JPS641026B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an endless belt.

Endless belts are generally used in various fields mainly as driving force transmission elements, and in some types of image forming apparatuses, endless belts are used as intermediate transfer members. In such an intermediate transfer body, for example, a toner image formed by developing an electrostatic charge image is once transferred to this intermediate transfer body, and this transferred toner image is further transferred to a transfer paper or the like to finally give a visible image. Therefore, the endless belt used as the intermediate transfer member is required to have a uniform thickness, sufficient mechanical strength, and a favorable surface condition. When heating is applied via the intermediate transfer body in order to transfer the transferred toner image on the intermediate transfer body, an extremely thin endless belt is used as the intermediate transfer body in order to quickly raise the temperature and save heat source energy. It is preferable to use it as a transfer body.

Conventionally, a widely used method for manufacturing endless belts is to connect both ends of a sheet-like or film-like belt material to each other by heat fusion or adhesive. or the connection cannot be made with sufficient strength. Also known are methods of extrusion molding a flowable material using a mold with a cylindrical injection opening or methods using a centrifugal casting method, but these manufacturing methods are limited in the materials that can be used, such as intermediate It is difficult to obtain the characteristics required for a transfer member, and it is difficult to manufacture a product with a small thickness, or it is difficult to mass-produce it, resulting in high costs.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an endless belt that does not have the above-mentioned drawbacks, has uniform characteristics throughout, and can easily manufacture even belts with extremely small thickness. shall be.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings in the case of manufacturing an endless belt for an intermediate transfer member.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a cylindrical or elliptical base body 1 having an endless outer peripheral surface is prepared. This base body 1 is capable of reducing its diameter, deforming it, or disassembling it.

A solution of the belt material is applied onto the outer circumferential surface of the substrate 1 and dried. In an endless belt for an intermediate transfer body, it is preferable to have a two-layer structure consisting of a base layer that maintains its strength and a surface layer that has appropriate elasticity and good surface releasability. First, a solution of a base layer material such as polyimide resin, fluororesin, polyester resin, etc. is applied onto the outer peripheral surface of the substrate 1. Various methods such as a spray method or a dipping method can be used for this application. After drying the coating film thus formed, it is vulcanized and solidified by heat treatment or the like to form a base layer 2 having a thickness of 25 to 250 microns.

Next, a solution of a surface layer material that provides a rubber substance such as silicone rubber, fluorine rubber, or urethane rubber is applied onto the outer peripheral surface of the base layer 2, and the formed coating film is dried and then vulcanized by heat treatment or the like. The material is solidified to form a surface layer 3 having a thickness of 25 to 250 microns. Thereafter, the diameter of the base 1 is reduced, deformed, or decomposed to remove the base 1, thereby producing an endless rubber belt 4 for an intermediate transfer member having a two-layer structure of the base layer 2 and the surface layer 3. When silicone rubber is used as the material for the surface layer 3, various silicone rubbers such as HTV, LTV, and RTV, which can be vulcanized and solidified at high temperature, low temperature, and room temperature, can be used as the surface layer material, and preferred rubbers are The hardness is 5 to 70 degrees, more preferably 25 to 60 degrees.

Since the method for manufacturing the endless belt of the present invention is as described above, since the outer circumferential surface of the base body 1 is endless, there are no connecting parts and the endless belt has a uniform thickness over the entire surface, as in the example described above. An endless rubber belt 4 consisting of a base layer 2 of uniform thickness and a surface layer 3 of uniform thickness can be obtained. That is, since each layer of the endless belt is formed by applying a liquid material and solidifying the formed coating film, the properties are uniform, and the inner surface of the coating film follows the outer peripheral surface of the base 1. Due to the surface tension of the liquid material, the outer surface of the substrate 1 follows the outer peripheral surface of the substrate 1, thereby reliably forming an endless belt layer with a uniform thickness within the range of 25 to 250 microns. can do. Therefore, it is possible to reliably manufacture a belt with a uniform thickness, even if the belt is extremely thin, for example, about 50 microns, so that an extremely excellent endless belt for an intermediate transfer member can be obtained.

In addition, by repeatedly applying the liquid material and solidifying the coating film, it is possible to easily create an endless belt with a desired thickness or layer structure, with each constituent layer having a uniform thickness. Obtainable.

Furthermore, since the base body 1 is one whose diameter can be reduced, deformed, or disassembled, the base body 1 can be removed even when the formed endless belt 4 has a small thickness. is extremely easy.

In addition, mass production is easy by sequentially performing each process using a large number of substrates 1, and various solidification means can be selected and used, so belt materials can be selected from a wide range of substances. You can choose.

The base body 1 used in the present invention needs to be capable of reducing its diameter, deforming it, or disassembling it as described above. When the base 1 is made of a deformable material such as rubber,
As shown in FIG. 3, the base body 1 can be deformed so that its diameter is reduced. In such a case, the material of the base 1 may be silicone rubber,
Fluororubber or the like can be used, but of course it is necessary to avoid materials that are soluble in the solvent of the belt material solution to be applied.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a base body that can be disassembled, and in this example, the base body 1 has dividing planes P and P extending in the axial direction.
The two first members 11, 11' and the second
It is divided into two members 12, 12' and two parts facing each other.
The two first members 11, 11' are fixedly connected to each other by fasteners 14, 14' at both ends of the connecting member 13,
A push rod 15 rotatably provided in the center of the connecting member 13
As a result, the second members 12, 12' are pushed outward to form a continuous, smooth, endless outer peripheral surface in contact with the first members 11, 11'. 1
6 is a rotation axis of the push rod 15.

After applying and solidifying the belt material on the outer circumferential surface of the base 1, the push rod 15 is rotated and the second
The second members 12, 12' may be disengaged from the members 12, 12', and the second members 12, 12' may be displaced inward to reduce the circumferential length of the base and then removed. Also in this example, the fastener 14 or 14'
If the endless belt is removed and at least one of the first members 11, 11' is also displaced inwardly, the endless belt can be taken out even more easily. Note that the first member 1
1, 11' and the second member 12, 12' may be held movably inwardly by a suitable elastic mechanism to form an endless circumferential surface.

As described above, according to the present invention, an endless belt having a uniform thickness can be easily and advantageously manufactured by a very simple method, and in particular, an extremely thin endless belt can be easily manufactured, and it is possible to use the present invention. Since there are no restrictions on the material, this method is extremely useful as a method for manufacturing endless belts used as intermediate transfer bodies in image forming apparatuses.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory perspective view of a substrate used in carrying out the endless belt manufacturing method of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is an explanatory sectional view when the method of the present invention is applied to manufacturing an endless belt for an intermediate transfer member, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are explanatory perspective views of examples of the base body. 1...Substrate, 2...Base layer, 3...Surface layer, 4...
Endless rubber belt, 11, 11'...first member, 12, 12'...second member, 13...connecting member, 15...push rod.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. After applying a solidifiable liquid material onto the outer peripheral surface of a substrate having an endless outer peripheral surface and solidifying the formed coating film to form a layer with a thickness of 25 to 250 microns, A method for producing an endless belt, characterized in that the base body is removed by reducing the diameter of the base body, deforming it, or disassembling it. 2 The application of the liquid material and the solidification of the coating film are repeated, and multiple constituent layers are laminated, with each layer having a thickness of 25 to 25 cm.
A method for manufacturing an endless belt according to claim 1, which has a diameter of 250 microns. 3. The method for manufacturing an endless belt according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the endless belt is an intermediate transfer member for an image forming apparatus.