Electrophotographic member, intermediate transfer member and electrophotographic image forming apparatus
An electrophotographic member which has resistance to discharge degradation and can maintain the toner releasability for a long period is provided. The electrophotographic member includes a substrate and a surface layer. The surface layer includes a binder resin having an acrylic skeleton and a modified silicone compound having a polyether group and a hydroxyl group in a molecule, the surface layer having a surface having a n-hexadecane contact angle of 30° or more.
1. An electrophotographic member comprising:
a substrate; and
a surface layer comprising a binder resin having an acrylic skeleton, and a modified silicone compound having a polyether group and a hydroxyl group in a molecule, wherein
the surface layer has a surface having a n-hexadecane contact angle of 30° or more, and
the surface layer has an average hardness in the range of 0.20-0.30 GPa in a depth region of 10% to 20% of the thickness from the outermost surface by nano-indentation method with a Berkovich indenter.
2. The electrophotographic member according to claim 1 , wherein
the binder resin includes a structural unit represented by chemical formula (1)
where R 1 represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, R 2 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl, and “n” represents an integer of 2 or more;
the modified silicone compound includes a structure represented by chemical formula (2):
where “m” represents an integer of 2 or more, and R 3 has a structure represented by chemical formula (3):
where “p” and “q” independently represent an integer of 2 or more, and “a” and “b” each represent an integer of 1 or more.
3. The electrophotographic member according to claim 1 , wherein the modified silicone compound has a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of 6,000 to 12,000.
4. The electrophotographic member according to claim 1 , wherein the modified silicone compound has a hydroxyl value (mg KOH/g) of 30 to 70.
5. The electrophotographic member according to claim 1 , wherein the modified silicone compound is contained in the surface layer in an amount of 5 to 60 mass % relative to the resin components in the surface layer.
6. An intermediate transfer member for use in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus that obtains an image by primary-transferring a toner image formed on a first image bearing member to an intermediate transfer member and then secondary-transferring the primary-transferred toner image on the intermediate transfer member onto a second image bearing member, wherein the intermediate transfer member is the electrophotographic member according to claim 1 .
7. An electrophotographic image forming apparatus that obtains an image by primary-transferring a toner image formed on a first image bearing member to an intermediate transfer member and then secondary-transferring the primary-transferred toner image on the intermediate transfer member onto a second image bearing member, wherein the intermediate transfer member is the electrophotographic member according to claim 1 .