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The surface effects of plasma on xerographic photoreceptors

University of British Columbia

Xerographic photoreceptors play a large role in the printing process and advancements in photoreceptor robustness and efficiency will have a positive impact on both the economy and environment. During the printing process, the photoreceptor is exposed to plasma which causes degradation leading to a loss of print quality over time and eventual replace- ment of the part. To this end, we utilize a combination of static SIMS, ATR-FTIR, and AFM to characterise both chemical and physical changes on the photoreceptor surface after the photoreceptor had been brought to an end of life state. We also attempt to correlate changes in the photoreceptor to visible print defects in printed test pages. Our results point to evidence of binding polymer degradation at two specific locations in the molecule with water from the environment playing a large role in this process. Photorecep- tor stressing leads to deep regular undulations in the photoreceptor surface which can be seen via AFM. However, we did not find any significant observable differences in printed test pages. Although we obtained evidence and clues on the general mechanism of photore- ceptor degradation, more work is required to properly identify degradation pathways and products. Further work is also required to properly determine the way in which chemical degradation manifests itself onto printed pages.

Text

2014-07-08

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/47118

Chemistry

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/