JP6647446B1 - Toner seal material - Google Patents

Abstract

An image forming apparatus such as a laser printer, a copying machine, and a multifunction peripheral or a similar electronic apparatus is provided so as to be in close contact with a surface of a rotating member including a photosensitive drum, a developing roller, and a fixing roller and an opening for toner supply / discharge. And a toner seal material for preventing leakage of toner and scraping residual toner. A toner sealing material 1 is made of a felt material 2 having a thickness of 0.2 to 3.0 mm obtained by integrating card wrap mainly composed of fluorine fiber by needle punching, and the surface of the felt material is a rotating member. In order to reduce the frictional resistance with the felt material, the recessed depth of the uneven surface is 0.1 to 1.0 mm, and the cushion layer 3 and the adhesive layer 5 are further provided on the lower surface of the felt material. Provide. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser printer, an image forming apparatus such as a copier or a multifunction peripheral, or a similar electronic apparatus, in which a rotating member including a photosensitive drum, a developing roller, and a fixing roller is brought into close contact with the surface of a toner supply / discharge opening. The present invention relates to a toner seal material for preventing leakage of toner and scraping residual toner.

  Commercially available image forming equipment, such as copiers and laser printers, are now integrated with photosensitive drums, developing rollers and other base materials, and can be removed and maintained as cartridges in order to reduce the number of maintenance operations and maintenance costs. Is performed by the user himself. In this process cartridge system, the cartridge replacement operation is simple and maintenance-free, so that the usability is improved.

  In this process cartridge, waste toner generated by the cleaning mechanism is discharged into the cleaning container, and is discarded at the same time when the cartridge is replaced. This cleaning mechanism scrapes residual toner from the surface of the photosensitive drum after the primary transfer, and attaches a cleaning blade and a toner sealant to both ends of the opening of the cleaning container so as to face the photosensitive drum. Prevent leaks from parts. In this image forming apparatus, the peripheral temperature of the photosensitive drum and the developing roller is higher than room temperature and temporarily reaches about 80 ° C., and therefore, near the photosensitive drum and the developing roller, a low friction property and heat resistance are excellent as a toner sealing material. Fluorine fiber felt is mainly used, and PTFE fiber is generally used as the fluorine fiber.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-134374 discloses a known sealant for preventing toner leakage. PTFE fiber felt is made of needle punch felt or smoothing felt. Further, as in JP-A-11-61101 and JP-A-2003-223047, it has been proposed to apply a sealing material made of a dense PTFE fiber pile fabric. Also in the present applicant, as a sealing material mainly using PTFE fiber felt, JP-A-2006-267326, JP-A-2006-317647, JP-A-2007-113750, Registered Utility Model No. 3112862, No. 3122466, etc. is suggesting.

JP-A-4-134374 JP-A-11-61101 JP 2003-223047 A JP 2006-267326 A JP 2006-317647 A JP 2007-113750 A Registered Utility Model No. 3112862 Registered Utility Model No. 3122466

  In recent years, commercially available copiers and laser printers have been developed in order to enhance image accuracy, in which toner particles are reduced to 10 μm or less and melted at a low temperature, and the risk of melting and flowing out of toner is increased. The use of felt is required. In addition, to increase the copying speed, rotating members such as a photosensitive drum and a fixing roller are rotated at a higher speed, and even with a conventional fluorine-based fiber sealing material, frictional resistance with the surface of the rotating member is increased, and heat generation and sealing of the device are caused. Early deterioration of the material has become a problem.

  If a pile-shaped woven toner seal material is used to reduce the frictional resistance of the toner seal material, when the pile length is as long as 3 to 4 mm, the cushioning property is higher than PTFE fiber felt, and sufficient sealability is obtained. Can demonstrate. On the other hand, the toner seal material of this pile woven fabric is expensive because two layers of ground warp yarn and ground weft yarn are combined, the amount of used yarn is doubled, and the production cost is high. Further, a void remains at the base of the pile yarn after the raising process, and there is a possibility that a part of the toner fine particles leaks through the pile base.

  Surface treatment to reduce the frictional resistance of the toner sealing material is another option. For example, there is a method of dipping a felt material in PTFE resin or a method of thinly coating the PTFE resin. In the former case, when dipping into the PTFE resin, a large amount of the resin adheres and the felt material becomes hard, and the felt material shrinks in a high-temperature drying process, so that the felt material cannot be used as a toner seal material. In the latter case, when the PTFE resin is thinly coated, the fixing force of the PTFE resin is increased by the high-temperature drying treatment, but the felt material is slightly hardened and slightly contracted. There is no point in applying this coating because the coated felt material does not actually have a lower frictional resistance than the untreated felt material.

  The present invention has been proposed in order to improve the above-mentioned problem relating to the toner seal material used mainly in image forming equipment, and by providing irregularities on the surface of the felt material, the contact area with the rotating member is reduced. It is another object of the present invention to provide a toner seal material that improves the sealing performance by further reducing the frictional resistance and suppressing the generation of frictional heat and providing a further direction than before. Another object of the present invention is to form parallel grooves on the surface of the felt material, so that even if a large amount of toner enters the surface of the sealing material at one time, the toner is effectively guided to the groove pockets by leaking toner. An object of the present invention is to provide a toner seal material which can prevent the toner seal material.

  The toner seal material according to the present invention is used to prevent the toner from leaking out in close contact with the surface of a rotating member such as a photosensitive drum. The toner sealing material of the present invention is made of a felt material having a thickness of 0.2 to 3.0 mm obtained by integrating card wrap mainly composed of fluorine fiber by needle punching, and the surface of the felt material has friction with a rotating member. In order to reduce the resistance, the entire surface is formed in an uneven shape, and the concave depth of the uneven surface is 0.1 to 1.0 mm. Fixed to.

  The toner sealing material according to the present invention is made of a felt material in which card wrap mainly composed of fluorine-based fiber is integrated by needle punching, and the felt sheet is passed through a heating embossing roll to form a parallel groove on the surface of the felt material. May be embossed. The parallel groove has a stable shape due to the softening of the fiber by heat, and is further provided with a cushion layer and an adhesive layer on the lower surface of the felt material, and fixed at a predetermined position.

  In the toner wrapping material according to the present invention, the card wrap may be made of a fluorine-based fiber for at least half of the entire amount thereof, and may contain high-density polyethylene, high-strength polyethylene, or both, in addition to the fluorine-based fiber. When the toner seal member is attached to the image forming apparatus, it is preferable that the contact area between the felt member and the rotating member is １ ／ or more of the total surface area. Further, when the toner sealing material is attached to the image forming apparatus, it is preferable that the parallel grooves on the surface of the felt material are arranged so as to be parallel or oblique to the rotation direction of the rotating member. Or return to the interior of the device. Furthermore, it is desirable that the heating temperature of the embossing roll is 100 to 200 ° C. and the interval between the parallel grooves on the surface of the felt material is 0.5 to 3.0 mm.

  The toner sealing material according to the present invention is a rotating member such as a photosensitive drum by providing a concave portion having a depth of 0.1 to 1.0 mm on the entire surface of a felt material obtained by integrating card wrap by needle punching. And reduce the frictional resistance more than before. As a result, the toner sealing material of the present invention can suppress the generation of frictional heat by reducing the frictional resistance with the rotating member while maintaining the high sealing performance of the conventional sealing material, and can reduce the frictional contact with the rotating member due to heat shrinkage. The contact does not get worse. This toner seal material can be used for a long period of time while maintaining dimensional stability during use.

  In the toner sealing material according to the present invention, the felt sheet is embossed in a parallel groove shape by passing the felt sheet through a heated embossing roll, and the surface of the felt material is formed into a parallel groove to further reduce the frictional resistance and to reduce the heat-induced fibers. The parallel grooves formed by the softening have a stable shape and reduce fluffing during use. With this toner sealing material, even if a large amount of toner enters the sealing material surface at a time, toner leakage can be effectively prevented by guiding the toner into the groove pockets of the parallel grooves, and the surface area of the felt material itself increases. Therefore, the path of the toner adhering to the surface to the outside becomes longer than before, and the amount of toner leakage is considerably reduced.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view illustrating an example of a toner seal material according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the toner seal material of FIG. 1. It is a partial side view showing the processing method which forms the surface of a felt material in unevenness. FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating a seal piece punched from the toner seal material of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a mounted state of a process cartridge. FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view showing an example in which a seal piece is attached to a toner cartridge for a monochrome copying machine.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a toner sealing material 1 according to the present invention generally includes a felt material 2 mainly composed of fluorine-based fibers and having a low frictional resistance, a cushion layer 3 such as polyurethane or wool, and a double-sided adhesive tape. And an adhesive layer 5. An uneven pattern such as parallel grooves 7 is entirely formed on the surface of the felt material 2. For example, even if the uneven surface is formed directly after needle punching by embossing or the like, a flat sheet is formed by needle punching and heat treatment. After molding, the surface may be uneven.

  Fluorine fibers used in the felt material 2 include PTFE fiber, FEP (tetrafluoroethylene-hexafluoropropylene copolymer) fiber, PFA (tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoro copolymer) fiber, and ETFE (ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer). (Polymer) fiber and the like. PTFE fiber is obtained by mixing an aqueous dispersion of PTFE fine particles with a small amount of a matrix material, extruding into a spinning solution in which the matrix material solidifies to form a fiber, and then thermally decomposing and removing the matrix material, or The PTFE fine particles may be mixed with an organic solvent such as naphtha, molded into a raw tape by extrusion, stretched and sintered, and then the obtained film may be split with a microslitter into a fibrous shape.

  The felt material 2 comprises at least a majority of fluorine-based fibers, and may contain high-density polyethylene and / or high-strength polyethylene in addition to the fluorine-based fibers. The high-density polyethylene fiber and the high-strength polyethylene have the low friction property next to the fluorine-based fiber. When the content of the fluorine-based fiber is less than the content of the fluorine-based fiber, the reduction in the frictional property is small. % Can be used as a substitute.

  The felt material 2 may further include a supplementary fiber which is inexpensive and rigid compared to the fluorine-based fiber and may further include polyester fiber, rayon fiber or the like as the inexpensive supplementary fiber. Further, it is preferable that the replenishing fiber has a melting point of about 250 ° C. or more or a non-melting point and is more rigid than the fluorine-based fiber because the felt material 2 can maintain heat resistance. Examples of the rigid reinforcing fibers include polyamide fibers such as meta-aramid fibers, para-aramid fibers, and 66 nylon fibers, polyester fibers, liquid crystal polyester fibers, PPS fibers, and polyolefin fibers. The rigid reinforcing fibers are preferably meta-aramid fibers, para-aramid fibers or polyester fibers.

In order to manufacture the felt material 2, a web is mainly made by mixing fluorine-based fibers, and a predetermined number of webs are laminated according to a predetermined thickness to form a card wrap, followed by needle punching. This card wrap is integrated by a known needle punch with a locking needle to form the felt material 2. The number of needles in this needle punch may be about 500 to 2,000 needles / cm ² , and a high-pressure water jet treatment may be added after the needle punch as required. The obtained felt material 9 (FIG. 3) has a thickness of 0.2 to 3.0 mm after hot pressing and a basis weight of 30 to 600 g / m ² .

  The felt material 9 has an uneven pattern formed on the entire surface thereof, and the uneven pattern may be any of the parallel grooves 7 as shown in FIG. 1. May be. As this kind of uneven pattern, it is also possible to determine a planar shape such as a wave pattern, a lattice pattern, a dotted line pattern, a polka dot pattern and the like. The concave depth of the uneven surface is 0.1 to 1.0 mm. When the depth is less than 0.1 mm, the effect of reducing frictional resistance and suppressing the generation of frictional heat is small, while the depth is 1.0 mm. If it exceeds 300, there is a concern that the sealing performance may be reduced.

  In order to form the parallel grooves 7 on the surface of the felt material 9, a sheet of the felt material may be passed through a heated embossing roll 8 as illustrated in FIG. 3. The circumferential surface of the embossing roll 8 is provided with grooves having a rectangular or wavy cross section in the circumferential direction, so that the surface of the felt material is embossed in parallel grooves. At this time, the heating temperature of the embossing roll is 100 to 200 ° C., and if the heating temperature is less than 100 ° C., the parallel grooves are crushed during use and the contact area is easily returned to the original, while the heating temperature exceeds 200 ° C. And the surface of the felt material 2 tends to be hard. Further, the interval between the parallel grooves on the surface of the felt material is preferably 0.5 to 3.0 mm, and if it is within this range, the contact area with the rotating member can be appropriately reduced.

  In the toner seal material 1, the cushion layer 3 is usually laminated on the felt material 2 via an adhesive such as a polyamide heat-fusible nonwoven fabric (not shown), and the whole is passed through a pair of heat rollers or a hot press. wear. The cushion layer 3 is made of polyurethane foam, wool felt, needle felt, or the like, and preferably has a thickness of 0.5 to 3.0 mm. If this adhesive is a heat-fusible nonwoven fabric, the sheet can fix the fibers of the felt material 2 and the hair loss of the fibers can be further reduced. The heat-fusible nonwoven fabric is a nonwoven fabric or a resin sheet of a homopolymer or a copolymer such as polyamide or polypropylene, and preferably has a melting point of about 60 to 170 ° C. As this adhesive, a double-sided adhesive tape can be used. An adhesive layer 5 is provided below the cushion layer 3 with a double-sided adhesive tape or the like.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the toner seal material 1 is applied to, for example, a process cartridge 10 which is removably accommodated in a laser printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, or the like, which is an image forming apparatus, or a monochrome copying machine or the like. The present invention can be applied to a toner cartridge or a fixing roller of a full-color copying machine. When the toner seal member 1 is attached to the image forming apparatus, the contact area between the felt member 2 and the rotating member is not more than １ ／ of the total surface area, and the effect of preventing toner leakage and scraping residual toner is reduced. On the other hand, if the uneven surface of the felt material 2 becomes flat at the time of press bonding of both, the effect of reducing the frictional resistance is reduced.

  When the toner seal material 1 is attached to an image forming apparatus, for example, the toner seal material 1 is continuously cut as shown by a dashed line A or a symmetric line (not shown) in FIG. 2, and has a cutout rectangular plane shape shown in FIG. A certain sealing piece 12 or a symmetrical sealing piece 12 '(see FIG. 4) is obtained. It is also possible to obtain a notched rectangular sealing piece 13 by continuously cutting as shown by another alternate long and short dash line B in FIG. In this case, the seal pieces 13 can be arranged such that the parallel grooves 7 are parallel to the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 18 or the like.

  In the seal pieces 12, 12 ', the parallel grooves 7 on the surface of the felt material are arranged so as to be inclined with respect to the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 18 or the like (the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4). When the seal pieces 12, 12 'are attached so as to be in contact with both peripheral end surfaces of the photosensitive drum 18 of the process cartridge 10 (FIG. 5) which is removably accommodated in the laser printer, the parallel grooves 7 are obliquely arranged. It acts to return the toner in contact with the seal surface to the inside of the rotating member. On the other hand, if the parallel groove 7 is arranged so as to be parallel to the rotation direction like another seal piece 13. The parallel arrangement prevents toner leakage. In this case, it is not preferable to arrange the parallel grooves 7 so as to be orthogonal to the drum rotation direction, because the toner easily leaks outside through the parallel grooves.

  As an example of use, FIG. 5 shows a cartridge 10 including a frame 24 having a photosensitive drum 18, a charging roller 20, and a cleaning mechanism 22, and a developing mechanism 26 having a developing roller 25. When the cartridge 10 is removably housed in the printer main body, an exposure mechanism that irradiates a laser beam 27 to form an electrostatic latent image on the drum surface is disposed above the cartridge. The transfer roller 28 for primary transfer of the developed toner image comes into contact. The transfer paper 30 passes between the photosensitive drum 18 and the transfer roller 28, and a fixing device (not shown) is disposed in front of an arrow which is a feed direction of the transfer paper.

  The sealing pieces 12, 12 ′ and 14, 14 are adhered to predetermined locations, that is, both ends of the developing roller 25, the cleaning blade 36, and the opening 34 of the cleaning container 32, by the lower adhesive layer 5, and the toner is discharged to the outside. Prevent from leaking. In the developing mechanism 26, the seal members 14, 14 function as an interval maintaining material, so that the minute interval between the developing roller 25 and the photosensitive drum 18 is always kept constant, and a good image is stably output.

  In the cartridge 10, the photosensitive drum 18 is rotated at a predetermined peripheral speed in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 5, and the drum contacts the charging roller 20 that uniformly charges the drum surface according to the rotation. The light comes into contact with the exposure mechanism by the irradiation of the beam 27, the developing roller 25, and the transfer roller. Sealing pieces 14 are attached to both ends of the developing roller 25 to prevent the toner 31 from leaking. The photosensitive drum 18 is in proximity to a cleaning mechanism 22 for temporarily transferring the toner image formed on the drum surface by the developing roller 25 of the developing mechanism to the transfer paper 30 and then removing the residual toner after the transfer. The photosensitive drum 18 faces the opening 34 of the cleaning container 32 in the cleaning mechanism 22, and a cleaning blade 36 made of urethane rubber or the like is provided at an edge of the opening, so that the edge of the blade is brought into contact with the photosensitive drum 18. After the primary transfer, the residual toner is scraped off from the surface of the photosensitive drum, and is sent into the cleaning container 32. In the cleaning mechanism 22, seal pieces 12 and 12 ′ are attached to both ends of the cleaning blade 36 in accordance with the shape of the cleaning blade 36, and the seal pieces are also in contact with both ends of the surface of the photosensitive drum 18. The sealing pieces 12 and 12 ′ prevent the collected residual toner from leaking from both sides of the container opening 34. The cleaning mechanism 22 has an excellent ability to remove toner due to the presence of the seal pieces 12, 12 '.

  Further, in the toner cartridge 40 for a monochrome copying machine illustrated in FIG. 6, the toner seal material 1 is cut into an appropriate planar shape as a seal piece 54 and applied. In the cartridge 40, arc-shaped notches 58 are formed on both lower side walls, and the developing roller 60 is rotatably installed in the notches, and the toner 62 is stored in the cartridge. Both ends of the developing roller 60 extend to the notches 58 on both side walls, and are rotatably mounted in the notches 58 via the seal pieces 54. Above the toner supply port, the charging blade 64 is held while being pressed against the surface of the developing roller 60. The developing roller 60 is, for example, a cylindrical body made of aluminum, rotates with a thin layer of toner adhered to the surface thereof, and is arranged to face the photosensitive drum 65 of the copying machine main body. When the photosensitive drum 65 rotates in the direction of the arrow and the developing roller 60 rotates accordingly in the counterclockwise direction, the toner is transferred to the surface of the developing roller 60 in accordance with the strength of the electric field formed by the charge of the latent image on the drum surface. From the drum, and adheres to the charged portion of the drum surface to perform development. The seal piece 54 prevents the toner 62 attached to the developing roller 60 in the cartridge 40 from leaking outside the side wall.

  Next, the present invention will be described based on examples, but the present invention is not limited to the examples. In order to produce the felt material 2 shown in FIG. 1, a web of 100% PTFE fiber having an average fineness of 7.4 dtex is produced. The web is laminated to form a card wrap, and the entire wrap is needle punched. After the needle punching, pressing is performed at about 140 ° C. to obtain a felt material 9 having a thickness of 0.7 mm.

As shown in FIG. 3, a flat felt material 9 is passed through an embossing roll 8 heated at 150 ° C., and parallel grooves 7 having a concave width and a convex width of 0.55 mm and a concave depth of about 0.5 mm are formed on the surface thereof. Form. The obtained felt material 2 has a thickness of 0.5 mm and a basis weight of 431 g / m ² .

The felt material obtained in Example 1 is passed through an embossing roll 8 heated at 170 ° C. to form parallel grooves 7 having a concave width and a convex width of 0.55 mm and a concave depth of about 0.5 mm on the surface thereof. The obtained felt material 2 has a thickness of 0.5 mm and a basis weight of 446 g / m ² .

The felt material obtained in Example 1 is passed through an embossing roll 8 heated at 190 ° C., and parallel grooves 7 having a concave width and a convex width of 0.55 mm and a concave depth of about 0.5 mm are formed on the surface thereof. The obtained felt material 2 has a thickness of 0.5 mm and a basis weight of 430 g / m ² .

Comparative Example 1
The felt material manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1 is used as it is. This felt material has a thickness of 0.7 mm and a basis weight of 411 g / m ² .

Comparative Example 2
For a felt material manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1, a Thomson straight blade with a blade thickness of 0.7 mm, which was drawn, was attached to a punching machine and pressed at room temperature at regular intervals to obtain a sample having uneven grooves with a pitch of 1.0 mm. . The obtained felt material has a thickness of 0.6 mm and a basis weight of 419 g / m ² .

Comparative Example 3
For a felt material manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1, a Thomson straight blade with a blade thickness of 0.7 mm that was pulled out was attached to a punching machine and pressed at room temperature at regular intervals to obtain a sample having irregular grooves with a pitch of 1.5 mm. . The obtained felt material has a thickness of 0.6 mm and a basis weight of 422 g / m ² .

Comparative Example 4
About a felt material manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1, a Thomson straight blade with a blade thickness of 0.7 mm that was pulled out was attached to a punching machine and pressed at room temperature at regular intervals to obtain a sample having uneven grooves with a pitch of 2.0 mm. . The obtained felt material has a thickness of 0.7 mm and a basis weight of 413 g / m ² .

Comparative Example 5
About a felt material manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1, a Thomson straight blade with a blade thickness of 0.9 mm, which is drawn, is attached to a punching machine and pressed at room temperature at regular intervals to obtain a sample having a concave and convex groove having a pitch of 1.0 mm. . The obtained felt material has a thickness of 0.5 mm and a basis weight of 414 g / m ² .

Comparative Example 6
For a felt material manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1, a Thomson straight blade with a blade thickness of 0.9 mm, which was drawn, was attached to a punching machine and pressed at room temperature at regular intervals to obtain a sample having irregular grooves with a pitch of 1.5 mm. . The obtained felt material has a thickness of 0.6 mm and a basis weight of 417 g / m ² .

Comparative Example 7
About a felt material manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1, a Thomson straight blade with a blade thickness of 0.9 mm that was pulled out was attached to a punching machine and pressed at room temperature at regular intervals to obtain a sample having concave and convex grooves with a pitch of 2.0 mm. . The obtained felt material has a thickness of 0.7 mm and a basis weight of 419 g / m ² .

Comparative Example 8
A low-viscosity PTFE paint is thinly applied with a brush on the felt material manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1, and the thickness is 1 μm or less. With the PTFE resin coating, the felt material becomes slightly hard and shrinks by about 3%. The obtained felt material has a thickness of 0.8 mm and a basis weight of 413 g / m ² .

  In order to evaluate the friction resistance of the obtained felt material 2, the friction coefficient of each sample is measured. Each sample is cut into a size of 20 × 120 mm, placed on a polyacetal resin plate as a friction partner, and a standard load of 500 g, 1000 g or 2000 g is applied to the sample. Next, the sample is pulled in the horizontal direction by a push-pull gauge, and the tension at that time is measured. The coefficient of friction for each sample is shown in the table below.

  For all the samples, when the load increases, the contact area with the polyacetal resin plate increases, and the friction coefficient tends to increase. Except for Comparative Example 8, the standard load has a friction reduction effect equal to or less than that of the unprocessed sample (Comparative Example 1). On the other hand, under a high pressure condition of 1000 g or more, only Examples 1 to 3 have a friction reducing effect, and Comparative Examples 1 to 7 cannot reduce the frictional resistance because the surface irregularities cannot be maintained. In Comparative Example 8, the frictional resistance tends to increase.

  As described above, the toner seal material using the felt material of Examples 1 to 3 can reduce the contact area with the rotating member such as the photosensitive drum, and can further reduce the frictional resistance as compared with the related art. The generation of frictional heat can be suppressed while maintaining high sealing properties of the material. In the felt material of Examples 1 to 3, embossing is performed in a parallel groove shape, and the parallel groove formed by softening of fibers by heat has a stable shape and reduces fluffing during use.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Toner seal material 2 Felt material 3 Cushion layer 5 Adhesive layer 7 Parallel groove

Claims (6)

A toner sealing material that is in close contact with rotating members such as a photosensitive drum and a developing roller and the surface of an opening for supplying and discharging toner and that prevents toner from leaking outside. Is made of a felt material having a thickness of 0.2 to 3.0 mm, which is integrated by needle punching, and the surface of the felt material is entirely uneven by heat and pressure softening of fibers to reduce frictional resistance with a rotating member. The concave and convex surface of the parallel groove has a concave depth of 0.1 to 1.0 mm, and a cushion layer and an adhesive layer are further provided on the lower surface of the felt material to fix the toner seal material at a predetermined position. . Close contact with the photosensitive drum and the rotational member and the toner supply and discharge openings of the surface, such as the developing roller a toner seal member to prevent leakage toner to the outside, the card wraps made mainly of fluorine-based fibers Is made of felt material integrated by needle punching, and the felt sheet is passed through a heating embossing roll to emboss the surface of the felt material in parallel grooves, and the parallel grooves are formed by heat and pressure softening of the fiber. The shape of the uneven surface is stable, the concave depth of the uneven surface of the parallel groove is 0.1 to 1.0 mm, and a cushion layer and an adhesive layer are further provided on the lower surface of the felt material to be positioned at a predetermined position. Toner seal material to be fixed.   The toner sealing material according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the card wrap comprises at least half of the total amount of a fluorine-based fiber and contains, in addition to the fluorine-based fiber, high-density polyethylene, high-strength polyethylene, or both.   The toner sealing material according to claim 1, wherein a contact area between the felt material and the rotating member is one third or more of a total surface area when the toner sealing material is attached to an image forming apparatus.   When the toner seal material is attached to the image forming apparatus, the parallel grooves on the surface of the felt material are arranged so as to be parallel or oblique with respect to the rotation direction of the rotating member to prevent the toner from contacting the seal material surface or 3. The toner sealing material according to claim 2, which is returned to the inside of the device.   3. The toner sealing material according to claim 2, wherein the heating temperature of the embossing roll is 100 to 200 [deg.] C., and the interval between the parallel grooves on the surface of the felt material is 0.5 to 3.0 mm.

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