Surface treatment device, image forming apparatus, belt member, and image forming method

A surface treatment device comprising:

• a belt member having a surface layer in which a plurality of kinds of rubbers having a different hardness mixedly exist;
• and
• a press/heat unit that presses a recording medium, on which a toner image is formed, against the belt member such that the toner image contacts the surface layer and heats the recording medium to melt at least a surface of the toner image,
• wherein the surface layer includes a first rubber and particles of a second rubber having a higher hardness than that of the first rubber and mixedly existing in the first rubber,
• the hardness of the particle of the second rubber is A10/S or more and A42/S or less over the hardness of the first rubber in terms of JIS-A (Japanese Industrial Standards) hardness based on JIS K6253, and
• the first rubber and the second rubber are cured materials of a precursor composition that has fluorocarbon polymers composed of fluorocarbon siloxane, having a repeating unit shown by the following general structural formula (1), and an aliphatic unsaturated group,
• wherein R10 represents an unsubstituted or substituted monovalent hydrocarbon group, x is an integer of 1 or more, a and e are 0 or 1, b and d are integers of 1 to 4, and c is an integer of 0 to 8.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a toner image forming unit that forms a toner image on a recording medium;
• a belt member having a surface layer in which a plurality of kinds of rubbers having a different hardness mixedly exist;
• and
• a surface treatment device comprising a press/heat unit that presses the recording medium against the belt member such that the toner image on the recording medium contacts the surface layer and heats the recording medium to melt at least the surface of the toner image,
• wherein the surface layer includes a first rubber and particles of a second rubber having a higher hardness than that of the first rubber and mixedly existing in the first rubber,
• the hardness of the particle of the second rubber is A10/S or more and A42/S or less over the hardness of the first rubber in terms of JIS-A hardness based on JIS K6253, and
• the first rubber and the second rubber are cured materials of a precursor composition that has fluorocarbon polymers composed of fluorocarbon siloxane, having a repeating unit shown by the following general structural formula (1), and an aliphatic unsaturated group,
• wherein R10 represents an unsubstituted or substituted monovalent hydrocarbon group, x is an integer of 1 or more, a and e are 0 or 1, b and d are integers of 1 to 4, and c is an integer of 0 to 8.

An image forming method comprising:

• forming a toner image on a recording medium;
• pressing the recording medium against a belt member, which has a belt-like base member and a surface layer overlapping on the base member, such that the toner image on the recording medium contacts the surface layer and heating the recording medium to melt at least the surface of the toner image;
• and
• exfoliating the recording medium from the belt member after the surface of the toner images is solidified, and the surface is melted in the pressing and the heating,
• wherein the surface layer includes a first rubber and particles of a second rubber having a higher hardness than that of the first rubber and mixedly existing in the first rubber,
• the hardness of the particle of the second rubber is A10/S or more and A42/S or less over the hardness of the first rubber in terms of JIS-A hardness based on JIS K6253, and
• the first rubber and the second rubber are cured materials of a precursor composition that has fluorocarbon polymers composed of fluorocarbon siloxane, having a repeating unit shown by the following general structural formula (1), and an aliphatic unsaturated group,
• wherein R10 represents an unsubstituted or substituted monovalent hydrocarbon group, x is an integer of 1 or more, a and e are 0 or 1, b and d are integers of 1 to 4, and c is an integer of 0 to 8.