copy paper and was free from paper stretch, wrinkles, waviness, curl, etc., and a PPC copy paper having a residual dyeing density (OD) of 0.019 was obtained. An electrophotographic copier (im
When a toner image was formed again by using Agio-DA250T (manufactured by Ricoh Co., Ltd.), a toner image having good fixability was obtained as in the case of using a new unused PPC copying paper. Further, an operation of forming a toner image using the regenerated PPC copying paper with the electrophotographic copying machine, applying the image removal accelerating liquid in the same manner as above, and peeling and removing the toner image again is repeated 5 times. As a result, the toner image was always sufficiently removed, paper stretch, wrinkles, waviness, curl, etc. did not occur, and the residual dyeing density (OD) was 0.03 to
A 0.02 PPC copy paper was reclaimed and a toner image of similar quality was obtained with a fresh, unused copy paper. After this liquid was allowed to stand at room temperature (18 ° C. to 25 ° C.) for 6 months, the copy paper was recycled by the above-mentioned operation, and recycled paper having the same peeling quality was obtained.

Example 3 40% by weight of dialkyl succinic acid ester salt surfactant (trade name Aerosol OT-100, manufactured by Mitsui Cytec Co., Ltd.) in ethylene glycol, 15% by weight of oxalic acid,

[Chemical 5] An image removal accelerating liquid prepared by heating and dissolving was prepared. The toner image was peeled off and post-treated in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 0.20 g (per A4 side) of this image removal accelerating liquid was applied, and the toner image on the PPC copying paper was transferred to the peeling member. Peeled off from the PPC copy paper,
A PPC copying paper having a residual dyeing density (OD) of 0.025 and free from paper stretch, wrinkling, waviness, curling, etc. was obtained. Then, after leaving this liquid at room temperature (18 ° C to 25 ° C) for 6 months, the copy paper was regenerated by the above-mentioned operation.
Recycled paper with the same release quality was obtained.

Example 4 10% by weight of 2-methyl-2,4-pentadiol in water,
20% by weight glycolic acid, 5% by weight oxalic acid,

[Chemical 6] 20% by weight of dialkyl succinic acid ester salt surfactant (trade name Aerosol OT-100, manufactured by Mitsui Cytec)
Was added and dissolved to prepare an image removal promoting liquid. The toner image was peeled off and post-treated in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 0.34 g (per A4 side) of this image removal accelerating liquid was applied, and the toner image on the PPC copying paper was transferred to the peeling member. The PPC copying paper was peeled off and removed from the PPC copying paper, and there was no occurrence of paper elongation, wrinkles, waviness, curling, etc., and a PPC copying paper having a residual dyeing density (OD) of 0.025 was obtained.
After this liquid was allowed to stand at room temperature (18 ° C. to 25 ° C.) for 6 months, the copy paper was regenerated by peeling the image by the above-mentioned operation. As a result, recycled paper having the same peeling quality was obtained.

Example 5 10% by weight citric acid, 10% by weight oxalic acid in lactic acid,

[Chemical 7] Dialkyl sulfosuccinate salt surfactant (trade name Aerosol OT-100, manufactured by Mitsui Cytec) 15
An image removal promoting liquid was prepared by dissolving wt%. The toner image was peeled off and post-treated in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 0.20 g (per A4 side) of this image removal accelerating liquid was applied, and the toner image on the PPC copying paper was transferred to the peeling member. The PPC copy paper was peeled off from the PPC copy paper and was free of paper stretch, wrinkles, waviness, curl, etc., and had a residual dyeing density (OD) of 0.02. An electrophotographic copying machine (image) using recycled PPC copying paper.
When a toner image was formed again by using io-DA250T manufactured by Ricoh Co., Ltd., a toner image having good fixability was obtained as in the case of using a new unused PPC copying paper. Further, an operation of forming a toner image using the regenerated PPC copying paper with the electrophotographic copying machine, applying the image removal accelerating liquid in the same manner as above, and peeling and removing the toner image again is repeated 5 times. As a result, the toner image was always sufficiently removed, there was no occurrence of paper stretch, wrinkles, waviness, curl, etc., and the residual dyeing density (OD) was 0.02 to 0.02.
A 0.03 PPC copy paper was reclaimed and a toner image similar in quality to that obtained with a fresh, unused copy paper was obtained. After this liquid was allowed to stand at room temperature (18 ° C. to 25 ° C.) for 6 months, the copy paper was recycled by the above-mentioned operation, and recycled paper having the same peeling quality was obtained.

[0042]

According to the present invention, the hydrophobic image can be sufficiently peeled and removed from a recording material having a hydrophobic image formed of a heat-flexible or heat-softening image forming substance by using a small amount. The dye residual density (OD) of the recording material reproduced by the reproducing process can be reduced to, for example, 0.02 or less, and the reproduced recording material is not stretched, and wrinkles, waviness, or curling does not occur. An image removal accelerating liquid having excellent storage characteristics by itself and a method for reproducing a recording material having a hydrophobic image using the image removal accelerating liquid are provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an apparatus 1 used in a method for reproducing a recording material according to the present invention.
It is a schematic sectional drawing of an example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Paper tray 2 paper feed rollers 3 guide plates 4 liquid container 5 Image removal promoting liquid 6 pumping rollers 7 Application roller 8 Conveyor rollers 9 Adhesion roller 10 Adhesion roller 11 Belt-shaped peeling member 12 Belt-shaped peeling member 13 Heating roller 14 Heating roller 15 Heating roller 16 heating roller 17 Heating roller 18 rotator 19 rotating body 20 rotating body 21 rotating body 22 Heater 23 Heater 24 Separation roller 25 Separation roller 26 Separated nail 27 Separated nail 28 Conveyor rollers 29 Post-treatment liquid container 30 Post-treatment solution 31 pumping roller 32 coating roller 33 transport rollers 34 Drying belt 35 paper ejection roller 36 Output tray

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Yumi Ichikawa 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-9-95632 (JP, A) JP-A-7-120959 (JP, A) JP 10-278380 (JP, A) JP 8-218010 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 21/00 G03G 21 / 00 550-578 G03G 21/10-21/12 C09D 9/00-9/04

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image removal promoting liquid comprising an aqueous solution containing a surfactant, oxalic acid and a urea compound and / or a thiourea compound, a water-containing organic solution or an anhydrous organic solution. . 2. The image removal promoting liquid according to claim 1, wherein the surfactant is a compound having a sulfosuccinic acid alkyl ester structure. 3. The image removal accelerating liquid according to claim 1, wherein the urea compound is represented by the following formula (I). [Chemical 1] (In the above formula, R ₁ , R ₂ , R ₃ , and R ₄ may be the same or different and are a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms.) 4. The image removal accelerating liquid according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the thiourea compound is represented by the following formula (II). [Chemical 2] (In the above formula, R ₁ , R ₂ , R ₃ , and R ₄ may be the same or different and are a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms.) 5. The content of the urea compound and / or the thiourea compound is 5 to 50% by weight,
The image removal promoting liquid according to 3 or 4. 6. The image removal promoting liquid according to claim 1, wherein the oxalic acid content is 1 to 20% by weight. 7. The image removal accelerating liquid according to claim 1, wherein the content of the surfactant is 1 to 70% by weight. 8. An image removal accelerating liquid is applied to a recording material having a hydrophobic image formed of a heat-flexible or heat-softening image forming substance, and the hydrophobic image and the peeling member are heated and pressed. In a method for reproducing a recording material, which comprises peeling and removing the recording material by transferring the hydrophobic image to a peeling member by contacting with the recording material, the image removal promoting liquid is used as an image removal promoting liquid.
A method for reproducing a recording material, which comprises using the image removal promoting liquid according to 4, 5, 6 or 7.