JPH1128831A - Method and apparatus for image forming - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form, at a high speed, an image having a great fixing strength and superior in water resistance whereby an image supporting body does not have waving and strike-through. SOLUTION: When a voltage is applied across a drum 1 and a carrier body 4 via a ring-like electrode 2 in accordance with image information from the external section, conductive capsule particles 5 are stuck to a dielectric body layer 3 of the drum 1 by virtue of dielectric charging phenomena. An image by the capsule particles 5 is conveyed to a transferring position by the rotation of the drum 1 and is adhesively transferred to an image supporting body 7 moving to a direction of the arrow by a pressing roll 8. The transferred capsule particles 5 are adhered to the surface of the image supporting body 7. After that, the transferred image is instantly cured on the surface of the image supporting body 7 whereby a metallic salt solution is supplied thereto from a curing solution supply device 11 via a roll 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image forming method and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming method and an image forming apparatus suitable for image recording such as an electrostatic recording method and an electrophotographic method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In image recording by an ink jet system, an electrostatic recording system, an electrophotographic system, etc., conventionally,
Inks and toners of various compositions for high-quality recording have been proposed. As a recent trend, there is a demand to print out high-quality images on demand at high speed, particularly on plain paper generally used in offices. Further, from the viewpoint of global environmental protection, there is a need for an image forming method that consumes low energy. With the conventional electrophotographic method using thermoplastic toner, the amount of heat energy required for melting the toner, the shape and viscoelastic properties of the fused toner, The contribution of the toner fixing process such as the melting and solidification speed of the toner is large. In addition, in the conventional ink jet method using water-based ink, the relation between ink and paper on an image support such as paper greatly contributes to high image quality, and also to high speed and low energy. The contribution of the ink drying process is large. In any case, it is important to fix the image forming agent to the image support.

In order to fulfill the above demand, it is necessary to fix ink or toner landed on paper at high speed in an image forming method such as an ink jet recording method using aqueous ink or an electrophotographic method using toner. . As the method, 1) the ink on the paper is evaporated at a high speed, 2) the ink / toner on the paper is rapidly penetrated into the paper, 3).
Solidifying ink and toner on paper at high speed 3
There are two ways.

As the method 1), there has been proposed a method of forcibly evaporating ink using a heater or preheating paper.

As the above-mentioned method 2), there is a pressure fixing method in which toner is pushed into paper by pressure, that is, fixing is performed by a so-called anchor effect. This pressure fixing method has the advantage that high-speed fixing is possible with low energy consumption because no heat is used, and that no waiting time for heat-up is required. In this connection, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 59-162562 and 5
JP-A-8-145964, JP-A-63-110449 and JP-A-2-118668 propose various types of capsule toners for pressure fixing for obtaining fixing strength. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-175393 discloses that pressure is fixed by applying pressure simultaneously with transfer.

As another method 2), a method has been proposed in which an ink having a high penetration speed is used to permeate the paper in a short time. When ink is permeated at high speed, bleeding (feathering) of ink into the paper along the paper fibers or bleeding (color bleed) caused by contact of recording inks of a plurality of colors is likely to occur. A wide variety of reducing inks have been proposed. Methods for preventing color bleed are described in, for example, JP-A-7-196966 and JP-A-8-2090.
No. 49 (US Pat. No. 5,476,540), JP-A-8-283637, JP-A-8-290656.
No. 6,086,045.

As the above-mentioned method 3), there has been proposed a method in which a low-viscosity ink is discharged onto paper by using a hot-melt type (hot melt) ink, and the ink is naturally cooled and solidified on the paper. . For example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-31382,
There is disclosed a pressure fixing capsule toner in which a core material and a material on an outer shell surface come into contact with each other and cure at room temperature. A method for producing a capsule toner is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-75500. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-24975 discloses a method of using a two-component curable adhesive as an ink component.
No. 5 publication.

[0008]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned 1) high-speed evaporation drying of water, a large amount of external energy is required for water evaporation.

In the pressure fixing method of 2), since the fixing strength of the image is low, a high pressure is required, the weight of the fixing device becomes heavy, and the paper surface becomes glossy due to the high pressure. In the case of the capsule-type pressure fixing toner, the shape of the shell remains even after pressing, resulting in a narrow color reproduction range and poor transparency.
When a soft resin or a gelling substance is used as the fixing substance, the capsule can be fixed at a low pressure, but the fixing strength is low. Furthermore, when a curable substance is used, a high-boiling organic solvent is used to dissolve it in a resin, and when a gel-like resin solution or a resin dispersion is used, an organic solvent is used. Not preferred. Also, in the method of breaking and fixing the capsule by applying pressure simultaneously with the transfer, all of the broken core material does not transfer to the image support such as paper and is transferred to the transfer target such as a photoreceptor or a dielectric. There still remains a problem of deterioration.

Further, when the water contained in the aqueous ink is permeated at a high speed in the above 2), the paper in the large image area absorbs a large amount of water, so that the paper has a problem of waving or strike-through. This problem is particularly serious for plain paper whose surface is not treated.

In the case of the hot-melt type in the above method 3),
There is a problem that a large amount of heat energy is consumed to once melt solid ink or toner, and that a phase change takes time. When an adhesive is used, curing at room temperature takes a long time, and there is a problem of set-off between printed sheets. In the case of high-speed curing such as electron beam curing or ultraviolet curing, there is a problem of high power consumption because high energy is required.
As described above, generally, in the fixing process of the image forming agent, there is a problem that energy consumption is large, and the quality of the recorded matter and the high-speed printing are insufficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming method and an image forming apparatus capable of giving an image having high fixing strength and excellent water resistance at a high speed without ripples or strike-through on an image support. is there.

[0013]

The object of the present invention is to form an image forming agent on a first image support based on image information, and to form an image forming agent formed on the first image support on a second image support. This is achieved by an image forming method including a step of transferring to an image support and a step of supplying an image solidifying liquid to the image forming agent transferred to the second image support. Here, the first image support has a ring-shaped electrode provided on the surface of the cylindrical substrate at a pixel pitch, and a dielectric layer formed on the surface of the ring-shaped electrode. The agent is applied. The attached image forming agent is transferred to a second image support such as paper or film.

Capsule particles containing a polysaccharide polymer and water can be used as an image forming agent. When an aqueous solution of a metal salt is supplied as an image solidifying solution to the transferred capsule particles, the metal salt dissolved in water can be used. Is diffused into the polysaccharide polymer dissolved in water and instantaneously holds water as a solvent and solidifies on an image support such as paper. It is preferable that the capsule particles are constituted by a shell made of a gel film of a polysaccharide polymer, and the shell is softened in advance so as to be easily transferred to an image support such as paper. A metal ion scavenger is used for softening the shell.

The ratio of the polysaccharide polymer used in the capsule particles to the capsule particles is suitably from 1% by weight to 20% by weight.
The molecular weight of the polysaccharide polymer is 10,000 or more and 1.0 or more.
It is preferably not more than 00,000. Specific examples of the polysaccharide polymer include algin, alginic acid, a monovalent metal salt of alginic acid, carrageenan and pectin. On the other hand, the pH of the aqueous metal salt solution as an image solidifying solution is in the range of 6 to 9.
At least one of the inside and the shell of the capsule particles contains a coloring agent.

Further, the object is to transfer a first image support to which an image forming agent adheres based on image information and an image forming agent adhered to the first image support to a second image support. This is achieved by an image forming apparatus having a mechanism and a solidifying liquid supply device for supplying an image solidifying liquid to an image forming agent transferred to a second image support. Specifically, capsule particles containing a polysaccharide polymer and water are used as an image forming agent, and a metal salt aqueous solution is used as an image solidifying solution.

By doing so, it is possible to form a high quality image having good water resistance without ripples or strike-through on the paper as the second image support. This is particularly effective when a full-color image having a high area ratio is formed on plain paper at high speed.

[0018]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, a ring-shaped electrode 2 is arranged at a pixel pitch on the surface of a drum 1 which is a cylindrical substrate.
Is provided, and a dielectric layer 3 is formed on the surface thereof. An image forming agent carrier 4 is provided opposite to the dielectric drum 1, and conductive capsule particles 5 are held here.
A sprayer 6 is provided below the image forming agent carrier 4, and is configured to spray a softener on capsule particles adhered to the drum 1. An image support 7 such as paper is passed between the drum 1 and the pressure roll 8 and between the rolls 9 and 10. The roll 9 is provided with a solidified liquid supply device 11.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an example of the capsule particles 5. As shown in the figure, the capsule particles have a core 12 made of at least a polysaccharide polymer and water, and a shell 13 made of a gel film of at least a polysaccharide polymer.
The shell 13 is made of a high-molecular-weight cross-linked polymer containing water, and is electrically conductive. Also core 1
At least one of the shell 2 and the shell 13 contains a coloring agent.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. Using this, the operation of the device of the present invention will be described.
The dielectric drum 1 faces the conductive capsule particles 5 held on the image forming agent carrier 4 at the developing position. When a voltage is applied between the drum 1 and the carrier 4 via the ring-shaped electrode 2 based on image information from the outside, the conductive capsule particles 5 are formed on the dielectric layer 3 of the drum 1 by induction charging development. Adheres to A trapping agent for gelling metal ions is applied from the sprayer 6 to the particle image formed on the drum 1 by this. As a result, the shell surface of the capsule particles 5 constituting the particle image is partially in a sol state and is tacky. The particle image is sent to the transfer position by the rotation of the drum 1 and is adhesively transferred to the image support 7 moving in the direction of the arrow by the pressure roll 8. The transferred capsule particles 5 are broken at a low pressure of about 50 kg / cm ² because the shell is already softened, the core component is mixed with the leached shell, and the anchoring effect causes the image to be transferred onto the paper surface as the image support 7. Get entangled. Thereafter, the transferred image is supplied with the aqueous solution of the metal salt from the solidifying liquid supply device 11 via the roll 9 and is instantaneously solidified on the surface of the image support 7.

A device for forming an image by applying induction charging development is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-61-62051. This type of image formation is performed by using an electrostatic latent image created on a photoconductor obtained by general electrophotography, an electrostatic latent image created by ion flow on a dielectric, or a needle electrode on a dielectric. This is performed by supplying a conductive toner in a non-contact manner to the electrostatic latent image or the like created in the above. Further, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,621, a ring-shaped electrode is provided at a pixel pitch, a thin-film dielectric layer is provided on the surface of the electrode, and a support having conductive toner carried thereon. The conductive toner is also inductively developed by applying a voltage between itself and the body.

Prior to the transfer to the image support, the amount of the metal ion scavenger supplied to the capsule particles is sufficient to return a part of the gel film to the sol state. Excessive supply is not preferred because it inhibits gelation as a gelling retarder during solidification in the final step and hinders high-speed solidification. The surface of the shell of the capsule particles is brought into a high viscosity state by solification, and the capsule particles are adhesively transferred to the image support. The capsule particles having a higher viscosity on the shell surface are transferred integrally to an image support such as paper without being separated between the particles.

Here, the contact angle of the dielectric surface with water is 6
It is more preferable that the angle be 0 degrees or more. Thereby, the transfer of the capsule particles to the image support is performed with almost 100% efficiency. The surface of the dielectric is, for example, silicone, fluorine-based resin or rubber.

The capsule particles transferred to the image support are pressurized simultaneously with the transfer, and an aqueous metal salt solution for solidifying the polysaccharide polymer contained in the shell and the core is supplied to the capsule particles. The gel film, which has already been partially softened and solified, is broken at low pressure, and the components of the core are integrated with the components of the shell and pushed into the image support by the anchoring effect, and become entangled with the fibers of the paper. The shell and the core are the same polysaccharide polymer, and the sol-formed shell is easily deformed by pressure to form an integrated image of the shell and the core on the image support.

The transferred image of the capsule particles is instantaneously solidified by contact with an aqueous solution containing a metal salt. Therefore, prior to transfer of the capsule particles to the image support, after pretreatment of the aqueous solution containing a metal salt to the image support, when the capsule particles containing a polysaccharide polymer is transferred to the image support, It gels on the surface of the image support at a stretch to form a film. In this case, since the formed film has little entanglement with the fibers in the paper, the fixing strength and the water resistance are weak. As in the present invention, it is important that the polysaccharide polymer is entangled with the image support prior to the metal salt.

The shell of the present invention, unlike the conventional capsule toner using a hard shell structure as described above, forms an image without leaving the shape of the shell, and thus has excellent gloss, transparency and color reproducibility. An image is obtained. Further, since the solidified material of the core and the shell is the same substance, there is no decrease in color reproducibility due to a difference in refractive index.

In the present invention, water as a solvent of the image forming agent is held in the polysaccharide polymer gel, and it is possible to prevent the paper from waving or curling. Rippling and curling of the paper are caused by a change in the fiber structure due to the absorption and desorption of water into the fibers constituting the paper by the fibers. Further, the viscous aqueous solution of the polysaccharide polymer does not permeate along the fibers of the paper to cause feathering, and does not cause color mixing or bleeding due to bonding of droplets. Further, the gelled polysaccharide polymer has high water resistance and heat resistance, and the image composition is stable on paper. In addition, this gel is classified as a physical gel, and does not require the reaction energy and reaction time to generate cross-linking points due to the chemical reaction required for the chemical gel, so the gel can be instantaneously supplied without external heat or light energy supply. Progress. By entanglement of the recording medium with the polysaccharide polymer before supplying the metal salt, the metal salt permeates the polysaccharide polymer and instantaneously gels on the spot, fixing water and the colorant to the fiber. .

The amount of the polysaccharide polymer used here is an amount that can sufficiently hydrate water, which is a component of the image forming agent, and that is sufficient to fix the colorant to the recording medium. Is important, 1% by weight or more, preferably 3% by weight or more,
20% by weight or less. When the content is less than 1% by weight, water that is not hydrated exists in the image composition, and the water permeates into the paper.
When the content is 20% by weight or more, the image forming agent containing the polysaccharide polymer becomes too hard, and the spreadability to the recording medium becomes poor.

The molecular weight of the polysaccharide polymer is 10,000.
0 or more, preferably 50,000 or more, 1,000,000
00 or less is appropriate. If it is less than 10,000, the film-forming ability is insufficient and the fixing strength of the image constituent to the recording medium is low. If it is more than 1,000,000, the image-forming agent containing the polysaccharide polymer becomes too hard, and the spreadability to the recording medium becomes poor.

PH of the aqueous solution of the metal salt used here
Is suitably in the range of 6 to 9, preferably in the range of pH 6.5 to 8.5. This takes into account the durability of the recording medium, especially the paper, when the paper comes into contact with an aqueous solution of a metal salt, or the paper and a polysaccharide polymer gel that has taken in moisture. It is not preferable that a liquid having a strong acidity or alkalinity comes into contact with paper.

Examples of the polysaccharide polymer include agar (agarose), carrageenan, sodium alginate, curdlan, pectin, konjac mannan, gellan gum, curdlan, xanthan gum, starch, galactomannan, nitrocellulose, pectinin, proteoglycan, glycoprotein, Beigeran, etc.,
It is not limited to these.

Examples of the metal salt include salts having potassium ion, cesium ion, calcium ion, magnesium ion, strontium ion, barium ion, aluminum ion, iron ion, copper ion, vanadium oxide ion, and the like. It is not limited. Further, there are types of metal salts that are preferable depending on the type of polysaccharide polymer used. For example, in the case of sodium alginate, a polyvalent metal salt having a calcium ion, a barium ion, an aluminum ion or the like is preferable. In the case of carrageenan, a metal salt having a potassium ion, a cesium ion, or the like is preferable.

As to the polysaccharide polymer gel constituting the shell, the metal ion scavenger for gelling the polysaccharide polymer includes sodium phosphate, sodium carbonate, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and the like. These are supplied to the capsule particles as an aqueous solution. For example, the calcium alginate gel acts as a strong chelating agent for calcium ions, and the gel is transferred to a sol. The surface of the shell of the capsule particles is turned into a sol, resulting in a highly viscous surface state,
Adhesive transfer to the paper surface is performed.

Examples of the polysaccharide polymer will be described in more detail. Examples thereof include algin, alginic acid, and a monovalent metal salt of alginic acid. Alginic acid is a natural polysaccharide polymer extracted from brown algae, and is contained in seaweed and kelp. Alginic acid is mainly used as a sodium salt in various fields such as foods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, etc., as a water-soluble thickener, as a jelly by adding calcium, or as an immobilized enzyme bead. The structure of sodium alginate is a sodium salt composed of a polymer of β-1,4-D-mannuronic acid (M) and α-1,4-L-guluronic acid (G). Sodium alginate forms a chelate with polyvalent metal salts such as calcium and takes in moisture to form a gel. When these are linked to form a polymer, the gel forming ability is significantly different depending on the ratio of GM, MM, and GG. In the GG cluster region, molecules are bent, and calcium ions enter therein to form an egg box type structure, thereby forming a strong polymer. The gel formed has an increased film-forming ability with an increase in the molecular weight of alginic acid, and a film that is not dissolved in water or oil is formed. Molecular weight is 1
Suitable is at least 0000, preferably at least 50,000.

The carrageenan mentioned above as an example of the polysaccharide polymer is a seaweed polysaccharide extracted from red algae. The chemical structure of carrageenan is a linear polymer having a molecular weight of hundreds of thousands to millions, and is composed of D-galactose, 3,6-anhydro-D-galactose, and a sulfate group. There are three types, κ-type, λ-type, and τ-type, depending on the content of the sulfate group. The kappa type is preferable in that the mechanical strength of the generated gel is strong. It gels instantaneously in the presence of monovalent or polyvalent cation ions such as potassium and cesium. Carrageenan has a helical structure in its molecular chain. It is said that this helical structure aggregates via cations to form a gel. The molecular weight is preferably 100,000 or more.

There are various known methods for producing capsule particles, such as an interfacial polymerization method, a melt diffusion method, a multi-orifice method, a coacervation method, a phase separation method from an organic solvent, and a solvent exchange method. The above method can also be applied.

The coloring agent is contained at least in the shell or core of the capsule particles. Preferably, it is contained in the core. Examples of the coloring agent used herein include water-soluble dyes such as C.I. I. Direct Black-4,-
9, -11, -17, -19, -22, -32, -8
0, -151, -154, -168, -171, -19
4 and -195, C.I. I. Direct Blue-1,-
2, -6, -8, -22, -34, -70, -71,-
76, -78, -86, -142, -199, -20
0, -201, -202, -203, -207, -21
8, -236 and -287, C.I. I. Direct Red-1, -2, -4, -8, -9, -11, -13,-
15, -20, -28, -31, -33, -37, -3
9, -51, -59, -62, -63, -73, -7
5, -80, -81, -83, -87, -90, -9
4, -95, -99, -101, -110, -189 and -227, C.I. I. Direct Yellow-1,-
2, -4, -8, -11, -12, -26, -27,-
28, -33, -34, -41, -44, -48, -8
6, -87, -88, -135, -142 and -14
4, C.I. I. Food black-1 and -2, C.I. I.
Acid Black-1, -2, -7, -16, -24,
-26, -28, -31, -48, -52, -63,-
107, -112, -118, -119, -121,-
172, -194 and -208, C.I. I. Acid Blue-1, -7, -9, -15, -22, -23, -2
7, -29, -40, -43, -55, -59, -6
2, -78, -80, -81, -90, -102, -1
04, -111, -185 and -254, C.I. I. Acid Red-1, -4, -8, -13, 14, -1
5, -18, -21, -26, -35, -37, -5
2, -249 and -257, C.I. I. Acid Yellow-1, -3, -4, -7, -11, -12, -13,
-14, -19, -23, -25, -34, -38,-
41, -42, -44, -53, -55, -61, -7
1-76, -79, etc., but not limited thereto. Since it is not preferable to have a metal ion species involved in gel formation as a counter ion of the water-soluble dye in the image forming agent, a dye not involved in gel formation is selected according to the polysaccharide high molecular species used.

As other colorants, carbon black and organic pigments are also possible. For example, carbon black (Mitsubishi Chemical Co., Ltd. No.33, No.40, No.45, No.52, MA7, M
A8, # 2200B, No.2300, No.900, MCF88, Colombia Carbon Raven1255, Raven1060, Cabot Rega
l330R, Mogul L), organic pigments such as phthalocyanine pigments, insoluble azo pigments, soluble azo pigments, dioxane violet, isoindolinone-based pigments, quinacridone-based pigments, and perinone / perylene-based pigments. However, it is not limited to this. Since it is not preferable to have a metal ion species involved in gel formation as a counter ion of the pigment in the image forming agent, a pigment not involved in gel formation is selected according to the polysaccharide high molecular species used.

In order to further stabilize the dissolving and dispersing state of the dye or pigment, a so-called surfactant, dispersant, clathrate or the like may be added, but a pigment which does not participate in gel formation is selected.

[0040]

【Example】

(Example 1) Capsule particles have a core of special black Bayer A-SF (manufactured by Bayer) 1.5% by weight, sodium sulfonic acid formalin condensate 0.1% by weight, and sodium alginate having a molecular weight of 110,000.
(Wako Pure Chemical Industries) is composed of an aqueous solution consisting of 5% by weight,
A shell composed of a calcium alginate gel film was used. An aqueous sodium carbonate solution was used as a calcium ion scavenger for softening the shell. As the aqueous solution of the metal salt applied to the mixture of the core and the shell of the capsule particles transferred onto the image support, a 10% by weight aqueous solution of calcium chloride was used. FX-L paper (manufactured by Fuji Xerox) was used as the image support.

The capsule particles were formed on plain paper, and the performance of the recorded matter was evaluated. The items are five items of fixing strength, fixing time, waving, strike-through, and water resistance. Less than,
The evaluation method will be described. The fixing time was defined as the time during which the image surface was rubbed with paper at regular intervals immediately after the solid image components were formed and did not peel off.
Fixing strength is 1 immediately after solid image components are created.
After elapse of more than one minute, the surface of the image was rubbed with paper, and was evaluated as 1 when it was not removed, 2 when it was partially removed, and 3 when it was completely removed. After one minute or more has passed since the image component of the solid portion was created, 1 was set when the level difference between the solid portion and the blank portion was not conspicuous, and 3 was set when the level difference was conspicuous.
And The strikethrough is one minute after the solid image component is created, and when the back surface of the sheet on which the image component is formed is observed, the solid portion is seen to be wet and transparent. The case where the solid portion could be seen slightly transparent was designated as 2, and the case where the solid portion could not be seen clearly was designated as 3. The water resistance of the solid portion was evaluated as follows: 5 minutes or more immediately after the image component of the solid portion was created, the surface of the image was rubbed with a paper containing water, and the case where there was no change was 1; The case was designated as 2, and the case where almost peeled off was designated as 3.

As a result of the evaluation, all of the fixing strength, fixing time, waving, strike-through, and water resistance were 1 and were excellent. (Example 2) Example 1 was repeated except that the colorant of the capsule particles was changed from 1.5% by weight of the special black Bayer A-SF (manufactured by Bayer) of Example 1 to Direct Red 227 and 2% by weight. Similarly, a recorded matter was obtained. This recorded matter was excellent in glossiness and color reproducibility in addition to the results of Example 1.

[0043]

According to the present invention, it is possible to form a high-quality image having good water resistance without waving or strike-through of the paper as the image support.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a capsule particle 5.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dielectric drum 2 Ring electrode 3 Dielectric layer 4 Particle carrier 5 Capsule particle 6 Atomizer 7 Image support 8 Pressure roll 9 Application roll

Claims (17)

[Claims] A step of forming an image forming agent on a first image support based on image information; and a step of transferring the image forming agent formed on the first image support to a second image support. Supplying an image solidifying liquid to the image forming agent transferred to the second image support. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the image forming agent is firstly charged by an induction charging phenomenon.
2. The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is formed by adhering to an image support. 3. Capsule particles containing a polysaccharide polymer and water are adhered to a dielectric layer, and the capsule particles adhered to the dielectric layer are transferred to an image support. An image forming method comprising contacting an aqueous solution. 4. The image forming method according to claim 3, wherein said capsule particles have a shell made of a gel film of a polysaccharide polymer. 5. The image forming method according to claim 4, wherein a shell of the capsule particles is softened before transferring the capsule particles attached to the dielectric layer to an image support. 6. The image forming method according to claim 5, wherein a metal ion scavenger is used for softening the shell of the capsule particles. 7. The image forming method according to claim 3, wherein the proportion of the polysaccharide polymer in the capsule particles is 1% by weight to 20% by weight. 8. The polysaccharide polymer having a molecular weight of 10,000.
The image forming method according to claim 3, wherein the number is 1,000,000 or less. 9. The image forming method according to claim 3, wherein the pH of the aqueous metal salt solution is in the range of 6 to 9. 10. The image forming method according to claim 3, wherein the polysaccharide polymer is algin, alginic acid, a monovalent metal salt of alginic acid, carrageenan or pectin. 11. The image forming method according to claim 3, wherein the capsule particles contain a colorant in at least one of the inside and the shell. 12. A first image support on which an image forming agent adheres based on image information, a mechanism for transferring the image forming agent adhered to the first image support to a second image support, 2. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a solidifying liquid supply device for supplying an image solidifying liquid to the image forming agent transferred to the image support. 13. A first image support comprising: a ring-shaped electrode provided at a pixel pitch on the surface of a cylindrical base; and a dielectric layer formed on the surface of the ring-shaped electrode. The image forming apparatus according to claim 12. 14. A dielectric layer to which capsule particles containing a polysaccharide polymer and water are attached, a mechanism for transferring the capsule particles attached to the dielectric layer to an image support, and An image forming apparatus comprising: a solidification liquid supply device that supplies a metal salt aqueous solution. 15. The image forming apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a capsule particle softening device for supplying a metal ion scavenger to the capsule particles attached to the dielectric layer. 16. Capsule particles having a core composed of at least a polysaccharide polymer and water, and a shell composed of at least a gel film of the polysaccharide polymer. 17. The capsule particles according to claim 16, wherein at least one of said core and shell contains a coloring agent.