Conductive member, charging device, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus
A conductive member includes a substrate; an elastic layer provided on the substrate; and a surface layer provided on the elastic layer, in which the surface layer has a sea/island structure that consists of a sea portion containing a first resin and an island portion containing a second resin, a conductive agent is unevenly distributed in an interface between the sea portion and the island portion, in observation of a cross section of the surface layer, a ratio A of a total area of the island portions in a region X from a surface of the surface layer to a depth that is 10% of a film thickness is 40% or more and 80% or less, a linked island portion where two or more of the island portions are linked is present in the region X, and a ratio B of a total area of the linked island portions to the total area of the island portions is 50% or more and 100% or less.
1 . A conductive member comprising:
a substrate;
an elastic layer provided on the substrate; and
a surface layer provided on the elastic layer,
wherein the surface layer has a sea/island structure that consists of a sea portion containing a first resin and an island portion containing a second resin,
a conductive agent is unevenly distributed in an interface between the sea portion and the island portion,
in observation of a cross section of the surface layer, a ratio A of a total area of the island portions in a region X from a surface of the surface layer to a depth that is 10% of a film thickness is 40% or more and 80% or less,
a linked island portion where two or more of the island portions are linked is present in the region X, and
a ratio B of a total area of the linked island portions to the total area of the island portions is 50% or more and 100% or less.
2 . The conductive member according to claim 1 ,
wherein the ratio A is 50% or more and 70% or less.
3 . A charging device comprising:
the conductive member according to claim 2 .
4 . A process cartridge comprising:
the charging device according to claim 3 ; and
wherein the process cartridge is attachable to and detachable from an image forming apparatus.
5 . The conductive member according to claim 1 ,
wherein the ratio B is 80% or more and 100% or less.
6 . A charging device comprising:
the conductive member according to claim 5 .
7 . A process cartridge comprising:
the charging device according to claim 6 ; and
wherein the process cartridge is attachable to and detachable from an image forming apparatus.
8 . The conductive member according to claim 1 ,
wherein the ratio A is 50% or more and 70% or less, and the ratio B is 80% or more and 100% or less.
9 . A charging device comprising:
the conductive member according to claim 8 .
10 . A process cartridge comprising:
the charging device according to claim 9 ; and
wherein the process cartridge is attachable to and detachable from an image forming apparatus.
11 . The conductive member according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first resin is polyamide, and the second resin is polyvinyl butyral.
12 . The conductive member according to claim 11 ,
wherein an absorbance ratio (absorbance aged/absorbance ini) at an N—H bending vibration (1540 cm −1 ) position derived from amide of the surface layer is 0.20 or more, the absorbance being measured by FT-IR before and after a discharge test in which a voltage of 1.1 kV is applied to the conductive member and the conductive member is discharged to an aluminum element tube while being rotated at a speed of 150 rpm,
the absorbance ini represents the absorbance at the N—H bending vibration (1540 cm −1 ) position derived from amide of the measurement sample before the discharge test, and
the absorbance aged represents the absorbance at the N—H bending vibration (1540 cm −1 ) position derived from amide of the measurement sample after the discharge test.
13 . The conductive member according to claim 12 ,
wherein the absorbance ratio (absorbance aged/absorbance ini) is 0.25 or more.
14 . A charging device comprising:
the conductive member according to claim 13 .
15 . A charging device comprising:
the conductive member according to claim 12 .
16 . A charging device comprising:
the conductive member according to claim 11 .
17 . A process cartridge comprising:
the charging device according to claim 16 ; and
wherein the process cartridge is attachable to and detachable from an image forming apparatus.
18 . A charging device comprising:
the conductive member according to claim 1 .
19 . A process cartridge comprising:
the charging device according to claim 18 ; and
wherein the process cartridge is attachable to and detachable from an image forming apparatus.
20 . An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image carrier;
the charging device according to claim 19 that charges a surface of the image carrier;
an electrostatic latent image forming device that forms an electrostatic latent image on the charged surface of the image carrier;
a developing device that develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier with a developer containing toner to form a toner image; and
a transfer device that transfers the toner image to a surface of a recording medium.