JP6558997B2 - Toner processing apparatus and toner manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a toner processing apparatus and a toner manufacturing method related to toner used for developing an electrostatic latent image in electrophotography, electrostatic recording method, electrostatic printing method and the like.

  With the development of electrophotographic systems, there is a demand for toners that can cope with higher image quality and higher speed. Usually, the toner is used in a state in which fine particles, particularly inorganic fine particles are fixed to the surface of the toner particles as external additives for the purpose of controlling chargeability and imparting fluidity. As a method for attaching the external additive to the surface of the toner particles, the object to be processed including the toner particles and the external additive is mixed and collided with a blade which is stirred at high speed in the processing chamber, and the external additive is applied to the surface of the toner particles. The agent is fixed.

If such an external addition process is repeated over a long period of time, the collision part of the blade that collides with the object to be processed may be worn and deteriorated. As the wear progresses, not only the strength of the stirring blade itself is impaired, but it may be difficult to fix the external additive to the toner surface with a desired strength. If the external additive treatment could not be performed with the required strength, the image defect caused by the lump of the external additive that was not crushed, or the free external additive that could not be fixed to the toner contaminated the charging member, An image defect due to member contamination may occur.
Therefore, it is necessary to suppress deterioration due to wear of the external processing apparatus. In order to increase the mechanical strength of the toner manufacturing apparatus, there has been proposed a pulverizer having improved wear resistance by subjecting members of various manufacturing apparatuses to surface treatment, for example, plating treatment (Patent Document 1).

In fact, the surface treatment increased the mechanical strength of the device, and a certain effect was observed in extending the service life. If the same plating treatment is performed, it is expected that a certain effect can be expected to improve the wear resistance and extend the life in the external addition treatment step. However, in external addition processing using a toner to which abrasive particles corresponding to image adverse effects such as image flow and a magnetic material-containing toner for single component development having a high specific gravity are added, mechanical addition to the external processing device is performed. In some cases, the load was increased and the wear deterioration of the stirring blades was accelerated.
As a result of wear deterioration, the toner cannot be properly subjected to external addition treatment, and the agitation blade itself needs to be replaced, which causes problems in terms of maintainability, economy, and productivity due to the stoppage of the apparatus.

JP 2008-100188 A

In the toner processing apparatus, the agitating blade and the rotating body are worn and deteriorated, and it is not possible to perform an appropriate external addition process of the toner. In addition, the agitating blade and the rotating body need to be replaced, and maintenance and economy are impaired. There was a problem that productivity decreased with the stoppage.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and can reduce the frequency of replacement of the rotating body and the processing unit, improve the maintainability, and perform a desired toner external addition process stably over a long period of time. An object is to provide a toner processing apparatus.

As a result of intensive studies, the present inventors can reduce the replacement frequency of the rotating body and the processing unit, improve the maintainability, and perform a desired toner external addition process stably over a long period of time. With regard to the maintenance method of the toner processing apparatus, the following has been found and the present invention has been achieved.
That is, the present invention
A processing chamber for storing an object to be processed including toner particles and an external additive;
A rotating body provided rotatably around a drive shaft in the processing chamber,
The rotating body is
A rotating body,
A processing unit;
Have
The processing unit has a collision part that protrudes radially outward from the outer peripheral surface of the processing unit and collides with the object to be processed to process the object to be processed.
The rotating body main body and the processing unit are separable,
The processor is
A cross section when assuming that the processing section is cut by a plane orthogonal to the drive shaft,
A cross section when it is assumed that the processing section is cut by a plane passing through the drive shaft and parallel to the drive shaft.
Ri dyad symmetry der respect to a line that can by intersecting,
In the wear has progressed stages of the processing unit relates to a maintenance method of a toner processing apparatus according to claim Rukoto changing the front and back of the processing unit.

  According to the present invention, the rotating body that processes the object to be processed including the toner particles and the external additive is divided by making the rotating body main body and the processing unit different from each other and making the processing unit a two-fold symmetrical structure. The front and back of the processing unit can be used, and the life of the processing unit can be doubled. In addition, since only the worn processing part can be replaced, it is not only economical, but the structure of the divided processing part is simple. It is possible to select, and it becomes possible to process the granular material at a higher speed for a longer time than in the past.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a toner processing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. Schematic which shows the processing chamber of embodiment. Schematic which shows the stirring blade of embodiment. Schematic which shows the rotary body of embodiment. Schematic which shows the rotary body of the comparative example 1. FIG. Schematic which showed the site | part which a rotary body collides with a to-be-processed object.

The maintenance method of the toner processing apparatus of the present invention includes:
A processing chamber for storing an object to be processed including toner particles and an external additive;
A rotating body provided rotatably around a drive shaft in the processing chamber,
The rotating body is
A rotating body, a processing unit,
Have
The processing unit has a collision part that protrudes radially outward from the outer peripheral surface of the processing unit and collides with the object to be processed to process the object to be processed.
The rotating body main body and the processing unit are separable,
The processor is
A cross section when assuming that the processing section is cut by a plane orthogonal to the drive shaft,
A cross section when it is assumed that the processing section is cut by a plane passing through the drive shaft and parallel to the drive shaft.
Ri dyad symmetry der respect to a line that can by intersecting,
In the wear it has progressed stages of the processing unit, Rukoto changing the front and back of the processing unit is characterized.

  DETAILED DESCRIPTION Exemplary embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. However, the shape of the component parts described in this embodiment, the relative arrangement thereof, and the like should be appropriately changed according to the configuration of the apparatus to which the invention is applied and various conditions, and the scope of the invention is not limited. The present invention is not intended to be limited to the following embodiments.

[Toner Processing Device]
FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a toner processing apparatus 1 to which the present invention can be applied.
The toner processing apparatus 1 includes a processing chamber (processing tank) 10, a drive shaft 11, an agitating blade 20 as a raising means, a rotating body 30, a drive motor 50, and a control unit 60.
The processing chamber 10 is for containing an object to be processed including toner particles and an external additive.
The drive shaft 11 is disposed substantially at the center of the bottom of the processing chamber 10, and the stirring blade 20 and the rotating body 30 are attached to the drive shaft 11.
The stirring blade 20 is rotatably provided at the bottom of the processing chamber 10 below the rotating body 30 in the processing chamber.
The rotating body 30 is rotatably provided above the stirring blade 20.
The driving force of the driving motor 50 is transmitted to the driving shaft 11 via the driving belt 51.
The control unit 60 includes a power switch, a drive ON switch, a drive stop switch, a rotation speed adjustment volume, a rotation speed display section, a product temperature display section, and the like, and controls the operation of the toner processing apparatus 1.

[Processing chamber]
FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of the processing chamber 10. For convenience of explanation, FIG. 2 shows a state in which the inner peripheral surface (inner wall) 10a of the processing chamber 10 is partially cut.
The processing chamber 10 is a cylindrical container having a substantially flat bottom portion, and includes a drive shaft 11 for attaching the stirring blade 20 and the rotating body 30 to the substantially center of the bottom portion. The processing chamber 10 is preferably made of metal such as iron or SUS from the viewpoint of strength, and the inner surface is preferably made of a conductive material or the inner surface is subjected to conductive processing.

[Move-up means]
FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an example of the stirring blade 20 as a soaking device. FIG. 3A shows a top view seen from above, and FIG. 3B shows a front view seen from the front.
The stirring blade 20 is configured to be able to move up the processing object including the toner particles and the external additive in the processing chamber 10 by rotating.
The stirring blade 20 has a blade portion 21 extending from the rotation center to the outside (radially outward (outer diameter direction), outer diameter side) so that the tip of the blade portion 21 soars the workpiece. It has a flip-up shape.

The shape of the blade portion 21 can be appropriately designed depending on the size and operating conditions of the toner processing apparatus 1, the filling amount of the object to be processed, and the specific gravity.
The stirring blade 20 is preferably made of metal such as iron or SUS from the viewpoint of strength, and may be plated or coated for wear resistance as necessary.
The stirring blade 20 is fixed to the drive shaft 11 at the bottom of the processing chamber 10 and rotates clockwise when viewed from above (in the state shown in FIG. 3A). In the figure, the rotation direction of the drive shaft 11 is indicated by an arrow R.
Due to the rotation of the stirring blade 20, the object to be processed rises while rotating in the same direction as the stirring blade 20 in the processing chamber 10 and eventually descends due to gravity. In this way, the object to be processed is uniformly mixed.

[Rotating body]
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the rotating body 30. FIG. 4A shows a top view of the rotating body 30 installed in the processing chamber 10, and FIG. 4B shows a front view of the rotating body 30.
The rotating body 30 includes a rotating body main body 31 and a processing unit 32.
The processing unit 32 has a collision part 34 that protrudes radially outward from the outer peripheral surface 35 of the processing unit 32 and collides with the object to be processed to process the object to be processed.
As shown in FIG. 1, the rotator 30 is located above the stirring blade 20 in the processing chamber 10, is fixed to the same drive shaft 11 as the stirring blade 20, and is in the same direction (arrow R direction) as the stirring blade 20. Rotate to.

  Due to the rotation of the stirring blade 20 and the rotating body 30, the wound object to be processed and the collision part 34 of the processing unit 32 collide with each other, thereby attaching the external additive to the toner particles. The embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the rotating body main body 31 and the processing unit 32 are separately configured to be separable, and the rotating body main body 31 and the processing unit 32 are fixed means such as screws (not shown). ) And used in a state where it is assembled and fixed.

  A cross section when the processing unit 32 is assumed to be cut by a surface 41 orthogonal to the drive shaft 11 is a cross section A. On the other hand, a cross section when it is assumed that the processing unit 32 is cut by a surface 42 passing through the drive shaft 11 and parallel to the drive shaft is referred to as a cross section B. The processing unit 32 of the present embodiment is characterized in that it is symmetric twice with respect to the line 33 with the line (33 in FIG. 4) formed by the cross sections A and B intersecting.

  “Twice symmetry” refers to the property that when the line 33 of the present embodiment is used as an axis, the line 33 overlaps itself when rotated 180 degrees around the axis. That is, the processing unit 32 of the present embodiment has the same shape on both sides. The processing unit 32 protrudes radially outward from the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body 30 and can collide with the object to be processed. Is not limited.

  FIG. 6A schematically shows the collision part 34 of the processing unit where wear occurs due to the collision between the object to be processed and the processing unit 32 when the rotating body 30 rotates in the direction of the arrow R (clockwise). It is a thing. In the state shown in FIG. 6A, when the rotating body 30 rotates in the direction of the arrow R, the collision surface 34a collides with the object to be processed, but the collision surface 34b does not collide with the object to be processed. When wear of the collision surface 34a progresses due to long-term use, it becomes difficult to fix the external additive to the toner particles with a desired strength, which may cause problems such as image defects.

FIG. 6B shows a state in which the processing unit 32 is reversed (rotated 180 degrees) around the two-fold symmetry axis, and the collision surface 34a is arranged in a direction not colliding with the object to be processed. The collision surface 34b and the object to be processed can collide with each other. Since a new collision surface without wear can be made to collide with the object to be processed, it can be used over twice the conventional period, and the replacement frequency of the processing unit 32 can be reduced.
Moreover, since only the processing unit 32 can be replaced and the rotating body 31 is not required to be replaced, the replacement can be easily performed.
Furthermore, since only the processing unit 32 needs to be replaced, a more economical operation is possible.

  Moreover, it is preferable to provide a surface treatment layer on a process part base material from a viewpoint of improving abrasion resistance. Specifically, depolishing, coating and plating of hard metals and ceramics, sintering of cemented carbides such as ceramics and cermets, thermal spraying and welding, overlay welding, carburizing and nitriding, ion plating, blasting It is preferable to perform surface treatment such as.

In particular, the surface treatment layer preferably has a Vickers hardness of 900 or more and 1300 or less. When the surface hardness is in the range of Vickers hardness 900 to 1300, the amount of wear can be reduced as much as possible, and replacement of the rotating body is possible. The frequency can be reduced.
If the surface hardness is 900 or more, the wear resistance is maintained, and if the surface hardness is 1300 or less, the surface is too hard and brittle, and peeling or cracking is likely to occur. The frequency increases or does not.

Further, the surface treatment layer is preferably formed by coating with a chromium alloy because the surface hardness is large and the wear resistance is high. Chromium carbide (Cr ₂₃ C ₆ ) having a strong intermolecular bonding force present in the chromium alloy can enhance the adhesion to the substrate of the processing section, and can reduce the occurrence frequency of phenomena such as peeling and cracking as much as possible.

The chromium alloy may contain other metal elements, and examples of such other elements include Fe, Ga, Pd, and Sb.
In the present invention, the coating of the chromium alloy-containing chromium alloy on the surface of the treated portion base material can be formed by “plating”. According to the plating process, it is possible to improve the wear resistance by not finishing the surface uniformly and smoothly without reducing the thermal effect seen in quenching and reducing the friction coefficient. After plating treatment, by using shot peening as mechanical surface treatment on the treated surface after plating treatment, micro cracks on the treated surface are eliminated, and surface hardness and abrasion resistance of the pulverized surface are further improved. Can do.

Shot peening is a processing method in which particles such as steel are sprayed onto the surface to be treated by, for example, compressed air or centrifugal force, and can eliminate micro cracks in the surface treatment. In the present invention, preferably ceramic particles This is done by jetting.
It is known that microcracks generated on the surface show a tendency to decrease due to plastic deformation as the injection pressure is high and the time is long. In order to further improve the surface hardness and wear resistance, it is preferable to quench before shot peening to harden the plating layer and improve adhesion.

  The thickness of the chromium carbide-containing chromium alloy plating layer is preferably 50 to 1000 μm, and more preferably 100 to 1000 μm. In particular, it is preferable to thicken the plating at the tip of the processing portion that collides with the workpiece, and the thickness of the plating layer at the tip is more preferably 700 to 1000 μm.

  The Vickers hardness of the processing portion base material is preferably 200 or more and 700 or less. When the Vickers hardness of the processing portion base material is 200 or more and 700 or less, the free external additive can be suppressed. Moreover, it is preferable also from the point which maintains the adhesiveness of a surface treatment layer. If the Vickers hardness is 200 or more, it will not be deformed at the time of collision with the workpiece, and as a result, the treatment layer will not peel off.

  Carbon steel such as S45C, chromium molybdenum steel such as SCM material, or the like can be used for the processing portion base material. Conventionally, a rotating body has been constructed by welding the processing part to the rotating body. However, in a rotating body that has been welded to the processing part using carbon steel or SCM material, the strength required for the processing part is maintained at the welded part. It was difficult to do. The processing section of the present invention is configured separately from the rotating body, and the shape of the processing section is flat and the processing section is easy to process and does not require welding. However, it is advantageous in that a high-strength base material can be selected.

[Production of toner]
Next, an example of a toner manufacturing method including an external addition process using the toner processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described. The method for producing the toner is not particularly limited, and a conventionally known production method can be used. Here, a toner manufacturing procedure using a pulverization method will be described.

  In the raw material mixing step, as a material constituting the toner particles, a binder resin, a colorant, a wax, and, if necessary, other components such as a charge control agent are weighed and mixed in a predetermined amount and mixed. Examples of the mixing apparatus include a super mixer (manufactured by Kawata Co., Ltd.), a Henschel mixer, a mechano hybrid (manufactured by Nippon Coke Industries, Ltd.), a nauter mixer (manufactured by Hosokawa Micron Co., Ltd.), and the like.

Next, the mixed material is melt-kneaded to disperse wax or the like in the binder resin. In the melt-kneading step, a batch kneader such as a pressure kneader or a Banbury mixer, or a continuous kneader can be used.
Due to the advantage of continuous production, single-screw or twin-screw extruders are the mainstream. For example, KTK type twin screw extruder (manufactured by Kobe Steel, Ltd.), TEM type twin screw extruder (manufactured by Toshiba Machine Co., Ltd.), PCM kneader (manufactured by Ikekai Co., Ltd.), Nidex (Nippon Coke Industries, Ltd.) Product). Furthermore, the resin composition obtained by melt-kneading may be rolled with two rolls or the like and cooled with water or the like in the cooling step.

  Next, the cooled product of the resin composition is pulverized to a desired particle size in a pulverization step. In the pulverization process, after coarse pulverization with a pulverizer such as a crusher or hammer mill, a fine pulverizer using a kryptron system (manufactured by Earth Technica Co., Ltd.), turbo mill (manufactured by Freund Turbo Inc.), etc. Crush finely. After that, if necessary, a classifier or a sieving machine such as an inertia class elbow jet (manufactured by Nippon Steel & Mining Co., Ltd.), a centrifugal classifier TSP separator, a TTSP separator, a Faculty (manufactured by Hosokawa Micron Co., Ltd.) is used. To obtain toner particles.

  A toner processing apparatus 1 according to this embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is used as an apparatus for coating the surface of the toner particles thus obtained with the small-sized external additive. The processing method is as follows. First, the rotational speed of the rotating body 30 of the toner processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is set within a predetermined range described later.

Next, the upper lid of the processing chamber 10 is opened, and an object to be processed including toner particles and external additives, which have been weighed in advance, is charged. After the workpiece is charged, the upper lid is closed and the rotating body 30 is rotated at the rotational speed described below.
Further, by supplying cold water from the cold water generating means to a cold water jacket (not shown) while the rotating body 30 is rotating, the material temperature in the processing chamber 10 is changed to the glass transition point (Tg) of the resin component contained in the toner. ) Adjust to the following.

After processing for a desired time, a discharge valve (not shown) is opened and toner is taken out from the processing chamber 10. Thereafter, the particles are passed through a mesh having an opening of about 35 μm to 75 μm to remove coarse particles, thereby obtaining a toner.
The rotational peripheral speed and mixing time of the rotator 30 are preferably adjusted to a range in which the material temperature during processing is equal to or lower than the glass transition point (Tg) of the resin component contained in the toner. Specifically, the rotational speed of the rotating body 30 is preferably 1000 rpm or more and 5000 rpm or less. Moreover, it is preferable to adjust mixing time in the range of 0.5 minute or more and 60 minutes or less.

The process of fixing the external additive to the surface of the toner particles may be performed in one stage or in multiple stages including two or more stages. The mixing conditions and the blending of the toner particles used in each stage are the same. It can be different.
Next, the toner used in this embodiment will be described. As the toner used in the exemplary embodiment, a known toner can be used, and the toner may be manufactured by any method such as a pulverization method, a polymerization method, an emulsion aggregation method, and a dissolution suspension method.

[Binder resin]
As the binder resin constituting the toner, a resin usually used for toner can be used, and examples thereof include the following.
That is, in the toner suitably used in the exemplary embodiment, the binder resin includes polystyrene; a homopolymer of a styrene substitution product such as poly-p-chlorostyrene and polyvinyltoluene; and a styrene-p-chlorostyrene copolymer. Can be mentioned. Furthermore, a styrene-vinyl toluene copolymer, a styrene-vinyl naphthalene copolymer, a styrene-acrylic acid ester copolymer, a styrene-methacrylic acid ester copolymer, and a styrene-α-chloromethyl methacrylate copolymer are exemplified. . Furthermore, a styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, a styrene-vinyl methyl ether copolymer, a styrene-vinyl ethyl ether copolymer, a styrene-vinyl methyl ketone copolymer, and a styrene-butadiene copolymer are exemplified. Furthermore, styrene copolymers such as styrene-isoprene copolymer and styrene-acrylonitrile-indene copolymer; polyvinyl chloride, phenol resin, natural modified phenol resin, natural resin modified maleic acid resin, and acrylic resin. Further, methacrylic resin, polyvinyl acetate, silicone resin, polyester resin, polyurethane resin, polyamide resin, furan resin, epoxy resin, xylene resin, polyvinyl butyral, terpene resin, coumarone indene resin and petroleum resin can be mentioned.

Among the physical properties of the toner, the molecular weight distribution measured by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) soluble in tetrahydrofuran (THF) is preferably as follows due to the binder resin. That is, it is more preferable that a component having at least one peak in a region having a molecular weight of 2,000 to 50,000 and having a molecular weight of 1,000 to 30,000 is present in an amount of 50% to 90%.
The glass transition point (Tg) of the binder resin is preferably 30 ° C. or higher and 60 ° C. or lower, and more preferably 40 ° C. or higher and 60 ° C. or lower.

  In the toner suitably used in the present exemplary embodiment, the following wax may be used as a material for the toner particles from the viewpoint of improving the releasability from the fixing member at the time of fixing and improving the fixing property. Examples of the wax include paraffin wax and derivatives thereof, microcrystalline wax and derivatives thereof, Fischer-Tropsch wax and derivatives thereof, polyolefin wax and derivatives thereof, and carnauba wax and derivatives thereof. Derivatives of these waxes include oxides, block copolymers with vinyl monomers, and graft modified products. Examples of other waxes include alcohols, fatty acids, acid amides, esters, ketones, hydrogenated castor oil and derivatives thereof, plant waxes, animal waxes, mineral waxes, and petrolactam.

[Charge control agent]
In order to control the charge amount and charge amount distribution of the toner particles, it is preferable to use a charge control agent blended with the toner particles (internal addition) or mixed with the toner particles (external addition).

  Examples of the negative charge control agent for controlling the toner to be negatively charged include organometallic complexes and chelate compounds. Examples of the organometallic complex include a monoazo metal complex, an acetylacetone metal complex, an aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid metal complex, and an aromatic dicarboxylic acid metal complex. Further, the negative charge control agent includes aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid, aromatic monocarboxylic acid and aromatic polycarboxylic acid and metal salts thereof; anhydrous hydroxycarboxylic acid, aromatic monocarboxylic acid and aromatic polycarboxylic acid anhydride. Things. Furthermore, ester compounds of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid, aromatic monocarboxylic acid and aromatic polycarboxylic acid, and phenol derivatives such as bisphenol are included.

  Examples of the positive charge control agent for controlling the toner to be positively charged include nigrosine and a modified product of nigrosine by a fatty acid metal salt; tributylbenzylammonium-1-hydroxy-4-naphthosulfonate. Further examples include quaternary ammonium salts such as tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate and lake pigments thereof; tributylbenzylphosphonium-1-hydroxy-4-naphthosulfonate. In addition, phosphonium salts such as tetrabutylphosphonium tetrafluoroborate and lake pigments thereof; triphenylmethane dyes and lake pigments thereof (the rake agent includes phosphotungstic acid. Acid, tannic acid, lauric acid, gallic acid, ferricyanide, ferrocyanide, etc.); metal salts of higher fatty acids.

  These charge control agents can be used alone or in combination of two or more. Moreover, charge control resin can also be used and can also be used together with said charge control agent. The above charge control agent is preferably used in the form of fine particles. When these charge control agents are internally added to the toner particles, it is preferable to add 0.1 parts by mass or more and 20.0 parts by mass or less to the toner particles with respect to 100.0 parts by mass of the binder resin.

[Colorant]
In the toner suitably used in the exemplary embodiment, various conventionally known colorants can be used as the toner particle material. Hereinafter, the colorant used in the present embodiment will be described.
As the black colorant, those combined so as to be adjusted to black by a chromatic colorant such as magnetite, carbon black, the following yellow colorant, magenta colorant and cyan colorant are used.

  When producing a magnetic toner using a magnetic material as a colorant, the following magnetic materials can be used. In this case, the magnetic material contained in the magnetic toner includes iron oxides such as magnetite, maghemite and ferrite, and iron oxides including other metal oxides; metals such as Fe, Co and Ni, or these metals and Examples include alloys with metals such as Al, Co, Cu, Pb, Mg, Ni, Sn, Zn, Sb, Be, Bi, Cd, Ca, Mn, Se, Ti, W, and V, and mixtures thereof. It is done.

Specifically, as the magnetic material, triiron tetroxide (Fe ₃ O ₄ ), iron sesquioxide (γ-Fe ₂ O ₃ ), zinc iron oxide (ZnFe ₂ O ₄ ), iron yttrium oxide (Y ₃ Fe) ₅ O ₁₂ ), iron cadmium oxide (CdFe ₂ O ₄ ), iron gadolinium oxide (Gd ₃ Fe ₅ O ₁₂ ), iron oxide copper (CuFe ₂ O ₄ ), iron oxide lead (PbFe ₁₂ O ₁₉ ), nickel iron oxide (NiFe ₂ O ₄ ), iron niobium oxide (NdFe ₂ O ₃ ), barium oxide (BaFe ₁₂ O ₁₉ ), magnesium iron oxide (MgFe ₂ O ₄ ), iron lanthanum oxide (LaFeO ₃ ), iron powder (Fe) , Cobalt powder (Co), nickel powder (Ni) and the like. The above-described magnetic materials are used alone or in combination of two or more.

  As the yellow colorant, compounds represented by condensed azo compounds, isoindolinone compounds, anthraquinone compounds, azo metal complexes, methine compounds, and allylamide compounds are used. Specifically, C.I. I. Pigment yellow 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 62, 74, 83, 93, 94, 95, 97, 109, 110, 111. Furthermore, 120, 127, 128, 129, 147, 155, 162, 168, 174, 176, 180, 181, 185, 191 may be mentioned.

  As the magenta colorant, a condensed azo compound, diketopyrrolopyrrole compound, anthraquinone, quinacridone compound, basic dye lake compound, naphthol compound, benzimidazolone compound, thioindigo compound, and perylene compound are used. Specifically, C.I. I. Pigment red 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 23, 31, 48; 2, 48; 3, 48; 4, 57; 1, 81; Furthermore, 144, 146, 150, 166, 169, 177, 184, 185, 202, 206, 220, 221, 238, 254 may be mentioned.

  As the cyan colorant, copper phthalocyanine compounds and derivatives thereof, anthraquinone compounds, basic dye lake compounds are used. Specifically, C.I. I. Pigment blue 1, 7, 15, 15: 1, 15: 2, 15: 3, 15: 4, 60, 62, 66. These colorants can be used alone or mixed and further used in the form of a solid solution.

In the present embodiment, the colorant is selected in consideration of the hue angle, saturation, brightness, weather resistance, OHP transparency, and dispersibility in the toner.
These chromatic non-magnetic colorants are contained in the toner particles in a total amount of 1.0 to 20.0 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the binder resin.
Further, the magnetic colorant is contained in the toner particles in a total amount of 20 to 60 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the binder resin.

[External additive]
It is preferable to fix the external additive as fine particles to the surface of the toner particles. By fixing the fine particles, the fluidity and transferability of the toner particles can be improved. The external additive fixed to the toner particle surface preferably contains fine particles of any one of titanium oxide, alumina oxide, and silica fine particles.
The surface of the fine particles contained in the external additive is preferably subjected to a hydrophobic treatment. The hydrophobizing treatment is preferably performed by a coupling agent such as various titanium coupling agents and silane coupling agents; fatty acids and metal salts thereof; silicone oils; or a combination thereof.

Among various combinations, it is preferable to fix a large particle size external additive having a number average particle size of 80 nm to 300 nm as one of the fine particles. The reason is that it has a function as an abrasive particle, and it can effectively remove charged organisms that mainly adhere to the photoreceptor and cause image adverse effects such as image flow under high temperature and high humidity. is there.
Examples of the material include silica, alumina, titanium oxide, cerium oxide and the like. In the case of silica, any silica produced by using a conventionally known technique such as a gas phase decomposition method, a combustion method, or a deflagration method can be used. Among these, silica particles obtained by a sol-gel method capable of sharpening the particle size distribution are preferable.
The content of the external additive in the toner is preferably 0.1% by mass or more and 10.0% by mass or less, and more preferably 0.5% by mass or more and 8.0% by mass or less. The external additive may be a combination of a plurality of types of fine particles.

[Amount of external additive added]
The content of the external additive in the toner is preferably 0.1% by mass or more and 8.0% by mass or less, and more preferably 0.5% by mass or more and 6.0% by mass or less. The external additive may be a combination of a plurality of types of fine particles.

[Toner / carrier two-component developer]
When the two-component developer is prepared by mixing the magnetic carrier and the toner of this embodiment, the mixing ratio is 2% by mass or more and 15% by mass or less, preferably 4% by mass or more and 13% as the toner concentration in the developer. When the content is less than or equal to mass%, good results are usually obtained.

[Method for Measuring Weight Average Particle Size (D4) of Toner]
The weight average particle diameter (D4) of the toner is calculated as follows.
As a measuring device, a precise particle size distribution measuring device “Coulter Counter Multisizer 3” (registered trademark, manufactured by Beckman Coulter, Inc.) using a pore electrical resistance method provided with a 100 μm aperture tube is used.
For setting of measurement conditions and analysis of measurement data, attached dedicated software “Beckman Coulter Multisizer 3 Version 3.51” (manufactured by Beckman Coulter, Inc.) is used. The measurement is performed with 25,000 effective measurement channels.

As the electrolytic aqueous solution used for the measurement, special grade sodium chloride is dissolved in ion-exchanged water so that the concentration becomes 1% by mass, for example, “ISOTON II” (manufactured by Beckman Coulter, Inc.) can be used.
Prior to measurement and analysis, the dedicated software is set as follows.
On the “Change Standard Measurement Method (SOM)” screen of the dedicated software, set the total count in the control mode to 50000 particles, set the number of measurements once, and set the Kd value to “standard particles 10.0 μm” (Beckman Coulter ( The value obtained by using the product) is set.
By pressing the “Threshold / Noise Level Measurement Button”, the threshold and noise level are automatically set. In addition, the current is set to 1600 μA, the gain is set to 2, the electrolyte is set to ISOTON II, and the “aperture tube flush after measurement” is checked.
In the “Pulse to particle size conversion setting” screen of the dedicated software, the bin interval is set to logarithmic particle size, the particle size bin is set to 256 particle size bin, and the particle size range is set to 2 μm to 60 μm.
The specific measurement method is as follows.

(1) Put 200 mL of the electrolytic solution in a glass 250 mL round-bottom beaker dedicated to Multisizer 3, set it on a sample stand, and stir the stirrer rod counterclockwise at 24 rpm. Then, the dirt and bubbles in the aperture tube are removed by the “aperture flush” function of the dedicated software.

(2) Put 30 mL of the electrolytic aqueous solution into a glass 100 mL flat bottom beaker. As a dispersant, “Contaminone N” (a nonionic surfactant, an anionic surfactant, a 10% by weight aqueous solution of a neutral detergent for washing a pH 7 precision measuring instrument comprising an organic builder, Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd. 0.3) of a diluted solution obtained by diluting 3) with ion-exchanged water is added.

(3) Two oscillators with an oscillation frequency of 50 kHz are incorporated with the phase shifted by 180 degrees, and an ultrasonic disperser “Ultrasonic Dispersion System Tetora150” (manufactured by Nikki Bios Co., Ltd.) with an electrical output of 120 W is prepared. To do. Put 3.3 L of ion exchange water in the water tank of the ultrasonic disperser, and add 2 mL of Contaminone N into this water tank.

(4) The beaker of the above (2) is set in the beaker fixing hole of the ultrasonic disperser, and the ultrasonic disperser is operated. And the height position of a beaker is adjusted so that the resonance state of the electrolyte solution liquid surface in a beaker may become the maximum.

(5) In a state where the electrolytic aqueous solution in the beaker of (4) is irradiated with ultrasonic waves, 10 mg of toner is added to the electrolytic aqueous solution little by little and dispersed. Then, the ultrasonic dispersion process is continued for another 60 seconds. In ultrasonic dispersion, the temperature of the water tank is appropriately adjusted so as to be 10 ° C. or higher and 40 ° C. or lower.

(6) To the round bottom beaker of the above (1) installed in the sample stand, the electrolyte aqueous solution of the above (5) in which the toner is dispersed is dropped using a pipette, and the measured concentration is adjusted to 5%. Measurement is performed until the number of measured particles reaches 50,000.

(7) The measurement data is analyzed with the dedicated software attached to the apparatus, and the weight average particle diameter (D4) is calculated. The “average diameter” on the “analysis / volume statistic (arithmetic average)” screen when the graph / volume% is set with the dedicated software is the weight average particle diameter (D4).

[Measurement of number average particle size of primary particles of external additive]
The number average particle size of the primary particles of the external additive was determined as follows.
First, 50 times, 100 times as many electron microscope photographs of the external additive were taken. Then, using the image processing analysis apparatus (trade name: Luzex IID, manufactured by Nireco Co., Ltd.), the photograph shows the projected area of the particles under the condition that the area ratio of the particles to the frame area is 2% at the maximum and the total number of processed particles is 500. The equivalent circle diameter corresponding to was calculated, and the arithmetic average value was obtained.

[Measurement of Vickers hardness]
The Vickers hardness can be measured using, for example, a dynamic micro hardness tester DVH-200 manufactured by Shimadzu Corporation, and is preferably measured under a condition in which a load of 0.4903 N is held for 30 seconds.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples and comparative examples of the configuration of specific toner processing apparatuses, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

[Production example of toner particles]
Unsaturated polyester resin: 100 parts by mass (polyoxypropylene (2,2) -2,2bis (4-hydroxyphenyl) propane / polyoxyethylene (2,2) -2,2bis (4-hydroxyphenyl) Unsaturated polyester resin comprising propane / terephthalic acid / trimellitic anhydride / fumaric acid, Mw (weight average molecular weight): 15000, Mw (weight average molecular weight) / Mn (number average molecular weight): 4.5, Tg: 58 ° C. )
・ 90 parts by mass of magnetic iron oxide particles (average particle size = 0.20 μm, coercive force Hc = 11.5 kA / m, saturation magnetization σs = 88 Am ² / kg, residual magnetization σr = 14 Am ² / kg)
Paraffin wax (maximum endothermic peak 73 ° C.): 6.0 parts by mass Charge control agent (salicylic acid aluminum complex): 0.5 parts by mass

  The above materials were thoroughly mixed with a Henschel mixer (manufactured by Nippon Coke Kogyo Co., Ltd., FM10 type), and then kneaded with a biaxial kneader (made by Ikegai Co., Ltd., PCM15 type) set at a temperature of 130 ° C. The obtained kneaded material was cooled and coarsely pulverized to obtain a coarsely pulverized product. The obtained coarsely pulverized product was pulverized using a mechanical pulverizer (T250RS type manufactured by Freund Turbo). Next, the obtained finely pulverized product was classified by using a surface modification device (Hosokawa Micron Co., Ltd., Faculty F300), and the weight average diameter (D4) was 6.0 μm. Toner particles were obtained.

[Production Example of External Additive 1]
While putting a gas phase method silica powder having a primary particle number average particle size of 18 nm and a BET specific surface area of 200 m ² / g in a reaction vessel and stirring in a nitrogen atmosphere, 5 g of hexamethylsilazane is added to 100 g of this silica powder. Sprayed and stirred at 200 ° C. ambient temperature for 30 minutes. After stirring, 15 g of dimethyl silicone oil was further sprayed, heated and stirred at 200 ° C. for 60 minutes, and then cooled to 25 ° C. to prepare surface-treated silica particles.

[Production Example of External Additive 2]
The hydrous titanium oxide slurry obtained by hydrolyzing the aqueous titanyl sulfate solution was washed with an alkaline aqueous solution. Next, hydrochloric acid was added to the hydrous titanium oxide slurry to adjust the pH to 0.7 to obtain a titania sol dispersion. NaOH was added to the titania sol dispersion, the pH of the dispersion was adjusted to 5.0, and washing was repeated until the electrical conductivity of the supernatant reached 70 μS / cm.

A 0.98-fold molar amount of Sr (OH) ₂ .8H ₂ O was added to the hydrous titanium oxide, placed in a SUS reaction vessel, and purged with nitrogen gas. Further, distilled water was added so as to be 0.5 mol / liter in terms of SrTiO ₃ . The slurry was heated to 80 ° C. in a nitrogen atmosphere, and reacted for 8 hours after reaching 80 ° C. After the reaction, the reaction solution was cooled to room temperature and the supernatant was removed, followed by washing, filtration, and drying to obtain cubic or cuboid strontium titanate fine particles having an average primary particle size of 100 nm.

[Example 1]
A specific configuration of the toner processing apparatus 1 according to the first exemplary embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 1 described above.
The processing chamber 10 is a cylindrical container having an inner dimension height of 250 mm, an inner diameter of φ230 mm, and an effective capacity of 10 L as shown in FIG. 1 and is provided with a drive shaft 11 at the center of a flat bottom. The drive of the drive motor 50 is transmitted to the drive shaft 11 via a drive belt. The control unit 60 includes a power switch, a drive ON switch, a drive stop switch, a rotation speed adjustment volume, a rotation speed display section, a product temperature display section, and the like, and controls the operation of the toner processing apparatus 1.

As described above, the stirring blade 20 that moves the object to be processed upward from the bottom of the processing chamber 10 is attached to the drive shaft 11 inside the processing chamber 10. The stirring blade 20 has an S-shape and a tip-up shape. Further, a rotating body 30 shown in FIG. 4 is attached to the same drive shaft 11 above the stirring blade 20.
In the toner processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1, the effective capacity of the processing chamber 10 shown in FIG. 2 for accommodating the processing object including toner particles and external additives 1 and 2 is 10 L. Then, a stirring blade 20 shown in FIG. 3 is installed as a raising means for raising the object to be processed upward from the bottom of the processing chamber 10.

Furthermore, SCM-440 (C: 0.40%) subjected to induction hardening with a Vickers hardness of 700 was used as the base material of the processing unit 23. Furthermore, a hard chromium carbide plating is applied, and a shot peening treatment is performed at 0.5 MPa for 20 seconds using steel shot particles having a particle diameter of 0.8 mm to 1.4 mm to obtain a surface treatment layer having a Vickers hardness of 1300. Wearing.
100 parts by mass of toner particles were introduced into the toner processing apparatus 1 having the above configuration by 10% of the effective capacity of the processing chamber 10. Further, 1.0 part by mass of external additive 1 and 1.5 parts by mass of external additive 2 were introduced.
Next, the stirring blade 20 (rotating body main body 31) was controlled to have a rotational speed of 4000 rpm and operated for 5 minutes to perform an external addition process to obtain a toner.

[Abrasion resistance evaluation]
Abrasion resistance was evaluated by the amount of wear on the treated surface during 500 hours of operation.
(Evaluation criteria: Wear resistance evaluation)
A: Abrasion amount 0 to less than 30 μm (excellent)
B: 30 μm or more and less than 50 μm (a little better)
C: 50 μm or more (prior art level)

[Peel / crack evaluation]
The level of peeling / cracking during 1000 hours of operation was visually confirmed and evaluated according to the following criteria.
(Evaluation criteria: peeling / crack evaluation)
A: No peeling / cracking is observed. (Are better)
B: Peeling / cracking is slightly observed and the substrate is not exposed. (A little better)
C: Peeling / cracking is clearly recognized, but not at a level where the substrate is exposed.
D: Level at which delamination / crack reaching the substrate is observed, or life is reached before 1000 hours of operation (prior art level)

[Life Evaluation]
The front and back were replaced when the plating thickness of the processing portion was worn by 150 μm, and the replacement was performed when the plating thickness of the new processing surface was worn by 150 μm. The life of the rotating body was evaluated based on the operation time until the replacement.
A: 3600 hours or more (lifetime is 4 times longer than before)
B: 2700 hours or more and less than 3600 hours (lifetime is 3 times or more and less than 4 times that of conventional products)
C: 1800 hours or more and less than 2700 hours (lifetime is 2 times or more and less than 3 times the conventional)
D: Less than 1800 hours (lifetime is less than twice that of conventional products)

[Comparative Example 1]
A rotating body in which the processing unit and the rotating body main body of FIG.
FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a rotating body of Comparative Example 1. The rotator main body 51 and the processing unit 52 have an integral structure. Similar to the rotating body of the present embodiment, the processing unit 52 is worn out when used for toner processing, and therefore needs to be replaced. However, since there is no axis of symmetry, it cannot be used by switching the front and back, and the life cannot be extended. Further, not only the processing unit 52 but also the rotating body 51 is required to be replaced, so that a large-scale replacement work is required, and since the replacement is performed in an integrated configuration, an economic burden is increased.
As the rotating body, SS400 having a Vickers hardness of 140 was used. Furthermore, hard chrome plating was applied, and a Vickers hardness 800 surface treatment layer was applied.
Except for the above, toner processing was performed in the same manner as in Example 1, and evaluation was performed according to the same criteria. The evaluation results are summarized in Table 1.

After 500 hours of operation, the plating (treated portion treated surface) was worn by 58 μm, so the wear resistance evaluation was C rank.
In 900 hours, the plating was worn by 150 μm, and the remaining plating thickness was 50 μm. Moreover, since clear peeling and a crack were recognized, peeling / crack evaluation was D rank evaluation.
Since the service life was reached (replacement time was reached) before operating for 1000 hours, the service life evaluation was set to D rank.

[Examples 2 to 7]
The toner was treated in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the treatment part was manufactured with the base material, surface treatment and conditions shown in Table 1, and the evaluation was performed according to the same criteria. The evaluation results are summarized in Table 1.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Toner processing apparatus 10 ... Processing chamber 11 ... Drive shaft 20 ... Agitation blade 30 ... Rotating body 31 ... Rotating body main body 32 ... Processing part 33 ... Two-fold symmetry axis 34 ... Collision part

Claims (4)

A maintenance method for a toner processing apparatus,
The toner processing apparatus includes:
A processing chamber for storing an object to be processed including toner particles and an external additive;
A rotating body provided rotatably around a drive shaft in the processing chamber,
The rotating body is
A rotating body,
A processing unit;
Have
The processing unit has a collision part that protrudes radially outward from the outer peripheral surface of the processing unit and collides with the object to be processed to process the object to be processed.
The rotating body main body and the processing unit are separable,
The processor is
A cross section when assuming that the processing section is cut by a plane orthogonal to the drive shaft,
A cross section when it is assumed that the processing section is cut by a plane passing through the drive shaft and parallel to the drive shaft.
Ri dyad symmetry der respect to a line that can by intersecting,
In the wear it has progressed stages of the processing unit, the maintenance method of the toner processing device characterized by changing the front and back of the processing unit. The processing unit has a processing unit base material and a surface treatment layer,
The maintenance method for a toner processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the surface treatment layer has a Vickers hardness of 900 to 1300. The toner processing apparatus maintenance method according to claim 2, wherein the processing portion base material has a Vickers hardness of 200 or more and 700 or less. A toner manufacturing method of externally adding an external additive to toner particles using a toner processing apparatus,
The toner processing apparatus includes:
A processing chamber for storing an object to be processed including toner particles and an external additive;
A rotating body provided rotatably around a drive shaft in the processing chamber,
The rotating body is
A rotating body,
A processing unit;
Have
The processing unit has a collision part that protrudes radially outward from the outer peripheral surface of the processing unit and collides with the object to be processed to process the object to be processed.
The rotating body main body and the processing unit are separable,
The processor is
A cross section when assuming that the processing section is cut by a plane orthogonal to the drive shaft,
A cross section when it is assumed that the processing section is cut by a plane passing through the drive shaft and parallel to the drive shaft.
It is symmetric twice with respect to the line formed by crossing,
In the wear it has progressed stages of the processing unit, by changing the front and back of the processing unit, the toner manufacturing method characterized by continuing the external additive treatment.

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