IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND PROCESS CARTRIDGE

摘要

An image forming apparatus is provided which includes an image bearer, a charger to charge the image bearer, a latent image forming device to form an electrostatic latent image on the image bearer, a developing device to develop the electrostatic latent image with a toner, a transfer device to transfer the toner image onto a transfer medium, and a cleaning blade to remove residual toner particles remaining on the image bearer. The toner includes a binder resin and a release agent. The release agent has a longest length Lmax in the toner, which is equal to or greater than 1.1 times a maximum Feret diameter Df of the toner. The cleaning blade includes a strip-like elastic body blade having a contact part with the image bearer. The contact part includes a cured product of an ultraviolet curable composition including an acrylate or methacrylate compound having an alicyclic structure.

主权项

1. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
an image bearer; a charger to charge a surface of the image bearer; a latent image forming device to form an electrostatic latent image on the charged surface of the image bearer; a developing device to develop the electrostatic latent image into a toner image with a toner, the toner including a binder resin and a release agent, the release agent having a longest length Lmax in the toner, the longest length Lmax being equal to or greater than 1.1 times a maximum Feret diameter Df of the toner, a transfer device to transfer the toner image from the surface of the image bearer onto a transfer medium; and a cleaner including a cleaning blade to remove residual toner particles remaining on the surface of the image bearer by contact with the surface of the image bearer, the cleaning blade including an elastic body blade having a strip-like shape, the elastic body blade having a contact part to contact the surface of the image bearer, the contact part including a cured product of an ultraviolet curable composition including an acrylate or methacrylate compound having an alicyclic structure.