A toner, including: a polyester resin, wherein the polyester resin has a structure represented by any one of formulas 1) to 3) below: 1) R1-(NHCONH-R2)n-, 2) R1-(NHCOO-R2)n-, and 3) R1-(OCONH-R2)n-, where n is 3 or more, R1 represents an aromatic organic group or an aliphatic organic group, and R2 represents a group derived from a resin that is polyester formed of polycarboxylic acid, polyol, or both thereof; or that is a modified polyester obtained by modifying polyester with isocyanate. ##STR00001##

The present invention provides a toner for electrostatic-image development comprising color resin particle containing a binder resin, a colorant, a charge control agent, and a thickener, wherein the binder resin is a copolymer including styrene-monomer unit and (meth)acrylate monomer unit, the thickener is a resin containing a nitrogen atom, and the content of nitrogen atom is 150 to 1500 mass ppm in the toner for electrostatic-image development.

An image forming apparatus including developing unit to develop electrostatic latent image with toner to form visible image, and cleaning unit including elastic member including surface layer and configured to remove the toner, wherein Martens hardness A and Martens hardness B of the surface layer measured by applying load of 1 N and load of 1,000 N, respectively, to position of the surface layer in thickness direction thereof using nanoindenter are both 2.5 N/mm.sup.2 or greater but 32.5 N/mm.sup.2 or less, and Martens hardness A and Martens hardness B satisfy inequality,
Martens hardness A>Martens hardness B
wherein coefficient of dynamic friction of the surface layer against polycarbonate is 0.5 or less, and the toner includes polyester resin insoluble to THF and Tg of THF-insoluble component of the toner determined from DSC curve of first heating of DSC is 60 C. or higher but 20 C. or lower.

A coating material which is processable by non-impact printing to form at least a part of a coating layer representing an image, the coating material having an amorphous resin portion, is curable and is configured for being applied with a thickness of at least 15 m, the coating material having one or more of the following: a polyester resin having at least one incorporated acid monomer and wherein at least 10 weight percent of the at least one incorporated acid monomer is isophthalic acid; a polyester resin containing 1 to 100 w-% of cycloaliphatic glycol compounds with respect to the total weight of the glycol compounds of the polyester resin component; an acrylic resin; a fluorine containing polymer; a polyurethane resin.

An image forming apparatus including developing unit to develop electrostatic latent image with toner to form visible image, and cleaning unit including elastic member including surface layer and configured to remove the toner, wherein Martens hardness A and Martens hardness B of the surface layer measured by applying load of 1 N and load of 1,000 N, respectively, to position of the surface layer in thickness direction thereof using nanoindenter are both 2.5 N/mm.sup.2 or greater but 32.5 N/mm.sup.2 or less, and Martens hardness A and Martens hardness B satisfy inequality,

Martens hardness A>Martens hardness B

wherein coefficient of dynamic friction of the surface layer against polycarbonate is 0.5 or less, and the toner includes polyester resin insoluble to THF and Tg of THF-insoluble component of the toner determined from DSC curve of first heating of DSC is 60 C. or higher but 20 C. or lower.

A toner including: a plate-shaped pigment containing a metal as a main component; and a binder resin containing polyester resin (A) that is insoluble in THF, wherein: a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of a tetrahydrofuran (THF)-soluble component of the toner as determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) is 5,000 or higher but 14,000 or lower; and a glass transition temperature (Tg) of a THF-insoluble component of the toner as determined from a differential scanning colorimetry (DSC) curve at first heating in DSC is 60 C. or higher but 10 C. or lower.

A part material for printing three-dimensional parts with a selective deposition-based additive manufacturing system has a composition having a thermoplastic polyuiethane polymer and a charge control agent. The part material is provided in a powder form having a D90/D50 particle size distribution and a D50/D10 particle size distribution each ranging from about 1.00 to about 1.40, wherein the part material is configured for use in the selective deposition-based additive manufacturing system having a layer transfusion assembly for printing the three-dimensional parts in a layer-by-layer manner.

A non-impact printing device (301) comprising: a coating material (237) being curable and comprising a resin; the coating material comprising an amorphous resin portion in an amount of at least 30 w-% based on the overall amount of resin and comprising with respect to the entire amount of coating material less than 0.5 w-% of flow additive; a printing unit, in particular an electrophotographic printing unit, being configured for printing the coating material (237) so as to form a coating layer, wherein the coating layer forms at least part of a layer package comprising at least one layer; the non-impact printing device being configured for providing the layer package so as to define a surface structure with the layer package; wherein the surface structure is defined by a thickness variation of the layer package; wherein the thickness variation is in a range between 1 m and 1000 m, in particular in a range between 1 and 300 m, and is in particular more than 1 m, in particular more than 5 m, in particular more than 10 m and in particular more than 20 m.

A coating layer application device (200) for applying a coating layer, which is located on a transfer element, to a substrate, the coating layer (206) being formed from a coating material, in particular a thermosetting coating material, the coating layer (206) being curable and comprising an amorphous material, the coating layer application device comprising: a heating device (214, 220) being configured so as to (i) maintain the temperature of the coating layer (206) within a temperature range before removal of N the transfer element (204) from the coating layer (206), wherein within the temperature range the uncured coating material is in its supercooled liquid state; and/or (ii) partially cure the coating layer (206) during a contact of the coating layer (206) and the substrate (210) and before removal of the transfer element (204) from the coating layer, in particular by increasing the temperature of the coating layer (206) to a temperature at or above a curing temperature of the coating layer (206).

Coating material (237) for generating a coating layer by non-impact printing wherein the coating layer represents an image and wherein a resolution of the image is at least 100 DPI, the coating material comprising a curable resin; wherein the coating material (237) exhibits a minimum viscosity when being heated from room temperature with a heating rate of 5 Kelvin per minute up to a temperature where curing of the coating material occurs, wherein the minimum viscosity is in a range between 3 Pascal seconds to 20000 Pascal seconds, in particular in a range between 50 Pascal seconds and 10000 Pascal seconds and further in particular in a range between 250 Pascal seconds and 7000 Pascal seconds; and wherein a pill flow length is below 350 mm at a potential curing temperature which may be used to cure the coating material.