An ink film construction consisting: (a) a printing substrate; and (b) at least one ink film, fixedly adhered to a top surface of the printing substrate, the ink film having an upper film surface distal to the top surface of the substrate, wherein a surface concentration of nitrogen at the upper film surface exceeds a bulk concentration of nitrogen within the film, the bulk concentration measured at a depth of at least 30 nanometers below the upper film surface, and wherein a ratio of the surface concentration to the bulk concentration is at least 1.1 to 1.

An ink film construction consisting: (a) a printing substrate; and (b) at least one ink film, fixedly adhered to a top surface of the printing substrate, the ink film having an upper film surface distal to the top surface of the substrate, wherein a surface concentration of nitrogen at the upper film surface exceeds a bulk concentration of nitrogen within the film, the bulk concentration measured at a depth of at least 30 nanometers below the upper film surface, and wherein a ratio of the surface concentration to the bulk concentration is at least 1.1 to 1.

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, an intermediary transfer belt, a primary transfer roller provided so that a contact region between the roller and the belt and a contact region between the image bearing member and the belt are in a non-overlapping state with each other with respect to a movement direction of the belt, a primary transfer voltage source, a current detecting portion, an executing portion configured to acquire information on a discharge start voltage on the basis of a detection result of the detecting portion in a period other than a period of primary transfer by applying the voltage to the roller; and a setting portion configured to set, on the basis of an execution result of the executing portion, a primary transfer voltage applied to the roller by the primary transfer voltage source in the period of the primary transfer.

An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearing member, a rotatable transfer member, a first driving source to drive the image bearing member, a second driving source to drive the transfer member, and a control. Based on a toner amount per unit area of the toner image transferred to each of a plurality of first divided regions of an in-plane of a recording material in a feeding direction, the control portion controls a driving speed of the transfer member while each of the plurality of the first divided regions passes through a transfer portion. The control portion acquires an index value correlating with a toner amount of the toner image transferred to each of a plurality of second divided regions of the first divided region in a widthwise direction, and controls the driving speed based on the index value while the first divided region passes through the transfer portion.

An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearing member, a rotatable transfer member, a first driving source to drive the image bearing member, a second driving source to drive the transfer member, and a control. Based on a toner amount per unit area of the toner image transferred to each of a plurality of first divided regions of an in-plane of a recording material in a feeding direction, the control portion controls a driving speed of the transfer member while each of the plurality of the first divided regions passes through a transfer portion. The control portion acquires an index value correlating with a toner amount of the toner image transferred to each of a plurality of second divided regions of the first divided region in a widthwise direction, and controls the driving speed based on the index value while the first divided region passes through the transfer portion.

The surface layer of an intermediate transfer belt has a concavo-convex pattern formed thereon by spherical resin particles which are independently embedded in the layer so that the embedment rate in the thickness direction of the layer is higher than 50% but lower than 100%.

The surface layer of an intermediate transfer belt has a concavo-convex pattern formed thereon by spherical resin particles which are independently embedded in the layer so that the embedment rate in the thickness direction of the layer is higher than 50% but lower than 100%.

An electrostatic image developing toner includes toner particles, layered compound particles, and inorganic particles. The content of titanium in the electrostatic image developing toner is 0.1 ppm or more and less than 1,500 ppm.

An electrostatic image developing toner includes toner particles, layered compound particles, and inorganic particles. The content of titanium in the electrostatic image developing toner is 0.1 ppm or more and less than 1,500 ppm.

A device and production method, in which a workpiece is built up gradually in layers. To build up the workpiece, preformed layers, which are individually formed on a layer support using an electrophotographic printing process are transferred one at a time from the layer support to the workpiece. For this purpose, the layer is transferred to the workpiece in a printing operation, the layer being preferably laid on the workpiece by a die. In one embodiment, a plurality of workpieces are built up simultaneously and a plurality of preformed layers are transferred simultaneously to different respective workpieces. In another embodiment, the layer is formed on the layer support, which is preferably a film or paper, prior to being transferred.