JP2000066444A - Capsule toner and image forming method using capsule toner - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] To obtain a capsule toner which has a high fixation rate to a recording material irrespective of solidification of a polymer, has no solvent odor, and can be developed and fixed without requiring a special device. [Constitution] A liquid (ink) containing a dye, a pigment and other coloring materials is used as a core material.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a capsule toner for electrophotography.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there have been many proposals for capsule toner for electrophotography. Capsule toner is core
re) and a shell. In addition to a coloring component, a component for fixing the recording material such as a polymer and an organic solvent is generally used for the core, and a component having a property of being destroyed by pressure is used for the shell. You. For example, Tokiko Sho 6
JP-A-3-46413 describes a capsule toner containing a soft or rubbery resin in a core and an organic solvent that dissolves or swells the resin at room temperature. Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-66199 describes a capsule toner having a polymer in a core and a solvent having a boiling point of 180 ° C. or higher for dissolving or swelling the polymer.

[0003]

A major problem with such a capsule toner is that the toner cannot be sufficiently fixed to a recording material. That is, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication No.
In Japanese Patent No. 6413, a polymer is fused and fixed to paper by volatilization of a low-boiling solvent. However, volatilization of the solvent requires a certain period of time. Fixation is weak. Further, depending on the condition of the paper surface, the fixation of the polymer to the paper fibers is not sufficient, and the fixation may be weak even when the solvent is completely volatilized.

In Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-66199, since the solvent is a high boiling point solvent, it is difficult to evaporate, and since it remains in a soft state by melting or softening for a long period of time, the polymer easily adheres to hands and paper, etc. Cheap. Further, when the image surface is rubbed, the image may flow.

The present invention has been made in view of the above background, and has excellent fixability to a recording material without the solidification of a polymer as in the prior art, has no solvent odor, and does not require a special device. An object of the present invention is to provide a capsule toner that can be developed and fixed by a conventional device and is easy to handle.

[0006]

According to the present invention, first, there is provided a capsule toner characterized by using a liquid (hereinafter referred to as ink) containing a dye, a pigment and other coloring materials as a core substance. .

Secondly, there is provided a capsule toner according to the first aspect, wherein water is used as a solvent for the ink.

Third, when forming an image using the capsule toner containing the dye described in the first or second aspect, a fixing agent is applied to a recording material, and the image formation by the capsule toner is performed. A method is provided.

Fourthly, a capsule toner characterized by mixing and developing a capsule toner containing the ink described in the first or second aspect as a core substance and a capsule toner containing a fixing agent as a core substance. An image forming method is provided.

Fifth, there is provided an encapsulated toner characterized in that the ink and the fixing agent described in the above first or second are separately sealed in the same capsule.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.

As described above, the capsule toner of the present invention is characterized by using ink as a core material. Here, the ink refers to ink that permeates a recording material such as paper and fixes a coloring material by evaporating or diffusing a solvent or a dispersion medium. By using ink as a core material and fixing the ink by penetrating the recording material, the fixing rate can be increased as compared with the conventional fixing by solidifying a polymer.

The capsule toner according to the present invention is characterized in that an aqueous ink is used as the ink. In the case of inks that use organic solvents, it is necessary to carefully consider the selection and amount of the solvent due to odor and safety issues.However, water-based inks can avoid such problems, and A more preferable capsule toner can be provided.

In the case where a dye is used as a colorant of the ink, the capsule toner of the present invention is characterized in that a fixing agent is added to the transfer material in order to promote fixing of the ink to the recording material. This is to reliably fix the dye to the recording material by using a material that reacts with the dye ink to form an insoluble or hardly soluble salt as a fixing agent.

Further, the present invention relates to a capsule toner containing the above-described ink and a capsule toner containing a fixing agent.
It is characterized by being mixed and used as shown in FIG. That is, by using the mixed toner in the developing section of the electrophotographic apparatus and using the same, the fixing agent can be applied without providing a dedicated fixing agent application process, and the toner image is securely fixed to the recording material. be able to.

Further, the capsule toner of the present invention is characterized in that the above-mentioned ink and fixing agent are separately sealed in the same capsule. Thereby, the fixing agent can be applied without providing a process dedicated to the fixing agent.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As a coloring material of the ink, general pigments, water-soluble dyes or oil-soluble dyes can be used. Water or various organic solvents can be used as the solvent or the dispersion medium. In addition, as a shell material, it has a powder property such that capsule toners are hardly aggregated so that they can be used in an electrophotographic process,
It is made of a material having characteristics when used in an electrophotographic process, such as having good charging characteristics. It is necessary to further add characteristics according to the fixing method to the shell. For example, when fixing by pressure. It is necessary that the shell be broken when a certain pressure or more is applied.
In the case of fixing by heat, it is necessary that the shell be softened or melted at a certain temperature or higher.

As a method for producing such a capsule toner, a conventional method such as an interfacial polymerization method, an internal polymerization method, a phase separation method, an external polymerization method, a melting dispersion cooling method, a coacervation method and the like can be used. it can.

When the aqueous ink is used, a surfactant or a thickener may be added to the ink to improve the permeability or adjust the viscosity.

Examples of the material which reacts with the dye ink to form an insoluble or hardly soluble salt include an ink containing an anionic dye and a fixing agent containing a cationic group. The following are specific examples of the anionic dye.

Examples of the acid dye include C.I. I. Acid Yellow 17, C.I. I. Acid Yellow 18, C.I. I. Acid Yellow 42, C.I. I. Acid Yellow 44,
C. I. Acid Yellow 79, C.I. I. Acid Yellow 142, C.I. I. Acid Red 35, C.I. I. Acid Red 42, C.I. I. Acid Red 52, C.I.
I. Acid Red 82, C.I. I. Acid Red 8
7, C.I. I. Acid Red 92, C.I. I. Acid red 134, C.I. I. Acid Red 249, C.I. I.
Acid Red 254, C.I. I. Acid Red 28
9, C.I. I. Acid Blue 1, C.I. I. Acid Blue 9, C.I. I. Acid Blue 15, C.I. I. Acid blue 59, C.I. I. Acid Blue 93, C.I. I. Acid Blue 249, C.I. I. Acid Black 2,
C. I. Food Black 2 etc.

Examples of the direct dye include C.I. I. Direct Yellow 33, C.I. I. Direct Yellow 44, C.I.
I. Direct Yellow 50, C.I. I. Direct Yellow 86, C.I. I. Direct Yellow 144, C.I.
I. Direct Orange 26, C.I. I. Direct Orange 102, C.I. I. Direct Red 4, C.I. I. Direct Red 95, C.I. I. Direct Red 24
2, C.I. I. Direct Red 9, C.I. I. Direct Red 17, C.I. I. Direct Red 28, C.I. I.
Direct Red 81, C.I. I. Direct Red 8
3, C.I. I. Direct Red 89, C.I. I. Direct Red 225, C.I. I. Direct Red 227,
C. I. Direct Blue 15, C.I. I. Direct Blue 76, C.I. I. Direct Blue 86, C.I. I. Direct Blue 200, C.I. I. Direct blue 20
1, C.I. I. Direct Blue 202, C.I. I. Direct Black 19, C.I. I. Direct Black 22,
C. I. Direct Black 32, C.I. I. Direct Black 51, C.I. I. Direct Black 154, etc.

Examples of the material having a cationic group which can be used as a fixing agent include low molecular weight cationic organic compounds such as ethylenediamine, hexamethylenetetramine, piperazine, 1- (2'-aminoethyl) piperidine, 1- ( 2'-aminoethyl) aziridine, 1-
(2'-aminoethyl) pyrrolidine, 1- (2'-aminoethyl) hexamethyleneimine, hexamethylenediamine, diethylenetriamine, triethylenetetramine, tetraethylenepentamine, N, N'-bis- (3
-Aminopropyl) putrescine, N- (3-aminopropyl) putrescine, 1,4-diazacycloheptane, 1,5-diazacyclooctane, 1,4,11,1
4-tetraazacycloeicosane, 1,10-diazacyclooctadecane, 1,2-diaminopropan-3-ol, 1-amino-2,2-bis (aminomethyl) propan-1-ol, 1,3 -Diaminopropan-2-ol, N- (2-oxypropyl) ethylenediamine,
Heptaethylene octamine, nonaethylene decamine,
1,3-bis (2'-aminoethylamino) propane,
Triethylene-bis (trimethylene) hexamine, 1,
2-bis {3 '-(2 "-aminoethylamino) propylamino} ethane, bis- (3-aminoethyl) amine, 1,3-bis (3'-aminopropylamino) propane, sym-homospermidine and the like And aliphatic or alicyclic polyamines.

Others include polymer compounds having primary, secondary, tertiary or quaternary nitrogen (amine or ammonium) and phosphorus (phosphonium) in the molecular chain or as a pendant chain, For example,

[0025]

Embedded image

[0026]

Embedded image

[0027]

Embedded image And the like.

The application of the fixing agent may be performed at any time before, at the same time as, or after the permeation of the ink into the recording material. However, there is no effect if either the ink or the fixing agent is dried first. Attention should be paid to that point. That is, it is necessary to apply a fixing agent before the ink dries when the ink is first penetrated into the recording material, and when the fixing agent is dried before the ink is dried on the recording material. It is necessary to make the ink penetrate into the recording material.

In order to enclose the fixing agent and the ink in the same capsule, a partition is provided inside the capsule toner as shown in FIG. 2, and the ink and the fixing agent are put into each of them. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3, the capsule toner may be formed in two layers, and the ink and the fixing agent may be sealed inside each.

[0030]

Examples are shown below. In addition, in an Example, a part shows a weight part.

Example 1 A capsule toner was prepared by the following method using an oil-based ink using carbon black as a coloring material as a core material. 80 parts of a 4% aqueous solution of ethylene-maleic anhydride copolymer adjusted to pH 6.0 was added to 7 parts.
The mixture was heated to 0 ° C., the oily ink as a core substance was added, and the mixture was emulsified using a mixer so that the average particle size became 10 μm.
Subsequently, the pH was adjusted to 4.5 by adding a 50% aqueous solution of a melamine-formalin prepolymer, and the mixture was stirred and reacted at 70 ° C. for 4 hours to obtain a capsule toner.

Next, a copier (manufactured by Ricoh, trade name: Spirio7) from which the obtained capsule toner was removed from the fixing unit
000), and an unfixed image was formed on PPC paper (manufactured by Ricoh, trade name: Type 6200). Next, when pressure was applied to the unfixed image to break the capsule toner and cause the ink to permeate the PPC paper, an image having good fixability was obtained.

[Embodiment 2] C.I. I. Capsule toner was prepared by the following method using an aqueous ink using Direct Black 19 as a coloring material as a core material. 7.5 parts of polyisocyanate, which is an adduct of trimethylolpropane and tolylene diisocyanate, is dissolved in 300 parts of butyl acetate, and 1 part of sorbitan tristearate is further added as an emulsifier and stirred until uniform. The aqueous ink was gradually added and emulsified. When the average particle size of the emulsified particles reached 10 μm, the temperature of the system was gradually raised to 35 ° C., and the mixture was reacted for 3 hours to obtain a capsule toner.

Next, a copier (manufactured by Ricoh, trade name: Spirio7) from which the obtained capsule toner was removed from the fixing unit was removed.
000), and an unfixed image was formed on PPC paper (manufactured by Ricoh, trade name: Paper Source S). Next, when pressure was applied to the unfixed image to break the capsule toner and cause the ink to permeate the PPC paper, an image having good fixability was obtained. Further, since no solvent was used for the capsule toner, no odor was generated.

[Embodiment 3] PPC paper (manufactured by Ricoh, trade name:
An unfixed image was formed on paper source S). At this time, a fixing agent was applied to the PPC paper immediately before transferring the toner image to the PPC paper. Ethylenediamine was used as a fixing agent. Immediately after transferring the capsule toner to the PPC paper, pressure was applied to break the capsule toner to cause the ink to permeate the PPC paper. As a result, bleeding of the ink was suppressed due to the reaction between the ink and the fixing agent, and an image having good image quality and fixability was obtained.

[Embodiment 4] The method of encapsulation is described in Embodiment 1.
Similarly to C. I. A capsule toner in which an aqueous ink using Acid Black 2 as a coloring material was sealed and a capsule toner in which hexamethylenetetramine was sealed as a fixing agent were prepared. Then, these two types of capsule toners are mixed well, and loaded into a developing unit of a copying machine (trade name: spirio 7000, manufactured by Ricoh) from which the fixing unit is removed, and
An unfixed image was formed on C paper (manufactured by Ricoh, trade name: My Paper). Next, pressure was applied to the unfixed image to break the capsule. As a result, the ink and the fixing agent reacted with each other, and an image having good fixability without bleeding was obtained.

Embodiment 5 C.I. I. Acid Black 2
A capsule toner as shown in FIG. 3 (a) was prepared in the following manner, in which an aqueous ink was used as a colorant and hexamethylene and tramine were sealed as a fixing agent. First, 7.5 parts of polyisocyanate, which is an adduct of trimethylolpropane and tolylene diisocyanate, is dissolved in 300 parts of butyl acetate, and 1 part of sorbitan tristearate is added as an emulsifier, and the mixture is stirred until uniform. The ink as a core substance was gradually added to emulsify. When the average particle size of the emulsified particles became 10 μm, the temperature of the system was gradually raised to 35 ° C., and the reaction was carried out for 3 hours. The ink-containing microcapsules thus prepared were dispersed in hexamethylenetetramine (dispersion A).

Next, 7.5 parts of polyisocyanate, which is an adduct of trimethylolpropane and tolylene diisocyanate, is dissolved again in 300 parts of butyl acetate, and 1 part of sorbitan tristearate is further added as an emulsifier to form a uniform mixture. What was stirred until it was prepared was prepared, and the above-mentioned dispersion liquid A was gradually added and emulsified while stirring. When the average particle size of the emulsified particles became 13 μm, the temperature of the system was raised to 35 ° C.
And reacted for 3 hours to obtain a capsule toner composed of double capsules.

Next, a copying machine (manufactured by Ricoh, trade name: imagioDA) from which the fixing portion of the obtained capsule toner was removed was used.
250), and an unfixed image was formed on PPC paper (manufactured by Ricoh, trade name: paper source S). Then, pressure was applied to the unfixed image to break the capsule toner and cause the ink and the fixing agent to react with each other. As a result, an image having no bleeding and good fixability was obtained.

[0040]

As described above, the encapsulated toner according to the first aspect uses ink as a core material. According to this, the permeation into the recording material is good and the fixing property is higher than that of the conventional solidification of a polymer or the like. Can be formed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an aqueous toner is used as the core ink, so that a capsule toner free of odor and safe and having good fixability can be obtained.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming method using a capsule toner, wherein an image is formed using a capsule toner having the ink as a core before, after, or simultaneously with the transfer of an unfixed image to a recording material. The fixing agent is applied to the recording material. According to this, the ink is fixed by the fixing agent, and an image having a stronger fixing property can be obtained.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming method using a capsule toner, wherein the developing is performed by mixing the capsule toner having the ink as a core and the capsule toner having a fixing agent as a core. As a result, a toner image is formed in which a capsule toner in which the respective agents are encapsulated is mixed, and a reaction can be caused at the same time as destruction on the recording material, so that an image with better fixability can be obtained. Further, according to this method, there is an advantage that a special device for applying the fixing agent to the recording material is not required and a conventional device can be used.

In the capsule toner according to the fifth aspect, the ink and the fixing agent are separately sealed in the same capsule, and in this case, the reaction between the ink and the fixing agent is smoothly performed on the recording material. Therefore, an image having better fixing property can be formed. Also, in the case of this capsule, there is an advantage that a special device is not required and a conventional device can be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing a state in which two kinds of capsule toners according to the present invention are mixed.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view schematically showing a cross section of a capsule toner according to the present invention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are explanatory views schematically showing a cross section of a capsule toner according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ink 2 Fixing agent 3 Shell

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A capsule toner comprising a core substance made of a liquid containing a dye, a pigment and other coloring materials (hereinafter referred to as ink). 2. The capsule toner according to claim 1, wherein water is used as a solvent for the ink. 3. An image forming method using a capsule toner, wherein a fixing agent is applied to a recording material when forming an image using the capsule toner containing the dye according to claim 1. 4. An image forming method using a capsule toner, comprising mixing and developing a capsule toner containing the ink according to claim 1 or 2 as a core substance and a capsule toner containing a fixing agent as a core substance. 5. A capsule toner, wherein the ink and the fixing agent according to claim 1 or 2 are separately sealed in the same capsule.