Image forming apparatus and process cartridge

摘要

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a charging mechanism to charge a surface of the image carrier, an electrostatic latent image forming mechanism to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the image carrier, a developing mechanism to develop the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier into a toner image, a transfer mechanism to transfer the toner image on the surface of the image carrier to a transfer body, and a cleaning mechanism including a cleaning blade to clean a transfer residue toner adhering to the surface of the image carrier by contacting the surface of the image carrier. The cleaning blade includes a strip shaped elastic blade and a surface layer formed on an opposing surface of the strip shaped elastic blade opposite the surface of the image carrier.

主权项

1. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
an image carrier; a charging mechanism to charge a surface of the image carrier; an electrostatic latent image forming mechanism to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the image carrier; a developing mechanism to develop the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier into a toner image; a transfer mechanism to transfer the toner image on the surface of the image carrier to a transfer body; and a cleaning mechanism including a cleaning blade to clean a transfer residue toner adhering to the surface of the image carrier by contacting the surface of the image carrier, wherein the cleaning blade includes a strip shaped elastic blade and a surface layer formed on an opposing surface of the strip shaped elastic blade opposite the surface of the image carrier, the surface layer having a hardness harder than the strip shaped elastic blade and a layer thickness becoming thicker as a distance from a leading-edge ridge line portion of the strip shaped elastic blade increases, and is formed up to the leading-edge ridge line portion, and wherein the leading-edge ridge line portion of the cleaning blade contacts the surface of the image carrier with an initial contact width between the cleaning blade and the surface of the image carrier in a range from 12 μm or more to 30 μm or less, and includes a linear pressure in a range from 7 N/m to less than 20 N/m.