An image forming apparatus has a photosensitive member, a charging member, an exposing device, a developing device, a transfer member, a polishing member, a driving device, a voltage applying device, a torque detector, and a control portion. The photosensitive member has a photosensitive layer and a surface protection layer formed on the surface of the photosensitive layer. The polishing member has an elastic layer on its circumferential surface, and rotates with a linear velocity difference from that of the photosensitive member. The torque detector detects the torque of the driving device. The control portion estimates an attachment condition of discharge products to the surface of the photosensitive member based on the torque of the driving device detected by the torque detector. When the torque is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, the control portion performs an image degradation suppression process.

An electrophotographic photoreceptor includes a conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer, wherein an outermost layer contains a compound having a structure represented by general formula (I) below: ##STR00001## where R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 each independently represent a C.sub.1-12 alkyl group or a C.sub.5-12 cycloalkyl group; R.sub.3 represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a substituted or unsubstituted C.sub.1-6 alkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted C.sub.1-6 alkoxyl group, a C.sub.6-20 aryl group or a heterocycle group; X and Z each represent a single bond or a C.sub.1-6 alkylene group which may be substituted; and Y represents a OCO group or COO group. A method for manufacturing the photoreceptor and an electrophotographic device including the photoreceptor are additionally provided. The electrophotographic photoreceptor provides sufficient stain resistance and is less affected by temperature and humidity environments while maintaining various advantageous characteristics of photoreceptors.

In an example implementation, a method of cleaning a silicon photoconductor includes contacting the silicon photoconductor with a base-peroxide solution, rinsing the silicon photoconductor with a liquid, and heating the silicon photoconductor to evaporate the liquid.

A photoconductor is provided. The photoconductor includes a support, an undercoat layer overlying the support, and a photosensitive layer overlying the undercoat layer. The undercoat layer includes a binder resin and a zinc oxide particle. The photosensitive layer includes a compound represented by the following formula (1): ##STR00001##
where each of R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 independently represents an alkyl group or an aromatic hydrocarbon group.

An electrophotographic photoreceptor includes a conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer disposed on the conductive substrate, wherein when time that takes for a current value to reach the maximum after beginning of application of a square wave voltage to the electrophotographic photoreceptor is T.sub.1 and time that takes for the current value to reach the maximum after the beginning of the application of the square wave voltage and then decrease to one fifth of the maximum is T.sub.2, T.sub.2 is approximately from 3.2 to 11.0 times as large as T.sub.1.

A conductive support is formed of a bottomless hollow cylindrical member being made of metal and having a thickness t of equal to or less than 0.5 mm, the conductive support including: a chamfer portion on an outer peripheral surface side of at least one end of the conductive support over an entire circumferential direction, wherein the chamfer portion has a chamfer angle a of equal to or greater than 10 and less than 30 with respect to the outer peripheral surface, and a chamfer width b equal to or greater than 0.05 mm in an end surface, and wherein an end surface width c is equal to or greater than 0.1 mm in the end surface including the chamfer portion.

An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a surface layer containing a charge transporting material and a specific polyester resin having a structure including a specific branched chain.

In an example implementation, a method of cleaning a silicon photoconductor includes contacting the silicon photoconductor with a base-peroxide solution, rinsing the silicon photoconductor with a liquid, and heating the silicon photoconductor to evaporate the liquid.

A metallic ingot for impact pressing includes a contact surface of the metallic ingot to contact a male mold in impact pressing having a maximum height roughness Rz of 20 m to 50 m and an average length of a roughness curve element RSm of 150 m to 400 m, the male mold being to be used in combination with a female mold in the impact pressing.

Provided is an electrophotographic photosensitive member capable of suppressing a ghost image. The electrophotographic photosensitive member includes, in this order: a support; an intermediate layer containing metal oxide particles; and a photosensitive layer, in which the intermediate layer contains at least one kind of compound X selected from the group consisting of a compound represented by the formula (1) and a compound represented by the formula (2). ##STR00001##