Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or... – Including a second component containing structurally defined...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-05
2003-08-26
Le, H. Thi (Department: 1773)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or...
Including a second component containing structurally defined...
C428S327000, C428S328000, C428S329000, C264S241000, C264S319000, C264S328100, C264S328180, C264S331110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06610396
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a resin molding product using an electrophotographic toner and a manufacturing method of the resin molding product particularly relates to a resin molding product that uses, as a molding compound of a core layer, the electrophotographic toner which cannot be used for an apparatus such as an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic type so as to improve the quality of the resin molding product and a manufacturing method of the resin molding product.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
According to a conventional art, in the manufacturing process of the electrophotographic toner, a fine toner is generated during the final classification step. Such a toner cannot be used as the product and does not fall within the standard particle diameter. The fine toner used to be discarded. However, a variety of suggestions have been made as to how to reclaim such a toner because of the recent concerns about the effective use of the raw material and environmental issues. According to one method of reclamation, for example, the fine toner is recycled during the manufacturing of the electrophotographic toner. As conventional examples dealing with the toner recycle, (a) a manufacturing method of an electrophotographic toner is disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No.6-266157 (publication date: Sep. 22, 1994), and (b) a manufacturing method of a toner for developing the electrostatic charge is disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No.8-69126 (publication date: Mar. 12, 1996). According to the manufacturing method disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No.6-266157, the fine toner is made into pellet particles that can pass through a 2 mm mesh by a compression and granulating apparatus, and then is recycled in the toner manufacturing step. In the mean time, according to the manufacturing method disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 8-69126, the fine toner is mixed, kneaded, and injected, and then is ground so as to form pellet particles. Thereafter, the pellet particles are recycled in the toner manufacturing step.
When using the image forming apparatus, the cleaning process generates a discard toner, which is a toner to be discarded. Image forming apparatus, having a mechanism for the toner recycle in which the discard toner is reclaimed, have been well know as the art.
Further, according to international unexamined patent publication No. WO97/38838 (international publication date: Oct. 23, 1997), disclosed is a method, for reclaiming a painted molding product, in which the discard toner is used. More specifically, in the method, a molding product that is constituted by a thermoplastic resin is painted by a paint made of a thermoplastic resin. The painted molding product is ground so as to obtain grounded pieces. The grounded pieces thus obtained are subjected to the molding so as to form another molding product. The molding product is then painted with the thermoplastic resin paint. Thus, the painted molding product is reclaimed. According to the reclamation method, the discard toner is added to the ground particles in a constant rate, or a constant amount of the toners to be discarded is added to the paint aspigment.
In the field of the molding technology of a plastic material, a combined structure known as the sandwiched structure is well known. The resin molding product having the sandwiched structure (hereinbelow referred to as the sandwiched molding product) is provided with a core layer as a main layer, and the core layer is coated with skin layers (outer layers).
Since the core layer is coated with the skin layers, the sandwiched molding product has the advantage that it is possible to make use of the properties of the respective materials to be selected as the respective layers. More specifically, for example, when using a material, such as a styrene-type resin, whose impact resistance is not adequate as the core layer, by coating the core layer with the skin layers that are made of a material having an excellent strength, preferably having the strength and stiffness of greater than the core layer, the core layer is strengthened and the appearance is improved.
The conventional arts of the sandwiched molding product, for example, are disclosed in the publications such as Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2-251446 (publication date: Oct. 9, 1990) or Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 6-305081 (publication date: Nov. 1, 1994). The conventional arts are for improving the quality of the sandwiched molding product.
According to typical sandwiched molding products, the material of the core layer is different from that of the skin layer, and, as a result, the adhesive strength of each layer is not adequate. Accordingly, the integrality of the layers as the molding product is not adequate. According to the publication No. 2-251446, in order to solve this problem, a composite mainly made of poly phenylene-ether and poly-amid is used as the skin layer and a styrene-type resin is used as the core layer.
In the cooling process of the molding, the degree of shrinkage in each melting resin that becomes the molding compound of the core layer and the skin layer is sometimes different from each other. This causes the surface of the skin layer to have a hollow that is called a “hike”, which is likely to damage the quality of the appearance in the molding product. According to the publication No. 6-305081, in order to solve this problem, an olefin thermoplastic elastomer or a styrene thermoplastic elastomer is used as the skin layer, and a mixture of a crystallizing polypropylene resin, and an ethylene-&agr;-olefin copolymer or a styrene elastomer is used as the core layer, and the skin layer contains a predetermined amount of fillers.
In view of the conventional art relating to toner recycle, no effective reclamation method has been established with regard to the fine toner, as well as to the discard toner. Rather, most of the fine toner and discard toner is, permanently disposed of without any recycle. This is a problem.
As to the reclamation of the fine toner, according to the respective publications No. 6-266157 and No. 8-69126, the fine toner generated in the manufacturing process is added again in the manufacturing process of the toner. The reclamation of the fine toner is thus carried out. This causes that the quality of the toner that is the final product to deteriorate when the amount of the fine toner is too much. Accordingly, the amount of the fine toner that can be practically reclaimed is limited.
More specifically, in order to maintain the quality of the printed image to be a level of not less than a predetermined level, the rate of the fine toner to be added in the toner manufacturing process is at most around 10 percent with respect to the entire toner amount. When the fine toner is generated at more than this rate, it cannot be avoided that the fine toner is discarded. Such discarded toner is used as fuel.
In the recycle of the discard toner that has been generated in the image forming apparatus, the similar problem arises. More specifically, according to the image forming apparatus having the toner recycle mechanism, when the rate of the discard toner becomes high in the electrophotographic toner, it is most likely that the image to be formed deteriorates. Accordingly, the discard toner contributes to the recycle only at a predetermined rate. Furthermore, when the discard toner is generated at a rate of more than the predetermined rate, it is not possible to process the discard toner as fuel, thereby resulting in that the discard toner is processed as dirt.
According to the art disclosed in the international unexamined patent publication No. WO97/38838, the discard toner is reclaimed in the painted. molding product. The rate of the amount of the discard toner that is used in the painted molding product is low, so that the painted molding product is inadequately formed. This does not allow (a) large amount of discard toner to be used and (b) improvement in th
Ishii Hiroshi
Itoh Shoichi
Kimura Satoshi
Conlin David G.
Edwards & Angell LLP
Le H. Thi
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
Swiszcz-Hazzard Lisa
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