ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC TONER

Abstract

An electrophotographic toner is disclosed, comprising a binding resin, a colorant and a releasing agent, wherein the releasing agent comprises a first releasing agent component of a monoester compound represented by formula (1) and a second releasing agent component composed of a hydrocarbon compound having a branched chain structure, and the first releasing agent component accounting for 40% to 98% by mass of the total amount of the first and second releasing agent components:

Description

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an image forming apparatus for use in an image forming method using the toner of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of an example of a fixing device of an image forming apparatus using the toner of the invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates another example of a fixing device.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of constitution of a heating roller used in the fixing device shown in FIG. 3.

Claims

1. An electrophotographic toner comprising a binding resin, a colorant and a releasing agent, wherein the releasing agent comprises a first releasing agent component and a second releasing agent component, the first releasing agent component is a monoester compound represented by formula (1) and the second releasing agent component is a hydrocarbon compound having a branched chain structure, and the first releasing agent component accounting for 40% to 98% by mass of the first and second releasing agent components: R1—COO—R2  formula (1)

2. The toner of claim 1, wherein the first releasing agent component accounts for 70% to 95% by mass of the first and second releasing agent components.

3. The toner of claim 1, wherein in the formula (1), R1 and R2 are each independently a hydrocarbon group having 17 to 22 carbon atoms.

4. The toner of claim 1, wherein in the hydrocarbon compound having a branched chain structure, the sum of tertiary and quaternary carbon atoms accounts for 0.1% to 20% of total carbon atoms of the hydrocarbon compound.

5. The toner of claim 4, wherein the sum of tertiary and quaternary carbon atoms accounts for 0.3% to 10% of total carbon atoms of the hydrocarbon compound.

6. The toner of claim 1, wherein the toner contains the releasing agent in an amount of 1% to 30% by mass of the binding resin.

7. The toner of claim 1, wherein the releasing agent exhibits a melting point of 60 to 100° C.