JPH09187731A - Preparation of toner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a method for efficiently preparing high quality toner which has a weight average particle size not exceeding 10μm, or 8μm, and sharp particle size distribution. SOLUTION: After a prescribed amount of a coarse powder material being pulverized by a specified grinding means, the fine particles are introduced into the first classification process having a specified classification means and classified into the first coarse powder and the first fine powder. The first coarse powder is introduced into the second classification process and classified into the second coarse powder and the second fine powder, and the second coarse powder is introduced again into the above grinding means and pulverized to be circulated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for producing a toner, and more particularly to a high-quality classified product having a sharp particle size distribution by efficiently pulverizing and classifying solid particles containing a binder resin. The present invention relates to a method for producing a toner for developing an electrostatic image, comprising:

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In image forming methods such as electrophotography, electrostatography and electrostatic printing, a toner for developing an electrostatic image is used. In recent years, with high image quality and high definition of copiers and printers, the performance required for toner as a developer has become even more severe, the particle size of the toner has been reduced, and the particle size distribution of the toner has been coarse. There has been a growing demand for sharp particles that do not contain particles and that contain few ultrafine powders.

[0003] As a general method for producing a toner for developing an electrostatic image, there are a binder resin for fixing to a material to be transferred, various colorants for giving a color as a toner, and a method for giving a charge to particles. Using a charge control agent as a raw material, or
In a so-called one-component developing method as disclosed in JP-A-42141 and JP-A-55-18656, in addition to these, various magnetic materials for imparting transportability or the like to the toner itself are used. Accordingly, for example, other additives such as a release agent and a fluidity-imparting agent are added and dry-mixed, and thereafter, the mixture is melt-kneaded in a general-purpose kneading device such as a roll mill or an extruder, cooled and solidified, and then kneaded. Is refined by various pulverizers such as a jet air pulverizer and a mechanical collision pulverizer, and the obtained coarse pulverized product is introduced into various air classifiers and classified to obtain a particle size required for toner. The obtained classified product is obtained, and if necessary, a fluidizing agent, a lubricant and the like are externally added and dry-mixed to obtain a toner to be used for image formation. In the case of a toner used in a two-component developing method, various magnetic carriers are mixed with the above-mentioned toner, and then used for image formation.

[0004] In addition, in order to obtain toner particles composed of fine particles having a required particle size, a method shown in a flowchart of FIG. 14 has conventionally been generally employed. That is, as shown in FIG. 14, the powder raw material composed of the coarsely pulverized toner is first continuously or sequentially supplied to the first classification means and classified into coarse powder and fine powder. Of the classified items,
Coarse powder mainly composed of a group of coarse particles having a specified particle size or more is sent to a pulverizing means and finely pulverized, then introduced again into a first classifying means and circulated to be classified into a coarse powder and a fine powder. Then, the fine powder arranged in the particle group containing the particles within the specified particle size range and the particles having the specified particle size or smaller is sent to the second classifying means, and the medium powder mainly composed of the particle group having the specified particle size is used. And a fine powder mainly composed of a group of particles having a specified particle size or less (hereinafter, referred to as ultrafine powder). The obtained intermediate powder is used as a classified product for producing a toner.

Various pulverizers are used as the pulverizing means used in the above-mentioned conventional classification / pulverization process. For pulverizing a coarsely pulverized toner mainly composed of a binder resin, a jet airflow as shown in FIG. 15 is used. The jet air flow crusher used, particularly the collision air flow crusher, is used. In such an impingement type air current pulverizer using a high-pressure gas such as a jet air flow, a powder raw material, which is an object to be ground, is transported by a jet air flow, is injected from an outlet of an acceleration tube, and the powder raw material is discharged from an outlet of the acceleration tube. The powder raw material is pulverized by the impact force of a collision with a collision surface of a collision member provided opposite the opening surface of the powder material. For example, in the collision type air flow pulverizer shown in FIG. 15, the collision member 164 is provided so as to face the outlet 163 of the acceleration tube 162 to which the high-pressure gas supply nozzle 161 is connected.
With the high-pressure gas supplied to 62, the powder raw material is sucked into the acceleration pipe 162 from the powder raw material supply port 165 communicating with the acceleration pipe 162, and the powder raw material is ejected together with the high-pressure gas to form the collision member 164. The powder material is caused to collide with the collision surface 166, and the pulverized material is pulverized by the impact force.
7 to discharge.

However, in the collision type air-flow crusher shown in FIG. 15, since the supply port 165 for the crushed object is provided in the middle of the acceleration tube 162, the powder as the crushed object sucked into the acceleration tube 162 is introduced. Immediately after passing through the pulverized material supply port 165, the raw material is dispersed in the high-pressure airflow while changing the flow path toward the acceleration pipe outlet 163 by the high-pressure airflow ejected from the high-pressure gas supply nozzle 161, and is rapidly accelerated. . In this state, relatively coarse particles of the material to be pulverized flow in the lower part of the accelerating tube due to the effect of inertia force, while relatively fine particles flow in the higher part of the accelerating tube. The raw material particles are not sufficiently uniformly dispersed, and the collision member 164 in the pulverizing chamber 168 is separated into a high concentration flow and a low concentration flow.
Partially concentrate on the collision. For this reason, there has been a problem that the pulverization efficiency is apt to be reduced and the processing capacity is apt to be reduced.

Further, the collision surface 166 is located near the
Since a high concentration of dust and dust composed of locally crushed material and crushed crushed material is likely to occur, particularly when the crushed material contains a low-melting substance such as a resin, Fusing, coarsening, agglomeration, and the like of the material to be ground are likely to occur. If the object to be ground has abrasion properties, local powder wear is likely to occur on the collision surface 166 of the collision member 164 and the acceleration tube 162, and the frequency of replacement of the collision member 164 increases. There was a point to be improved from the viewpoint of continuous stable production.

On the other hand, the collision surface 16 of the collision member 164
6 has a conical shape having an apex angle of 110 ° to 175 ° (JP-A-1-254266), or has a projection on a plane where the collision surface intersects perpendicularly with the extension of the central axis of the collision member. A collision plate shape (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-148740) has been proposed. In these pulverizers, since it is possible to suppress a local increase in the dust concentration near the collision surface, it is possible to somewhat reduce the fusion, coarsening, aggregation, and the like of the pulverized material and slightly improve the pulverization efficiency. However, in some cases, further improvement has been desired.

For example, if the weight average particle size is 8 μm and
In order to obtain a toner having a particle size distribution in which particles having a particle size of μm or less are 1% or less by volume%, a pulverizing means such as an impingement airflow pulverizer having a classification mechanism for removing a coarse powder region is used.
After pulverizing the raw material to a predetermined average particle size, the mixture is classified by a classifier to remove coarse powder, and the obtained pulverized product is separated by another classifier as a second classification means to remove ultrafine powder. Thus, a medium powder having a desired particle size distribution is obtained. Here, the weight average particle size is data measured using a Coulter Counter TA-II or Coulter Multisizer II manufactured by Coulter Electronics Co., Ltd. (USA) using an aperture of 100 μm.

[0010] However, a problem with such a conventional method is that the second classifying means for the purpose of only removing the ultrafine powder requires a method of completely removing a coarse particle group having a certain particle size or more. , The load on the pulverizing means must be increased and the amount of processing must be reduced. Furthermore, if it is attempted to completely remove a coarse particle group having a particle size larger than a certain specified particle size, excessive pulverization is apt to occur, and a large amount of ultrafine powder is generated in the pulverization step. As a result, there is a problem that a phenomenon such as a decrease in yield is easily caused in the second classifying means for removing the ultrafine powder in the next step. or,
The second classification means for removing ultrafine powder has a problem that it is difficult to remove aggregates as ultrafine powder when aggregates composed of ultrafine particles are generated. . In this case, the agglomerates are mixed into the final product,
It is difficult to obtain a product with a fine particle size distribution,
Aggregates in the final product collapse in the toner and become extremely fine particles, which is one of the causes of deteriorating image quality.

Conventionally, various airflow classifiers and airflow classifier methods have been proposed for the second classifier for the purpose of removing ultrafine powder as described above. Among them, a rotary blade is used. There are classifiers and classifiers without moving parts. Among them, a classifier without a movable part includes a fixed wall centrifugal classifier and an inertial force classifier. Loffier. F. and K. Maly: Symposium on Powde
An elbow jet classifier, which is exemplified by r Technology D-2 (1981) and commercialized by Nippon Steel Mining,
Okuda.S.and Yasukuni. J.:Proc.Inter.Symposium on
A classifier exemplified by Powder Technology '81, 771 (1981) has been proposed.

Generally, many different properties are required for a toner, and in order to obtain a product satisfying all the required properties, the properties of the toner are determined not only by selection of raw materials to be used but also by a manufacturing method. Often. Because of this,
For example, in the toner classification process, it is required that the toner particles obtained by the classification have a sharp particle size distribution. Further, in the production of toner, it is desired to efficiently and stably produce high quality toner at low cost. Further, in recent years, toner particles to be used have been gradually miniaturized in order to improve image quality in copying machines and printers. In contrast, in general, the function of the interparticle force increases as the material becomes finer, but the same applies to resin particles and toner particles. Difficult problems arise.

In particular, when trying to obtain a toner having a sharp particle size distribution having a weight average particle size of 10 μm or less, there is a problem that the classification yield is reduced by the conventional classification apparatus and classification method. Further, the weight average particle size is 8
When a toner having a sharp particle size distribution of not more than μm is to be obtained, the classification yield is remarkably reduced particularly with the conventional classification apparatus and classification method. Further, even if a desired product comprising fine particles having a fine particle size distribution can be obtained by the conventional method, the process becomes complicated, the classification yield is reduced, the production efficiency is poor, and the cost is high. That is inevitable. This tendency becomes more pronounced as the desired particle size of the product becomes smaller.

JP-A-63-101858 (corresponding to US Pat. No. 4,844,349) discloses a first classifier,
Although a method and apparatus for producing a toner using a pulverizing means and a multi-divided classifying means as a second classifying means following the pulverizing means have been proposed, they cannot be said to be sufficient, and a toner having a weight average particle diameter of 8 μm or less can be more stably and efficiently used. There is a long-felt need for a method and apparatus system for manufacturing.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a toner for developing an electrostatic image, which solves the above-mentioned various problems in the prior art. . Another object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method capable of efficiently manufacturing a toner for developing an electrostatic image. That is, it is an object of the present invention to provide a manufacturing method capable of efficiently manufacturing a toner for developing an electrostatic image having a fine particle size distribution. That is, the present invention, a mixture containing a binder resin, a colorant and an additive is melt-kneaded, after cooling the melt-kneaded product, coarsely pulverized from a powder raw material consisting of solid particles produced by a predetermined predetermined It is an object of the present invention to provide a method capable of efficiently producing a particle product (used as a toner) having a particle size distribution in a high yield. In particular, an object of the present invention is to provide a toner production method capable of efficiently producing a toner for developing an electrostatic charge image having a small and sharp particle size distribution having a weight average particle diameter of 10 μm or less, and further, 8 μm or less. It is in.

[0016]

The above object is achieved by the present invention described below. That is, the present invention, a mixture containing at least a binder resin and a colorant is melt-kneaded, the obtained kneaded product is cooled, and the cooled pulverized product is pulverized by a pulverizing means to obtain a coarsely pulverized product. As a raw material, it has an accelerating tube for accelerating the material to be crushed by high-pressure gas and a crushing chamber for finely crushing the material to be crushed, and the crushing chamber faces the opening surface of the outlet of the accelerating tube. A collision member having a collision surface provided is provided, and a rear end portion of the acceleration tube has a crushed object supply port for supplying the crushed object into the acceleration tube, and the collision surface is
It has a shape consisting of a protruding central portion having a protruding central portion and a cone-shaped outer peripheral collision surface provided on the outer periphery thereof, and further, by crushing the crushed object crushed by the collision member into the crushing chamber, The above powder raw material is introduced into a collision type air flow pulverizer having a side wall for pulverization and finely pulverized, and the obtained finely pulverized product is used as the first classification means of the first classification step using the cross air flow and the Coanda effect. Then, the powder is introduced into a classifier for classifying the powder to classify into a first coarse powder and a first fine powder, and then the classified first coarse powder is subjected to a second
Introduced into the second classifying means of the classifying step, the second coarse powder and second
The second fine powder is classified into fine powder, and the second fine powder is used as a classified product for producing a toner. The second coarse powder classified in the second classification step is again introduced into the collision type airflow pulverizer and finely pulverized for circulation. And a method for producing a toner.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an example of a flowchart showing an outline of the manufacturing method of the present invention. As shown in the flow chart, the manufacturing method of the present invention first introduces a predetermined amount of a coarsely pulverized powder material into a specific pulverizing means and finely pulverizes it, and then the finely pulverized material is first classified. Introduced into the step and classified into a first coarse powder and a first fine powder, and further introduced into the second classification step the first coarse powder into a second coarse powder and a second fine powder, which were classified. The second fine powder is used as a classified product for toner products, and the second coarse powder is introduced into the pulverizing means again, finely pulverized, and circulated. At this time, the first fine powder classified in the first classification step (ultrafine powder consisting of particles having a particle size smaller than the specified particle size) is generally
It is supplied to the melt-kneading step for producing the powder raw material, which is a coarsely pulverized product of the toner material, and is reused or discarded. Also, the second fine powder (classified product for toner products) is used as it is as a toner product,
Alternatively, after being mixed with an external additive such as hydrophobic colloidal silica, a toner product is obtained.

As described above, in the toner production method of the present invention, although the fine pulverization and classification steps are simple, the weight average particle diameter can be controlled by controlling the classification conditions and pulverization conditions in each classification step. It is possible to efficiently obtain a classified product having a small particle size and a sharp particle size distribution of 10 μm or less, particularly 8 μm or less. As a result, a high quality toner product can be efficiently manufactured, and the toner manufacturing cost can be significantly reduced.

FIG. 2 shows an example of an apparatus system to which the method for producing a toner of the present invention is applied, and the present invention will be specifically described based on this. To a powder raw material, which is a toner raw material introduced into the apparatus system, a mixture containing at least a binder resin and a colorant is melt-kneaded, the obtained kneaded material is cooled, and the cooled material is further coarsely crushed by a crushing means. A coarsely crushed product is used. The toner material used at that time will be described later.

In the method for producing a toner according to the present invention, the powdery raw material of the toner comprising the above coarsely pulverized material is first
A predetermined amount is introduced into the crusher 28 by the injection feeder 35 via the first constant-rate feeder 21,
The powder raw material is finely pulverized. Thereafter, the obtained finely pulverized material is introduced into the first classifier 1 through a finely pulverized material discharge pipe, and classified into a first fine powder and a first coarse powder. The first fine powder classified here is collected via the collection cyclone 2.
One of the classified first coarse powders is introduced into the second classifier 22 and classified into the second fine powders and the second coarse powders. The second coarse powder classified here is again introduced into the crusher 28. The second fine powder classified by the second classifier 22 is a collection cyclone 23.
And collected into a classified product 33 for toner.

As the first classifying means used in the apparatus system to which the toner manufacturing method of the present invention is applied, any means can be used as long as it can classify and remove ultrafine powder. In the present invention, an air flow classifier of the type shown in FIG. 3 is used which classifies the pulverized material by utilizing the cross air flow and the Coanda effect. However, the airflow classifier shown in FIG. 3 is an example of the first classifying means,
Of course, the present invention is not limited to this. Hereinafter, the airflow classifier shown in FIG. 3 will be described.

The material to be classified discharged from the crushed material discharge port 55 of the air flow type crusher 28 shown in FIG. 4 is classified in the classifier from the powder supply nozzle 10 of the air flow type classifier 1 shown in FIG. It is introduced into the chamber 12, classified, and discharged to the outside of the classifier 1. Therefore, the substance to be classified introduced into the classifier is the crusher 2 connected to the upper portion of the powder supply nozzle 10.
It is introduced from the powder supply nozzle 10 into the classifier using the high pressure gas of No. 8, but at that time, the trajectory of each particle of the object to be classified is not disturbed by the introduction site,
It is important that the high-pressure gas is used to cause individual particles to fly in the classification chamber 12 with propulsion.

When the powder flow is introduced from the opening of the powder supply nozzle 10 into the classification chamber 12 having the Coanda block 11 on the side as shown in FIG. 3, the powder supply nozzle 10 As the particle flow flowing from the inside, a particle flow dispersed according to the size of the particle is formed without disturbing the flight trajectory of the particle. Therefore, if the tip of the classification edge 13 can be fixed at the position of the streamline which is divided into ultrafine powder and coarse powder in those streamlines, a predetermined classification point according to the particle flow is set. Therefore, it is possible to perform accurate classification. That is, in the classifier shown in FIG. 3, the Coanda block 11 is provided on the side of the air intake edge 14 of the powder supply nozzle 10, and the classifier is configured to be rotatable below the Coanda block 11 by the shaft 13a. By installing the edge 13, the shape of the classification area of the classification chamber 12 can be arbitrarily changed, and the classification point can be easily and significantly adjusted.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the turbulence of the particle flow caused by the incompatibility of the position of the tip of the classification edge 13. Further, by controlling the flow rate of the suction flow due to the reduced pressure through the discharge conduits 4 and 5 shown in FIG. 2, the flight speed of the particles is increased to improve the dispersion of the finely pulverized material in the classification area, and the higher Good classification accuracy can be obtained even with dust concentration,
It becomes possible to reliably exclude from the finely pulverized material the ultrafine powder having a weight average particle diameter of 2 μm or less and having a cohesive property. As a result, it is possible to prevent not only a decrease in product yield but also a better classification accuracy and an improvement in product yield at the same dust concentration.

Further, by making the air intake edge 14 rotatable about the shaft 14a, the air intake edge 14 is formed.
It is possible to adjust the tip position of the above, and further adjust the classification point by adjusting the inflow amount and / or the inflow speed of the gas from the air intake pipe 6 and the powder supply nozzle 10 shown in FIG. As described above, in the present invention, by using the classifier having the configuration shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to reliably remove the ultrafine powder from the finely pulverized product with high classification accuracy by the first classifying means. Since it is possible, in the second classification process, which is the final process,
It is possible to efficiently obtain a toner product (classified product) having a sharp distribution.

Further, in the classifier shown in FIG. 3, a stepping motor or the like is used as the moving means for moving the tip position of the classification edge 13, and a potentiometer or the like is used as the detecting means for detecting the tip position of the edge 13. Further, if a control device for controlling these is provided and the tip position of the classification edge 13 is controlled to automatically control the flow rate of gas and powder introduced into the classification area, a desired classification point can be obtained accurately in a short time. It is more preferable because it can be obtained.

FIG. 2 to which the toner manufacturing method of the present invention is applied.
In the apparatus system shown in (1), as the pulverizing means for obtaining the finely pulverized material to be introduced into the first classifying means as described above, for example, a collision type air flow pulverizer of the type exemplified in FIGS. Used. Hereinafter, these will be described. First, in the collision type air flow fine pulverizer shown in FIG.
3 is provided between the inner wall of the accelerating tube throat section 44 and the outer wall of the high-pressure gas ejection nozzle 45.
(It is also a throat part) and is supplied to the acceleration tube 43. The central axis of the high-pressure gas ejection nozzle 45 and the acceleration tube 4
Preferably, the center axis of 3 is substantially coaxial.

On the other hand, the high-pressure gas is introduced from the high-pressure gas supply port 47, passes through the high-pressure gas chamber 48, preferably a plurality of high-pressure gas introduction pipes 49, and passes through the high-pressure gas ejection nozzle 45 and the acceleration pipe outlet 50. Ejects while expanding rapidly in the direction. At this time, the acceleration tube throat section 44
Crushed object 42 due to the ejector effect generated near
Is rapidly accelerated while being uniformly mixed with the high-pressure gas in the accelerating tube throat 44 from the crushed object supply port 46 toward the acceleration tube outlet 50 while being entrained by the gas coexisting with the crushed object 42. . Then, it collides against the collision surface 52 of the collision member 51 facing the acceleration tube outlet 50 in a state of a uniform solid-gas mixed flow without unevenness of the dust concentration. The impact force generated at the time of the collision is based on the sufficiently dispersed individual particles (objects to be crushed 4).
Since it is given in 2), very efficient pulverization can be performed.

The crushed material crushed on the collision surface 52 of the collision member 51 further collides with the side wall 54 of the crushing chamber 53 in a secondary collision (or tertiary collision), and the pulverized material disposed behind the collision member 51. It is discharged from the discharge port 55. Further, in the collision type airflow crusher shown in FIG. 4, if the collision surface 52 of the collision member 51 is a collision surface having a conical projection in the center as shown in FIGS. It is possible to uniformly disperse the pulverized material in (3) and efficiently perform high-order collision with the side wall 54. Furthermore, when the pulverized material discharge port 55 is located behind the collision member 51, the pulverized material can be smoothly discharged.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, a raw material colliding member 52 is provided with a cone-shaped central projecting portion having a central portion projecting on the raw material colliding surface 52, so that the raw material to be pulverized ejected from the accelerating tube 43 is crushed. The solid-gas mixture flow of the compressed air and the compressed air is primarily crushed by the collision surface 52 of the projection surface of the collision member 51, and is further pulverized by the conical collision surface 52 ′ provided on the outer periphery of the collision member 51. The side wall 54 is subjected to tertiary pulverization. At this time, the apex angle α formed by the collision surface 52 at the center of the projection surface of the collision member 51
When (°) and the inclination angle β (°) of the outer peripheral collision surface 52 ′ and the central axis of the accelerating tube with respect to the vertical plane satisfy the following relationship, grinding is performed very efficiently. 0 <α <90, β> 0 30 ≦ α + 2β ≦ 90

That is, when α ≦ 90, the central projection surface 5
The reflected flow of the pulverized material primary-pulverized in Step 2 is not preferable because the flow of the solid-gas mixed flow ejected from the acceleration tube 43 is disturbed. When β = 0, the outer peripheral collision surface 52 ′ becomes almost perpendicular to the solid-gas mixed flow, and the reflected flow at the outer peripheral collision surface flows toward the solid-gas mixed flow. Disturbance is undesired. When β = 0, the powder concentration increases on the outer peripheral collision surface, and when a powder of a thermoplastic resin or a powder containing a thermoplastic resin as a main component is used as a raw material, the fused material and Agglomerates are easily formed. When such a fusion product is generated, stable operation of the apparatus becomes difficult. When α and β satisfy α + 2β <30, the impact force of the primary pulverization on the projection surface 52 is weakened, which leads to a reduction in pulverization efficiency, which is not preferable. Also, when α and β are α + 2β <90, the reflected flow on the outer peripheral collision surface 52 ′ flows downstream of the solid-gas mixed flow, so that the impact force of the tertiary pulverization on the pulverization chamber side wall 54 is weakened and the pulverization efficiency is reduced. Causes a drop in

As described above, when α and β satisfy the following relationship, primary, secondary and tertiary pulverization are efficiently performed, and the pulverization efficiency can be improved. 0 <α <90, β> 0 30 ≦ α + 2β ≦ 90 More preferable values of α and β are as follows. 0 <α <80 5 <β <40

In the present invention, by using the collision type air flow fine pulverizer as described above, the number of collisions can be increased and the effect can be further improved as compared with the case of using the conventional air flow pulverizer as shown in FIG. Since it is possible to collide with each other, it is possible to improve the pulverization efficiency, and at the time of pulverization, it is possible to prevent the generation of a fusion substance on the collision surface or the like, and to perform a stable operation. FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the pulverizing chamber 53 in the impinging airflow pulverizer shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, the closest distance L ₁ between the edge portion 61 of the collision member 51 and the side wall 54 is
It is shorter than the closest distance L ₂ between the front wall 62 of the grinding chamber facing the impact surface 52 and 52 'and the edge portion 61 of the impact member 51, dust concentration of pulverizing chamber in the vicinity of the accelerating tube outlet 50 It is important to keep the price high. Furthermore, the closest distance L
₁ is shorter than the closest distance L _2, it is possible to efficiently perform the secondary collision of the pulverized material in the side wall 54.

The crusher as shown in FIG. 7 having the inclined collision surfaces 52 and 52 'has a flat collision surface 166 with respect to the accelerating tube 162 as shown in FIG. Compared to a conventional crusher having a collision member 164 that is
In the case of pulverizing a resin or a sticky substance, the object to be pulverized is unlikely to be fused, aggregated or coarsened, and can be pulverized at a high dust concentration. In addition, wear is not concentrated locally, so that the life of the apparatus can be extended and stable operation can be performed.

If the inclination of the acceleration tube 43 shown in FIG. 4 in the long axis direction is preferably in the range of 0 ° to 45 ° with respect to the vertical direction, the crushed object 42 is fed to the crushed object supply port 46. It is possible to process without blocking with. When the fluidity of the crushed material 42 is not good, when the crushed material supply pipe 41 has a cone-shaped member as shown in FIG. Crushed material 42
However, if the inclination of the accelerating tube 43 is within the range of 0 ° to 20 ° (more preferably 0 ° to 5 °) with respect to the vertical direction, the covering in the lower part of the cone-shaped member will be increased. The crushed object 42 can be smoothly supplied to the acceleration tube 43 without the crushed object remaining.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line AA 'in FIG. From FIG. 7, it is understood that the object 42 is smoothly supplied to the acceleration tube 43. The front wall 62 at the plane of the acceleration tube outlet 50 that intersects perpendicularly with the extension of the central axis of the acceleration tube 43
The closest distance L ₂ between the collision member 51 and the outermost end 61 of the collision surface 52 of the collision member 51 facing the collision member 51 is the diameter R of the collision member 51.
It is preferable in terms of pulverization efficiency to be in the range of 0.2 to 2.5 times the above, and more preferable in the range of 0.4 to 1.0 time. The distance L in the _two is less than 0.2 times the diameter of the impact member 51, not preferred may have dust concentration of the impact surface 52 near becomes too Also, when it exceeds 2.5 times, the impact force is weakened As a result, the pulverization efficiency tends to decrease, which is not preferable.

The outermost peripheral end portion 61 of the collision member 51 and the side wall 54
The shortest distance L ₁ between is preferably in the range 0.1 times to 2 times the diameter R of the collision member 51. In the distance L ₁ is less than 0.1 times the diameter R of the collision member 51, a large pressure loss during passage of high pressure gas, easy grinding efficiency is lowered, there is a tendency that fluidity of pulverized material does not go smoothly, 2 If the number exceeds twice, the effect of the secondary collision of the material to be ground on the side wall 54 of the grinding chamber is reduced, and the efficiency of the grinding tends to decrease, which is not preferable. More specifically, the length of the acceleration tube 43 is 50 to 5
The diameter R of the collision member 51 is preferably 30 mm to 300 mm.
Furthermore, the collision surfaces 52, 52 'of the collision member 51 and the side wall 54
Is preferably formed of ceramic from the viewpoint of durability.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line BB 'in FIG. In FIG. 8, the distribution state of the crushed object in a plane perpendicular to the vertical direction passing through the crushed object supply port 46 is indicated by an acceleration tube 43.
As the inclination of the particles with respect to the vertical direction increases, the distribution state of the flowing particles becomes more biased. For this reason, the inclination of the acceleration tube 43 is most preferably in the range of 0 ° to 5 °. This was confirmed in an experiment using a transparent acrylic resin internal observation acceleration tube as the acceleration tube 43.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line CC ′ in FIG. In FIG. 9, the object 42 to be ground is a collision member support 91.
And is discharged rearward through the space between the side walls 54. FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line DD ′ in FIG. In FIG.
Although two high-pressure gas introduction pipes 92 are provided, the number of high-pressure gas introduction pipes 92 may be one or three or more depending on the case.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing another specific example of the collision type air flow fine pulverizer preferably used in the present invention. In FIG. 11, the same numbers as those in FIG. 4 indicate the same members. In the collision-type airflow pulverizer shown in FIG. 11, the acceleration tube 43 has a long axis inclination of 0 ° to 45 ° with respect to a vertical line.
°, preferably 0 ° to 20 °, more preferably 0 ° to 5 °
The crushed object 42 is supplied to the acceleration tube 43 through the crushed object supply port 101. At this time, the acceleration tube 4
3, a compressed gas such as compressed air is supplied with a high pressure gas supply port 10
2 and the throat part 4 through the high pressure gas chamber 103
The crushed object 42 introduced from No. 4 and supplied to the accelerating tube 43 is instantaneously accelerated to have a high speed. Then, the crushed object 42 ejected from the acceleration pipe outlet 50 into the crushing chamber 53 at a high speed collides with the collision surfaces 52 and 52 ′ of the collision member 51 and is crushed.

As described above, in the crusher shown in FIG. 11, the material to be ground 42 is supplied between the throat portion 45 of the acceleration tube 43 and the outlet 50 of the acceleration tube 43 in the entire circumferential direction of the acceleration tube 43. By throwing in through the port 46, dispersing the crushed object 42 in the accelerating tube 43, uniformly ejecting the crushed object from the accelerating tube outlet 50, and efficiently colliding with the collision surface 52 of the opposing collision member 51, The crushing efficiency can be improved more than before.
Further, when the collision surfaces 52 and 52 'of the collision member 51 have a shape having a conical projection on the collision surface as shown in FIGS. 11 and 5, the dispersion after the collision becomes good, and the crushed object is crushed. It is possible to pulverize with a high dust concentration without causing fusion, aggregation, and coarsening of 42, and in the case of abradable object 42, the inner wall of the acceleration tube 43 and the collision member 51 are The wear generated on the collision surface is not locally concentrated, the life is extended, and stable operation is possible.

Further, similarly to the crusher shown in FIG. 4, the acceleration tube 4
If the inclination of 3 in the major axis direction is in the range of 0 ° to 45 °, the crushed object 42 can be processed without being blocked by the crushed object supply port 101, but the fluidity of the crushed object 42 is not good. Tends to stay in the lower part of the crushed material supply pipe 141, but if the inclination of the acceleration tube 43 is in the range of 0 ° to 20 °, more preferably 0 ° to 5 °, The object to be crushed 42 is smoothly supplied into the acceleration tube 43 without any retention.

The sectional view taken along the line CC 'in FIG. 11 is similar to the sectional view taken along the line CC' in FIG. 4 shown in FIG.
The crushed material is discharged rearward through the space between the collision member support 91 and the side wall 54.

Second used in the toner manufacturing method of the present invention
As the second classification means in the classification step, any means can be used, but preferably, a rotary airflow classifier that classifies by centrifugal force using forced vortex is used. Examples of such a device include a teaplex (ATP) classifier manufactured by Hosokawa Micron Corporation, a micron separator, a Dona Selec classifier manufactured by Nippon Donaldson Co., Ltd., and a turbo classifier classifier manufactured by Nisshin Seifun Co., Ltd. In the present invention, it is preferable to use a rotary airflow classifier having a configuration as shown in FIG. 12 in order to improve the classification accuracy of fine powder and coarse powder. Hereinafter, the rotary airflow classifier shown in FIG. 12 will be described in detail.

In FIG. 12, reference numeral 121 denotes a cylindrical main body casing. A classification chamber 122 is formed inside the main body casing 121, and a guide chamber 123 is provided below the classification chamber 122. The rotary airflow classifier shown in FIG. 12 is of an individual drive type, and generates a forced vortex using centrifugal force in the classification chamber 122 to classify it into coarse powder and fine powder. A classifying rotor 124 is provided in the classifying chamber 122, and the powder raw material 42 and the air fed into the guide chamber 123 are swirled into the classifying chamber 122 by suction from between the classifying rotors 124. The powder raw material 42 is supplied from a raw material input port 125, and air is supplied from an input port 126,
Further, it is taken in together with the powder raw material 42 from the raw material inlet 125. The powder raw material 42 is supplied to the classification chamber 12 together with the incoming air.
It is carried to 2. It should be noted that the guide room 123 passes through the input port 125.
It is preferable to uniformly distribute the air flowing through the inside and the powder material 42 to the respective classification rotors 124 in order to accurately classify the powder. In addition, the flow path to reach the classification rotor 124 needs to have a shape in which concentration is unlikely to occur. However, the position of the inlet 125 is not limited to this.

The classifying rotor 124 is movable, and the interval between the classifying rotors 124 can be adjusted arbitrarily. The speed control of the classifying rotor 124 is performed through a frequency converter 128. Fine powder discharge pipe 129
Is connected to a suction fan 131 via a fine powder collecting means 130 such as a cyclone or a dust collector, and operates the suction fan 131 to apply a suction force to the classification chamber 122.

In the present invention, the rotary air flow classifier 22 preferably used as the second classifying means has the above-mentioned structure, but the material to be classified supplied from the raw material inlet 125 into the guide chamber 123 is The powder raw material 4 made of the first coarse powder obtained by introducing the finely pulverized material finely pulverized by the collision type air flow pulverizer as shown in FIG.
Since it is 2, it is introduced into the classifier 22 together with air in a state including the air used in the pulverizing step and the first classifying step. The air containing the powder raw material 42 is dispersed by the suction air from the classification louver 135 and is sucked from between the classification rotors 124, so that the guide chamber 12
It flows into between 3 of each classification rotor 124 from 3. At this time, the powder raw material 42 flown into the classification chamber 122 together with air.
Is dispersed by the classifying rotor 124 rotating at high speed,
The second coarse powder and the second fine powder are centrifugally separated by the centrifugal force acting on each particle by the forced vortex generated in the classification chamber 122. Then, the second coarse powder in the classification chamber 122 passes through the coarse powder discharge hopper 132 connected to the lower portion of the main body casing 121, and passes through the rotary valve 133 as shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. It is supplied to the crushed object supply pipe of another collision-type airflow crusher and finely crushed again. On the other hand, the second fine powder is discharged to the fine powder collecting means 130 through the fine powder discharge pipe 129.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, in the second classification step, for example, the rotary airflow classifier having the structure shown in FIG. By using the collision type airflow pulverizer having the configuration shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 11 as the pulverizing means in the process, fine powder is satisfactorily suppressed or prevented from being mixed into the pulverizer. It Further, the second coarse powder classified by the second classification means is smoothly supplied to the pulverizer, is uniformly dispersed in the accelerating tube in the pulverizer, and is further finely pulverized in the pulverization chamber. The yield of the pulverized material and the energy efficiency per unit weight can be increased.

In the rotary air flow classifier as described above, the classification point is determined by the number of rotations of the classification rotor, but conventionally, the efficiency of the crushing means connected thereto was not good,
It is difficult to obtain a small diameter toner as a classified product,
Even if it was obtained, it took a lot of effort. However, in the present invention, since the collision type airflow crusher having the structure as shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 11 and having a high efficiency is used, the performance of the crushing means can be improved, and the obtained finely pulverized product can be obtained. Is introduced into a first classifier that efficiently classifies powder by utilizing the cross airflow and the Coanda effect as described above, and classifies it into a first coarse powder and a first fine powder to obtain an ultrafine powder (first Fine powder) is removed in advance, and the first coarse powder containing no ultrafine powder is introduced into the rotary classifier which is the second classifying means. Therefore, in the second classifying step, the toner raw material is further made into fine particles. Thus, fine classification in the fine particle region becomes possible. As a result, a classified product having fine particles and a sharp particle size distribution can be efficiently obtained. Further, when a rotary classifier is used, the classification point can be easily changed only by changing the number of rotations of the classification rotor, which is also advantageous in that the operability is excellent.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the particle diameter of the powder raw material consisting of the coarsely pulverized material introduced into the pulverizing means is 2 mm or less, preferably 1 mm or less. Further, the coarsely pulverized product may be further introduced into the medium pulverization step, and pulverized to about 10 to 100 μm may be used as the powder raw material in the present invention.

The purpose of classifying a particle group (medium powder) having a specified particle size and a particle group (ultrafine powder) having a specified particle size as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 14 to remove only ultrafine particles. In the conventional crushing and classifying method using the classifier of No. 2 as the second classifying means, the powder raw material introduced into the second classifying means is one in which the coarse particle group having a certain size or more is completely removed. Is required. For this purpose, in the particle size of the powder at the end of the fine pulverization by the pulverizer, it is required that a coarse particle group having a specific particle size or more is completely removed, and the pulverizing ability in the pulverizing step is more than necessary. I was demanded to. As a result, excessive pulverization in the pulverization step was caused, and reduction in pulverization efficiency was caused. This phenomenon becomes more conspicuous as the particle size of the desired powder becomes smaller.
When a medium powder of about 0 μm was obtained, the efficiency was significantly reduced. Furthermore, the amount of the ultrafine particles removed in the second classification step is increased, and there is a problem that the classification efficiency is poor.

On the other hand, in the toner manufacturing method of the present invention, after the powder raw material is finely pulverized by the pulverizer, the finely pulverized product is
Introduced into a classifier that classifies powders using the cross airflow and Coanda effect of the classifying process, classifies particles smaller than the specified size (ultrafine powder) and other coarse powders, and classifies ultrafine particles. Since the particles are efficiently removed, the ultrafine powder is not introduced into the second classifying means. As a result, in the second classification step, it is sufficient to classify the particles having the specified particle size (second fine powder) and the particles having the specified particle size or more (second coarse powder). Even if coarse particles exceeding a specified particle size are contained at a certain ratio in the particle size of the body, the coarse particles can be satisfactorily classified and removed by the second classification means. For this reason, restrictions in the pulverization step are reduced, the capacity of the pulverizer can be used to the maximum, the pulverization efficiency is improved, and there is little tendency to cause over-pulverization. For this reason, the amount of the ultrafine powder can be suppressed, and the ultrafine powder can be classified and removed very efficiently in the first classification step. As a result, in the present invention, the classification yield can be improved satisfactorily.

Further, as in the conventional case, the second classification means uses a classification system for classifying into a group of particles having a prescribed particle size (medium powder) and a group of particles having a prescribed particle size (ultrafine powder). In this case, since the residence time at the time of classification is long, agglomerates of ultrafine particles, which cause fog in the developed image, are likely to occur during this time. When aggregates are formed, it is generally difficult to remove the aggregates from the medium powder. On the other hand, according to the toner manufacturing method of the present invention, even if the agglomerates are mixed in the powder raw material which is the raw material to be classified, the agglomerates are generated by the Coanda effect by the first classification means and / or the impact accompanying the high speed movement. As well as being disintegrated and removed as ultrafine powder, even if there are aggregates that have escaped disintegration, they can be classified and removed by the second classification means, so aggregates can be removed efficiently Is.

The toner manufacturing method of the present invention can be preferably used for producing toner particles used for developing an electrostatic image. To prepare an electrostatic image developing toner, a mixture containing at least a binder resin and a colorant is used as a material, and in addition, a magnetic powder, a charge control agent, and other additives, if necessary, are used. Used.
As the binder resin, vinyl-based and non-vinyl-based thermoplastic resins are preferably used. These materials were thoroughly mixed by a mixer such as a Henschel mixer or a ball mill, and then melted, kneaded and kneaded using a hot kneader such as a roll, kneader, and extruder to make the resins compatible with each other. The toner can be obtained by dispersing or dissolving the pigment or dye therein, solidifying by cooling, and then pulverizing and classifying. In the present invention, the pulverizing step and the classifying step are performed by using the apparatus having the above-described configuration. Use the system.

The constituent materials of the toner will be described below. When a heat and pressure fixing device or a heat and pressure roller fixing device having a device for applying oil is used as the binder resin used for the toner, the following binder resins for toner can be used. For example, polystyrene, poly-p
A homopolymer of styrene such as chlorostyrene and polyvinyltoluene and a substituted product thereof; a styrene-p-chlorostyrene copolymer, a styrene-vinyltoluene copolymer, a styrene-vinylnaphthalene copolymer, and a styrene-acrylate ester copolymer. Polymer, styrene-methacrylic acid ester copolymer, styrene-α-chloromethacrylic copolymer,
Styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, styrene-vinyl methyl ether copolymer, styrene-vinyl ethyl ether copolymer, styrene-vinyl methyl ketone copolymer, styrene-butadiene copolymer, styrene-isoprene copolymer, styrene- Styrene-based copolymers such as acrylonitrile-indene copolymer; polyvinyl chloride, phenol resin, natural modified phenol resin, natural resin modified maleic acid resin, acrylic resin, methacrylic resin, polyvinyl acetate, silicone resin, polyester resin, polyurethane , Polyamide resin, furan resin, epoxy resin, xylene resin, polyvinyl butyral, terpene resin, coumaroindene resin, petroleum resin and the like.

In the heating / pressurizing fixing method in which little or no oil is applied, or in the heating / pressurizing roller fixing method, a so-called offset phenomenon in which a part of the toner image on the toner image support member is transferred to the roller, Also, the adhesion of the toner to the toner image supporting member is an important issue.
Since the toner which is fixed with less heat energy has a property of easily blocking or caking during storage or in a developing device, these problems must be considered at the same time. The physical properties of the binder resin in the toner are most involved in these phenomena. However, according to the research conducted by the present inventors, when the content of the magnetic substance in the toner is reduced, the toner image is supported at the time of fixing. Adhesion of the toner to the body is improved, but offset is likely to occur, and blocking or caking is likely to occur. Therefore, when using a heat and pressure roller fixing method in which almost no oil is applied, selection of a binder resin is more important. Preferred binder resins include, for example, a crosslinked styrene copolymer or a crosslinked polyester.

Examples of the comonomer for the styrene monomer of the styrene copolymer include acrylic acid, methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, butyl acrylate,
Double such as dodecyl acrylate, octyl acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, phenyl acrylate, methacrylic acid, methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate, octyl methacrylate, acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, acrylamide, etc. Monocarboxylic acid having a bond or a substitute thereof; for example, dicarboxylic acid having a double bond such as maleic acid, butyl maleate, methyl maleate, dimethyl maleate and the like; and a substitute thereof; for example, vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate And vinyl esters such as vinyl benzoate; vinyl ketones such as vinyl methyl ketone and vinyl hexyl ketone; vinyl ethers such as vinyl methyl ether, vinyl ethyl ether and vinyl isobutyl ether Vinyl monomers like can be used singly or two or more.

As the cross-linking agent, a compound having two or more polymerizable double bonds is mainly used. For example, an aromatic divinyl compound such as divinylbenzene, divinylnaphthalene, etc .; for example, ethylene glycol diacrylate, Ethylene glycol dimethacrylate,
Carboxylic acid esters having two double bonds such as 1,3-butanediol dimethacrylate; for example, divinylaniline, divinyl ether, divinyl sulfide,
A divinyl compound such as divinyl sulfone; and a compound having three or more vinyl groups; and the like are used alone or as a mixture.

When the pressure fixing method or the light heat pressure fixing method is used, a binder resin for pressure fixing toner can be used. For example, polyethylene, polypropylene,
Polymethylene, polyurethane elastomer, ethylene-
Examples thereof include an ethyl acrylate copolymer, an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, an ionomer resin, a styrene-butadiene copolymer, a styrene-isoprene copolymer, a linear saturated polyester, and paraffin.

It is preferable that a charge control agent is blended (internally added) to the toner particles. The charge control agent makes it possible to control the optimal charge amount according to the development system. In particular, in the present invention, the balance between the particle size distribution and the charge can be further stabilized, and the charge control agent is used. As a result, it is possible to further clarify the function separation and mutual capture for higher image quality for each particle size range described above. As the positive charge control agent, for example, denatured products such as nigrosine and fatty acid metal salts; quaternary ammonium salts such as tributylbenzylammonium-1-hydroxy-4-naphthosulfonate and tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate; Or two or more types can be used in combination. Among them, charge control agents such as nigrosine compounds and quaternary ammonium salts are particularly preferably used. Further, a homopolymer of a monomer represented by the following general formula (1) or a copolymer with a polymerizable monomer such as styrene, acrylate and methacrylate as described above is used as a positive charge control agent. Can be used as
In this case, these charge control agents also function as (all or part of) the binder resin.

General formula (1) R ₁ : H, CH ₃ R ₂ , R ₃ : a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group (preferably C
_{1 to} C ₄ )

As the negative charge control agent, for example, an organometallic complex or a chelate compound is effective, and examples thereof include aluminum acetylacetonate, iron (II) acetylacetonate, and chromium 3,5-ditert-butylsalicylate. Alternatively, zinc or the like is preferable, and an acetylacetone metal complex, a salicylic acid metal complex or a salicylic acid metal salt is particularly preferable, and a salicylic acid metal complex or a salicylic acid metal salt is particularly preferable.

The charge control agent (which does not function as a binder resin) described above is preferably used in the form of fine particles. In this case, the number average particle size of the charge control agent is
Specifically, it is preferably 4 μm or less (further, 3 μm or less). When internally added to the toner, such a charge control agent is preferably used in an amount of 0.1 to 20 parts by weight (more preferably 0.2 to 10 parts by weight) with respect to 100 parts by weight of the binder resin.

When the toner is a magnetic toner, examples of the magnetic material contained in the magnetic toner include iron oxides such as magnetite, γ-iron oxide, ferrite, iron-excessive ferrite; iron, cobalt and nickel. Metals or alloys of these metals with metals such as aluminum, cobalt, copper, lead, magnesium, tin, zinc, antimony, beryllium, bismuth, cadmium, calcium, manganese, selenium, titanium, tungsten and vanadium, and mixtures thereof. Is mentioned. These ferromagnetic materials have an average particle size of 0.1 to 1 μm, preferably 0.1 to 0.5 μm.
The amount contained in the magnetic toner is preferably from 60 to 110 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the resin component, and more preferably from 65 to 10 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the resin component.
0 parts by weight.

As the colorant used in the toner, conventionally known dyes and / or pigments can be used. Examples include carbon black, phthalocyanine blue, peacock blue, permanent red, lake red, rhodamine lake, Hanser yellow, permanent yellow, benzidine yellow and the like. The content is 0.1 to 100 parts of the binder resin.
20 parts by weight, preferably 0.5 to 20 parts by weight, and more preferably 12 parts by weight or less, more preferably 0.5 to 20 parts by weight, in order to improve the transparency of the OHP film on which the toner image is fixed.
9 parts by weight is good.

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to efficiently obtain a toner product having a sharp particle size distribution from a toner raw material having a weight average particle size of 10 μm or less, and particularly a toner product having a sharp particle size distribution from a toner raw material having a weight average particle size of 8 μm or less. It can be obtained efficiently.

[0067]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail based on the following examples. Example 1 100 parts by weight of styrene-butyl acrylate-divinylbenzene copolymer (monomer polymerization weight ratio: 80.0 / 19.0 / 1.0, weight average molecular weight = 350,000) Magnetic iron oxide (average particle size: 0) .18 μm) 100 parts by weight Nigrosine 2 parts by weight Low-molecular-weight ethylene-propylene copolymer 4 parts by weight The above formulation was mixed with a Henschel mixer (FM-75).
The mixture was well mixed with a mold and Mitsui Miike Kakoki Co., Ltd.), and then kneaded with a twin-screw kneader (PCM-30, manufactured by Ikegai Iron Works Co., Ltd.) set at a temperature of 150 ° C. The obtained kneaded material was cooled and coarsely pulverized to 1 mm or less with a hammer mill to obtain a coarsely pulverized material as a powder raw material for producing a toner.

The toner powder raw material obtained above was finely pulverized and classified by the apparatus system shown in FIG. The collision-type airflow crusher 28 uses an apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 4 and has a tilt in the major axis direction of the acceleration tube with respect to the vertical line (hereinafter referred to as the acceleration tube tilt) of about 0 ° (that is, substantially the acceleration tube inclination). The impact member 51 shown in FIG. 6 was used. The collision member 51 has α = 55 °, β = 10 °, and outer diameter (diameter).
The closest distance L between the surface 50 of the accelerating tube that intersects at right angles with the central axis of the accelerating tube shown in FIG. 6 and the outermost peripheral end portion 61 of the collision surface 52 of the collision member 51 that faces the accelerating tube outlet 50 is 100 mm. ₂ is 50 mm, and the crushing chamber 53 has a circumferential crushing chamber having an inner diameter of 150 mm. Therefore, the side wall 5
The shortest distance L _{1 from} 4 is 25 mm. Second classifier 22
Used a classifier having the configuration shown in FIG. Classification rotor 1
The diameter of 24 was 200 mm, and the rotation speed of the classification rotor was 3,000 rpm.

In this embodiment, the first classifying means 1 uses a two-division classifier having the structure shown in FIG. First, after the powder raw material is introduced into the above pulverizer and pulverized, the finely pulverized product is introduced into the two-division classifier of the first classifying means, and the superfine powder (first 1 fine powder) and coarse powder (first coarse powder). The first fine powder consisting of classified particles having a particle size smaller than the specified particle size was introduced into the collection cyclone 2 communicating with the discharge pipe 5. The first coarse powder passes through the discharge pipe 4 and the second classifier 2
Introduced into No. 2 and classified into a particle group having a specified particle size (second fine powder) and a particle group having a specified particle size or more (second coarse powder).

This embodiment will be described in more detail. First,
The powder raw material made of coarsely pulverized material is crushed by the table-type first constant quantity feeder 21 at a rate of 35.0 kg / h through the supply pipe 125 by the injection feeder 35 and having the configuration shown in FIG. It was introduced into the air flow fine pulverizer 28. The powder raw material supplied from the crushed material supply pipe 41 of the crusher 28 is first subjected to a pressure of 6.0 kg / cm ² (G), 6.0 Nm ^3.
After pulverizing using compressed air of 1 / min, the obtained finely pulverized product is introduced from the pulverized product discharge port 55 into the two-division airflow classifier 1 having the configuration shown in FIG. 3 via the powder supply pipe 10. Classified The ultrafine powder, which was the first fine powder classified by the 2-split airflow classifier 1, was collected by the collection cyclone 2. On the other hand, the first coarse powder was introduced into the airflow classifier 22 in the second classification step and classified into the second fine powder and the second coarse powder. Further, the obtained second coarse powder was introduced into the pulverizer again and circulated, and closed circuit pulverization was performed. The second fine powder classified by the airflow classifier 22 was collected by the cyclone 23 while being entrained by the suction air from the exhaust fan 131, and used as a classified product 33 for producing toner.

The classified product obtained in this example had a weight average particle size of 6.9 μm, and a particle size of 4.0 μm or less was determined as particle size 2.
Particles containing 0% by number and having a particle size of 10.08 μm or more
It had a sharp particle size distribution containing 3% by volume, and had excellent performance as a classified product for toner. At this time, the ratio of the amount of the intermediate powder finally obtained to the total amount of the powder raw materials charged (that is, the classification yield) was as high as 90%. Further, when the obtained classified product was observed with an electron microscope, substantially no aggregates of 4 μm or more in which ultrafine particles were aggregated were found.

The particle size distribution of the toner can be measured by various methods. In the present invention, the following measuring device was used. That is, a Coulter Counter TA-II type or Coulter Multisizer II (both manufactured by Coulter Inc.) was used as a measuring device. As the electrolyte solution, an approximately 1% NaCl aqueous solution was prepared using primary sodium chloride and used, but ISOTONR-II (manufactured by Coulter Scientific Japan Co.) can be used, for example. As a measuring method, the electrolyte solution 100 to 1 is used.
To 50 ml, 0.1 to 5 ml of a surfactant, preferably an alkynebenzene sulfonate, is added as a dispersant, and 2 to 20 mg of a measurement sample is further added. The electrolyte solution in which the sample is suspended is subjected to a dispersion treatment with an ultrasonic disperser for about 1 to 3 minutes, and the volume and number of the toner are measured by measuring the volume and number of the toner by using the 100 μm aperture as the aperture with the above-mentioned measuring device. Was calculated. Then, a weight-based weight average particle diameter determined from the volume distribution according to the present invention was determined.

Example 2 Using the same toner powder raw material as in Example 1, fine pulverization and classification were carried out in the same apparatus system. That is, the impingement type air current pulverizer having the configuration shown in FIG. 4 was used, and the first classifying means having the configuration shown in FIG. 3 was used, and pulverization and classification were performed under the same apparatus conditions as in Example 1. . As the second classification means, the rotary airflow classifier shown in FIG. 12 similar to that of the first embodiment was used, but the number of rotations of the classification rotor was 3,400 rpm.
I made it. In this embodiment, 28.0 kg of pulverized raw material is used.
27% by number of particles having a weight average particle size of 6.1 μm and a particle size of 4.0 μm or less, which are supplied at a ratio of 1 / h.
A classified product having a sharp particle size distribution containing 0.5% by volume of particles having a particle size of 10.08 μm or more was obtained at a classification yield of 85%.

Example 3 Using the same toner powder raw material as in Example 1, fine pulverization and classification were performed in the same apparatus system. That is, the impingement type air current pulverizer having the configuration shown in FIG. 4 was used, and the first classifying means having the configuration shown in FIG. 3 was used, and pulverization and classification were performed under the same apparatus conditions as in Example 1. . As the second classifying means, the rotary airflow classifier shown in FIG. 12 similar to that in Example 1 was used, but the rotation speed of the classifying rotor was 4,200 rpm.
I made it. In this embodiment, 28.0 kg of pulverized raw material is used.
The above-mentioned apparatus system is supplied at a ratio of / h and contains 14% by number of particles having a weight average particle diameter of 5.7 μm and a particle diameter of 3.17 μm or less and 1.0 particles having a particle diameter of 10.08 μm or more.
A classified product having a sharp particle size distribution containing a volume% was obtained with a classification yield of 84%.

Example 4 Unsaturated polyester resin 100 parts by weight Copper phthalocyanine pigment (CI Pigment Blue 15) 4.5 parts by weight Charge control agent (chromic salicylate complex) 4.0 parts by weight Henschel mixer (FM-75
After mixing well with a mold, Mitsui Miike Kakoki Co., Ltd.), the mixture was kneaded with a twin-screw kneader (PCM-30 type, Ikegai Iron Works Co., Ltd.) set at a temperature of 100 ° C. The obtained kneaded material was cooled and coarsely pulverized to 1 mm or less with a hammer mill to obtain a coarsely pulverized material as a powder raw material for producing a toner. In this embodiment,
In the apparatus system shown in FIG. 2, the collision type airflow crusher having the structure shown in FIG. 4 is used, and the first classification means having the structure shown in FIG. 3 is used. And classification. Further, the first classifier is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG.
Using the rotary airflow classifier shown in 3, the diameter of the classifying rotor is 200 mm and the number of rotations of the classifying rotor is 3,500.
R.p.m. was used.

In this embodiment, 33.0 kg of the powder raw material composed of the coarsely pulverized material is fed to the table-type first constant quantity feeder 21.
The fuel was introduced into the collision type airflow fine pulverizer 28 having the configuration shown in FIG. Pulverized material supply pipe 4 of the pulverizer 28
The powdery raw material supplied from 1 was pressed at a pressure of 6.0 kg / cm ^2.
(G), pulverized using compressed air of 6.0 Nm ³ / min, and the finely pulverized product obtained is fed from the pulverized product outlet 55 to the two-division airflow classifier 1 having the configuration shown in FIG. It was introduced through 10 and classified. The ultrafine powder that is the first fine powder classified by the two-division airflow classifier 1 is collected by the collection cyclone 2, and one of the first coarse powders is classified by the airflow classifier 22 in the second classification step.
And was classified into a second fine powder and a second coarse powder. The classified second coarse powder was again introduced into the pulverizer 28 and circulated, and closed circuit pulverization was performed. The second fine powder classified by the airflow classifier 22 was collected by the cyclone 23 while being entrained by the suction air from the exhaust fan 131, and was used as a classified product 33 for producing toner.

The obtained classified product has a weight average particle size of 6.8.
It has a sharp particle size distribution of 21 μm, 21% by number of particles having a particle size of 4.0 μm or less and 1.4% by volume of particles having a particle size of 10.08 μm or more, and a classified product for toner. It had excellent performance as. At this time, the ratio of the amount of the finally obtained classified product to the total amount of the powdered raw material charged (that is, the classification yield) was as high as 88%.

Example 5 Using the same toner powder raw material as in Example 4, fine pulverization and classification were carried out in the same apparatus system. That is, the impingement type air current pulverizer having the configuration shown in FIG. 4 was used, and the first classifying means having the configuration shown in FIG. 3 was used, and pulverization and classification were performed under the same apparatus conditions as in Example 1. . As the second classifying means, the rotary airflow classifier shown in FIG. 12 similar to that in Example 1 was used, but the number of revolutions of the classifying rotor was 3,900 rpm. p.
m. I made it. In this example, the crushed raw material was 30.0
The apparatus system was supplied at a rate of kg / h, contained 24% by number of particles having a weight average particle diameter of 6.4 μm and a particle diameter of 4.0 μm or less, and 1.0 particles having a particle diameter of 10.08 μm or more.
A classified product having a sharp particle size distribution containing volume% was obtained at a high rate of a classification yield of 85%.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1 Materials having the same formulation as in Examples 1 to 3 were thoroughly mixed with a Henschel mixer (FM-75 type, manufactured by Mitsui Miike Kakoki Co., Ltd.), and then twin-screw set at a temperature of 150 ° C. Kneading machine (PCM
-30 type, manufactured by Ikegai Iron Works Co., Ltd.). The obtained kneaded material was cooled and coarsely pulverized with a hammer mill to 1 mm or less to obtain a coarsely crushed material for toner production. The obtained toner raw material was pulverized and classified by an apparatus system shown in FIG. However, the crusher shown in FIG. 15 was used for the impingement type air current crusher, and the crusher shown in FIG. 13 was used for the first classifier and the second classifier.
A classifier for performing centrifugal separation by the centrifugal force acting on the particles having the structure shown in was used.

In the classifier shown in FIG. 13, 201 denotes a cylindrical main body casing, 202 denotes a lower casing, and a hopper 203 for discharging coarse powder is connected to the lower portion thereof. The inside of the main casing 201 is a classification room 2
An annular guide chamber 205 attached to the upper portion of the classifying chamber 204 and a conical (umbrella-shaped) upper cover 206 having a raised central portion are formed.

A plurality of louvers 207 arranged in the circumferential direction are provided on the partition wall between the classification chamber 204 and the guide chamber 205, and the powder material and air sent into the guide chamber 205 are supplied to each louver 207. It swirls and flows into the classification chamber 204 from the space. The upper portion of the guide chamber 205 is formed by a space between the conical upper casing 213 and the conical upper cover 206.

A classifying louver 209 arranged in the circumferential direction is provided at the lower part of the main body casing 201, and classifying air that causes a swirling flow from the outside to the classifying chamber 204 is taken in through the classifying louver 209. At the bottom of the classifying chamber 204, a conical (umbrella-shaped) classifying plate 210 whose central portion is high is provided, and a coarse powder discharge port 211 is formed around the outside of the classifying plate 210. A fine powder discharge chute 212 is connected to the center of the classifying plate 210,
The lower end of 12 is bent in an L-shape, and this bent end is positioned outside the side wall of the lower casing 202. Further, the chute 212 is connected to a suction fan via fine powder collecting means such as a cyclone or a dust collector, and applies a suction force to the classifying chamber 204 by the suction fan to classify the chute from between the classifying louvers 209. The swirling flow required for classification is caused by the suction air flowing into the chamber 204.

The air stream classifier used in this comparative example has the above-mentioned structure, but the air containing the coarsely pulverized material, which is the powder raw material for toner production, having the above-mentioned configuration is provided in the guide chamber 205 from the supply cylinder 208. When the air is supplied, the air containing the coarsely pulverized material passes between the louvers 207 from the guide chamber 205 and swirls into the classifying chamber 204 while being dispersed at a uniform concentration. The coarsely crushed material that has flowed into the classifying chamber 204 while swirling is further swirled by the suction air flow that flows from between the classifying louvers 209 at the lower part of the classifying chamber generated by the suction fan connected to the fine powder discharge chute 212, The particles are centrifuged into coarse powder and fine powder by the centrifugal force acting on each particle. Then, the coarse powder swirling around the outer periphery in the classification chamber 204 is discharged from the coarse powder discharge port 211 and the lower hopper 203
The fine powder that is discharged by the fine powder and moves to the center along the upper inclined surface of the classification plate 210 is discharged by the fine powder discharge chute 212.

In this comparative example, as shown in the apparatus system of FIG. 16, first, the powder raw material made of coarsely pulverized material was fed at a rate of 13.0 kg / h by the table-type first constant quantity feeder 21.
It was supplied to the airflow classifier 1 shown in FIG. 13 through the supply pipe 208 by the injection feeder 35, and was classified into fine powder and coarse powder by centrifugal separation by the centrifugal force acting on the particles. The classified coarse powder is introduced into the pulverizer through the coarse powder discharge hopper 203 through the pulverized material supply port 165 of the collision type air flow pulverizer 28 having the configuration shown in FIG. 0.0 kg / cm ² (G), 6.0 Nm ³ / mi
After being finely pulverized by the pulverizer 28 using n compressed air, the finely pulverized product is mixed with the toner powder raw material supplied at the raw material introduction part, and again the air flow classifier 1 shown in FIG. Circulation was carried out for closed-circuit crushing. One of the air flow classifiers 1
The fine powder composed of a group of particles having a prescribed internal particle size classified in step (1) is introduced into the airflow classifier 22 having the structure shown in FIG. 13 while being entrained by the suction air from the exhaust fan, and classified into fine powder and coarse powder. To be done. The classified coarse powder is again crushed by the crusher 2
Introduced in 8, the fine powder is collected by the collection cyclone 31,
The classified product 33 for producing the toner was used. As a result, a classified product having a particle size distribution containing 27% by number of particles having a weight average particle diameter of 6.9 μm and a particle diameter of 4.0 μm or less and containing 1.5 volume% of particles having a particle diameter of 10.08 μm or more was obtained. Obtained with a classification yield of 61%. Thus, both the processing efficiency and the classification efficiency were inferior to those of Examples 1 to 3.

Comparative Example 2 Using the same toner raw materials as in Examples 1 to 3, fine pulverization and classification were performed by the apparatus system shown in FIG. The impact-type air crusher has a conventional structure shown in FIG. 15, and the first classifier and the second classifier have the classifier shown in FIG. And pulverization and classification. As a result, when the pulverized raw material was supplied at a rate of 10.0 kg / h, the weight average particle size was 6.1 μm and the particle size was 4.
It contains 33% by number of particles having a particle size of 0 μm or less, and has a particle size of 10.08.
A classified product containing particles having a particle size of 0.5 μm or more and a particle size of μm or more was obtained with a classification yield of 60%. Thus, Examples 1-3
As compared with, both the processing efficiency and the classification yield were inferior.

Comparative Example 3 Materials having the same formulation as in Examples 4 and 5 were well mixed with a Henschel mixer (FM-75 type, manufactured by Mitsui Miike Kakoki Co., Ltd.), and then the temperature was set to 100 ° C. Kneader (PC
M-30, manufactured by Ikegai Iron Works Co., Ltd.). The obtained kneaded material was cooled and coarsely pulverized to 1 mm or less with a hammer mill to obtain a coarsely pulverized material as a powder raw material for producing a toner.
Using the obtained toner raw material, fine pulverization and classification were performed by an apparatus system shown in FIG. However, a pulverizer having the configuration shown in FIG. 15 was used for the impinging airflow pulverizer, and a classifier having the configuration shown in FIG. 13 was used for the first and second classifiers. Pulverization and classification were performed under the device conditions.

First, the table-type first constant-volume feeder 21 feeds the pulverized raw material at a rate of 12.0 kg / h into the air flow classifier 1 having the structure shown in FIG. Was supplied and classified into fine powder and coarse powder. The classified coarse powder is supplied through the coarse powder discharge hopper 203 from the pulverized material supply port 165 of the collision type air flow pulverizer 28 shown in FIG. 15, and the pressure is 6.0 kg / cm.
² (G), after finely pulverizing using 6.0 Nm ³ / min of compressed air, the finely pulverized product is mixed with the toner pulverizing raw material supplied in the raw material introduction section, and again the air stream classifier It was circulated to 28 for closed circuit grinding. On the other hand, fine powder composed of a group of particles having a prescribed internal particle size that has been classified by the airflow classifier 1 is introduced into the airflow classifier 22 having the structure shown in FIG. 13 while being entrained by the suction air from the exhaust fan. And coarse powder. The classified coarse powder was introduced again into the pulverizer 28, and the fine powder was collected by the collection cyclone 31 to obtain a classified product 33 for producing the toner. As a result, an intermediate powder having a particle size distribution containing 28% by number of particles having a weight average particle diameter of 6.5 μm and a particle diameter of 4.0 μm or less and 1.6 volume% of particles having a particle diameter of 10.08 μm or more was obtained. It was obtained with a classification yield of 59%. Thus, both the processing efficiency and the classification efficiency were inferior to those of Examples 4 and 5.

Device systems and classification of Examples and Comparative Examples
Crushing result

[0089]

As described above, according to the present invention, a toner product having a small particle size and a sharp particle size distribution can be obtained with high processing efficiency and high classification yield by a simple toner manufacturing method. Moreover, as a result of effectively preventing the fusion, aggregation and coarsening of the toner in the classification and pulverization process of the toner production, and effectively preventing the abrasion of the device due to the toner component, the high quality toner can be continuously produced. It can be manufactured stably. Further, according to the present invention, when used for image formation, compared with the conventional method, it is possible to obtain an excellent image having stable image density and high durability, and having no image defects such as fogging and poor cleaning. As a result, a toner for developing an electrostatic charge image having a sharp predetermined particle size distribution with a small particle size can be obtained at low cost. In particular, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently obtain a toner having a fine particle diameter of 10 μm or less with a weight average particle diameter having a sharp particle size distribution.
It is possible to efficiently obtain a toner having a fine particle diameter of 8 μm or less and having a sharp particle size distribution.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining a manufacturing method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an apparatus system diagram showing a specific example for implementing the manufacturing method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a classifier used in a first classifying step in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a specific example of a collision type airflow pulverizer used in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a collision member in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a grinding chamber in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line A-A 'in FIG.

8 is a sectional view taken along line B-B 'in FIG.

9 is a sectional view taken along the line C-C 'in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line D-D 'in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing another specific example of the collision type air flow pulverizer used in the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a specific example of a rotary airflow classifier used in the second classifier in the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an example of a classifier used for a classification means of a comparative example.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining a conventional manufacturing method.

FIG. 15 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional collision-type airflow pulverizer.

FIG. 16 is an apparatus system diagram for performing a manufacturing method of a comparative example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: First classifier 2: Collection cyclone 3: Discharge pipe of finely pulverized material 4: Discharge pipe of first coarse powder 5: Discharge pipe of second fine powder 6: Inlet pipe 7: Gas introduction control means 8: Static pressure gauge 10: Powder supply nozzle 11: Coanda block 12: Classifying chamber 13: Classifying edge 14: Air inlet edge 15: Classifying chamber side wall 21: First fixed quantity feeder 22: Second classifier 23: Collection cyclone 28: Air flow type fine Crusher 32: Injection feeder 40: High pressure gas injection nozzle 41: Crushed object supply pipe 42: Crushed object 43: Acceleration tube 44: Acceleration tube throat section 45: High pressure gas injection nozzle throat section 46, 101: Crushed object supply Ports 47, 102: High-pressure gas supply port 48, 103: High-pressure gas chamber 49, 92: High-pressure gas introduction pipe 50, 163: Accelerator pipe outlet 51, 164: Collision member 52, 52 ', 16 6: collision surface 53, 168: crushing chamber 54: crushing chamber side wall 55, 167: crushed material discharge port 61: collision member edge 62: crushing chamber front wall 91: collision member support 121, 201: body casing 122: Classification room 123: Guide room 124: Classification rotor 125: Raw material input port 126: Air input port 128: Frequency converter 129: Fine powder discharge pipe 130, 134: Fine powder collection means 131: Suction fan 132: Hopper 133: Rotary valve 135 : Classification louver 161: High pressure gas supply nozzle 165: Powder raw material supply port 168: Grinding chamber 201: Main body casing 202: Lower casing 203: Hopper 204: Classification chamber 205: Guide chamber 206: Upper cover 207: Louver 208: Supply cylinder 209: Classification louver 210: Classification plate 211: Coarse powder discharge port 21 2: Fine powder discharge chute 213: Upper casing

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] January 16, 1996

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0075

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Example 4 100 parts by weight of unsaturated polyester resin 4.5 parts by weight of copper phthalocyanine pigment (CI Pigment Blue 15) Charge control agent (chromium salicylate complex) 4.0 parts by weight The above formulation Henschel mixer (FM-75
After mixing well with a mold, Mitsui Miike Kakoki Co., Ltd.), the mixture was kneaded with a twin-screw kneader (PCM-30 type, Ikegai Iron Works Co., Ltd.) set at a temperature of 100 ° C. The obtained kneaded material was cooled and coarsely pulverized to 1 mm or less with a hammer mill to obtain a coarsely pulverized material as a powder raw material for producing a toner. In this embodiment,
In the apparatus system shown in FIG. 2, the collision type airflow crusher having the structure shown in FIG. 4 is used, and the first classification means having the structure shown in FIG. 3 is used. And classification. In addition, the second classifier is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG.
Using the rotary airflow classifier shown in 2 , the diameter of the classifying rotor is 200 mm, and the number of rotations of the classifying rotor is 3,500.
r. p. m. Was used.

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0076

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

In this embodiment, 33.0 kg of the powder raw material composed of the coarsely pulverized material is fed to the table-type first constant quantity feeder 21.
/ At injection feeder 35 at a rate of h, it was introduced to the collision type air pulverizer 28 having the configuration shown in FIG. 4 via a supply pipe 125. Pulverized material supply pipe 4 of the pulverizer 28
The powder raw material supplied from No. 1 is used at a pressure of 6.0 kg / cm ²
(G), pulverized using compressed air of 6.0 Nm ³ / min, and the finely pulverized product obtained is fed from the pulverized product outlet 55 to the two-division airflow classifier 1 having the configuration shown in FIG. It was introduced through 10 and classified. The ultrafine powder that is the first fine powder classified by the two-division airflow classifier 1 is collected by the collection cyclone 2, and one of the first coarse powders is classified by the airflow classifier 22 in the second classification step.
And was classified into a second fine powder and a second coarse powder. The classified second coarse powder was again introduced into the pulverizer 28 and circulated, and closed circuit pulverization was performed. The second fine powder classified by the airflow classifier 22 was collected by the cyclone 23 while being entrained by the suction air from the exhaust fan 131, and was used as a classified product 33 for producing toner.

[Procedure 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0088

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Device systems and classification of Examples and Comparative Examples
Crushing result

[Table 1]

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Brief description of drawings

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining a manufacturing method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an apparatus system diagram showing a specific example for implementing the manufacturing method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a classifier used in a first classifying step in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a specific example of a collision type airflow pulverizer used in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a collision member in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a grinding chamber in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line A-A 'in FIG.

8 is a sectional view taken along line B-B 'in FIG.

9 is a sectional view taken along the line C-C 'in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line D-D 'in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing another specific example of the collision type air flow pulverizer used in the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a specific example of a rotary airflow classifier used in the second classifier in the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an example of a classifier used for a classification means of a comparative example.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining a conventional manufacturing method.

FIG. 15 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional collision-type airflow pulverizer.

FIG. 16 is an apparatus system diagram for performing a manufacturing method of a comparative example.

[Explanation of symbols] 1: First classifier 2: Collection cyclone 3: Discharge pipe of finely pulverized material 4: Discharge pipe of first coarse powder 5: Discharge pipe of first fine powder 6: Inlet pipe 7: Gas introduction control Means 8: Static pressure gauge 10: Powder supply nozzle 11: Coanda block 12: Classifying chamber 13: Classifying edge 14: Air inlet edge 15: Classifying chamber side wall 21: First fixed amount feeder 22: Second classifier 23: Collection cyclone 28: airflow pulverizer 3 5: injection feeder 40: high pressure gas injection nozzle 41: object to be crushed supply pipe 42: object to be crushed 43: acceleration tube 44: the accelerating tube throat 45: high-pressure gas injection nozzle throat 46, 101: crushed object supply port 47, 102: high pressure gas supply port 48, 103: high pressure gas chamber 49, 92: high pressure gas introduction pipe 50, 163: acceleration pipe outlet 51, 164: collision member 5 2, 52 ', 166: Collision surface 53, 168: Crushing chamber 54: Crushing chamber side wall 55, 167: Crushed material discharge port 61: Collision member edge part 62: Crushing chamber front wall 91: Collision member support 121, 201 : Main body casing 122: Classification chamber 123: Guide chamber 124: Classification rotor 125: Raw material input port 126: Air input port 128: Frequency converter 129: Fine powder discharge pipes 130, 134: Fine powder collection means 131: Suction fan 132: Hopper 133 : Rotary valve 135: Classification louver 161: High pressure gas supply nozzle 165: Powder raw material supply port 168: Grinding chamber 201: Main casing 202: Lower casing 203: Hopper 204: Classification chamber 205: Guide chamber 206: Upper cover 207: Louver 208: Supply cylinder 209: Classification louver 210: Classification plate 211: Coarse powder discharge port 212: Fine powder discharge chute 213: Upper casing

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A mixture containing at least a binder resin and a colorant is melt-kneaded, and after cooling the obtained kneaded product,
A coarsely pulverized product obtained by pulverizing a cooled product by a pulverizing means is used as a powder raw material, and an acceleration tube for accelerating and transporting the pulverized product by high-pressure gas and a pulverization chamber for finely pulverizing the pulverized product are provided. The crushing chamber is provided with a collision member having a collision surface provided so as to face the opening surface of the exit of the accelerating pipe, and a rear end portion of the accelerating pipe is provided for supplying the object to be crushed into the accelerating pipe. It has a crushed material supply port, and the collision surface has a shape consisting of a protruding central portion with a protruding center and a cone-shaped outer peripheral collision surface provided on the outer periphery thereof, and further, in the crushing chamber. Introducing the above powder raw material into a collision-type airflow crusher having a side wall for further crushing the crushed object crushed by the collision member and pulverizing it, and the finely pulverized product thus obtained is subjected to the first classification step. Introduced into the classifier that classifies powders using the cross flow and Coanda effect After classifying the first coarse powder and the first fine powder, the classified first coarse powder is introduced into the second classifying means of the second classifying step to further classify into the second coarse powder and the second fine powder, (2) Toner characterized in that the fine powder is used as a classified product for manufacturing a toner, and the second coarse powder classified in the second classification step is re-introduced into the collision type airflow crusher, finely crushed, and circulated. Manufacturing method.