JPS59200275A - Electrophotographic printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to generate a plate automatically in a device by supplying a start paper, to which a solvent is applied, to a toner transfer region. CONSTITUTION:A drum 1 supporting a master 3 consisting of a conductive base material 9 and a conductive photosensitive layer 11 is shifted to an electrostatic charge region, an exposure region, a toner developing region, and a toner transfer region which are provided along the drum 1 to perform electrostatic charge, image exposure, and toner development for the photosensitive layer 11. Thereafter, a start paper 27 where a solvent 31 is applied is supplied to the transfer region, and the solvent 31 is transferred to the toner image on the photosensitive layer 11 to fix the toner image onto the photosensitive layer 11. Electrostatic charge, overall exposure, and toner development for the photosensitive layer, to which the toner image is fixed, and various processes of transfer to the second and following papers are repeated to perform printing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electrophotographic printing method.
This relates to a 4-photographic printing method that allows one to easily carry out everything from plate creation to printing operations with a printing master attached to a drum.

Various types of electrophotographic printing methods are known, but the most common one is a master Q printing method consisting of an electrically conductive substrate and a four-electrically sensitive layer on the substrate, charging, and image forming. First, a plate with a fixed toner image is created by performing exposure, toner development, and fixing operations, and this plate is attached to a printing drum (which is used for charging, full-surface exposure, toner development, and toner transfer to paper). , further cleaning is required (perform the entire printing after cleaning).

In common electrophotographic printing methods, it is generally necessary to use a separate electrophotographic printing method to create the printing plate, and also to use a machine that doubles as electrophotographic copying and printing. When creating a plate, it is essential to fix the toner image on the photosensitive layer, so creating the plate, attaching the created plate to a drum, and printing required manual operations. .

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional electrophotographic printing method, and to provide an electrophotographic printing method that can consistently and easily perform everything from plate creation to printing operations with the master attached to the drum. It is on offer.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic printing method in which the formation of the plate can be carried out automatically within the apparatus by feeding a starter paper fully coated with a toner agent into the toner transfer area of the apparatus. 2b.

Another object of this invention is to provide an electrophotographic printing method that can be used as a printing machine by making only slight changes to an electrophotographic copying apparatus that uses all nine sensors of a master set.

According to the invention, a drum supporting a master consisting of a tetraelectric substrate and a photoconductive photosensitive layer on the substrate is provided with a charging zone, an exposure zone, a toner development zone and a toner transfer zone provided along the drum. This is an electrophotographic printing method in which the photosensitive layer is transferred to an area and then subjected to a printing process. , the toner image on the photosensitive layer (the bath agent is transferred to fix the toner image on the photosensitive layer, the toner image fixing photosensitive layer is charged, the entire surface is exposed, the toner is developed, and the second and subsequent sheets of paper are transferred. An electrophotographic printing method is provided which is characterized in that printing is performed by repeating all transfer steps.

The present invention will be fully described below based on specific examples shown in the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, which shows the schematic arrangement of the apparatus used, there is a drum, generally designated 1, which is rotatable around the glaze 2. A supply reel 4 and a take-up reel 5 for used masters are provided, new masters 6 are obtained from the supply reel 4 through the entire guide 6 to the drum surface 7, and used masters are obtained from the supply reel 4 through the guides 8 to the take-up reel. 5 (This is wound up.

As shown in the enlarged cross-sectional view 1 in FIG.
A photoconductive and pressure sensitive layer 1 is formed on the substrate through
It consists of 1. The photoconductive photosensitive layer 11 is, for example,
It consists of a modified zinc-containing resin dispersed together with a dye sensitizer in an adhesive resin.

Around this drum 1, a charging mechanism 12, an exposure mechanism 16
, a toner developing mechanism 14, a toner transfer mechanism 15, and a cleaning mechanism 16 if necessary. Charging mechanism 12
comprises, for example, a corona charger, and the photosensitive layer 1
1 is charged to a constant polarity depending on the characteristics of the photosensitive layer. In this specific example 1, exposure (Aisaku 16 is original 17)
It consists of an image exposure system consisting of an optical system 19 for forming a total illumination light 18 and a light scarlet image of the original on the photosensitive layer 11, and a static elimination light source 20 for exposing the entire photosensitive layer 11 to light. There is. The toner developing mechanism 14 has internal (toner 2 for developing)
1 and transfers the toner to a magnetic carrier (not shown).
A magnetic brush 23 is formed on the magnetic sleeve 22, and this magnetic brush 26 is rubbed against the photosensitive layer 11, and the toner is developed with all the toner particles formed by the fluorescent light exposure. In this specific example, the toner image transfer mechanism 15 is a corona charger, and a paper movement path 24 is provided to pass between the transfer mechanism 15 and the drum 1, and on the introduction side of this movement path 24, A feeding mechanism 26 for normal paper 25 and a feeding mechanism 28 for starting paper 27 are provided. A fixing mechanism 29 consisting of a heating roll or a pressure roll is provided behind the drum copying contact position of the paper movement path 24 (here, a fixing mechanism 29 is provided).

In FIG. 6, which shows a fully enlarged cross-section of the starting paper 27,
The starting paper consists of a paper substrate 60 and at least one surface of the paper substrate coated with or impregnated with a solvent 61 such as, for example, toluene.

First, for manufacturing the printing plate, the take-up reel 5 is moved to Tsukae:
and set a new master 3 on the drum surface 71. The drum 1 is driven clockwise in the drawing, and the master photosensitive layer 11 is first charged by the charging mechanism 121 to a constant polarity, for example, negative charge, and the original line image of the original 17 is transferred to the entire optical system 19. to form an image on the photosensitive layer 11,
L's draft work causes the corresponding 'd' to be completely formed. This Gina is developed with toner 21 by the developing mechanism 1410,
A toner image is completely formed on the photosensitive layer 11. Toner 2 used
1 has a polarity opposite to that of the charge image, and as a matter of course, a positive temporary toner is used for a negative charge image.

In the present invention, the entire start paper 27 and its supply mechanism 28 are
1, the organic solvent layer 61 of the starter paper 27 is brought into contact with the toner image on the photosensitive layer 11.

In FIG. 4, which explains the state of contact between this toner image and the bath medium layer, the positively charged toner 21 is attracted by the Coulomb force from the negatively charged ζ on the surface of the photosensitive layer. Even if there is an e'flr medium layer 61 on top of 27, it is hardly attracted to the starting paper 270111], or even if it is attracted by the physical force ζ, 11<slightly. be. On the other hand, the toner image contains an oil-absorbing property as a property of oil absorption, and the organic solvent that comes into contact with it is attracted toward the toner image, thereby causing the organic solvent to be transferred to the toner image.

After contacting the photosensitive layer 1.1, the starting paper is peeled off from the photosensitive layer 11 after this transfer area (through the separating claw 52G provided) and is discharged from the apparatus via the moving path 24.

The toner image 21 is transferred to the toner image 21. The medium is completely dissolved or softened, and then transferred to the photosensitive layer 11 of the toner image 21. Fixation is reliably carried out within an extremely short period of time. Styrene thread resin is most widely used as a fixing resin binder for toner, but this styrene thread resin has the property of being extremely soluble in aromatic solvents such as toluene. This method has the advantage that fixing can be reliably carried out within a short period of time by transferring the solvent.

Since the aromatic solvent has a high electric resistance, it does not inhibit the electrical connection between the charge image and the toner, and has the advantage that it does not cause image disturbance.

Furthermore, when the layer 11 that the master senses is a rotary fat dispersion of a photosensitive pigment, the applied organic solvent softens the resin on the surface of this photosensitive layer to some extent, further promoting the gradation. There is also the advantage that

Since the amount of solvent transferred to the photosensitive layer ILflllt is relatively small, drying of the remaining solvent is generally not necessary. After drying, the photosensitive layer may be subjected to a drying process such as blowing hot or cold air or irradiating with infrared light, and such a drying process may be preferable in some cases.

According to the present invention, from the above description, the electrophotographic effect yt,
With the entire master drum installed, paper coated with an organic solvent can be fed to the toner transfer position of the drum in the same way as normal paper. It is clear that it is possible to create

Electrostatic printing from the plate formed by the above operations is performed in the same manner as known printing. In other words, this entire edition'
After uniformly charging to zero, the entire surface is exposed to the removing light 20, so that the surface charge disappears in the background area, and the charge remains in the image area where the toner is fixed, and the plate The toner fixed image part 9 of the image is exactly the same as the V6.
An image is formed, and this charge image is developed by the developing mechanism 14 and the toner 21, thereby forming a toner image on the toner-attached image group of the printing plate.

Ordinary printing paper 25 is fed through its feeding mechanism 26 through paper movement path 2.
Paper 2 is fed into contact with the photosensitive layer 11 of the drum.
This toner image is transferred onto the printing paper 25 by applying a corona charge having the same polarity as the charge image from the back side of the toner image. The printing paper 25 to which the toner 21 has been transferred is peeled off from the surface of the photosensitive layer 11 and guided to a fixing mechanism 29 where the toner image is fixed.

By repeating all of the above printing operations, a predetermined number of printed matter can be obtained from the printing plate.

In this study, toners include styrene-based resin,
It is dispersed in a fixing resin binder such as acrylic resin, along with a dielectric agent, a charge additive, an offset inhibitor, and a pressure-constant permeability imparting agent, if necessary. Particles in the 50 micron range can be used. This type of toner is used in combination with a magnetic carrier, but it can also be used for development as a one-component thread magnetic toner by completely containing magnetic powder such as magnetite or ferrite in the toner.

As photosensitive masters, in addition to those exemplified above, organic or inorganic electrically conductive pigments such as perylene, phthalocyanine threads, polyazo threads, etc., or charge-generating pigments that can be used as charge-generating pigments may be used. It is also possible to use a photosensitive layer formed by dispersion or a functionally separated photosensitive layer.

As the organic solvent applied to the starting paper, in addition to toluene, aromatic solvents such as xylene and ethylbenzene, and ether solvents such as tetrahydrofuran and dioxane can be used. Yes (the amount of surface solvent applied to paper is generally 1
〜200? /□m2, especially 5 to 50? /m
Such a starting paper can be stored in a bag made of plastic/metal foil laminate, or it can be manufactured in a tub by applying the above-mentioned solvent to the paper by spraying, etc. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 shows the schematic layout of the device used for the invention, Figure 2 shows the
FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the master, FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the start paper, and FIG. 4 shows the state of contact between the toner image and the start paper. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Drum, 6...Master, 9...Conductive substrate, 11...U"0 conductive layer, 27.Start paper, 31.
・Organic solvent layer patent applicant Sanda Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Scope of the Claims] A master supporting drum consisting of a conductive substrate and a photoconductive photosensitive layer on the substrate is provided with a charging zone, an exposure zone, a toner development zone and a toner transfer zone provided along the drum. (This is an electrophotographic printing method in which the printing process is performed by transferring the photosensitive layer, and after the photosensitive layer is charged, image exposed, and toner developed, a starter paper coated with a bath agent is supplied to the transfer area, The S agent is fully transferred to the toner image on the photosensitive layer to fix the toner image on the photosensitive layer, and the toner image fixing photosensitive layer is charged, the entire surface is exposed, and the toner f)1. An electrophotographic printing method characterized by repeating the entire process of transferring images and subsequent sheets of paper.