Patent ID: 6426123
Filing Date: 2002-07-30
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
A method of manufacturing a foamed product having a convexo-concave surface comprising the steps of:providing the foamable preform having a foamable portion made of a foamable resin composition; further providing a liquid toner, as a recording material, in which copolymer resin particles are dispersed in an electrically insulating dispersion medium, the copolymer resin particles containing a copolymer resin composed of at least two different monomer components including a first and a second monomer component and a foaming inhibitor affecting the foamable resin composition, the copolymer resin and the electrically insulating dispersion medium being related to each other such that (i) a difference &Dgr;(&dgr;p1âˆ’&dgr;d) between a solubility parameter value &dgr;p1 of a homopolymer composed only of the first monomer component in the copolymer resin and a solubility parameter of &dgr;d of the electrically insulating dispersion medium is not smaller than 1.0, (ii) a difference &Dgr;(&dgr;p2âˆ’&dgr;d) between a solubility parameter value &dgr;p2 of a homopolymer composed only of the second monomer component in the copolymer resin and a solubility parameter value &dgr;d of the electrically insulating dispersion medium is not larger than 1.0, and (iii) a difference &Dgr;(&dgr;p1âˆ’&dgr;p2) between the two solubility parameter values &dgr;p1 and &dgr;p2 of those homopolymers is at least 0.5, and each of said copolymer resin particles having a configuration in which a core portion insoluble in the electrically insulating dispersion medium is surrounded with an outer skin portion soluble or swellable in the electrically insulating dispersion medium; subjecting the foamable preform to an electrostatic record or an electrostatic image transfer with the use of the liquid toner to apply the copolymer resin particles on a surface of the foamable portion in a prescribed pattern; and foaming the foamable portion after the applying of the copolymer resin particles to form the surface of the foamable portion into a convexo-concave pattern.