In the current consumer market, half mirror type Head-up display (HUD) is widely used, which have problems of invisible background and poor color reproducibility. Zinc oxide is commonly used as a part of display for conducting medium or light scattering material, however, the light scattering system is all-around type scattering. Mie scattering pattern of nano sized high dispersed zinc oxide is anisotropic, and the pattern is good for HUD having characteristics of visible background (See-through) and color reproducibility. Laser light scattering patterns and optical observations represented that Rayleigh scattering and multiple scattering of zinc oxide or titanium dioxide were not suitable for background visible type HUD. Specific laser light scattering patterns were well matched for the HUD layout condition that the characteristics of both the projected image recognition and the background visibility went together.

Currently 3D printing has many types. FDM 3D printing was expected spread in general household. However FDM 3D printing is not spread enough to have been expected. The reason why is that the layer grooves are generated in the FDM 3D printed objects. The layer grooves make worse the appearance of the FDM 3D printed objects. This is the problem for FDM 3D-printer user. We have developed the 3D-Chemical Melting finishing as the method for solving the problem. However, there are no methods for evaluating the 3D-Chemical Melting Finishing. This time, we develop the method for evaluating a 3D-Chemical Melting finishing. The method uses the brightness that obtained from the image. This is a method based on the amount of brightness and the reflected light is related.

We have developed novel electron emission device that can operate stably in the atmosphere. The device has the feature of having a heterogeneous semi-conductive layer made of insulating material and conductive nanoparticles. The conventional discharge type chargers as the scorotron and the roller charger have been difficult to achieve both the ozone reduction and the suppression of OPC abrasion. The field electron emission device is able to resolve the both problems in principle, so we can use it as the MFP charger. The features of electron emission in the atmosphere are as follows;applied voltage is about 20V, current density is tens of μA/cm², durability of the A4 size device is more than 300 hours under the condition of 4.8μA/cm² current density. In this paper, we present the characteristics of novel electron emission device, analyze the behavior of electrons in the atmosphere and the vacuum, and discuss the results of the ozone reduction and the suppression of OPC abrasion.

Density unevenness, which degrades printed image quality, is not visible often even if its density gap is large. In this study, the first purpose was to identify a characteristic affecting to visibility of density unevenness, and to clarify those correlations. The second purpose was to show a proper characteristic as a factor with which we can predict visibility of the unevenness by using their correlation in future. We expected that “saliency” or “spatial frequency of lightness distribution” is the characteristic affecting visibility of density unevenness. We researched correlations between those quantitative vales and visibility of the unevenness. And we found that the correlation between the value calculated from spatial frequency and visibility of the unevenness was larger. This value is proper for predicting visibility of the unevenness. It should be considered as a remained issue that the value lacks versatility for size of density unevenness.

As the characteristics required for the printer, the environmental concerns such as power saving, recycling and decrease of the exhaust gases are growing in addition to basic demand such as high speed and high resolution. So each company is developing its technology recently. In the development of toner particles for the power saving, it is important to grasp the distribution state and physical property value of contained components inside the toner for controlling the characteristics. However, these analyses are mostly difficult by the charactaristic of its smallness and softness.

In this text, some examples of analyses are introduced about observation of distribution state of contained components, physical properties evaluation and composition analysis of micro sites.

While polymer materials such as rubber, plastics, fiber, etc. are indispensable for modern industrial products because of characteristics not found in metals and inorganic materials, their greatest disadvantage is the susceptibility to degradation. Even degradation of a small part makes it impossible for a product to maintain its functions and leads to trouble. In order to take adequate measures against troubles, it is necessary to specify the cause of degradation using chemical analysis. However, the degradation is a complicated and imhomogeneous phenomenon, so this is not an easy task. To perform the analysis, the information of trouble products about history and environment, the knowledge of characteristics (especially weak points) of the polymer materials and analytical methods, and advanced analytical instruments and methods are necessary. We will explain degradation factors of polymer materials and various analytical methods.

The correlative microscope ‘alpha300 series' is based on optical microscope techniques. And it enables correlative confocal laser microscope, confocal Raman microscope, scanning near-field optical microscope and atomic force microscope. The modular and flexible design of this microscope guarantees easy to use and good performance extension along with access to correlative microscopy. The new photonic fiber technology improves confocality of the microscope. The lens-based spectrometer allows high throughput signal and true symmetrical spectrum. The unique atomic force microscope integrated with object lens provides high-resolution sample topographic survey, and it does not obstruct other functions. The scanning near-field optical microscope employees the cantilever with aperture at the apex of pyramid enables the high resolution image beyond the diffraction limit. This article describes principal of each function and observation results of correlative functions.

Polymer materials play an important role in various aspects of daily life such as automobile, information and communications. Their forms used are different depending on each use and the demanded functions are also different. Structural control in the nano region is important to the function of polymer materials, especially for nanocomposites and polymer films. For materials development, it is necessary to elucidate the mechanism of function expression, so precise structural analysis is required. Structural analysis technology applying synchrotron radiation has developed rapidly in recent years due to the enhancement of domestic synchrotron radiation facility and it is also a powerful tool for polymer materials. In this paper, as an example of the structural analysis of polymer materials by synchrotron radiation, we show the application to end-modified styrene butadiene rubber for fuel-efficient tire and polyimide film for liquid crystal alignment film.

Microscopic electrostatic charge measurements for single toner particle are important for toner prescription design with stable charging property and accurate control of toner behavior during image formation process for image quality improvement of electrophotography. The paper introduces Kelvin Force Microscope (KFM), which is technique for surface potential mapping based on Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM), and the single particle charge measurement utilizing the particle manipulation by the nanotweezers. The both of the techniques are the microscopic measurements applying a SPM cantilever, which is a potent device for detection of micro-electrostatic force. The surface charge distribution of single toner particle can be acquired by KFM. The amount of charge of single isolated toners on a specific electrophotography parts can be provided by the method using the nanotweezers. These techniques are simple in that for detecting deformation and oscillation change of the cantilever due to the electrostatic charge, and effective for evaluation of microscopic charging state of toner. The principles of the measurements and the evaluation examples of the toners are discussed.

We have studied the conductive expression mechanism in dielectrics that contain conductive particles by newly developed two analysis techniques : a technique for visualizing the three-dimensional site distribution of conductive particles in dielectrics and a sub-nanometer scale conductive measurement technique. From results obtained by these techniques, we defined the conductive model and then constructed a novel physical model to describe the conductive expression mechanism. To evaluate the applicability of this model, the volume resistivity of several samples was calculated by changing the experimental conditions with this physical model. The validity of the proposed physical model has been verified by confirming the same factorial effect for the calculated and experimental results.

As a result of the recent demand for high performance and high quality electrophotography, more highly functional toners are desired. For the evaluation, a significant amount of measurement equipment has been proposed. Among them, evaluations of internal friction angle, particle strength, adhesion force, and dissipate static electric charge were investigated. For the commercial toner, the results showed that the internal friction angle obtained in the shear test was found to differ by about 3 times due to the difference in the manufacturing method. In adhesion measurement, distribution was observed up to approximately 1nN to 4nN. The particle strength was around 20MPa∼40MPa. With regard to dissipate static electric charge, cyan toner (+) trend showed a wider change tendency than (-) trend. It is considered that stable quality and high-performance can be secured by designing these physical properties according to the specifications of the machine.

The mechanism of toner adhesion force is important to understand electrophotographic system. Electrostatic force is affected by electric charges, particle sizes, surface conditions and unevenness of them and exhibits complex behavior. We developed two-dimensional distribution analysis method of electric charges and adhesion forces by ultrasonic vibrations, and visualized transfer regions affected by toner degradation and force dependence on electric charges. As a result of the measurement and simulations, we concluded that the Charge Patch Model is the most appropriate model to describe the mechanism of electrostatic forces.

Historically there have been numerous electrostatic voltage measurement techniques for a long time. However, accomplishing highly accurate electrostatic voltage measurement with high spatial resolution is not an easy object. In order to obtain highly accurate surface voltage information with high spatial resolution, we understood that the usage of a long sensor should be a mandatory. We have found that the usage of the null-balance method should be utilized to conduct the high voltage measurement. Additionally we have introduced the measurement of the impurity distribution on a silicon wafer. The surface potential on the semiconductor surface reflects the energy band structure and we have confirmed that the impurity distribution density can be obtained through the measurement of the surface voltage distribution. It is very difficult to conduct a quantitative analysis of the energy band structure with the measurement in the atmospheric environment as we cannot control the surface status of the semiconductor. However, we think we can accomplish a qualitative analysis of the energy band structure with the electrostatic voltage measurement in the atmosphere. We are able to expect wide range of applications for this measurement method. We have reported the analysis of electret materials with this method.

One of the problems of charging roller systems in electrophotography is the density nonuniformity of a printed image due to anomalous discharges. Characterization of discharge is important to find proper countermeasures to the problems. We developed a measurement technique of micro region discharge current that is capable of analyzing a form of the discharge current in detail. Using this measurement system, dependency of discontinuous change in discharge mode on charging parameters was clarified. In addition to the technique and measurement results, Relationship between the discharge conditions and the density nonuniformity of the image is also discussed.