JPH10274909A - Reproducing device for material to be recorded and production of peeling member - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a failure in separating a peeling member and a material to be recorded, in a device for bringing the peeling member into press-contact with a film-like fixed image, so as to remove an image forming material from the material to be recorded. SOLUTION: In an enbodyment, a toner image on a copying paper is removed. As the peeling member, a peeling belt 303 obtained in such a manner that a polycarbonate belt is dipped in a sulfuric-chromic acid aqueous solution, in a partially masked state to make stickability ununiform is used. In such a case, the peeling belt is provided in many stages to make the area ratio of a part poor in the stickability to toner is larger, as an image forming material removing process is on a side nearer to a front stage and the overlapped layer part of the copying paper and the peeling belt is heated by a heating roller 302. The toner after being transferred to the circulated peeling belt is removed by a spiral roller 304. Consequently, the toner image on the copying paper can be completely removed without causing the failure in separating the peeling belt and the copying paper.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming material such as a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, and a printing machine. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for removing a recording material and a method for manufacturing a peeling member, which removes an image-forming substance from a recording material. The present invention relates to a recording material reproducing apparatus which can improve the reliability and stability by preventing the jam, and a method for manufacturing a peeling member used for the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Due to recent OA, printer paper and copy paper have been used in large quantities. Accordingly, a large amount of waste paper has been generated from offices, and most of the waste paper has been wasted. Moreover, the disposal of this waste paper is very costly, and at the same time it has recently been dealt with the deterioration of the global environment due to the disposal of these papers, and the global environment caused by the deforestation of paper production. It has become.

Conventionally, in order to solve this problem and recycle the paper, the ink on the used paper is removed.
This paper has been soaked in water, carded again, and used as recycled paper. However, this process requires a large-scale waste paper recycling facility, and the used waste paper is sorted and sorted.
A number of steps had to be taken to obtain recycled paper, including collection and transportation. Therefore, a method of removing a character image on a sheet using a recording material which has been subjected to a release treatment so that an image forming substance is hardly adhered has been developed.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 1-297294 discloses that a material to be recorded is formed of plastic, metal, paper having low liquid permeability, ceramic or the like, and printing is performed on the material, followed by cleaning. For this reason, a method has been developed in which the print is covered with a heat-fusible material (cleaning material), cooled, and the print such as a character image is removed together with the heat-fusible material. However, in this method, the adhesive force between the surface of the recording material and the image forming substance must be significantly reduced by a release treatment in advance, and there is a problem in using this recording material as a copy sheet. .

Further, JP-A-1-101576 and JP-A-1-101577 disclose that an image-forming substance (toner) on a recording material is subjected to ultrasonic treatment in an organic solvent in which the substance is dissolved. Although there is disclosed a method of removing odor, there are problems of pollution by organic solvents, ignition and toxicity, and there is still a problem in use in general offices and homes.

On the other hand, the present inventors use a recording material provided with a layer which swells with a liquid at least in the vicinity of the surface on which an image is to be formed, and use a recording material which is more than a film-like image forming material for forming an image. A liquid applying means for applying a water-containing liquid (image removal accelerating liquid) to the recording material, which greatly swells the swelling layer of the recording material;
And a peeling means for transferring and peeling the image forming material from the recording material to the peeling member by pressing or heating and pressing the same to the peeling member). Proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
No. 13383).

The present inventors have further developed and proposed a recording material reproducing apparatus which enables removal with a small amount of an image removing accelerating liquid in order to reduce power consumption (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-4426).
At the same time, we have developed and proposed an image removal accelerating liquid with low moisture content or 0%.

[0008]

In addition, the present inventors use a recording material whose surface has been modified by applying a chemical agent mainly containing a surfactant (a reverse transfer preventing agent) before image formation. A method and apparatus for reproducing a recording material are being studied. The reverse transfer inhibitor differs from the idea of conventional special paper in that it does not relatively change the original texture and mechanical strength of the recording material, and does not require an image removal accelerating liquid in the process of reproducing the recording material. Therefore, the structure of the playback device is relatively simple. Furthermore, since the reverse transfer inhibitor is mainly composed of a surfactant, the recording material that cannot be reproduced in the reproduction process can be converted into recycled paper through a conventional disaggregation step. Inhibitors have many advantages.

Reproduction of a recording material by a reproducing apparatus proposed later by the present inventors is achieved by adhering an image forming material and a peeling member and then separating the image forming material from the recording material. In general, it is known that the force required to separate two adhering sheet-like layers depends on the mode of separation. The "Peeling" mode allows for separation with minimal force. Also in the recording material reproducing method proposed by the present inventors, at the exit portion of the image forming substance removing step, in many cases, by giving a predetermined curvature to the peeling member, the elasticity of the recording material, so-called “ The "strain" achieves the separation in the "peeling" mode.

However, if an image having a relatively large area is present at the front end of the recording material (here, “front side” means that the earlier the image forming substance removal process, the earlier. ), It is easy to follow a peeling member having a curvature, and in severe cases, poor separation may occur, which may cause paper jam. In order to cope with such a problem, a method of detecting a recording material having an image in which a separation failure is likely to occur and removing the recording material before the image forming substance removing step is considered. However, it is very difficult to completely detect and eliminate the above,
Stable operation of the device is hindered. Even if possible,
The installation of advanced detection means and exclusion means is not preferable from the viewpoint of simplification and miniaturization of the apparatus.

Therefore, the present inventors are studying the following image forming substance removing apparatus. This apparatus has a plurality of peeling processing points, and a peeling unit is configured to divide an image forming material on a recording material into small area regions and partially peel at each of the peeling processing points. .

According to this image forming substance removing apparatus, although the occurrence of defective separation is significantly reduced, this removing apparatus requires a roller having unevenness on the surface, and the driving of the roller becomes unstable, Another problem is that the structure of the mechanism for appropriately releasing the pressure contact between the image forming substance and the peeling member becomes complicated.

Here, the present invention (claims 1 to 14)
The following is a description of related prior art (configuration, effects, problems). (1) JP-A-6-324601 One of the objects is to prevent the peeling member and the image-forming substance from being excessively adhered.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a configuration in which the peeling member is easily cleaned. In the configuration, a member in which a part that is easy to peel and a part that is hard to peel and high in hardness are mixed and exposed is used as the peeling member. A concave portion is provided in a material having high hardness, and the concave portion is filled with the same material as the toner or the same resin material as the resin of the toner so as to be flush with the peripheral surface of the base roller.

(2) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-262937 A main object of the present invention is to provide a peeling member which is easy to clean and has excellent performance of removing an image forming substance from a recording material. In the present invention, a peeling member configured so that portions having different adhesive forces to the image forming substance are mixed is used. At least one of the parts having different adhesive strengths is made of an organic polymer, and the part having a relatively low adhesive strength is made of an inorganic powder. The powder must be larger than the particle size of the image-forming substance and small enough that no residue occurs.

(3) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-287486 A surface treatment of the peeling member is performed so as to improve the adhesion to the image forming substance. The processing is for the entire surface, and the technical problem is different from the present invention.

The present invention relates to the above prior art (known) and
The first object of the present invention is to remove the peeling member without complicating the mechanism of the apparatus and without adversely affecting the drive system. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording material reproducing apparatus having high reliability and stability by preventing poor separation of the recording material from the recording medium. Second embodiment of the present invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a peeling member which can be suitably used for the above-mentioned recording material reproducing apparatus (claims 4 to 12).

[0017]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for reproducing a recording material, comprising: forming an image on a recording material having a film-like fixed image made of a thermoplastic or heat-fusible image forming substance; In a recording material reproducing apparatus for removing an image forming substance on a recording material from the recording material by bringing a peeling member having adhesiveness into contact with the substance and applying heat and / or pressure, the mechanical strength is An image forming substance removing means having a release member which is uniform but has non-uniform adhesion to the image forming substance is provided in a plurality of stages along the image forming substance removing step.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording material reproducing apparatus.
In claim 1, the distribution of adhesiveness on the peeling member is spatially regular or is dispersed and arranged within a predetermined rule.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording material reproducing apparatus.
Preferably, the peeling member is made of a single resin or metal per one of the image forming substance removing units.

[0020] The method for manufacturing a peeling member according to claim 4 is characterized in that:
4. The method for producing a release member according to claim 3, wherein at least a part of the release member material made of a single resin or metal is chemically treated to make the adhesiveness with the image forming substance nonuniform. It is characterized by.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a peeling member.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the method of the fourth aspect, the chemical treatment is to introduce a polar group by a chemical treatment on a material for a release member made of a resin.

The method for manufacturing a peeling member according to claim 6 is
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the chemical treatment is to remove a low molecular weight component by using a solvent for a material for a release member made of a resin.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a peeling member.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the chemical treatment is to coat a coupling agent on the surface of the material for the release member.

[0024] The method for producing a peeling member according to claim 8 is characterized in that:
4. The method for producing a release member according to claim 3, wherein at least a part of the release member material made of a single resin or metal is physically treated to make the adhesiveness with the image forming substance nonuniform. It is characterized by.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a peeling member.
In claim 8, the physical processing is a plasma processing.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the method of the eighth aspect, the physical treatment is a corona discharge treatment.

[0027] According to a eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a peeling member according to the third aspect, wherein at least a part of a single resin or metal material for the peeling member is mechanically removed. And non-uniform adhesion to an image forming substance.

In a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the method for manufacturing a peeling member according to the eleventh aspect, the mechanical treatment is a roughening treatment.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus for reproducing a recording material according to the first, second, or third aspect, the peeling member provided on the upstream side of the image forming substance removing step has an adhesive property with the image forming substance. The area ratio of the good portion is smaller than the area ratio of the portion having good adhesiveness to the image forming material in the peeling member provided at the subsequent stage of the image forming material removing step. In other words, a recording member according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein a release member having a larger area ratio of a portion having poor adhesion to the image forming substance is provided at a stage prior to the image forming substance removing step. It is a material recycling device. In this case, for example, the area ratio of the portion having good adhesiveness with the image forming substance in the former peeling member in the image forming substance removing step is set to the value of the adhesiveness with the image forming substance in the later separating member adjacent thereto. Make it smaller than the area ratio of good parts.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus for reproducing a recording material according to the first, second, third, or thirteenth aspect, at the final stage of the image forming substance removing step, the adhesion to the image forming substance is uniform. An image forming substance removing unit including a peeling member is provided.

[0031]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The construction and principle of a recording material reproducing apparatus (and a reproducing method thereby) according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings as necessary. Examples of a method of forming an image that can be removed by this reproducing apparatus include an electrophotographic method using a dry toner or a wet toner, a thermal transfer method using a hot-melt ink sheet, an inkjet method using a hot melt ink, or an offset plate, intaglio, letterpress, A printing method using a stencil is included. In any of the image forming methods, a film-like image made of a thermoplastic or heat-fusible image forming substance is formed on a recording material.

Here, the film form is as shown in FIG. In this figure, 10 is a recording material, and 11 is a film-like image. That is, the entire image does not necessarily have to form a single film, and (1) a state in which the image forming substance has not penetrated into the recording material, or (2) a case in which printing is performed with an aqueous ink containing a dye. Different state, that is,
This means a state different from the state in which the image forming substance is adsorbed on the recording material almost at the molecular level.

Specific examples of the image-forming substance for forming a thermoplastic or hot-melt film image include polystyrene, polyalkyl acrylate, polyalkyl methacrylate, styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer and styrene-acryl copolymer. Styrene-butadiene copolymer, polyamide, polystyrene, polypropylene, alkyd resin, epoxy resin, polyvinyl acetate, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), unsaturated polyester, polyvinyl chloride, silicone resin, etc. Containing.

Examples of the coloring material contained in the image forming substance include inorganic and organic pigments such as carbon black, quinacridone derivatives, phthalocyanine derivatives, and benzidine yellow, and oil-soluble dyes are also used. Further, various additives are contained depending on the image forming method. In the electrophotographic method, a charge control agent is added, and in the thermal transfer ink, various waxes are added as a vehicle, and a rosin (abietic acid) derivative is added as an adhesive.

Next, the recording material reproduced by the reproducing apparatus will be described. When a reverse transfer preventing agent is provided before image formation, a wide variety of resin films, metal sheets, and copying or printing papers usually used in offices are used. When the image removal accelerating liquid is applied after the image is formed, it is preferable that a layer that is easily wetted by the image removal accelerating liquid is formed at least in the vicinity of the surface on which the image is formed. The above-mentioned copy paper or printing paper corresponds to this, but is not limited to these papers.

When an image removal accelerating liquid or a reverse transfer inhibitor is applied to a recording material, the adhesive strength between the image forming substance and the recording material is reduced. The mechanism by which the adhesive force is reduced is not simple, and several mechanisms are thought to be involved. For example,
When an image removal accelerating liquid containing water as a main component, which was originally proposed by the present inventors, is applied to a recording material after image formation, a thermoplastic or heat-meltable film formed near the surface of the recording material is formed. Water permeates near the interface between the image forming substance and the recording material. Then, a stress is generated due to a difference in the amount of swelling between the recording material and the image forming substance, and the adhesive force between the two is extremely weakened. On the other hand, since the amount of the image removal accelerating liquid has been reduced in order to save power and prevent dimensional change of the recording material, the water content in the liquid has been reduced accordingly. In such a case, it is unlikely that the adhesive strength is reduced due to the difference in the amount of swelling.
Rather, it is considered that the surface energy changes due to the localization of components other than water on the surface of the recording material, and the adhesive strength is reduced.

In order to remove the image-forming substance from the recording material, a peeling member having a larger adhesive force with the image-forming substance than the recording material is pressed or heated and pressed against the recording material. The heating softens the image forming substance and improves the contact property with the peeling member, so that the adhesive force between the peeling member and the image forming substance increases. Further, in the case of a recording material composed of a fibrous substance such as paper, heating has the effect of reducing the entanglement of the image forming substance with fibers and the like and reducing the adhesive force with the recording material. However, on the other hand, the step of heating and pressing is the same as the fixing step in a copying machine, and may increase the adhesion of the image forming substance to the recording material. However,
If the image removal accelerating liquid component exists at the interface between the recording material and the image, it is possible to prevent an increase in adhesive strength. The reason for appropriately applying the reverse transfer inhibitor to the recording material before the image formation is nothing but to make it easy to remove the image in advance.

When raising the temperature by heating, it is preferable to set the temperature to a temperature higher than the softening point of the image forming substance and to such a level that the image forming substance is not melted. When the image forming substance is melted, it is difficult to transfer the image forming substance to the peeling member side without separating the image forming substance on the recording material into the recording material side and the peeling member side. . When the recording material is separated from the peeling member after this peeling process, the image forming substance is transferred from the recording material to the peeling member, and the recording material is in a state equivalent to that before image formation.

Depending on the image removal accelerating liquid, the water content of the reproduced recording material may be significantly higher than that before the reproduction processing. In this case, excess water is evaporated, and the recording material is passed through a finishing process for adjusting the shape of the reproduced recording material. On the other hand, the peeling member is repeatedly used for removing the image forming material by removing the image forming material attached to the surface by the peeling member cleaning step. Through the above steps, the recording material is reproduced to a state before image formation.

In the image forming substance removing step of the recording material reproducing apparatus, if an image having a relatively large area is present at the front end of the recording material, poor separation may occur and paper jam may occur. As described above, such separation failure is considered to occur because the recording material adheres to the peeling member stronger than the elasticity of the recording material. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. It is effective to divide the forming substance 30 into small area regions and to partially remove them. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a peeling step of peeling the image forming substance 30 on the recording material 10, and FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG.

That is, in this peeling step, a portion having good adhesiveness (having good adhesiveness with the image forming substance) and a portion having poor adhesiveness are provided on the outer peripheral portion of the roller-shaped peeling member 50 in the circumferential direction of the peeling member 50. And the recording material 10 is separated from the release member 5.
It is configured to travel while being heated and pressed between the cylindrical support member 70 and the cylindrical support member 70. Then, the image forming substance 30 on the recording material 10 and the good adhesion portion or the poor adhesion portion are brought into pressure contact with each other in a nip portion (FIG. 4) between the peeling member 50 and the support member 70 in a heated state, and the image is formed. The portion of the forming substance that has been pressed against the good adhesion portion is transferred to the good adhesion portion (removed from the recording material 10), and the portion that has been pressed against the poor adhesion portion remains on the recording material 10.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reproducing apparatus having a plurality of image forming substance removing means, and a peeling member having uniform mechanical strength and non-uniform adhesion to the image forming substance. A recording material reproducing apparatus used in the image forming substance removing means. In this case, it is premised that the image forming material portion having poor adhesion to the peeling member does not adhere to the peeling member and remains on the recording material, so that a sufficient effect of removing the image forming material can be obtained. Requires two or more stages of image forming substance removing means. A peeling member having non-uniform adhesion to an image forming substance can be obtained by laminating two or more different materials or embedding one in the other.

However, the peeling member obtained by focusing only on the non-uniformity of the adhesiveness has a problem in that the interface is affected by an external force applied in an image removing step or a peeling member cleaning step and internal strain caused by a difference in a coefficient of thermal expansion. , And the durability of the peeling member is significantly reduced. According to the first aspect of the present invention, the mechanical strength of the peeling member is further made uniform,
The above problems are avoided. Preferably, the non-uniform adhesion distribution should be regular, as shown in claim 2 and, for example, in FIGS. In other words, it is preferable that the nonuniformity of the adhesive property is arranged regularly spatially or dispersed within a certain rule.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a sheet-like peeling member 60 in which the adhesiveness to the image forming substance is made non-uniform regularly. 6 (a) to 6 (d) are perspective views showing various roller-shaped peeling members 50 (a) to 50 (d) in which the adhesiveness to an image forming substance is made nonuniform regularly.

By providing an appropriate regularity as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a smooth image forming substance removing process can be performed on various image patterns having no regularity. As a specific method for achieving both uniform mechanical strength and non-uniform adhesion to the peeling member, use of an adhesive that is strong against heat and external force, and a material having a relatively close coefficient of thermal expansion to one of the other materials. Filling, non-uniform processing of a single material, and the like are included. Above all, it is preferable that the peeling member is composed of a single material, that is, a single resin or a single metal, since it is presumed that the influence on the mechanical strength in the image forming substance removing step such as heat or external force is the lowest. Item 3).

Specific examples of the material for the release member include synthetic rubbers such as isoprene rubber, neoprene rubber, chloroprene rubber, silicone rubber, butadiene rubber, and fluororubber, natural rubbers, epoxy resins such as bisphenol-epichlorohydrin condensate, and alkyds. Resin, urea formaldehyde resin, butyl urea formaldehyde resin, butylated melamine formaldehyde resin, amino resin such as benzoguanamine formaldehyde resin, phenolic thermosetting resin such as terpene phenol resin, phenol ether resin, phenol resin, polyvinyl chloride,
Polyvinylidene chloride, vinylidene chloride-acrylonitrile copolymer, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer, polyvinylidene fluoride, vinyl copolymer polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl Vinyl polymers such as formal, polypropylene and polyethylene; acrylic resins such as polybutyl acrylate, polymethacrylic acid and polymethyl methacrylate; polyimides;
Polyamides such as nylon, 6-nylon, polycarbonate, polyethersulfone, polyetheretherketone, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, polyesters such as aromatic polyesters, polyphenylene sulfide, polyparabaranic acid,
Thermoplastic or thermosetting synthetic resin such as polyether nitrile, aramid, metal such as nickel, iron, aluminum, Ni steel, stainless steel, Fe-Ni alloy,
Metal alloys such as a Co-Al alloy, Monel, Inconel, and duralumin can be used.

As the shape of the material for the peeling member, a sheet-like or belt-like peeling member made of the above-mentioned material, a roller-like, drum-like or block-like peeling member having at least a surface modified with these materials can be used. Yes, and a great variety are also advantages of the present invention.

However, with a release member made of a single material, it is not possible to obtain non-uniform adhesion to an image forming substance even if the mechanical strength can be maintained. Therefore, it is effective to make the form and properties of at least a part of the surface of the peeling member non-uniform. When the non-uniformity processing is performed within the above-described arrangement rule, it is convenient to perform the processing in a state where the unprocessed portion is covered by a member that is not affected by the processing, as shown in FIGS. It is a reliable method. The following description is a description of the surface treatment after performing the above-described masking processing, but individual description of the masking is omitted.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing an example of a method for regularly making the adhesiveness of the sheet-like release member to the image forming substance non-uniform by a chemical treatment. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method for regularly making the adhesiveness of the sheet-like release member to the image forming substance nonuniform by a physical treatment. In FIG. 7, a masking material 82 is intermittently and regularly provided on one surface of a sheet-like release member material 40, and the entire opposite surface is covered with the masking material 82. , The chemical non-uniformity treatment is performed. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 83 denotes a non-uniformity processing unit, and reference numeral 84 denotes a masking material removing step of separating the masking material 82 from the material 40 for the peeling member. In FIG. 8, a portion to be subjected to the non-uniform processing is subjected to corona discharge processing. That is, the masking material 91 is intermittently and regularly provided on one surface of the sheet-like release member material 40, and a corona is provided between the non-uniformization scheduled portion not covered with the masking material 91 and the line electrode 95. Cause discharge. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 92 denotes an unprocessed portion, 93 denotes a processed portion, and 94 denotes a high voltage.

By chemically treating at least a part of the surface of the material for the peeling member, the adhesiveness of the treated part and the adhesiveness of the untreated part, or the treated part under the treatment condition A and the treatment condition B
(1) It is possible to make the adhesiveness with the processing unit in (1) non-uniform. An advantage of the chemical treatment is that it is obtained by immersing it in a predetermined liquid as described below, so that it is not restricted by the shape of the material for the peeling member at the time of treatment. Specific examples of such a non-uniform processing method will be described below.

One method is to immerse the material for the peeling member in a chemical to form a desired functional group on its surface (claim 5). In many cases, as shown in FIG. 9, a hydroxyl group, a carbonyl group, or a carboxyl group is introduced into the surface, so that the hydrophilicity of the surface can be improved. Another method is a method in which, when the material for the peeling member is made of resin, the material is immersed in a solvent (claim 6). Usually, various low molecular weight components are added to the resin for the purpose of improving its processability. In general, it is known that these transfer to the surface and form a layer (Week boundary layer) weak in adhesive strength (cause of a decrease in adhesive strength). Since the low molecular weight component is removed by the solvent immersion method, the surface is modified.

As still another method, surface modification with a coupling agent such as a silane-based, titanium-based, organic phosphoric acid-based, or silyl peroxide-based is also effective (claim 7). In this case, the coupling between the surface of the member to be processed and the coupling agent,
A relatively strong coating layer is formed by the coupling between the coupling agents. By selecting an appropriate functional group for the coupling agent and changing the coupling agent treatment conditions, a desired surface property (increase or decrease in adhesive strength) can be obtained.

By physically treating at least a part of the material for the peeling member, the adhesiveness of the treated part and the adhesiveness of the untreated part, or the difference between the treated part under the processing condition A and the treated part under the processing condition B The adhesiveness can be made non-uniform (claim 8). Since the physical treatment is a dry process, there is no need for drying and waste liquid treatment steps as compared with a wet process, so there are great advantages in terms of energy saving and no pollution.
Specific examples of such a non-uniform processing method will be described below.

One method is to subject the material for the peeling member to plasma treatment. Generally, the plasma treatment uses a glow discharge in a low-pressure gas of 10 ^{−2 to} 10 Torr, so that various gases can be used, and thus various surface treatments can be performed. Also, due to the nature of glow discharge, it is possible to treat even a material surface having a complicated shape. Another method is to subject the material for the peeling member to corona discharge treatment (claim 10). Since the corona discharge treatment utilizes discharge in an atmosphere close to the atmospheric pressure, a large-scale and strict pressure reducing device is not required.

The effects of these physical treatments have not been elucidated at present, but as a mechanism involved in adhesion, very fine irregularities are increased on the surface after the treatment (the presence of oxygen). (Under) improving the hydrophilicity of the surface (see FIG. 9).

By mechanically treating at least a part of the surface of the material for the peeling member, the adhesiveness of the treated part and the adhesiveness of the untreated part, or the adhesiveness of the treated part under the treatment condition A and the treatment condition The adhesiveness of the processing section at B can be made non-uniform (claim 11). Further, mechanical processing is an extremely simple processing as compared with chemical processing and physical processing, and has the advantage that no large-scale equipment is required. Examples of the mechanical treatment include mirror finishing, surface roughening, and thinning by surface cutting. In particular, by roughening the surface of the material for the peeling member, the true contact area with the image forming substance can be increased, and the adhesive strength can be improved.
2). That is, FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing a method of increasing the adhesiveness of the peeling member to the image forming substance by the surface roughening treatment, and the peeling member having a smooth surface has low adhesiveness of the image forming substance. This indicates that the surface roughening process increases the area of the processed surface, thereby improving the adhesive strength.

The image forming substance removing means using the peeling member subjected to the non-uniformity treatment as described above will be described. FIG.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a roller-shaped peeling member (50 is a roller-shaped peeling member), and FIG. 12 shows a belt-shaped peeling member (60 is a belt-shaped peeling member). In these image forming substance removing means, in addition to the above-mentioned peeling member, a heating means and a pressing means (not shown) are provided, and a conveying auxiliary means 51 using conveying rollers and a guide mechanism, a small-diameter block, a separating claw, and the like are provided. It comprises a separation assisting means 53, a peeling member cleaning means 52, an image forming substance receiver 305, and the like. Each of the illustrated examples has a configuration in which the image forming substances 30 on both surfaces of the recording material 10 are simultaneously removed.

On the other hand, FIG. 13 shows a configuration in which a plurality of roller-shaped peeling members 50 for alternately removing the image forming substance 30 from one side and the opposite side of the recording material 10 are provided. On the surface of the peeling member 50, a peeling member subjected to non-uniformity treatment is arranged, and a roller-like supporting member 70 for supporting the recording material 10 is arranged to face the peeling member. This support member 7
The surface of No. 0 has such a property that it hardly adheres to the image forming substance. As the support member 70, not only a member having poor adhesion to the image forming substance 30 can be used, but also a member whose adhesion is significantly reduced by applying the processing method proposed in the present invention to the entire surface of the member. It is also possible. Incidentally, according to the present invention, a specific method of reducing the adhesion to the image forming substance,

Examples are described in the section. Further, in each of the illustrated examples, the image forming substance removing unit has three stages, but the number of stages is not limited to three, since it should be determined from the image forming substance removing performance, the maintenance property, and the like.

According to the present invention, "the adhesive strength between the image forming substance and the peeling member can be kept low by dividing the image forming substance on the recording material into small areas and partially peeling it off." It is based on the idea. As described above, a portion of the image forming substance (film-like image) having poor adhesiveness does not adhere to the peeling member and remains on the original recording material. In order to obtain the above, it is necessary to provide two or more image forming substance removing means. Although there are a plurality of image forming substance removing means, it is necessary to pay attention to the arrangement order of these image forming substance removing means in order to maximize the effect of the present invention.

That is, as shown in FIG. 14, for example, a peeling member having a lower ratio of a portion having good adhesiveness to an image forming substance should be arranged so as to be used in an earlier process. 13). FIG. 14 shows a configuration in which image forming substance removing means is provided in three stages. 50A is a peeling member having the lowest ratio of the portion having good adhesion to the image forming material, and 50C is a separating member having the lowest ratio of the above good adhesion. Highest peeling member, 5
0B indicates that the ratio of the portion having good adhesion is 50A and 50C.
Is a peeling member in the middle of the above. Then, the peeling member 50A
Is provided in the first processing step, the peeling member 50B is provided in the middle processing step, and the peeling member 50C is provided in the second processing step.

By doing so, the portion where the image forming substance on the recording material is most adhered (the first processing step)
In this case, since a peeling member having a good adhesive surface and a small adhesive surface are used, poor separation between the recording material and the peeling member is less likely to occur, and recording is gradually performed as the recording material is processed in a subsequent step. Since the area occupied by the image forming substance on the material is reduced, poor separation hardly occurs even when a peeling member having an improved ratio of a portion having good adhesiveness is used in a subsequent processing step. In the last removal step, it is preferable to dispose an image forming substance removing means using a peeling member having uniform adhesiveness so as not to leave unremoved portions. reference).

FIG. 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of the reproducing apparatus according to the present invention. This apparatus comprises a paper feeding unit 1, an image removing accelerating liquid applying unit 2, an image forming substance peeling unit 3, a drying unit 4, and a paper receiving unit 5, and a recording material on which an image is formed by a normal electrophotographic copying machine or the like. This is an apparatus for reproducing 10 (paper or the like).

The paper feed unit 1 feeds the recording materials 10 accumulated in the paper feed tray 101 from the uppermost one by a paper feed roller 102, and separates multiple feeds by a separation mechanism (not shown). Only the sheet of recording material 10 is sent out by a pair of registration rollers 104 for timing adjustment and skew correction. The specific configuration and operation are the same as those of the paper feeding mechanism in the electrophotographic copying machine, and thus detailed description is omitted.

The image removing accelerating liquid applying unit 2 includes a liquid container 201, a liquid remaining amount detecting unit (in the liquid container 201) and a liquid automatic replenishing unit 202 (to the liquid container 201), a liquid pumping roller 207, a liquid applying roller 208, press roller 2
09, and the pump 20
The image removal accelerating liquid 20 pumped by 7 is squeezed by the liquid application roller 208 by applying pressure, and a small amount of the image removal accelerating liquid 20 can be applied to the recording material 10. Further, by combining the two application roller units or combining with the non-contact type liquid applying means,
Stepwise application becomes possible. Further, the number of stages can be arbitrarily set according to the purpose. As described above, the recording material 10 fed from the paper feeding unit 1 is supplied with the image removal promoting liquid 20 required for the regenerating process in the image removal promoting liquid applying unit 2, and the next image forming substance peeling unit (Image removing unit) 3.

The image forming substance peeling unit 3 has a peeling device 310 and a cleaning device 304. The peeling device 310 is configured by a combination of a heating roller 302 having a built-in heating lamp 301 as a means for softening the image forming substance 30 and a peeling belt 303 made of a peeling member subjected to non-uniform processing. The cleaning device 304 is for removing the image forming substance 30 on the surface of the peeling belt 303 (that is, transferred to the surface). For example, a spiral roller is used. Needless to say, it is preferable that the spiral roller 304 can remove the image forming substance without shaving the surface of the peeling belt 303. An image forming material receiver (image forming material container) 305 that contains the scraped image forming material 30 is provided below the spiral roller 304.

The drying unit 4 is for drying the recording material 10 and has a built-in heating lamp 401.
For example, a drying drum 402 made of aluminum and a finishing belt 403 having good air permeability and high surface smoothness are provided. Instead of or in addition to such a drying mechanism, a member of a roller pair may be used, or a hot air fan or an infrared lamp may be used.

The paper receiving unit 5 is provided with a paper discharge tray 50 for receiving the recording material 10 discharged from the drying unit 4.
1 is provided. Although not shown, the recording material reproducing apparatus includes a detecting unit for detecting whether or not the recording material 10 is present in the sheet feeding tray 101, and a multi-feed of the recording material 10 by the sheet feeding unit 1. There are provided a detection unit, a device jam detection unit for the recording material 10, a lighting control unit for each heating lamp, a detection unit for determining whether or not the image forming material receiver 305 is full.

[0068]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention and comparative examples are shown below. Example 1 As shown in FIG. 14, an image including a solid tip was formed on a Ricoh type 6200 paper using a PPC copier imagio 320FP1 manufactured by Ricoh Co., Ltd. The image forming substance in this case is a toner (hydrophobic). The paper was subjected to image removal by the recording material reproducing apparatus of FIG. 1 in which the image forming substance removing means had the configuration shown in FIG. The peeling member used for each image forming substance removing means was made of polycarbonate (PC). By immersing in a sulfuric acid-chromic acid aqueous solution under a predetermined masking condition to lower the adhesiveness to the toner, a halftone dot pattern as shown in FIG. 6D was obtained.
Further, as shown in FIG.
The arrangement was such that the area occupied by the portion having good adhesiveness gradually increased. As a result, the image forming substance was completely removed without causing separation failure (between the recording material and the peeling member).

Example 2 An image similar to that of Example 1 was formed on a Ricoh-type 6200 paper using a PPC copying machine spirio 7000 manufactured by Ricoh Co., Ltd. The image forming substance in this case is also a toner (hydrophobic). As the image forming substance removing means, as shown in FIG.
Except for using a stripping member made of a belt-shaped pattern parallel to the conveying direction of the recording material, when the image was removed by the same reproducing apparatus as in Example 1, no separation failure occurred,
The imaging substance was completely removed.

Example 3 Instead of the image forming substance removing means used in Example 1, as a peeling member, a part was immersed in n-hexane to treat the porous surface (increased adhesion to toner)
An image forming and reproducing process was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the above-described polypropylene (PP) was used and the configuration of the image forming substance removing means in FIG. 12 was adopted. It should be noted that the later steps were arranged so that the stripping member had a pattern in which the area of the solvent treatment was larger (the area occupied by the portion having good adhesiveness was larger). As a result, the image forming substance was completely removed without causing separation failure.

Example 4 Instead of the image forming substance removing means used in Example 3, as a peeling member, polyimide (PI) partially treated with a silane coupling agent (decreasing the adhesiveness to toner) was used. An image forming and reproducing process was performed in the same manner as in Example 3 except for using the same. It should be noted that the later step, the smaller the area of the coupling agent treatment (the larger the area occupied by the portion having good adhesiveness), the arrangement was such that the release member became a pattern. As a result, the image forming substance was completely removed without causing separation failure.

Example 5 Instead of the image forming substance removing means used in Example 3, a part as a peeling member was subjected to a corona discharge treatment (to reduce the adhesiveness to the toner) as shown in FIG. Example 3 except that polyetheretherketone (PEEK) having a band-like pattern parallel to the recording material transport direction was used.
Image formation and reproduction processing were performed in the same manner as described above. In addition,
In a later step, the corona discharge treatment was arranged such that the area of the corona discharge treatment was smaller (the area occupied by the portion having good adhesiveness was larger) so that the peeling member had a pattern. In the final step, PEEK untreated with corona discharge was arranged. As a result, the image forming substance was completely removed without causing separation failure.

Example 6 Instead of the image forming substance removing means used in Example 3, a part was used as a peeling member by sandblasting (increased adhesiveness to toner) to obtain a pattern from the grid pattern of FIG. An image forming and reproducing process was performed in the same manner as in Example 3 except that polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was used. It should be noted that the later steps were arranged so as to become a peeling member of a pattern in which the area of the rough surface treatment was larger (the area occupied by the portion having good adhesiveness was larger). As a result, the image forming substance was completely removed without causing separation failure.

Comparative Example 1 Example 1 was repeated except that untreated polycarbonate was used.
After performing image formation and reproduction processing in the same manner as
At the first image forming substance removing means, the leading end of the paper was firmly adhered to the peeling member, and as a result of poor separation, paper jam occurred.

Comparative Example 2 An A4 size paper 10 was prepared in the same manner as in Example 2 except that a polycarbonate which had been subjected to chemical treatment at random positions was used.
When image formation and reproduction processing were performed on the sheets, four paper jams occurred. As a result of observing the surface of the peeling member to find out the cause, the chemical treatment was random, so that an untreated portion or a treated portion was observed in an area larger than the A4 size.
That is, in this area, the object of the present invention, "the image forming substance on the recording material is divided into small areas and partially removed" cannot be achieved.

Comparative Example 3 An image forming and reproducing process was performed in the same manner as in Example 5 except that untreated PEEK was placed in the first removing step. Then, the black solid at the leading end of the paper stuck to the PEEK, and the paper could not be naturally separated, and a jam occurred.

Comparative Example 4 An image forming and reproducing process was performed in the same manner as in Example 5 except that PEEK having the largest processing area by corona discharge was used in the final step. Then, no separation failure occurred, but toner remained on the paper discharged from the apparatus, and it was impossible to recognize images and characters before reproduction. For this reason, paper that can be used again cannot be recycled.

[0078]

As apparent from the above description, the following remarkable functions and effects can be obtained according to the present invention. (1) An apparatus for reproducing a recording material according to claim 1, wherein the image forming substance removing means comprises a peeling member having a uniform mechanical strength but an uneven adhesion to the image forming substance. Provided in a plurality of stages along the line, it is possible to divide the image forming material on the recording material into small areas and partially remove the material, and as a result, poor separation of the recording material from the peeling member And a highly reliable and stable recording material can be reproduced.

(2) An apparatus for reproducing a recording material according to claim 2, wherein the distribution of adhesiveness is spatially regular, or by using peeling members dispersed and arranged within a predetermined rule. ,
It is possible to provide a recording material reproducing apparatus having extremely stable image removal performance.

(3) An apparatus for reproducing a recording material according to claim 3, since the peeling member is made of a single resin or metal per one image forming substance removing means, a peeling member having uniform mechanical strength can be easily obtained. be able to.

(4) The method for producing a peeling member according to claims 4 to 7: Various adhesive non-uniformity treatments can be carried out irrespective of the shape of the material for the peeling member and by selecting a chemical. .

(5) The method for producing a peeling member according to claims 8 to 10: Since the treatment for making the adhesiveness of the material for the peeling member non-uniform is by a dry process, it is not necessary to dry the material. Unlike the wet process, a waste liquid treatment step is not required, so that energy-saving and non-polluting adhesive non-uniformity treatment can be performed.

(6) The method for manufacturing a peeling member according to claims 11 and 12, wherein the nonuniformity of the adhesiveness of the material for the peeling member is performed by a mechanical treatment. Non-uniform processing can be performed.

(7) An apparatus for reproducing a recording material according to claim 13:
Since the peeling member having a large area ratio of the portion having poor adhesion to the image forming substance is provided closer to the front side of the image forming substance removing step, the area where the image and the peeling member actually adhere to each other along the image forming substance removing step. Since the recording material gradually increases, it is possible to reproduce the recording material having high removal performance while preventing the separation failure between the recording material and the peeling member.

(8) An apparatus for reproducing a recording material according to claim 14:
In the final stage of the image forming substance removing step, an image forming substance removing unit having a peeling member having uniform adhesion to the image forming substance is provided, so that the entire amount of the image forming substance on the recording material can be removed. Thus, it is possible to reproduce a recording material having no remaining image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an overall configuration of a recording material reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory sectional view showing a film-like image on a recording material to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a peeling step of peeling an image forming substance on a recording material.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a sheet-like release member in which the adhesiveness to an image forming substance is regularly made nonuniform.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing various specific examples of a roller-shaped peeling member in which the adhesiveness to an image forming substance is regularly made nonuniform.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing an example of a method of regularly making the adhesiveness of a sheet-like release member to an image forming substance non-uniform by a chemical treatment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method for regularly making the adhesiveness of a sheet-like release member to an image forming substance nonuniform by physical treatment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of the operation by the method shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, showing that the hydrophilicity of the release member portion treated by the method is increased.

FIG. 10 shows the adhesion of the release member to the image forming substance,
An example of the method of increasing by mechanical treatment (roughening treatment)
FIG.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing an example of an image forming substance removing unit provided with a roller-shaped peeling member having non-uniform adhesiveness to an image forming substance.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view showing an image forming substance removing unit provided with a belt-shaped peeling member in which adhesion to an image forming substance is made nonuniform.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory view showing another example of an image forming substance removing unit provided with a roller-shaped peeling member having non-uniform adhesiveness to an image forming substance.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a preferred arrangement example of a peeling member in an image forming substance peeling step.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 paper feed unit 2 image removal accelerating liquid applying unit 3 image forming substance peeling unit 4 drying unit 5 paper receiving unit 10 recording material 11 film-like image 20 image removal accelerating liquid 30 image forming substance 40 material for peeling member 50, 50a to 50d Roller-like peeling member 50A to 50C Peeling member 51 Conveying auxiliary means 52 Peeling member cleaning means 53 Separation auxiliary means 60 Belt-like peeling member 70 Support member 81 Treatment liquid 82 Masking material 83 Non-uniformity processing section 84 Masking material removing step 91 Masking Material 92 Unprocessed part 93 Processing part 94 High voltage 95 wire electrode 101 Paper feed tray 102 Paper feed roller 104 Registration roller pair 201 Image removal promoting liquid container 202 Liquid remaining amount detecting means and liquid automatic replenishing means (to liquid container) 207 Liquid pumping roller 208 Liquid applying roller 209 Holding roller 301 Heating lamp 302 Heating roller 303 Peeling belt 304 Spiral roller (cleaning device) 305 Image forming material receiver (Image forming material container) 310 Peeling device 401 Heating lamp 402 Drying drum 403 Finishing belt 501 Discharge tray

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Eriko Chiba 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Masatoshi Saito 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock Inside the company Ricoh

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A member having a property of adhering to an image forming substance (hereinafter referred to as an adhesive property) on a recording material having a film-like fixed image made of a thermoplastic or heat-fusible image forming substance (hereinafter referred to as “adhesive property”). A recording material reproducing apparatus that removes the image forming material on the recording material from the recording material by heating and / or pressurizing the recording material with the image forming material. An apparatus for reproducing a recording material, comprising a plurality of image forming substance removing means provided with a peeling member having non-uniform adhesiveness along the image forming substance removing step. 2. A recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the distribution of the adhesiveness on the peeling member is spatially regular or is dispersed and arranged within a predetermined rule. Material recycling equipment. 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said peeling member is made of a single resin or metal for each of said image forming substance removing means. 4. A method for producing a peeling member according to claim 3, wherein at least a part of the material for the peeling member made of a single resin or metal is chemically treated to improve the adhesiveness with the image forming substance. A method for producing a peeling member, characterized in that the member is made non-uniform. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the chemical treatment comprises:
A method for producing a release member, wherein a material for a release member made of a resin is treated, and a polar group is introduced by chemical treatment. 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the chemical treatment comprises:
A method for producing a release member, wherein a material for a release member made of a resin is to be treated, and a low molecular weight component is removed by a solvent. 7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the chemical treatment is:
A method for producing a peeling member, comprising coating a surface of a material for a peeling member with a coupling agent. 8. The method for producing a release member according to claim 3, wherein at least a part of the release member material made of a single resin or metal is physically treated to improve the adhesiveness with the image forming substance. A method for producing a peeling member, characterized in that the member is made non-uniform. 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the physical treatment is a plasma treatment. 10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the physical treatment is a corona discharge treatment. 11. The method for producing a peeling member according to claim 3, wherein at least a part of a material for the peeling member made of a single resin or metal is mechanically treated to improve adhesiveness with an image forming substance. A method for producing a peeling member, characterized in that the member is made non-uniform. 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the mechanical treatment is a roughening treatment. 13. The method according to claim 1, wherein an area ratio of a portion having good adhesiveness to the image forming material in a peeling member provided at a preceding stage of the image forming material removing step is:
An apparatus for reproducing a recording material, wherein an area ratio of a portion having good adhesiveness to an image forming material in a peeling member provided at a latter stage of the image forming material removing step is smaller. 14. The image forming substance removing means according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 13, wherein a final member of the image forming substance removing step includes a peeling member having uniform adhesion to the image forming substance. An apparatus for reproducing a recording material, wherein the apparatus is provided.