JPH0683242A - Image holding member and electrophotographic method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide an electrophotographic method capable of trial printing, capable of performing continuous copying without discarding an image holding member even when copying a small number of sheets. [Structure] A charge generation layer and a heat-softening layer made of a charge-transporting substance and a heat-softening resin are sequentially laminated on the conductive surface of a substrate, and conductive particles are embedded in the vicinity of the surface of the heat-softening layer. An image holding member provided with a conductive particle layer is used. This image copying member is used to form a copied image by the Carlson method including charging, image exposure, toner development, transfer to paper, and cleaning steps. Further, subsequently, the image holding member is negatively charged, exposed corresponding to the image information, and the heat-softening layer is heated to move the conductive fine particles in which the electric charge is accumulated in the heat-softening layer. Are continuously formed by a continuous copying method including an image storing step of storing the image and a continuous copying step of charging, developing toner, transferring to paper, and cleaning on the image holding member.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image holding member in which image information is stored by movement of conductive particles in a heat softening layer containing a heat softening resin, and an electrophotographic method using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the conventional electrophotographic copying method, the surface of an electrophotographic photosensitive member is uniformly charged, then imagewise exposure is performed to attenuate the surface potential imagewise, and then toner development is performed.
The Carlson method of transferring onto paper is widely applied as a general method. However, in this method, each time one image is copied, exposure must be performed once. Therefore, high-speed copying has a problem that the apparatus becomes complicated and becomes large in size.

In order to improve this point, the present inventor previously disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-69442 that image information is stored in an image holding member in which conductive particles are embedded near the surface of the heat-softening layer. We have proposed an image-holding member that can make a large number of continuous copies with only one image exposure, and an electrophotographic method using the image-holding member.

[0004]

By the way, in the heat-softening layer of the image holding member, the heat-softening resin has good compatibility with the charge transport material, and is easily coated so as to have a desired film thickness. Various conditions such as being possible, becoming an amorphous solid after coating, drying and cooling to room temperature are required. Further, the electrophotographic method proposed by the present inventors is extremely suitable for continuously copying a large number of sheets, but since the image holding member is discarded after the copying, a large number of copies are required. If not, for example, it is not suitable when only one or two copies are required. Therefore, in order to copy a small number of sheets, it is necessary to separately make a copy using an ordinary electrophotographic copying machine. Further, when a large number of copies are required, it is desirable to perform so-called off-printing for density, position adjustment, etc. before continuous copying. Since the image information is stored by one image exposure, there is an inconvenience in use that adjustment cannot be performed by trial printing. The present invention has been made in view of the above requirements and inconveniences. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an image holding member that exhibits a high charge transporting ability. It is another object of the present invention to provide an electrophotographic method capable of proof printing and in which even if a small number of sheets are copied, the image holding member need not be discarded.

[0005]

The image holding member of the present invention comprises:
A conductive layer formed by sequentially stacking at least a charge generation layer and a heat-softening layer made of a charge-transporting substance and a heat-softening resin on the conductive surface of a substrate, and embedding conductive particles near the surface of the heat-softening layer. And a heat-softening resin is a copolymer containing styrene and an acrylic ester or a methacrylic ester as a monomer component. The electrophotographic method of the present invention forms a copy image on the above-mentioned image holding member by the Carlson method having at least steps including charging, image exposure, toner development, transfer to paper, and cleaning, or By negatively charging the image holding member, accumulating electric charges in the conductive particles, and then performing image exposure corresponding to the image information to eliminate the electric charges of the conductive particles in the exposed portion, and then the heat softening layer is formed. An image storage step of heating the conductive soft particles in which the charge is accumulated in the heat softening layer by heating to a temperature equal to or higher than the softening point of the heat softening resin to store image information, and the image holding member, A feature of the present invention is that a copied image is formed by a continuous copying method having a continuous copying process including charging, toner development, transfer to paper, and cleaning.

The present invention will be described in detail below. First, the image holding member of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an image holding member of the present invention. 10
Is an image holding member, in which a conductive layer 2 is formed on a substrate 1, and a charge generation layer 3 is provided thereon. Furthermore, a heat-softening layer 4 made of a charge-transporting substance and a heat-softening resin which is softened by heat is further provided thereon. Conductive particles 5 are embedded near the surface of the thermal softening layer 4 to form a conductive particle layer.

In the image holding member of the present invention, examples of the substrate include plastic film, paper, metal foil,
Any material such as glass can be used as long as it can be used in the electrophotographic photoreceptor. The shape is not particularly limited, and any shape can be used.

The substrate must have at least a conductive surface. The conductive surface may be formed by providing a conductive layer. The conductive layer may be made of any material as long as the charge flows freely. For example, a metal film is formed by a method such as a vapor deposition method, a sputtering method, a plasma CVD method, a plating method, or a metal or a metal having a low resistance is used. A conductive paint in which conductive particles such as oxides are dispersed in resin may be applied. Also, if the substrate is conductive, it is not necessary to form a conductive layer. An undercoat layer may be provided on the conductive surface in order to improve adhesiveness, chargeability, image quality, and the like.

The charge generation layer provided on the conductive surface of the substrate is the same as the charge generation layer used in a normal function-separated electrophotographic photoreceptor. That is,
As the charge generating material, a phthalocyanine pigment such as metal or metal-free phthalocyanine, a squarylium compound, an azurenium compound, a perylene pigment, an indigo pigment, a quinacridone pigment, anthanthrone, a brominated anthanthrone, pyranthrone, a polycyclic quinone such as flavanthrone,
A cyanine dye, a xanthene dye, a charge transfer complex composed of poly-N-vinylcarbazole and trinitrofluorenone, a eutectic complex composed of a pyrylium dye and a polycarbonate resin, and the like are used as a binder resin and optionally a charge transporter. It may be formed by dispersing and coating the material. Further, a film formed by vapor-depositing the charge generating material, a vapor-deposited film of amorphous silicon, or the like is also effective. Furthermore, it is also possible to use a titanyl phthalocyanine or bisazo pigment having a specific crystal structure which has been developed in recent years. The thickness of the charge generation layer is usually 0.1 to 2
It is set in the range of μm.

In the present invention, the heat-softening resin used in the heat-softening layer contains styrene and an acrylic acid ester or a methacrylic acid ester as a monomer component and, if necessary, further contains another monomer component. Copolymers having a glass transition point (Tg) of 30-9.
A substance having a property of having a viscosity of 10 ² to 10 ⁶ poise at 100 ° C. to 150 ° C. at a temperature of 0 ° C. or higher at 0 ° C. is preferably used. In the following, when both acrylic acid ester and methacrylic acid ester are meant,
It describes as (meth) acrylic acid ester.

Examples of the (meth) acrylic acid ester include methyl (meth) acrylate, ethyl (meth) acrylate, n-butyl (meth) acrylate, benzyl (meth) acrylate, and hydroxyethyl (meth) acrylate. Etc. The copolymerization ratio of styrene and (meth) acrylic acid ester is preferably such that styrene accounts for 40 to 80 mol% of the whole. Further, for the purpose of further improving the adhesiveness, improving the compatibility, improving the dispersibility of the conductive particles, etc., the copolymer may contain 1 to 5 mol% of another monomer. Examples of such a monomer include acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, hydroxyethyl acrylate, maleic acid, acrylonitrile, and methacrylonitrile.
An acrylic compound having a functional group can be used. The above-mentioned copolymer used in the present invention is usually preferably synthesized by a solution polymerization method, but other polymerization methods are also applicable. A polymerization initiator is added during the polymerization. After the polymerization, the obtained copolymer is preferably subjected to a purification treatment by a solution reforming method in order to remove unreacted monomers, remove a polymerization initiator, remove impurities and the like.

As the charge-transporting substance used in the heat-softening layer, any substance can be used as long as it is used in the charge-transporting layer in the electrophotographic photoreceptor.
Particularly, a benzidine compound is preferably used. Specifically, Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-6864 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-
Examples thereof include those represented by the following general formula described in Japanese Patent No. 247374.

[Chemical 1] (In the formula, R _{1 to} R ₆ are each a hydrogen atom, C _{1 to} C ₄
Alkyl group, alkoxy group, alkoxycarbonyl group,
Represents a substituted amino group or a halogen atom. ) The above-mentioned benzidine compound exhibits a high charge-transporting performance, especially when blended in a copolymer containing the above-mentioned styrene and an acrylic acid ester or a methacrylic acid ester as a monomer component, and the performance is 10 to 10% of the total amount. It can be maintained even at a small compounding ratio of about 50% by weight. As a result, the cost of the image holding member is reduced. Furthermore, the charge injection from the conductive particles is facilitated, and therefore the conductive particles are easily charged and migration is likely to occur.

Further, in the present invention, a compound having a simpler structure such as a triphenylamine compound may be mixed in addition to the benzidine compound, whereby the compounding ratio of the benzidine compound can be reduced. The film thickness of the heat softening layer is usually set in the range of 3 to 15 μm.

A single layer or a plurality of layers of conductive particles are formed in the vicinity of the surface of the heat-softened layer, that is, within a few times the diameter of the conductive particles from the surface. The size of the conductive particles is 0.05
It is preferably in the range of ˜1 μm. If the size of the conductive particles is too large, it becomes difficult for the conductive particles to move, and
If it is too small, it becomes difficult to be charged, which is not preferable. Also,
When the conductive particles have a thin film shape, they are difficult to move, which is not preferable.

As the conductive material forming the conductive particles, carbon black, copper iodide, silver iodide, zinc sulfide, silicon carbide and the like, as well as metal oxides are preferably used. In particular, metal oxides containing oxygen vacancies and those containing a small amount of a foreign atom forming a donor with respect to the metal oxide used are preferable because they have high conductivity, that is, they contain many electron-hole pairs. . Examples of metal oxides include
ZnO, SnO ₂ , TiO ₂ , In ₂ O ₃ , MoO
₃ or the like, or a complex oxide of these, and examples of containing a different atom include Al, In, T, etc. for ZnO.
Nb, Ta, etc. for iO ₂ , S for SnO ₂
Examples thereof include those containing heteroatoms such as b, Nb, In, and halogen elements. The addition amount of these heteroatoms is 0.01 to
The range of 30 mol% is preferable, and the range of 1 to 10 mol% is particularly preferable.

As a method for forming the conductive particle layer by embedding these conductive particles in the vicinity of the surface of the thermal softening layer, vapor deposition method (resistance heating, electron beam heating), ion plating method, glow discharge sputtering method, An ion beam sputtering method or the like can be used. For example, in the case of the vapor deposition method, the thermosoftening layer may be heated to be in a softened state and the conductive material may be evaporated under a low pressure of 10 to 10 ⁻³ Torr. As a result, the conductive material is aggregated on the surface of the heat-softening layer to form a fine particle having a particle size of 1 to 0.1 μm, and the particles are aligned in a single layer or in a plurality of layers to form a surface of the heat-softening layer. Embedded in the vicinity of. The glow discharge sputtering method known as a method for forming a transparent conductive film on a plastic film such as polyester can be used as it is for producing the image holding member of the present invention. Also in this case, by heating the thermosoftening resin in advance, the conductive material becomes fine particles and a conductive particle layer is formed near the surface. As another method of forming the conductive particle layer in the vicinity of the surface of the heat-softening layer, the conductive particles are dispersed in a coating solution having the same composition as the coating solution for forming the heat-softening layer, and the dispersion is used for the heat-softening layer. It is possible to apply a wet method of applying the above. In this case, when the dispersion liquid is applied, it is necessary to quickly dry the coating film of the dispersion liquid so that the thermosoftening layer existing in the lower layer is not dissolved.

The image holding member used in the present invention has conductive fine particles on the heat-softening layer, but since the conductive fine particle layer is very thin, the light transmittance is 95% or more. Therefore, the exposure is rarely weakened.
On the other hand, the heat softening layer can be operated almost in the same manner as the charge transporting layer in a usual electrophotographic photoreceptor. However, since the thermosoftening resin is used, it is inferior in durability, but can sufficiently endure the application of the electrophotographic method by the Carlson method.

Next, the electrophotographic method of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an example of an electrophotographic apparatus for carrying out the electrophotographic method of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the image holding member 10 is mounted on a pipe 11 to form a photoconductor drum, around which a corona charger 60, a diode 12 for emitting a light (laser beam) 61, a developing device 71,
A transfer charger 13, a cleaner 14 and a charge eliminator 15 are provided. Incidentally, 9 is a transfer paper.

A case where an image is formed on the image holding member by the Carlson method will be described with reference to the drawings. 3A to 3C are drawings for explaining a method for producing a copy by the Carlson method. First, FIG.
As shown in (a), the corona charger 60 is relatively moved with respect to the image holding member 10 to negatively charge the surface. As a result, the above-mentioned conductive particles have electron-hole pairs at room temperature, and holes are immediately released to the negative charges on the surface to neutralize the surface charges through the charge transport material. Then, negative charges remain inside the conductive particles. At that time, when the surface potential is measured, it is about 80 to 95% as compared with the case where the conductive particles are not present.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, image exposure is performed. Reference numeral 61 is light that sensitizes the charge generation layer, and most of the light reaches the charge generation layer 3 through the sufficiently thin conductive particle layer. In the case of a diode laser beam, it is image-wise modulated by an electronic means and exposed, and in that case, the laser beam may be applied to a portion to which the developer is attached. As a result, positive charges are injected from the charge generation layer into the thermal softening layer and are transported through the layer to neutralize the negative charges of the conductive particles. On the other hand, a negative charge remains in the conductive particles in the part that was not exposed to the light.

In the formed latent image, since the potential of the exposed portion is low, the reversal development is performed using the negatively chargeable developer 8. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 3C, the latent image of the exposed portion is visualized. Then, a copy can be obtained by transferring to the transfer paper 9 by a conventional method. The developer remaining after the transfer onto the transfer paper is then removed by a cleaner and discharged by a charge eliminator to prepare for the next cycle or image storing process. It should be noted that the above-mentioned Carlson method of making a copy may be repeated.

When the exposure is performed by using the diode laser light, the exposure is performed by modulating so as to obtain a Yin-Yang inverted image (that is, an image in which a black portion and a white background portion are inverted) as shown in FIG. 4 (a). However, in this case, in the portion exposed to the light, a positive charge is injected from the charge generation layer into the thermal softening layer and is transported through the layer to neutralize the negative charge of the conductive particles. on the other hand,
Negative charges remain on the conductive particles in the portions that were not exposed to the light. (See FIG. 4A.) Next, when development is performed using the positively chargeable developer 7, a portion not exposed to light is visualized and then transferred to the transfer paper 9. (See Fig. 4 (b))

Next, the continuous copying method will be described. The continuous copying method includes an image storing step of storing image information in the image holding member and a continuous copying step of copying using the image holding member in which the image information is stored. First, the image storing step of storing the image information will be described. In the image storing step, as shown in FIG. 5, first, in the same manner as shown in FIG. The charger 60 is moved relatively to give a negative charge to the surface. (See FIG. 5A) Next, image exposure is performed in the same manner as shown in FIG. As a result, in the portion exposed to the light, positive charges are injected from the charge generation layer into the thermal softening layer and are transported through the layer to neutralize the negative charges of the conductive particles. On the other hand, in the portion not exposed to the light, negative charges remain on the conductive particles. (See FIG. 5 (b))

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5C, the image holding member is heated by heat 62. As a heating method,
Any method such as a method of passing it through a heating roller, a method of putting it in a heating container, or a method of heating with a heating wire can be adopted, and heating is performed for several seconds at a temperature not lower than the Tg of the thermosoftening resin. As a result, the conductive particles having the negative charges remaining therein move to the side of the base body to be an electrode in the heat-softened layer which is softened and whose viscosity is lowered, by electrostatic attraction. On the other hand, the heating lowers the electrical resistance of the thermosoftening layer, and the electric charge of the conductive particles suddenly discharges spontaneously.Therefore, the conductive particles do not all move to the electrode side, and the particle size and charge Due to variations in density, etc.
It stops sparsely in the heat-softened layer. In this way, a portion containing the moved conductive particles (moving particles 52) is formed. Then, if the image holding member is returned to room temperature,
The image holding member 20 in which the image information is stored is obtained. In addition, since the light transmittance is reduced in the portion where the conductive particles have moved, it is possible to visually confirm the difference in light and shade.

Next, the continuous copying process for obtaining a copy by using the image holding member in which the image information is stored as described above will be described. As shown in FIG. 6A, the charging device 60 negatively charges the entire surface of the image holding member in which the image information is stored. As a result, in the portion where the conductive particles (non-moving particles 51) that have not moved exist, FIG.
Similar to the case shown in (a), negative charges remain on the conductive particles, and the surface potential is 85 to 85 when the conductive particles do not exist.
It will be about 95%. On the other hand, in the portion where the moved conductive particles (moving particles 52) are present, positive charges are successively injected from the particles closer to the electrode to neutralize the negative charges on the surface side, and as a result, The surface potential is 0 to 20%, which is very low compared to the case where no conductive particles are present. Therefore, a latent image having an electrostatic contrast corresponding to the image is formed only by uniform negative charging on the entire surface. The latent image thus formed is developed using the positively chargeable developer 7. Thereby, the latent image is visualized, and then transferred to the transfer paper 9 by a conventional method to obtain a copy. (See FIG. 6 (b))

After that, by recharging, as shown in FIG.
A latent image can be formed as shown in (a), and therefore copying can be continuously performed without performing image exposure. After copying, cleaning can be performed as needed. The image holding member after the completion of copying is discarded and replaced with a new one.

[0027]

【Example】

Example 1 A 50 μm-thick polyester film having a conductive layer on which aluminum was vapor-deposited was used as a substrate. 5 parts by weight of copolymer nylon (trade name: CM8000, manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc.) was dissolved in 40 parts by weight of methanol and 60 parts by weight of butanol. Anatase type titanium oxide (trade name: Taipaque W-10, manufactured by Ishihara Sangyo Co., Ltd.) was added to the obtained solution.
15 parts by weight was added and dispersed by a ball mill. The obtained dispersion is applied with a wire bar and the temperature is 100 ° C. for 10 minutes.
After drying for a minute, an undercoat layer having a film thickness of 2 μm was formed. This layer had a function of preventing interference of laser light. Next, 8 parts by weight of a solution prepared by previously dissolving 1 part by weight of polyvinyl butyral resin (ESREC BM-1, manufactured by Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.) in 19 parts by weight of cyclohexanone, 1.6 parts by weight of X-type phthalocyanine and 1 part of cyclohexanone
The mixture was mixed with 2.8 parts by weight, and the dispersion treatment was performed for about 1 hour by a paint shaker using glass beads having a diameter of about 2 mm as a dispersion medium. The obtained dispersion was applied onto the undercoat layer with a wire bar and dried at 100 ° C. for 10 minutes to form a charge generation layer having a thickness of 0.3 μm.

On the other hand, 62 mol% of styrene, 36 mol% of ethyl acrylate, and 2 mol% of acrylic acid were used as starting materials.
A total of 40 parts by weight of these was dissolved in 60 parts by weight of toluene, and azobisisobutyronitrile (polymerization initiator) was added to the solution.
0.5 part by weight was added, and the mixture was heated at 110 ° C. for 8 hours for polymerization. When the physical properties of the obtained copolymer were examined, it had a weight average molecular weight of about 8,000, Tg = 48 ° C., and a viscosity of 28,000 poise at 110 ° C. 78 parts by weight of solid content of this copolymer and N, N'-diphenyl-N, N'-bis (m-tolyl) -benzidine 22 as a charge transport material
Parts by weight were dissolved in 500 parts by weight of toluene. The obtained solution was applied onto the charge generation layer with a wire bar and dried at 110 ° C. for 15 minutes to form a heat softening layer having a film thickness of 8 μm. Next, tin oxide-indium oxide (ITO)
1 part by weight of powder, 6 parts by weight of the copolymer, 2 parts by weight of the charge transport material, 50 parts by weight of toluene and 50 parts of butanol.
The mixture consisting of parts by weight was treated with a ball mill to obtain a dispersion liquid. The average particle size of the dispersed particles was 0.35 μm. This dispersion was applied onto the heat-softened layer with a wire bar so that the film thickness after drying would be 0.6 μm.
When the spectral sensitivity of the formed image holding member was measured, FIG.
The results shown in are obtained.

Next, using this image holding member, copying was first performed in the copy mode by the Carlson method. Using the electrophotographic copying machine shown in FIG. 2, the image holding member is 84 mm.
It was wound around a φ × 320 mm aluminum pipe to obtain a photosensitive drum. The surface was negatively charged under the condition of -600V. As a result, the negative charge was transferred to the ITO particles and the surface potential became −570V. Next, by a diode laser beam, the black portion (character portion) of the original document was extinguished and the white background portion of the original document was illuminated so as to be image-wise modulated, and exposure was performed at an intensity of 12 ergs / cm ² . The potential of the exposed portion was -100V. Next, development was performed using a positively chargeable developer, and the image was transferred to the paper 9, whereby a copy image could be obtained. The copy speed at this time is
The A4 size paper was 4 sheets per minute.

Continuous copying was performed in the print mode of the image storage system. That is, after the image holding member is charged under the condition of −600 V, the diode laser beam modulates the black portion (character portion) of the document to emit light and the white background of the document is extinguished to perform image exposure. It was After that, heat treatment was performed by passing the heat roll on a heat roll kept at 115 ° C. in a dark place for 5 seconds. As a result, the unexposed areas of the ITO
The particles moved to the substrate side. As described above, the storage by writing the image is completed.

The image holding member in which the obtained image information was stored was wound around an aluminum pipe similar to the above, and a print test was conducted. That is, -6 with a corona charger
It was charged to 00V. As a result, the exposed portion (the portion where the conductive particles did not move) became −570V and the non-exposed portion (the portion where the conductive particles moved) became −80V. In that state, development was performed with a positively chargeable developer in the same manner as described above, and then transferred to a sheet to obtain a printed image. In this print mode, it was not necessary to perform image exposure, and no problems occurred even after continuous printing of 2000 sheets. The printing speed at that time was 100 sheets per minute because no image writing was required.

Example 2 As a charge transport material, a compound represented by the following structural formula was used instead of the benzidine compound used in Example 1.

[Chemical 2] In that case, an image holding member was produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the compounding amount was 30 parts by weight when producing the heat-softened layer. When the obtained image holding member was subjected to a copying operation in the same manner as in Example 1, it could be used in the copy mode without any problem. However, when 2000 sheets were printed in the print mode, the potential of the portion where the conductive particles did not move changed to -470V, and the image was fogged.

Comparative Example 1 An acrylic resin containing no styrene component was used as the thermosoftening resin. That is, when a commercially available acrylic resin (trade name: Dianal BR64, manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.) was used in place of the copolymer in Example 1,
When the acrylic resin alone was dissolved in toluene, the compatibility with the benzidine compound was poor and the coating liquid became cloudy, and the heat-softening layer could not be prepared.

Comparative Example 2 Polystyrene was used as the thermosoftening resin. That is, polystyrene having various molecular weights was produced using only styrene monomer and variously changing the polymerization conditions. An image holding member was produced by using these polystyrenes in the same manner as in Example 1, but the surface adhesiveness and the mobility of the conductive particles were inferior, and the optimum one was not obtained.
That is, when the molecular weight is reduced in order to facilitate the movement of the conductive particles, the surface of the image holding member becomes too soft at room temperature, resulting in poor cleaning of the developer.

Example 3 80 parts by weight of styrene and 20 parts by weight of hydroxyethyl methacrylate were synthesized as monomers. The weight average molecular weight was about 12,000, Tg was 38 ° C., and viscosity at 110 ° C. was 25.
A 000 poise copolymer was prepared. This copolymer is
An image holding member was produced in exactly the same manner as in Example 1 except that it was used as a thermosoftening resin. This image holding member is
Although the adhesion strength of the heat-softening layer was slightly inferior to that of Example 1, it was possible to perform image formation in the same manner and to provide continuous copying.

[0036]

Since the image holding member of the present invention has the above constitution, the charge transporting performance of the heat softening layer is remarkably improved. And if the image holding member of the present invention is used,
In addition to the usual copy mode by the Carlson method, continuous copy can be performed by the print mode by the continuous copy method. Therefore, if you need a large number of copies,
Before performing continuous copying, so-called trial printing can be performed for density, position adjustment, etc., and the exposure state and the like can be adjusted. Also, when copying a small number of sheets,
If the Carlson method is adopted, there is also an advantage that the image holding member does not have to be discarded, and it is possible to greatly reduce wasteful operations and costs.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an image holding member used in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electrophotographic apparatus of a method of exposing with a diode laser beam for carrying out the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a copying process by the Carlson method according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another example of a Carlson method copying process according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an image storage process in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a continuous copying process in the present invention.

7 is a graph showing the spectral sensitivity characteristics of the image holding member in Example 1. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Substrate, 2 ... Conductive layer, 3 ... Charge generating layer, 3 ... Thermosoftening layer, 5 ... Conductive particles, 7 ... Positively chargeable developer, 8 ... Negatively chargeable developer, 10 ... Image holding member, 11 … Pipe, 12… Diode, 13… Transfer charger, 14… Cleaner, 15
... static eliminator, 20 ... image holding member storing image information, 51
... non-moving particles, 52 ... moving particles, 60 ... corona charger,
61 ... Light, 62 ... Heat, 71 ... Developing device.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A conductive surface of a substrate, on which at least a charge generation layer and a thermal softening layer composed of a charge transport substance and a thermal softening resin are sequentially laminated, and conductive particles are embedded in the vicinity of the surface of the thermal softening layer. A conductive particle layer formed by
An image holding member, wherein the thermosoftening resin is a copolymer containing styrene and an acrylic ester or a methacrylic ester as a monomer component. 2. The image holding member according to claim 1, wherein the charge transport material is a benzidine compound. 3. A copy image is formed on the image holding member according to claim 1 or 2 by a Carlson method including steps including at least charging, image exposure, toner development, transfer to a sheet, and cleaning. Negatively charge the image holding member to accumulate charges in the conductive particles, and then
By performing the image exposure corresponding to the image information, after the charge of the conductive particles in the exposed portion disappears, the heat-softening layer is heated to a temperature equal to or higher than the softening point of the heat-softening resin, and the charges are accumulated. The image storing step of storing the image information by moving the conductive fine particles in the heat-softening layer, and charging, toner development, transfer to a sheet on the image holding member storing the image information,
An electrophotographic method characterized in that a copy image is formed by a continuous copying method having a continuous copying step consisting of cleaning and cleaning.