Rolling detachment of toner by contact with the cleaning blade is the most important process in removing well-adhered toner from an adhesive substrate. The viability of the process is determined by the balance between the elastic force exerted by the blade on the particle and adhesion and friction forces exerted by contact with the substrate and blade. From analysis of these forces we obtain a vision of the cleaning latitude space. We give a quantitative analysis of the conditions under which the blade cleans toner in terms of parameters such as blade load, blade tip angle, tribo and surface energy. Much of the function of blade cleaners can be understood by the action of these parameters on the shape of the cleaning latitude space.
Robert J. Meyer, "Theory of Blade Cleaning" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies (NIP16), 2000, pp 846 - 850, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2000.16.1.art00105_2