Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : September 03, 2017 - September 06, 2017
MFP devices have a problem of paper jam. It is thought that the paper jam occurs due to a decline in frictional force of rubber rollers for feeding paper. Although the main cause of the decline is the adhesion of paper powder to rubber rollers, the mechanism is not detailed. By this reason, most of previous studies of numerical analysis on rubber rollers have not been capable of considering an influence of paper powder. In contrast, direct observations using microscopes are valid, however, microscopes require high resolution and wide field of view to observe centimeters-long rollers. In this study, as one of the approaches to solve the problem of paper jam, we observed the contact interfaces between rubber rollers and a glass plate using wide field of view laser microscope. After the observation, we logged torque applied until the macroscopic slip occurs. By this method, we quantified the real contact area and frictional coefficient between rubber rollers and a glass plate. As a result, we clarified that paper powder influence considerably the real contact area and frictional properties, and there is an interrelationship between the real contact area and frictional properties.
