Intermediate transfer member and image forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11487227-B2
Application number	US-202117544754-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2021
Priority date	Dec 14, 2020
Publication date	Nov 1, 2022
Grant date	Nov 1, 2022

Abstract

The crystallinity of a thermoplastic resin is 8% or more and 25% or less, the average primary particle size of carbon black is 10 nm or more and 30 nm or less, the content of the carbon black is 15.0 parts by mass or more and 30.0 parts by mass or less with respect to 100 parts by mass of an intermediate transfer belt, and (Li+Lo+Lc)/3≤100 nm, where Li, Lo, and Lc are values of an L-function indicating a dispersibility of the carbon black with respect to the thermoplastic resin in an inner peripheral surface region of the intermediate transfer belt, in an outer peripheral surface region, and in a central region that is a central portion of the intermediate transfer belt in a thickness direction of the intermediate transfer belt, respectively.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An intermediate transfer belt which has an endless belt shape and to which a toner image is to be transferred, the intermediate transfer belt comprising:
a base layer containing a thermoplastic resin with carbon black dispersed in the thermoplastic resin,
wherein an average primary particle size of the carbon black is 10 nm or more and 30 nm or less,
wherein a content of the carbon black is 15.0% by mass or more and 30.0% by mass or less with respect to the intermediate transfer belt,
wherein the thermoplastic resin has a crystallinity of 8% or more and 25% or less, and
wherein (Li+Lo+Lc)/3≤100 nm, where Li is a value of an L-function indicating a dispersibility of the carbon black with respect to the thermoplastic resin in an outer peripheral surface region having a range of 10 μm from an outer peripheral surface of the base layer in a thickness direction of the belt member, Lo is a value of the L-function indicating a dispersibility of the carbon black with respect to the thermoplastic resin in an inner peripheral surface region having a range of 10 μm from an inner peripheral surface of the belt member in the thickness direction, and Lc is a value of the L-function indicating a dispersibility of the carbon black with respect to the thermoplastic resin in a central region having a range of 5 μm in the thickness direction and another range of 5 μm in the thickness direction from a central portion of the belt member in the thickness direction.

2. The intermediate transfer belt according to claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic resin is polyetheretherketone.

3. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image bearing member configured to bear a toner image;
an intermediate transfer belt to which the toner image on the image bearing member is to be primarily transferred;
a metal roller configured to primarily transfer the toner image from the image bearing member to the intermediate transfer belt; and
a secondary transfer member configured to secondarily transfer the toner image from the intermediate transfer belt to a recording material,
wherein the intermediate transfer belt comprises:
a belt member containing a thermoplastic resin with carbon black dispersed in the thermoplastic resin,

wherein an average primary particle size of the carbon black is 10 nm or more and 30 nm or less,
wherein a content of the carbon black is 15.0% by mass or more and 30.0% by mass or less with respect to the belt member,
wherein the thermoplastic resin has a crystallinity of 8% or more and 25% or less, and
wherein (Li+Lo+Lc)/3≤100 nm, where Li is a value of an L-function indicating a dispersibility of the carbon black with respect to the thermoplastic resin in an outer peripheral surface region having a range of 10 μm from an outer peripheral surface of the belt member in a thickness direction of the belt member, Lo is a value of the L-function indicating a dispersibility of the carbon black with respect to the thermoplastic resin in an inner peripheral surface region having a range of 10 μm from an inner peripheral surface of the belt member in the thickness direction, and Lc is a value of the L-function indicating a dispersibility of the carbon black with respect to the thermoplastic resin in a central region having a range of 5 μm in the thickness direction and another range of 5 μm in the thickness direction from a central portion of the belt member in the thickness direction.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the thermoplastic resin is polyetheretherketone.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein Li≤150 nm.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the number of conductive points of the inner peripheral surface of the belt member is 230 points/μm 2 or more.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Suzuki Midai
• Asaka Akeshi
• Sato Koji
• Kobayashi Noriaki
• Uchino Megumi
• Okano Akira
• Yoshida Toshiyuki
• Kasai Naoko
• Hori Atsushi

Classifications

• G03G2215/1623

  Transfer belt · CPC title

• G03G15/1685

  Structure, details of the transfer member, e.g. chemical composition · CPC title

• G03G15/0131 Primary

  for transferring a pattern to a second base · CPC title

• G03G15/1605

  using at least one intermediate support (G03G15/1625 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G03G15/162 Primary

  details of the the intermediate support, e.g. chemical composition · CPC title