JPH0834116A - Ink jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an ink jet recording device which improves image quality by preventing defective transference of ink from an intermediate transfer body to a record medium and preventing misdirection and slipping of dot. CONSTITUTION:A hot melt ink 1 is heated and melted by a heater 3 in a record head 2, flown to an intermediate transfer body 4 by electrostatic force, and attached to the surface of the intermediate transfer body 4. At this time, electric charge of the attached hot melt ink 1 is freed by conductivity of a conductive liquid-repellent layer 10, so that misdirection and slipping of dot due to electrostatic repulsion of remaining electric charge are prevented. Also, by the liquid repellency of the conductive liquid-repellent layer 10 on the surface of the intermediate transfer body 4, the attached hot melt ink 1 is repelled, so that the contact area with the intermediate transfer body 4 becomes small. Accordingly, when an ink image on the intermediate transfer body 4 is to be transferred to a record medium 6 by pressing forces of the intermediate transfer body 4 and a rear face roll 8, releasing property is improved, so that transference from the intermediate transfer body 4 to the record medium 6 can be done excellently.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus for ejecting ink onto an intermediate transfer body and transferring an ink image formed on the intermediate transfer body onto a recording medium for recording.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as one of ink jet recording apparatuses, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-43053, the ink filled in a recording head is electrostatically attracted according to image information. To fly to the intermediate transfer body,
After that, the one in which the ink image on the intermediate transfer member is transferred onto a recording medium is known. In such an inkjet recording apparatus, a voltage is applied between the ink surface in the recording head and the intermediate transfer member in order to generate an electrostatic attraction force. In the technique described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-43053, in order to prevent spark discharge between the recording head and the intermediate transfer member due to the application of voltage, and to prevent charging, the resin is electrically conductive. A high resistance layer in which fine particles are dispersed to have a volume resistivity of 10 ⁷ to 10 ¹² Ω · cm is provided on the surface of the intermediate transfer member.

On the other hand, for example, an ink jet recording apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-200997 uses an intermediate transfer member as in the above recording apparatus, and an ink jet method of ejecting ink by electrostatic attraction. Although it is a recording apparatus, a hot-melt ink that is solid at room temperature and melts when heated is used as the ink to enhance suitability for plain paper. As an intermediate transfer member, a silicon rubber mixed with a carbon filler is provided on the surface of an aluminum tube serving as a counter electrode to prevent charging. However, in an intermediate transfer body having a high resistance layer that prevents such charging, even if ink adheres to the intermediate transfer body, the charge accumulated in the ink cannot be rapidly released. for that reason,
Next, when the adjacent flying dots adhere to the intermediate transfer member, electrostatic repulsion occurs, causing misdirection and dot omission, and there is a problem that the image quality is degraded.

For example, as described in Japanese Patent Application No. 6-36447, it is possible to avoid ink charging by using a stainless tube as an intermediate transfer member. However, the surface tension of the conductive material such as metal or polymer resin used for the surface of the intermediate transfer member is generally higher than the surface tension of the hot melt ink used, so the ink wets the surface of the intermediate transfer member during transfer, As a result, there is a problem that the peelability is lowered, the transfer rate to the recording medium is lowered, and the image is deteriorated.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and in an ink jet recording apparatus using an intermediate transfer member, eliminates a defective transfer of ink from the intermediate transfer member to a recording medium. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus that improves image quality by preventing misdirection and dot omission caused by electrostatic repulsion of charged ink dots to adjacent dots.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a recording head filled with ink, and an intermediate transfer member arranged to face the recording head, and a potential difference between the recording head and the intermediate transfer member. An ink jet for recording by causing the ink to fly from the recording head onto the surface of the intermediate transfer member by the electrostatic attraction force generated by giving the ink, and transferring the ink on the surface of the intermediate transfer member to the recording medium. In the recording apparatus, the surface of the intermediate transfer member is made of a substance having conductivity and liquid repellency with respect to the ink.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a potential difference is applied between the recording head and the intermediate transfer member in accordance with image information, and the electrostatic force generated by the potential difference causes the ink to fly to the intermediate transfer member to cause the intermediate transfer. An ink image having a pattern corresponding to image information is held on the body. Next, the ink image on the intermediate transfer body is transferred to a recording medium. Here, when the critical surface tension of the surface of the intermediate transfer member is larger than the surface tension of the ink, the ink spreads when the ink is flying and adheres to the intermediate transfer member, and the ink is less likely to be peeled from the surface of the intermediate transfer member. Therefore, ink dots remain on the surface of the intermediate transfer member, and the final image quality on the recording paper is conspicuous with image defects such as missing dots. However, in the present invention, since the surface of the intermediate transfer member is provided with a layer of a substance that is liquid repellent to the ink, the critical surface tension of the surface of the intermediate transfer member becomes smaller than the surface tension of the ink, and the ink Easier to peel off from the transfer body surface, and transfer defects can be eliminated.

If a layer of a liquid-repellent substance is simply provided on the surface of the intermediate transfer member, the area where the intermediate transfer member and the ink dots contact when ink flies from the recording head and adheres to the surface of the intermediate transfer member. Becomes smaller. This improves the releasability, but increases the electric resistance with the intermediate transfer member. Therefore, it is difficult for the electric charges of the ink dots to escape. In the present invention, since the surface of the intermediate transfer member is provided with a layer that exhibits liquid repellency to ink and has conductivity, the electric resistance between the ink dots and the intermediate transfer member is reduced, and the ink transfer is well performed. The charge of the ink dots can be released. As a result, the electric charge of the ink dots attached to the intermediate transfer member escapes by the time of the next ink flight, so that the ink dots that fly next will be affected by the residual charges of the ink dots already attached to the intermediate transfer member. It does not receive and adheres to the surface of the intermediate transfer member. That is, misdirection and dot omission due to electrostatic repulsion do not occur.

Further, when the ink image formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer member is transferred to the recording medium, the electric charge generated by friction with the recording medium is caused by the electrostatic adhesion force.
This hinders the transferability from being improved by using a liquid-repellent substance on the surface of the intermediate transfer member. However, since the layer provided on the surface of the intermediate transfer member has liquid repellency as well as conductivity, it is possible to release charges generated by friction with the recording medium. As a result, the transferability to the recording medium can be improved and good image quality can be obtained.

Such an effect is effective not only when using a hot melt ink which is solid at room temperature and melts when heated, but also when using an ink which is liquid at room temperature. Further, if the surface temperature of the intermediate transfer member is low, the resistivity of the ink dots increases, and it becomes difficult for the charges of the ink dots to escape. Therefore, it is desirable to raise the temperature of the printing portion or the transfer portion using a heating means.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic constitutional view showing an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of a transfer section. In the figure, 1 is hot melt ink, 2 is a recording head, 3 is a heater, 4 is an intermediate transfer member, 5 is a printing part local heating heater, 6 is a recording medium, 7 is a transfer part local heating heater, and 8 is a back roll. , 9 is an intermediate transfer member substrate, and 10 is a conductive liquid repellent layer.

The hot melt ink 1 is a solid having an appropriate hardness at room temperature and plastically flows, and is supplied to the recording head 2 by an ink supply mechanism (not shown). The hot melt ink 1 has a volume resistivity of 10 ³ Ω · m to ^{10 10} Ω · m at the flight temperature because it can withstand rubbing and bending on the recording medium 6 and is melted by heating and electrostatically attracted. ,
Further, it is possible to use those satisfying the conditions such as 10 ⁹ Ω · m or less near the melting point, viscosity of 50 cp or less, and surface tension of 50 dyne / cm or less.

The recording head 2 holds the hot melt ink 1 and heats and melts it by the heater 3. Then, a voltage is applied according to the image information, and the melted hot melt ink 1 is caused to fly to the intermediate transfer member 4 by the electrostatic attraction force due to the potential difference between the intermediate transfer member 4 and the intermediate transfer member 4.

The intermediate transfer member 4 is formed by disposing a conductive liquid repellent layer 10 on the surface of an intermediate transfer member base material 9. As the intermediate transfer member substrate 9, for example, various metals such as stainless steel, aluminum, and copper, and various heat resistant molecular resins that do not deform or deteriorate at the ink heating temperature can be used. In addition, the conductive liquid repellent layer 1
0 releases the electric charge accumulated in the ink, and further efficiently transfers the ink from the surface of the intermediate transfer member 4 to the recording medium, so that it has conductivity and is liquid repellent to the hot melt ink 1. It is formed of the substance shown. For example, as the conductive liquid repellent layer 10, carbon or metal powder is mixed into a low surface tension substance such as Teflon or silicon to dissolve the substance having conductivity, and the solution is placed on the intermediate transfer member substrate 9. Then, it may be applied thinly by bar coating, spin coating, or the like, or may be laminated on the intermediate transfer member substrate 9 after the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 is formed.

Here, whether the liquid on a certain solid substance is repelled or spread depends on the magnitude relation between the surface tension of the solid and the sum of the interfacial tension of the liquid and the solid and the surface tension of the liquid. It is generally known that a substance having a relatively low surface energy, such as an organic compound, has a contact angle formed by a liquid on the surface of the substance as a monotonic function of only the surface tension. Above the critical surface tension, the liquid does not wet the solid surface. Therefore, the critical surface tension of the surface layer of the intermediate transfer member 4, which is made of a solid substance, that is, the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 is lower than the surface tension of the hot melt ink at the transfer temperature in order to enhance the releasability from the ink. Is preferred.

The conductivity of the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 may be low enough not to prevent the charge accumulated in the ink from escaping, and the volume resistivity is 10 ⁸ Ω at the temperature of the printing portion.
· M or less, preferably 10 ⁵ Ω · m or less is sufficient. Further, since the charge may be released by using only the surface of the conductive liquid repellent layer 10, the surface resistivity of the surface of the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 to which the ink adheres is 10 ⁸ Ω / □ m or less, preferably It is sufficient if it is 10 ⁵ Ω / □ or less, and it is sufficient to satisfy either one of the volume resistivity and the surface resistivity.

A print portion local heater 5 is provided in the print portion of the intermediate transfer member 4 facing the recording head 2.
The local heating heater 5 for the printing portion heats the intermediate transfer body 4 and heats the hot melt ink 1 attached to the surface of the intermediate transfer body 4 to increase the conductivity of the hot melt ink 1 itself. As a result, the charges generated during electrostatic attraction are quickly released. The relaxation time of the ink itself (= volume resistivity × dielectric constant) is a standard for the speed at which the charge escapes, but the relaxation time may be about 0.01 to 2 times the flight cycle of the ink. When using a hot melt ink having a relaxation time at which electric charges do not remain at room temperature, the printing portion local heater 5 is unnecessary.

The back roll 8 is arranged in pressure contact with the intermediate transfer member 4. The recording medium 6 is inserted into the pressure contact portion between the intermediate transfer member 4 and the back roll 8. The back roll 8 conveys the recording medium 6 and presses the recording medium 6 against the intermediate transfer body 4 to transfer the ink image formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer body 4 to the recording medium 6. Since the conductive liquid-repellent layer 10 provided on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 4 repels the ink and improves the releasability, the hot-melt ink 1 does not remain on the intermediate transfer member 4 even with a weak pressure, and the recording medium 6 can be transferred and fixed.

The transfer portion local heater 7 is used for the intermediate transfer member 4
It is arranged at a position facing the back roll 8 with the front surface of the sheet sandwiched therebetween. The transfer portion local heater 7 heats the surface of the intermediate transfer body 4 to heat the hot melt ink 1 adhering to the surface of the intermediate transfer body 4 to reduce the viscosity of the ink.
As a result, the ink can be fixed on the recording medium even at a lower pressure, and the critical surface tension of the surface of the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 is smaller than the surface tension of the ink at the temperature of the transfer portion. It is easily repelled and easily transferred to a recording medium. The transfer temperature is a temperature at which the ink has a viscosity lower than room temperature, and is a temperature at which the ink does not melt and flow out, and is preferably room temperature or higher and the ink melting point or lower, more preferably ink softening point or higher and the ink melting point or lower. It is desirable to set the temperature. When using a hot melt ink that exhibits plastic flow at room temperature and does not crack due to external force, this fixing portion local heating heater 7 is not always necessary, and transfer fixing by pressure alone is also possible.

Next, an example of operation in one embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention will be described. A hot melt ink 1 which is solid at room temperature is held by a recording head 2. The hot melt ink 1 is heated and melted by the heater 3 in the recording head 2. A voltage is applied to the recording electrode arranged on the recording head 2 and the counter electrode of the intermediate transfer member 3 according to image information. An electrostatic force is generated by applying the voltage. Due to this electrostatic force, the hot-melt ink 1 that has been heated and melted melts and flies to the intermediate transfer member 4. The flying hot melt ink 1 adheres to the surface of the intermediate transfer body 4. As a result, an ink image having a pattern corresponding to the image information is formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 4.

When the melted hot melt ink 1 adheres to the surface of the intermediate transfer body 4, the hot melt ink 1 is spread along the surface by the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 arranged on the surface of the intermediate transfer body 4. Will not spread. FIG. 3 is an illustration of an example of the shape of the ink attached to the surface of the intermediate transfer member. When an intermediate transfer member having no liquid repellency as in the conventional case is used, the ink attached to the surface of the intermediate transfer member spreads along the surface, as shown in FIG. The contact area with the body increases. When the transfer to the recording medium is performed in such a state, it is difficult for the ink dots to be separated from the intermediate transfer body. By providing the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 4, the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 is formed.
The hot melt ink 1 that has reached the surface of is repelled by the liquid repellency of the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 to form spherical dots as shown in FIG. 3 (A), and the contact area with the intermediate transfer member 4 is Get smaller. Therefore, from the intermediate transfer member to the recording medium 6
It is possible to improve the transferability to the.

However, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the contact area between the ink dot and the intermediate transfer member 4 becomes small, the electric charge of the ink dot becomes difficult to escape. At this time,
Due to the conductivity of the conductive liquid repellent layer 10, the charges of the ink dots attached to the intermediate transfer member 4 can be released before the next ink flight. As a result, the next flying ink dot is not affected by the residual charge of the ink dot previously attached to the intermediate transfer member 4, that is, misdirection or dot omission due to electrostatic repulsion does not occur.

Next, the ink image formed on the intermediate transfer body 4 is transferred to the recording medium 6 conveyed between the intermediate transfer body 4 and the back roll 8. At this time, the ink dots adhering to the intermediate transfer member 4 are crushed on the recording medium 6 by the pressing force of the intermediate transfer member 4 and the back surface roll 8 or by the pressing force and the heating by the transfer portion local heating heater 7. Transfer. Here, as described above, the ink dots are attached to the intermediate transfer member 4 in a state where they are easily separated by the conductive liquid repellent layer 10. Therefore, the transfer can be performed well, and the transfer can be performed with a small pressing force.

At the time of transfer, the intermediate transfer member 4, the ink dots, the recording medium 6, the back roll 8 and the like are charged by friction. Due to this charging, the electrostatic adhesive force between the ink dots and the intermediate transfer body 4 increases, and the transferability decreases.
However, since the generated charge can be released due to the conductivity of the conductive liquid repellent layer 10, it is possible to prevent the transferability from being lowered. Further, by heating the transfer portion by the transfer portion local heater 7, the temperature of the ink dot is raised and the resistivity is decreased, so that the electric charge can be released more effectively.

FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram showing a concrete example of an embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the printing unit local heater, and FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the transfer unit local heater. In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. Reference numeral 11 is a black recording head, 12 is a yellow recording head, and 13
Is a recording head for magenta, 14 is a recording head for cyan,
Reference numeral 15 is a cleaner, 21 and 25 are protective layers, 22 and 26 are elastic layers, 23 and 27 are heating materials, and 24 and 28 are support members.

The specific example shown in FIG. 4 shows a color ink jet recording apparatus using four color inks. A recording head of four colors for color printing, that is, a recording head for black 11, a recording head for yellow 12, a recording head for magenta 13, and a recording head for cyan 14 are arranged closely to face the surface of the intermediate transfer member 4. The distance from the nozzles of the respective recording heads that eject ink to the surface of the intermediate transfer member 4 is kept constant. And 4
The color recording heads 11 to 14 form an ink image of each color component on the intermediate transfer body 4 in accordance with an image signal from a host computer (not shown). Cleaner 15
Residual ink, paper dust, foreign matter, dust, etc. on the surface of the intermediate transfer body 4 are removed.

The hot melt ink 1 used in this example was prepared by using linear polyethylene as a main component and adding each color dye as a colorant, an antioxidant, a viscosity modifier and the like. As a result of differential thermal analysis, the melting point of this hot melt ink 1 was 70 ° C., and the surface tension at the time of melting was 26 dyne /
It was cm (100 degreeC). The volume resistivity of this hot melt ink 1 was 10 ⁸ Ω · m at 70 ° C.

The intermediate transfer member 4 was made of polyimide having a thickness of 50 μm as the intermediate transfer member substrate 9. Then, on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 4, fine carbon powder is added to Teflon.
A substance mixed with 0 wt% was bar-coated to a thickness of 15 μm to form a conductive liquid repellent layer 10. The volume resistivity of the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 is 10 ² Ω · m, which is a sufficiently low resistance value for releasing the charges accumulated in the ink during flight.

As the local heating heater 5 for the printing portion, as shown in FIG. 5, a 1 mmφ heating material 23 is embedded in a protective layer 21 made of a polyimide film so that only the surface thereof is exposed, and a metal supporting member 24 is further provided. The elastic layer 22 made of rubber and adhered to the elastic layer 22 was used. The heating material 23 was arranged corresponding to the position where the ink of each color adheres. Then, the local heating heater 5 for the printing portion was arranged in pressure contact with the back side of the intermediate transfer member base material 9.

The recording heads 11 to 14 are respectively
Hot melt ink 1 melted in the front and back direction of the paper surface of FIG.
A large number of ejection openings for ejecting are arranged by the maximum recording width. The large number of ejection ports may be arranged according to the recording density, and for example, the recording density can be set to 300 spi. The distance between the recording heads 11 to 14 and the intermediate transfer member substrate 9 was 200 μm. The intermediate transfer body 9 is grounded, and the recording heads 11 to 14 have a voltage of +1.0 KV, a pulse width of 1.0 ms, and a frequency of 0.5.
The hot melt ink 1 was caused to fly by applying a voltage pulse of KHz. The intermediate heating member 4 is heated by the heater 5 for locally heating the printing portion.
The maximum temperature around the upper printing area rose to 70 ° C.

As the transfer portion local heater 7 arranged in the transfer portion, as shown in FIG. 6, a heating material 27 of 1 mmφ, a protective layer 25 made of a polyimide film, a metal supporting member 28, and an elasticity of a rubber material. The one produced by the layer 26 was used. By the transfer portion local heater 7, the temperature around the transfer portion on the intermediate transfer member 4 was raised to the maximum temperature of 70 ° C. In addition, the intermediate transfer member 4 and the back roll 8 in the transfer section
Was set to 3 kgf / cm.

Using the ink jet recording apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, an image was once formed on the intermediate transfer body 4, and then the image formed on the intermediate transfer body 4 was transferred and fixed on a rough paper. Then, the transfer rate was 100%, that is, no dot omission due to defective transfer was observed, and an image with uniform surface property was obtained. This is because the critical surface tension of the surface of the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 is 20 dyne / cm at the transfer temperature of 70 ° C., and the surface tension of the hot melt ink 1 is 3 at the minimum value at the same temperature.
Since it is 0 dyne / cm, it is considered that the hot melt ink 1 is repelled by the conductive liquid repellent layer 10, and the ink 20 is transferred to the recording medium 6 without remaining. Further, the obtained image does not peel off even if the paper surface is broken, and shows good fixability of heat and pressure fixing using the intermediate. Then, the maximum amount of misdirection was 10 μm in any 100 dots of the image, which could not be discriminated by visual inspection of the image.

As a first comparative example, printing was carried out under the same conditions using the same ink used in the same apparatus except that the surface of the intermediate transfer member 4 was not coated with the conductive liquid repellent layer 10.
Then, some ink dots did not separate from the intermediate transfer body 4 during transfer, and the hot melt ink 1 remained on the intermediate transfer body 4. Therefore, the output image was defective in image quality due to missing dots.

As a second comparative example, the surface of the intermediate transfer member 4 is not coated with the conductive liquid repellent layer 10 and is coated with a Teflon layer containing no fine carbon powder, that is, an insulating liquid repellent layer. Other than that, printing was performed under the same conditions using the same ink as the same device. Then, although no transfer failure was observed, the charge accumulated in the ink during flight did not escape and misdirection occurred due to electrostatic repulsion, and image quality defects such as lines and unevenness were observed in the output image.

Next, when the mixing ratio of the fine carbon powder was changed and the relationship between the resistivity of the liquid repellent layer and the amount of misdirection due to electrostatic repulsion was examined, the volume resistivity of the surface layer of the intermediate transfer member 4 was found to be When it became larger than 10 ⁸ Ω · m, image quality defects due to misdirection began to be visually discerned. Therefore, the conductive liquid repellent layer 1 provided on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 4
It is desirable that 0 has a volume resistivity of 10 ⁸ Ω · m or less. If the volume resistivity is 10 ⁵ Ω · m or less, a sufficient effect can be obtained.

In the above description, the case where the hot-melt ink is used as the ink to be used has been explained, but the same effect can be obtained also in the case of the ink which is liquid at the normal temperature in the ink jet recording apparatus having the structure using the intermediate transfer member. Further, the intermediate transfer member is not limited to the drum shape as described above, and may be a belt shape, for example.

[0037]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the surface of the intermediate transfer member is formed of a material that exhibits liquid repellency with respect to ink and has conductivity. In addition to improving the releasability of the ink from the intermediate transfer member, it is possible to release the charge charged in the ink and simultaneously suppress the image quality deterioration due to electrostatic repulsion of the transfer failure of the ink, and obtain a good recorded image. There is an effect that can be.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of a transfer portion.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the shape of ink attached to the surface of an intermediate transfer member.

FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram showing a specific example of an embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of a heater for locally heating a printing portion.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of a local heating heater of a transfer portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Hot melt ink, 2 ... Recording head, 3 ... Heater, 4 ... Intermediate transfer body, 5 ... Local heating heater for printing part, 6
... Recording medium, 7 ... Local heating heater for transfer portion, 8 ... Back roll, 9 ... Intermediate transfer member substrate, 10 ... Conductive liquid repellent layer, 11 ...
Black recording head, 12 ... Yellow recording head,
13 ... Magenta recording head, 14 ... Cyan recording head, 15 ... Cleaner 21, 25 ... Protective layer, 22, 26
... Elastic layer, 23, 27 ... Heating material, 24, 28 ...
Support member.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI Technical indication location B41J 3/04 103 Z 103 S (72) Inventor Shigenori Ando 2274 Hongo, Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Zero Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toru Okamoto 2274 Hongo, Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Koji Adachi 2274, Hongo, Ebina City, Kanagawa Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Abe Keizo Keizo Xerox Co., Ltd. 2274 Hongo, Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture (72) Inventor Kazuo Maruyama 2274 Hongo, Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An electrostatic suction device, which comprises a recording head filled with ink and an intermediate transfer member arranged to face the recording head, and which is generated by applying a potential difference between the recording head and the intermediate transfer member. In an ink jet recording apparatus, the ink is ejected from the recording head onto the surface of the intermediate transfer body by force, and the ink on the surface of the intermediate transfer body is transferred to a recording medium to perform recording. The ink jet recording apparatus is characterized in that the surface of the ink is made of a substance that is electrically conductive and liquid repellent with respect to the ink.