JPH08286406A - Aluminum substrate for photoreceptor and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To produce an Al substrate stably having superior surface smoothness. CONSTITUTION: This Al substrate is a cold-drawn Al substrate having >300μm average length of surface grains in the drawing direction. It is produced by cold-drawing a preform of an Al substrate for a photoreceptor having >=60μm average length of surface grains in the drawing direction so that the average length of grains in the drawing direction is increased by >=1.3 times. By the cold drawing, the average length of surface grains in the drawing direction is regulated to >300μm.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an aluminum base for a photoconductor used as a conductive support for supporting a photosensitive layer in a photoconductor such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a laser beam printer, and a method for producing the same.

In this specification, the term "aluminum" is used to include its alloys.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art It is desirable that the above-mentioned aluminum base for a photoconductor has a mirror surface or a surface state close to it due to its properties. For this reason, aluminum has been conventionally mirror-finished by cutting, but it is not suitable for mass production because it is not easy to adjust and manage the cutting tool, and it requires skill to perform the work. It had the drawback of being expensive.

Therefore, E obtained by the extrusion / drawing process
Like D pipes, EI pipes obtained by extrusion and ironing processes, and DI pipes obtained by drawing and ironing processes, aluminum materials manufactured by extrusion and drawing are subjected to cold working such as drawing and ironing. To obtain high surface smoothness.

However, when such cold working is performed, sufficient surface smoothness may not be obtained, which is a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an aluminum base for a photosensitive member which stably has excellent surface smoothness and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0007]

The inventor investigated the cause that sufficient surface smoothness cannot be obtained even by performing the cold working as described above, and found that the crystal grains on the surface of the aluminum base for the photoreceptor were It has been found that the surface smoothness is improved when the average length of the crystal grains on the surface in the cold working direction exceeds a certain value, which is related to the surface roughness, and the present invention has been completed.

That is, one of the inventions is defined as an aluminum substrate for a photosensitive member which has been subjected to a cold drawing process and whose average length in the processing direction of crystal grains on the surface exceeds 300 μm. The gist of the present invention is an aluminum base for a photoconductor.

In the above, the type of cold stretching is not particularly limited, and may be drawing, ironing, or cold rolling. Further, the type of aluminum constituting the aluminum base for the photoreceptor is not limited, but if the intermetallic compound in the aluminum is small, it will be easily seized in the cold drawing process, and conversely if it is contained excessively, the surface The number of dent defects tends to increase and the smoothness is impaired. Therefore, it is preferable to use a material in which an intermetallic compound is appropriately present in aluminum, and it is desirable to use an Al-Fe alloy or an Al-Mn alloy in the alloy system. The shape of the aluminum substrate is not limited, but when the cold drawing is drawing or ironing, it is generally tubular, and when it is rolling, it is generally plate-shaped.

The reason why the average length of the crystal grains on the surface of the aluminum substrate in the processing direction exceeds 300 μm is specified because the surface smoothness deteriorates when the average length is 300 μm or less. Such a result has been obtained. Particularly preferably, the thickness is 500 μm or more.

The method for producing the above-mentioned aluminum base for a photoconductor is not particularly limited, but a preferable production method is the production method according to the present invention.

That is, first, a base material is prepared in which the average length of the crystal grains on the surface in the cold drawing process direction is 60 μm or more. The average length in the processing direction of the surface crystal grains of the base material is defined to be 60 μm or more. If the average length is less than 60 μm, the average length in the processing direction of the surface crystal grains in the subsequent cold stretching process exceeds 300 μm. It is actually difficult to do. The longer the crystal grains of the original material,
In the subsequent cold drawing process, the draw ratio, that is, the workability for making the average length of the crystal grains in the working direction exceeds 300 μm, can be small. However, the draw ratio of the cold drawing process needs to be performed so that the average length of the crystal grains on the surface in the processing direction is 1.3 times or more. 1.3
At a draw ratio of less than twice, even if the crystal grain of the original material is large, it is not possible to remove the fine irregularities such as the die line and the rolling streak generated on the surface of the original material by the drawing and drawing process,
You may not be able to get a mirror surface. A particularly preferable stretching ratio is 1.5 to 2.5.

The average length of the crystal grains on the surface of the base material is adjusted by cold extruding the extruded pipe or the squeezed pipe and then annealing at a recrystallization temperature or higher. It can be done by adjusting. Alternatively, in the case of a rolled plate, it may be performed by annealing the rolled plate, repeating cold rolling and annealing, and adjusting the cold rolling rate and the annealing temperature at that time.

[0014]

Example A base material made of various kinds of aluminum as shown in Table 1 was prepared. The base material is cold rolled / annealed / cold rolled /
A product (A) manufactured by sequentially performing annealing and a product (B) manufactured by cold drawing an extruded tube and further annealing at a recrystallization temperature or higher were prepared. And by changing the cold rolling conditions, cold drawing conditions, annealing conditions,
Various average lengths of the crystal grains on the surface of the base material in the processing direction were set as shown in Table 1.

Next, the draw ratio is set as shown in Table 1, and
For base material A, cold drawing by cold rolling, base material B
For, a cold drawing process by drawing was carried out to manufacture an aluminum base for a photoreceptor.

Then, the average length of the crystal grains on the surface of the obtained aluminum substrate in the processing direction was measured. Table 1 shows the results.

[0017]

[Table 1] As can be seen from the results in Table 1 above, the product of the present invention has excellent surface smoothness as compared with the comparative product.

[0018]

As described above, the present invention is defined as an aluminum base for a photosensitive member which has been subjected to cold drawing and has an average length in the processing direction of crystal grains on the surface thereof exceeding 300 μm. Therefore, it can be used as an aluminum base for a photosensitive member having a high degree of surface smoothness stably.

Further, a base material of an aluminum base for a photoreceptor having an average length in the processing direction of crystal grains of 60 μm or more is prepared by using an average length in the processing direction of crystal grains of 1.3.
If the average length in the processing direction of the crystal grains on the surface is more than 300 μm by cold stretching so as to be more than double, the aluminum base for the photoconductor having excellent smoothness can be formed by a simple process. It can be reliably manufactured and provided.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kenji Tomita 6-224, Kaiyamacho, Sakai City Showa Aluminum Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An aluminum substrate for a photosensitive member which has been subjected to cold stretching, wherein the average length of the surface crystal grains in the processing direction is specified to exceed 300 μm. Aluminum base for. 2. A base material for an aluminum base for a photoreceptor having an average length in the processing direction of crystal grains of 60 μm or more, so that the average length in the processing direction of crystal grains is 1.3 times or more. A method for producing an aluminum base for a photoconductor, which comprises subjecting a surface of crystal grains to an average length of more than 300 μm by cold drawing.