Method of treating preformed flexible imaging belts to form ripple-free and dimensionally precise belts

• Main Authors: VONHOENE; DONALD C, POST; RICHARD L, YU; ROBERT C. U, HSIEH; BING R, MISHRA; SATCHIDANAND, GRABOWSKI; EDWARD F, HORGAN; ANTHONY M
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 23.03.1999
• Edition: 6
• Subjects: AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; TRANSPORTING; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

A method of treating a preformed flexible imaging belt including providing a rigid cylindrical support drum having a precisely predetermined outer circumference, a first end and a second end, providing a preformed flexible electrostatographic imaging belt, circumferentially expanding the belt with a flowing fluid under pressure until the circumference of the inner surface of the belt adjacent the first end of the drum is stretched to a new dimension of at least about 0.1 percent greater than the outer circumference of the rigid support drum while maintaining the belt below the elastic limit of the belt to smooth out physical defects, sliding the belt onto the drum from the first end toward the second end until substantially all of the belt encircles the outer surface of the drum, terminating the flow of the flowing fluid to allow the belt to contract onto the outer surface of the support drum, heating the belt to a treatment temperature of between about the glass transition temperature and about 10 DEG C. above the glass transition temperature of the substrate or the imaging layer, the treatment temperature being the higher of these two glass transition temperatures, until the belt relaxes onto the outer circumference of the rigid drum and is substantially free of any tendency to contract back to the original circumference of the inner exposed surface prior to circumferentially expanding the belt, cooling the belt to ambient room temperature, and removing the belt from the drum, the belt having a new inner circumference substantially identical to the precisely predetermined outer circumference of the rigid cylindrical support drum.