Patent · US Expired

Image forming apparatus having a diamond-like structure surface protection layer on a photoconductive layer

US6625409B2 · kind B2 · utility

36Cited by
13References
24Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 25, 2002
Grant dateSep 23, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 25, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG03G2215/022
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An image forming apparatus including an image carrier having a conductive support, at least a photoconductive layer formed on the conductive support, and a surface protection layer formed on the photoconductive layer and including a charge injection layer. Also included is a charging member for charging the image carrier in contact with the surface protection layer when applied with a voltage, and a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on the image carrier with toner to thereby produce a corresponding toner image. Further, the surface protection layer has a diamond-like carbon structure or an amorphous structure containing hydrogen, the developing unit develops the latent image with a magnet brush formed by magnetic particles for development, and the charging member includes magnetic particles for charging having a mean particle size smaller than a mean particle size of the magnetic particles for development. Also, the surface protection layer has a volume resistance of 109 &OHgr;·cm to 1012 &OHgr;·cm and a Knoop hardness of 400 kg/mm2 or greater, and a light transmission of the surface protective layer is 50% or more of a wavelength of light used for …

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.