Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.

Kenji Sakka

Yuichiro Maehara

Fumitaka Mochizuki

Masahiko Kurachi

Ichiro Kudo

An image forming apparatus may include an electrophotographic photoreceptor and an intermediate transfer member. An image may be formed by primary transferring a toner image held on a surface of an electrophotographic photoreceptor to an intermediate transfer member, and secondary transferring the toner image from the intermediate transfer member to a transferee material. A dispersive component of surface energy of the electrophotographic photoreceptor and a dispersive component of surface energy of the intermediate transfer member may satisfy a relationship of (the dispersive component of surface energy of the electrophotographic photoreceptor)&#x2266;(the dispersive component of surface energy of the intermediate transfer member).

Intermediate transfer member comprising an inorganic layer, and image forming method and image forming apparatus employing thereof

It is an object to provide an intermediate transfer member that maintains a good second transferability and a good cleaning property even when print is repeatedly carried out and continuously obtains a high quality toner image without the occurrence of a non-printing portion of a character image, and an image forming method and a image forming device that use the intermediate transfer member. The intermediate transfer member is used for an image forming device provided with a means which, after the toner image carried on a surface of a photosensitive member is first transferred to the intermediate transfer member, the toner image is second transferred to a transfer member. The intermediate transfer member is characterized in that including an inorganic layer on the most outer surface, wherein the inorganic layer defines a contact angle of 30&#xb0;-60&#xb0; with respect to methylene iodide and the hardness of the inorganic layer measured by a nanoindentation method is in the range of 3 GPa-10 GPa.

An intermediate transfer member is provided which enables to maintain superior secondary transferability and enhanced cleaning capability and is also capable of continuing to obtain toner images of superior text reproduction and high quality without causing lack of text images even when making prints of a large number of sheets (e.g., 160,000 sheets). The intermediate transfer member for use in an image forming apparatus having a device capable of transferring a toner image carried on the surface of an electrophotographic photoreceptor primarily to an intermediate transfer member, and secondarily transferring the toner image from the intermediate transfer member to a transfer material, wherein the intermediate transfer member is provided with an elastic layer on the circumference of a resin substrate and further thereon a surface layer, the surface layer exhibits a layer thickness of 10 to 500 nm, the Young's modulus of the surface of the intermediate transfer member which is determined by a nanoindentation method is 0.1 to 5.0 GPa and is 0.0 to 2.0 GPa greater than the Young's modulus of the elastic layer which is determined by a nanoindentation method.

Intermediate transfer member for use in electrophotographic image forming apparatus

The invention provides an intermediate transfer member which is excellent in transferability and adhesion property and exhibits superior durability (releasability, resistance to lack of line images and cracking resistance) even after being used or aged under a severe environment over a long period of time and an image forming apparatus provided therewith. The intermediate transfer member comprises a substrate having thereon from the substrate side a first inorganic compound layer and a second inorganic compound layer, wherein a layer thickness ratio of the second inorganic compound layer to the first inorganic compound layer is not less than 1.0 and not more than 5.0, a carbon content of the first inorganic compound layer is not less than 0.5% by number of atoms and not more than 10% by number of atoms, and a carbon content of the second inorganic compound layer is less than 0.1% by number of atoms.

Intermediate transfer member and image formation apparatus

Provided is an intermediate transfer member, a method of producing the same, and an image forming method and an image forming apparatus thereof having excellent effects such that neither crack nor rupture is generated upon repetitive use, no transferring ratio drops during secondary transfer, and neither white patch of an text image nor white patch of a solid image is generated. Also disclosed is an intermediate transfer member used for an image forming apparatus, wherein a surface of the intermediate transfer member has a hardness of 1.5-3.0 GPa, measured by a nano indentation method, and a hardness of 0.15-0.45 GPa, specified by a universal hardness method.

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Hino, Japan

Kenji Sakka