Image supporting member and image forming apparatus using the same

• US 20040157736A1
• Filed: 09/09/2003
• Published: 08/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Ide, Osamu
• Granted Patent: US 7,063,888 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 503/210
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 7/0026 being macromolecular
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 7/004 obtained by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 7/0053 Intermediate layers for image-receiving members
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 7/006 Substrates for image-receiving members; Image-receiving members comprising only one layer
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/25 Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or component and including a second component containing structurally defined particles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/259 Silicic material
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/26 Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or component, the element or component having a specified physical dimension
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/265 1 mil or less
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/273 of coating
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/277 Cellulosic substrate
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/3188 Next to cellulosic
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/31895 Paper or wood

Abstract

An image supporting member that fixable supports a color toner image has abase material, a light scattering layer formed on the base material and containing a white pigment and a thermoplastic resin, and a color toner receiving layer formed on the light scattering layer and containing at least a thermoplastic resin, wherein the thermoplastic resin of the light scattering layer is made of a polyolefin or a polyolefin copolymer, a temperature T at which the viscosity becomes 5×10³ Pa·s being 120° C. or higher, and the thermoplastic resin of the color toner receiving layer is a polyolefin copolymer, a temperature t at which the viscosity becomes 10³ Pa·s being from 90 to 120° C. Further, an image forming apparatus using this image supporting member is also provided.

Claims

1. An image supporting member that fixable supports a color toner image containing at least a thermoplastic resin and a colorant, the image supporting member comprising:

a base material;

a light scattering layer formed on the base material and containing a white pigment and a thermoplastic resin; and

a color toner receiving layer formed on the light scattering layer and containing at least a thermoplastic resin,

wherein the thermoplastic resin of the light scattering layer is made of a polyolefin or a polyolefin copolymer, a temperature T at which the viscosity becomes 5×

10³ Pa·

s being 120°

C. or higher, and

the thermoplastic resin of the color toner receiving layer is a polyolefin copolymer, a temperature t at which the viscosity becomes 10³ Pa·

s being from 90 to 120°

C.

2. The image supporting member according to claim 1,

wherein the base material is a raw paper whose basis weight is from 100 to 250 gsm.

3. The image supporting member according to claim 1,

wherein the light scattering layer contains from 20 to 40% by weight of a white pigment.

4. The image supporting member according to claim 1,

wherein the thickness of the light scattering layer is from 20 to 50 μ

m.

5. The image supporting member according to claim 1,

wherein the color toner receiving layer contains at least 80% by weight of the thermoplastic resin.

6. The image supporting member according to claim 1,

wherein the thickness of the color toner receiving layer is from 5 to 20 μ

m.

7. The image supporting member according to claim 1,

wherein the polyolefin copolymer is an ethylene-acrylic acid or ethylene-acrylic ester copolymer, and a copolymerization ratio of acrylic acid or an acrylic acid ester is from 4 to 10 mol %.

8. The image supporting member according to claim 1,

wherein the color toner receiving layer contains from 3 to 15% by weight of inorganic fine particles.

9. The image supporting member according to claim 8,

wherein the inorganic fine particles are titanium dioxide or silica having a size of from 8 to 200 nm.

10. The image supporting member according to claim 1,

wherein a reinforcing layer made of a polyolefin or a polyolefin copolymer is formed on the back surface of the base material.

11. The image supporting member according to claim 1,

wherein an antistatic layer is formed on at least one of the top surface and the back surface.

12. The image supporting member according to claim 1,

wherein a gelatin layer is formed between the light scattering layer and the color toner receiving layer.

13. The image supporting member according to claim 1,

wherein in the thermoplastic resin of the color toner image, a polyester or styrene-acrylic resin, a temperature t′

at which the viscosity becomes 10⁴ Pa·

s being t±

10°

C., is used as a main component.

14. An image forming apparatus comprising:

an image supporting member that fixable supports a color toner image containing at least a thermoplastic resin and a colorant;

an image forming unit that forms the color toner image on the image supporting member; and

a fixing device that fixes the color toner image formed by the image forming unit on the image supporting member,

wherein the image supporting member includes;

a base material;

a light scattering layer formed on the base material and containing a white pigment and a thermoplastic resin; and

a color toner receiving layer formed on the light scattering layer and containing at least a thermoplastic resin,

the thermoplastic resin of the light scattering layer is made of a polyolefin or a polyolefin copolymer, a temperature T at which the viscosity becomes 5×

10³ Pa·

s being 120°

C. or higher, and

the thermoplastic resin of the color toner receiving layer is a polyolefin copolymer, a temperature t at which the viscosity becomes 10³ Pa·

s being from 90 to 120°

C.

15. The image forming apparatus according to claim 14,

wherein the fixing device comprises a fixing member that nips and adheres the image of the image supporting member, a heat-pressing unit that heat-presses the color toner image on the image supporting member and a cooling and separating unit that cools the heat-pressed color toner image and separates the image from the fixing member.