An image-forming apparatus includes a rotatable developer-bearing member to bear a developer composed of a toner particle and a transfer promoting particle attached to the toner particle. When F denotes pressing force for pressing the developer-bearing member against an image-bearing member, and N denotes a total number of the transfer promoting particles interposed between the toner particle and the image-bearing member, adhesion strength Ft between the transfer promoting particle and the toner particle measured by pressing the transfer promoting particle against the toner particle at a pressing force per unit transfer promoting particle F/N and adhesion strength Fdr between the transfer promoting particle and the image-bearing member measured by pressing the transfer promoting particle against the image-bearing member at the pressing force per unit transfer promoting particle F/N, satisfy Ft<Fdr. Electrical discharge is generated upstream of a transfer portion in a movement direction of an intermediate transfer belt.

An image forming apparatus includes a first air suction port sucking an air containing ozone, a second air suction port sucking an air containing the scattered toner, and a duct unit partitioned into a first duct passing through the air containing ozone and a second duct passing through the air containing toner. The duct includes a first fan generating a first air flow inside the first duct to suck the air from the first air suction port and a second fan generating a second air flow inside the second duct to suck the air from the second air suction port. An ozone filter is detachably provided to both the first and second ducts, disposed straddling the first and second ducts, and filters the ozone contained in the first and second air flows.

An exhaust device includes: a flow path section through which gas containing ozone generated inside a device body flows; a joint section connected to the flow path section with an inlet opening where hot gas generated inside the device body flows, and where gas containing ozone and hot gas are joined internally; a first air flow generator that generates an air flow which causes the gas containing ozone to flow through the flow path section and to the joint section; and a second air flow generator that causes the gas containing ozone and the hot gas to be joined and discharged from the joint section to outside the device body so that a flow rate of the joint gas discharged from the joint section to outside the device body is higher than a flow rate of the gas containing ozone to the joint section by the first air flow generator.

A charging member of a contact charging system that applies only a direct-current voltage to the charging member includes a conductive substrate, an elastic layer disposed on the conductive substrate, and a surface layer disposed on the elastic layer. When measured by an alternating-current impedance method within a range of 1 MHz to 1 mHz in an environment at a temperature of 28° C. and a humidity of 85%, a resistance component R of an impedance within a range of 1 Hz to 100 Hz is 4.0×10.sup.4Ω or more and 1.0×10.sup.6Ω or less and an impedance Z within a range of 1 Hz to 100 Hz is over 3.6×10.sup.4Ω and 3.5×10.sup.5Ω or less.

A movable member includes a frame, a mounting portion, a rotatable image bearing member, a charging member, and a cleaning member. The cleaning member includes a base portion including a first surface positioned on one side of the frame, a second surface positioned on the other side of the frame, and a third surface, and includes a projected portion. The projected portion includes a first side surface positioned on the aforementioned the other side and a second side surface positioned on the aforementioned one side. The first side surface is positioned between the first surface and the second surface. The first side surface constitutes an end surface of the projected portion on the aforementioned the other side with respect to the axial direction, and the second side surface constitutes an end surface of the projected portion on the aforementioned one side with respect to the axial direction.

An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member, a charging member, an electrostatic image forming portion, a developing member, a transfer member, a transfer voltage source, a brush member, a brush voltage source, and a controller capable of executing a cleaning operation. The controller carries out control so that the cleaning operation includes a first operation in which a potential difference is formed between the transfer member and the photosensitive member so that toner charged to a normal charge polarity is moved from the transfer member toward the photosensitive member, and a second operation in which a potential difference is formed between the brush member and the photosensitive member so that the toner charged to the normal charge polarity is moved from the photosensitive member toward the brush member.

A conductive roller includes a support member, an elastic layer disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the support member, and a surface layer disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the elastic layer. The elastic layer includes a cylindrical elastic foam and a conductive covering layer covering an exposed surface of the elastic foam and has a volume resistance value of 10.sup.5Ω or less at an applied voltage of 10 V. The elastic foam has a conductive particle content of 1% by mass or less based on the total mass of the elastic foam.

An electrophotographic roller includes: a mandrel and an elastic layer on the mandrel, and having a crown shape in which a diameter decreases from a central position O in a longitudinal direction of the mandrel toward an end portion. When a position of the end portion in the longitudinal direction of the elastic layer is defined as X2, a position between the O and the X2 is defined as Xl, a distance between the O and the X1 is defined as L1, and a distance between the X1 and the X2 is defined as L2, L1=0.6×(L1+L2). When outer diameters of the electrophotographic roller at O, X1 and X2 are defined as Do, DX1 and DX2, respectively, and Z1=(Do−DX1)/2 and Z2=(DX1−DX2)/2 are defined, Z1, Z2, L1 and L2 satisfy (Z2/L2)<1.931×(Z1/L1).

An image forming apparatus controls the number of rotations of a photosensitive drum based on information related to the use of the photosensitive drum and a suspension time in a rotation operation of rotating the photosensitive drum after a lapse of the suspension time between a first image forming operation of forming an image on a transfer material and a second image forming operation performed after the first image forming operation.

A method for reducing artifacts in an electrophotographic printing system includes receiving a print job including image data for a set of pages. The electrophotographic printing system is used to print a block of pages from the print job to provide corresponding printed pages. The image data for the block of pages is analyzed to determine a cross-track image profile for each page in the block of pages. Image data for a compensation image and a number of compensation images are determined, wherein the compensation image has a cross-track image profile which has an inverted shape relative to an average of the cross-track image profiles for the block of pages. The printing of the compensation images reduces image burn-in artifacts which result from the printing of the block of pages.