Electrophotosensitive material, production method of the same and method for inspecting an intermediary of the same

A production method for an electrophotosensitive material comprising a conductive substrate, an intermediate layer containing a thermosetting resin, and a photosensitive layer, the intermediate layer being laminated on the conductive substrate and the photosensitive layer being laminated on the intermediate layer, comprising the steps of:

• previously deriving a correlation distribution between a ratio A2/A1 of absorbance A1 measured at a first measurement wavelength W1 which is a predetermined wavelength on a shorter-wave side of a maximum absorption wavelength in a visible absorption spectrum of the intermediate layer to absorbance A2 measured at a second measurement wavelength W2 which is a predetermined wavelength on a longer-wave side of the maximum adsorption wavelength and a residual potential of the photosensitive material from a plurality of heat treatment conditions for curing the thermosetting resin during the formation of the intermediate layer;
• determining from the correlation distribution the heat treatment conditions that provide the ratio A2/A1 of not more than a value corresponding to an intersection of a first approximation line representative of a portion where an increase of the ratio A2/A1 involves relatively little change in the residual potential and a second approximation line representative of a portion where the increase of the ratio A2/A1 involves a proportional increase of the residual potential;
• forming the intermediate layer by curing the thermosetting resin under the heat treatment conditions thus determined;
• and
• overlaying the photosensitive layer on the intermediate layer.

A method of inspecting an intermediary before forming a photosensitive layer on an intermediate layer of an electrophotosensitive material comprising a conductive substrate, an intermediate layer containing a thermosetting resin, and a photosensitive layer, the intermediate layer being laminated on the conductive substrate and the photosensitive layer being laminated on the intermediate layer, comprising the steps of:

• previously deriving a correlation distribution between a ratio A2/A1 of absorbance A1 measured at a first measurement wavelength W1 which is a predetermined wavelength on a shorter-wave side of a maximum absorption wavelength in a visible absorption spectrum of the intermediate layer to absorbance A2 measured at a second measurement wavelength W2 which is a predetermined wavelength on a longer-wave side of the maximum adsorption wavelength and a residual potential of the photosensitive material from a plurality of heat treatment conditions for curing the thermosetting resin during the formation of the intermediate layer;
• measuring the visible absorption spectrum of the intermediate layer;
• and
• classifying the intermediary into an acceptable one in which the ratio A2/A1 is not more than a value corresponding to an intersection of a first approximation line representative of a portion where an increase of the ratio A2/A1 involves relatively little change in the residual potential and a second approximation line representative of a portion where the increase of the ratio A2/A1 involves a proportional increase of the residual potential, and a defective one in which the ratio A2/A1 is more than the value corresponding to the intersection.