Provided is an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording medium, and an applying unit that causes powder included in a liquid mixture to be interposed between the recording medium and the image forming unit by applying the liquid mixture to the recording medium, or to the image forming unit which comes into contact with the recording medium, wherein the recording medium includes an image forming layer, an adhesive layer, and a base layer, and the liquid mixture includes the powder reducing adhesion of the adhesive layer and volatile liquid.

An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier, a developing section, a transfer roller, a power supply section, a conveyance roller, and an operation control section. The operation control section has a cleaning operation mode and an image formation operation mode where images are formed on recording paper. In the cleaning operation mode, the operation control section causes the developing section to supply a predefined amount of toner to a circumferential surface of the image carrier, causes the power supply section to apply a bias of a polarity opposite to a normal charge polarity to the transfer roller, then causes the conveyance roller to convey a single piece of recording paper, causes the conveyance roller to stop rotating operation when the recording paper is located in a nip area, and causes the image carrier and the transfer roller to rotate while the recording paper is stopped in the nip area.

An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearing member, a charging member, a developing member, a transfer member, a transfer voltage applying portion, and a recording material charging member. The recording material charging member is provided on a side upstream of a transfer nip with respect to a conveying direction of a recording material nipped and conveyed through the transfer nip and capable of contacting an image forming surface which is a surface of the recording material, onto which a toner image is transferred, conveyed toward the transfer nip, and capable of charging the image forming surface to the same polarity as a predetermined polarity by triboelectric charge. A contact portion of the recording material charging member with the recording material is movable in a direction crossing a surface of the recording material in a position where the recording material opposes the recording material charging member.

There is provided an image forming apparatus including a configuration in which a voltage of a polarity opposite to a toner charging polarity is applied. In the image forming apparatus, a guide region of a pre-transfer guide is located on a photosensitive drum side with respect to a common tangent line of a photosensitive drum and a development roller to reduce contamination of the pre-transfer guide and prevent contamination of recording materials.

An image forming apparatus includes a toner image carrier on which a toner image is formed, a transfer unit that transfers the toner image onto a continuous sheet of paper, a fixing machine that fixes the transferred toner image onto the continuous sheet of paper, a sheet transport unit that transports the continuous sheet of paper through a transport path passing through a transfer position and a fixing position, and an electric charge supply unit that is disposed at a position at which the continuous sheet of paper is placed between the toner image carrier and the electric charge supply unit and that supplies electric charge having an orientation, in which transfer by the transfer unit is prevented, to a toner image present in a region on the toner image carrier, which is out of the continuous sheet of paper.

A method for heat treatment of mixed media sheets in an image reproduction apparatus having an image forming station, a heat treatment station, a conveying path for conveying the sheets one by one through the image forming station and the heat treatment station, and a duplex loop for looping sheets back from the heat treatment station to the image forming station includes pre-heating a sheet before an image is formed thereon in the image forming station. The pre-heating includes the sub-steps of passing the sheet through the image forming station while the image forming station is idle, passing the sheet through the heat treatment station for pre-heating, and looping the sheet back to the image forming station.

An image forming apparatus includes multiple image carriers for carrying toner images of different colors; an intermediate transfer body for carrying the toner images transferred from the multiple image carriers; a second transfer part for transferring the toner images carried by the intermediate transfer body to a recording medium at a second transfer position; and a charge-applying part for applying a charge having a same polarity as a charging polarity of toner used to form the toner images to at least one of a leading end and a trailing end of the recording medium in a transport direction, at a position on an upstream side of the second transfer part in the transport direction of the recording medium.

An image forming apparatus (100) includes: an intermediate transfer belt (15B) provided in a body housing (3); an opening/closing unit (30); a second transfer roller (152) provided in the opening/closing unit (30) and in contact with the intermediate transfer belt (15B) when the opening/closing unit (30) is closed; a guide member (31) provided in the opening/closing unit (30) turnably and guiding a sheet to a contact area between the intermediate transfer belt (15B) and the second transfer roller (152); a conductive sheet (32) covering the guide member (31); and a conductive spring (33) provided in the opening/closing unit (30) and biasing the guide member (31) toward the intermediate transfer belt (15B) via the conductive sheet (32) to press the guide member (31) to the body housing (3), wherein when the opening/closing unit (30) is opened, the guide member (31) is in contact with the conductive spring (32) by gravity.

The present invention relates to technology for printing an image such as a letter, a picture, or the like on a surface of a metal material, including printing equipment capable of stably printing the image on the surface of the metal material at high speed, a printing method using the same, and a printed metal material obtained therefrom.

An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier carrying a toner image; a transfer unit disposed to contact the image carrier and transferring the toner image carried on the image carrier to a recording medium; and a gap forming unit that forms a gap between the image carrier and the transfer unit when one or more regions of the recording medium are positioned between the image carrier and the transfer unit. The one or more regions include at least one of a leading end and a trailing end of the recording medium. The image forming apparatus further includes an electric charge applying unit disposed on an upstream side of the transfer unit and applies electric charges to the one or more regions of the recording medium. The electric charges have an opposite polarity to a charging polarity of a toner which forms the toner image.