Design of Toner for Electrophotographic Printers and Copiers with a Collected Toner Recycle Function (T.R.F.)

摘要

Recently, the demand for electrophotographic printers and copiers with a collected toner recycle function (T.R.F) has increased due to the growing concern of waste toner disposal. Toner used in a T.R.F. system is subject to high pressure by each segment of the electrophotographic process. As a result, image quality defects such as low image density and high background may arise. In order to overcome these potential issues, the binder resin and additive treatments were studied, and excellent ways were found to design a toner for use in a T.R.F. system. In regards to the binder, the key is the stiffness of the resin. It is well known that increasing the high molecular weight portion of the resin imparts stiffness to the binder, however this method decrease the ability of the toner to fuse properly at lower temperatures. The designed toner however, maintains an excellent balance between durability and low temperature fusing by utilizing low melt point waxes. As for the additive treatment, extraordinary methods were utilized for the designed toner in order to minimize any triboelectric charge variation normally resulting from the T.R.F. process. Thus it is concluded that the newly design toner is useful in the T.R.F. system.