JPH0656497B2 - Manufacturing equipment for substrate for photoconductive member - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention enables a metal body to be suitably used as a substrate of a constituent member of electric or electronic devices, particularly a photoconductive member such as an electrophotographic photoreceptor. , A surface treatment apparatus for the metal body.

[Description of the Prior Art] Where a metal body having a plate shape, a cylindrical shape, an endless belt shape, or the like is used as a substrate of a photoconductive member such as an electrophotographic photoreceptor, the metal body has a surface shape suitable for the application. Since it is required to have these, various cutting or polishing processes are performed on the surfaces of the metal bodies.

As the metal body, an aluminum alloy is generally used as the optimum one, and the surface thereof is subjected to the above-mentioned processing to obtain a desired surface, and a light-receiving layer according to the application is formed on the surface.

However, according to the conventional cutting processing method or polishing processing method, Si Al-Fe-based, Fe-Al-based, intermetallic compounds such as TiB ₂ and oxides of Al, Mg, Ti, Si, Fe, etc. are contained in the alloy structure. In addition to intervening or the presence of vacancies due to H ₂ , surface defects such as grain boundary step differences that occur between neighboring Al structures with different crystal orientations may occur.

Also, when an aluminum alloy is applied to a substrate, a surface with an extremely high cleanliness is used.The surface of such an aluminum alloy is active even under an ultrahigh vacuum of 10 ^-9 mmHg. Then, an oxide film with a thickness of about 30Å is formed.

A substrate obtained by subjecting a surface to a conventional cutting method or a polishing method in such a problem eventually causes various problems and defects in the function of a photoconductive member manufactured using the same. Become.

That is, for example, when it is an electrophotographic photoreceptor, the light-receiving layer formed on the substrate becomes poor in uniformity and homogeneity, or has electrical, optical, and / or photoconductive properties. The image becomes non-uniform, which causes a defect in the image, and is often not practical. This point is remarkable when the light receiving layer is formed of silicon or a non-single crystal material containing silicon as a main component.

[Object of the Invention]

The main object of the present invention is to eliminate the various physical problems caused by the above-mentioned conventional processing methods and the problem that an oxide film is formed on the surface of a substrate, thereby processing the surface of a metal body to produce an electrical or electronic device. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for manufacturing a substrate which is optimal for the constituent members, especially for electrophotographic photoreceptors.

Another object of the present invention is to use the substrate obtained by the above method and form a desired photoreceptive layer on the processed surface thereof so that the electrical, optical and photoconductive properties are substantially always stable. It has excellent light fatigue resistance, does not deteriorate even after repeated use, has excellent durability and moisture resistance, and has no or almost no residual potential observed. If necessary, hydrogen atoms (H)
Another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate manufacturing apparatus suitable for manufacturing a light receiving member having a light receiving layer composed of amorphous silicon a-Si (H, X) containing a halogen atom (X).

[Constitution / Effect of Invention]

The inventors of the present invention should have an optimum surface shape for a substrate for electric or electronic devices, particularly for electrophotographic photoreceptors, and to avoid the problems brought about by the conventional surface processing method described above. As a result of earnest studies, when using a rigid spherical body to drop them on the surface of a predetermined metal body, for example, when the metal body is an aluminum alloy, no intermetallic compound or metal oxide is present in the alloy structure. The surface of the metal body can be made into a preferable surface shape without inclusions of substances and the like, and without the presence of pores, and without the occurrence of surface defects such as grain boundary steps. When it is carried out in the presence of a liquid containing an oxide film does not occur even under normal pressure conditions, the processed surface of the substrate thus obtained is mainly a-Si (H, X) by glow discharge method. When the composed light receiving layer is formed The formed light-receptive layer becomes uniform and homogeneous, and the light-receptive member is such that, in use, light passing through the light-receptive layer is reflected at the layer interface, the substrate surface, and they interfere with each other. Then, it was found that the formed image can be efficiently prevented from becoming a striped pattern, and the image to be output has an extremely excellent quality, and the present invention is based on the finding. I completed it.

That is, in the present invention, a rigid true sphere or a rigid sphere having an uneven surface shape is dropped from a predetermined height in a state where the surface of the substrate is coated with a liquid containing polybutene (hereinafter referred to as "surface coating liquid"). The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing an optimal substrate for an electric or electronic device, particularly an electrophotographic photoreceptor, whose main point is to treat the material.

The substrate used for surface treatment with the apparatus of the present invention may be electrically conductive or electrically insulating.

As the conductive substrate, for example, NiCr, stainless steel, Al, C
Examples thereof include metals such as r, Mo, Au, Nb, Ta, V, Ti, Pt and Pb, and alloys thereof.

Examples of the electrically insulating support include a film or sheet of synthetic resin such as polyester, polyethylene, polycarbonate, cellulose, acetate, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polystyrene and polyamide, glass, ceramic, paper and the like. It is desirable that at least one surface of these electrically insulating substrates is subjected to a conductive treatment, and a light receiving layer is provided on the surface side subjected to the conductive treatment.

For example, if it is glass, NiCr, Al, Cr, Mo,
Au, Ir, Nb, Ta, V, Ti, Pt, Pd, In ₂ O ₃ , SnO ₂ , ITO (In ₂ O ₃ + SnO ₂ )
Conductivity is provided by providing a thin film of
Or synthetic resin film such as polyester film, NiCr, Al, Ag, Pb, Zn, Ni, Au, Cr, Mo, Ir, Nb, Ta, V, Tl, P
A thin film of a metal such as t is provided on the surface by vacuum vapor deposition, electron beam vapor deposition, sputtering or the like, or the surface is laminated with the metal to impart conductivity to the surface.
The shape of the substrate can be any shape such as a cylindrical shape or a plate shape, but the shape can be appropriately determined depending on the application and the desire. For example, when the light receiving member is used as an electrophotographic image forming member, it is desirable to have a cylindrical shape for continuous high speed copying. The thickness of the substrate is appropriately determined so that a desired light-receiving member can be formed, but when flexibility is required as the light-receiving member, it is within a range in which the function as the substrate is sufficiently exhibited. It can be made as thin as possible. However, in view of manufacturing and handling of the substrate, mechanical strength and the like, it is usually 10
It is considered to be μ or more.

Further, in the apparatus of the present invention, a rigid true sphere or a rigid sphere having an uneven surface shape (usually φ = 0.4 is used for treating the above-mentioned substrate surface, that is, for forming a desired uneven shape on the surface.
Examples of the hard spheres include metal such as stainless steel, aluminum, steel, nickel, brass, etc., and ceramic or plastic. Of these, stainless steel and steel hard spheres are preferable from a comprehensive viewpoint including durability, cost and the like. And the hardness of such a sphere is higher than that of the base,
Alternatively, it may be lower, but when the sphere is repeatedly used, it is preferably higher than the hardness of the substrate.

Further, in the apparatus of the present invention, the surface coating liquid used when forming the desired uneven shape on the surface of the substrate by using the above-mentioned rigid body spheres is evenly distributed on the surface of the substrate in any case. Coating as thin as possible and the coating film formed there solidifies as quickly as possible, and the solidified film is washed away without any unevenness by the washing operation, and at the same time the substrate surface does not show any drying unevenness. It is required to be dried in an absolutely clean state without leaving any sagging. For these reasons, the surface coating liquid is (a) a low-viscosity liquid, (b) having a static elimination action, (c) a coating action, (d) a coating film (coat) formed Can be easily washed off, and (e) after the coating film (coat) is washed off, the processed surface is dried in an absolutely clean state without leaving any drying unevenness. It is necessary to satisfy the conditions (a) to (e).

Therefore, as the surface coating liquid, a liquid obtained by dissolving a long chain hydrocarbon in an appropriate organic solvent is generally used.

A typical example of the long-chain hydrocarbon is polybutene. Among the polybutenes, preferred are those represented by the following general formula. That is, However, n in the formula represents an integer of 3 to 40. Among the polybutenes represented by the above general formula, those in which n is 3 to 20 are particularly preferable.

Incidentally, some of the polybutene itself (a) to
In some cases, the condition (e) is satisfied, and in that case, the surface coating liquid may consist essentially of the polybutene.

The organic solvent may be any one as long as it dissolves the long-chain hydrocarbon (polybutene) and gives a surface coating solution satisfying the conditions (a) to (e), Examples thereof include ether, heptane, toluene, trichloroethylene, trichloroethane and the like. However, among these organic solvents, trichloroethane is most preferable for the following reasons.

That is, trichloroethane dissolves the polybutene extremely efficiently, the obtained liquid has a moderate viscosity, is extremely malleable, and covers the surface of the substrate uniformly and evenly, forming a very thin film. , The thin film does not hinder the formation of spherical trace dents on the surface of the substrate by the falling hard spheres, and causes rapid solidification of the thin film after the formation of the spherical trace dents, and when it is used for the washing operation of the solidified film, The solidified film is quickly eluted and washed away from the processed surface of the substrate, and the exposed processed surface of the substrate is dried in an absolutely clean state without leaving any cleaning unevenness.

Then, the surface coating liquid obtained by dissolving the polybutene in trichloroethane, the liquid composition ratio of both substances is important,
The above polybutene was added to trichloroethane at a ratio of 1: 4 to 4: 4.
It is usually in the range of 1, but is most preferably 1: 1.

By the way, the substrate surface-treated by the apparatus of the present invention has a surface shape as shown in FIG. 1 for explaining the case of using a rigid spherical body. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 1 (A), a plurality of spheres 103, 103 having substantially the same diameter are regularly dropped from the same height toward different parts of the surface 102 of the base 101. A plurality of spherical trace depressions 104, 104 having substantially the same curvature (R) and substantially the same width on the surface of the substrate.
The present invention relates to a support in which irregularities are regularly formed by uniformly producing ... And overlapping each other. In this case, the depressions 104 and 1 overlapping each other
It is needless to say that it is necessary to drop the spheres 103 so that the spheres 103, 103 ... Collide with the base surface 102 at mutually different timings.

In the example shown in FIG. 1 (B), a plurality of two types of spheres 103, 103 ... And 10 having different diameters toward the surface 102 of the base 101 are provided.
3 ', 103' ... are dropped from substantially the same height or different heights, and two kinds of spherical trace depressions 104, 104 ... and 104 'having different curvatures and widths are formed on the surface of the base body. , 104 ′…
The present invention relates to a base body in which irregularities are irregularly formed by uniformly producing the above-mentioned elements so as to overlap each other.

Further, in the example shown in FIG. 1 (C) [front view (top) and cross-sectional view (bottom) of substrate surface], a plurality of spheres 104, 104 ... Are dropped irregularly from the same height, and a plurality of recesses 104, 104 having the same diameter and the same width are evenly formed on the surface of the base body so as to overlap each other and irregularly. The present invention relates to a support formed by forming an uneven shape on.

The substrate having the spherical trace-recessed surface shown in FIGS. 1 (A) to (C) is manufactured by the apparatus of the present invention, but in FIGS. 1 (A) to (C) For brevity,
The description of the surface coating liquid is omitted.

An apparatus for manufacturing a photoconductive member substrate of the present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiment, but the apparatus of the present invention is not limited thereto.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the entire apparatus for manufacturing a photoconductive member substrate of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a hard-sphere releasing / falling means of the apparatus shown in FIG.

In the figure, reference numerals 1 and 1'denote cylindrical bases, which are fitted on a left and right movable rotary shaft 2 whose surface is covered with an elastic body and fixed by fixing means 3, 3, .... Both ends of the rotary shaft are rotatably supported and fixed by appropriate supporting means (not shown), and one end is connected to a driving means (not shown). Reference numeral 4 denotes a discharging / falling means for the hard spheres 6, 6, ..., A disk 4 which is rotated by a driving means (not shown).
1 has blades 42, 42 ... Standing radially.
Reference numeral 51 'denotes a central opening of the disc 41 of the pipe 51 forcibly feeding the rigid balls 6, 6, ... By a feeding motor. The pipe 51 is slidably supported on the disc 41 by the opening 51'. ing. Reference numeral 54 denotes an outlet for a wear or fatigue rigid body ball, which has a door that can be opened and closed. 5 is a baguette conveyor 52 inside
It is a rigid sphere transfer tower in which is installed. At the bottom of the hard sphere transfer tower 5, there is a stagnant space 55 for the hard spheres 6, 6, ..., On the upper wall of the space is a hard sphere supply pipe from a hard sphere supply source (not shown). 53 is connected, and the connecting portion is a door 53 'that can be opened and closed.
Is internally sealed by. Reference numeral 56 is a transfer tube for transferring the hard spheres 6, 6, ... From the hard sphere receiving basket 7. The rigid ball receiving basket 7 is formed of a multi-perforated member 71.
Reference numeral 8 denotes a hopper-shaped surface coating liquid receiving container having a multi-perforated cap 81 at the center of the bottom,
Is connected to the pipe 82. A discharge pipe 10 having a valve 10 ′ is provided at the bottom end of the retention tank 9. Further, a surface coating liquid supply pipe 91 from a surface coating liquid supply source (not shown) is provided on the upper portion of the retention tank 9 with a valve 91 'and opened. The surface coating liquid A in the retention tank 9 is
Jetting holes 12 'through a conduit 11 provided with pumping means,
12 ', and is sent to the ejection pipes 12 and 12, and the surface coating liquid A is urged by the pump action to eject the ejection holes 12'
It is injected downward from 12 ', ....

The apparatus of the present invention described above is hermetically housed in a housing (not shown) of an appropriate member. To illustrate the operation of the illustrated apparatus of the present invention, two cylindrical substrates 1, 1'are fitted and fixed on a rotary shaft 2 as shown, while a surface coating solution [eg polybutene + trichloroethane (1 1) Liquid]
Is introduced into the retention tank 9 through a supply pipe 91, the pump means is operated to send the surface coating liquid to the ejection pipes 12 and 12, and is ejected downward from the ejection holes 12 ′, 12 ′, ... 1, so that a liquid film of the surface coating liquid is formed on the surface of the cylindrical substrate 1, and the left end of the cylindrical substrate 1 on the rotating shaft 2 is a rigid sphere 6 from the hard sphere discharging / falling means 4. 6,
When the position is adjusted to reach the falling position of ..., The rotation of the rotary shaft 2 is started. At that point, the bucket conveyor is operated to operate the rigid sphere 6 in the rigid sphere retaining space 55.
6 are transferred upward and discharged to the tubular body 51, and the rigid spheres are sent by the motor to the rotating rigid sphere discharging / falling means 4, and the rigid spheres 6, 6, between the blades 42, 42 ,.
... is discharged and dropped to collide with the surface of the cylindrical substrate located below. The rigid spheres 6, 6, ... Collide with the surface of the cylindrical substrate and then drop into the rigid body receiving basket 7, where the transfer tube 5
It passes through 6 and enters the hard sphere retaining space 55, and is sent to the hard sphere discharging / falling means in the same manner as described above. The surface coating liquid hits the surface of the cylindrical substrate 1 and forms a liquid film there, and the remainder falls into the rigid ball receiving basket 7, enters the container 8 through its wall hole, and the multi-perforated cap. At 81, the solid matter is separated, enters the retention tank 9, and is sent to the ejection pipes 12 and 12 in the same manner as described above. After the processing for a predetermined time, the rotary shaft 2 is moved to the left, the above-described operation is repeated to finish the surface processing of the cylindrical substrate 1, the supply of the rigid balls 6, 6, ... Is stopped, and the rotary shaft 2 is moved to the left. Then, when the cylindrical substrate 1'has reached the predetermined position as described above, the discharging and dropping of the hard spheres 6, 6, ... Are started. After that, the same processing as described above is performed. Thus, the surface processing of the two cylindrical substrates is continuously performed.

During operation, in order to keep the surface coating solution clear, the solution is decanted in the retention tank 9 and the precipitate is removed from the valve 1
Open 0'and remove from drain 10. A new surface coating liquid is supplied to the retention tank 9 via the supply pipe 91 in order to keep the surface coating liquid at a predetermined concentration and set the amount existing in the system to a predetermined amount. As for hard spheres, when they become worn or fatigued, they are removed through the outlet 54 and new hard spheres are introduced into the system from the supply pipe 53.

By operating as described above, the formation of the trace depressions on the surface of the cylindrical substrate is performed in a state where the substrate surface is completely covered with the thin liquid film of the surface coating liquid.

The above-mentioned operation by the apparatus of the present invention can be carried out under the conditions of room temperature and atmospheric pressure, but if it is desired to strengthen the collision of the hard sphere with the surface of the substrate, it should be carried out under vacuum conditions. preferable.

The substrate obtained by operating the apparatus of the present invention has a thinned film formed on its surface so as to cover it evenly, and the surface has a spherical trace indentation without leaving a flat portion. Are formed.

Even if this substrate is carried out of the system and stored as it is until it is used, since its surface is completely shielded from the outside air by the solidified film, the substrate is made of an aluminum alloy material. However, there is no chance of causing a problem such as the formation of an oxide film on the surface.

According to the apparatus of the present invention described above, after carrying out the treated substrate,
Since a new cylindrical substrate is loaded into the system and the above-mentioned operation can be repeated for the substrate, a substrate having a desired surface treatment can be continuously produced.

In any case, the substrate obtained by the surface treatment by the above-mentioned operation is subjected to a solvent washing treatment to elute the solidified film, and after the surface is dried to an absolutely clean state, a film is formed (photoreceptive layer formation). ) When it is loaded into an apparatus (not shown), the apparatus of the present invention can also perform the solvent washing treatment.

In that case, after the surface treatment, after removing the surface coating liquid to bring the system into a clean state, the retention tank 9 is switched to a cleaning liquid (for example, trichloroethane) tank (not shown), and the cleaning liquid is sent to the ejection pipes 12 and 12. Injection holes 12 ', 1
.. are jetted downward from 2 ', ..., At the same time, the rotating shaft 2 is rotated to elute the solidified film on the surfaces of the substrates 1, 1', and thereafter, washing is stopped and the substrate surfaces are dried.

The substrate obtained by surface processing with the apparatus of the present invention described above has desired spherical trace dents formed without leaving a flat surface on the surface, and the entire surface is covered with a solidified film and shielded from the outside air. When the washing liquid is washed using a solvent such as trichloroethane, elution of the solidified film proceeds extremely efficiently, and the surface can be dried extremely efficiently without leaving any drying unevenness. The surface state is absolutely clean, which makes it optimal as a substrate for photoconductive members.

By the way, a-Si (H, X) [provided that X
Represents a halogen atom. ] To form a film,
The same film was formed on the support of the spherical trace dent shape surface obtained by the method not using the surface coating liquid in the method of the present invention in the same manner as above, and both wavelengths were 780 nm using an image exposure device, An image was obtained by irradiating an image with a laser having a spot diameter of 80 μm, developing and transferring the image, and observing the occurrence of interference fringes in the obtained image, the former one was found to be significantly superior. It was

[Brief description of drawings]

FIGS. 1 (A) to 1 (C) are schematic views for explaining the uneven shape of the substrate surface formed by the apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the entire apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the hard sphere discharging / falling means of the apparatus shown in FIG. In the figure, 1, 1 '... Substrate, 2 ... Rotating shaft, 3 ... Fixing means, 4 ... Rigid sphere discharging / falling means, 5 ... Rigid sphere transfer tower, 6, 6 ... Rigid sphere, 7 ... ... Hard sphere receiving means, 8 ... Surface coating liquid receiving means, 9
…… Stagnant tank, 12 …… Spout pipe

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Keiichi Murai, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) References JP-A-62-36676 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A hard sphere discharging / falling means having a sphere discharging blade provided upright on a rotating disk, having a surface coating liquid supplying means at a lower position thereof, and having a surface coating liquid supplying means at a lower position thereof. A base for a photoconductive member, which has a base-holding rotary shaft that is movable to the left and right, and has a hard sphere receiving means and a surface coating liquid receiving means formed of multi-perforated members at its lower position. Manufacturing equipment.