Patent attributes
A liquid developer capable of preventing each of the disadvantages of uneven development density caused by uneven distribution of colored particles, poor transfer due to an insufficient amount of the liquid, and poor fixing due to an excess amount of the liquid, without complicating handling with the generation of volatile gas. Present on the surface of toner particles to be dispersed in a carrier liquid made of dimethyl silicone are a silicone group of one-end methacryloxy-modified silicone and a basic group. The silicone group prevents agglutination of the toner particles with each other. The silicone group functions as an affinity group and provides the toner particles with an affinity to the carrier liquid. Thus, it becomes possible to disperse the toner particles uniformly in the carrier liquid. Besides, the basic group on the surface of toner particles allows the toner particles to ensure the desired charge amount. Therefore, colored particles such as the toner particles hardly agglutinate with each other in a nonpolar insulating liquid to be provided as a nonaqueous solvent, while the colored particles can be electrophoresed at high speed by an electric field.
