Becker Kurig & Partner Patentanwälte mbB

An information processing system is disposed in an image forming apparatus (1), such as a printer, and includes: a processor (21b) configured to: check a fiber orientation indicating an orientation state of fibers in paper (10) from plural directions; and derive an expansion and contraction ratio of the paper (10) based on the checked fiber orientation.

A recording medium accommodating device (200) includes an opposing member (500) that is provided to be movable in an advancing and retracting manner with respect to a side portion of a recording medium to be loaded and that is disposed at a position facing the side portion, an acquisition unit (300) that acquires information regarding the recording medium to be loaded, the acquisition unit being supported by the opposing member and moving in accordance with advancement and retraction of the opposing member, and a support portion (700) that is disposed below a movement path of the acquisition unit and that is provided to be movable in an up-down direction and supports a part of the recording medium to be loaded from below, in which the support portion is configured such that a length of the support portion in a movement direction of the acquisition unit is changeable.

An image forming unit includes a photoreceptor and a charging member that comes into contact with a surface of the photoreceptor to charge the photoreceptor, in which the photoreceptor includes a conductive substrate and a lamination-type photosensitive layer that has a charge generation layer and a charge transport layer disposed on the conductive substrate, the charge transport layer contains a polyarylate resin and does not substantially contain an organic fluorine compound, the charging member includes a support member, an elastic layer disposed on the support member, and a surface layer disposed on the elastic layer, and the surface layer contains a resin, conductive particles, and a silicon compound, and a silicon element concentration on a surface of the surface layer is 0.2 atm% or more and 1.2 atm% or less.

A siloxane compound film contains a siloxane compound including Si, O, C, and H as constituent elements, in which the siloxane compound film has a peak in a range of 100 eV or more and 103 eV or less in a spectrum measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and a half-value width of the peak is 1.80 eV or more and 4.00 eV or less.

An image forming apparatus includes: an image holder; a charging unit that charges a surface of the image holder; an electrostatic image forming unit that forms an electrostatic image on the charged surface of the image holder; a developing unit that accommodates an electrostatic image developer containing a toner in which a number proportion of toner particles having a particle diameter of 4 µm or less is 15% by number or more, and that develops the electrostatic image formed on the surface of the image holder into a toner image with the electrostatic image developer; a transfer unit that transfers the toner image onto a recording medium; and a fixing device that includes a fixing member having a surface layer that contains no fluorine atom and is a cured product of a composition containing an organopolysiloxane (T type) having a silsesquioxane structure represented by Formula 1 and dimethyl organopolysiloxane (D type), in which a contained ratio (T type/D type) of the organopolysiloxane (T type) to the dimethyl organopolysiloxane (D type) is 1/9 or more and 9/1 or less, and a difference ΔH between a maximum value and a minimum value of an ultramicrohardness of the surface layer, that is measured at arbitrary 50 points by an ultramicrohardness test specified in JIS Z2255 (2003), is 0% or more and 50% or less, and that fixes the toner image onto the recording medium by bringing the surface layer of the fixing member into contact with the toner image on the recording medium and heating and pressurizing the recording medium. Formula 1 [R¹SiO_3/2]_m(in Formula 1, R¹'s each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, an alkynyl group, an aralkyl group, an aryl group, a group represented by -C(=O)-CR²₃, or a monovalent organic group having a reactive group, a plurality of R¹'s may be the same or different from each other, R² represents a hydrogen atom, a methyl group, or an ethyl group, in a case of a plurality of R²'s, the plurality of R²'s may be the same or different from each other, the monovalent organic group may be substituted with a halogen atom, a hydroxy group, an alkoxy group, an aryloxy group, an aralkyloxy group, or an oxy group, the alkyl group, the alkenyl group, the alkynyl group, the aralkyl group, and the aryl group may have a substituent, and m represents a positive integer)

An image forming apparatus includes: an image holder; a charging unit that charges a surface of the image holder; an electrostatic image forming unit that forms an electrostatic image on the charged surface of the image holder; a developing unit that accommodates an electrostatic image developer containing a toner that contains toner particles containing a metal pigment having an average equivalent circle diameter of 5 µm or more and 15 µm or less, in which an average value of ratios b/a between a major axis diameter a and a minor axis diameter b in a cross section of the toner particles is 0.5 or more and 0.8 or less, and an average value of areas of the metal pigment occupying a projected image of the toner particles in a case of being viewed in a thickness direction is 0.5 or more and 0.7 or less, the developing unit developing the electrostatic image formed on the surface of the image holder into a toner image with the electrostatic image developer; a transfer unit that transfers the toner image onto a recording medium; and a fixing device that includes a fixing member having a surface layer that contains no fluorine atom and is a cured product of a composition containing an organopolysiloxane (T type) having a silsesquioxane structure represented by Formula 1 and dimethyl organopolysiloxane (D type), in which a contained ratio (T type/D type) of the organopolysiloxane (T type) to the dimethyl organopolysiloxane (D type) is 1/9 or more and 9/1 or less, and a difference ΔH between a maximum value and a minimum value of an ultramicrohardness of the surface layer, that is measured at any 50 points by an ultramicrohardness test specified in JIS Z2255 (2003), is 0 or more and 15 or less, the fixing device fixing the toner image onto the recording medium by bringing the surface layer of the fixing member into contact with the toner image on the recording medium and then heating and pressurizing the recording medium. Formula 1 [R<1>SiO<3/2>]<m> (in Formula 1, R<1>'s each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, an alkynyl group, an aralkyl group, an aryl group, a group represented by -C(=O)-CR<2>3 , or a monovalent organic group having a reactive group, a plurality of R<1>'s may be the same or different from each other, R<2> represents a hydrogen atom, a methyl group, or an ethyl group, in a case of a plurality of R<2>'s, the plurality of R<2>'s may be the same or different from each other, the monovalent organic group may be substituted with a halogen atom, a hydroxy group, an alkoxy group, an aryloxy group, an aralkyloxy group, or an oxy group, the alkyl group, the alkenyl group, the alkynyl group, the aralkyl group, and the aryl group may have a substituent, and m represents a positive integer)

A fixing device includes a fixing member including a base material layer, an elastic layer disposed on the base material layer, and a surface layer that is disposed on the elastic layer and is a cured product of a composition containing a silsesquioxane compound, a heating member that is configured to heat the fixing member, and a pressurizing member disposed to be in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the fixing member, in which, in the surface layer of the fixing member, a ratio of an indentation depth B at a time of load release to an indentation depth A at a time of load application (= B/A × 100%) in an ultramicrohardness test (JIS Z 2255:2003) is 45% or less.

A fixing member includes a base material, and a release layer that is provided on the base material and contains a polysiloxane compound having a T unit represented by a formula: [R<1>SiO<3/2>]<m> (in the formula, R<1> represents an organic group, m represents an integer of 2 or more, and at least one R<1> among a plurality of R<1>'s present in the T unit is a group including at least one of an alkyl group or an aryl group) and inorganic particles having an average particle diameter of 0.5 µm or more and 15 µm or less.

A fixing device includes a heating roll, a pressurizing belt that is disposed in contact with the heating roll and has a surface layer that is a cured product of a composition containing a compound represented by Formula 1, a pressing member that is disposed on an inner peripheral surface of the pressurizing belt and presses the pressurizing belt against the heating roll from the inner peripheral surface of the pressurizing belt, a sliding member that is interposed between the inner peripheral surface of the pressurizing belt and the pressing member, and a lubricant that is interposed between the inner peripheral surface of the pressurizing belt and the sliding member, (R¹₃SiO_1/2)_a(R¹₂SiO_2/2)_b(R¹SiO_3/2)_c(SiO_4/2)_a(R²O_1/2)_e Formula 1,(in Formula 1,R¹ represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, an alkynyl group, an aralkyl group, an aryl group, a group represented by -C(=O)-CR³₃, or a monovalent organic group having a reactive group, provided that a plurality of R¹'s may be the same or different from each other,R² represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group, provided that a plurality of R²'s may be the same or different from each other,R³ represents a hydrogen atom, a methyl group, or an ethyl group, provided that a plurality of R³'s may be the same or different from each other,the monovalent organic group may be substituted with a halogen atom, a hydroxy group, an alkoxy group, an aryloxy group, an aralkyloxy group, or an oxy group,the alkyl group, the alkenyl group, the alkynyl group, the aralkyl group, and the aryl group may have a substituent, anda, b, d, and e each independently represent 0 or more and 1 or less, c represents more than 0 and 1 or less, and a + b + c + d + e = 1).

A film contains a conductive material, and a polysiloxane compound that has a T unit represented by a formula: [R<1>SiO<3/2>]<m> (in the formula, R<1> represents an organic group, m represents an integer of 2 or more, and at least one R<1> among a plurality of R<1>'s present in the T unit is a group including at least one of an alkyl group or an aryl group), in which a surface resistivity is 1.0 × 10<3> Ω/sq or more and 1.0 × 10<8> Q/sq or less.