Liquid developer, method of manufacturing the liquid developer, and image forming method and apparatus

摘要

A liquid developer, a method of manufacturing the same and a method and apparatus for forming an image, which can attain high transfer efficiency and appropriate tolerance to repetitive image formation. The liquid developer includes toner particles dispersed in an electrically non-conductive liquid solvent. Each toner particle has a resin particle, which is non-soluble in the liquid developer, and pigment particles formed on the surface of the resin particle, whereby the pigment particles suppress contact between the resin particles. Preferably the resin particles have a glass transition temperature of not less than room temperature. One example of manufacturing the liquid developer includes a step of milling pigment particles in a resin particles dispersion liquid at a process temperature higher than the glass transition temperature of the resin particles, whereby the pigments are formed on the surface of the resin particles.