In recent years, environmental concerns and energy costs have created a need for lower energy consumption in the fusing systems of printers and copiers. To develop toner for low-energy fusing systems, we are investigating crystalline polyester (C-PES). Toner made from amorphous polyester (A-PES) and C-PES with annealing process shows good fusing ability and durability, as already reported by Fukuri et al. in NIP24. But charging ability of aliphatic C-PES was insufficient because of its monomer structure. In this paper, we report a study to achieve high charging ability by changing the monomer of C-PES from aliphatic diol to aromatic diol. Furthermore, crystallinity of aromatic C-PES can be controlled by adding another monomer which disturbs the symmetrical structure of C-PES. It was observed that the crystal size of aromatic C-PES becomes smaller in the toner, as the amount of another monomer increases. Therefore melting point of C-PES can be decreased. As a result, low energy fusible toner with high charging ability can be obtained.
Takeshi Ashizawa, Akihiro Eida, Youko Hanada, Jun Shimizu, "Crystalline polyester for low energy fusing with high charging ability" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies and Digital Fabrication (NIP26), 2010, pp 49 - 52, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2010.26.1.art00014_1