Abstract: A method for producing a cleaning blade including at least a strip-shaped elastic blade, the method including: (1) a step of producing an elastic blade preform formed of a polyurethane rubber; (2) a step of impregnating at least a part, which is to contact an image bearer, of the elastic blade preform with an ultraviolet-curable composition including a (meth)acrylate compound; (3) a step of immersing the part impregnated of the elastic blade preform in a washing solvent to remove the ultraviolet-curable composition including the (meth)acrylate compound remaining on a surface of the impregnated part; and (4) a step of curing the ultraviolet-curable composition including the (meth)acrylate compound that has impregnated the elastic blade preform to produce an elastic blade.

Abstract: Provided is a cleaning blade including an elastic member configured to abut on a surface of a cleaning target member and remove residual material deposited thereon, wherein elastic member satisfies requirements a to c below, a. an abutment part of the elastic member to abut on the surface of the cleaning target member has a reformed layer, b. Martens hardness at a surface of the reformed layer is from 1.5 to 15 N/mm2, and c. a relationship H/L between maximum Martens hardness H among Martens hardnesses H in a region inward from the abutment part thicknesswise and distance L from the surface of the reformed layer is from 0.010 to 0.2 (N/mm2·1/?m), where distance L represents minimum distance among distances to the surface of the reformed layer, from positions at which a measured Martens hardness and a measured elastic power are equal to those of the elastic member.

Abstract: A method for producing a cleaning blade including at least a strip-shaped elastic blade, the method including: (1) a step of producing an elastic blade preform formed of a polyurethane rubber; (2) a step of impregnating at least a part, which is to contact an image bearer, of the elastic blade preform with an ultraviolet-curable composition including a (meth)acrylate compound; (3) a step of immersing the part impregnated of the elastic blade preform in a washing solvent to remove the ultraviolet-curable composition including the (meth)acrylate compound remaining on a surface of the impregnated part; and (4) a step of curing the ultraviolet-curable composition including the (meth)acrylate compound that has impregnated the elastic blade preform to produce an elastic blade.

Abstract: A cleaning blade cleaning the surface of an object includes a rigid holder; and a strip-shaped elastic body fixed on the holder, including a tip ridgeline contacting the surface of the object. The elastic body has a length (L) projecting from the holder not less than 4 mm, a Martens hardness of from 1.0 to 10.0 N/mm2 from the tip ridgeline to the middle (L/2) thereof, and a Martens hardness of from 0.3 to 0.8 N/mm2 from the middle (L/2) thereof.

Abstract: A cleaning blade, including: rectangular elastic body blade containing cured first-UV-curable resin at tip ridgeline portion thereof, brought into contact with surface of to-be-cleaned member, the cured first-UV-curable resin being formed by impregnating the tip ridgeline portion with the first-UV-curable resin, followed by curing, and depth of the elastic body blade impregnated with the first-UV-curable resin from edge surface thereof is 50 ?m-150 ?m, wherein the elastic body blade contains surface layer containing cured second-UV-curable resin at the edge surface, wherein load-displacement curve of Martens hardness thereof has inflection points, and is obtained by pressing region of the surface layer thereof via resin particles having average particle diameter of 5 ?m-10 ?m, and distance of the region from the tip ridgeline portion is 0.5 mm or less, and wherein ratio of displacement at the inflection point, with which load is maximum, to the average particle diameter is 1.5-2.0.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a charging mechanism to charge a surface of the image carrier, an electrostatic latent image forming mechanism to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the image carrier, a developing mechanism to develop the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier into a toner image, a transfer mechanism to transfer the toner image on the surface of the image carrier to a transfer body, and a cleaning mechanism including a cleaning blade to clean a transfer residue toner adhering to the surface of the image carrier by contacting the surface of the image carrier. The cleaning blade includes a strip shaped elastic blade and a surface layer formed on an opposing surface of the strip shaped elastic blade opposite the surface of the image carrier.

Abstract: A cleaning blade cleaning the surface of an object includes a rigid holder; and a strip-shaped elastic body fixed on the holder, having a tip ridgeline to contact the surface of the object. The elastic body has a Martens hardness M1 in the range of from 0.9 to 10.0 N/mm2 at a position 300 ?m from the ridgeline on an undersurface of the elastic body including the ridgeline, a Martens hardness M2 at a position 1,000 ?m therefrom and a Martens hardness M3 at a position 2,000 ?m therefrom, and M1, M2 and M3 satisfy the following relationship: M1>M2>M3.

Abstract: A cleaning blade, including: rectangular elastic body blade containing cured first-UV-curable resin at tip ridgeline portion thereof, brought into contact with surface of to-be-cleaned member, the cured first-UV-curable resin being formed by impregnating the tip ridgeline portion with the first-UV-curable resin, followed by curing, and depth of the elastic body blade impregnated with the first-UV-curable resin from edge surface thereof is 50 ?m-150 ?m, wherein the elastic body blade contains surface layer containing cured second-UV-curable resin at the edge surface, wherein load-displacement curve of Martens hardness thereof has inflection points, and is obtained by pressing region of the surface layer thereof via resin particles having average particle diameter of 5 ?m-10 ?m, and distance of the region from the tip ridgeline portion is 0.5 mm or less, and wherein ratio of displacement at the inflection point, with which load is maximum, to the average particle diameter is 1.5-2.0.

Abstract: A cleaning blade cleaning the surface of an object includes a rigid holder; and a strip-shaped elastic body fixed on the holder, including a tip ridgeline to contact the surface of the object. The cleaning blade includes a part having a Martens hardness of from 0.9 to 5.0 N/mm2 at a depth of 20 ?m from an undersurface of the blade including the ridgeline, 0.3 to 0.8 N/mm2 at a depth of 40 ?m therefrom, and the Martens hardness at a depth of 20 ?m therefrom larger than that at a depth of 40 ?m therefrom by 0.6 N/mm2.

Abstract: A cleaning blade includes a supporting member, and a tabular elastic member. One end portion of the elastic member is fixed to the supporting member, and the other end portion is a free end portion whose tip edge is to be contacted with a member to be cleaned while rubbing the surface to remove a residual material therefrom. The tip portion of the free end portion of the elastic member ranging in length from 0 to 500 ?m from the tip surface thereof includes at least a cured material of a curable compound and an elastic material of the elastic member. The elastic member satisfies the relationship, 0.05(%)?[(tM?tA)/tA]×100?2%, wherein tM represents the maximum thickness of the tip portion of the elastic member, and tA represents the average thickness of the rear portion of the free end portion of the elastic member.

Abstract: A cleaning blade cleaning the surface of an object includes a rigid holder; and a strip-shaped elastic body fixed on the holder, having a tip ridgeline to contact the surface of the object. The elastic body has a Martens hardness M1 in the range of from 0.9 to 10.0 N/mm2 at a position 300 ?m from the ridgeline on an undersurface of the elastic body including the ridgeline, a Martens hardness M2 at a position 1,000 ?m therefrom and a Martens hardness M3 at a position 2,000 ?m therefrom, and M1, M2 and M3 satisfy the following relationship: M1>M2>M3.

Abstract: A cleaning blade cleaning the surface of an object includes a rigid holder; and a strip-shaped elastic body fixed on the holder, including a tip ridgeline to contact the surface of the object. The cleaning blade includes a part having a Martens hardness of from 0.9 to 5.0 N/mm2 at a depth of 20 ?m from an undersurface of the blade including the ridgeline, 0.3 to 0.8 N/mm2 at a depth of 40 ?m therefrom, and the Martens hardness at a depth of 20 ?m therefrom larger than that at a depth of 40 ?m therefrom by 0.6 N/mm2.

Abstract: A cleaning blade is provided. The cleaning blade includes a strip-shaped elastic blade. At least the tip edge portion of the elastic blade, which is to be contacted with the surface of a moving object to remove a powdery material from the surface of the moving object, includes an ultraviolet crosslinked resin, which includes an acrylate or methacrylate unit including a fluorine-containing group, and another acrylate or methacrylate unit having a tricyclodecane or adamantane skeleton, from the surface of the tip edge portion to a depth of not less than 5 ?m.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus, which contains: an image bearing member; a charging unit; an exposing unit; a developing unit; a transferring unit; and a cleaning unit, wherein the image bearing member contains an electrically conductive support, a photoconductive layer formed on the electrically conductive support, and a surface layer containing a binder resin and particles formed on a surface of the photoconductive layer, or contains the electrically conductive support, and the photoconductive layer formed on the electrically conductive support, wherein the cleaning unit contains a cleaning blade, which contains a cured composition containing a curing agent in a region of the cleaning blade, which is to be in contact with the image bearing member, and wherein the curing agent contains a polycyclic aliphatic hydrocarbon group, and a (meth)acryloyloxy group.

Abstract: A cleaning blade includes an elastic member configured to come into contact with a surface of a member to be cleaned and remove residual matter adhering to the surface of the member to be cleaned. The elastic member satisfies the following requirements a and b: a. The elastic member has a contact portion configured to come into contact with the surface of the member to be cleaned and the contact portion includes a modified layer that contains a cured product of an ultraviolet curable composition containing a (meth)acrylate compound; and b. A value obtained by normalizing a peak area ratio SA/SB of a modified portion with a peak area ratio SA?/SB? of a portion outside the modified layer is 1.

Abstract: A cleaning blade includes a supporting member, and a tabular elastic member. One end portion of the elastic member is fixed to the supporting member, and the other end portion is a free end portion whose tip edge is to be contacted with a member to be cleaned while rubbing the surface to remove a residual material therefrom. The tip portion of the free end portion of the elastic member ranging in length from 0 to 500 ?m from the tip surface thereof includes at least a cured material of a curable compound and an elastic material of the elastic member. The elastic member satisfies the relationship, 0.05(%)?[(tM?tA)/tA]×100?2%, wherein tM represents the maximum thickness of the tip portion of the elastic member, and tA represents the average thickness of the rear portion of the free end portion of the elastic member.

Abstract: A cleaning blade cleaning the surface of an object includes a rigid holder; and a strip-shaped elastic body fixed on the holder, including a tip ridgeline contacting the surface of the object. The elastic body has a length (L) projecting from the holder not less than 4 mm, a Martens hardness of from 1.0 to 10.0 N/mm2 from the tip ridgeline to the middle (L/2) thereof, and a Martens hardness of from 0.3 to 0.8 N/mm2 from the middle (L/2) thereof.

Abstract: A cleaning blade is provided. The cleaning blade includes a strip-shaped elastic blade. At least the tip edge portion of the elastic blade, which is to be contacted with the surface of a moving object to remove a powdery material from the surface of the moving object, includes an ultraviolet crosslinked resin, which includes an acrylate or methacrylate unit including a fluorine-containing group, and another acrylate or methacrylate unit having a tricyclodecane or adamantane skeleton, from the surface of the tip edge portion to a depth of not less than 5 ?m.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus, including: an image bearing member; a charging unit; an exposure unit; a developing unit; a transfer unit; a fixing unit; and a cleaning unit including a cleaning blade, wherein the charging unit includes a charging roller that is brought into contact with the image bearing member for charging, the charging roller abutting the image bearing member at a pressing force of 10 mN/cm to 1,000 mN/cm, wherein the cleaning blade includes an elastic member that abuts the surface of the image bearing member to remove a residue attached to the surface of the image bearing member, and wherein an abutment part of the elastic member, which abuts the surface of the image bearing member, includes a cured product of an ultraviolet curable composition containing a (meth)acrylate compound having an alicyclic structure having 6 or more carbon atoms in a molecule.

Abstract: Provided is a cleaning blade formed of an elastic blade and configured to abut on the surface of a cleaning target member, which allows a leading end edge portion of the elastic blade to move on the surface thereof, to remove powder from the surface of the cleaning target member. A blade surface of the elastic blade, which has the leading end edge portion of the elastic blade on one side thereof and faces the surface of the cleaning target member, has a Martens hardness of 1.2 N/mm2 or greater when it is indented by 5 ?m at a location that is 20 ?m away from the leading end edge portion, a Martens hardness of 1 N/mm2 or less when it is indented by 20 ?m at the location, and an elastic power of 70% or greater when it is indented by 5 ?m at the location.