Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Sumitomo Electric Fine Polymer, Inc.

Sumitomo (sei) Steel Wire Corp.

Shingo Nakajima

Jun Sugawara

Akira Mizoguchi

Yoshimasa Suzuki

Yusuke Uchiba

Yoshitaka Ikeda

Kazuhiro Kizawa

Masato Yamada

Katsuhito Oshima

Masatoshi Ishikawa

Kiminori Matsushita

Naoki Onmori

Daisuke Shoji

Masato Tanaka

Yasuhiro Fukumoto

Hiromi Kamimura

Shuichi Tanaka

Yoshiyuki Matsubara

Yoshihiko Touda

Shuhei Maeda

Takashi Ichiki

Takahide Saiki

An object of the present invention is to provide a polyimide tube for a fixing belt, the polyimide tube having good toner fixability. A polyimide tube for a fixing belt of an image-forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a polyimide layer that contains a polyimide as a main component and a needle-like filler, the needle-like filler containing a carbon nanotube and needle-like titanium oxide. A product of a thermal diffusivity (m/s) of the polyimide layer and a breaking elongation (%) of the polyimide layer in an axial direction is 35&#xd7;10or more. An orientation direction of the needle-like filler is preferably an axial direction or a circumferential direction.

Polyimide tube for fixing belts

The present invention provides a self-heating fuser roller including a tubular resistor layer that generates heat by being supplied with electricity, in which the resistor layer has a plurality of slits. The slits are preferably disposed at regular intervals in a circumferential direction. The slits preferably extend in an axial direction. Preferably, the slits are not provided on both end edges in an axial direction. The slits preferably have an average width of 50 &#x3bc;m or more and 2 mm or less. The slits preferably have an average interval of 30 &#x3bc;m or more and 1 mm or less. The slits are preferably filled with a resin composition. The resistor layer preferably includes a resin matrix and a plurality of electrically conductive particles contained in the resin matrix.

Self-heating fuser roller

A pregrouted PC steel material () includes a 19-wire-twisted PC strand (), a pregrouted layer () disposed on an outer periphery of the PC strand (), and a sheath () configured to cover an outer periphery of the pregrouted layer (). A filling resin () is filled between steel wires (side wires) (). Since the filling resin () does not exude to the pregrouted layer () before tensioning of the PC strand (), an operation of tensioning the PC strand () is not hindered by curing of the pregrouted layer (). In contrast, since the gap between the steel wires is reduced when the PC strand () is tensioned, the filling resin () flows out (exudes) from between the steel wires to the pregrouted layer () to cure the pregrouted layer () only after the reduction.

Pregrouted PC steel material and curing method for pregrouted layer therein

Provided is a pregrouted PC steel material comprising a PC steel stranded wire composed of a plurality of steel wires, a pregrout layer disposed on the outer periphery of the PC steel stranded wire so as to accommodate the PC steel stranded wire, a sheath covering the outer periphery of the pregrout layer, and a capsule including a pregrout-hardening agent and a film with which the agent is covered, the capsule being interposed among the steel wires constituting the PC steel stranded wire. The capsule has a strength such that the capsule is not broken before tensioning the PC steel stranded wire but is broken by a tensile force during the tensioning. Also provided is a method for hardening the pregrout layer.

Pregrouted PC steel material and method for hardening pregrout layer thereof

Provided is a fixing belt which has a high effect of preventing offset and the like and is capable of forming a clear image, which has high adhesion between a surface layer and another layer, and which has no problems in terms of appearance. The fixing belt includes a tubular base, a surface layer provided as an outermost layer and composed of a fluororesin A, and a primer layer provided in contact with the surface layer, wherein the primer layer is composed of a material obtained by mixing a fluorine-containing ion conductive agent, such as a fluorine-containing alkali metal salt, with a fluororesin B.

Fixing belt

Provided are a polyimide tube that can be produced at a low cost and has good durability and a good offset property, a method for producing the polyimide tube, and a fixing belt which includes the polyimide tube as a base and which has good durability and a good offset property. Provided are a polyimide tube including a base resin containing a polyimide resin having good rigidity and a soft polyimide resin having good flexibility in a mass ratio of 30:70 to 70:30, 20% to 50% by volume of graphite, 3% by volume or more of a highly conductive carbon black particle, and 0.5% by volume or more of a carbon nanotube relative to the volume of the base resin, a method for producing the polyimide tube, and a fixing belt including the polyimide tube as a base.

Polyimide tube, method for producing same, and fixing belt

Provided are a silicone rubber sponge that forms an elastic layer of a pressure roller of an image-forming apparatus, and that has a high mechanical strength so as to be used in a high-speed image-forming apparatus or a color image-forming apparatus, and a rubber-covered roller including the silicone rubber sponge. The silicone rubber sponge is produced by mixing expanded resin microballoons with a low-molecular-weight silicone rubber to prepare a compound A, mixing a high-molecular-weight silicone rubber with the compound A to prepare a silicone rubber compound, and heating the silicone rubber compound at a temperature lower than a softening point of the resin microballoons to cure the silicone rubbers.

Silicone rubber sponge and rubber-covered roller

Provided are a polyimide tube including a polyimide resin composition, wherein the polyimide resin composition contains a polyimide resin in which an acicular highly thermally conductive filler such as carbon nanotubes is dispersed in 15 volume percent or more relative to the total volume of the composition; the acicular highly thermally conductive filler has an orientation of 1.3 or more, the orientation being represented by the modulus of elasticity of the polyimide resin composition in the circumferential direction/the modulus of elasticity of the polyimide resin composition in the axial direction; and the polyimide tube has high thermal conductivity, is excellent in terms of mechanical strength and indentation strength, and provides a high fixing property and an excellent offsetting property; a process for producing such a tube; and a fixing belt including such a tube serving as a base member.

Polyimide tube, process for producing the same and fixing belt

Provided is a roller for an image-forming apparatus which includes a base member and a fluororesin layer provided on an outer circumferential surface of the base member directly or through an adhesive layer, the roller for an image-forming apparatus being characterized in that the fluororesin layer contains phosphorus-doped tin oxide. The roller for an image-forming apparatus has a surface resistance capable of stably and effectively preventing the occurrence of electrostatic offsets, and also has an excellent releasing property. Also provided is a process for producing the roller for an image-forming apparatus, characterized by including the steps of applying a fluororesin dispersion containing an aqueous dispersion of phosphorus-doped tin oxide onto a base member or an adhesive layer disposed on an outer circumferential surface of the base member, and then sintering the fluororesin.

Roller for image-forming apparatus and process for producing the same

Provided is a fixing belt which has high thermal conductivity capable of achieving an excellent fixing property that can respond to the recent increase in printing speed, which has a proper degree of elasticity such that color toners are sufficiently enveloped so as to be melted and mixed, and which has excellent mechanical strength and durability. A fixing belt includes a tubular base member, an elastic layer disposed on the outer circumferential side of the base member, and a surface layer disposed on a surface on the outer circumferential side of the elastic layer, the fixing belt being characterized in that the elastic layer is composed of rubber into which a filler primarily composed of silicon carbide powder and a carbon nanotube are compounded, and the formulae 10X+3Y&#x3c;750, 3X+30Y&#x3e;170, X&#x3e;10, and Y&#x3e;0.1 are satisfied, where X is the percent by volume of the filler and Y is the percent by volume of the carbon nanotube in the elastic layer.

Provided is a heating fixing roller which includes a tubular base member and a fluororesin layer provided on an outer circumferential surface of the base member directly or through an adhesive layer, the heating fixing roller being characterized in that the fluororesin layer contains phosphorus-doped tin oxide. The heating fixing roller has a surface resistance capable of stably and effectively preventing the occurrence of electrostatic offsets, and also has an excellent releasing property. Also provided is a process for producing the heating fixing roller, characterized by including the steps of applying a fluororesin dispersion containing an aqueous dispersion of phosphorus-doped tin oxide onto a tubular base member or an adhesive layer disposed on an outer circumferential surface of the tubular base member, and then sintering the fluororesin.

Heating fixing roller and process for producing the heating fixing roller

A polyimide tube composed of a polyimide resin composition in which 5 to 23.5 volume percent of boron nitride and 1 to 15 volume percent of an acicular substance are dispersed as a filler in a polyimide resin on the basis of the total volume of the composition, a method of producing the tube, a method of producing a polyimide varnish used for producing the tube, and a fixing belt including the tube as a base member are provided.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Shingo Nakajima