JPH0812476B2 - Heat fixing method and toner for fixing - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is used in a fixing method and a fixing method for fixing a visible image formed by a toner to a recording material in electrophotography, electrostatic printing, magnetic recording and the like. Related to toner.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as a method of fixing the toner visible image on the recording material, an unfixed toner visualized image is formed by a heating roller maintained at a predetermined temperature and a pressure roller having an elastic layer in pressure contact with the heating roller. A heat roll fixing method is widely used in which a recording material holding a sheet is heated while being nipped and conveyed.

Further, a belt fixing method described in USP 3,578,797 is known.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above-described thermal roll fixing which has been frequently used, (1) there is a so-called wait time during which the image forming operation is prohibited until the heat roller reaches a predetermined temperature.

(2) The heating roller is maintained at an optimum temperature in order to prevent fixing failure and transfer of toner to the heating roller due to fluctuations in the temperature of the heating roller due to passage of a recording material or other external factors, so-called offset phenomenon. Must be,
For this purpose, it is necessary to increase the heat capacity of the heating roller or the heating body, which requires a large amount of electric power and causes a temperature rise inside the image forming apparatus.

(3) Since the roller has a constant temperature, when the recording material passes through the heating roller and is discharged, the recording material and the toner on the recording material are cooled slowly, so that the toner has a high adhesiveness, In combination with the curvature of the sheet, a paper jam may occur due to the offset or the recording material being rolled up.

(4) Since the high-temperature heating roller is in direct contact with the hand, there is a problem in safety or a protective member is required.

Further, in the belt fixing method described in USP 3,578,797, the above problems (1) and (2) of the heat roll fixing have not been fundamentally solved.

In Japanese Patent Application No. 62-147884 previously proposed by the present applicant, a toner image is heated through a heat-resistant sheet that is moved by a low-heat-capacity heating element that is energized and heated in a pulse shape, and is fixed on a recording material. An image forming apparatus having a short wait time and low power consumption is proposed by the fixing device. Similarly, in Japanese Patent Application No. 63-12069 previously proposed by the applicant of the present invention, in a fixing device in which a visible image of toner is heat-fixed to a recording material via a heat-resistant sheet, the heat-resistant sheet has a heat-resistant layer. A fixing device has been proposed that effectively prevents the offset phenomenon by having a release layer or a low resistance layer.

However, in order to realize a fixing method with a short wait time and low power consumption while achieving excellent fixing properties of toner image on a recording material, prevention of offset, etc., in addition to the above-mentioned fixing device, It depends largely on the characteristics of the toner.

[Object of the Invention]

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems by substantially not having a wait time or in an extremely short time, low power consumption, no offset phenomenon, and good fixing of a toner image on a recording material. The present invention provides a novel heat fixing method.

Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a heat fixing toner which is preferably used in the heat fixing method provided in the present invention.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a heat fixing method which does not require a heat resistant special bearing by not using a high temperature rotating roller.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a heat fixing method which is excellent in safety or does not require a protective member by having a fixing device structure in which the high temperature body is not directly touched.

[Means for solving problems]

In the present invention, a heating member fixedly supporting a toner containing a polymer obtained by reacting a polymer formed from at least one α, β-unsaturated ethylenic monomer with an organometallic compound is used. And a pressure member that is in pressure contact with the heating member and presses the recording material into contact with the heating member via a film, and the developed image of the toner is heat-fixed on the recording material, and the toner is measured by DSC. By applying to a method of peeling the film from the toner fixing surface at a temperature higher than the maximum value of the endothermic peak by 30 ° C. or higher, a heating and fixing method which solves the above-mentioned problems in the conventional fixing method is proposed. There is.

[Outline of Invention]

The present invention relates to a method of heating and fixing a visible image of a toner on a recording material, wherein the toner is obtained by reacting a polymer obtained by polymerizing at least one α, β-unsaturated ethylenic monomer with an organometallic compound. The toner is visualized by a fixedly supported heating body containing the obtained polymer, and a pressing member that is brought into pressure contact with the heating body and brings the recording material into close contact with the heating body via a film. Heat and fix the image on the recording material,
The present invention relates to a heat fixing method, characterized in that the film is peeled from the fixing surface of the toner at a temperature higher by 30 ° C. or more than the maximum value of the endothermic peak of the toner measured by DSC.

In the present invention, the toner image is heat-fixed on the recording material by a fixedly supported heating element and a pressing member which is in pressure contact with the heating element and brings the recording material into close contact with the heating element through a film. However, in the toner used in the fixing method in which the film is peeled from the fixing surface of the toner at a temperature 30 ° C. or more higher than the maximum value of the endothermic peak of the toner measured by DSC, the toner is at least α, β. And a heat fixing toner containing a polymer obtained by reacting a polymer obtained by polymerizing one or more unsaturated ethylenic monomers with an organometallic compound.

[Detailed Description of the Invention]

The constitutional feature of the present invention is that the toner applied in the present invention comprises a polymer obtained by reacting a polymer composed of at least one or more α, β-unsaturated ethylenic monomers with an organometallic compound. It is to contain. In such a toner, the binder resin reacts with the organometallic compound to be in a state of being crosslinked to a certain degree, and the offset resistance is remarkably improved. However, the fixing temperature is almost the same as that when the toner is prepared by using the corresponding unreacted polymer. That is, by using a polymer having a slight cross-linking with an organometallic compound, it is possible to improve the offset resistance while overcoming the disadvantage that a large amount of energy is required for fixing when the cross-linked polymer is used. Becomes In addition, the mechanical properties at room temperature are also improved, impact resistance,
The toughness is excellent, and as a result, the charging characteristics are stabilized and the phenomenon characteristics as a toner are improved.

Examples of the α, β-unsaturated ethylenic monomer constituting the toner applied to the present invention include styrene and α-
Styrene such as methyl styrene and p-chlorostyrene and its substitution products, acrylic acid, methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, dodecyl acrylate,
Monocarboxylic acids having double bonds such as actyl acrylate, phenyl acrylate, methacrylic acid, methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate, octyl methacrylate, acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, acrylamide, etc. or their substitution products. , A dicarboxylic acid having a double bond such as maleic acid, butyl maleate, methyl maleate, dimethyl maleate and the like, and substituted products thereof, for example vinyl esters such as vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate, vinyl benzoate and the like, For example, vinyl ketones such as vinyl methyl ketone and vinyl exyl ketone, and vinyl monomers such as vinyl methyl ether, vinyl ethyl ether, vinyl isobutyl ether and other vinyl monomers, either alone or in combination. Above it is used.

The polymer which reacts with the organometallic compound in the present invention contains at least a monomer containing a carboxyl group, a carbonyl group, an ether group, an amino group, an amide group, α, β
-It is obtained by polymerizing one or more unsaturated ethylenic monomers by a polymerization method such as a solution polymerization method, an emulsion polymerization method, a suspension polymerization method or a bulk polymerization method.

The polymer that reacts with the organometallic compound in the present invention generally includes a carboxyl group, a carbonyl group, an ether group, a thioether group, an amino group, an amide group, and the like.
Among these, the polymer containing a carboxyl group shows the best reactivity. Examples of the carboxyl group-containing monomer for synthesizing the vinyl polymer include acrylic acid,
Acrylic acid such as methacrylic acid, α-ethylacrylic acid and crotonic acid and its α- or β-alkyl derivative, unsaturated dicarboxylic acid such as fumaric acid, maleic acid and citraconic acid and its monoester derivative are available. A desired polymer can be prepared by copolymerizing these monomers, alone or in combination, with the other α, β-unsaturated ethylenic monomer. The ratio of the carboxyl group-containing monomer contained in the polymer is 0.1 to 3
0% by weight gives good results, and in the range of 0.5 to 20% by weight, particularly favorable results are obtained.

As the organometallic compound used in the present invention, those containing the following metal ions can be used, and the metal ions include metal ions having a valence of 1 or more. Suitable monovalent metal ions include Na ⁺ , Li ⁺ , Cs ⁺ , Ag ⁺ , Hg ⁺ , Cu ^+, etc. Suitable divalent metal ions are Be ²⁺ , Mg ²⁺ , Ca ²⁺ , Hg ^{2 +} ,
Sr ²⁺ , Pb ²⁺ , Fe ²⁺ , Co ²⁺ , Ni ²⁺ , Zn ^2+, etc. In addition, suitable trivalent metal ions include Al ³⁺ , Sc ₃₊ , Fi ³⁺ , Co
³⁺ , Ni ³⁺ , Cr ³⁺ , Y ^3+, etc. Among the above metal ion compounds, the more decomposable ones give better results. It is presumed that this is because the decomposable one more easily binds the metal ion in the compound to the carboxyl group in the polymer. The organometallic compound has excellent compatibility and dispersibility with the polymer, and since crosslinking by the metal ions proceeds more uniformly in the polymer, it gives more excellent results.
Further, among the above organometallic compounds, in particular,
Those containing an organic compound rich in vaporization and sublimation as a ligand or a counter ion are useful. Among the organic compounds that form a coordination or counterion with a metal ion, those having the above-mentioned properties include, for example, salicylic acid, salicylamide, salicylamine, salicylaldehyde, salicylosalicylic acid, ditersialybutylsalicylic acid, and the like. Salicylic acid and its derivatives such as acetylacetone,
There are β-diketones such as propionacetone.

In the present invention, most of the organometallic compounds do not react with the polymer. Therefore, the amount of the organometallic compound to be contained in the toner of the present invention is required in excess, and it depends on the kind of the compound.
It is preferable that 0.01 to 20 parts by weight is contained with respect to 100 parts by weight of the polymer, including the substantially unreacted metal compound, and 0.
Particularly good results are obtained with 1 to 10 parts by weight.

The reaction between the vinyl polymer and the metal compound in the present invention is
There are a method of reacting the above metal compound when kneading with a reactive polymer in a roll mill, a method of adding the metal compound to a hot xylene solution of the reactive polymer and reacting. Taking the post-treatment step after the reaction into consideration, the reaction by the melt kneading method is most suitable for the present invention. After the reaction, the polymer reaction product is first prepared to serve as a binder, and then the toner may be prepared together with other toner materials, or the reaction itself may be carried out during the heating and kneading of the toner material during the toner manufacturing process. Is also good.

Further, the toner of the present invention contains the above-mentioned polymer as a main resin component, and other polymers and resins can be mixed and used as necessary. Other resins that can be mixed and used include vinyl-based polymers composed of monomers that do not contain a carboxy group as a monomer component and those that do not contain vinyl monomers as a monomer component,
For example, monomers of styrene such as polystyrene, poly-p-chlorostyrene, and polyvinyltoluene, and their substitution products; styrene-p-chlorostyrene copolymers, styrene-vinyltoluene copolymers, styrene-vinylnaphthalene copolymers. , Styrene-acrylic acid ester copolymer,
Styrene-methacrylic acid ester copolymer, styrene-
α-Chloromethyl methacrylate copolymer, styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, styrene-vinyl methyl ether copolymer, styrene-vinyl ethyl ether copolymer, styrene-vinyl methyl ketone copolymer, styrene-butadiene copolymer , Styrene-isoprene copolymer, styrene-acrylonitrile-indene copolymer and other styrene-based copolymers; polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, phenol resin, natural resin modified phenol resin, natural resin modified maleic acid resin, acrylic acid Ester resin, methacrylic acid ester resin, polyvinyl acetate, silicone resin, polyester resin, polyurethane, polyamide resin, furan resin, epoxy resin,
Xylene resin, polyvinyl butylol, terpene resin,
Chloroindene resin, petroleum resin, etc. can be used.

Along with the above resin polymer, the toner of the present invention may contain a release agent, for example, polyfluorinated ethylene, fluororesin, fluorocarbon oil, silicone oil, low molecular weight polyethylene, low molecular weight polypropylene, etc. The toner may be mixed in an addition amount of 0.1 to 10% by weight.

When the toner to be used is used as a magnetic toner containing magnetic fine particles, the magnetic fine particles may be magnetic or magnetizable material, for example, iron, manganese, nickel, cobalt, metal such as chromium, magnetite,
There are hematite, various ferrites, manganese alloys, other ferromagnetic alloys, etc., and these have an average particle size of about 0.05 to 5μ.
The fine powder of can be used. The amount of the magnetic fine particles contained in the magnetic toner is preferably 15 to 70% by weight (more preferably 25 to 45% by weight) based on the total weight of the magnetic toner.

Further, various substances can be added to the toner used in the present invention for the purpose of controlling coloring and charge. For example, carbon black, iron black, graphite, nigrosine, metal complex of monoazo dye, ultramarine blue, phthalocyanine blue,
Examples include Hansa Yellow, Benzene Yellow, and various quinacridone lake pigments.

Alternatively, colloidal silica or the like as a fluidity improver may be contained in the toner in an amount of 10 to 40% by weight. Of course, the fluidity improver may be used by being mixed with the outside of the toner, and the addition amount at that time is 0.2 to 5% by weight (based on the weight of the toner).

The toner used in the heat fixing method of the present invention is DS
As a result of measuring with C in the measuring range from 10 ° C to 200 ° C, the toner having the maximum value of the endothermic peak which appears first is 40 ° C to 120 ° C is preferable, and the toner showing the characteristic of 55 ° C to 100 ° C is more preferable. preferable.

Further, the temperature at which the film is peeled off from the toner fixing surface is 30 ° C. or more (more preferably 40 to 40 ° C.) higher than the endothermic temperature.
(140 ° C.) It is preferable to peel under high conditions.

The maximum value of the endothermic peak in the present invention is calculated according to ASTM D-3418-82. In particular,
10 to 15 mg of toner is sampled from room temperature to 200 ° C under a nitrogen atmosphere.
After heating at a heating rate of 10 ° C / min until the temperature is maintained at 200 ° C for 10 minutes and then rapidly cooled, the toner is pretreated in advance, and then held at 10 ° C for 10 minutes again. Measure at a heating rate of min to 200 ℃. Generally, the data shown in FIG. 1 is obtained, and the maximum value of the endothermic peak that appears first is defined as the endothermic temperature (T _D ) in the present invention.

In the present invention, the heating element has a smaller heat capacity than the conventional heat roll and has a linear heating portion, and the maximum temperature of the heating portion is preferably 100 to 300 ° C.

Also, the film located between the heating element and the pressure member,
It is preferable that the heat-resistant sheet has a thickness of 1 to 100 μm, and as these heat-resistant sheets, polyester, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PFA having high heat resistance can be used.
(Tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer), PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), polyimide, polyamide, and other polymer sheets, as well as metal sheets such as aluminum, and laminate sheets composed of metal sheets and polymer sheets Is used.

A more preferable film structure is that these heat resistant sheets have a release layer and / or a low resistance layer.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

FIG. 2 (a) shows a structural diagram of the fixing device of this embodiment.

(11) is a low-heat-capacity linear heating element that is fixedly supported by the device. As an example, an alumina substrate (12) with a thickness of 1.0 mm, a width of 10 mm, and a length of 240 mm is coated with a resistance material (13) with a width of 1.0 mm. It is energized from both ends in the longitudinal direction. Energization is a pulsed waveform with a cycle of 20 msec of DC 100 V and is given by changing the pulse width according to the desired temperature and energy release amount controlled by the temperature sensing element (14). The approximate pulse width is
It becomes 0.5msec-5msec. In this way, the fixing film (15) moves in the direction of the arrow in the figure by coming into contact with the heating body (11) whose energy and temperature are controlled. An example of this fixing film is a heat-resistant film with a thickness of 20 μm, such as polyimide, polyetherimide, PES, PFA, and PT on at least the image contact surface side.
10μ of release layer made by adding conductive material to fluorine resin such as FE and PAF
It is an m-coated endless film. Generally, the total thickness is more than 100μ, preferably less than 40μ. The film drive is driven by the drive roller (16) and the driven roller (17) and tensioned to move in the arrow direction without wrinkles.

Reference numeral (18) is a pressure roller having a rubber elastic layer having a good releasability such as silicon rubber, which presses a heating body through a film at a total pressure of 4 to 20 kg and rotates in pressure contact with the film. Transfer material (19)
The unfixed toner (20) on the upper side is guided to the fixing portion by the entrance guide (21) to obtain a fixed image by the above-mentioned heating.

The endless belt has been described above, but as shown in FIG. 2 (b), a sheet feeding shaft (24) and a winding shaft (27) may be used, and the fixing film may be an end film.

Image forming devices include copiers, printers and fax machines.
This is applicable to all fixing devices that form an image using toner such as.

When the temperature detected by the temperature detecting element (14) in the low heating capacity linear heating element (11) is T ₁ , the surface temperature T ₂ of the film (15) facing the resistance material (13) is about 10 than T _1. ~ 30 ° C lower. The film surface temperature T _{3 at} the portion where the film (15) is peeled off from the toner fixing surface is substantially equal to the temperature T ₂ .

Example 1 100 parts by weight of styrene-maleic acid-divinylbenzene copolymer (Mw = 6.4 × 10 ⁴ · copolymerization ratio 95: 5: 0.5), 60 parts by weight of magnetic iron oxide, 4 parts by weight of nigrosine dye, salicylic acid 2 parts by weight of chromium (III) salt was melt-kneaded by a twin-screw kneading extruder, cooled, pulverized by an airflow pulverizer, and classified by an air classifier to obtain a black fine powder having an average particle diameter of about 13 μm. Toner A was obtained by adding and supplying 0.5% by weight of commercially available silica powder to 100 parts by weight of this black fine powder. Further, T _{D of} Toner A was 68 ° C.

This toner A was applied to a commercially available copying machine Canon NP-1215 (manufactured by Canon Inc.), the recording material on which the unfixed image of the toner was formed was taken out, and this was applied to the fixing device shown in FIG. 2 (a). .

In this fixing device, the temperature sensor surface temperature T ₁ of the heating element
Is 200 ° C, the power consumption of the resistance material in the heating part is 150W, the total pressure of the pressure roller is 15Kg, and the pressure roller and film nip are
The fixing treatment speed was set to 3 mm and the fixing speed was set to 100 mm / sec. As the heat-resistant sheet, a polyimide film having a thickness of 20 μm having a low-resistance release layer in which a conductive material was added to PTFE was used on the contact surface with the recording material. At this time, the temperature T ₁
It took about 2 seconds to reach 200 ° C. Further, T ₂ = 182 ° C. and T ₃ = 179 ° C. at this time. A commercially available copying machine paper (54 g / m ² ) was used as the recording material. As a result, there was no offset of the fixing film, and the obtained image had good fixing property and was clear. Further, when this toner A was allowed to stand at a constant temperature of 45 ° C. for 24 hours, the toner fluidity was not deteriorated, and the commercially available copying machine Canon was used as described above.
When applied to NP-1215 (manufactured by Canon Inc.), a sharp and good image was obtained.

[Comparative Example 1] Toner B was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the chromium (III) salt of salicylic acid was not contained.

When this toner B was evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1, the fluidity of the toner B was deteriorated after standing for 24 hours at a constant temperature of 45 ° C., and the obtained image did not have an offset phenomenon. However, so-called fog with a high background density was conspicuous.

[Comparative Example 2] Toner A was evaluated in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a commercially available copying machine Canon NP-1215 (manufactured by Canon Inc.) was removed as a fixing device and used.

This fixing device is a heat roll type fixing device that has a heating body of 900 W inside, and the surface temperature of the heat roller is 200 ° C.
Was set and evaluated. At this time, the surface temperature of the heat roller reached 200 ° C., and the wait time until the fixing standby was about 100 seconds.

The obtained image was almost the same as in Example 1, but the toner offset phenomenon to the heat roller was observed, and this was transferred to the pressure roller, and the backside of the recording material was stained.

Example 2 Styrene / butyl methacrylate-methacrylic acid / divinylbenzene copolymer (Mw = 1.8 × 10 ⁵ , copolymerization ratio 75:22.
5: 2: 0.5) 100 parts by weight, carbon black 4 parts by weight, nigrosine dye 3 parts by weight, acetylacetone iron III 1 part by weight Toner C was obtained from the above materials in the same manner as in Example 1. Two-component developer C was obtained by mixing 1000 g of iron powder. Further, T _{D of} Toner C was 67 ° C. This two-component developer C was applied to a remodeling machine of a commercially available copying machine Canon NP-1215 (manufactured by Canon Inc.) in which a fixing device having the same structure as that used in Example 1 was incorporated, and continuous 50 sheets were obtained. Drawing out. At this time, when the set temperature T ₁ in the temperature measuring element portion of the heating element of the fixing device was set to 180 ° C., the wait time was about 5 seconds. Furthermore, T ₂ =
It was 165 ° C and T ₃ = 163 ° C. As a result of image formation, the obtained image was clear and good, and the fixing property was excellent even after the 50th sheet. During this time, no offset development was observed.

[Comparative Example 3] The toner C in Example 2 was analyzed by gel permeation chromatography. As a result, there was no insoluble matter in the solvent, and the molecular weight Mw was 9.2 x 10 ^5.
Met. Therefore, styrene-butyl methacrylate-methacrylic acid-divinylbenzene copolymer (Mw = 8.9 x 1
0 ^5, copolymerization ratio 75: 22.3: 2: 0.7) with 100 parts by weight of nigrosine dye 3 parts by weight of carbon black 5 parts by weight, to obtain a two-component developer D in the same manner as in Example 2. When the same evaluation as in Example 2 was performed using this two-component developer D, the fixability was inferior to that in Example 2.

Example 3 Styrene / butyl acrylate / monobutyl maleate / divinylbenzene copolymer (Mw = 1.5 × 10 ⁵ , copolymerization ratio)
80: 10: 9.5: 0.5) 60 parts by weight and polystyrene (Mw = 2.3 × 10)
⁵ ) 40 parts by weight and 0.5 parts by weight of acetylacetone iron (III),
3 parts by weight of gold dye, 5 parts by weight of carbon black.

A two-component developer E was obtained from the above materials in the same manner as in Example 2. The toner had a T _{D of} 71 ° C. before being mixed with the carrier. The photoconductor of the modified copying machine used in Example 2 was changed to a selenium drum and applied to a copying machine in which charging conditions were changed, and the same evaluation as in Example 2 was performed.

The obtained image was clear and showed good fixing property up to the 50th sheet. During this time, no toner offset to the fixing film was observed.

Further, the time until the temperature T _{1 of the} temperature measuring element surface of the heating element reaches 180 ° C. and the temperatures T ₂ and T ₃ were almost the same as in Example 2.

[Example 4] Styrene-butyl methacrylate-butyl acrylate-
Acrylic acid-divinylbenzene copolymer (Mw = 2.5 × 1
0 ⁵ , copolymerization ratio 60: 10: 24.5: 5: 0.5) 100 parts by weight was added to xylene parts by weight, dissolved while increasing the temperature, and heated to 120 ° C. To this polymer solution, 1 part by weight of acetylacetonecobalt (III) (decomposition temperature of 310 ° C) was added, and 120 ° C
And reacted for 5 hours. After the reaction, xylene was removed to obtain a polymer.

A two-component blue developer F was obtained in the same manner as in Example 2 from 100 parts by weight of the crosslinked polymer thus obtained and 5 parts by weight of phthalocyanine blue. Further, T _D of the toner before being mixed with the carrier was 67 ° C.

This two-component developer F was applied to the modified copying machine used in Example 3 and evaluated in the same manner as in Example 2. The obtained image was a clear blue image and had good fixability. Also,
During this time, no offset phenomenon was observed.

Further, the time until the temperature T _{1 of the} temperature measuring element surface of the heating element reaches 180 ° C. and the temperatures T ₂ and T ₃ were almost the same as in Example 2.

〔The invention's effect〕

The present invention relates to a heating body fixedly supported by using a toner containing a polymer obtained by reacting a polymer comprising at least one of α, β-unsaturated ethylenic monomers with an organometallic compound, A visible image of the toner is heat-fixed on the recording material by a pressure member that is in pressure contact with the heating body and that makes the recording material adhere to the heating body through a film, and the endothermic peak of the toner measured by DSC 30 above the maximum
By the heat fixing method, which is characterized in that the film is peeled from the toner fixing surface at a temperature higher than 0 ° C., the offset resistance is further improved while sufficiently securing the good fixing property, and the weight is low power consumption. It is intended to provide a heat fixing method in consideration of safety, which enables a quick start with an extremely short time.

Further, according to the present invention, the recording material is heated by a heating member on which a visible image of toner is fixed and supported, and a pressing member which is in pressure contact with the heating member and which brings the recording material into close contact with the heating member via a film. The toner used in the fixing method for fixing contains a polymer obtained by reacting at least one polymer of α, β-unsaturated ethylenic monomers with an organometallic compound, A toner for heat fixing used in the heat fixing method of the present invention, which is further improved in offset resistance while at the same time ensuring sufficient fixability, and is also improved in mechanical / thermal durability and toughness of the toner. It is provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

In the attached drawings, FIG. 1 is a graph showing the endothermic peak of the toner. FIG. 2 (a) is a schematic cross-sectional view of a fixing device for carrying out the fixing method of the present invention, and FIG. 2 (b) is for carrying out the fixing method of another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a schematic sectional view of a fixing device. 11 …… Heating body 12 …… Alumina substrate 13 …… Resistance material 14 …… Temperature measuring element 15 …… Fixing film 16 …… Drive roller 17 …… Driven roller 18 …… Pressure roller 19 …… Recording material 20 …… Undecided Toner image 21 ... Entrance guide

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location G03G 15/20 101 G03G 9/08 (56) Reference JP-A-59-68766 (JP, A) JP-A-59-157678 (JP, A) JP-A-57-178249 (JP, A) JP-A-57-178251 (JP, A) JP-A-57-178250 (JP, A) JP-A-62-295072 (JP, A)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method for heating and fixing a visible image of a toner on a recording material, wherein the toner is obtained by reacting a polymer obtained by polymerizing at least one α, β-unsaturated ethylenic monomer with an organometallic compound. Of the toner obtained by containing the polymer obtained as described above and being fixedly supported, and a pressing member which is in pressure contact with the heating member and which brings the recording material into close contact with the heating member through a film. The visible image is heated and fixed on the recording material, and the DS
A heat fixing method comprising peeling the film from the fixing surface of the toner at a temperature of 30 ° C. or more higher than the maximum value of the endothermic peak of the toner measured by C. 2. The heat fixing method according to claim 1, wherein the fixing film is a heat resistant film having a release layer on the toner fixing surface side. 3. The heating element is a linear heating element having a temperature measuring element and a resistance material in the length direction, and while heating the temperature by the temperature measuring element, energization of a pulse waveform is applied to the resistance material to heat the heating element. The heat fixing method according to claim 1, wherein the body is heated. 4. A visible image of toner is heat-fixed on the recording material by a fixedly supported heating element and a pressing member which is in pressure contact with the heating element and brings the recording material into close contact with the heating element via a film. However, in the toner used in the fixing method in which the film is peeled from the fixing surface of the toner at a temperature 30 ° C. or more higher than the maximum value of the endothermic peak of the toner measured by DSC, the toner is at least α, β. A heat-fixing toner containing a polymer obtained by reacting a polymer obtained by polymerizing one or more unsaturated ethylenic monomers with an organometallic compound.