Image forming method and image forming material

摘要

An image forming method comprising the steps of: superposing an image receiving sheet containing an image receiving layer and a heat transfer sheet containing a substrate, a light-heat conversion layer and an image forming layer on each other with the image forming layer of the heat transfer sheet facing the image receiving layer of the image receiving sheet; and imagewise irradiating the superposed heat transfer sheet with laser light to cause the irradiated area of the image forming layer to be transferred to the image receiving layer, wherein the image forming layer shows a deformation of 110% or more as observed under a transmission electron microscope upon being irradiated with a laser beam, the deformation being represented by equation: Deformation (%)=[(a+b) /b]x100 wherein a represents an increase of a cross-sectional area of an irradiated part of the image forming layer; and b represents a cross-sectional area of that part of the image forming layer before irradiation.