KR20090047381A - A method of restoration conducting elastic roller - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for restoring the performance of a conductive elastic roller. Specifically, the surface of the conductive elastic roller in the waste cartridge is modified by a high frequency treatment or a polishing process, and a conductive coating layer is formed to improve the performance to a level similar to the initial performance. To restore.

According to the performance restoration method of the present invention, since the performance of the damaged conductive elastic roller to restore the performance of more than 98% compared to the initial maintenance cost is reduced, not only can recycle the waste products, it is possible to prevent environmental pollution.

Conductive Elastic Roller, High Frequency, Cartridge, Conductive Coating Liquid

Description

A method of restoration conducting elastic roller

 The present invention relates to a method for restoring the performance of a conductive elastic roller, and in particular, after modifying the surface of a damaged conductive elastic roller in a cartridge after use, a conductive layer is formed to restore performance before use to reduce maintenance costs and reduce waste. The present invention relates to a method for restoring the performance of a conductive elastic roller that can not only recycle products but also prevent environmental pollution.

Recently, Korea has emerged as a global IT powerhouse, and the spread of computers has been expanded to one home and one PC, and the supply of printers has increased rapidly, and more than 500,000 printers are being supplied every year. As the supply of printers increases, there is a problem of disposal of waste-toner cartridges generated in printers. Waste-toner cartridges are valuable raw materials for the production and recycling of remanufactured cartridges, as well as workplace wastes that cause serious pollution. More than 20 million cartridges (Ink Jet, Copy Machine, Laser Beam Printer) are imported or produced annually, but only 24% of them are remanufactured (76% compared to laser print toner cartridges) and the remaining 76% of used cartridges It is estimated that it is discarded without landfill or landfilled or incinerated. The waste cartridge is composed of various composite materials due to the characteristics of the product, and contains heavy metals. If it is thrown away without remanufacturing or recycling, the waste cartridge causes water and soil contamination (decomposition period of one waste toner cartridge). : Over 500 years / Ink cartridges Residual ink purification: 1t of clear water required), incineration risks explosion and serious air pollution.

Generally, a cartridge includes a photosensitive drum portion, a conductive roller portion, and a toner portion as a unit to provide a function of transferring an image onto a transfer paper or recording material in a laser printer or a copying machine, such as an image forming apparatus, to form an image, and a conductive developing (elastic) roller. And the photosensitive drum portion are often formed integrally with the frame.

The conductive elastic roller is pressed in the longitudinal direction by continuously contacting with the outer periphery of the photosensitive drum for good quality at the time of use or in the storage process after use, the appearance is deformed as well as deterioration occurs simultaneously. In addition, the surface of the conductive elastic roller is in frictional contact with the developer adjusting member for uniform application of the developer, causing an abnormal image on the transfer paper or recording material when the developer is excessively applied on the surface of the elastic roller. . In addition, when a frictional resistance is applied to the conductive elastic roller, there is a problem of damaging the surfaces of the conductive elastic roller and the developer adjusting member, which causes the continuous use of the cartridge.

As described above, in order to restore the conductive elastic roller that is not restored by pressing the photosensitive drum, conventionally, a method of heating an elastic roller of conductive property or a method of coating the surface using an insulating coating after processing the surface has been used. However, the heating method has a problem in that heat is concentrated only on the surface of the conductive elastic roller, so that only the deformed surface portion of the conductive elastic roller can be restored. There is a disadvantage that can not be restored to a satisfactory level and can be discarded and disposed of.

An object of the present invention to solve the above problems is to restore the performance including the conductivity of the conductive elastic roller already used by a simple process to a similar level to the initial reference value to reduce the maintenance cost and recycle waste products, It is to provide a method for restoring the performance of a conductive elastic roller that can also prevent environmental pollution.

The present invention to achieve the above object,

A surface modification step of modifying the surface of the waste conductive elastic roller by using a high frequency treatment or a polishing process; And

It provides a method of restoring the performance of the conductive elastic roller comprising a conductive layer forming step of forming a conductive coating layer by applying a heat-curable or photo-curable conductive coating liquid to the surface of the modified waste conductive elastic roller.

The high frequency treatment may be performed at a high frequency of 5 to 100 kHz.

The heat curable conductive coating solution is 5 to 30% by weight of a conductive polymer or conductive carbon; 2 to 25 weight percent of the heat curable binder; 20 to 40% by weight of water; 40 to 70 wt% of an organic solvent; And 0.1 to 5 wt% of a crosslinking agent and an additive.

As the binding crosslinking agent, compounds having 1 to 6 nitrogen atoms in the molecule may be used.

An aziridine-based binding crosslinking agent may be used as the binding crosslinking agent.

The photocurable conductive coating liquid may include 10 to 40 wt% of a photocurable hard coating composition including an acrylic monomer, a colloidal inorganic oxide, a silane compound, a urethane acrylate monomer or an oligomer, and a colloidal stabilizer; 3 to 30 wt% conductive polymer or conductive carbon; 0.1-5% by weight of photoinitiator; 40 to 80% by weight of organic solvent; And 0.1 to 5% by weight of an additive which is a single or a mixture thereof selected from the group consisting of a slip agent and an ultraviolet stabilizer.

According to the method for restoring the performance of the conductive elastic roller of the present invention, by physically and chemically restoring the waste conductive elastic roller used by the simple and simple process, the production process can be simplified and the production cost can be reduced by reducing the production efficiency. You can increase it.

In addition, by using the method of the present invention for remanufactured cartridges because the performance is restored more than 98% compared to the initial performance, it is possible to reduce maintenance costs, recycle waste products, and to prevent environmental pollution.

The conductive elastic roller whose performance is restored by the method of the present invention can increase the sharpness of the image by minimizing the toner stress, so that it is a conductive elastic roller of a cartridge such as a high speed printer or a copying machine. , Toner supply rollers, development rollers, paper feed rollers, transfer rollers and the like.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Examples and drawings.

1 illustrates a method for restoring a performance of a conductive elastic roller according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Figure 1, the method of restoring the performance of the conductive elastic roller of the present invention surface modification step; And a conductive layer forming step. The method of restoring the performance of the conductive roller can restore the performance of the waste conductive elastic roller by 98% or more compared to the initial performance by a simple process.

The surface modification step is a step of modifying the surface of the waste conductive elastic roller by using a high frequency treatment or a polishing process. Modification of the surface enhances the adhesion between the elastic roller and the conductive layer.

The high frequency treatment is to modify the surface using a high frequency generator while rotating the damaged conductive elastic roller 10 in the waste cartridge after use. In the case of high frequency treatment, numerous ultra-fine holes are formed on the surface of the conductive elastic roller to form a condition that the conductive coating liquid can effectively penetrate the surface of the elastic roller, thereby providing a strong adhesion between the conductive coating liquid and the surface of the elastic roller.

The high frequency treatment may be performed for 0.1 to 10 seconds at a high frequency of 5 to 100 kHz, preferably 50 to 100 kHz.

The polishing process may be performed by conventional methods known in the art.

The conductive layer forming step is a step of forming a conductive coating layer by applying a heat curable or photocurable conductive coating liquid to the surface of the modified waste conductive elastic roller. By forming a conductive layer on the surface of the waste conductive elastic roller, the conductivity can be restored to a level similar to the initial performance.

While rotating the conductive elastic roller 20 whose surface is modified, a thermally curable or photocurable conductive coating liquid is coated on the surface of the conductive elastic roller by a conventional method known in the art to form a conductive coating layer. Preferably, after coating by dipping or spraying, drying at 50 to 90 ℃ for 1 to 10 minutes, or after drying to cure to 300 to 500 mJ light amount to prepare a conductive elastic roller 30 having a conductive layer formed.

The heat curable conductive coating solution is 5 to 30% by weight of a conductive polymer or conductive carbon; 2 to 25 weight percent of the heat curable binder; 20 to 40% by weight of water; 40 to 70 wt% of an organic solvent; And 0.1 to 5% by weight of a binding crosslinking agent and additives. The organic solvent may be a polar organic solvent such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), dimethylformamide (DMF), N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP), 2-butanone, 4-methyl-2-pentanone, and the like. Methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, t-butyl alcohol, benzyl alcohol, ethylene glycol may be selected from the group consisting of alcohols such as alone or a mixture thereof.

The thermosetting binder may be an acrylic, urethane or acrylic-urethane copolymer.

The binding crosslinking agent serves to improve the physical properties by increasing the solvent resistance and wear resistance of the conductive elastic roller. As the binding crosslinking agent, those having 1 to 6 nitrogen atoms in the molecule are preferable, and those containing aziridine functional groups may be used. More preferably, what contains three aziridine functional groups can be used. The aziridine-based binding crosslinking agent has excellent compatibility with conductive polymers and the like, thereby improving stability of the conductive coating solution. In the case of the conventional conductive coating solution containing the conductive polymer, it is difficult to store it because it is easily gelled due to the sensitivity to the surrounding environment such as temperature. The phenomenon disappears. In addition, the aziridine-based binding crosslinking agent can form an excellent crosslinking network due to the interchemical interaction between the carboxyl group and the aziridine in the binder, thereby providing excellent solvent resistance and abrasion resistance. This has an excellent advantage.

Specific examples of the aziridine-based binding crosslinking agents include N- (aminoethyl) aziridine, N-aminoethyl-N-aziridylethylamine, N, N-bis-2-aminopropyl-N-aziridylethylamine, N-3,6,9-triazonoylaziridine and the like.

The photocurable conductive coating solution may include 10 to 40 wt% of a photocurable hard coating composition including an acrylic monomer, a colloidal inorganic oxide, a silane compound, a urethane acrylate monomer or an oligomer, and a colloidal stabilizer; 3 to 30 weight of conductive polymer or conductive carbon; 0.1-5% by weight of photoinitiator; 40 to 80% by weight of organic solvent; And 0.1 to 5% by weight of an additive which is a single or a mixture thereof selected from the group consisting of a slip agent and an ultraviolet stabilizer.

The colloidal inorganic oxide serves to increase solvent resistance and wear resistance. Silica may be used as the colloidal inorganic oxide and may be mixed with the colloidal metal oxide. The colloidal inorganic oxide may be in the form of powder, gel or sol, but the sol form is most preferred. In the sol state colloidal inorganic oxide particles are dispersed in the liquid medium. Sols useful for carrying out the present invention may be prepared by conventional methods well known in the art, and commercially available products may also be used. For example, colloidal silica dispersed as a sol in an aqueous solution can be used.

The silane compound may be a crosslinkable silane compound and a polymerizable moiety other than a hydrolyzable silane moiety and a silane moiety. Specifically, methyltrimethoxysilane, dimethylmethoxysilane, and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane may be used. , 3-aminopropyl diethoxymethylsilane, 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, vinyl tris (β-methoxy) silane, vinyl tris (2-methoxyethoxy) silane, N- (2-aminoethyl)- 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane and silicon substituted with an alkoxy functional group.

The conductive polymer used in the thermally curable or photocurable conductive coating liquid may be used without limitation in the art, and specific examples thereof include polyaniline, polypyrrole, polythiophene, poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and their Derivatives and copolymers, and? -Conjugated electrically conductive polymers.

The surface resistance of the conductive elastic roller remanufactured by the performance restoration method of the present invention was 10E4 to 10E7 Ω / ㎠ measured by the method of ASTM D257, the physical properties (Migration, Imaging test, Running test) is the initial performance The contrast was 98 to 100%. As described above, when restoring the performance of the waste conductive elastic roller by the method of the present invention, the performance of the roller including the conductivity is restored to be almost similar to that of the initial one, so that the waste product can be recycled.

 1 illustrates a method of restoring a conductive elastic roller performance of a waste cartridge after use in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (6)

A surface modification step of modifying the surface of the waste conductive elastic roller by using a high frequency treatment or a polishing process; And And a conductive layer forming step of applying a heat curable or photocurable conductive coating liquid to the surface of the modified waste conductive elastic roller to form a conductive coating layer. The method of claim 1, The high frequency has a frequency of 5 ~ 100 kHz, the method of restoring the performance of the conductive elastic roller. The method of claim 1, The thermally curable conductive coating solution is 5 to 30% by weight of a conductive polymer or conductive carbon; 2-25 wt% of the thermosetting binder; 20 to 40% by weight of water; 40 to 70 wt% of an organic solvent; And 0.1 to 5% by weight of a bonding crosslinking agent and an additive. The method of claim 3, Method for restoring the performance of the conductive elastic roller, characterized in that the bonding crosslinking agent is a compound containing 1 to 6 nitrogen atoms. The method of claim 3, Method for restoring the performance of the conductive elastic roller, characterized in that the binding crosslinking agent is an aziridine-based binding crosslinking agent. The method of claim 1, 10 to 40% by weight of the photocurable conductive coating liquid is a photocurable hard coating composition comprising an acrylic monomer, a colloidal inorganic oxide, a silane compound, a urethane acrylate monomer or an oligomer and a colloidal stabilizer; 3 to 30 wt% conductive polymer or conductive carbon; 0.1-5% by weight of photoinitiator; 40 to 80% by weight of organic solvent; And 0.1 to 5% by weight of an additive which is selected solely or a mixture thereof from the group consisting of a slip agent and an ultraviolet stabilizer.

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