A carrier is provided that includes a core particle and a coating layer coating the core particle. The coating layer includes a resin and chargeable inorganic fine particles, and has voids. The resin has an average film thickness of 0.10 μm or larger and smaller than 0.45 μm. The coating layer has a porosity of 0.1% or higher and lower than 2.8%, when the porosity expressed by the following equation:

Porosity [%]=S1/S2×100

where, on a cross section of the coating layer, S1 represents a cross sectional area of the voids and S2 represents a cross sectional area of the resin.

A carrier is provided that includes a core particle and a coating layer coating the core particle. The coating layer includes a resin and chargeable inorganic fine particles, and has voids. The resin has an average film thickness of 0.10 μm or larger and smaller than 0.45 μm. The coating layer has a porosity of 0.1% or higher and lower than 2.8%, when the porosity expressed by the following equation:

Porosity [%]=S1/S2×100

where, on a cross section of the coating layer, S1 represents a cross sectional area of the voids and S2 represents a cross sectional area of the resin.

A toner having compatibility between transfer properties and cleaning properties is provided. A toner wherein a fine particle A containing a primary particle having a number average particle diameter (D1) of 80 nm or more and 400 nm or less is present on the surface of a toner particle at a coverage ratio of 5 to 40%, a fixing rate of 30 to 90% by mass, and a variation coefficient of 0.1 to 0.5 in a region of 0.5 πμm.sup.2.

A toner having compatibility between transfer properties and cleaning properties is provided. A toner wherein a fine particle A containing a primary particle having a number average particle diameter (D1) of 80 nm or more and 400 nm or less is present on the surface of a toner particle at a coverage ratio of 5 to 40%, a fixing rate of 30 to 90% by mass, and a variation coefficient of 0.1 to 0.5 in a region of 0.5 πμm.sup.2.

A process of forming an image includes the steps of: developing an electrostatic latent image with a toner, the latent image being formed through charge of the surface of an electrostatic latent image carrier and exposure of the surface to light; and applying a lubricant onto the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier. The toner includes a toner matrix particle and an external additive nanoparticle. The external additive nanoparticle comprises a silica-polymer composite nanoparticle. A percentage of atomic silicon present on the surface of the silica-polymer composite nanoparticle satisfies Condition A expressed by Expression: 15.0 atm %≦percentage of atomic silicon ({Si/(C+O+Si)}×100)≦30.0 atm %. The percentage of atomic silicon is determined from total amounts of atomic carbon, oxygen, and silicon present on the topmost surface of the silica-polymer composite nanoparticle and within 3 nm inwards from the topmost surface.

A toner including base particles and external additives on the base particles, the toner satisfying Conditions 1 and 2 defined in the specification, when a number distribution D of particle diameters of powder particles B generated from one base particle A is calculated from a density a of the base particles A and a density b of the powder particles B, where the base particles A and the powder particles B are deposited on an adhesive area and mica respectively by feeding the toner into a vacuumed space from an inlet, and allowing the toner to crush against a surface of a substrate having the adhesive area composed of a carbon tape, and the mica disposed in a manner that the surface is orthogonal to a direction connecting between center of the vacuumed space and center of the inlet, Powder particles B: particles detached from the base particles.

A method for printing a three-dimensional part with an electrophotography-based additive manufacturing system having an electrophotography engine, a transfer medium, and a layer transfusion assembly includes providing a part material to the electrophotography-based additive manufacturing system, the part material compositionally comprising a charge control agent, and a thermoplastic material having a heat deflection temperature greater than about 150° C., and has a powder form. The method includes triboelectrically charging the part material to a Q/M ratio having a negative charge or a positive charge, and a magnitude ranging from about 5 micro-Coulombs/gram to about 50 micro-Coulombs/gram and developing layers of the three-dimensional part from the charged part material with the electrophotography engine. The method includes electrostatically attracting the developed layers from the electrophotography engine to the transfer medium and moving the attracted layers to the layer transfusion assembly with the transfer medium, wherein the layer transfusion assembly comprises a nip roller. The method includes transfusing the moved layers to previously-printed layers of the three-dimensional part with by moving the attracted layers about a nip of a nip roller using heat and pressure over time.

A method for printing a three-dimensional part with an electrophotography-based additive manufacturing system having an electrophotography engine, a transfer medium, and a layer transfusion assembly includes providing a part material to the electrophotography-based additive manufacturing system, the part material compositionally comprising a charge control agent, and a thermoplastic material having a heat deflection temperature greater than about 150° C., and has a powder form. The method includes triboelectrically charging the part material to a Q/M ratio having a negative charge or a positive charge, and a magnitude ranging from about 5 micro-Coulombs/gram to about 50 micro-Coulombs/gram and developing layers of the three-dimensional part from the charged part material with the electrophotography engine. The method includes electrostatically attracting the developed layers from the electrophotography engine to the transfer medium and moving the attracted layers to the layer transfusion assembly with the transfer medium, wherein the layer transfusion assembly comprises a nip roller. The method includes transfusing the moved layers to previously-printed layers of the three-dimensional part with by moving the attracted layers about a nip of a nip roller using heat and pressure over time.

Provided is an image forming method using an electrostatic image developing toner containing: toner mother particles including a binder resin; and an external additive, wherein the binder resin contains a vinyl resin in an amount of 40 mass % or more with respect to the total amount of the binder resin, the image forming method including a step of: forming an image so that an image surface resistance value at 70 C. by a temperature change method of the formed image is set to be 510.sup.13 or less.

Provided is an image forming method using an electrostatic image developing toner containing: toner mother particles including a binder resin; and an external additive, wherein the binder resin contains a vinyl resin in an amount of 40 mass % or more with respect to the total amount of the binder resin, the image forming method including a step of: forming an image so that an image surface resistance value at 70 C. by a temperature change method of the formed image is set to be 510.sup.13 or less.