JPH0596615A - Tubular article and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a tubular article, which is produced by connecting plastic film tubularly, has strong jointing strength and is useful as the fixing belt of a printed image forming device such as a copier or a printer, and its manufacturing method. CONSTITUTION:After a large number of microscopic holes are formed at the joints 2 at both end parts of plastic film 1, both the sides of the joints are covered with resin 3 and fixed together under heat and pressure, resulting in filling the microscopic holes with the resin 3 for integration so as to produce the joints 2 of a tubular article.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a copying machine, a facsimile,
The present invention relates to a tubular article used as a fixing belt of an image forming apparatus such as a printer and a method for manufacturing the tubular article.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method for fixing an image on a transfer paper or the like in the above image forming apparatus, a fixing method using heat, pressure or a combination of both has been proposed. A flash fixing method, a pressure fixing method, a heat roller fixing method and the like can be mentioned. Among these, as a new fixing method, a third fixing method other than the heat roller and the press roller as described in JP-A-3-130149 is used.
A method using a peeling roller as the roll has been proposed. In this method, a peeling roller is arranged on the side of the heat roller, and a fixing belt made of a flexible tubular material consisting of a fluororesin inner layer and a polyimide resin outer layer is hung between the heat roller and the peeling roller, and A method of passing a transfer paper with thermal ink between the press roller and the press roller is adopted.

In the above tubular product, a polyamic acid solution is applied to the inner peripheral surface of a cylinder, and a bullet-shaped or spherical traveling member is run along the applied surface in the cylinder to make the polyamic acid coating thickness uniform. It is obtained by heating this and imidizing it.

[0004]

However, since the inner diameter of the tubular article obtained by the above method depends in proportion to the inner diameter of the cylinder, when a tubular article having a large inner diameter is to be obtained, the cylinder or equipment used is large. It also requires a large installation space. Furthermore, in the above method, it is necessary to prepare a cylinder corresponding to the inner diameter of the target tubular object, and the versatility is poor.

On the other hand, it is possible to obtain tubular products having various inner diameters by joining both ends of a plastic film with an adhesive or the like, but heat resistance is required for use as a fixing belt. Therefore, a polyimide film or the like is suitable as the material of the belt. But,
The polyimide film is usually a film that is difficult to adhere to, and the adhesive is usually inferior in heat resistance to polyimide, so that the excellent heat resistance originally possessed by the polyimide film may not be sufficiently exhibited.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The inventors of the present invention have conducted extensive studies in order to solve the problems of the above conventional tubular products. As a result, when joining a plastic film into a tubular shape, a perforating treatment is applied to the joining portion. Then, by filling the perforated portion with a resin, it was found that a tubular article having various inner diameters can be easily obtained, and a tubular article having a strong joint portion can be obtained, and the present invention has been completed.

That is, the present invention is a tubular article formed by joining plastic films in a tubular shape, and the joint portion of the tubular article is characterized in that a large number of fine holes provided on the film surface are filled with resin. And a tubular object having a fluororesin layer formed on its outer peripheral surface, and a step of forming a large number of fine holes in opposite end regions of a plastic film, and superimposing the areas in which the fine holes are formed. Or a butting step, a step of sandwiching the upper and lower portions of the region with a resin film, and a step of filling the resin into the micropores by heating and pressing the resin film to join both ends of the film A method for manufacturing a product is provided.

The tubular article of the present invention and the method for producing the same will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the tubular article of the present invention in the vicinity of the joint. As is apparent from FIG. 1, a large number of fine holes for joining are formed at both ends of the plastic film 1, and the resin 3 is filled from both sides (upper and lower) of the plastic film through the fine holes to form the joining portion 2.
I am trying. By joining in this way, the upper and lower resins 3 are integrated to exert an anchoring action, and the joining strength is improved. The plastic film 1 is not particularly limited as long as it has an appropriate mechanical strength capable of withstanding the use such as a fixing belt, but a polyimide film is preferably used from the viewpoint of heat resistance and the like.

The fine holes provided at both ends of the plastic film 1 are usually 10 μm to 2 mm, preferably 25.
A circle having a diameter of about 500 μm or a square having a length of one side, and the aperture ratio is 0.01 to 8 of the area of the joint 2.
It is preferably 0%, preferably about 1 to 40% from the viewpoint of improving the strength of the joint portion 2 after filling with the resin 3 described later. In addition, the joint portion 2 for the entire circumference of the tubular article of the present invention
The length of 0.01 to 30%, preferably 0.1 to 10%
It is preferable to set the degree to a certain degree because the resin 3 filled in the joint portion 2 does not influence the obtained tubular article so much. In particular, when a polyimide film having excellent heat resistance is used as the plastic film 1 and a resin having relatively low heat resistance is used as the filling resin 3, in order to prevent the thermal characteristics of the filling resin 3 from affecting. The length (ratio) of the joint is preferably 5% or less.

In the present invention, the fine holes at both ends of the plastic film 1 are mechanically processed, laser processed, light processed,
It can be formed by a method such as chemical etching. Among these, laser processing, especially ultraviolet laser processing is preferable from the viewpoint of fine perforation workability.

As the resin 3 used for the above-mentioned joining portion 2, a so-called B-stage resin that melts at room temperature but loses fluidity after curing, or a resin that melts at high temperature can be used. It may be a resin that is a resin or a thermoplastic resin. From the viewpoint of heat resistance, for example, thermoplastic resins such as polyetherimide, polyether nitrile, and polyether sulfone, and thermosetting resins such as epoxy-based and bismaleimide-based resins can be mentioned. The resin 3 is formed so as to be sandwiched from both sides of the plastic film 1 of the joint portion 2, and this is heated (for example, 320 ° C. in the case of polyetherimide) and pressurized (for example, 0.1 kg / cm ² or more). The resin 3 is caused to flow to be filled in the fine holes so as to be integrated with each other, whereby the joint portion 2 is formed. Further, it is preferable that the resin 3 is formed in a film shape on both sides of the plastic film 1 from the viewpoint of handleability, and in this case, it is formed in the range of 10 to 200%, preferably 25 to 100% of the thickness of the plastic film 1. To do. If the thickness is less than 10%, resin 3
May not be sufficiently filled inside the fine pores, and the resin 3 may not be integrated, and if the thickness exceeds 200%,
The effect due to the thickness cannot be expected to increase, and conversely, the tubular product obtained is unfavorably affected by the thermal characteristics of the resin 3.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing another joining mode of the tubular article of the present invention, and FIG. 2 (A) is a plastic film 1.
The joint part 2 is processed with fine holes and the total thickness is 10-4.
The so-called half-etching process is performed to reduce the thickness to about 0%. By processing both joint ends of the plastic film 1 in this manner, as shown in FIG.
It is also possible to reduce the step difference of the joint portion 2 as shown in (B).

FIGS. 3 to 5 are sectional views showing other joining modes of the tubular article of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a plastic film 1 in which both ends are butted and joined, and FIG. 4 shows both ends. Even if the formed fine holes are not aligned at the time of joining as shown in FIG. 1, the resin 3 is not only aligned on both sides of the joint portion 2 but also between the films when the films 1 are overlapped, and thus the alignment is not performed. FIG. 5 shows that both sides of the joint portion 2 at both end portions of the plastic film 1 are half-etched in order to eliminate the step difference of the joint portion 2 as shown in FIG. It is joined by butting.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a state in which fine holes are formed in the plastic film 1 for obtaining the tubular article of the present invention. As shown in FIGS. It may be slit-shaped or circular.

When the tubular article of the present invention is used as a fixing belt for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, a fluororesin layer having a thickness of about 1 to 20 μm is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular article obtained as described above. The thickness is preferably formed. Examples of such a fluororesin layer include commercially available polytetrafluoroethylene resin (PTFE) and tetrafluoroethylene / hexafluoropropylene copolymer resin (FE
P), a tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer resin (PFA) or the like in solution (including dispersion) is formed by a method such as coating, spraying or dipping.

The use of a solution containing a conductive substance as the fluororesin solution is effective and preferable when the obtained tubular product is used as a fixing belt for a copying machine or the like. Examples of the conductive substance include conductive powders such as carbon, graphite and metal powders, and organic compounds and inorganic compounds having conductivity, and it is particularly preferable to use conductive powders such as carbon, graphite and metal powders. .. The content of the conductive substance is preferably set in the range of 0.5 to 50% by weight in the fluororesin layer.

[0017]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be shown below and described more specifically.

Example 1 A polyimide film (manufactured by Toray DuPont Co., Ltd., trade name Kapton H, thickness 25 μm) was cut into a width of 30 cm and a length of 1 m, and a diameter 50 was measured at 5 mm from both ends in the length direction.
About 67,000 through-holes having a diameter of 100 μm were formed at one end at a pitch of 100 μm using an argon-fluorine excimer laser. The aperture ratio was about 8.8%.

Then, both ends are overlapped and sandwiched by a polyether sulfone film (thickness 20 μm) so that the opening becomes a joint, and hot press 290 is performed.
The polyimide tubular product having a diameter of about 32 cm shown in FIG. 1 was produced by thermocompression bonding under conditions of 10 ° C. and 10 kg / cm ² . The thickness of the joint portion of the obtained tubular product was 67 μm, and a tensile test (JI
As a result of performing SK-6850), the breaking strength was 7 kg / 1 cm width.

Comparative Example 1 A tubular article was produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that no through hole was formed. As a result of performing a tensile test on the obtained tubular product, the breaking strength was 1.6 kg / cm width.

Example 2 A polyimide film (manufactured by Ube Industries, Ltd., trade name Upilex S, thickness 50 μm) was cut into a width of 50 cm and a length of 2 m, and a diameter of 1 at 10 mm from both ends in the length direction.
About 125,000 through-holes of 00 μm were formed at one end at a pitch of 100 μm using a krypton-fluorine excimer laser. The aperture ratio was about 19.6%.

Then, in order to reduce the step difference after joining the opening, both sides of the polyimide film at the opening are half-etched by 10 μm and the portions are butted to each other to make a polyetherimide film (30 cm × 2 c).
m, thickness 30 μm) and 310 by hot pressing
The polyimide tubular product having a diameter of about 64 cm shown in FIG. 5 was produced by thermocompression bonding under conditions of 20 ° C. and 20 kg / cm ² . The thickness of the joint portion of the obtained tubular product was 55 μm, and a tensile test (JI
As a result of carrying out (according to SK-6850), the breaking strength was 13.5 kg / 1 cm width.

Comparative Example 2 A tubular article was produced in the same manner as in Example 2 except that no through hole was formed. As a result of performing a tensile test on the obtained tubular product, the resin and the polyimide film were not adhered to each other at the joint portion, and they were easily peeled off to make measurement impossible.

Example 3 A fluororesin solution was spray-coated on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular article obtained in Example 1 and air-dried for 10 minutes at 100 ° C. for 1 minute.
After heating for 0 minutes at 100 ° C. for 5 minutes, a tubular product having a uniform fluororesin layer (thickness 5 μm) on the outer peripheral surface was obtained. When this tubular product was used as a fixing belt of an image forming apparatus, an image of good quality could be obtained.

[0025]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY As described above, the tubular article of the present invention is formed by joining both ends of a plastic film in a tubular shape, and is provided with fine holes in the joining section and is filled with resin. And By making the joint portion have such a structure, the strength of the joint portion is improved, and a tubular article having various inner diameters according to the purpose can be provided. In particular, when using a polyimide film for the plastic film, while exhibiting excellent heat resistance, by subjecting the plastic film surface of the joint to processing such as half etching, it is possible to make a tubular article with less steps, It is suitable as a fixing belt for an image forming apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view in the vicinity of a joint portion of a tubular article of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing another joining mode of the tubular article of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view in the vicinity of a joint showing another joint mode of the tubular article of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view in the vicinity of a joint showing another joint mode of the tubular article of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view in the vicinity of a joint showing another joint mode of the tubular article of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an aspect of fine pores formed in a plastic film constituting the tubular article of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 plastic film 2 joint 3 resin

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location // B29D 23/00 7344-4F B29L 23:00 4F

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A tubular article obtained by joining plastic films into a tubular shape, wherein a large number of fine holes provided on the film surface are filled with resin at the joining section of the tubular article. .. 2. A tubular article having a fluororesin layer formed on the outer peripheral surface of the tubular article according to claim 1. 3. A step of forming a large number of fine holes in opposite end areas of a plastic film, a step of superposing or abutting the areas in which the fine holes are formed, and a top and bottom of the area are sandwiched by a resin film. A method for manufacturing a tubular article, which comprises a step of adhering the resin film, and a step of filling the resin into the fine holes by heating and pressing the resin film to join both ends of the film. 4. The method for producing a tubular article according to claim 3, further comprising the step of forming a fluororesin layer on the outer peripheral surface of the obtained tubular article.