JPH0540368A - Image fixing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow the formation of images having excellent washing resistance and friction resistance at the time of fixing the images by an electrophotographic method, etc., using a cloth or polymer film as a recording carrier by using magnetic material-contg. toner particles which contain magnetic material particles and a thermally soluble polymer. CONSTITUTION:The magnetic material is incorporated into the toner particles for the purpose of sticking the images to the recording carrier by heating the toner particles in order to obtain the images imparted with the wear resistance in the case of not using of the particles in the same manner as with the conventional magnetic toners but using of the cloth and polymer film, etc., as the recording carrier by any means. After the images are formed by the electrophotographic method or other methods by using such toner, the magnetic material particles incorporated into the toner are heated by the microwaves, etc., generated by magnetron to first dissolve the thermally soluble polymer which is a binder by the generated heat, then to dissolve the polymer constituting the surface of the recording carrier, by which both polymers are welded and the images having the washing resistance and friction resistance are formed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image fixing method in an electrophotographic method, an electrostatic recording method, a magnetic recording method or the like using a cloth or a polymer film as a record carrier.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, US Pat.
No. 97691, Japanese Patent Publication No. 42-23910,
A large number of methods are known, as described in JP-B-43-24748. Generally, after an electric latent image is formed on a photoconductor made of a photoconductive material by various methods, the latent image is developed with a toner, and then the image is transferred onto a record carrier such as paper. After that, it is fixed and visualized. As a method of fixing the above-mentioned image on the record carrier, there are known three methods of a heat fixing method, a solvent fixing method and a pressure fixing method.

At present, the most popular electrophotographic copying machines use paper having a surface optimized for the application as a record carrier and a heat fixing method using a heat roller as a fixing method. This method is said to have excellent image strength because the image on paper is softened and pressure-bonded by a heat roller.

However, the toner and the paper have not been fused to each other, and the image is fixed solely by the anchor effect, so that there is always sufficient fixing strength from the viewpoint of abrasion resistance of the image. It is hard to say.

Furthermore, when a cloth, such as clothes, which is repeatedly washed or a cloth used in an environment where it is subjected to friction is used as a record carrier, generally, an anchor effect and a fibrous polymer which constitutes the binder of the toner and the cloth are used. Its affinity with is weaker than that of paper with a surface optimized for electrophotography, so the image will peel off from the fabric every time it is washed or rubbed, and an image with wash resistance and abrasion resistance is obtained. It was extremely difficult.

The same applies to the transfer of an image onto a polymer film intended for an overhead projector or the like. In electrophotography on a polymer film which is said to have been subjected to a surface treatment to give purposeful surface properties. Even so, it was hard to say that it was excellent in abrasion resistance.

[0007]

As described above, when a cloth which is repeatedly washed, or a cloth or a polymer film which is used in an environment subject to friction is used as a record carrier, the washing resistance and the abrasion resistance are high. It was extremely difficult to form an excellent image.

The inventors of the present invention have made diligent studies to solve the above problems and to impart washing resistance and abrasion resistance to an electrophotographic image using a cloth as a record carrier. Alternatively, the present invention has been reached, focusing on the fact that it is heated by high frequency.

That is, the object of the present invention is to apply not only to the heat fixing method as described above, but also to other fixing methods, in the electrophotographic method using a cloth or a polymer film as a record carrier. The object is to solve the problem of forming an image having excellent properties.

The object of the present invention is not only for the electrophotographic method as described above, but also for the electrostatic recording method and the magnetic recording method. An object of the present invention is to provide an image fixing method that solves the problem of forming excellent images.

[0011]

The image fixing method of the present invention which achieves the above-mentioned object uses magnetic substance-containing toner particles containing magnetic fine particles and a heat-soluble polymer, and the surface thereof is composed of the heat-soluble polymer. After an image is formed on a record carrier, the toner for forming the image and the polymer forming the surface of the record carrier are melted by dielectric heating or high frequency heating to fix the toner. Is.

The term "ferromagnetic material" as used in the present invention refers to a material whose magnetization does not follow a linear expression of a magnetic field and is strongly magnetized and which exhibits a phenomenon of hysteresis. The term "magnetic material" means a material other than a ferromagnetic material. Each refers to a substance that has the property of being magnetized in a magnetic field.

The term "heat-soluble polymer" as used in the present invention means a thermoplastic polymer which can exist in a molten state at a temperature lower than the temperature at which the polymer undergoes thermal decomposition to change its chemical properties. It is a thing.

[0014]

The present invention will be described in detail below.

Conventionally, many proposals and examples of use of so-called magnetic toner have been announced. However, conventionally, the magnetic toner is merely thermally fixed by a heat roller, and it is impossible to obtain an image excellent in abrasion resistance, washing resistance and the like. As a result of diligent studies, the present inventors have found that, unlike the conventional fixing method, the toner particles are not used in the same manner as the conventional magnetic toner, but when the cloth and the polymer film are used as the recording carrier, the abrasion resistance is improved. In order to obtain an image provided with, the toner particles are characterized in that a magnetic material is contained in the toner particles in order to heat the toner particles and fuse the image to the recording carrier.

The toner according to the present invention contains magnetic fine particles and a heat-soluble polymer, which have an essential feature that they generate heat due to phenomena such as eddy current loss and dielectric loss when a time-varying magnetic field or electric field is applied. It is characterized by including, and it is more preferable to use a ferromagnetic material having a high heat generation efficiency as the magnetic material. Further, for example, iron (III) oxide, which is a ferromagnetic substance, iron (II) is black in itself, and can be used as a black toner. However, when a wide range of ferromagnetic substances are used in addition to the ferromagnetic substance, an image of It is also preferable to add a colorant in order to adjust the hue, lightness and saturation. The source of the magnetic field or electric field that changes with time is preferably a source that can give high-frequency energy such as microwaves generated by a magnetron, but the present invention is not limited to this. The microwave referred to here means an electromagnetic wave having a wavelength of 1 meter or less.

In the image fixing method of the present invention, the above toner is used to form an image by the conventional electrophotographic method and other methods, and then the magnetic fine particles contained in the toner are removed by the microwave generated by the magnetron. By heating, the heat generation causes the heat-soluble polymer serving as the binder to be dissolved first, and then the polymer constituting the surface of the record carrier to be melted, and the both polymers are fused to form an image having wash resistance and abrasion resistance. It is characterized by

Therefore, it is important to use, as the heat-soluble polymer, a polymer having an affinity, preferably a compatibility, which has the property of being fused with the polymer constituting the surface of the record carrier. More preferably, it has the same composition as the polymer that constitutes the surface of the record carrier. For example, the record carrier targeted by the present invention is preferably mainly cloth and polymer film.
The material is not particularly limited, but polyester or polyamide is preferable. In such a case, it is most effective to use a polyester resin or a polyamide resin as the heat-soluble polymer which is the binder of the toner for each of them, in order to obtain an image having washing resistance and abrasion resistance.

It is preferable to use a liquid crystalline polyester resin as the heat-soluble polymer because it has high strength and high elastic modulus.

The toner particles of the present invention are composed of at least a magnetic substance and a heat-soluble polymer as described above. When an image is formed by an electrophotographic method, in addition to the above-mentioned colorant, a charge control agent and Mold release agent, fluidizing agent,
Those containing an additive such as a cleaning aid are also preferable. Nigrosine dyes, quaternary ammonium salt compounds, triphenylmethane dyes and the like as charge control agents, low molecular weight polypropylene and low molecular weight polyethylene and the like as release agents, and silica and alumina of several tens of nm or less as fluidizing agents. Examples of the cleaning aid include metal soaps, various polymers of ultrafine particles, and inorganic substances, but the cleaning aid is not limited to these.

The composition of the toner in the present invention is preferably 10 to 70% by weight of the magnetic substance and 30 to 90% by weight of the heat-soluble polymer, more preferably 20 to 50% by weight of the magnetic substance and the heat-soluble polymer. 50 to 80% by weight, more preferably 30 to 40% by weight of magnetic substance and 60 to 70% by weight of heat-soluble polymer.
Is. In addition to these, the above-mentioned coloring agent is 0 to 2
0% by weight, 0 to 10% by weight of charge control agent, 0 to 20% by weight of release agent, 0 to 10% by weight of fluidizing agent, and 0 to 10% by weight of cleaning aid, respectively, for the purpose of purpose. Is also preferable. Furthermore, the colorant is 0 to 1
0 wt%, charge control agent 0 to 5 wt%, release agent 0
It is more preferable that the content of each of 10 to 10% by weight, the fluidizing agent of 0 to 5% by weight, and the cleaning aid of 0 to 5% by weight be purposefully included.

The toner of the present invention preferably has a substantially spherical shape, and a smaller particle size is preferable from the viewpoint of image resolution. However, if the particle size is extremely small, the toner will not be easily disaggregated. Therefore, 1 to 50 μm is preferable, 2 to 30 μm is more preferable, and 5 to 20 μm is most preferable.

The particle size distribution is preferably monodisperse, preferably the weight average particle diameter (Dw / D) with respect to the number average particle diameter.
n) is 1.1 or less, more preferably Dw / Dn is 1.0
5 or less, more preferably Dw / Dn is 1.01 or less.

The magnetic substance contained in the toner of the present invention is preferably a ferromagnetic substance as described above, and examples thereof include iron (III) oxide (II) oxide and γ-type iron (III) oxide. Not limited to. It is essential that the size of the magnetic material is smaller than that of the toner particles, but the number average particle diameter is preferably 2 μm or less, and more preferably 1 μm.

Further, in the present invention, when a cloth is used as a record carrier, an unexpectedly preferable effect is produced in addition to the above main effect. That is, conventionally, when a cloth is colored, it is dyed or dyed with Nazo, but in any case, washing with water is required during and / or after coloring. On the other hand, the present invention is more preferable from the industrial and practical viewpoints, because all the processes from image formation on the cloth to fusing of the image forming toner can be performed by a dry method.

When an image is formed on a cloth by electrophotography, it is more preferable to apply pressure to the cloth in advance to form a smooth surface before the image is formed in order to obtain a clear image. ..

When forming an image on a cloth, it is more preferable in terms of image resolution to use a cloth mainly composed of ultrafine fibers having a single fiber fineness of 1 denier or less. In particular, a cloth made of ultrafine fibers, and the ultrafine fibers made of two kinds of fibers, a polyamide fiber and a polyester fiber, is preferable because it has a dense surface and, in turn, a surface excellent in smoothness. It is also a preferred method to subject the surface of the fabric to a high-speed fluid flow treatment (water jet punch) to open and / or entangle the ultrafine fibers to densify the surface. By such treatment, the shape stability of the fabric is also significantly improved.

When carrying out the present invention, dielectric heating or high frequency heating may be performed in the presence of steam or moisture.

[0029]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples. It should be noted that the scope of the validity and the right of the present invention is not limited or restricted by this.

Example A high-density fabric made of 0.06 denier ultrafine polyester fiber was subjected to a water jet punch treatment and then a calendar treatment to obtain a record carrier having a smooth surface and a dense surface. A commercially available film sheet for overhead projector was temporarily adhered to this as a backing.

Next, toner particles mainly composed of iron powder and polyester were filled in a commercially available copying machine, and the cloth lined with the above film sheet was passed through the copying machine to obtain an image. The cloth having the image obtained by the above operation was peeled from the film sheet, and high-frequency heating was performed by passing through the high-frequency dryer to fuse the image-forming toner with the polyester constituting the surface of the cloth.

The image-fixed fabric obtained as described above was repeatedly washed, and no deterioration of the image was observed, and the image was not deteriorated even if it was rubbed with a nail.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a cloth, a polymer film or the like is used as a record carrier, an image obtained by an electrophotographic method or another method is provided with washing resistance and abrasion resistance, An image having washing resistance and abrasion resistance can be fixed.

Further, since the present invention is a dry image fixing method, when a cloth is used as a record carrier and coloring is performed on the cloth, the cloth coloring step can be extremely performed as compared with the conventional wet method of dyeing or printing. It is a simplification.

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Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic substance-containing toner particle containing magnetic fine particles and a heat-soluble polymer is used to form an image on a record carrier having a surface composed of the heat-soluble polymer, and then dielectric heating or high frequency heating is performed. An image fixing method, characterized in that the toner forming the image and the polymer constituting the surface of the record carrier are melted to fix the toner. 2. The image fixing method according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic substance is a ferromagnetic substance. 3. The image fixing method according to claim 1, wherein the toner particles contain a colorant. 4. The image fixing method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the heat-soluble polymer has an affinity with the polymer constituting the surface of the record carrier. 5. The image fixing method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heat-soluble polymer is a polyester resin. 6. The image fixing method according to claim 1, wherein the heat-soluble polymer is a liquid crystalline polyester resin. 7. The image fixing method according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein the heat-soluble polymer is a polyamide resin. 8. The image fixing method according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7, wherein the record carrier is a cloth. 9. The image fixing method according to claim 8, wherein the cloth is mainly composed of ultrafine fibers having a single fiber fineness of 1 denier or less. 10. The image fixing method according to claim 8, wherein the cloth is a cloth made of polyester and polyamide having a single fiber fineness of 1 denier or less. 11. The record carrier is a polymer film, as claimed in claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7.
The image fixing method described.