Elastic rotatable member
AssigneesCanon Kabushiki Kaisha, I.S.T. Corporation
InventorsTsukasa Kuge, Masahiro Goto, Isamu Sakane
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An elastic rotatable member usable for image fixing includes an elastic layer having a roughened surface, a resin layer formed by applying a liquid resin on the surface of the elastic layer and heating it up to a temperature not lower than its crystalline melting point and then quickly cooling it, wherein the resin layer has a side near the elastic layer, having a number of fine concave and convex portions, and wherein the convex portions are in concave portions of the surface of the elastic layer, and the concave portions of the resin layer is pressed by the convex portions of the elastic layer.
Claims15
An elastic rotatable member comprising:
- a core member;
- an elastic layer outside said core member and having a roughened surface;
- and
- a sintered resin layer coating the roughened surface of said elastic layer;
- wherein a thickness td (micron) of said resin layer measured by physical contact therewith after it is peeled off said elastic layer, and a thickness of said resin layer tw (micron) determined by conversion of weight of said resin layer, satisfy a relationship of
- 0.5.ltoreq.(td-tw).ltoreq.5,
- and wherein said thickness tw and a thickness tm (microns) of the resin layer determined as .vertline.d.sub. -d.sub.2 .vertline./2, where d.sub.1 is an outer diameter of the elastic rotatable member having said resin layer measured without contact thereto, and d.sub.2 is an outer diameter thereof after said resin layer is peeled off measured without contact, satisfy the relationship of
- tw>tm.
A fixing apparatus comprising:
- a first rotatable member and a second rotatable member for forming a nip therebetween to fix an unfixed image while it is being passed through the nip;
- said first rotatable member comprising:
- a core member;
- an elastic layer outside said core member and having a roughened surface;
- and
- a sintered resin layer coating the roughened surface of said elastic layer;
- wherein a thickness td (micro) of said resin layer measured by physical contact therewith after it is peeled off said elastic layer, and a thickness of said resin layer tw (micron) determined by conversion of weight of said resin layer, satisfy a relationship of
- 0.5.ltoreq.(td-tw).ltoreq.5,
- and
- wherein said thickness tw and a thickness tm (microns) of the resin layer determined as .vertline.d.sub.1 -d.sub.2 .vertline./2, where d.sub.1 is an outer diameter of the elastic rotatable member having said resin layer measured without contact thereto, and d.sub.2 is an outer diameter thereof after said resin layer is peeled off measured without contact, satisfy the relationship of
- tw>tm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.