Concerned with a cylindrical conductive belt for electrophotography which has made permanent curl less occur. The conductive belt has a continuous phase containing a thermoplastic polyester resin and discontinuous phases each containing any one or both selected from a polyether-ester amide and a polyether amide, and the discontinuous phases are present in such way as to extend in the peripheral direction of the belt; the belt having a crystallinity that is lower on the outer-peripheral surface side than on the inner-peripheral surface side.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming section that performs processing for forming an image on continuous paper on the basis of image data and a processor configured to perform image preparation to convert the printing data into the image data and control the image forming section to execute forming of an image on the continuous paper based on the image data. The processor is further configured to perform, before the image formation, second forming speeds setting according to image sizes in a paper passing direction, predetermined first image forming speeds, and image preparation times related to the images.

The metal image forming method of the invention utilizes a toner image as a resist pattern for metal image formation in a publicly known lift-off process, instead of using the toner image as a resist pattern during etching steps. A toner image is formed by formation and development of an electrostatic pattern directly on the substrate, without using a photosensitive body. The original toner image-formed surface, or the toner image-transferred surface, is covered with a metal layer by a physical vapor deposition method, after which the toner image is removed together with the metal layer on the toner image, to obtain a metal image. Transfer of a resin image onto a curved substrate, covering of the resin image-transferred surface with a metal layer by a physical vapor deposition method, and subsequent removal of the resin image together with the metal layer on the resin image, allows formation of a high-definition metal image on the curved substrate.

The metal image forming method of the invention utilizes a toner image as a resist pattern for metal image formation in a publicly known lift-off process, instead of using the toner image as a resist pattern during etching steps. A toner image is formed by formation and development of an electrostatic pattern directly on the substrate, without using a photosensitive body. The original toner image-formed surface, or the toner image-transferred surface, is covered with a metal layer by a physical vapor deposition method, after which the toner image is removed together with the metal layer on the toner image, to obtain a metal image. Transfer of a resin image onto a curved substrate, covering of the resin image-transferred surface with a metal layer by a physical vapor deposition method, and subsequent removal of the resin image together with the metal layer on the resin image, allows formation of a high-definition metal image on the curved substrate.