JPH03255452A - Production of electrophotographic sensitive body - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a sensitive body giving a high-quality image even when used in an optical printer by subjecting the surface of an Al-based electrically conductive substrate to friction cleaning with a friction cleaning material and a water soluble detergent, an emulsion type detergent or an org. detergent and forming a photosensitive layer contg. an org. photoconductive material on the cleaned surface. CONSTITUTION:A rotating support shaft 4 for an Al alloy substrate 1 and a rotating support shaft 5 for sponge 2 are set parallel to each other, the interval between the shafts is regulated so that the surface of the substrate 1 comes in contact with the surface of the sponge 2 along a line parallel to the shafts and the pressure of the sponge 2 on the substrate 1 is made variable. The substrate 1 and the sponge 2 are then rotated at different speeds and they are brought into contact with each other while feeding a detergent. By the relative difference between the linear velocities of the contact parts, the surface of the substrate 1 is subjected to friction cleaning with the sponge 2. A photosensitive layer contg. an org. photoconductive material is formed on the cleaned surface. A sensitive body giving a high-quality color image nearly free from black spots even when used in an optical printer is obtd.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for producing an electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising a photosensitive layer comprising an organic photoconductive material on an Al-based conductive substrate. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method for cleaning the surface of an Al-based conductive substrate.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, Se has been used as a photoconductive material for electrophotographic photoreceptors (hereinafter also simply referred to as photoreceptors).

Inorganic materials such as CdS and ZnO have been widely used.

However, when these inorganic materials are used in the photosensitive layer of a photoreceptor, they do not necessarily satisfy the required performance in terms of heat resistance, durability, and the like.

In recent years, organic photoconductive materials have been attracting attention in place of these inorganic materials. When an organic material is used for the photosensitive layer of the photoreceptor, there is a particular advantage that manufacturing costs can be reduced.

A photoreceptor using such an organic photoconductive material is prepared by ultrasonically cleaning a conductive substrate that has been subjected to the necessary mechanical processing in an organic cleaning agent such as trichlene, and then steam cleaning with organic cleaning agent vapor. After cleaning the substrate, a photosensitive layer containing an organic photoconductive material is formed on the surface of the substrate.

The conductive substrate is usually an Al-based conductive substrate, that is, A7! Alternatively, a substrate made of A1 alloy, or a substrate made of M or M alloy whose surface is subjected to alumite treatment is used.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, photoreceptors manufactured using conductive substrates cleaned by the method described above have poor adhesion between the substrate and the photosensitive layer, and when used in reversal development type optical printers, many black spots appear on blank areas of the image. There were problems such as.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems by providing a photosensitive layer containing an organic photoconductive material and having good adhesion to a conductive substrate, and even when used in an optical printer, there are black spots on the blank page of the image. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an electrophotographic photoreceptor that can produce high-quality images with almost no occurrence of .

[Means to solve the problem]

According to this invention, the above problem can be solved by AL? In a method for producing an electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising a photosensitive layer containing an organic photoconductive material on an Al-based conductive substrate, the surface of the Al-based conductive substrate is treated with a water-soluble cleaning agent, an emulsion-type cleaning agent, and an organic cleaning agent. The problem is solved by a manufacturing method in which a photosensitive layer containing an organic photoconductive material is formed on the surface of the substrate after scrubbing with a scrubbing agent using one of the cleaning agents.

When using a sponge made of a copolymer of polyamide and a binder resin (e.g. polyvinyl alcohol) as the scrubbing material for scrubbing, it has excellent impregnability with the cleaning agent and also has excellent abrasion resistance and heat resistance. Moreover, it is suitable because it does not cause mechanical damage such as minute scratches on the surface of the substrate.

In addition, during scrubbing, the scrubbing material is applied to the substrate surface while relatively moving the surface of the substrate and the surface of the scrubbing material at a speed within the range of 5 c+n/sec or more and less than 20 cm/sec.
It is preferable to perform scrubbing while pressing with a pressure of not less than kg/cm and less than 3 kg/cm.

As a cleaning agent, it is effective to use any of water-soluble cleaning agents, emulsion-type cleaning agents, and organic cleaning agents, but among them, water-soluble non-etching type weak alkaline cleaning agents for aluminum [for example, Embond NZ- 7(
It is particularly preferable to use the product (trade name: manufactured by Meltex Co., Ltd.).

[Effect]

With respect to cleaning the surface of the substrate, the conventional methods of degreasing, ultrasonic cleaning, and steam cleaning of trichlene, which have been mainstream, have not been able to sufficiently remove fine dirt. In particular, the level of image defects required for optical printers is more severe than for copying machines, and extremely high cleanliness of the substrate surface is required. Although the physical and chemical changes on the surface of the Al-based substrate caused by the scrubbing process according to this invention are not clear, the mechanical stress of "scrubbing" applied to the surface of the substrate can be applied to the surface of the substrate. It is possible to remove contaminants that were previously present, and the cleanliness of the substrate surface is greatly improved. As a result, the adhesion between the substrate and the photosensitive layer is improved, and image defects are significantly reduced.

〔Example〕

Examples of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an embodiment of the scrubbing step in the manufacturing method of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the base rotation support shaft 4 and the sponge rotation support shaft 5 are installed so that their axes are parallel to each other, and the interval between the two rotation support shafts is adjustable (the interval (adjustment mechanism not shown). A sponge support 3 on which a cylindrical A1 alloy base 1 and a sponge 2 are attached is attached to these rotation support shafts, and can rotate in the directions of arrows A and B, respectively. Axis 5. Therefore, the sponge 2 can swing in the direction of the double arrow C. The surfaces of the A1 alloy base 1 and the sponge 2 are brought into contact with each other along a line parallel to the axis of the rotary support shaft by adjusting the distance between the two rotary support shafts, and the pressure of the sponge 2 on the A1 alloy base 1 is prevented. It can be changed. A cleaning agent is uniformly supplied to the surface of the sponge 2 by a cleaning agent supplying device (not shown).

When the A1 alloy substrate 1 and the sponge 2 are rotated at different speeds and brought into contact with each other while supplying a cleaning agent, the surface of the A1 alloy substrate 1 is scrubbed and cleaned by the sponge 2 due to the relative difference in the linear velocity of the contact area between the two. be done. The intensity of scrubbing can be controlled by the relative rotational speed difference between the two and the pressure. Furthermore, if necessary, the sponge rotation support shaft 5. Therefore, by swinging the sponge 2 in the axial direction as shown by the bidirectional arrow C, the scrubbing effect can be further enhanced.

In addition, in FIG. 1, the A1 alloy substrate 1. Arrows A and B indicating the rotation direction of the sponge 2 are in opposite directions. That is, although both are moving in the same direction at the contact portion, they may be moving in opposite directions. Scrub cleaning is possible as long as the contact portion between the He1 alloy base l and the sponge 2 moves relatively.

Using the method shown in the conceptual diagram of FIG. 1 above, conditions for scrubbing and cleaning a cylindrical He-1 alloy substrate that has been subjected to the required machining as a conductive substrate were investigated. A sponge made of a copolymer of polyamide and polyvinyl alcohol was used as the scrubbing material, and Embond NZ-7, a non-etching type weak alkaline cleaning agent for aluminum, was used as the cleaning agent.
(Product name: Meltex) aqueous solution (liquid concentration 40g)
/ R, liquid temperature 60°C), and scrubbing by changing the relative linear velocity between the substrate surface and the sponge surface, the sponge pressure, the sponge swinging speed (oscillation width: several am), and the washing time as shown in Table 1. I did it. At this time, the surface linear velocity of the ^1 alloy substrate alone is within the range of lcm7 seconds to 30 cm/second.

The surface linear velocity of the sponge alone is 1 cm/sec to 30 cm/
The surface relative linear velocity of both was varied within a range of seconds.

The thus-cleaned He1 alloy substrate is washed with pure water, drained and dried, and then a photosensitive layer made of a material containing an organic photoconductive material is formed thereon to produce a photoreceptor,
An adhesion test of the photosensitive layer using adhesive tape and a printing test using a commercially available optical printer were conducted. The results are shown in Table 1 in correspondence with the scrubbing conditions. Table 1 also shows the durability of the sponge under each condition.

Table 1 From Table 1, the relative linear velocity between the base surface and the sponge surface is 5.
cm/sec or more and less than 20 cm/sec, sponge pressure within the range of 0.5 kg/cm or more and less than 3 kg/crn,
It can be seen that the sponge rocking speed is preferably 30 mm and less than 1 second. Further, the cleaning time may be 0.5 minutes or more, but from the viewpoint of the durability and workability (man-hours) of the sponge, a shorter time is preferable, and about 1 to 2 minutes is preferable.

Example 1 The surface of a cylindrical AI alloy substrate that had been subjected to the necessary machining was treated with a non-etching type weak alkaline cleaning agent for AZ (product name: Embond NZ) by the method shown in the conceptual diagram of Fig. 1.
-7+ manufactured by Meltex Co., Ltd.), and a sponge made of a copolymer of polyamide and polyvinyl alcohol was used as a scrubbing material, and the relative linear velocity of the substrate surface - sponge surface was 1.
Scrub and clean at a speed of 0 cm/sec, a sponge pressure of 1 kg, and a sponge rocking speed of 20 mm for 1 second. Scrub cleaning was performed by changing the degree of cleaning agent (aqueous solution), the temperature of the cleaning agent, and the cleaning time as shown in Table 2.

The substrate thus obtained was washed with pure water, drained and dried, and then a photosensitive layer made of a material containing an organic photoconductive material was formed on the surface of the substrate to produce a photoreceptor. Layer adhesion test.

A printing test was conducted using an optical printer. The results are shown in Table 2 in correspondence with cleaning agent concentration, cleaning agent temperature, and cleaning time. Similarly, Table 2 also shows the evaluation results of the workability of scrubbing and cleaning at that time.

7/ / / / / / / / / 7/ From Table 2, the cleaning agent concentration is 10g/R or more and 75g/
I! It is found that the cleaning agent temperature is preferably within the range of 30° C. or more and 80 t' or less within the following ranges. Further, the cleaning time may be 0.5 minutes or more, but from the economic point of view, it is preferably 2 minutes or less. Considering the above results, the surface of the cylindrical A1 alloy substrate was prepared at a concentration of 40% by the method shown in the conceptual diagram of Fig. 1.
g/f! , Using a non-etching type weak alkaline cleaning agent for Al at a temperature of 60°C, using a sponge made of a copolymer of polyamide and polyvinyl alcohol as a scrubbing cleaning material, the relative linear velocity IQ between the substrate surface and the sponge surface was measured.
c+n/sec, sponge pressure 1 kg/cm.

Scrub and clean for 1 minute at a sponge rocking speed of 20ma+/sec.
Thereafter, a photosensitive layer made of a material containing an organic photoconductive material was formed on the surface of the substrate obtained by washing with pure water, draining and drying, thereby producing a photoreceptor of Example 1.

Examples 2 to 4 In Example 1, the cleaning agents were a weak alkaline cleaning agent (trade name Mc-107: manufactured by Tosoh DuPont Chemical Co., Ltd.) and an aqueous emulsion type cleaning agent (trade name Panrise D-20: manufactured by Tokiwa Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.). Example 2 was carried out in the same manner as in Example 1, except that a non-an low foaming type cleaning agent (trade name U Cleaner AD-68F: manufactured by Uemura Kogyo) was used.
Photoreceptors Nos. 3 and 4 were produced.

Comparative Example I Using a substrate obtained by cleaning the surface of an A1 alloy substrate using a conventional cleaning method, namely, TriClene ultrasonic cleaning (3 minutes), TriClene cold bath immersion (3 minutes), and TriClene vapor cleaning, A photosensitive layer was formed in the same manner as in Example 1 to produce a photoreceptor.

Examples 5 to 8 Photosensitization in Examples 5 to 8 was carried out in the same manner as in Examples 1 to 4, except that the AJ alloy substrate in Examples 1 to 4 was changed to an A1 alloy substrate whose surface was anodized. The body was created.

The thus obtained photoreceptor was subjected to an adhesion test of the photosensitive layer using an adhesive tape and a printing test using an optical printer for evaluating the outside of the photosensitive layer. The results are shown in Table 3. Table 3 also shows the surface cleanliness of the substrates used for each photoreceptor.

Table 3 As shown in Table 3, scrubbing the surface of the substrate improves its cleanliness, improves the adhesion between the substrate and the photosensitive layer, and significantly improves the print quality. It is clear that scrubbing is extremely effective. In addition, when using an alumite-treated substrate, some corrosion was observed on the substrate surface in Examples 6, 7, and 8, so the cleaning agent used was Ann Non-Eratin Buta 4 Slightly Alkaline, which was used in Examples 1 and 5. Detergents are found to be most desirable.

The material for the scrubbing material is cotton and acrylic.

Although urethane and the like can be used, a copolymer of polyamide and polyvinyl alcohol is preferable in terms of durability and processability. Furthermore, although urethane has excellent durability, it has poor hot water resistance, so it cannot be used when using a cleaning agent at elevated temperature, but when using a cleaning agent at room temperature, urethane can be actively used.

Further, even if a water-soluble neutral detergent or an organic detergent is used as a cleaning agent, the scrubbing effect can be obtained and it is effective.

Furthermore, the shape of the base is not limited to a cylindrical shape;
For example, it may be belt-shaped, and the conditions considered and selected in the examples can be similarly applied to other shapes.

One of the advantages of the scrubbing method according to the present invention is that it eliminates the need for preliminary cleaning with trichlene. That is, in the example, although scrubbing cleaning was performed without pre-cleaning with trichlene, the substrate surface was sufficiently cleaned and extremely good print quality was obtained. For comparison, as preliminary cleaning, TriClene ultrasonic cleaning (3 minutes M) - TriClene cold bath immersion cleaning (3 minutes) -
A photoreceptor prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 was subjected to a photoreceptor layer adhesion test and a printing test using an A1 alloy substrate that had been subjected to trichlene vapor cleaning and scrubbing in the same manner as in Example 1. However, the same results as in Example 1 were obtained, and no difference was observed. Since it has become possible to eliminate the trichlene cleaning, there is no need for trichlene exhaust and waste liquid treatment equipment, which has the advantage of contributing to environmental conservation.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to this invention, after the surface of an Al-based conductive substrate is scrubbed and cleaned using a water-soluble cleaning agent, an emulsion-type cleaning agent, or an organic cleaning agent, an organic photoconductive material is contained on the surface of the substrate. A photosensitive layer is formed to form a photoreceptor.

By using the substrate that has been scrubbed and cleaned in this way,
This means that electrophotographic photoreceptors that have good adhesion between the substrate and the photosensitive layer and that can produce high-quality images even when used in optical printers can be mass-produced at low cost.

Further, by eliminating the need for preliminary cleaning with trichlene, there is also an advantage that it can contribute to environmental conservation.

Further, the photoreceptor produced by the method of the present invention has a photosensitive layer made of an organic photoconductive material. Therefore, a pigment with high sensitivity to long wavelength light can be used as a charge-generating material, and the photoconductor is suitable for use in optical printers that use long wavelength light such as semiconductor radars, which have become rapidly popular in recent years. can be manufactured, and the effects obtained are significant.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an embodiment of the scrubbing step in the manufacturing method of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) In a method for manufacturing an electrophotographic photoreceptor having a photosensitive layer comprising an organic photoconductive material on an Al-based conductive substrate, the surface of the Al-based conductive substrate is washed with water-soluble water. The method is characterized in that a photosensitive layer containing an organic photoconductive material is formed on the surface of the substrate after scrubbing with a scrubbing agent using one of a cleaning agent, an emulsion type cleaning agent, and an organic cleaning agent. A method for manufacturing an electrophotographic photoreceptor. 2) The method for producing a photoreceptor for electrophotography according to claim 1, wherein the scrubbing material is a sponge made of a copolymer of polyamide and binder resin. 3) In the method for manufacturing a photoconductor according to claim 1 or 2, while supplying a cleaning agent to the scrubbing section, the surface of the substrate and the surface of the scrubbing material are heated at a rate of 5 cm/sec or more at 20 c.
An electronic device characterized in that scrubbing is performed by pressing a scrubbing material onto a substrate with a pressure in a range of 0.5 kg/cm or more and less than 3 kg/cm while relatively moving at a speed within a range of less than m/sec. A method for manufacturing a photographic photoreceptor.