Liquid developer, method of manufacturing the liquid developer, and image forming method and apparatus

An image forming method comprising steps of:

• forming a latent image on a latent image retaining body;
• developing the latent image on the latent image retaining body using a liquid developer, the liquid developer comprising an electrically insulating solvent and a plurality of toner particles, each comprising a resin particle non-soluble in the electrically insulating solvent and colorant particles, the toner particles comprising a surface portion and an inside portion, a first density of the colorant particles per unit volume of the resin particle at the surface portion being larger than a second density of the colorant particles per unit volume of the resin particle at the inside portion, and
• transferring an image developed on the latent image retaining body to an intermediate transfer body at a transfer station by moving a surface of the intermediate transfer body at the transfer station slower than a moving speed of surface of the latent image retaining body at the transfer station during the transfer step,
• wherein the surface speed of the intermediate transfer body at the transfer station ranges about 80% to about 99% of the moving speed of surface of the latent image retaining body at the transfer station, and
• wherein the surface portion of the toner particle has a thickness of about three times as the average diameter of the colorant particles, and the inside portion of the toner particle is the rest of the toner particle other than the surface portion.

An image forming method comprising steps of:

• forming a latent image on a latent image retaining body;
• developing the latent image on the latent image retaining body using a liquid developer, the liquid developer comprising an electrically insulating solvent and a plurality of toner particles, each comprising a resin particle non-soluble in the electrically insulating solvent and colorant particles, the toner particles comprising a surface portion and an inside portion, a first density of the colorant particles per unit volume of the resin particle at the surface portion being larger than a second density of the colorant particles per unit volume of the resin particle at the inside portion, and
• transferring an image developed on the latent image retaining body to an intermediate transfer body by applying a shear pressure to an image developed on the latent image retaining body,
• wherein the transferring step comprises:
• applying a pressure of 0.5 kg/cm2 to 50 kg/cm2 from the latent image retaining body to the intermediate transfer body at a transfer station during the transfer step with a surface of the intermediate transfer body at the transfer station moved slower than a moving speed of surface of the latent image retaining body at the transfer station during the transfer step,
• wherein the surface speed of the intermediate transfer body at the transfer station ranges about 80% to about 99% of the moving speed of surface of the latent image retaining body at the transfer station, and
• wherein the surface portion of the toner particle has a thickness of about three times as the average diameter of the colorant particles, and the inside portion of the toner particle is the rest of the toner particle other than the surface portion.

An image forming method comprising steps of:

• forming a latent image on a latent image retaining body;
• developing the latent image on the latent image retaining body using a liquid developer, the liquid developer comprising an electrically insulating solvent and a plurality of toner particles, each comprising a resin particle non-soluble in the electrically insulating solvent and colorant particles, the toner particles comprising a surface portion and an inside portion, a first density of the colorant particles per unit volume of the resin particle at the surface portion being larger than a second density of the colorant particles per unit volume of the resin particle at the inside portion, and
• transferring an image developed on the latent image retaining body to an intermediate transfer body at a transfer station by moving a surface of the intermediate transfer body at the transfer station faster or slower than a moving speed of surface of the latent image retaining body at the transfer station during the transfer step, wherein the transferring step comprises:
• applying a pressure of 0.5 kg/cm2 to 50 kg/cm2 from the latent image retaining body to the intermediate transfer body at a transfer station during the transfer step with a surface of the intermediate transfer body at the transfer station moved faster or slower than a moving speed of surface of the latent image retaining body at the transfer station during the transfer step,
• wherein a coverage rate of the surface of the resin particle by the colorant particles is 3.5% or more.