Brilliant toner, developer, toner cartridge, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus
Provided is a brilliant toner containing a brilliant metallic pigment of which the surface is covered with at least one kind of metal oxides selected from a group consisting of silica, alumina, and titania, wherein the brilliant toner has a dielectric loss factor of from 10×10 −3 to 60×10 −3 .
1. A brilliant toner comprising:
a brilliant metallic pigment selected from the group consisting of aluminum, brass, bronze, nickel, stainless steel, and zinc, the brilliant metal pigment having a surface covered with at least one metal oxide selected from the group consisting of silica, alumina, and titania,
wherein the toner has a dielectric loss of from 10×10 −3 to 60×10 −3 , and
wherein an average value of a shortest distance from a top of the brilliant metallic pigment in a long axis direction thereof to a surface of the toner is from 0.1 μm to 1.0 μm.
2. The brilliant toner according to claim 1 , wherein, when a solid image is formed, a ratio (A/B) of a reflectance A at a light receiving angle of +30° to a reflectance B at a light receiving angle of −30°, which are reflectances measured when the image is irradiated with incident light at an incident angle of −45° using a goniophotometer, is from 2 to 100.
3. The brilliant toner according to claim 1 , wherein the toner has an average equivalent circle diameter D larger than an average maximum thickness C of the toner.
4. The brilliant toner according to claim 1 , wherein a ratio (C/D) of an average maximum thickness C of the toner to an average equivalent circle diameter D of the toner is in a range of from 0.001 to 0.500.
5. The brilliant toner according to claim 1 , wherein a number of pigment particles arranged so that an angle formed by a long axis direction of the toner in the cross section and a long axis direction of a pigment particle is in a range of −30° to +30° is equal to or greater than 60% of the number of pigment particles.
6. The brilliant toner according to claim 1 , wherein the brilliant metallic pigment has a volume average particle diameter of less than or equal to 20 μm.
7. The brilliant toner according to claim 1 , wherein the toner contains a binder resin and the content of the brilliant metallic pigment is from 1 part by weight to 70 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the binder resin.
8. The brilliant toner according to claim 1 , wherein the binder resin is a polyester resin.
9. The brilliant toner according to claim 8 , wherein the polyester resin contains an aromatic carboxylic acid as a structural component.
10. The brilliant toner according to claim 8 , wherein the polyester resin contains a trivalent or higher carboxylic acid as a structural component.
11. The brilliant toner according to claim 1 , further comprising a release agent.
12. The brilliant toner according to claim 11 , wherein the release agent has a melting temperature of from 50° C. to 100° C.
13. The brilliant toner according to claim 11 , wherein a content of the release agent is from 0.5% by weight to 15% by weight.
14. The brilliant toner according to claim 1 , wherein the toner has a volume average particle diameter of from 1 μm to 30 μm.
15. A developer comprising at least the brilliant toner according to claim 1 .
16. The developer according to claim 15 , further comprising a carrier having a core material, wherein a volume average particle diameter of the core material is from 10 μm to 500 μm.
17. A toner cartridge which contains the brilliant toner according to claim 1 .
18. A process cartridge which contains the brilliant toner according to claim 1 and includes a toner holding member that holds and transports the brilliant toner.
19. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image holding member;
a charging device that charges a surface of the image holding member;
a latent image forming device that forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the image holding member;
a developing device that contains the brilliant toner according to claim 1 and develops the electrostatic latent image with the brilliant toner to form a toner image; and
a transfer device that transfers the toner image, formed on the surface of the image holding member, onto a recording medium.
20. The brilliant toner according to claim 2 , wherein the ratio (A/B) is from 60 to 90.