A toner comprising at least a binder resin, the binder resin including at least a polyester resin, wherein a content of the polyester resin is 2.5% by mass or more of a total mass of the toner, and when a total length of a portion of a cross section of a printed article produced by fixing the toner to a PET coated paper sheet under printing conditions including a printing temperature of 175 C., a printing speed of 16 ppm, and a printing density of 0.8 mg/cm.sup.2, the portion in which the polyester resin is in contact with the PET coated paper sheet, is defined as A, and a total length of a portion of the cross section, the portion in which the toner is in contact with the PET coated paper sheet, is defined as B, A and B satisfy Formula (1) below.

[00001]$\begin{array}{cc}0.05A/B0\text{.55}& \left(1\right)\end{array}$

A toner for developing an electrostatic charge image, the toner including a binder resin in a toner base particle, in which the binder resin includes a polymer having a constituent unit represented by the following general formula (1) and a constituent unit represented by the following general formula (2):

##STR00001## where, R.sub.1 represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, and R.sub.2 represents a hydrocarbon group having 6 or more and 12 or less carbon atoms and having an alicyclic structure, and

##STR00002## where, R.sub.3 represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, and R.sub.4 represents a linear or branched hydrocarbon group having 8 or more and 18 or less carbon atoms.

An image forming apparatus includes: a forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet by forming a plurality of toner images using a plurality of types of toner, and transfer the plurality of toner images onto the sheet, or transfer the plurality of toner images onto the sheet via an intermediate transfer member; and a controller configured to control the forming unit to form a formed image and an antimicrobial pattern on the sheet based on first image data representing the formed image, wherein at least one first toner out of the plurality of types of toner is antimicrobial toner that includes an antimicrobial agent, at least one second toner out of the plurality of types of toner is non-antimicrobial toner that does not contain the antimicrobial agent, and the antimicrobial pattern is formed using the first toner.

A toner set for electrostatic image development includes a cyan toner, a magenta toner, and a yellow toner, wherein the Vicat softening temperatures of the toners are respectively in the range of from about 30 C. to about 60 C., and among the toners, the difference between the Vicat softening temperature of the toner having the highest Vicat softening temperature and the Vicat softening temperature of the toner having the lowest Vicat softening temperature is from about 1 C. to about 5 C.

The invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an electrophotographic cartridge, which are free from problems of cleaning failure, filming, soiling, residual images (ghosts), fogging, density reduction, noise and the like and which can provide high-definition images even when a toner having a small particle size and having a high degree of circularity is used and even when a photoreceptor having a small outer diameter is used. An image forming apparatus comprising: an electrophotographic photoreceptor containing a conductive support and a photosensitive layer on the conductive support, a charging unit for charging the electrophotographic photoreceptor, an imagewise exposing unit for imagewise exposing the charged electrophotographic photoreceptor to form an electrostatic latent image thereon, a developing unit for developing the electrostatic latent image with a toner, and a transferring unit for transferring the toner from the electrophotographic photoreceptor to a receiving unit, wherein the outer diameter of the electrophotographic photoreceptor is 20 mm or less, the photosensitive layer contains a polyarylate resin, and the toner satisfies the specific requirements (1) and (2).

The invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an electrophotographic cartridge, which are free from problems of cleaning failure, filming, soiling, residual images (ghosts), fogging, density reduction, noise and the like and which can provide high-definition images even when a toner having a small particle size and having a high degree of circularity is used and even when a photoreceptor having a small outer diameter is used. An image forming apparatus comprising: an electrophotographic photoreceptor containing a conductive support and a photosensitive layer on the conductive support, a charging unit for charging the electrophotographic photoreceptor, an imagewise exposing unit for imagewise exposing the charged electrophotographic photoreceptor to form an electrostatic latent image thereon, a developing unit for developing the electrostatic latent image with a toner, and a transferring unit for transferring the toner from the electrophotographic photoreceptor to a receiving unit, wherein the outer diameter of the electrophotographic photoreceptor is 20 mm or less, the photosensitive layer contains a polyarylate resin, and the toner satisfies the specific requirements (1) and (2).

An emulsion aggregation toner composition includes toner particles including: an unsaturated polymeric resin, such as amorphous resins, crystalline resins, and combinations thereof; an optional colorant; an optional wax; an optional coagulant; and a photoinitiator. By optimizing the particle size of the emulsion, the aggregant concentration utilized in the emulsion aggregation process, and the solids content of the emulsion, toners may be produced capable of generating images with non-contact fusing that have high gloss.

An emulsion aggregation toner composition includes toner particles including: an unsaturated polymeric resin, such as amorphous resins, crystalline resins, and combinations thereof; an optional colorant; an optional wax; an optional coagulant; and a photoinitiator. By optimizing the particle size of the emulsion, the aggregant concentration utilized in the emulsion aggregation process, and the solids content of the emulsion, toners may be produced capable of generating images with non-contact fusing that have high gloss.

An electrostatic image developing toner set includes a yellow toner including a yellow pigment; a magenta toner including a magenta pigment; a cyan toner including a cyan pigment; a black toner including a black pigment; a first toner that is a dye toner or a transparent toner, the first toner having a crystallization temperature T1 of 80 C. or more and 95 C. or less; and a second toner that is a dye toner or a transparent toner, the second toner having a crystallization temperature T2 of 60 C. or more and 75 C. or less.

An image forming method that uses an electrostatic charge image development toner containing a toner particle, the image forming method includes, bringing a first fixer into contact with a recording medium on which a toner image containing the electrostatic charge image development toner is formed and fixing the toner image on the recording medium; and cooling the recording medium by bringing a first cooler into contact with the recording medium separated from the first fixer. The toner particle includes an amorphous polyester and a crystalline polyester. A content of a structural unit derived from a bisphenol A derivative is 30 mol % or less based on 100 mol % of all structural units derived from polyhydric alcohols in the amorphous polyester.