A cleaning device, including: a cleaning frame; a cleaning member having one end and the other end, an image bearing member being capable of rotating and bearing a developer image formed of a developer so as to remove the developer remaining on the image bearing member after transfer of the developer image from the image bearing member; and a sheet member having flexibility and having one end and the other end; wherein a work function W (D) of the developer and a work function W (S) of the sheet member satisfy 0W(D)W(S)0.23 and the developer includes inorganic particles, and at least one kind of the inorganic particles has an average primary particle diameter of 50 nm or larger.

An image forming apparatus including an image bearer and a cleaning blade is provided. The cleaning blade comprises an elastic member configured to contact a surface of the image bearer to remove toner particles remaining thereon. The elastic member comprises a substrate and a surface layer comprising a cured product of a curable composition and a siloxane compound. The surface layer is disposed on at least a part of a lower surface of the substrate. The surface layer has a hardness gradient in which a Martens hardness HM measured using a nanoindenter decreases from a surface of the surface layer toward the lower surface of the substrate in a thickness direction, and the Martens hardness HM measured in a region extending from a vicinity of the surface (with a load of 1 N) to a deepest part in the thickness direction (with a load of 1,000 N) ranges from 2.5 to 32.5 N/mm.sup.2. The toner has a tensile breaking force F of from 200 to 450 gf (from 1.96 to 4.41 N), measured using a powder layer compression/tensile strength measurement device under a load of 32 kgf (313.81 N).

A method for manufacturing a blade for electrophotographic devices and a blade for electrophotographic devices are provided. The method includes: an impregnation step of impregnating, from the surface of at least a part of a blade-shaped substrate containing urethane rubber, with a blocked isocyanate in which an isocyanate group is blocked with a blocking agent, wherein the part includes a portion that comes into contact with a mating member; and a curing step of dissociating the blocking agent from the blocked isocyanate impregnated into the substrate in the impregnation step, and then curing the released isocyanate in the substrate to form a cured portion in at least the part of the substrate including the portion that comes into contact with the mating member. In the method, the isocyanate released from the blocked isocyanate includes an aromatic isocyanate.

A cleaning blade includes an elastic material, a first surface, a second surface and an end surface. The end surface includes a first region and a second region provided on opposite sides of the first region. The elastic material of the cleaning blade has indentation elastic modulus E.sub.0 [MPa] of 3 or more and 20 or less, and indentation elastic modulus E.sub.1 [MPa] of the end surface in the first region is (E.sub.0+1) or more and 40 or less. Dynamic hardness DH1 [mN/m.sup.2] of the first region is 0.10 or more and 0.20 or less, dynamic hardness DH2 [mN/m.sup.2] of the second region is 0.15 or more and 0.50 or less, and a difference (DH2DH1) is 0.05 [mN/m.sup.2] or more. A difference in thickness between the end surface in the first region and the end surface in the second region is 25 m or less.

An image forming apparatus including developing unit to develop electrostatic latent image with toner to form visible image, and cleaning unit including elastic member including surface layer and configured to remove the toner, wherein Martens hardness A and Martens hardness B of the surface layer measured by applying load of 1 N and load of 1,000 N, respectively, to position of the surface layer in thickness direction thereof using nanoindenter are both 2.5 N/mm.sup.2 or greater but 32.5 N/mm.sup.2 or less, and Martens hardness A and Martens hardness B satisfy inequality,
Martens hardness A>Martens hardness B
wherein coefficient of dynamic friction of the surface layer against polycarbonate is 0.5 or less, and the toner includes polyester resin insoluble to THF and Tg of THF-insoluble component of the toner determined from DSC curve of first heating of DSC is 60 C. or higher but 20 C. or lower.

An image forming apparatus includes a photoreceptor photoreceptor having an outermost surface layer that contains polytetrafluoroethylene particles and a dispersant containing fluorine atoms and has a perfluorooctanoic acid content of 25 ppb or less relative to the polytetrafluoroethylene particles; and a transfer device that includes an intermediate transfer body having a surface onto which a toner image is transferred, a first transfer device that performs first transfer that involves transferring the toner image on the surface of the photoreceptor onto the surface of the intermediate transfer body, and a second transfer device that performs second transfer that involves transferring the toner image on the surface of the intermediate transfer body onto a surface of a recording medium, the second transfer device having a second transfer member having a surface with a hexadecane contact angle of 30 degrees or more.

An image forming apparatus including an image bearer and a cleaning blade is provided. The cleaning blade comprises an elastic member configured to contact a surface of the image bearer to remove toner particles remaining thereon. The elastic member comprises a substrate and a surface layer comprising a cured product of a curable composition and a siloxane compound. The surface layer is disposed on at least a part of a lower surface of the substrate. The surface layer has a hardness gradient in which a Martens hardness HM measured using a nanoindenter decreases from a surface of the surface layer toward the lower surface of the substrate in a thickness direction, and the Martens hardness HM measured in a region extending from a vicinity of the surface (with a load of 1 N) to a deepest part in the thickness direction (with a load of 1,000 N) ranges from 2.5 to 32.5 N/mm.sup.2. The toner has a tensile breaking force F of from 200 to 450 gf (from 1.96 to 4.41 N), measured using a powder layer compression/tensile strength measurement device under a load of 32 kgf (313.81 N).

An image forming apparatus including developing unit to develop electrostatic latent image with toner to form visible image, and cleaning unit including elastic member including surface layer and configured to remove the toner, wherein Martens hardness A and Martens hardness B of the surface layer measured by applying load of 1 N and load of 1,000 N, respectively, to position of the surface layer in thickness direction thereof using nanoindenter are both 2.5 N/mm.sup.2 or greater but 32.5 N/mm.sup.2 or less, and Martens hardness A and Martens hardness B satisfy inequality,

Martens hardness A>Martens hardness B

wherein coefficient of dynamic friction of the surface layer against polycarbonate is 0.5 or less, and the toner includes polyester resin insoluble to THF and Tg of THF-insoluble component of the toner determined from DSC curve of first heating of DSC is 60 C. or higher but 20 C. or lower.

A cleaning pad can be attached onto an inner surface of a transport belt so the cleaning pad can move with the transport belt along hardware of a marking system, including support rollers and a marking platen to remove ink from the marking platen and support rollers of the rendering device as the transport belt cycles through its typical path within the rendering system.

A cleaning blade includes a contact part coming into contact with a member to be cleaned, the contact part being configurated by a member containing polyurethane rubber produced by polymerizing at least a polyol component, which contains over 50 mol % and 75 mol % or less of 1,4-butanediol relative to the entire polyol components, with a polyisocyanate component. The ratio (M100/Re) of 100% modulus (M100 [MPa]) to rebound resilience coefficient (Re [%]) is 0.25 or more. The rebound resilience coefficient (Re [%]) is 25% or more.