JPH08160744A - Developing method for non-magnetic one-component developer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a uniform toner layer on a developing sleeve, to prevent the occurrence of scattering and fogging even in the case of small particle size toner and to provide complete developing ability in a non-contact developing system for non-magnetic one-component developer. CONSTITUTION: In this developing method, the non-magnetic one-component developer 3 which contains binding resin, colorant and charge control agent, and whose charge control agent is constituted of at least one of high polymer type charge control agent and pigment type charge control agent is supplied to a developing roller 5, and the thin layer of the developer 3 is supplied to the surface of the roller 5 by a layer regulating member 4a and charge is imparted thereto, whereby the developer 3 flies due to a potential difference between a photoreceptor drum 1 and the roller 5 so as to develop an electrostatic latent image in non-contact with the drum 1 holding the electrostatic latent image and transfer it to a transfer material. Both ends of the layer regulating member 4a are fixed and an abutting angle θ at a contact part between the layer regulating member 4a and the roller 5 is set to 45 deg.±35 deg..

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for developing a non-contact type non-magnetic one-component developer which develops an electrostatic latent image using a non-magnetic toner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in electrophotography, a latent image is electrically formed on a photoconductor, the latent image is developed with toner, and the toner image is transferred to a transfer material such as paper, if necessary. It is fixed by a means such as heating or pressing to obtain a copy. As a developer used in such an electrophotographic method, a two-component developer including a toner and a carrier,
There is a one-component developer having the functions of toner and carrier at the same time. The one-component developer further includes a magnetic one-component developer,
Classified as non-magnetic one-component developer. The two-component developer has excellent electrophotographic characteristics such as transferability, fixability, and environmental resistance, but requires a toner concentration sensor to control the ratio of toner to carrier, and has a short developer life. There is a problem that the stirring mechanism of the developer becomes complicated. On the other hand, the magnetic one-component developer does not require the toner concentration sensor described above, and it is easy to downsize the developing device. However, since it contains magnetic particles, the fixability may be poor. In order to achieve both compactness and simplification of the apparatus and electrophotographic characteristics, a method of using a non-magnetic toner as a one-component developer has been proposed and put into practical use in recent years.

The one-component developing method using a non-magnetic toner includes a contact-type non-magnetic one-component developing method in which a developing roller carrying a developer is brought into contact with a photosensitive member having an electrostatic latent image for development, and a developing roller. There is a non-contact type non-magnetic one-component developing method in which a constant air gap is provided between the photosensitive member and the photoconductor to cause the toner on the developing roller to fly and develop. In the contact-type non-magnetic one-component developing method, the toner on the developing roller and the photoconductor having the electrostatic latent image come into contact with each other, so that the developability is good, but on the other hand, the toner is not only used in the developing device, There is also friction with the photoconductor, which increases the mechanical load on the toner. On the other hand, in the non-contact type non-magnetic one-component developing method, the developer is triboelectrically charged only by the charging member, so that the mechanical load on the developer is small, but in any method, the toner is not stored in the developing device. The mechanical stress received is large, and fusion with the layer regulation member or the like often becomes a problem. Further, in the case of the non-contact type, the developing property is generally inferior to that of the contact type because a void is interposed during the development.
Particularly when the toner has a small particle diameter of several μm, it is difficult to obtain good developability.

In the non-contact type non-magnetic one-component developing method,
As one of the means for improving the developability, it is considered to increase the amount of toner supplied to the developing roller. Generally, the smaller the particle size, the lower the fluidity of the toner.
Especially when a small particle diameter toner of several μm is used, it is an important subject to secure a sufficient toner conveyance amount. In order to solve this problem, in the developing device, a toner replenishing means by rotation of a sponge roller, a fur brush roller or the like is used, and as a more important elemental technique,
The pressing force of the layer regulating member against the developing roller, the contact angle, and the like are included. That is, in order to improve the inflow of toner into the contact portion between the layer regulating member on which the toner layer is formed and the surface of the developing roller, an appropriate contact angle is provided, and at the same time, the pressing force of the layer regulating member is lowered, It suffices to increase the amount of toner conveyed in the direction. However, when the amount of toner conveyed increases, the frequency of contact between the toner and the surface of the layer regulating member and the developing roller decreases, and the toner is insufficiently charged, and problems such as fogging and scattering tend to occur.

On the other hand, as the toner, under the above-mentioned low pressure, even if the frequency of contact between the toner and the layer regulating member and the developing roller decreases, the chargeability is good, and problems such as fog and scattering occur. Is required to occur. Further, in order to improve the image quality, when a small particle diameter toner having an average particle diameter of several μm is used, the specific surface area of the toner becomes large, so that the contact frequency between the toner and the above member is further reduced. The above problems become even more prominent.
Further, when the toner has a small particle size, it becomes difficult to obtain good fluidity as described above, and therefore it is necessary to optimize the contact angle in order to improve the flow of the toner into the layer forming portion. Become. Therefore, in order to obtain sufficient characteristics as a process, it is necessary to consider both the device and the toner.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to obtain a uniform toner layer on a developing sleeve in a non-contact non-magnetic one-component developer developing method, and even a toner having a small particle size does not cause scattering, fog, etc. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for developing a non-magnetic component developer capable of obtaining excellent developability.

[0007]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present inventors have solved the drawbacks of the non-contact type non-magnetic one-component developing method to obtain good developability even if the toner has a small particle size. ,
As a result of diligent studies, the use of a specific layer-regulating member and its contact method and the use of a non-magnetic one-component developer containing a specific charge control agent (hereinafter referred to as toner) has the above-mentioned object. It has been found that a uniform toner layer can be obtained on a developing roller, a fog / scattering does not occur even with a small particle size, and a developing method of a non-magnetic one-component developer having sufficient developability can be provided. Has been completed.

That is, the non-magnetic one-component developer used in the present invention contains a binder resin, a colorant and a charge control agent,
The charge control agent is a polymer type charge control agent (A) shown below.
And at least one pigment type charge control agent (B). (A) A graft polymer (C1) having a polystyrene-based main chain in which 50 mol% or more is styrene, and a graft chain having a skeleton represented by the following general formula (1), and the following general formula (2) A polymer (C2) which is (B) A compound represented by the following general formula (3).

[0009]

[Chemical 4] (In the formula, R ₁ is a C _{11 to} C ₁₇ hydrocarbon group, R ₂ and R ₃ are each independently hydrogen or a C _{1 to} C ₈ hydrocarbon group, or R ₂ and R ₃ are R ₄ may be linked to each other to form an aromatic ring, R ₄ is a C _{1 to} C ₁₂ alkylene group which may contain an ether bond in the group, X ⁻ is an anion, and m is 2 to 100. Represents the integer of.)

[0010]

Embedded image (In the formula, R _{1 to} R ₄ and X ⁻ are the same as in the general formula (1), and n represents an integer of 2 to 100.)

[0011]

[Chemical 6] (In the formula, R ₁ , R ₂ , R ₃ and R ₄ are each independently a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 22 carbon atoms, and 6 to 6 carbon atoms.
It represents 20 unsubstituted or substituted aromatic groups or aralkyl groups having 7 to 20 carbon atoms, and A ⁻ represents molybdate anion, tungstate anion, molybdenum or a heteropolyacid anion containing a tungsten atom. )

In the first developing method of the present invention, the non-magnetic one-component developer is supplied to the developing roller, and a thin layer of the non-magnetic one-component developer is supplied to the surface of the developing roller by a layer regulating member. An electric charge is applied to cause the non-magnetic one-component developer to fly due to the potential difference between the photosensitive drum and the developing roller
A method for developing a non-contact type non-magnetic one-component developer in which a photosensitive drum holding an electrostatic latent image is developed in a non-contact manner and then transferred to a transfer material, wherein both ends of the layer regulating member are Non-magnetic single-component development, which is fixed, and in which the contact angle θ between the tangent to the developing roller at the contact portion between the layer regulating member and the developing roller and the fixing surface of the layer regulating member is 45 ± 35 °. It is a developing method of the agent.

In the second developing method of the present invention, the Young's modulus is 1 by supplying the non-magnetic one-component developer to the developing roller.
A thin layer of the non-magnetic one-component developer is supplied to the surface of the developing roller by a layer regulating member, which is a rubber blade of 20 kgf / cm ² or less, and an electric charge is given to the non-magnetic one-component developer due to the potential difference between the photosensitive drum and the developing roller. A method for developing a non-contact type non-magnetic one-component developer, in which a developer is caused to fly, is developed in a non-contact manner on a photoconductor drum holding an electrostatic latent image, and is then transferred to a transfer material, the layer regulation Both ends of the member are fixed, and the contact angle θ between the tangent to the developing roller and the fixing surface of the layer restricting member at the contact portion between the layer restricting member and the developing roller is 45 ± 35 °. This is a method for developing a non-magnetic one-component developer.

Furthermore, in the third developing method of the present invention, the non-magnetic one-component developer is supplied to the developing roller, and a thin layer of the non-magnetic one-component developer is supplied to the surface of the developing roller by a layer regulating member. At the same time, by applying an electric charge, the non-magnetic one-component developer is caused to fly by the potential difference between the photoconductor drum and the developing roller, the photoconductor drum holding an electrostatic latent image is developed in a non-contact manner, and then transferred to a transfer material. A method for developing a non-contact type non-magnetic one-component developer, wherein the end portions of the layer regulating member are fixed at both ends, and the tangent to the developing roller at the contact portion between the layer regulating member and the developing roller and the layer regulating member. Of the non-magnetic one-component developer having an abutting angle θ of 45 ± 35 ° formed by the fixing surface of No. 1 and a load of the layer regulating member on the developing roller at a linear pressure of 10 to 150 g / cm. Person It is.

The present invention will be described in detail below. The non-magnetic one-component developer used in the present invention contains a binder resin, a colorant and a charge control agent, and the charge control agent comprises a polymer type charge control agent (A) and a pigment type charge shown below. It is composed of at least one control agent (B). (A) A graft polymer (C1) having a polystyrene-based main chain in which 50 mol% or more is styrene and a graft chain having a skeleton represented by the following chemical formula 7, and a polymer (C2 represented by the following chemical formula 8). ) And a mixture consisting of. (B) A compound represented by the following chemical formula 9.

[0016]

[Chemical 7] (In the formula, m represents an integer of 2 to 100.)

[0017]

Embedded image (In the formula, n represents an integer of 2 to 100.)

[0018]

[Chemical 9] In the present invention, the present invention can be carried out by using the graft polymer (C1) alone.

As the binder resin, in addition to the resins which have been conventionally used for powder toners for electrophotography, those which could not be used in view of charge controllability can be used. Examples thereof include polystyrene, polyester, ethylene-vinyl chloride copolymer, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, polyamide, polyethylene, maleic acid resin, xylene resin, and phenol resin, but are not limited thereto.

Any known colorant may be used as the colorant. For example, black colorants such as carbon black, acetylene black, lamp black, channel black, and aniline black, or chromatic colors such as fernal blue, permanent blue, nigrosine blue, phthalocyanine cyan color pigment, rose bengal, xanthene magenta. Examples thereof include, but are not limited to, color dyes, quinacridone-based magenta color pigments, monoazo-based red pigments, and disazo-based yellow pigments. These colorants are appropriately mixed in the binder resin in the range of 1 to 20 parts by weight.

Next, the charge control agent used in the present invention will be described. Polymer type charge control agent (A) used in the present invention
The graft polymer (C1) constituting the polymer is obtained by introducing the graft chain represented by the general formula (1) into the functional group portion of the styrene-based resin having a functional group, and the polystyrene-based main chain is a functional group. Is a styrene-based resin having a functional group portion removed. Examples of the styrene resin having a functional group include a styrene resin having a halomethyl group and a styrene resin having an amino group.

In the general formula (1), C _{11 to} C _{17 of} R ₁
Examples of the hydrocarbon group include an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, an alkylphenyl group and the like. Also R ₂ and R ₃
Hydrogen or a C ₁ -C ₃ hydrocarbon group is hydrogen,
Examples thereof include an alkyl group, an aryl group and an aralkyl group. Examples of the aromatic ring in which R ₂ and R ₃ are connected to each other include a benzo group.

Regarding the molecular weight of the graft polymer (C1), the number average degree of polymerization of the polystyrene main chain, that is, the number average degree of polymerization of the styrene resin is 5 to 500, and the number average degree of polymerization m of the graft chain is 2 to 2. 100.

On the other hand, the polymer type charge control agent (A) used in the present invention includes the graft polymer (C1) and the polymer (C).
It is a mixture consisting of 2). The polymer (C2) is a homopolymer obtained by homopolymerizing a part of the graft chains of the graft polymer (C1) without binding to the main chain. The number average degree of polymerization n of the homopolymer is 2 to 100.

The composition ratio of each component in the charge control agent (A) is
In terms of the weight ratio of the graft chain constituting the graft polymer (C1) and the weight ratio of the polymer (C2), the graft polymer (C
1) is 25 to 100%, and the polymer (C2) is 0 to 75%.

Next, the pigment type charge control agent (B) used in the present invention is a compound represented by the general formula (3). In the formula, R ₁ , R ₂ , R ₃ and R ₄ are each independently a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 22 carbon atoms, an unsubstituted or substituted aromatic group having 6 to 20 carbon atoms, and 7 to 7 carbon atoms. It represents 20 aralkyl groups, and A ₋ represents a molybdate anion, a tungstate anion, or a heteropolyacid anion containing molybdenum or a tungsten atom.

The non-magnetic one-component developer used in the present invention is characterized in that the charge control agent contains at least one of the polymer type charge control agent (A) and the pigment type charge control agent (B). To use. The characteristics of the charge control agent (A) and the charge control agent (B) in actual use when the developing device of the present invention is used will be individually described below. First, regarding the charge control agent (A), the first feature is that, because of its structure, a styrene resin is used for the main chain of the graft chain, so that it has good melting and dispersibility with respect to the binder resin. Is. In this case, as the binder resin, one using styrene as a constituent monomer thereof had particularly good dispersibility, but the other binder resins of the present invention showed substantially the same effect. In the conventional pigment-type charge control agent, it was difficult to uniformly contain the charge control agent in each particle of the toner, especially when the particle size is large, but the charge control agent (A) of the present invention is Since the above-mentioned melt dispersibility is good, the positive charging property can be uniformly imparted to each toner particle. The second characteristic of the charge control agent (A) is that when it is contained in the toner, the rising property of the charge on the developing roller of the present invention is very good.
According to the experiments by the present inventors, the toner using the charge control agent (A) saturates immediately after passing through the layer forming portion once, and the charge amount is almost constant even after passing through the layer forming portion many times. It is clear to keep the same level. Charge amount after saturation is about 5-6μ
It was c / g. In particular, this second feature can be said to be a remarkable effect in the present invention. That is, in the present invention, as described above, it is necessary to secure a sufficient toner supply amount in order to obtain good developability, but especially when the toner has a small particle size, the specific surface area of the toner is small. Therefore, it becomes difficult for each toner particle to be sufficiently charged in one pass through the layer forming portion. For this reason, as described above, by using a layer regulating member having a particularly low elasticity, it is possible to improve the followability of the layer regulating member to the developing roller and to impart the charge to the toner well. By using the charge control agent (A) in the one-component developing method, it is possible to positively impart the uniform charge of individual toner particles from the toner side as well, and thus it is possible to further improve the characteristics. The third feature of the charge control agent (A) is improvement of image quality. These can correct the thinning of pixels such as dots, lines and characters, which is a drawback of the DC fly developing method among the non-magnetic one-component developing methods.

Next, the characteristics of the pigment type charge control agent (B) used in the present invention will be described. The first feature is that the average particle size is very small, about 1.0 μm. For this reason, it is easy to include the toner in individual toner particles, and particularly when the toner has a small particle diameter of several μm, it is possible to prevent generation of toner particles containing no charge control agent. The second characteristic of the charge control agent (B) is that when it is contained in the toner, a high image density is easily obtained. In the experiments, the inventors selected various commercially available pigment-type charge control agents and compared them. As a result, when the charge control agent (B) was used, the highest image density was obtained. The main reason for this is that the charge control agent (B) is lower than the charge amount when other commercially available pigment type charge control agents are contained in the toner. In the non-magnetic one-component developing method of the present invention, the direct current flying developing method is used. In this case, according to the study by the present inventors, when the toner particle size is as small as several μm, the developing process is performed. The maximum amount is about 3-7 μc
It was estimated to be in the charge amount range of / g. In the present invention, the charge control agent (B) satisfies the above appropriate charge amount range of about 5 to 6 μc / g, and the other pigment-type charge control agents for comparison all have tens of μc / g or more. It showed a high charge amount.

In the case of the conventional two-component developing method or the contact developing method among the non-magnetic one-component developing methods, the suitable charge amount range for the development is as high as about ten and several tens μc / g to twenty and several μc / g. For this reason, even if the charge amount distribution is broad, the amount of uncharged toner is small and there is a case where there is no problem in practical use. On the other hand, among the non-magnetic one-component developing methods, the suitable charge amount of the direct current flying developing method according to the present invention is in a very low range of about 3 to 7 μc / g. Therefore, uncharged toner, which causes fogging and scattering, is likely to occur, and it is necessary to make the charge amount distribution sharper as compared with the toner used in the above-described conventional method. As described above, the toner used in the present invention needs to achieve both low charging and uniform charging. As described above, the polymer type charge control agent (A)
As a common feature of (B) and (B), the dispersibility when contained in the toner is good, and the toner can be uniformly charged. At the same time, it was confirmed that each of them had a low charge amount of about 5 to 6 μc / g when made into toner, and was suitable for the non-magnetic one-component developing method of the present invention. The charge control agents (A) and (B) have the common characteristics of high development density, low fog, and good image quality, but the charge control agent (A) reproduces pixels such as dots, lines, and characters. Is particularly good, and the charge control agent (B) has the greatest advantage in that a particularly high image density can be obtained. From the above results, in the present invention, the charge control agents (A) and (B)
Further improvement of the image characteristics was achieved by using the above, and the image quality, the development density, and the fog were excellent, and an image superior to the case of using both individually was obtained.

In the present invention, in order to improve the fluidity of the toner, a fluidity-improving agent such as hydrophobic silica or hydrophobic alumina, or toner particles are attached to each other, or the toner particles are attached to the developing roller and the layer regulating member. A fine powder of metal oxide or barium sulfate or the like for reducing the adhesion can be held on the toner surface and used. In this case, the fluidity improver, the metal oxide or the fine powder of barium sulfate can be used alone or in combination. Here, to hold the above-mentioned fluidity improver or fine powder of metal oxide, barium sulfate or the like on the toner surface means that the above-mentioned fluidity improver or fine powder is caused on the toner surface by electrostatic force or van der Waals force. It includes a state of being adhered (a state of being sprinkled) and a state of being buried (a state of being fixed).

The toner used in the present invention may optionally contain other components, for example, additives such as low molecular weight polypropylene, low molecular weight polyethylene, silicone oil and thermoplastic silicone resin. In addition to the charge control agents (A) and (B), a nigrosine dye,
Charge control agents such as triphenylmethane and quaternary ammonium salts other than (A) and (B) may be contained alone or in combination of two or more. The toner used in the present invention has a volume average particle size of 11 μm or less, preferably 3 to 10 μm, and when the volume average particle size is less than 3 μm, sufficient fluidity may not be obtained. On the other hand, 10μ
If it is larger than m, the reproducibility of pixels such as dots, lines, and characters may deteriorate. The toner used in the present invention is a binder, a colorant, a charge control agent, and optionally a mixture of raw materials prepared by adjusting other additives at a predetermined mixing ratio, which is an extruder that is a melt kneader, a Banbury mixer,
It is obtained by melt-kneading with a twin-screw kneader, then pulverizing and classifying. The charge control agents (A) and (B) can be easily finely dispersed in the binder resin by the above-mentioned melt-kneading means. As a means for obtaining the toner used in the present invention, it is possible to obtain it by a polymerization method such as suspension or emulsification, and the operational effects obtained as a result are different from those of the toner obtained by the above-mentioned melt-kneading method. There is no.

Next, the developing method of the present invention will be described in detail. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a developing device used in the method for developing a non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a photosensitive drum which is a cylindrical electrostatic latent image holder, 2 is a hopper, 3 is a developer, 4a is a layer regulating member, 4b is a layer regulating member fixing member, and 5 is an aluminum sleeve. The developing roller used is 6, a developer leakage preventing and scraping member, and 7 is a stirrer. In this developing device, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 1 by a known electrophotographic method. A developer 3 is accommodated in the hopper 2, and the developer is carried by the layer regulating member 4a on the sleeve of the developing roller 5 so as to have a constant layer thickness.
Be transported. The sleeve of the developing roller is installed with a gap of 120 μm from the photosensitive drum 1. A DC voltage or an AC voltage as required may be applied to the sleeve. The developer carried by the developing roller 5 is conveyed by the rotation of the developing roller and comes into contact with the photosensitive drum 1 having an electrostatic latent image to visualize the electrostatic latent image. FIG. 2 shows the layer regulating member 4a according to the present invention.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a tangent line Y at a contact portion P perpendicular to the fixed surface X of the developing roller 5 and a contact angle θ.

In the present invention, it is desirable to use a rubber blade as the layer regulating member 4a. In the conventional non-magnetic one-component developing method, there is an example of using a metal blade as a layer regulating member, but when a metal blade is used, even if the same pressure is applied, local toner fusion does not occur on the layer regulating member and the developing roller. Likely to happen. It was confirmed that such local toner fusion is unlikely to occur when a rubber blade is used. Further, among the rubber blades, a low elastic rubber blade having a low Young's modulus sometimes did not cause fusion. The cause of this is not necessarily clear, but when a roughened developing roller is used, when the convex portion of the developing roller surface and the layer regulating member come into contact with each other, in the case of a metal blade, the local shearing force is rubber. It is estimated to be stronger than that of the blade. In the case of a metal blade, when the toner passes through such a high stress portion, high stress is applied to the toner particles, and thus it is considered that fusion is likely to occur.

On the other hand, of the rubber blades, especially 120 kg
The low elasticity of f / cm ² or less has a good followability to the irregularities on the surface of the developing roller, and since the difference in stress between the concave portions and the convex portions is small, the mechanical stress on the toner is uniformized and the toner is melted. It is preferably used because it does not easily cause wearing.
Therefore, in the present invention, a means for improving the developability in the non-magnetic one-component developing method for a small particle diameter toner, which is a problem of the above-mentioned conventional techniques, by using a rubber blade having a low elasticity, is earnestly studied. It was obtained as a result of this, and the details will be described below.

In the present invention, a rubber blade (hereinafter,
The method of fixing the blade (referred to as a blade) to the developing device requires fixing at both ends. In the conventionally known non-magnetic one-component developing method, for the layer forming member having elasticity, a cantilever type fixing method, a method using a roller and the like have been devised, and some of them have been put into practical use. However, in the case of the former cantilever method, the edge part of the free end is
When pressure-bonded to the developing roller, unevenness easily occurs in the toner layer formed on the developing roller due to deterioration of the edge portion, and in particular, due to the inorganic fine particles used as an external additive,
When scratches occur, streaks may occur in the toner layer in the process direction, which may adversely affect print quality. Similarly, in the cantilever system, when contacting with the antinode of the blade, the unevenness and streaks described above are less likely to occur in the toner layer, but depending on the blade mounting accuracy, the pressing with the developing roller may cause In some cases, the roller becomes non-uniform in the axial direction, and particularly in the contact portion where the pressure is low, toner agglomerates are likely to occur, and a good toner layer may not be formed. On the other hand, in the latter layer regulation by the roller, there are problems that the member becomes large, the pressing force is easily governed by the elastic modulus unique to the roller, and the degree of freedom in setting the pressing force is small. In order to solve this problem, a new proposal (Japanese Patent Application No. 6-244951) in which one end of the layer regulating member is fixed and the other end is a free end and the contact angle is specific is proposed. However, there is a problem in that unevenness in pressing of the layer regulating member is likely to occur, and since the contact area with the developing roller is small, the toner layer is not uniformly formed and the toner is insufficiently charged. The present invention proposes a method of fixing both ends as a method capable of solving all of the above problems when a rubber blade having a low elastic modulus is used as a layer regulating member.

That is, in the present invention, since the layer regulation member is fixed at both ends, the layer regulation member always contacts the developing roller on the belly surface regardless of the contact angle and the like, so that there is no edge portion. The problems such as scratches and deterioration, which are the above-mentioned problems, are significantly reduced, and compared with the case where a roller is used as the regulating member, the device is greatly simplified. It was also found that the blade itself is more flexible than a roller, and uniform pressing is easily obtained at low pressure. The reason for this is not necessarily clear, but it is judged that the both-end fixing method of the present invention tends to obtain uniform pressing in the axial direction of the developing roller regardless of the mounting accuracy. That is, it is considered that the non-contact surface complements the pressure on the contact surface, and the pressure in the axial direction is averaged as if two blades exist. Another advantage of using the both-end fixing method of the present invention is that the contact area from the blade at the contact portion to the developing roller is about 2 to 2.5 times that of the conventional cantilever method. It was confirmed that As a result, it was found that the toner was more uniformly charged, and a good image free from fogging and scattering was easily obtained even if the toner supply amount was large.

In the present invention, the contact position of the blade with the developing roller may be either a position (with) in the direction of rotation of the developing roller or a direction opposite to the direction of rotation (counter). It doesn't matter. In this case, the width means that the fixing surface (X) of the layer regulating member (4a) and the fixing member (4b) in FIG.
It means a contact state on the upstream side with respect to the rotation direction of the developing roller (2) with respect to the contact portion (P) between a) and the developing roller. The counter means a contact state in which the fixed surface (X) is on the downstream side of the contact portion (P). In the conventional cantilever method, in the case of a counter, the blade sometimes exhibits a so-called stick-slip behavior with respect to the developing roller, and a vibration phenomenon accompanying this may occur. In the method of fixing both ends of the present invention, sliding of the abutting portion to the developing roller is stable in both the with and the counter,
The vibration phenomenon did not occur at all. It is considered that the toner particles act as a kind of lubricant for sliding the blade and the developing sleeve, and suppress the occurrence of vibration phenomenon. When both ends are fixed, regardless of the contact angle, the blade always contacts the developing roller on the antinode surface, and the blade contacts on the convex surface, so the toner flow into the layer forming part is good, and the vibration phenomenon It is presumed that the occurrence of
The term “belly surface” as used herein refers to the entire outer surface of the layer-regulating member other than the edge portion (E) in FIG. 2, and the convex portion allows the curved layer-regulating member in FIG. 2 to contact the developing roller. The entire outer surface is referred to.

In the present invention, the angle (contact angle θ) between the layer regulating member (blade), the tangent line Y to the developing roller at the contact portion P of the developing roller and the fixed surface X of the layer regulating member 4a is 45 ± 35. Must be °. When the contact angle of the low elastic modulus rubber blade in the present invention was examined, when the contact angle θ was small (less than 10 °), the layer thickness was excessively thick at a maximum of about 80 μm, and the contact portion between the blade and the developing roller was large. In the (layer forming portion), fine agglomerates of toner were generated. In addition, the charge amount is 1 ~ 3μ
It was as low as c / g and was not suitable for flight development. Further, in the range where θ was larger than 80 °, a uniform toner layer was formed, but the layer thickness was thin at about 20 μm, and the toner conveyance amount was small. The charge amount at this time was as high as about 20 μc / g, and although the occurrence of scattered fog was small, the development density was as low as about 0.5, and it was judged that this was not practical.

Next, when the contact angle is in the range of 10 to 80 ° according to the present invention, a uniform toner layer is formed and the layer thickness is 30 to 6.
It was 0 μm, which was almost suitable for development. Also, there is little fog, and the development density is according to the Macbeth reflection densitometer,
It was about 1.4, which was sufficient, and no scattering was observed. The charge amount at this time was about 3 to 8 μc / g, and it was confirmed that the charge amount was suitable for flight development. In the case of the cantilever method, even if the pressure is the same, the inflow of the toner into the layer forming portion may change and the layer thickness may change depending on the set contact angle. In the both-end fixing method, an appropriate toner inflow angle is always obtained irrespective of the contact angle of the blade, so that the toner inflow amount to the layer forming portion is sufficient and the layer thickness is unlikely to change. As described above, the blade mounting conditions are easier than in the conventional cantilever system, and the degree of freedom in designing the developing device is high. In the present invention, the suitable value for pressing is 10 to 150 g / cm. When the pressure was less than 10 g / cm, a sufficient layer was not formed and fine aggregates were generated. On the other hand, 150 g / cm
If it exceeds the range, although the layer formation is good, a sufficient carry amount cannot be obtained, and the charge amount of the toner becomes 20 μc / g or more, and the flight developability deteriorates. Although various blades can be applied, specific examples thereof include silicone rubber and urethane rubber.

[0040]

In the non-contact developing method using the non-magnetic one-component developer (toner), in order to stably obtain a good image, toner fusion to the layer regulating member (blade) does not occur. is necessary. Further, the toner conveyance amount for obtaining a sufficient developing amount is secured, and even if the volume average particle diameter of the toner is a small particle diameter of several μm, the toner particles can be uniformly and sufficiently charged. A developing device mechanism is required. The rubber blade used as the layer regulating member in the present invention has low elasticity, and therefore has good followability to minute irregularities on the surface of the developing sleeve, and since the stress difference between the concave portion and the convex portion is small, Mechanical stress is reduced and it is difficult for fusion to occur. In addition, due to the above-mentioned problem of fusion, when a rubber blade having a low elasticity is used, the method of contacting the developing roller is fixed at both ends with respect to the developing device, thereby suppressing the occurrence of vibration and the like and stabilizing it. Got sliding. As a result, a uniform toner layer was obtained. When fixing both ends, the contact angle is 45 ± 35 °, and 10-15
By adjusting the pressure of 0 g / cm, that is, the linear pressure as a load on the developing roller of the layer regulating member, no fusion occurs, and even if a small particle size toner is used, a uniform toner layer and sufficient toner transport can be obtained. While the amount was obtained, the toner could be uniformly and sufficiently charged, and good developability could be obtained.

Further, in the non-contact developing method using the non-magnetic one-component toner, in order to improve the flight developing property,
It is necessary to keep the toner charge amount low. However, if the charge amount is too low, problems such as fogging and toner scattering easily occur. For this reason, it is necessary that the charge amount of the toner is low and that the charge amount of each toner particle shows a similar value, and the width of the charge amount distribution is narrow and sharp. Further, when the particle diameter of the toner is as small as several μm, the specific surface area of the toner becomes large, so the frequency of contact between the toner and the blade and the developing roller becomes low, and it becomes difficult to uniformly charge the toner.

Both the specific charge control agents (A) and (B) used in the present invention are capable of very good fine dispersion in the binder resin. Therefore, even if the toner has a small particle size,
A charge control agent can be uniformly and evenly contained in each toner particle. For this reason, even when the frequency of contact between the small particle diameter toner and the charging member such as the surface of the blade and the developing roller (sleeve) is low, the distribution of the charge amount of the toner can be narrowed. At the same time, since the charge amount can be suppressed to a low level, good developing properties can be obtained in the developing device of the present invention.

[0043]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below based on examples.
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic configuration of a suitable developing device used in the developing method for a non-contact type non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a relationship between a layer regulating member and a developing roller. Below, the common part of Examples 1-14 is demonstrated. Regarding the components described in the examples,
Unless otherwise specified, the dimensions, accuracy, shape, material, arrangement thereof, etc. are not limited to the example of description, but are merely examples for description. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a photosensitive drum which is a cylindrical electrostatic latent image holding member, and the minimum distance between the developing roller and the developing roller 5 is set to 120 μm. The rotation direction of the photosensitive drum is defined by the direction of the arrow in the figure. The surface roughness of the developing roller of No. 5 is set to 0.5 to 15 μm in Rz, and Rmax is preferably set to 20 μm or less. The developing roller is made of aluminum or other non-magnetic metal material and rotates in the direction of the arrow. 4a is a layer regulating member,
A low elastic rubber blade having a Young's modulus of silicone rubber or urethane rubber of 120 kgf / cm ² or less is used. Reference numeral 4b is a fixing member for the layer regulating member, which is fixed to the second hopper. The mounting position of each member, the material, so that the angle formed between the fixed surface of the fixing member of 4b of the layer regulating member of 4a and the tangent line of the contact portion between the layer regulating member of 4a and the developing roller of 5 is 45 ± 35 °, Adjust the shape and accuracy. Reference numeral 6 denotes a toner leakage prevention and scraping member, which is made of a resin film such as a polyethylene terephthalate film or a non-woven fabric such as fluorine fiber paper, and is fixed to the hopper 2. The free end is in contact with the surface of the developing roller. The member 6 does not only have the function of preventing the leakage of the toner, but can also function as a member for imparting a charge to the toner or a member for removing the charge by appropriately selecting the material. The non-magnetic one-component developer of 3 is
It is put into the hopper of 2 and is supplied to the contact portion (layer forming portion) of 4a and 5 by the agitator of 7. The non-magnetic one-component developer is carried and conveyed by the layer regulating member 4a on the sleeve of the developing roller so as to have a constant layer thickness (40 to 80 μm). The sleeve of the developing roller is installed with a constant gap of 120 μm from the photoconductor drum, but an arbitrary interval of 90 to 150 μm can be selected as necessary. A DC voltage is basically applied to the sleeve, but an AC voltage may be applied if necessary. The developer carried by the developing roller 5 is conveyed by the rotation of the developing roller, approaches the photoconductor drum 1 having an electrostatic latent image, and is subjected to development to visualize the electrostatic latent image.

Next, the non-magnetic one-component developer used in Examples 1 to 8 of the present invention will be described. In the example,
Parts indicate parts by weight. The raw materials are mixed in the following composition, melt-kneaded, and then pulverized and classified to have a volume average particle diameter of 7.4.
A μm non-magnetic one-component developer was obtained. Next, to 100 parts of this non-magnetic one-component developer, 1.0 part of hydrophobic silica (trade name: HDK H3050EP manufactured by Wacker Chemical Co., Ltd.) was added, and the mixture was stirred for 2 minutes with a Henschel mixer. The non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention used in Nos. 1 to 8 was prepared. Hereinafter, the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention will be simply referred to as toner T1.

Blending of Toner T1: Styrene-acrylic copolymer resin 100 parts (manufactured by Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. Monomer composition: styrene / butyl acrylate / n-butyl methacrylate = 78/18/4, Mn: 2.9 × 10 ⁴ , Mw: 32.8 × 10 ⁴ ) ・ Carbon black 10 parts (trade name: BPL manufactured by Cabot Corporation) ・ Charge control agent (A) 4 parts (Graft polymer having a graft chain represented by the following Structural Formula 1 and the following structure) Polymer type charge control agent consisting of polymer C2 of formula 2) Charge control agent (B) 2 parts (pigment type charge control agent of the following structural formula 3) Polypropylene wax 2 parts (manufactured by Sanyo Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) Product name: Viscole 660P) Note: Each structural formula is as follows.

[0046]

[Chemical 10]

[0047]

[Chemical 11]

[0048]

[Chemical 12]

Example 1 A low elastic silicone rubber blade having a Young's modulus of 110 kgf / cm ² was used as a layer regulating member, and the layer regulating member was mounted on a developing device corresponding to FIG. The contact method was with and the contact angle θ was 45 °. Also,
Adjust the pressure on the developing roller to about 65 g / cm,
A developing device compatible with the non-magnetic one-component developing method of the present invention was obtained. Further, as the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention, the above toner: T1 was used for development.

Example 2 As the layer regulating member, a low elastic silicone rubber blade having a Young's modulus of 70 kgf / cm ² was used, and the other conditions were set in the same manner as in Example 1. T1 was used as the toner and the pressure was set to about 45 g / cm. As the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention, the above toner: T1 was used for development.

Example 3 A low elastic silicone rubber blade having a Young's modulus of 110 kgf / cm ² was used as a layer regulating member, the pressure was adjusted to 110 g / cm, and the other conditions were set in the same manner as in Example 1. did. Further, the toner: T1 described above was used as a non-magnetic one-component developer.

<Embodiment 4> A low elastic silicone rubber blade having a Young's modulus of 110 kgf / cm ² was used as a layer regulating member, and the pressure was adjusted to 25 g / cm. Other conditions were set in the same manner as in Embodiment 1. did. Further, as the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention, the above toner: T1 was used for development.

<Example 5> A low elastic silicone rubber blade having a Young's modulus of 110 kgf / cm ² was used as the layer regulating member, the contact angle θ was 20 °, and the pressing force was 35 g.
/ Cm, and other conditions were set in the same manner as in Example 1. Further, as the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention, the above toner: T1 was used for development.

Example 6 A low elastic silicone rubber blade having a Young's modulus of 110 kgf / cm ² was used as the layer regulating member, the contact angle θ was 75 °, and the pressing force was 100.
It was adjusted to g / cm, and other conditions were set as in Example 1. Further, as the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention, the above toner: T1 was used for development.

<Embodiment 7> A low elastic silicone rubber blade having a Young's modulus of 110 kgf / cm ² was used as the layer regulating member, the contact angle θ was 20 °, and the pressing force was 20 g.
/ Cm, and other conditions were set in the same manner as in Example 1. Further, as the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention, the above toner: T1 was used for development.

<Embodiment 8> A low elastic silicone rubber blade having a Young's modulus of 110 kgf / cm ² was used as the layer regulating member, the contact angle θ was 75 °, and the pressing force was 110.
It was adjusted to g / cm, and other conditions were set as in Example 1. Further, as the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention, the above toner: T1 was used for development.

<Embodiment 9> Next, the non-magnetic one-component developer used in Embodiment 9 of the present invention will be described. In the examples, “parts” means “parts by weight”. The raw materials were mixed in the following formulation, melt-kneaded, and then pulverized and classified to obtain a non-magnetic one-component developer having a volume average particle diameter of 7.6 μm. Next, with respect to 100 parts of this non-magnetic one-component developer, hydrophobic silica (trade name: HDK H3050 manufactured by Wacker Chemical Co., Ltd.) is used.
EP) was added in an amount of 1.0 part, and the mixture was stirred for 2 minutes with a Henschel mixer to obtain the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention used in Example 9. Hereinafter, the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention will be simply referred to as toner T2.

Blending of toner T2: Styrene-acrylic copolymer resin 100 parts (manufactured by Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. Monomer composition: styrene / butyl acrylate / n-butyl methacrylate = 78/18/4, Mn: 2.9 × 10 ⁴ , Mw: 32.8 × 10 ⁴ ) ・ Carbon black 10 parts (trade name: BPL manufactured by Cabot Corporation) ・ Charge control agent (A) 4 parts (Graft polymer (C1) having a graft chain represented by the following Structural Formula 1) And a polymer type charge control agent comprising a polymer (C2) represented by the following structural formula 2) Polypropylene wax 2 parts (manufactured by Sanyo Kasei Kogyo Co., Ltd .: trade name: VISCOL 660P) Toner T2 and Example 1 of the present invention. Development was carried out by combining the developing devices described.

<Embodiment 10> Next, Embodiment 10 of the present invention.
The non-magnetic one-component developer used in Section 1 will be described. In the examples, “parts” means “parts by weight”. The raw materials were mixed in the following formulation, melt-kneaded, and then pulverized and classified to obtain a non-magnetic one-component developer having a volume average particle diameter of 7.2 μm. Next, with respect to 100 parts of this non-magnetic one-component developer, hydrophobic silica (trade name: HDK H3050 manufactured by Wacker Chemical Co., Ltd.) is used.
EP) was added in an amount of 1.0 part, and the mixture was stirred with a Henschel mixer for 2 minutes to obtain the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention used in Example 10. Hereinafter, the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention will be simply referred to as toner T3.

Blending of Toner T3: Styrene-acrylic copolymer resin 100 parts (manufactured by Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. Monomer composition: styrene / butyl acrylate / n-butyl methacrylate = 78/18/4, Mn: 2.9 × 10 ⁴ , Mw: 32.8 × 10 ⁴ ) ・ Carbon black 10 parts (Product name: BPL manufactured by Cabot Corporation) ・ Charge control agent (B) 2 parts (Pigment type charge control agent of the following structural formula 3) ・ Polypropylene wax 2 Part (manufactured by Sanyo Kasei Kogyo Co., Ltd .: Viscole 660P) The toner T3 was combined with the developing device described in Example 1 of the present invention for development.

<Embodiment 11> Next, an embodiment 11 of the present invention.
The non-magnetic one-component developer used in Section 1 will be described. In the examples, “parts” means “parts by weight”. The raw materials were mixed in the following formulation, melt-kneaded, and then pulverized and classified to obtain a non-magnetic one-component developer having a volume average particle diameter of 7.5 μm. Next, with respect to 100 parts of this non-magnetic one-component developer, a hydrophobic alumina (trade name: RFY-C manufactured by Nippon Aerosil Co., Ltd.) was added to 1.
The non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention used in Example 11 was obtained by adding 0 part of the mixture and stirring with a Henschel mixer for 2 minutes. Hereinafter, the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention will be simply referred to as toner T4.

Blending of Toner T4: Styrene-acrylic copolymer resin 100 parts (manufactured by Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. Monomer composition: styrene / butyl acrylate / n-butyl methacrylate = 78/18/4, Mn: 2.9 × 10 ⁴ , Mw: 32.8 × 10 ⁴ ) ・ Carbon black 10 parts (trade name: BPL manufactured by Cabot Corporation) ・ Charge control agent (A) 6 parts (Graft polymer (C1) having a graft chain represented by the following Structural Formula 1) And a polymer type charge control agent comprising a polymer (C2) having the following structural formula 2) Charge control agent (B) 2 parts (pigment type charge control agent having the following structural formula 3) Polypropylene wax 2 parts (Product name: Viscole 660P manufactured by Sanyo Kasei Co., Ltd.) The toner T4 and the developing device described in Example 1 of the present invention were combined and developed.

<Embodiment 12> Next, Embodiment 12 of the present invention.
The non-magnetic one-component developer used in Section 1 will be described. In the examples, “parts” means “parts by weight”. The raw materials were mixed in the following formulation, melt-kneaded, and then pulverized and classified to obtain a non-magnetic one-component developer having a volume average particle diameter of 7.4 μm. Next, with respect to 100 parts of this non-magnetic one-component developer, hydrophobic silica (trade name: HDK H3050 manufactured by Wacker Chemical Co., Ltd.) is used.
EP) and 0.8 part of barium sulfate fine powder (BF-20P manufactured by Sakai Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) were added at the same time, and the mixture was stirred for 2 minutes with a Henschel mixer to prepare a non-invention solution of the present invention. A magnetic one-component developer was used. Hereinafter, the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention will be simply referred to as toner T5.

Blending of Toner T5: Styrene-acrylic copolymer resin 100 parts (manufactured by Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. Monomer composition: styrene / butyl acrylate / n-butyl methacrylate = 78/18/4, Mn: 2.9 × 10 ⁴ , Mw: 32.8 × 10 ⁴ ) ・ Carbon black 10 parts (trade name: BPL manufactured by Cabot Corporation) ・ Charge control agent (A) 4 parts (Graft polymer (C1) having a graft chain represented by the following Structural Formula 1) And a polymer type charge control agent comprising a polymer (C2) having the following structural formula 2) Charge control agent (B) 2 parts (pigment type charge control agent having the following structural formula 3) Polypropylene wax 2 parts (Product name: Viscole 660P, manufactured by Sanyo Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) The toner T5 and the developing device described in Example 1 of the present invention were combined and developed.

<Embodiment 13> Next, Embodiment 13 of the present invention.
The non-magnetic one-component developer used in Section 1 will be described. In the examples, “parts” means “parts by weight”. The raw materials were mixed in the following formulation, melt-kneaded, and then pulverized and classified to obtain a non-magnetic one-component developer having a volume average particle diameter of 7.4 μm. Next, with respect to 100 parts of this non-magnetic one-component developer, hydrophobic silica (trade name: HDK H3050 manufactured by Wacker Chemical Co., Ltd.) is used.
EP) 0.7 part and zinc oxide fine powder (Mitsui Metals Co., Ltd.
1.0 part of Basttran type II 2410) was added at the same time, and the mixture was stirred for 2 minutes with a Henschel mixer to obtain the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention used in Example 13. Hereinafter, the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention is simply referred to as the toner T.
Let's call it 6.

Blending of Toner T6: Styrene-acrylic copolymer resin 100 parts (manufactured by Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. Monomer composition: styrene / butyl acrylate / n-butyl methacrylate = 78/18/4, Mn: 2.9 × 10 ⁴ , Mw: 32.8 × 10 ⁴ ) ・ Carbon black 10 parts (trade name: BPL manufactured by Cabot Corporation) ・ Charge control agent (A) 4 parts (Graft polymer having a graft chain represented by the following Structural Formula 1 and the following structure) Polymer type charge control agent comprising polymer (C2) of formula 2) Charge control agent (B) 2 parts (pigment type charge control agent of the following structural formula 3) Polypropylene wax 2 parts (SANYO KASEI CO., LTD. Product name: Viscole 660P manufactured by company) Development was carried out by combining the toner T6 and the developing device described in Example 1 of the present invention.

<Embodiment 14> Next, Embodiment 14 of the present invention.
The non-magnetic one-component developer used in Section 1 will be described. In the examples, “parts” means “parts by weight”. The raw materials were mixed in the following formulation, melt-kneaded, and then pulverized and classified to obtain a non-magnetic one-component developer having a volume average particle diameter of 7.4 μm. Next, with respect to 100 parts of this non-magnetic one-component developer, hydrophobic silica (trade name: HDK H3050 manufactured by Wacker Chemical Co., Ltd.) is used.
1.5 parts of EP) was added, and the mixture was stirred for 2 minutes with a Henschel mixer to obtain the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention used in Example 14. Hereinafter, the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention will be simply referred to as toner T7.

Blending of Toner T7: Styrene-acrylic copolymer resin 100 parts (manufactured by Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. Monomer composition: styrene / butyl acrylate / n-butyl methacrylate = 78/18/4, Mn: 2.9 × 10 ⁴ , Mw: 32.8 × 10 ⁴ ) ・ Carbon black 10 parts (trade name: BPL manufactured by Cabot Corporation) ・ Charge control agent (A) 4 parts (Graft polymer (C1) having a graft chain represented by the following Structural Formula 1) And a polymer type charge control agent composed of the polymer (C2) having the following structural formula 2) Charge control agent (B) 2 parts (pigment type charge control agent having the following structural formula 3) Silicone-acrylic type Copolymer resin 7 parts (trade name: SIMAC manufactured by Toagosei Co., Ltd.) Toner T7 and the developing device described in Example 1 of the present invention were combined and developed.

<Example 15> In Example 1, the grade contact method was a counter. The contact angle was set to 45 °, and the same conditions as in Example 1 were set except that the pressure was adjusted to 70 g / cm. The toner used was T7.

<Comparative Example 1> A low elastic silicone rubber blade having a Young's modulus of 110 kgf / cm ² was used as a layer regulating member, and the layer regulating member was mounted on the developing device corresponding to FIG. The contact method at that time is with, the contact angle is 5 °, and the pressing is 20
It was set to g / cm. Further, it was developed using the above-mentioned toner: T1.

Comparative Example 2 A low elastic silicone rubber blade having a Young's modulus of 110 kgf / cm ² was used as a layer regulating member, and the layer regulating member was mounted on the developing device corresponding to FIG. The contact method at that time was with, the contact angle was 90 °, and the pressing was about 70 g / cm. Developed with the above toner: T1.

<Comparative Example 3> Raw materials were mixed in the following formulation,
After melt-kneading, the mixture was pulverized and classified to obtain a non-magnetic one-component developer having a volume average particle diameter of 7.6 μm. Next, with respect to 100 parts of this non-magnetic one-component developer, hydrophobic silica (trade name: HDK H3050E manufactured by Wacker Chemical Co., Ltd.) is used.
P) was added in an amount of 1.0 part, and the mixture was stirred with a Henschel mixer for 2 minutes to prepare a non-magnetic one-component developer for comparison. Hereinafter, this non-magnetic one-component developer will be simply referred to as toner TC1.

Blending of Toner TC1 Styrene-acrylic copolymer resin 100 parts (manufactured by Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. Monomer composition: styrene / butyl acrylate / n-butyl methacrylate = 78/18/4, Mn: 2.9 × 10 ⁴ , Mw: 32.8 × 10 ⁴ ) ・ Carbon black 10 parts (Cabot Co., Ltd. product name: BPL) ・ Charge control agent 2 parts (Orient Chemical Co., Ltd. product name: Bontron N04) ・ Polypropylene wax 2 parts (Sanyo Chemical Co., Ltd.) Product name: Viscole 660P manufactured by the company) Development was carried out by combining the TC1 toner for comparison and the developing device of Example 1.

<Comparative Example 4> Raw materials were mixed in the following formulation,
After melt-kneading, the mixture was pulverized and classified to obtain a non-magnetic one-component developer having a volume average particle diameter of 7.4 μm. Next, with respect to 100 parts of this non-magnetic one-component developer, hydrophobic silica (trade name: HDK H3050E manufactured by Wacker Chemical Co., Ltd.) is used.
P) was added in an amount of 1.0 part, and the mixture was stirred with a Henschel mixer for 2 minutes to prepare a non-magnetic one-component developer for comparison. Hereinafter, this non-magnetic one-component developer will be simply referred to as toner TC2.

Blending of toner TC2: Styrene-acrylic copolymer resin 100 parts (manufactured by Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. Monomer composition: styrene / butyl acrylate / n-butyl methacrylate = 78/18/4, Mn: 2.9 × 10 ⁴ , Mw: 32.8 × 10 ⁴ ) ・ Carbon black 10 parts (Cabot Co., Ltd. product name: BPL) ・ Charge control agent 2 parts (Hoechst product name: Copy Blue PR) ・ Polypropylene wax 2 parts (Sanyo Chemical Co., Ltd.) Product name: Viscole 660P manufactured by the company) The above-mentioned comparative TC2 toner and the developing device of Example 1 were combined and developed.

Comparative Example 5 A low elastic silicone rubber blade having a Young's modulus of 110 kgf / cm ² was used as a layer regulating member, and the layer regulating member was mounted on the developing device corresponding to FIG. The contact method is with, the contact angle is 45 °, and the pressing is about 7
It was set to g / cm. Then, it was developed in combination with the toner TC1 of Comparative Example 3.

<Comparative Example 6> The developing device of Comparative Example 5 and the toner TC2 of Comparative Example 4 were combined and developed.

With respect to the above examples and comparative examples of the non-magnetic one-component developing method, the characteristics were evaluated using a remodeling machine of a commercially available copying machine. The surface potential of the photoconductor drum is -700V.
And the developing bias was set to -100V. The surface of the developing roller was subjected to a surface roughening treatment by a sandblast method, and Rz was 2 μm and Rmax was 6 μm. All other dimensions relating to the developing device were the values described in Examples and Comparative Examples. The contents of the developing device and the toner in the developing methods of Examples and Comparative Examples and the evaluation results are summarized in Table-1. The evaluation method and evaluation criteria are as shown below. -Initial fusion to blade: The state of the blade was visually confirmed when 50 images were continuously picked up. After 5000 sheets: The blade state after imaging 5000 sheets was visually confirmed. Evaluation Criteria: ◯ indicates that no fusion has occurred. Δ indicates that fusion has occurred a little, and it is judged to be a level that affects the image.

Toner Layer Uniformity Initially after 5000 sheets, the state of the toner layer formed on the surface of the developing roller was visually evaluated. Evaluation Criteria: ◯ indicates that the entire surface is uniform from the rear to the front and in the circumferential direction. Δ indicates a level at which slight unevenness occurs in the circumferential direction and influences the image. × indicates that unevenness or toner agglomeration occurs in both the circumferential direction and the rear-to-front direction, which greatly affects the image. Charge amount The charge amount of the toner layer formed on the developing sleeve was directly measured using a blow-off charge amount measuring device (manufactured by Toshiba Chemical Co.). The developing device and the Faraday gauge connection point of the blow-off charge amount measuring device are directly electrically connected, the counter charge when the toner layer is removed by suction is measured, and then the measured value of the amount of suction toner is used to measure the counter charge. The charge amount is obtained by dividing the measured value.

Image Density A solid image of a non-magnetic one-component developer transferred from a photosensitive drum onto a transfer paper was measured with a Macbeth reflectivity clock (trade name: RD-914 manufactured by Macbeth Co.). After fogging and development, the non-image area on the photoconductor drum before transfer is peeled and sampled with a mending tape (Sumitomo 3M) and attached to an unused transfer paper. Then, the reflection density is measured in the same manner as the image density. Fine line reproducibility The line image transferred from the photosensitive drum to the transfer paper was observed with a measuring microscope. Evaluation criteria: ⊚ indicates that 7 cycles / mm or more can be resolved. In the case of ◯, 5 to 6 cycle / mm can be resolved, but in 7 or more, it cannot be resolved. Δ indicates that 3 to 4 cycles / mm can be resolved, but 5 or more cannot be resolved. In the case of x, the resolution is 2 cycles / mm or less, but not 3 or more. Here, “resolved” means that there is almost no thin line blurring or amount in both the vertical and horizontal directions of the process. -Young's modulus The Young's modulus of the rubber blade in the plate thickness direction was determined by performing a compression test using a Tensilon type tester (UCT-500 manufactured by Orientec Co., Ltd.). The results of the above test are shown in Tables 1 and 2 described later, and the advantages of the non-magnetic one-component developing method of the present invention became clear.

(1) Examples 1 to 8 The setting of the rubber blade, which is the layer regulating member of the developing device, was changed within the range of the non-magnetic one-component developing method of the present invention, and the charge control agent A of the present invention was used. By using the non-magnetic one-component developer which used both B and B, very good results were obtained.

(2) Examples 9 and 10 By using the developing apparatus of Example 1 and the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention using the charge control agent A or B, good results are obtained. Obtained. Therefore, it can be seen that the charge control agents A and B can be used alone.

(3) Examples 11 to 14 Using the developing device of Example 1, a hydrophobic silica and a hydrophobic alumina were added to the non-magnetic one-component developer in which the charge control agents A and B of the present invention were used in combination. As a result of externally adding barium sulfate fine powder and zinc oxide fine powder, very good results were obtained in all cases. From this, it was confirmed that each external additive described in the text of the present invention can be used in the non-magnetic one-component developing method of the present invention.

(4) Example 15 The developing apparatus and toner of Example 1 were used, and the contact method was a counter. However, if both ends were fixed, good results could be obtained with either a with or a counter. I was able to confirm that

(5) Comparative Examples 1 and 2 An example in which the contact angle is outside the range of the present invention is shown. In Comparative Example 1, the contact angle was reduced to 5 °, but unevenness in the circumferential direction of the toner layer and many minute toner lumps were generated, and the image evaluation could not be achieved. In Comparative Example 2, the contact angle is 90 °.
Although the layer formation is good, the charge amount is high, the image density is low, and after continuous printing of 5000 sheets,
Some fusing (of toner) occurred on the blade. From the above, it was confirmed that the contact angle is within the scope of the present invention.

(6) Comparative Examples 3 and 4 In the developing device of Example 1, an example is shown in which a non-magnetic one-component developer using a charge control agent other than the present invention alone is used. In all cases, the charge amount was high and the image density was low. Also, the resolution is poor. From this example, the validity of the charge control agents A and B used in the non-magnetic one-component developer of the present invention was confirmed.

(7) Comparative Examples 5 and 6 Comparative Examples 3 and 4 were carried out by using a developing device having a pressing force of about 7 g / cm.
In the case of combining the developers of No. 1 and No. 3, the image density and the fog are further increased and the resolution is lowered as compared with Comparative Examples 3 and 4 using the developing device having a pressing force of about 65 g / cm. became. From this, the significance of the non-magnetic one-component developing method of the present invention becomes clearer. In all of the above examples, no scattering occurred during continuous imaging.

[0088]

[Table 1]

[0089]

[Table 2]

[0090]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the method in which the layer regulating member (rubber blade) having a low elastic modulus is fixed at both ends and abuts on the developing roller at 45 ° ± 35 ° as described above, the pressing force is in an appropriate range. By using a non-magnetic one-component developer containing a specific charge control agent in the developing device adjusted to, a uniform toner layer can be obtained on the developing roller, and the non-magnetic one-component developer has a small particle size. However, good developability can be obtained without causing scattering and fog.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of an apparatus used in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a layer regulating member and a developing roller.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photoconductor drum 2 Hopper 3 Developer 4a Layer regulating member 4b Fixing member 5 Developing roller 6 Leak prevention and scraping member 7 Stirrer

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location G03G 13/08 // G03G 9/097

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A charge control agent containing a binder resin, a colorant and a charge control agent, wherein the charge control agent is at least one of a polymer type charge control agent (A) and a pigment type charge control agent (B) shown below. A non-magnetic one-component developer composed of two is supplied to the developing roller, and a thin layer of the non-magnetic one-component developer is supplied to the surface of the developing roller by a layer regulation member, and at the same time, an electric charge is given to the photosensitive drum and the developing drum. Development of a non-contact type non-magnetic one-component developer in which the non-magnetic one-component developer is caused to fly by the potential difference of the roller and is developed in a non-contact manner on a photoconductor drum holding an electrostatic latent image, and then transferred to a transfer material. In the method, the end portions of the layer regulating member are fixed at both ends, and the contact angle θ between the tangent to the developing roller at the contact portion of the layer regulating member and the developing roller and the fixing surface of the layer regulating member is 45.
A method for developing a non-magnetic one-component developer, characterized in that it is ± 35 °. (A) a graft polymer (C1) having a polystyrene-based main chain in which 50 mol% or more is styrene, and a graft chain having a skeleton represented by the following general formula (1), and the following general formula (2) A mixture consisting of the indicated polymer (C2). (B) A compound represented by the following general formula (3). Embedded image (In the formula, R ₁ is a C _{11 to} C ₁₇ hydrocarbon group, R ₂ and R ₃ are each independently hydrogen or a C _{1 to} C ₈ hydrocarbon group, or R ₂ and R ₃ are R ₄ may be linked to each other to form an aromatic ring, R ₄ is a C _{1 to} C ₁₂ alkylene group which may contain an ether bond in the group, X ⁻ is an anion, and m is 2 to 100. Represents the integer.) (In the formula, R _{1 to} R ₄ and X ⁻ are the same as in the general formula (1), and n represents an integer of 2 to 100.] (In the formula, R ₁ , R ₂ , R ₃ and R ₄ are each independently a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 22 carbon atoms, and 6 to 6 carbon atoms.
It represents 20 unsubstituted or substituted aromatic groups or aralkyl groups having 7 to 20 carbon atoms, and A ⁻ represents molybdate anion, tungstate anion, molybdenum or a heteropolyacid anion containing a tungsten atom. ) 2. The layer regulating member has a Young's modulus of 120 kgf / c
The method for developing a non-magnetic one-component developer according to claim 1, wherein the rubber blade is m ² or less. 3. The method for developing a non-magnetic one-component developer according to claim 1, wherein the pressing force of the layer regulating member against the developing roller is 10 to 150 g / cm in linear pressure.