Cleaning blade and image forming apparatus
View Patent ↗A cleaning blade is arranged to contact a surface of an image carrier to remove a developer on the surface of the image carrier. The cleaning blade is made of an elastic body in which a loss elastic modulus at a temperature of 100° C. and a frequency of 10 Hz is set within a range of 3.0×10 4 Pa to 2.61×10 5 Pa (inclusive).
1. A cleaning blade arranged to contact a surface of an image carrier to remove a developer on the surface of the image carrier, wherein
the cleaning blade is made of an elastic body in which a loss elastic modulus at a temperature of 100° C. and a frequency of 10 Hz is set within a range from 3.0×10 4 Pa to 2.61×10 5 Pa.
2. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image carrier; and
a cleaning blade arranged to contact a surface of the image carrier to remove a developer on the surface of the image carrier, wherein
the cleaning blade is made of an elastic body in which a loss elastic modulus at a temperature of 100° C. and a frequency of 10 Hz is set within a range from 3.0×10 4 Pa to 2.61×10 5 Pa.
3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the developer is a non-magnetic one-component developer that includes mother particles and an external additive added to the mother particles, the mother particles, containing a resin and a coloring agent,
a mean particle diameter of the external additive is within a range from 5 nm to 400 nm, and
an additive amount of the external additive to the mother particles of 100 parts by weight is within a range from 0.5 parts by weight to 8.0 parts by weight.
4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the developer is a non-magnetic one-component developer that includes mother particles and an external additive added to the mother particle, the mother particles containing a resin and a coloring agent, and
a mean particle diameter of the external additive is within a range from 30 nm to 110 nm, and
an additive amount of the external additive to the mother particles of 100 parts by weight is within a range from 3.0 parts by weight to 10.0 parts by weight.
5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
a Vickers hardness of the surface of the image carrier is within a range from 8 N/mm 2 to 35 N/mm 2 .
6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the Vickers hardness of the surface of the image carrier is within a range from 20 N/mm 2 to 35 N/mm 2 .
7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
surface free energy of the image carrier is within a range from 8 mN/m to 50 mN/m.
8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the cleaning blade is arranged such that a cleaning angle (θ 1 ), which is obtained by subtracting a displacement angle (θ 4 ) of the cleaning blade from an angle (θ 2 ) that is defined between a generating line direction of the cleaning blade and a tangential direction of the surface of the image carrier, is within a range from 10° to 15°,
the displacement angle (θ 4 ) is defined by
θ
4
=
3
⨯
y
2
⨯
l
where l is a free end length measured from a leading edge of the cleaning blade to a deformation starting point along the surface of the cleaning blade, and y is a push-in amount measured as a height of the leading edge of the surface of the cleaning blade in a perpendicular direction with respect to the surface of the cleaning blade.
9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the cleaning blade is pressed against the surface of the image carrier at a linear pressure within a range from 12 gf/cm to 24 gf/cm.
10. An image forming unit to be installed in an image forming apparatus, the image forming unit comprising:
an image carrier; and
a cleaning blade arranged to contact a surface of the image carrier to remove a developer on the surface of the image carrier, wherein
the cleaning blade is made of an elastic body in which a loss elastic modulus at a temperature of 100° C. and a frequency of 10 Hz is set within a range from 3.0×10 4 Pa to 2.61×10 5 Pa.
11. The image forming unit according to claim 10 , wherein
the developer is a non-magnetic one-component developer that includes mother particles and an external additive added to the mother particles, the mother particles containing a resin and a coloring agent,
a mean particle diameter of the external additive is within a range from 5 nm to 400 nm, and
an additive amount of the external additive to the mother particles of 100 parts by weight is within a range from 0.5 parts by weight to 8.0 parts by weight.
12. The image forming unit according to claim 10 , wherein
the developer is a non-magnetic one-component developer that includes mother particles and an external additive added to the mother particles, the mother particles containing a resin and a coloring agent, and
a mean particle diameter of the external additive is within a range from 30 nm to 110 nm, and
an additive amount of the external additive to the mother particles of 100 parts by weight is within a range from 3.0 parts by weight to 10.0 parts by weight.
13. The image forming unit according to claim 10 , wherein
a Vickers hardness of the surface of the image carrier is within a range from 8 N/mm 2 to 35 N/mm 2 .
14. The image forming unit according to claim 13 , wherein
the Vickers hardness of the surface of the image carrier is within a range from 20 N/mm 2 to 35 N/mm 2 .
15. The image forming unit according to claim 10 , wherein
surface free energy of the image carrier is within a range from 8 mN/m to 50 mN/m.
16. The image forming unit according to claim 15 , wherein
the surface free energy of the image carrier is within a range from 8 mN/m to 28 mN/m.
17. The image forming unit according to claim 10 , wherein
the cleaning blade is arranged such that a cleaning angle (θ 1 ), which is obtained by subtracting a displacement angle (θ 4 ) of the cleaning blade from an angle (θ 2 ) that is defined between a generating line direction of the cleaning blade and a tangential direction of the surface of the image carrier, is within a range from 10° to 15°,
the displacement angle (θ 4 ) is defined by
θ
4
=
3
⨯
y
2
⨯
l
where l is a free end length measured from a leading edge of the cleaning blade to a deformation starting point along the surface of the cleaning blade, and y is a push-in amount measured as a height of the leading edge of the surface of the cleaning blade in a perpendicular direction with respect to the surface of the cleaning blade.
18. The image forming unit according to claim 10 , wherein
the cleaning blade is pressed against the surface of the image carrier at a linear pressure within a range from 12 gf/cm to 24 gf/cm.
19. The image forming unit according to claim 10 , wherein
the elastic body of the cleaning blade is made of a material including urethane rubber.
20. The image forming unit according to claim 10 , wherein
an outermost surface of the image carrier is formed by a charge transportation layer.