Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Kuniko Kobayashi

Masayoshi Shimamura

Yoshihiko Hyosu

Hiromi Mori

Hirohide Tanikawa

Masami Fujimoto

Yasutaka Akashi

Yushi Mikuriya

Masaaki Taya

Masaki Uchiyama

Toshiaki Nakahara

Satoshi Matsunaga

Kazuyoshi Hagiwara

Takeshi Ikeda

Eiichi Imai

Hiroaki Kawakami

Hitoshi Kanda

Keita Nozawa

Masatsugu Fujiwara

Ichirou Osaki

A magnetic toner which is excellent in the low temperature fixability and the anti-offset properties is disclosed. The binder resin of the toner comprises a non-crosslinked styrene polymer, a non-crosslinked styrene copolymer or a mixture of these, and a polyolefin, wherein;

Magnetic toner and process for producing magnetic toner

A magnetic toner is constituted by at least a binder resin and a magnetic iron oxide. The magnetic iron oxide is characterized by having an Fe(II) content of 18.5-24.1 wt. %, and shows a BET specific surface area of S (m.sup.2 /g) and an X-ray diffraction pattern giving a half-value width W (deg.) of a diffraction peak corresponding to 311 plane of the magnetic iron oxide in spinel structure, the values S and W satisfying: 4.5.times.10.sup.-3 S+0.130.ltoreq.W.ltoreq.4.5.times.10.sup.-3 S+0.160, and 4.5.ltoreq.S.ltoreq.11.0. Alternatively, the magnetic iron oxide is characterized by having a number-average particle size D satisfying a relationship with W of: -0.08D+0.180.ltoreq.W.ltoreq.-0.08D+0.212, and 0.10.ltoreq.D.ltoreq.0.45. The relationship between W and S or D indicates a good crystallinity of the magnetic iron oxide which provides the magnetic toner with a stable performance for a long period of time. The magnetic iron oxide can be obtained through a heating treatment at a temperature of 130.degree.-360.degree. C. within a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen containing 50 vol. % or less of hydrogen or at a temperature of 150.degree. -450.degree. C. in an inert gas.

Magnetic toner

A positively chargeable magnetic toner comprises positively chargeable magnetic toner particles having at least a binder resin, a magnetic substance and a charge controlling agent; wherein the binder resin contains (A) a vinyl polymer having carboxyl groups, acid anhydride groups, partial esters thereof or mixtures of the groups and having and an acid value of 5 to 30, and (B) a copolymer obtained by polymerizing at least a diolefin monomer and a vinyl monomer; and wherein the charge controlling agent contains (C) a quaternary ammonium salt and (D) a nigrosine dye or a triphenylmethane dye, the ratio by weight among the components (A), (B), (C) and (D) being within the range of (A):(B):(C):(D)=80 to 30:70 to 20:2.0 to 0.5: 2.0 to 0.1 relative to 100 parts of the total weight of the components (A) and (B). The present invention also provides an image forming process, an image forming apparatus and a facsimile apparatus, all of which use the positively chargeable magnetic toner.

Positively chargeable magnetic toner, image forming process image

An image forming apparatus is formed by providing a latent image-bearing member for holding an electrostatic image thereon and a toner-carrying member for carrying a prescribed magnetic toner comprising a binder resin and magnetic powder and having a particle size distribution including 12% by number or more of magnetic toner particles of 5 microns or smaller, 33% by number or less of magnetic toner particles of 8-12.7 microns and 2% by volume or less of magnetic toner particles of 16 microns or larger so as to provide a volume-average particle size of 4-10 microns. At the developing station, an alternating bias voltage comprising a DC voltage and an unsymmetrical AC voltage in superposition is applied between the toner-carrying member and the latent image-bearing member to provide an alternating bias electric field comprising a development-side voltage component and a reverse-development side voltage component. The development-side voltage component has a magnitude equal to or larger than that of the reverse development-side voltage component and a duration smaller than that of the reverse-development side voltage component, so that the magnetic toner on the toner-carrying member, particularly fine powdery fraction thereof effective for high-quality development, is effectively transferred to the latent image-bearing member to develop the electrostatic image thereon at the developing station.

Image forming apparatus having an alternating bias electric field

An image forming apparatus is formed by providing a latent image-bearing member for holding an electrostatic image thereon and a toner-carrying member for carrying a prescribed magnetic toner comprising a binder resin and magnetic powder and having a particle size distribution including 12% by number or more of magnetic toner particles of 5 microns or smaller, 33% by number or less of magnetic toner particles of 8-12.7 microns and 2% by volume or less of magnetic toner parcitles of 16 microns or larger so as to provide a volume-average particle size of 4-10 microns. At the developing station, an alternating bias voltage comprising a DC voltage and an unsymmetrical AC voltage in superposition is applied between the toner-carrying member and the latent image-bearing member to provide an alternating bias electric field comprising a development-side voltage component and a reverse-development side voltage component. The development-side voltage component has a magnitude equal to or larger than that of the reverse development-side voltage component and a duration smaller than that of the reverse-development side voltage component, so that the magnetic toner on the toner-carrying member, particularly fine powdery fraction thereof effective for high-quality development, is effectively transferred to the latent image-bearing member to develop the electrostatic image thereon at the developing station.

Image forming method and image forming apparatus

A process for producing a toner comprising:

Process for producing toner

A toner for developing electrostatic latent images is produced by a process comprising the steps of: (a) stirring at least water, hardly water-soluble inorganic fine powder and a specific compound thereby to prepare an aqueous dispersion medium; (b) adding a polymerizable monomer composition comprising at least a polymerizable monomer and a polymerization initiator to the aqueous dispersion medium; (c) forming particles of the polymerizable monomer composition in the aquoeus dispersion medium; (d) subjecting the particles of the polymerizable monomer composition to suspension polymerization, thereby to produce toner particles; and (e) removing the hardly water-soluble inorganic fine powder attached to the surfaces of the toner particles by an aqueous alkaline or acidic solution.

Process for producing toner through suspension polymerization

A process for preparing a toner obtained by a suspension polymerization method comprises stirring a mixture containing at least a polymerizable monomer containing 5 to 500 ppm of a polymerization inhibitor dissolved in the polymerizable monomer and a colorant; preparing a polymerizable monomer composition by adding a polymerization initiator to said mixture; stirring the prepared polymerizable monomer composition; and carrying out suspension polymerization of the polymerizable monomer composition dispersed in an aqueous medium.

Growing community of inventors

Koganei, Japan

Kuniko Kobayashi