JPH063795A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image forming device capable of preventing the soiling of an image and a noise caused by the transfer of a broken capsule wall and microcapsule toner hardened and not contributing to develop to an image receiving paper side, with a simple constitution. CONSTITUTION:A transfer roller for pressure development 62 pressurizing the microcapsule toner 1 coated on an intermediate belt 38, to execute development, is provided with an outside surface part 64 poor in wetness with respect to an included material including a color material, and a fine hole part 63 good in the wetness.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a microcapsule which contains at least a coloring material such as a leuco dye, a colored dye or a pigment as an encapsulation, and whose mechanical strength changes in response to light. It relates to the copying machines and printers used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a photosensitive medium coated with microcapsules containing a dye precursor and a photocurable substance is exposed on the basis of image information, and the microcapsules are cured to form a chemical latent image on the photosensitive medium. Then, the image receiving paper on which the color developing agent which reacts with the dye precursor and develops color in advance and the photosensitive medium are superposed and pressed, and the chemical latent image is developed by pressure to form an image receiving paper. An image forming apparatus of a type that fixes an image is known.

As a type of photo-curing, there is a method of obtaining a chemical latent image by photo-polymerizing and curing the microcapsules by using a photo-polymerization initiator and a polymerizable compound and irradiating light according to image information. It is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 63-316038. The progress of the photoreaction is determined by an initiator that generates a reactive species such as a radical upon irradiation with light, and a wavelength that is added for advancing the photoreaction by absorbing light of a predetermined wavelength and transmitting the energy to the initiator. It is carried by a sensitizer.

Further, as a method for improving the sensitivity of photopolymerization and curing by improving the above-mentioned constitution, a photosensitive silver halide, a reducing agent and a polymerizable compound are used, and the photosensitive halogen is irradiated by irradiation of light according to image information. There is a method in which a latent image nucleus is formed on silver halide and then heat-polymerized and cured by heating to obtain a chemical latent image, for example, JP-A-61-278849 and JP-A-62-2.
It is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 32652 and the like.

In any of the above image forming apparatuses,
Image formation was possible only on a special paper having a developer layer on the surface.

As a different example of the image forming apparatus using the above-mentioned photosensitive medium, the present applicant has overlaid the photosensitive medium on which the above-mentioned chemical latent image is formed and the image receiving paper which is plain paper with the developer layer in the middle. We have devised a device that pressurizes together and forms an image on plain paper. Further, an image forming apparatus using a photosensitive medium carrying microcapsules containing a colored dye instead of the dye precursor is disclosed in JP-A-62-232652.

However, in any of the above-mentioned image forming apparatuses, the photosensitive medium used is a plastic film such as PET as a support, and a binder such as PVA is dissolved in an appropriate solvent on the surface of the support. A photosensitive medium was prepared by coating a microcapsule slurry in which photosensitive microcapsules were dispersed in a binder aqueous solution, and drying this to fix the photosensitive microcapsules on a support.

This photosensitive medium is collected after use and discarded in a lump, or only the used portion is cut and discarded each time an image is formed. Therefore, the support, which is not necessary for forming an image, which is a plastic film, is consumed, resulting in a high cost of consumables and a high image forming cost.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the applicant of the present invention converts a photosensitive microcapsule into a toner, and coats it on a support by an image forming process such as a well-known electrophotographic method. An image forming apparatus having such a structure that only one is consumed is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-124919.

In the above image forming apparatus, image formation is performed as follows.

First, triboelectrically charged photosensitive microcapsule toner is applied onto a support by flying using a DC electric field.

Next, the microcapsule toner coated on the support is irradiated with light according to the image information to photopolymerize and cure the microcapsule toner according to the image information.

Then, the dye / pigment is transferred to the transfer medium side together with the inclusion by applying pressure to the transfer medium which temporarily supports the inclusion, and the capsule is transferred to the transfer medium (abbreviated as abbreviation). All the microcapsule toners that have hardened and did not contribute to color development due to curing are left on the support, and are removed later by a cleaner or the like.

Then, an image receiving paper is superposed on the transfer medium carrying the inclusions, and the inclusions carried on the transfer medium are retransferred to the image receiving paper side by using an action such as pressing or heating. Thus, the desired image is formed on the image receiving paper.

[0015]

However, in the conventional image forming apparatus as described above, the inclusions such as the coloring material and the unnecessary substances such as the hardened capsule and the broken capsule wall are well separated during the pressure development. It is not possible to do so, and unnecessary materials for image formation such as broken capsule walls that should remain on the support and microcapsule toner that did not contribute to color development due to curing are erroneously transferred to the transfer medium. There is a problem in that the image formed by being transferred to the side causes dirt and noise.

The cause of this is that an adhesive force such as a liquid-crosslinking force is generated between the transfer medium and the unnecessary substance through the inclusions carried on the transfer medium, and this adhesive force causes the adhesive substance to be removed. One reason is that some of them accidentally adhere to the transfer medium.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the outer surface of the transfer medium is made of a material having a poor wettability with respect to the inclusion or in a surface-treated state, and further the inclusion is included. By using a transfer medium having a structure in which fine pores with good wettability are provided, it is possible to improve the separation failure between the inclusions such as the coloring material during the pressure development and the unnecessary substances such as the cured capsule and the broken capsule wall, An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing image stains and noise with a simple configuration.

[0018]

In order to achieve this object, an image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises an inclusion material containing at least a coloring material such as a leuco dye, a colored dye or a pigment, and a polymerizable substance, a polymer, etc. The microcapsule toner composed of the resin or the wall member containing an inorganic substance as a main component is applied to the support, the microcapsule toner is destroyed, and the inclusion is leaked onto the surface of the transfer member. In an image forming apparatus for forming an image on an image receiving material by transferring the formed inclusion on the image receiving material, the transfer member includes an outer surface portion having poor wettability with the inclusion and the inclusion. It is characterized in that it has a fine pore portion having good wettability.

[0019]

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, after destroying the microcapsule toner coated on the support to leak the inclusions containing the coloring material, the transfer member is
Since the outer surface portion having poor wettability with respect to the inclusions and the fine pore portion having good wettability with respect to the inclusions are provided, the inclusions are carried only in the fine pore portions, and the outer surface portion Since the inclusions can be in a state in which they are not attached, the inclusions and inclusions do not occur without causing the attachment phenomenon of the inclusions such as the hardened capsule and the broken capsule wall through the inclusions on the outer surface. Can be well separated from each other, and therefore stains, noises, etc. will not occur on the image receiving paper.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a configuration showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus embodying the present invention.

The microcapsule toner 1 used in the image forming apparatus 10 of the embodiment is composed of a wall material portion and a liquid component which is an inclusion thereof, and the liquid component cures in response to at least a predetermined wavelength. It contains a photocurable substance and a pigment as a coloring material.

Examples of the photo-curable substance include polymerizable compounds such as N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone, bisphenol A diacrylate and methacrylate, tripropylene glycol diacrylate and methacrylate, polyethylene glycol diacrylate and methacrylate, penta. Examples thereof include erythritol triacrylate and methacrylate, dipentaerythritol hexaacrylate and methacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate and methacrylate, oligoester acrylate and methacrylate and the like. Further, these polymerizable compounds may be used alone or as a mixture of two or more kinds. Usually, these polymerizable compounds and a photopolymerization initiator are used in combination.

The photopolymerization initiator is one which is sensitive to light and initiates the polymerization of the resin. For example, benzoyl alkyl ethers such as benzophenone and benzoyl isopropyl ether, Michler's ketone, metal arene compounds,
2,4-diethylthioxanthone and the like can be mentioned.

The microcapsule toner 1 having the above structure is
It can be produced by a method already known in the art. For example, US Pat. No. 2,800
No. 457, No. 2800458, etc., a method for phase separation from an aqueous solution, Japanese Patent Publication No. 38-1974,
In-situ by the interfacial polymerization method as shown in JP-A-42-446, JP-A-42-771 and the like, and the polymerization of monomers shown in JP-B-36-9168 and JP-A-51-9079. Method and the melt dispersion cooling method shown in British Patent Nos. 952807 and 965074, but are not limited thereto.

Further, according to the above-mentioned manufacturing method, the particle size of the microcapsule toner 1 having the above-mentioned structure is several to 100 μm.
It can be arbitrarily adjusted within the range of m.

As a material for forming the wall material, gelatin, gum arabic, starch, sodium alginate, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene, polyamide, polyester, polyurethane, polyurea, polyurethane,
Polystyrene, nitrocellulose, ethyl cellulose,
Methyl cellulose, melamine-formaldehyde resin,
A urea-formaldehyde resin or the like is used, but a material that allows sufficient light transmission is more preferable.

The image forming apparatus 10 of the embodiment is an image forming apparatus 1 described in the following embodiment according to an image information signal.
A control unit 12 is provided to control all movable parts and light emitting parts (hereinafter abbreviated as movable parts) in 0 so as to operate properly for image formation.

The control unit 12 sends a command to a driver, a switch or the like connected to the movable part or the like while monitoring the operating conditions of the movable part or the like with a sensor or the like to control the movable part or the like. is doing.

A document supporting glass 16 is attached to the upper surface of a casing 14 of the image forming apparatus 10. The document is sandwiched between the document support glass 16 and the document retainer 18 and held so that the image surface faces downward.

Below the document supporting glass 16, a light source lamp 20 for illuminating the document, a solid-state image pickup device 22 for reading the reflected light from the document, and reflected light from the document on the solid-state image pickup device. A scanner unit 28 having an optical system 24 for forming an image and an arithmetic element 26 for converting an electric signal generated by forming an image of light according to image information on the solid-state image pickup device into an image information signal. Is equipped with.

When a copy start button (not shown) is pressed, the scanner unit 28 moves in the direction of arrow 30 by a motor (not shown) or the like in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 12 to move the original document. The reading operation is performed and the read image information signal is transferred to the control unit 12.

The microcapsule toner 1 is stored in the toner case 32 while being shielded from light. The supply roller 34 has a cylindrical shape with a diameter of about 10 mm and is made of urethane sponge. The charging blade 35 is
The carrying roller 36 is a nylon resin plate material having a thickness of about 1 to 2 mm, and a metal core rod having a diameter of about 25 mm is coated with a nylon resin having a thickness of about 200 to 1000 μm. The metal core rod of the carrying roller 36 is grounded.

The supply roller 34 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 1 in response to a command from the control unit 12, and the carrier roller 36 also rotates in the direction of arrow 37.

By rotating the supply roller 34, the microcapsule toner 1 is pulled out from the toner case 32, and at this time, the charging blade 35 and the microcapsule toner 1 rub against each other, and the microcapsule toner 1 is charged.

The intermediate belt 38 is made of silicon sponge having excellent releasability and is wound around a metal intermediate belt driving roller 40 and a high pressure roller 42, and the intermediate belt controlled by the control unit 12 is used. It is driven in the direction of arrow 44 by the drive roller 40. The high-pressure roller 42 has a polarity opposite to the charging polarity of the microcapsule toner 1 of 1 kV in order to fly the triboelectrically charged microcapsule toner 1 from the carrying roller 36 and apply the microcapsule toner 1 onto the intermediate belt 38. Apply a high DC voltage.

The supply roller 34 and the carrying roller 36 are always in friction with each other, and due to this friction, the charging blade 35 is placed on the surface of the carrying roller 36 charged to the opposite polarity to the microcapsule toner 1. The frictionally charged microcapsule toner 1 is electrostatically adsorbed and carried.

The microcapsule toner 1 carried on the carrying roller 36 is acted on by the electric field generated between the core bar of the carrying roller 36 and the high-pressure roller 42, which are grounded, so that the intermediate belt 38 is electrostatically applied.

As described above, the microcapsule toner 1 applied on the intermediate belt 38 is exposed by the exposure source 58 controlled by the control unit 12 according to the image information read by the scanner section 28, Subsequently, pressure is applied by the compression transfer roller 62 rotating in the direction of arrow 60.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing details of the periphery of the compression transfer roller 62. This press transfer roller 6
No. 2 has a diameter and a depth which are sufficiently smaller than the size of the microcapsule toner 1.
The fine pores 63 having an inner surface having good wettability with respect to the inclusion 3 are formed, while the outer surface portions 64 other than the fine pores 63 have poor wettability with respect to the inclusion 3. Is configured.

Therefore, at the time of compression, the fine hole portion 63
The unnecessary materials 2 such as the destroyed wall material of the microcapsule toner 1 and the cured product do not enter therein, and the inclusion 3 leaked from the uncured microcapsule toner 1 can enter the fine pores 63. On the other hand, the outer surface portion 64 has the inclusion 3
Does not adhere to the outer surface 64 through the inner inclusion 3.
The adhesion of the unwanted matter 2 to the outer surface portion 64 due to the adhesiveness of the unwanted matter 2 does not occur.

The compression transfer roller 62 having the above structure
Is a thin film made of a material having good wettability with respect to the inclusion 3 such as metal, ceramic, or resin, or a material having poor wettability with respect to the inclusion 3 such as fluororesin on the surface of the cylindrical rod. Is coated, and an excimer laser or the like is radiated on the coating to perform laser engraving, whereby the fine pores 63 having good wettability with respect to the inclusion 3 and the outer surface portion 64 having poor wettability with respect to the inclusion 3 are formed. It is possible to fabricate a structure having and. Further, the manufacturing method of the press transfer roller 62 is not limited to the above-mentioned method.

As described above, only the microcapsule toner 1 which has not been photopolymerized and cured at the time of pressing is destroyed, and the inclusion 3 is carried in the fine holes 63 formed on the pressing transfer roller 62. It

The unnecessary material 2 such as the wall material of the microcapsule toner 1 and the cured material remaining on the intermediate belt 38 after the pressure development is removed by sliding with the cleaning brush 65, and is removed in the dust box 66. Be thrown away.

As described above, it is possible to favorably separate the inclusions containing the coloring material and the unnecessary materials such as the wall material and the cured material of the microcapsule toner 1.

The image receiving paper 70 stored in the image receiving paper cassette 68 is fed out by the paper feed roller 72, and the arrow 78 is drawn by the paper guide 74 and the paper guide roller 76.
Is guided in the gap between the nip roller 80 rotating in the direction of and the press transfer roller 62, and is nipped and pressed by the nip roller 80 and the press transfer roller 62,
The inclusion 3 carried on the compression transfer roller 62 is transferred onto the image receiving paper 70 to form an image on the image receiving paper 70.

The image receiving paper 70 having the formed image.
Is guided by the paper discharge roller 82 and discharged to the exit tray 84.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described in detail above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

For example, although static electricity and gravity were used as the means for applying the microcapsule toner, other mechanical / chemical actions such as magnetism and physical adsorption may be used.

Further, as the means for destroying the microcapsule toner, pressure is used in this embodiment, but electromagnetic force or the like may be used.

[0051]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, unnecessary substances such as broken capsule walls and microcapsule toners that did not contribute to coloring by curing and inclusions such as coloring materials. Can be favorably separated, and therefore, it is possible to prevent image stains and noise caused by the transfer of unwanted matter to the image receiving paper side with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a configuration showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the periphery of a compression transfer roller 62 in the image forming apparatus of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Microcapsule Toner 2 Unnecessary substances such as wall material and cured product of destroyed Microcapsule Toner 1 3 Inclusions leaked from uncured Microcapsule Toner 1 38 Intermediate belt 42 High pressure roller 62 Pressure transfer roller 63 Fine hole 64 outer surface 80 nip roller

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A microcapsule composed of an inclusion containing at least a coloring material such as a leuco dye, a colored dye or a pigment and a polymerizable substance, and a wall member containing a resin such as a polymer or an inorganic substance as a main component. An image is formed on an image receiving material by applying toner to a support, destroying the microcapsule toner, causing the inclusion to leak onto the surface of the transfer member, and transferring the leaked inclusion onto the image receiving material. In this image forming apparatus, the transfer member is provided with an outer surface portion having poor wettability with respect to the inclusion and a fine pore portion having good wettability with respect to the inclusion. Image forming apparatus.