JPH10115988A - Conductive member and its manufacture, and image forming device using it - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a conductive member in which the increase of electric resistance by continuous energizing is small, and between the varying width of the electric resistance at the time of a low temperature and a low humidity and that at the time of a high temperature and a high humidity is small, and which is suitably used as a developing member and an electrifying member for electrophotographic processing. SOLUTION: The electric resistance with measuring voltage of 1000V under the conditions of temperature 15 deg.C and relative humidity 10% is equal to or below ten times of the electric resistance with measuring voltage 1000V under the conditions of temperature 32.5 deg.C and relative humidity 85%, and also the electric resistance with measuring voltage 1000V under the conditions of temperature 15 deg.C and relative humidity 10% after continuously energizing by electric power 10mW is made equal to or below three times of the electric resistance with measuring voltage 1000V under the same conditions as before continuous energizing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a packaging member having an antistatic function, a shock absorbing member having an antistatic function, and in particular, to a conductive member suitably used as a developing member or a transfer member used in an electrophotographic process or the like. The present invention relates to a member, a manufacturing method thereof, and an image forming apparatus using the conductive member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years,
With the advance of electrophotographic technology, the demands on the performance of conductive members used in image forming apparatuses such as laser printers and dry copying machines have become strict.
Attention has been paid to the performance of elastic rollers used in processes such as transfer.

Conventionally, conductive members used in such applications include powders of metals or metal oxides, and rubber or urethane adjusted to a predetermined resistance value by mixing a conductive filler such as whisker or carbon black. Formed of a polymer elastomer material or a polymer foam material. The performance required when these conductive members are used as a developing member or a transfer member in an electrophotographic process has a predetermined electric resistance in a medium resistance region of about 1 × 10 ⁴ to 1 × 10 ¹² Ωcm. Not only that, the fluctuation width of the electric resistance between low temperature and low humidity and the high temperature and high humidity is small, and the fluctuation width of the electric resistance when energized continuously is small.

However, a high molecular elastomer or a high molecular elastomer which is adjusted to a predetermined resistance value by mixing a metal or metal oxide powder, or a conductive filler such as whisker, conductive carbon black such as acetylene black or Ketjen black, or the like is used. A conductive member made of a molecular foam or the like has a large positional variation in electric resistance at the time of manufacturing. In particular, a conductive member using carbon black has a drawback that the electric resistance usually gradually increases by continuous energization.

Further, as another means for obtaining a conductive member,
Inorganic ionic substances such as lithium perchlorate, sodium perchlorate and calcium perchlorate, cationic surfactants,
Zwitterionic surfactants, conductive agents composed of organic ionic substances such as quaternary ammonium salts such as tetraethylammonium perchlorate, tetrabutylammonium perchlorate and tetrabutylammonium borofluoride, and / or hydrophilic polyethers and polyesters There is also a method of using a polymer elastomer or a polymer foam material made of rubber, urethane, or the like, which is adjusted to a predetermined resistance value by mixing an antistatic agent.

However, a conductive member formed of a polymer elastomer or a polymer foam material adjusted to a predetermined resistance value by mixing such a substance has an electric resistance between low temperature and low humidity and high temperature and high humidity. There is a disadvantage that the range of fluctuation of is large.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the increase in electric resistance due to continuous energization is small, and the fluctuation range of electric resistance between low temperature and low humidity and high temperature and high humidity is small.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a conductive member which has a small variation in electric resistance and is preferably used as a developing member or a transfer member in an electrophotographic process, a method for manufacturing the same, and an image forming apparatus using the conductive member. I do.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems and Embodiments of the Invention As a result of diligent studies to achieve the above object, the present inventor has found that a measurement voltage of 1000 V at a temperature of 15 ° C. and a relative humidity of 10% is obtained. The electric resistance is 10 times or less of the electric resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under the conditions of a temperature of 32.5 ° C. and a relative humidity of 85%, and at a temperature of 15 ° C. and a relative humidity of 10% after continuous energization with a power of 10 mW. A conductive member whose electrical resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under the condition is three times or less the electrical resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under the same condition before continuous energization is used as a developing member or a transfer member in an electrophotographic process. It has been found that even when used, sufficiently satisfactory performance can be surely exerted irrespective of changes in the use environment or continuous energization. As a result of studying the present inventor, after forming a conductive member of a desired shape with a conductive polymer elastomer or a polymer foam material and the like, and performing a heat treatment on the conductive member, such excellent performance is obtained. Have found that a conductive member having
The present invention has been completed.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the electric resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under the conditions of a temperature of 15 ° C. and a relative humidity of 10% is an electric resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under a condition of a temperature of 32.5 ° C. and a relative humidity of 85%. A temperature of 15 ° C. after continuous energization at a power of 10 mW which is 10 times or less of the resistance,
A conductive member having an electrical resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under a condition of a relative humidity of 10% that is three times or less than an electrical resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under the same condition before continuous energization; A method for manufacturing a conductive member, comprising: forming a conductive member having a shape; and heat-treating the formed conductive member.

[0010] Here, the increase in electric resistance due to the continuous energization as described above due to the heat treatment is small, and the fluctuation range of electric resistance between low temperature and low humidity and high temperature and high humidity is small. The reason why a small conductive member can be obtained is not necessarily clear, but can be considered as follows. That is, the effect of the present invention is not particularly limited, but the conductivity is mixed by mixing a conductive filler such as carbon black such as gas black, oil furnace black, thermal black, ink black, and conductive black. It is particularly remarkable when adjusted, and from this it can be seen that by heating the conductive path formed at the time of molding with a conductive filler such as carbon black in a state where stress is not applied to the conductive polymer material,
It is considered that the conductive filler can be stabilized and rearranged by the thermal motion of the polymer, thereby improving the properties of the conductive member.

Further, the conductive member of the present invention is suitably used as a developing member of a developing mechanism used in an image forming apparatus for forming an image in accordance with an electrophotographic process and a transfer member of a transfer mechanism. Specifically, the developer is carried on the surface of the developing member to form a thin layer of the developer, and in this state, the developing member is brought into contact with or close to the image forming body to supply the developer to the surface of the image forming body. By doing so, the developing member in the image forming apparatus provided with a developing mechanism for forming a visible image on the surface of the image forming body, or the recording medium is charged by approaching or in contact with the transfer member to form the recording medium on the surface of the image forming body. It is particularly preferably used as the transfer member in an image forming apparatus provided with a transfer mechanism for transferring a visible image onto the recording medium. In this case, a high-quality image is affected by the use environment and the like. Without it is possible to reliably obtain the effect is remarkable.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for forming a thin layer of a developer by carrying the developer on the surface of the developing member, and bringing the developing member into contact with or in proximity to the image forming body in this state, An image forming apparatus having a developing mechanism for forming a visible image on the surface of the image forming body by supplying the developer to the image forming apparatus, wherein the developing member is the conductive member of the present invention. A forming device, and an image forming apparatus having a transfer mechanism for charging a recording medium in proximity to or in contact with a transfer member and transferring a visible image formed on the surface of an image forming body to the recording medium, wherein the transfer member is An image forming apparatus characterized by being the conductive member of the present invention is provided.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail.
The conductive material forming the conductive member of the present invention is appropriately selected according to the use of the member and the like, and is not particularly limited. However, usually, a conductive agent is added to rubber or urethane resin to increase the conductivity. An adjusted polymer elastomer or polymer foam material is used, and the conductive member of the present invention can be obtained by molding these into a desired shape according to the application.

First, when rubber is used as a material,
For example, natural rubber (NR), butadiene rubber (BR), styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), isoprene rubber (I
R), ethylene propylene rubber (EPM, EPDM),
A rubber such as nitrile rubber (NBR) is mixed with a conductive agent, a cross-linking agent such as sulfur or peroxide, an antioxidant, a cross-linking reaction accelerator, and the like, and the mixture is placed in a mold having a desired shape. A method of obtaining a conductive member having a desired shape by heating and curing using a known molding method such as a method of injection / injection molding into a mixture or a method of extruding the mixture is preferably used. The surface of the conductive member thus obtained can be polished and cut.

When urethane is used as a material, for example, polyether polyol, polyester polyol, polybutadiene polyol, polyisoprene polyol, polyol obtained by addition-polymerizing polyethylene oxide or polypropylene oxide to glycerin, polyethylene glycol, propanediol, butanediol Polyol components such as tolylene diisocyanate (TDI), diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MD
I) After mixing a conductive agent, a crosslinking reaction catalyst, a foam stabilizer and the like with urethane comprising a polyisocyanate component such as crude diphenylmethane diisocyanate (crude MDI) and isophorone diisocyanate, the mixture is molded into a gold having a desired shape. A method of obtaining a conductive member having a desired shape by heating and curing using a known molding method such as a method of injecting and injecting the mixture into a mold or a method of extruding the mixture is preferably used. The surface of the conductive member obtained accordingly can also be polished and ground. Incidentally, the polyol component may be prepolymerized with isocyanate in advance.

In some applications, these materials are preferably made into foams for the purpose of lowering the hardness of the conductive member. The method of foaming the material is not particularly limited, and when the material is rubber, a method using a foaming agent is preferable.
When the material is urethane, a method using a foaming agent or a method of mixing air bubbles by mechanical stirring is preferably adopted.

Here, as the conductive agent used for the conductive member of the present invention, for example, gas black such as Ketjen black, electrified black, SFR grade, GPF grade, FEF
Furnace, HAF, ISAF, SAF, etc. oil furnace black, FT, MT, Asahi Thermal and other thermal blacks, Mitsubishi Chemical # 25, # 33, # 44, # 4
5, # 52, # 95, ink black such as CF9, etc., conductive black such as Mitsubishi Chemical # 3050 and # 3250, channel black such as Degusz Printex 150 T, pseudo lamp black or lamp black such as Columbian Raven 780, and oxidation. Tin, zinc oxide,
Examples include a metal oxide such as titanium oxide, a surface-treated metal oxide obtained by subjecting tin oxide, zinc oxide, titanium oxide, and the like to a conductive treatment, and a conductive filler made of a metal such as the flake and the whisker. The amount of the conductive agent to be added is 0.01 to 50 with respect to 100 weight of a main material such as rubber or urethane.
In particular, the DBP oil absorption is preferably from 30 to 125 m from the viewpoint of controlling the resistance stably in the medium resistance region.
It is preferable to add about 1 to 100 parts by weight of 1/100 g (medium structure) carbon black.

Other conductive agents include, for example, tetracyanoethylene and / or its derivative, tetracyanoquinodimethane and / or its derivative, benzoquinone and / or its derivative, chloranil and / or its derivative, anthraquinone and / or its derivative Derivatives anthracene and / or
Or a derivative thereof, dichlorodicyanobenzoquinone and / or
Or a charge transfer substance such as a derivative thereof, ferrocene and / or a derivative thereof, phthalocyanine and / or a derivative thereof, tetrathiafulvalene and / or a derivative thereof, and an inorganic ion such as lithium perchlorate, sodium perchlorate, and calcium perchlorate. Substances, cationic surfactants such as lauryltrimethylammonium chloride, stearyltrimethylammonium chloride, octadecyltrimethylammonium chloride, modified fatty acids, dimethyl-ethylammonium ethosulfate, amphoteric such as laurylbetaine, stearylbetaine, dimethylalkyllaurylbetaine Organic surfactants such as ionic surfactants and quaternary ammonium salts such as tetraethylammonium perchlorate, tetrabutylammonium perchlorate and tetrabutylammonium borofluoride And a conductive agent composed of an ON material, an antistatic agent such as a hydrophilic polyether or polyester, and the amount of the conductive agent to be added is 0.001 to 5 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of a main material such as rubber or urethane. Part.

The adjustment of the resistance value by the addition of these conductive agents is not particularly limited. However, when a developing member or a transfer member used in an electrophotographic process is used, the electric resistance of the member is usually 1 ×. It can be adjusted so as to have a medium resistance region of about 10 ⁴ to 1 × 10 ¹² Ωcm. The conductive agent may be used alone or in combination of two or more.

As described above, the conductive member of the present invention has a measurement voltage of 1 at a temperature of 15 ° C. and a relative humidity of 10%.
The electrical resistance at 000 V is 32.5 ° C and the relative humidity is 8
The electric resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under a condition of a temperature of 15 ° C. and a relative humidity of 10% after continuous energization at a power of 10 mW is 10 times or less the electric resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under a condition of 5%. The electric resistance at the measurement voltage of 1000 V under the same conditions before energization is three times or less. The temperature was 15 ° C and the relative humidity was 1
The electrical resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under the condition of 0% is not particularly limited.
Measured voltage 1000 under the conditions of ° C and 85% relative humidity
It is preferable that the electric resistance at V is 1/100 or more and 10 times or less, and the energization time by the continuous energization is not particularly limited, but can be usually about 150 hours. Such characteristics can be obtained by heat-treating a member formed into a desired shape using the above-described conductive material.

The conditions for performing this heat treatment may be conditions under which the above characteristics can be obtained, and are appropriately set according to the material and form (shape, size, etc.) of the conductive member, and are particularly limited. However, it is usually at a temperature of 80 to 200 ° C., particularly 90 to 140 ° C., for 1 minute to 72 hours, particularly 15 minutes to
Conditions for treating for 8 hours are preferred. In this case, if the heat treatment temperature is lower than 80 ° C., the effect of the heat treatment may not be obtained. On the other hand, if the heat treatment temperature is higher than 200 ° C., the surface of the roller may become sticky and contaminate the photoreceptor and the like. . In addition, as a heating means, a known means such as a dry heat oven, steam, or a hot water bath can be used. This heat treatment is performed after polishing and cutting in a state where the conductive member is removed from the mold.

In this heat treatment step, the position variation of the electric resistance caused by the non-uniformity of the temperature at the time of injecting / injecting or extruding the molding material into the mold in the molding step or the stress at the time of the polishing / cutting processing, The stress can be reduced. Specifically, in the case of a roller-shaped conductive member, a voltage of 1000 V, a temperature of 15 ° C., and a relative humidity of 10% are used.
When the electrical resistance was evaluated at a total of 24 points in 6 directions at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction and at every 90 degrees in the circumferential direction using a copper plate having a width of 10 cm, a difference between the minimum value and the maximum value of the electrical resistance was 10%. Within.

Further, as will be apparent from the embodiment described later, the voltage dependence of the electric resistance can be improved. Specifically, in an environment of a temperature of 25 ° C. and a relative humidity of 55%, a voltage of 5% is used.
The electrical resistance measured at 00V can be 2.5 times or less the electrical resistance measured at 1000V.

In this heat treatment, from the viewpoint of activating molecular motion by heating and rearranging and stabilizing the conductive filler such as carbon black, the above-described rubber or urethane or other polymer containing the conductive filler such as carbon is used. It is preferable to perform the process on a conductive member made of a material. Furthermore, in the case of a rubber or urethane foam containing closed cells, stress relaxation due to expansion and contraction of the cells has a favorable effect.

The form of the conductive member of the present invention is appropriately selected depending on the use and purpose, and is not particularly limited, but is used in a developing mechanism of an image forming apparatus by an electrophotographic process or the like. When the developing member is used as a developing member or a transfer member used in a transfer mechanism, it is usually preferable to use a roller shape having a cored bar as a center. Further, the conductive member of the present invention is suitably used as a developing member used in a developing mechanism of such an image forming apparatus or a transfer member used in a transfer mechanism. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, the surface of a photosensitive member (image forming member) uniformly charged by a charging roller is exposed to a laser beam from an optical system to form an electrostatic latent image. Is formed, a developer is supplied from a developing mechanism provided with a developing member (in the figure, a roller shape) on the surface of the photoreceptor, the electrostatic latent image is visualized, and the visible image is further transferred to a transfer roller ( In the drawing, an image forming apparatus that transfers to a recording medium such as plain paper by a transfer mechanism unit having a roller shape can be exemplified. In such an image forming apparatus, the conductive member of the present invention supports the developer on the surface of the developing member to form a thin layer of the developer, and in this state, the developing member contacts the image forming body. Alternatively, by supplying the developer to the surface of the image forming body in close proximity to the developing member of the developing mechanism for forming a visible image on the surface of the image forming body, or by bringing the recording medium close to or in contact with the transfer member, the recording medium is charged. It is suitably used as a transfer member of a transfer mechanism for transferring a visible image formed on the surface of an image forming body to the recording medium. Although FIG. 1 shows an example in which a photoconductor holding an electrostatic latent image on the surface is used as an image forming body, the image forming body is not limited to a latent image holding body such as a photoconductor, A developer may be supplied to the surface to directly form an image with the developer.

The developing mechanism and the transfer mechanism of the image forming apparatus using the charging member of the present invention have a long life with almost no increase in resistance when energized, and have been given conductivity by a conventionally used ionic conductive agent. Compared with the developing mechanism and the transfer mechanism using the above-described members, the change in electric resistance between high temperature and high humidity and low temperature and low humidity is small, and the capacity of the power supply can be reduced.

[0027]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples and comparative examples, but the present invention is not limited to the following examples. Example 1 Propylene oxide and ethylene oxide were randomly added to glycerin, and the content of the ethylene oxide unit was 12%, the polyether polyol having a molecular weight of 3500 was 100 parts by weight, and 1,4-butanediol 6.05. Parts by weight, 22 parts by weight of tolylene diisocyanate, 4 parts by weight of a reactive silicone surfactant, 0.01 parts by weight of dibutyltin dilaurate, and a specific surface area of 60 m ² / g measured by nitrogen adsorption.
, 6 parts by weight of carbon black having a DBP oil absorption of 63 ml / 100 g were mixed by a mixer, and the mixture was 6 mm in diameter.
Cast into a mold arranged around a metal shaft of
After curing at 100 ° C. for 5 hours, polishing is performed.
A urethane foam transfer roller having a length of 7 mm and a length of 215 mm was prepared. Next, this transfer roller was heat-treated at 100 ° C. for 2 hours in a dry heat oven.

The obtained roller was placed on a copper plate having a thickness of 2 mm, and a load of 500 g was applied to both ends of the roller while pressing against the copper plate while applying a voltage of 1000 V to apply a voltage of 1000 V between the core metal and the copper plate. Was measured for electrical resistance. As a result, 25 ° C
/ 55% (temperature / humidity, the same applies hereinafter), the electric resistance in an environment of 6.6 × 10 ⁷ Ω, 32.5 ° C./85% in an environment of 1.5 × 10 ⁸ Ω, 15 ° C. The electric resistance under a / 10% environment was 2.0 × 10 ⁷ Ω.

This roller was incorporated in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as a transfer roller, and when a gray scale, a solid black, and a solid white image were printed at 15 ° C./10%, good images were obtained.

Example 2 The temperature of the heat treatment after polishing was 12
A transfer roller was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the temperature was set to 0 ° C. When the electric resistance of the obtained roller was measured in the same manner as in Example 1, the electric resistance under a 25 ° C./55% environment was 1.3 × 10 ⁸ Ω, and the electric resistance under a 32.5 ° C./85% environment. The resistance was 2.3 × 10 ⁸ Ω, and the electric resistance under a 15 ° C./10% environment was 4.2 × 10 ⁷ Ω.

This roller was incorporated in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as a transfer roller, and when a gray scale, a solid black, and a solid white image were printed at 15 ° C./10%, good images were obtained in all cases.

Comparative Example 1 A transfer roller was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the blending amount of carbon black was 2.5 parts by weight and the heat treatment after polishing was not performed. When the electric resistance of the obtained roller was measured in the same manner as in Example 1, the electric resistance under a 25 ° C./55% environment was 8.5 ×.
The electric resistance in a 10 ⁷ Ω, 32.5 ° C./85% environment was 8.0 × 10 ⁷ Ω, and the electric resistance in a 15 ° C./10% environment was 5.7 × 10 ⁷ Ω.

This roller was incorporated into the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as a transfer roller, and when a gray scale, black solid, or white solid image was printed at 15 ° C./10%, a transfer failure occurred at both ends of the black solid image. Occurred.

Comparative Example 2 The heat treatment temperature after polishing was 22
A transfer roller was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the temperature was set to 0 ° C. The transfer roller had a sticky surface and contaminated the photoreceptor.

Evaluation of Transfer Roller The transfer rollers of Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Example 1 were evaluated by the following items. Table 1 shows the results. (1) Continuous energization The photosensitive member of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.
After rotating continuously for 150 hours at an electric power of 10 mW in an environment of 5 ° C./55%, the temperature / humidity becomes 15 ° C./10%
Under the same environment for 48 hours, placed on a copper plate having a thickness of 2 mm in the same environment, and applying a voltage of 1000 V while pressing both ends of the roller with a force of 500 g each to apply electricity between the metal core and the copper plate. The resistance was measured and evaluated by a value obtained by dividing the electric resistance by the electric resistance under the same environment before continuous energization. (2)
Environment dependence of electric resistance 32.5 ° C./85 in each of the above examples
% Was divided by the electric resistance at 15 ° C./10%. (3) Positional variation of electrical resistance Under the conditions of a voltage of 1000 V, a temperature of 15 ° C., and a relative humidity of 10%, a copper plate having a width of 1 cm is provided at six points at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction and at 24 points in four directions at every 90 degrees in the circumferential direction. The electric resistance was measured and evaluated by the difference between the maximum resistance value and the minimum resistance value. (4) Voltage dependence of electric resistance Under an environment of a temperature of 25 ° C. and a relative humidity of 55%,
Under the same environment, the electric resistance measured at a voltage of 500 V was changed to a voltage of 10
The evaluation was made by dividing the value by the electric resistance measured at 00V.

[0036]

[Table 1]

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The variation in the position of the electric resistance is small, the dependence of the electric resistance on the applied voltage is small, and the fluctuation range of the electric resistance between low temperature and low humidity and high temperature and high humidity is small. A conductive member having a small fluctuation range can be obtained. In addition, by using this conductive member for processes such as development and transfer of the image forming apparatus, a good image can be reliably obtained over a long period of time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus to which a conductive member of the present invention is mounted.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI F16C 13/00 F16C 13/00 A G03G 15/08 501 G03G 15/08 501D H01B 1/24 H01B 1/24 Z // B29K 75:00

Claims (12)

[Claims] An electric resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under a condition of a temperature of 15 ° C. and a relative humidity of 10% is a temperature of 32.
Measurement voltage 100 under conditions of 5 ° C and 85% relative humidity
It is 10 times or less the electric resistance at 0 V and the power is 10 m
The electric resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under a condition of a temperature of 15 ° C. and a relative humidity of 10% after continuous energization at W is not more than three times the electric resistance at a measurement voltage of 1000 V under the same conditions before the continuous energization. A conductive member characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The conductive member according to claim 1, wherein the conductive member is formed of urethane foam. 3. The conductive member according to claim 1, wherein the conductive member is formed of a material to which a conductive filler is added. 4. The conductive member according to claim 3, wherein the conductive filler is carbon black. 5. The conductive member according to claim 1, which is an elastic roller used in an electrophotographic process or the like. 6. A method for manufacturing a conductive member, comprising forming a conductive member having a desired shape, and heat-treating the formed conductive member. 7. The heat treatment is performed at a temperature of 80 to 200 ° C.
The method for producing a conductive member according to claim 6, wherein the treatment time is 1 minute to 72 hours. 8. The method for producing a conductive member according to claim 6, wherein the conductive member is formed of urethane foam. 9. The method for producing a conductive member according to claim 6, wherein the conductive member is formed of a material to which a conductive filler is added. 10. The method for producing a conductive member according to claim 9, wherein the conductive filler is carbon black. 11. A developer is carried on the surface of a developing member to form a thin layer of the developer. In this state, the developing member is brought into contact with or close to the image forming body, and the developer is applied to the surface of the image forming body. The developing member is a conductive member according to any one of claims 1 to 5 in an image forming apparatus provided with a developing mechanism for forming a visible image on the surface of the image forming body by supplying the developing member. An image forming apparatus comprising: 12. An image forming apparatus comprising: a transfer mechanism for charging a recording medium in proximity to or in contact with a transfer member and transferring a visible image formed on the surface of an image forming body to the recording medium; Any one of claims 1 to 5
An image forming apparatus comprising the conductive member according to any one of the above items.