Toner adhesion to a polyimide film substrate has been measured both inside and outside of an electrostatic field. Toner removal outside of an electrostatic field was done with a blow-off tool described previously. In-field measurements were done with a parallel plate device where the top plate was held at a known voltage and the lower plate grounded. Toner samples were astransferred to a polyimide intermediate transfer belt. Charged parallel plates have a propensity to experience low-field breakdown, as charges are highly mobile on the plate surface. To address that issue a thin insulation layer between the two plates was used. In-field and out-of-field toner removal responds differently to toner charge. A hypothesis of image dipole cancellation with electric field is proposed.
Julie G. Whitney, "Charged Particle Adhesion Internal to and External to an Electrostatic Field" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies and Digital Fabrication (NIP29), 2013, pp 449 - 452, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2013.29.1.art00046_2