Patent Application
20070298343
a is an SEM photomicrograph after mixing toner with a surface treatment wherein the surface treatment is in a free state and has been reduced by transfer upon mixing with a spherical polymer bead.
b is an SEM photomicrograph of spherical polymer bead probe after mixing with the toner of
a is an SEM photomicrograph after mixing toner with a surface treatment wherein the surface treatment has been tacked to the toner and has not transferred upon mixing with a spherical polymer bead.
b is an SEM photomicrograph of spherical polymer bead probe after mixing with the toner of
For a better understanding of the present invention together with other advantages and capabilities thereof, reference is made to the following description and appended claims in connection with the preceding drawings
Toners used in color electrographic printers are typically polymeric particles of approximately 6 to 8 microns volume average particle size, containing dispersed colorants, charge control agents, waxes, and other addenda.
Preferably, the toner includes a binder, and optionally includes a colorant, a charge control agent, and an anti-blocking agent, which can be blended to form toner particles. Binders can be selected from a wide variety of materials, including condensation polymers such as polyesters as well as both natural and synthetic resins and modified natural resins, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,076,857. Other useful binders can include the crosslinked polymers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,938,992 and 3,941,898. The crosslinked or noncrosslinked copolymers of styrene or lower alkyl styrenes with acrylic monomers such as alkyl acrylates or methacrylates may also be used. Numerous polymers suitable for use as toner resins are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,060. Consequently, the teachings of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,938,992; 3,941,898; 4,076,857; and 4,833,060 are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. In addition, another desired binder is a bis-phenol based polyester of the acid value between 1 and 40. The toner typically comprises 85 to 95 weight percent by weight of the binder. Such a binder can be propoxylated bisphenol-A combined with fumaric acid.
Optionally, the binder can be compounded with a colorant, i.e., a dye or pigment, either in the form of a pigment flush (a special mixture of pigment press cake and resin well-known to the art) or pigment-resin masterbatch, as well as any other desired addenda known to the art. If a developed image of low opacity is desired, no colorant need be added. Normally, however, a colorant can be included and it can, in principle, be any of the materials mentioned in Colour Index, Vols. I and II, 2nd Edition (1987) or Herbst and Hunger, Industrial Organic Pigments, 4th edition (2004). Carbon black can be especially useful while other colorants can include pigment blue, pigment red, and pigment yellow. Specific colorants can include copper phthalocyanine having a CI colour index P.B.15:3, metal-free phthalocyanine P.B.16, chlorinated and bromated copper phthalocyanines such as P.G.7 and P.G. 36, triarylcarbonium blue pigments such as P.B.61, dioxazine violet pigments such as P.V.23 calcium, laked monoazo BONA class pigments such as P.R. 57:1, 2,9-dimethylquinacridone P.R.122, Napthol red pigments such as P.R. 146, β-Napthol red and orange pigments such as P.R. 53:1 and P.O. 5, Benzimidazolone pigments such as P. R. 180, diazo pigments such as P.Y.12, P.Y 13, P.Y. 83, and P.Y. 93, and isoindoline pigments such as P.Y. 139 and P.Y. 185. The amount of colorant, if used, can vary over a wide range, e.g., from about 1 to about 25, and preferably from about 3 to about 20 weight percent of the toner component. Combinations of colorants may be used as well.
The toner can also contain charge control agents. The term “charge-control” refers to a propensity of a toner addendum to modify the triboelectric charging properties of the resulting toner. A very wide variety of charge control agents for positive and negative charging toners are available. Suitable charge control agents are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,893,935; 4,079,014; 4,323,634; 4,394,430; and British Patents. 1,501,065 and 1,420,839, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Additional charge control agents which are useful are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,624,907; 4,814,250; 4,840,864; 4,834,920; 4,683,188; and 4,780,553, all of which are incorporated in their entireties by reference herein. Mixtures of charge control agents can also be used. Particular examples of charge control agents include chromium salicylate organo-complex salts, and azo-iron complex-salts. A particular example of an iron organo metal complex is T77 from Hodogaya.
Furthermore, quaternary ammonium salt charge agents as disclosed in Research Disclosure, No. 21030, Volume 210, October 1981 (published by Industrial Opportunities Ltd., Homewell, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 1EF, United Kingdom) may also be used. Specific charge control agents can include aluminum and/or zinc salts of di-t-butylsalicylic acid. Additional examples of suitable charge control agents include, but are not limited to, acidic organic charge control agents. Particular examples include, but are not limited to, 2,4-dihydro-5-methyl-2-phenyl-3H-pyrazol-3-one (MPP) and derivatives of butylsalicylic MPP such as 2,4-dihydro-5-methyl-2-(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)-3H-pyrazol-3-one, 2,4-dihydro-5-methyl-2-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorophenyl)-3H-pyrazol-3-one, 2,4-dihydro-5-methyl-2-(2-trifluoromethylphenyl)-3H-pyrazol-3-one and the corresponding zinc salts derived there from. Other examples include charge control agents with one or more acidic functional groups, such as fumaric acid, malic acid, adipic acid, terephathalic acid, salicylic acid, fumaric acid monoethyl ester, copolymers of styrene/methacrylic acid, copolymers of styrene and lithium salt of methacrylic acid, 5,5′-methylenedisalicylic acid, 3,5-di-t-butylbenzoic acid, 3,5-di-t-butyl-4-hydroxybenzoic acid, 5-t-octylsalicylic acid, 7-t-butyl-3-hydroxy-2-napthoic acid, and combinations thereof. Still other acidic charge control agents which are considered to fall within the scope of the invention include N-acylsulfonamides, such as, N-(3,5-di-t-butyl-4-hydroxybenzoyl)-4-chlorobenzenesulfonamide and 1,2-benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one 1,1-dioxide.
Preferably, the charge control agent is, if used, provided in an amount of about 0.2-about 5% wt. of the total toner weight and preferably in an amount of about 1-about 3 weight percent of total toner weight.
The toner can optionally contain other additives, such as anti-blocking agents and/or waxes, such as polypropylene, polyethylene, or copolymers and blends thereof.
The terms “surface treatment” or “external additive” are typically used to describe such a toner formulation ingredient that is a fine particulate which is added after the core toner particle has been prepared. The most commonly used surface treatment agent on toner is fumed silica, especially hydrophobic silica. Fumed silica is available in a range of primary particle sizes, which is typically measured rather as the specific surface area by the BET nitrogen adsorption method. The surface area equivalent size is size divided by the product of the surface area and the density. The smallest available fumed silica materials have a BET surface area of about 400 m2/g corresponding to silica particle of about 7 nm in size, while the largest available materials have a BET surface area of about 50 m2/g. As a general rule, the smaller the primary particle size of the silica (the higher the BET surface area), the more free-flowing will be the resulting surface treated toner for a given weight percent of silica added. We have found that the largest fumed silica materials at about 50 m2/g BET surface area corresponding to silica particle of about 55 nm in size have a reduced effectiveness as a flow aid for toner and this size defines the onset of functioning as a surface treatment. The smallest fumed silica materials become more difficult to disperse and provide very high charge levels. Surface treatment levels of that give good charging characteristics often fail to provide good flow properties. The preferred range for a balance of flow and charging properties is 100 to 250 m2/g or about 11 to 27 nm primary particle size.
An organic coating is typically applied to the fumed silica in order to cover surface silanol groups in order to render the silica hydrophobic. Common coatings include silicone fluid also known as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS), and dimethydichlorolsilane (DMDCS) and other alkyl silanes. Such materials are available commercially from vendors including Degussa, Cabot and Wacker. Hydrophobic silicas including a first silica having a BET surface area of 130 m2/g corresponding to silica particle of about 21 nm in size, coated with DMDCS such as Aerosil R972 made by Degussa Corporation that reported a BET of 130 m2/g but a size of 16 nm measured by microscopy for this product, and a second silica having a BET of 200 m2/g corresponding to a particle size of about 14 nm coated with PDMS such as Aerosil RY200 made by Degussa Corporation which reported a BET of 200 m2/g but a size of 12 nm, have been found particularly useful as a toner surface treatment agents.
The propensity of a surface treatment to tack is related to the difference in surface energy between that of the surface treatment and that of the toner. Surface treatments having surface energies lower than that of the toner will tack and embed more slowly. A typical polymer used for toner will have a surface energy between 40 and 55 ergs/cm2 while that of the surface treatment can vary from less than 30 to greater than 60 ergs/cm2. The surface treatment may become engulfed in the polymer when its surface energy is greater than that of the toner polymer. The surface energy of surface treatments can be assessed by the concentration of methanol in water at which the dry powder will wet, a standard technique known as the methanol wettability test.
The surface energy may also be evaluated as the rate of the tacking and embedment that increases as the energy of mixing is increased, or by the degree of transfer of the surface treatment to another surface. Embedment rates can be monitored by a surface assay for the surface treatment such as ECSA for toner stripped from two component developers as a function of aging time. One must account for the loss a free surface treatment to the surface of the carrier. In practice, this loss can be made small by using a large toner surface area to that of the carrier and if embedment occurs, the surface treatment will back transfer to the toner. While these transfer effects make rate calculations difficult, one can use this type of test to rank surface treatments based upon the propensity to tack and embed.
Table 1 shows the results of such a test for varying surface treatments. Six toners were made by surface treating a polyester based core toner with 1% of six different silicas by mixing 15 g of toner and 0.15 g of silica in a Waring Laboratory Blender for 10 s at 6000 RPM followed by 20 s at 1960 RPM. Developers were made with these toners at 10% toner concentration using a 22 μm strontium ferrite carrier coated with 1.25% polymethylmethacrylate. Samples of the developers were aged by exercising on a 2 inch stationary roll with a 12 pole magnetic core spinning at 1000 RPM for different lengths of time. The toner was then recovered using bias development by applying a negative bias voltage to the roll while engaging a grounded 6 inch rotating drum from which the developed toner was recovered with a scraper blade. The embedment of silica for each sample was evaluated by Electron Spectroscopy Chemical analysis (ESCA). It was found that the silica embedment rate followed the surface energy measured by the methanol wettability test with lower surface energies giving slower embedment rates. The silica types are ranked from slowest to fastest as PDMS coated silica (Degussa RY200 and RY300), HMDZ coated silica (Degussa RX300), DMDCS (Degussa R972), and uncoated silica (Degussa Aerosil 200 and 300).
The temperature at which the test is conducted may be increased to assess tacking of surface treatments with lower surface energies. Tables 2A and 2B show the effects of temperature on the transfer of a free silica of different surface energies. Samples 2A, 2B, and 2C were processed in a 75 L Henschel mixer at 1745 RPM for the conditions listed for the same core toner used to make samples in Table 1. Samples of 2C were further process in 10L Henschel mixer at 3000 RPM to obtain samples 2D and 2E. Sample 2E was stopped short of the desired time when the cooling capacity was no longer able to keep the toner temperature at 56° C. Developers were made for each sample at 10% toner concentration using a 22 μm strontium ferrite carrier coated with 1.25% mixture of polyvinylidene fluoride and polymethylmethacrylate. Five grams were placed in a 4 dram vial and held next to a 12 pole magnetic core spinning at 2000 RPM for 15 seconds. The developer charge-to-mass was and this carrier from this measurement was analyzed by ESCA. The remaining developer was placed on a stationary roller with a 12 pole magnetic core and bias stripped of toner using a ground shell with 4000V applied to the roller while running at 2000 RPM for 1 minute. The stripped carrier was rebuilt at 10% toner concentration and the process repeated for a total of 6 cycles. Processing the toner with the higher surface energy silica R972 for 25 minutes at 42° C. (Sample 2B) resulted in complete tacking of the silica as judged by no silica being transferred to the carrier, while processing the lower surface energy silica RY200 at similar conditions only resulted in a partial tacking as judged by less silica being transferred to the carrier with this Sample 2D than with Sample 2C, that was processed at 20° C. Processing at the mid point of toner glass transition temperature Tg was necessary for complete tacking of the RY200. It is seen that there thus exists a surface treatment processing condition where a first higher surface energy type of silica can be substantially tacked to the toner surface (R972 in this example) while a second lower surface energy type of silica remains free to move and transfer to other surfaces (RY200 in this example). Our discovery that superior toner performance results when both types of silica are included in a toner processed at such a surface treatment condition is illustrated in the inventive examples that follow.
A quantitative measure of the degree of tacking can be obtained by transfer of the free surface treatment to the surface of a probe that is similar in nature to the core toner provided some method of separating the probe from the core is available. The free surface treatment will distribute uniformly over both the toner and probe surfaces will the tacked surface treatment will stay with the toner. The degree of tacking can be calculated from a bulk analysis such as x-ray fluorescence (XRF) or neutron activation for the surface treatment on the toner before and on both the toner and the probe after mixing and separation. The amount of transferred surface treatment and therefore the amount of tacked surface treatment can be calculated based upon the surface area of the toner and probe used in the mixing step.
One method of separation is to use a probe much different in size and separate the probe from the toner by some characteristic for analysis.
Another method of separation is by composition in a counting device such as the Horiba DP1000 Particle Analyzer. Single particles are sampled by the DP1000 and injected into a chamber as plasma. Four separate channels can be used analyze for fluorescence at four different wavelengths making it possible to evaluate the ratios of up to four different atoms in each particle. The distribution of the toner sampled by the DP1000 can be estimated by the cube root of the carbon signal, C1/3. Since the surface treatment is spread over the surface, the ratio of the square root of the signal associated with the surface treatment to C1/3 is proportional to the concentration of the surface treatment.
Table 3 shows results of analysis by a DP1000 Particle Analyzer to measure degree of surface treatments tacking of two toners as made and after aging in a developer station. Two toners were made by surface treating a polyester based core toner having a P.R. 57:1 colorant with 1.5% R972 from Degussa Corporation in a 75L Henschel mixer under the condition given below. Each was aged at 6% toner concentration using a 22 μm strontium ferrite carrier coated with 1.25% mixture of polyvinylidene fluoride and polymethylmethacrylate in a NexPress 2100 toning station run with replenishment using bias development against a nickel drum and a blade cleaner to recover the aged toner from the drum. The new and aged samples were mixed with equal parts a probe of untreated polyester toner having 15:3 as a colorant and having an equivalent surface area. The toner samples and mixtures were analyzed by the DP1000 Particle Analyzer using calcium from the P.R. 57:1 as a label for the toner particles and copper from the P.R.15:3 as a label for the probe particles. The surface treatment to polymer ratio Si1/2/C1/3 of the blends was used to calculate the transfer of the surface treatment to the probe toner and establish the degree of tacking.
Other metal oxides have also been found to be useful as surface treatment agents to adjust charge level, humidity response, and cleaning performance. Among these are alumina, titanium dioxide also known as titania, zinc oxide, and cerium oxide. Alumina and titania were also found to function as flow aids when at least two of the dimensions are below 50 nm. These metal oxides may also be coated with alkyl silanes and silicone fluids and can be used as either the tacked or the free surface treatment component. Examples are isobutyl trimethoxy silane coated titania JMT1501B from Tayca Corporation, zinc oxide Z805 from Degussa Corporation, and silicone coated alumina BT0416 from Cabot Corporation.
Preferably, the toners are combined with a carrier to form a developer. Preferably, the average particle size ratio of carrier to toner particles is from about 15:1 to about 1:1. However, carrier-to-toner average particle size ratios of as high as about 50:1 can be useful. Preferably, the volume average particle size of the carrier particles can range from about 5 to about 50 microns.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,546,060 and 4,473,029, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, describe that the use of “hard” magnetic materials as carrier particles increases the speed of development dramatically when compared with carrier particles made of “soft” magnetic particles. The preferred ferrite materials disclosed in these patents include barium, strontium and lead ferrites having the formula MO6Fe2O3 wherein M is barium, strontium or lead. However, magnetic carriers useful in the invention can include soft ferrites, hard ferrites, magnetites, sponge iron, etc. In addition, the magnetic carrier ferrite particles can be coated with a polymer such as mixtures polyvinylidenefluoride and polymethylmethacrylate or silicone resin type materials. Preferably, the toner is present in an amount of about 2 to about 20 percent by weight of the developer and preferably between 5 and 12 weight percent.
Without further elaboration, it is believed that one skilled in the art can, using the preceding description, utilize the present invention to its fullest extent. The following preferred specific embodiments are, therefore, to be construed as merely illustrative, and not limitative of the remainder of the disclosure in any way whatsoever. An improved toner is disclosed that comprises a tacked or substantially fixed surface treatment and additional surface treatment(s) that is/are free to transfer. The fixed surface treatment provides an increased separation distance and reduced attractive force necessary in many electrophotographic process steps. The fixed surface treatment also reduces carrier scumming by the core toner and maintains a more consistent developer packed density.
The additional free surface treatment enhances the charging rate of the developer resulting in reduced dusting. The free surface treatment also acts to maintain the appropriate separation distance of the fixed surface treatment during low image content document print runs where long residence times can lead to embedment and engulfment. The free surface treatment properties are selected to maximize this protective effect. Typically, lower surface energy coatings such as silicone oil are used to treat metal oxides. Additional components can also be selected to improve the humidity response of the developer.
The following examples illustrate the practice of this invention. They are not intended to be exhaustive of all possible variations of the invention. Parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise indicated.
A blend of treated fumed silica was made by mixing 450 g of Aerosil R972 and 135 g of Aerosil RY200 from Degussa Corporation in a bag where the R972 was first deagglomerated by running through a 20 mm single screw feeder. Example 1 toner was made from 14.8 kg of a cyan core toner including polyester resin, pigment P.B.15:3 provided as a flush in polyester by BASF and charge control agent of di-t-butylsalicylic acid zinc salt, and 200 g of the blended silicas. The surface treatment processing step was done in a 75L Henschel mixer. The toner and surface treatment were mixed for 20 minutes at 1745 RPM with active heating to obtain a temperature of 52° C. in 8 minutes and intermittent cooling thereafter to maintain a constant temperature. Comparative Example 1A toner was made in the same manner as Example 1 toner except 180 g of Aerosil R972 was used in place of the blended silicas. Comparative Example 1B toner was made in the same manner as Comparative Example 1A toner except the mixing conditions were 4 minutes with active cooling to maintain temperatures below 25° C. The formulations and processing conditions are summarized in Table 4A.
The degree of tacking was assessed by mixing with a 24 micron probe toner that had been classified 4 times in an ATP50 classifier from Hosokawa Micron Powder Systems to remove all fines below 14 microns. A 4-blade overhead mixer with a baffled pint jar was used to mix 35 g of example toner with 65 g of probe toner. The blend was mixed for 10 minutes at 5000 RPM and then separated by classifying in an MZR-100 classifier from Hosokawa Micron Powder Systems modified with a high efficiency cyclone at conditions that prevented the probe toner from contaminating the fines fraction containing the Example toner. The coarse fraction was passed through the classifier a second time to reduce the contamination by the Example toner. The separated toners were analyzed for surface treatment by XRF and the surface areas evaluated by Multisizer IIE from Beckman Coulter and the degree of tacking calculated. It is desired to have at least 25 percent of the surface area of the toner tacked with a metal oxide. More preferably, it is desired to have at least 40 percent on the surface are of the toner tacked with a metal oxide.
The performance was evaluated by testing in a developer life simulator having a ⅓ scale DigiMaster toning station and using bias development against a nickel drum with 82 g/hr replenishment. Developers were made with the toners at 6% toner concentration using a 22 μm strontium ferrite carrier coated with 1.25% mixture of polyvinylidene fluoride and polymethylmethacrylate. The developers were aged at various conditions for 35 hours over four days. The data were collected and averaged for another 4 days at 70° F. and 35% RH. Example 1 toner was found to have a high degree of tack but retained good dusting performance at a lower charge level than Comparative Example 1B toner where only of Aerosil R972 was used. Dusting performance was poor and the charge level lower for Comparative Toner 1A demonstrating the improved resistance to embedment by the free surface component Aerosil RY200 preventing transfer of the core toner material to the carrier surface. The embedment of the surface treatment of Comparative Example 1A toner by the Henschel mixer allowed the transfer of the core toner material to the carrier surface resulting in rapid developer aging yielding low charge levels and poor dusting performance. The performance is summarized in Table 4B.
Example 2 toner was made by a continuous surface treatment process in a 100 ATP classifier from Hosokawa Micron Powder Systems by injecting 5 g/min of blended silica described in Example 1 into a 14 kg/hr stream of unclassified polyester cyan core toner of the composition in Example 1. The stream of unclassified core toner was simultaneous being produced on a 400 AFG fluidized bed jet mill from Hosokawa Micron Powder Systems. The combined toner and surface treatment stream was educated into the classifier at the centerline of the classifier at the plane of the tangential air disperser ring. The classifier was run at conditions to obtain the desired PSD as well as good dispersion of the surface treatment. In this type of process, surface treatment is lost to both the air stream and the high surface area of the fines. The capture rate of silica on the product was 64%.
Comparative Example 2 was made in the same manner as Example 2 except a stream of 4.2 g/min Aerosil R972 was feed and the dispersing and classifying air temperatures were lowered 111° C. The capture rate of silica on the product was 69%. The formulations and processing conditions are summarized in Table 4A.
The performance of these toners were evaluated in the same manner as Example 1 and is summarized in Table 4B. The degree of tacking in the ATP100 classifier is 30% for Example 2 toner and 44% for Comparative Example 2 toner. Good dusting performance was obtained at an acceptable charge level for Example 2 toner while the embedment of the surface treatment of Comparative Example 2 toner by the ATP100 classifier allowed the transfer of the core toner material to the carrier surface and rapid developer aging.
A Example 3 toner was made using 14.8 kg of a magenta core toner including polyester resin, pigment P.R. 57:1 provided as a flush in polyester by BASF and charge control agent of di-t-butylsalicylic acid zinc salt surface treated in a 75L Henschel mixer with 150 g of Aerosil R972 and 45 g of Aerosil RY200 from Degussa Corporation. The material was mixed at high speed (1745 RPM) for 10 minutes with active cooling followed by 20 minutes with active heating to achieve 125° F. in 6 minutes and intermittent cooling to maintain 125° F. for the remaining 14 minutes. The surface treated toner was sieved using a Sweco Vibro-Energy Separator with a 300 T mesh screen having a sonic dispersing ring.
Comparative Example 3 toner was made in a 200L Henschel mixer using 45 kg of core toner and 685 g of R972 and mixed for 4 minutes at 1140 RPM with active cooling to maintain a temperature below 80° F. The Example 3 toner was introduced to a prototype NexPress2100 machine that was running the Comparative Example 3 toner and in which the developer age had caused significant dusting in the magenta module. The dusting level was reduced to near new levels after 700 prints and contamination of the primary charger grids were greatly reduced. Table 5 summarizes specific image quality metrics of Example 3 toner showing improved performance in metrics of background and satellites. Background is a measurement that is used to characterize the non-image area coverage with toner as described by Dooley and Shaw, J. Appl. Photogr. Eng. 5:190-196 (1979) and modified for color perception with weighting factors of 1.00 for black, 0.63 for cyan, 0.86 for magenta, and 0.30 for yellow as outlined in ImageXpert User Manual v 9.2 p 9-19 (May 2002). Satellites are a measure of the propensity of toner to be developed or jump from the image to the non-image area next to an image. Satellites is the background measured inside the non-image area of the capital letter N. Decreasing cohesiveness of the toner has been found to increase satellites while decreasing grain as defined by Bouk and Burningham, Eighth International Congress on Advances in Non-Impact Printing Technologies, 506 (1992). Background was reduced by 0.3 and satellites 0.4 units with no significant increase in grain. The sensitivity to job stream was evaluated by running 300 tabloid sized prints having a nominal image content followed by 600 tabloid sized prints that were blank and monitoring the process control voltage Vo as it rose to maintain constant density. The rise in Vo while printing the blanks was 20 volts for Example 3 toner and 60 volts for Comparative Example 3 toner.
Two P.R. 57:1 magenta toner formulas were prepared in a 75L Henschel mixer under the following conditions with a cold start and a hot start condition shown in shown in the table below resulting in 4 toners for each formula for a total of 8 toners: The temperature was increased slightly for the inventive formulas with RY200 in order to result in approximately the same charge level. The formulas and process conditions are summarized in Table 6A.
These toners were tested in a developer life simulator at a constant toner usage rate. Very low dusting was found for all eight toners demonstrating the value of tacking the surface treatment to prevent mass transfer of toner material to the charging surface of the carrier. The testing also found that the higher temperature at shorter times gave equivalent performance but the greater temperatures for the formulas with both Aerosil R972 and RY200 reduced the Q/m more than it was increased by the addition of RY200. The toner Q/m's between cold and hot start conditions during processing were about four times more consistent during the developer break-in for toners made with addition of RY200. This improvement can be seen in Table 6B as the increased signal-to-noise (S/N) calculated from the variability in Q/m over the first tens hours of the developer life for both the cold and hot initial processing conditions.
A four-color set of black, yellow, magenta, and cyan toner was made with the formula of 14.7 Kg core toner, 190 g of Degussa Aerosil R972, and 63 g of Degussa Aerosil RY200. The material was mixed at high speed (1745 RPM) for 10 minutes with active heating to achieve 135° F. in 6 minutes and intermittent cooling to maintain 135° F. for the remaining 4 minutes. These toners were tested on a NexPress2100 machine with a low image content and low duty cycle job stream. Under these conditions standard toners based on R972 silica only and cold processing conditions in the surface treatment blender exhibited low Q/m and failures and heavy dusting at 70 to 200K of developer life. Example 5 toners were added at between 100,000 and 160,000 print developer life. The developers recovered with lower dusting and a 25% increase in the toning potential required to obtain the target density, thus eliminating the low Q/m failures. The developer showed no sign of aging to 500K for black, yellow, and cyan. The magenta was replaced at 268K for other reasons and a toner of formula and processing conditions used for Example 3 toner in Table 5 was added to show the effect of surface treatment level on performance. The toning potential required to obtain target density was reduced by 15%.
Two samples each of cyan and magenta toners having pigment PB 15:3 and P.R. 57:1 as colorants were surface treated as in Example 1 using either 63 or 112 g of Degussa Aerosil RY200 and 150 g Degussa Aerosil R972 on 14.7 Kg of core toner and tested for 40K in a production NexPress21100 machine. Both toners of the higher RY200 formulas increased the Q/m by 6% with no change in image quality, fogging, or machine contamination. This increase in Q/m resulting in high electrophotographic set points and demonstrates the desirable property of a formula to adjust charge level.
A magenta having P.R. 122 as a colorant was treated with 150 g of Degussa Aerosil R972 and 4 g of Degussa Aerosil RY200 according to the process Example 3 and run on a production NexPress2100 machine. P.R. 122 has a positive tribocharging characteristic that causes greater machine contamination than P.R. 57:1. A significant reduction of contamination was observed by the combination of surface treatment and heated process and this reduction of contamination allowed maintenance intervals greater than those required for toners using P.R. 57:1 before contamination affects image quality and thus increasing the up time of the press.
Example 8 toner was made using a cyan polyester core toner having P.B.15:3 as a colorant by surface treating with 1.05% Aerosil R972 and 0.32% Aerosil RY200 in a 10 L Henschel mixer at 3000 RPM mixer speed and a load of 2.5 Kg. Comparative Example 8A toner was made with the same formula and conditions except processing for 2 minutes with active cooling to keep the temperature at 25° C. Comparative Example 8B toner was made with the same conditions as Comparative Example 8A but with 1.5% Aerosil R972 only to obtain an equivalent surface treatment coverage.
These toners were tested in the developer life simulator device described in Example 1 at a constant toner usage over extremes of humidity and temperature using a strontium ferrite carrier coated at 1.25% with a mixture of polyvinylidene fluoride and polymethylmethacrylate in a ratio of 60 to 40. Example 8 toner ran at charge level similar to Comparative Example 8C but had lower dusting in both early developer life and at high humidity where dusting performance of Comparative Example 8C toner was poor. Increasing the charge level by increasing the Aerosil R972 in Comparative Example 8B toner improved the dusting performance but resulted in high charge level. Comparative Example 8A toner gave acceptable dusting performance but had an unacceptably high charge level. The heating processing of Example 8 toner lowered the charge by 25% to a level similar to Comparative Example 8C toner while maintaining the improved dusting performance. Table 7 summarizes the formula, process conditions and performance for these toners.
Four polyester cyan toners were made with high levels of tack and free surface components along with the addition of a third surface treatment component to lowered the charge level and maintain performance over a wide humidity range. Example 9A-9D toners with three surface treatment components were prepared in 2.5 Kg batches on a 10 L Henschel mixer at 3000 RPM mixer speed 7.5 minutes starting at 22° C. and reaching 52° C. by 4 minutes with cooling to maintain 52° C. thereafter. Each toner had 1.35% R972 and 0.50% RY200, along with 0.75% of a varied zinc oxide component. The zinc oxide in Example 9A toner was NanoTek Zinc Oxide from Nanophase Technologies Corporation, that Example 9B toner was MZ-500 from Tayca Corporation, that in Example 9C toner was AdNano Z20 from Degussa Corporation, and that in the Example. 9D toner was octyltrimethoxy silane treated Z805 from Degussa Corporation. The formulations and processing conditions are summarized in Table 8A
These toners were tested in a developer life simulator as described in Example 1 at a constant toner usage over extremes of humidity and temperature using a strontium ferrite carrier coated at 1.25% with a mixture of polyvinylidene fluoride and polymethylmethacrylate in a ratio of 20 to 80. Heat was applied to the toning stations to maintain 100° F. It was found through previous testing that the charge-to-mass depended only upon the dew point at running equilibrium so the tests were compared to previous controls run without the station being heated as in Example 8. All of the inventive toners in this Example reduce the humidity sensitivity by one half relative to comparative toners 8A, 8B and 8C as shown by the ratio of the charge level at dew point of 20° F. to that at 70° F. given in the column labeled 20/70 in the Table 8B below. Each toner had low dusting while the uncoated zinc oxide allowed lower charge levels at higher silica coverage while maintaining the desired charge level and humidity sensitivity.
Example 10 toner was made and tested according to Example 9 where isobutyl trimethoxy silane treated titania JMT1501B from Tayca Corporation was used as the third surface treatment component. This titania has a surface area of 130 mg2/g and is acicular in form with an aspect ratio greater than 2. Excellent charging, dusting, humidity performance were obtained. Example 10 toner exhibits desired charge level with improved humidity performance compared to toners in Example 9.
Example 11 toner was made using 18.7 Kg of a polyester cyan toner with 95 g of alkyl silane treated titania JMT1501B and 171 g of Aerosil RY200 and was surface treated in a 75L Henschel mixer for 10 minutes starting at 22° C. and reaching 52° C. by 4 minutes with cooling to maintain 52° C. thereafter. In this Example, the titania has a surface energy of 34 ergs/cm2 and acts as the tacked surface treatment as well as a modifier of charge level and humidity sensitivity. Excellent charging, dusting, humidity performance were obtained with equivalent performance of the three component Example 10 toner and much improved performance over the Example 8 and Comparative Example 8A toners. The formula, process conditions and performance are given in Table 10.
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.
